State of the Line: Krakoa Falls As The X-Men Line Heads To The End

It’s a brand new year. Tons of opportunity and possibility for the comics to come in 2024. American politics do their State of the Union addresses at various levels each year, and Tony Thornley and Scott Redmond are doing the same for comics! 

We’ll be looking at a handful of comic book lines from Marvel and DC Comics. Grab a drink in the remains of the Green Lagoon, it’s time to check out how things are going for the X-Men family of books.

Currently this line consists of: X-Men, X-Force, Wolverine, X-Men Unlimited, Fall of the House of X, and Rise of the Powers of X, with Resurrection of Magneto, X-Men Forever, Dead X-Men and Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace coming soon. Concluded this year were (takes deep breath) Immortal X-Men, X-Men Red, Uncanny Avengers, Jean Grey, Children of the Vault, Dark X-Men, Astonishing Iceman, Alpha Flight, Realm of X, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant, Uncanny Spider-Man, X-Men Blue, Immoral X-Men, Nightcrawlers, Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants, Sins of Sinister, Legion of X, Marauders, Deadpool, and New Mutants. Yeah, there was so much I probably forgot one. Or three.

Tony: Holy cow Scott, this one’s beefy. I think that’s probably to be expected considering how well the X-Men line sells in general but specifically the Krakoan titles as well. This one is unique of the four lines we’re talking about, because we’re talking very specifically about a transitory period, as we know the next era is on its way in July. So instead of talking about specific titles, let’s talk about last year, what’s going on now, and maybe a little bit about the future?

Scott: Couldn’t even fastball special throw a Wolverine without hitting some sort of X-book right in the face. A whole year of wrapping a bow upon an era that is beyond what we normally see from anything at the ‘Big Two.’ So many highs and so many lows as well as some lower than lows. This is probably gonna get juicy, so let’s do it!

Destiny of X, Sins of Sinister & Hellfire Gala 2023

Tony: So the first half of 2023 is a little disjointed, as the line sort of split in half. The Brit Invasion half of the line took a look at the alternate timeline of Sins of Sinister while the other half of the group built up to the Hellfire Gala. While I know you and I both had qualms about the stories in this period, in retrospect, I kind of think this was the stronger period for the X-Men line this year.

Scott: Sad to say, in a way, I agree with that. If only we had the powers of Destiny to at least have vaguely known that what we thought was weak would actually be strong. Then again, with recent events, being Destiny sure seems like a big old curse so nevermind. 

Overall, yeah this was a pretty strong moment as it felt like there was something concrete being built (even if the construction was haphazard). Granted, at the time we also didn’t know about what the fate of the line was and who was coming in the future. I will say, the overall disjointed  nature you mentioned is truly what has soured me on this final act of the Krakoa era. We went from books intertwining (sometimes a bit too much) where things felt like a cohesive experience. All the joy over posts and interviews with the X-Slack members, watching as they bounced off each other. 

In this latter era we’ve gotten a lot of stuff that feels like the writers are all living on different planets with little to no communication. Not saying there aren’t still connections and such, but numerous events or beats that should have warranted some reflection by the collective of mutants in other titles just were never brought up. In fact, in a way, it reminded me of some of the faults of previous modern eras. A whole bunch of titles slapped together to fill various niches playing in their own portion of the sandbox, occasionally asking to borrow each other’s toys before going back to silence.

Tony: Yeah, that’s probably the biggest fault of the line since around the middle of 2022. Everything has been disjointed. The current line gained so much popularity because everything felt like it was connected, that it mattered. The last year and a half lost a lot of that. I mean, a lot of it was fine but it shifted from some of the best X-Men comics we’d gotten since at least the Morrison era to the majority of the books being average at best.

I skipped almost all of Sins of Sinister though- the format of “ten years later, 100 years later, 1000 years later” just turned me off and what I did read did nothing to change that opinion. The X-Force and Wolverine stories were some of the strongest of each series, and X-Men had the awful Brood storyline and a bunch of Fall of X set-up. Just overall a fairly weak showing.

