Professor X opens the shores of Krakoa to all of mutant kind on R.B. Silva and Marte Garcia’s cover to Powers of X Vol. 1 #4 “Sinister” (2019), Marvel Comics
In an unfortunately apt example of the idea that ‘You can’t win ’em all’, Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Hickman has admitted that due to events out of his control preventing him from actually closing out the ambitious X-Men story arc, he he considers his work on the team’s ‘Krakoan Age’ to be his “most disappointing creative experience”.
Professor X oversees the first resurrection of the Krakoan Age in House of X Vol. 1 # 6. “Society” (2019) Words by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia, and Clayton Cowles.
An overarching storyline that ran across the entirety of the publisher’s X-Men line from 2019-2024, the Krakoan Age revolved around the idea of Professor X terraforming the sentient island of Krakoa into a universal home for all of mutant-kind, in doing so attempting to take his people out of the shadows and give them protection in the form of a Homo Superior-based ethnostate.
Originally, Hickman planned for this storyline to be a grand, three-part epic, its narrative providing a similar ‘status quo elevation’ to the X-Men that his Infinity arc did for the Avengers.
Cyclops extends a Krakoa invitation to Franklin Richards in House of X Vol. 1 # 5. “Society” (2019) Words by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia, and Clayton Cowles.
However, this epic would never come to be, as when Hickman was gearing up to move the story into its second act, he was shocked to learn that “to a man, everyone wanted to stay in the first act”.
“It was really interesting,” he told Entertainment Weekly in August 2021, “because I appreciated that House of X resonated with them to the extent that they didn’t want it to end, but the reality was that I knew I would be leaving the line early.”
As such, Hickman worked with Marvel Comics to reorient the entire X-Men line, thus taking a sledgehammer to his original plans for the entire Krakoan affair.
Professor X and Magento revel in Krakoa’s establishment in House of X Vol. 1 # 6. “I Am Not Ashamed” (2019) Words by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Pepe Larraz, Marte Garcia, and Clayton Cowles.
Hickman, who has since gone on to pen the currently ongoing Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 and the soon-to-release Imperial crossover, reflected on his time with Marvel’s Merry Band of Mutants during an appearance on the 498th episode of the comic book-centric Off Panel podcast, as hosted by David Harper.
Fielding questions from Harper’s Patreon subscribers, Hickman was at one point turned to the topic of Krakoa and asked as to what, if anything, “really stood out about that experience overall to you”, to which he affirmed, “I’ve said this multiple places at this point, but it is the most disappointing creative experience that I’ve had because I didn’t finish the story I set out to do, which is a cardinal sin and a total bummer.”
Off Panel #498: Committed to Beef with Jonathan Hickman
[Time Stamp: 01:00:16]
“In my head, working the way that it works, I’ve tried to reverse engineer how it could have worked,” he told Harper. “I don’t think there’s a version of it where it wasn’t me not getting to finish it. So you know it’s a lot of business stuff, Covid stuff, publishing schedule stuff. Like, it was a perfect storm of really, really bummer things that just derailed the project, and so it’s really, really difficult for me to talk about it or think about it in any kind of positive aspect. Because I would’ve crushed it.”
“Like, if you’d talked to anybody who was in the room for the initial full pitch of where everything was going, I told them what the three arcs were,” the East of Eden co-creator recalled. “I reserve the right to keep stuff back as I always do, but I mean the point of the book, I was very clear about what it was. You talk to people in the room, and they know what the whole thing was.”
Cyclops shares his confidence in Krakoa with Polaris in X-Men Vol. 5 #1 “Pax Krakoa” (2021), Marvel Comics. Words by Jonathan Hickman, art by Lenil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles.
“It’s a bummer, it’s a real bummer, but win some, lose some, and you move on,” he then admitted. ” will say that I really love the people that I work with during a really, really difficult time. I thought I had some banger issues, some really great X-Men moments. I just hate that I didn’t get to finish it.”
However, despite his disappointment in being unable to properly wrap up the X-Men’s island adventures, Hickman made it clear that he did not “begrudge anyone” who subsequently handled his idea.
“First of all everybody in that office worked very very hard,” he said. “One of the reasons why I don’t like talking about it is that people immediately think that I’m throwing shade, or that I’m upset with editorial, or that I’m upset with the company, or that I’m upset with the other creators and all that kind of stuff. It’s on me to tell the story that I’m supposed to tell – like that’s on me and the artists who are doing the book – and it just couldn’t be helped.”
Emma Frost oversees the resurrection of Magneto and Professor X in Inferno Vol. 2 #4 “The Death of Moira X” (2022), Marvel Comics. Words by Jonathan Hickman, art by Valerio Schiti, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel, and Joe Sabino.
“I don’t have any negative feelings about any of the other stuff outside of me not not bringing it home,” added Hickman. “But it was complicated and convoluted and, you know, I don’t think I’ll ever talk about it because I think that’s sh—y. There was no way around it. Just a product of the time is what I would say.”
Wrapping his thoughts on this particular question, the Marvel Comics mainstay ultimately told his host, “Listen the House of X still sells really well. That trade does great. People will still read that trade uh years from now, and so you know, I’m super thrilled with the work that went into that and how it came out and all of that kind of stuff.”
The Quiet Council assembles once more in Inferno Vol. 2 #4 “The Death of Moira X” (2022), Marvel Comics. Words by Jonathan Hickman, art by Valerio Schiti, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel, and Joe Sabino.
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Marvel Comics mainstay Jonathan Hickman still disappointed by the fact that he could not properly close out his ‘Krakoan Age’ X-Men story. Read More