State Of The X-Line: A Krakoan Goodbye

The age of Krakoa is over. At least the version that fans have come to know and love for years. With the release of X-Men #35/Uncanny X-Men #700 the colorful and transformative period of comics has ended to make room for what comes next.

When House Of X and Powers Of X debuted in 2019, holding down the whole X-Line solo for almost four months, it was clear something special was afoot.

From the introduction of the Krakoan society to the Moira lives revelation to resurrection to the amnesty that brought ‘villain’ and ‘hero’ mutants together. Something bloomed at that moment. A line that was willing to not only try new ideas but put spotlights upon characters and situations that normally were ignored in the more status quo minded eras.

An infusion of new voices behind the pages brought a different energy to the mutants we know and love. Allowing a fluidity to relationships, genders, sexualities, powers, societal notions, community, and more like never before in these pages.

Some of it hit and boosted a portion of fans that were hungry for something new. Other parts of it hit like a brick wall, leaving us begging for it to stop. Even the most revolutionary of changes comes with it’s pros and it’s cons. For a while, Krakoa came with far more pros than cons.

Unfortunately, that could not last.

As the time passed, voices changed as people left (whether voluntarily or not) or books were shelved. Their guiding hand from originator Jonathan Hickman left, as the line began to deviate from the plan as it had been designed.

I’ve been an X-Men fan since as long as I can remember. While it is en vogue again currently, my youth was spent watching the original version of X-Men: The Animated Series while sneaking into my parents room to read my mother’s X-Men comic stash. Slowly it morphed into picking up random comics of my own, devouring and loving X-Men Evolution and the first films as a teenager. When I came back into comics as an adult in 2003, it was the end of the Morrison era and the Re-Loaded relaunch that I gravitated to right away.

Yet, despite my deep love of the X-Men, there was always something seemingly missing that I never could really point to. Through all the decimations and extinctions it felt like I was beginning to lose some interest in the line. Too much dour depressing status quos and characters that felt like strangers.

Then Krakoa happened, and everything changed. For the first time in many years I felt a revived pure love for these characters. Watching as those that were long touted as stand ins for real world marginalized people finding a way to succeed and leave their oppressors behind. It hit right at a time where so many of us were finding voices, the world showing it’s ugly face once more, as we took to the streets and demanded better treatment.

Yes, these are just comics. What happens behind the pages with real people and even more so what happens in the real world for us all are always more important. Yet, seeing people that represent ourselves thriving and living on the page or the screen or anywhere else does have a power. It’s why things like Star Trek and so many other ‘better present and future’ stories have thrived for generations. Helping us imagine something better.

For a brief period of time in our lives, the Krakoan Era provided that on the pages of X-Men comics.

Krakoa came in with a bang, changing everything that was presumed to be a given about Marvel’s merry mutants. It went out with a whimper, bogged down with stories and books that had no reason to be other than to fill the shelves. Ideas that were wasted and glossed over, alongside those that were still trying to live up to what came before.

Sent away into exile, left in a separate toy box for any intrepid creators that might one day deem it worthy enough to dust off. In a time where the demands of the higher media offices will hold less sway, when nostalgia and status quo chasing to please a segment of a dwindling office are no longer king.

As a great man once said: “Everything ends, and it’s always sad. But everything begins again too, and that’s always happy.”

While the sentiment was correct for the great twelfth incarnation of the time and space traveling Doctor (played by the amazing Peter Capaldi, sentiments written by Steven Moffat) the happiness is not universal here.

Some will enter this new era, ready to see the X-Men “as they should be” in the minds of many. Fighting against bigots, trying to save and protect those from a world that hates and fears them. Scattered to the winds, trying to live alongside their oppressors, eschewing any idea of mutant community, society, and unity.

That’s a bit hyperbolic, because it’s not a true mindset of all fans excited for a new era.

I do not begrudge those that might actually be new to the X-Men or the few new fans to comics that trickle in. Or even those who are long-term fans just excited for what the comics bring. Any of them might find their version of the X-Men to love and cherish, as many of us have done in various new eras sprinkled through the decades. For some that was Krakoa, and for some it will be the From The Ashes days.

As for the rest of us, there is no happiness to be found in this new start. One that strips away all chances for new and fresh, to step back into well worn shoes that are fine but were mostly outgrown a long time ago.

It’s not a reason to be sad though.

Our happiness, if one wants to keep with the quote, comes from knowing what we had and being able to let go. To embrace that there are more things beyond this, and if that means taking a break from the X-Line, so be it.

There are scads of comic books, far beyond the shores of Marvel and DC, that take many of the elements that served Krakoa so well as a concept, and run even wilder and deeper with them. So many flavors of books deserve just as much of an audience as these corporate owned decades old IPs. Think of all the time that can be spent delving into them, finding that happiness that Krakoa brought just in a new form.

Things end, and that’s okay. New beginnings are always out there.

Goodbye (for now) Krakoa. We loved you for what you brought to the line, to the comics, and to our lives. While our time was cut short, as parts of the relationship began to sour, we’ll never forget what we once had together.

Perhaps one day, we’ll have that feeling (or something similar) again.

Once can only hope.