Scott: With much love to Gillen and Ewing … you did not miss much with the Sinister story. 

Tony: Know what though? I kind of loved the Gala. It was a lot. I also think they continued to mishandle Ms. Marvel’s shift into the X-Men family and the slaughter of the new X-Men team was … bad, but otherwise, it was shocking in a way that advanced the story in a lot of good ways.

Man, it failed to live up to any promise though, didn’t it?

Scott: It most certainly did. 

As a concept, I liked the Gala. That the mutants have this big party and are at their peak, only for their enemies to attack after biding their time. Execution though left me wanting. That X-Men team moment, pure shock. Sets the scene and tone, throws us off guard. Totally on board in that respect. 

Where it lost me was that at last we finally had an X-Line up that was not skewing heavily towards white people set to be led by a minority couple…and all but that couple and the big bulky white dude died. (Sure we’re getting a mini, but it’s at the very tail end of everything). As much as I have liked portions of Duggan’s X-Men run (save for the most recent issue…screw that crap), the whiteness of it all has been so strikingly glaring. 

Essentially the Gala was that opening moment full of such promise only for the rest of the story to be a messy mostly let down before the proverbial credits roll. There is a universe out there where we got a similar Gala, and then it led into a bunch of well-oiled connected books spread through like six months or a year, really ramping things up for the triumphant rise of the mutants to try and fight back for their lives. 

Instead, we got… 

Fall of X

Tony: So we’ll get deeper as we talk but I think I’ll start with this statement — I think the Fall of X was a mixed bag of good and bad, often within the same title, with only one unqualified success. What did you think?

Scott:With the caveat that I have not read two of the series, I can conclusively say that I will never actively pick up any of the books of this banner, save one or two, to read again. Once was more than enough. Some good, but way too much mediocre to bad or just utter wasted time clearly meant to spin wheels.

Tony: Which two didn’t you read?

Scott: I have the issues but need to finish Children Of The Vault and have to start Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant. Both slipped through the cracks of trying to keep up with the books I was reviewing, and reading other ones that actively exhausted me for some masochistic reason. 

Without actually copying and pasting, this is a space where I have to sort of repeat myself from above. If the core titles felt disjointed and disconnected, everything under the Fall Of X banner on the side was like the biggest tonal whiplash I can ever remember from any era of the X. Mutant kind was facing another genocide, and one might actually feel the dire nature of that in one book. Only for others to be too horny for their own good at times, and others basically completely ignored the overall threat for lighter fare. Then there were the actively insulting books where the whitest white man to ever white (and his Nazi twin) stood up to try and school minorities on things, while said minorities openly gushed about how handsome he was. 

Sorry, I was trying not to throw up again just thinking about that moment. 

Tony: I agree. But also, I did love how once again the Struckers’ powers coming back to haunt them- Kwannon taking their hands off was one of the best moments of the entire Fall of X.

I need to read Children of the Vault, which I think was good but remarkably disconnected. Uncanny Avengers was half decent, half groan-worthy. Wolverine, X-Force and X-Men ranged from okay to good. Immortal was one of the best of the bunch, but it was a little too high concept at times.

Meanwhile, Uncanny Spider-Man was a disaster in a lot of ways. Spurrier finally wrote Kurt in character, but it kept having major moments that were remarkably bad- something you and I both talked about at length at different outlets. Alpha Flight was okay but forgettable. And Astonishing Iceman continued Steve Orlando’s trend of “hey, remember this continuity detail? Well, I do.” And that’s very much to his books’ detriment.

The only one of the bunch I’d recommend without qualifiers is Ms. Marvel, which was the best Ms. Marvel story since her creator, G. Willow Wilson, left Marvel.

