This X-Men article contains major spoilers for the Krakoa era comics.
These concepts have always been at the heart of theX-Menstory.
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The More Things Change…
The Krakoa era began with an appropriately uncanny image.
Golden eggs under a rich, lush tree, with beams of sunlight piercing the landscape.
Two figures emerge from the eggs, immediately identifiable as Scott Summers and Jean Grey.
To me, my X-Men, says Xavier in extreme close-up.
With this conceit came some daring elements.
Essentially, the Mutants became immortal.
Thanks to these and other developments, the mutants entered the next stage of their evolution.
They no longer needed to fight for a world that hated and feared them.
The mutants could take their powers to their full potential, and thrive as they never had before.
Too many books, messy continuity, and unnecessary crossover events mucked things up from the start.
In addition to the flagshipX-Menseries, Marvel published a constant stream of spin-off books.
Tini HowardsExcaliburfeatured Captain Britain Betsy Braddock and other mutants dealing with magical threats.
Look, no ones going to expect Marvel to not produce a monthly Wolverine book.
X Livesdoesnt make much sense (how do regular people sprout tentacles when they get possessed byOmega Red?
- ), but its a fun look back at Wolverines many incarnations.
Judgment Day, an event that tied the X-Men tothe Eternalsandthe Avengers, at least in theory.
The X-Men have been basically immortal since the first time Professor X revealed that he faked his death.
Since then, almost every character has died and returned at least once.
The initial books of the era even dealt with the knotty questions raised by resurrection.
Havok must fight to getMadelyne Pryorresurrected after all the damage that she did in the past.
When Rockslide resurrects differently, is he the same person or something different?
All of these fascinating questions play out in the first couple years of the Krakoa era.
But by the timeA.X.E.released, immortality was just one more reason for humans to hate the mutants.
But the moral debates that followed got brushed aside with a few lines of dialogue.
Krakoa began with so much more promise.
It was, in their mind, an act of national survival.
Recall 2020sX-Men#4, by Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu.
The moral lines shifted.
But by the end of the era, the moral lines were more or less clean.
Humans hated mutants, who once again had to use their powers to defend themselves and the world.
Hundreds of mutants died without hope of resurrection, and Xavier pushed the survivors off the island.
Thats the nature of superhero storytelling.
These concepts have always been at the heart of theX-Menstory, but they rarely driveX-Mencomics themselves.
But with From the Ashes now on the horizon, we once again dare to hope.
X-Men #35 is out now.