Scott: I’ll have to definitely finally read that one. That sentence though in a way is a shame to see, since Kamala has been a linchpin character in so much of Marvel’s outside of comics media expansions. Yet, in her birthplace of comics she’s been relegated to mini-series, minor team books, or supporting character.

You summed up each of the books pretty perfectly. Just a messy hodgepodge of things that would be hard to even say were connected were it not for the theme logo on the covers (and our knowledge of the characters publishing line statuses). 

Dealing in what ifs is always to me a sort of pointless affair when talking about reality, since we only have one direction to go, forward. That being said, it’s hard not to wonder what this fall would have been like were it actually handled by that super connected family like writers room of the Krakoan beginnings. We stopped hearing about the X-Slack forever ago, and it seems no coincidence that happened as the room became more established, set in their ways, white dudes. 

Not to say they were not collaborating in some capacity.  But it’s clear that things are not as intertwined as they once were. Taking away those different voices seemed to have pulled a spark from the line and it never recovered. Everything just became a race to each book’s personal finish line, even if that counteracted every other book. Some have even spoken a bit that some of their plans had been constructed to potentially take them through many more years. Which a lot of creators do often just in case, but I think here it’s become inherently clear someone or someones at Marvel pushed the timeline up rapidly for Krakoa’s end. 

What’s Next

Tony: I think we can both agree, the year ahead can either be summed up as “cautious optimism” or “hopeful skepticism.” We have another 6 months of Krakoa stories and then what we know right now as only X-Men From The Ashes, the beginning of the X-Men’s latest era under longtime Marvel editor Tom Brevoort.

Scott: With every promo, mention, or bit that comes out I definitely feel myself falling more into certain directions about the future. How do you follow up one of the most truly transformative eras of X-Men comics? One that saw the marginalized masses at their peak of success, throwing off the shackles that held them down in a society that hated and feared them. If this was any publisher other than current Marvel the answer to that might be way more exciting to ponder than it currently has been. 

Doesn’t help in some ways who they tapped to usher in that new era.

I want to believe that it won’t just wholesale wipe away things, but we’re both well versed in how comics work. Not to mention, thinking about it, the modern X-eras mostly work as a new starting point that mostly forgets what just came before (outside of characterizations or minor things liked), including the Krakoa era in a way. 

Truthfully my biggest concern is that just like the last beats of the Krakoa era, all the progressive thought and new voices and diversity of ideas/characters/deliveries will be wiped away for comic book standard. I have little doubt that the creative teams announced, mostly writers, will be a stable of the whitest of white and probably predominantly male. 

Tony: Yeah, we’ve had this conversation offline. Brevoort is often a good editor, and he’s overseen some of the greatest runs in comics history- Waid and Wieringo Fantastic Four, Hickman’s Fantastic Four and Avengers, Busiek/Perez Avengers- but he’s never been in the X-office. He also doesn’t have the greatest track record with diversity, which is something the industry needs in general but the X-line really needs to thrive (if Krakoa has taught us anything). 

Now, he could prove us wrong, bring in some incredible creators. But he could also bring in a bunch of the usual suspects, and in comics that means a relatively homogenous group. I’m trying to be optimistic, but the move from the remarkably progressive Krakoan line to a relaunch that every bit of news we’ve gotten is backwards looking… It’s not great.

Scott: Funny, not funny, fact. Way back in 2005 there was the massive shift to the X-Line in the form of Decimation which wiped out so many characters. Barely an adult me was quite upset even though I had just gotten back into comics two years before. Long story short, a bunch of folks including myself decided to write a fan fiction universe where the Decimation didn’t happen. It was my first fan fiction writing ever. 

That first writing led to more sites, which led to us meeting each other, and here we are all these years later writing about another major X-change that is making me consider fan fiction. Huh, time really might be a flat circle. 

Tony: No kidding. I’m in the mode of cautious optimism though. Let’s see if Marvel can make it work. If so, great. If not… well, I’ll pull any titles I’m interested in and skip the rest. No skin off my back.