The X-Men fandom has been having an… interesting time over the last year. The Krakoa Era ended in what many fans think is the worst way possible during the first half of 2024, leading to Marvel editor Tom Brevoort’s “From the Ashes”, a back-to-basics approach to the X-Men that basically jettisoned everything about the Krakoa Era that fans loved, from the character developments to the political subtext. It’s a back-to-basics approach that many X-Men fans do not like, souring them on “From the Ashes” and reinforcing the desire to have the Krakoa Era back. They’ll criticize the quality, the ideas, the characters, but I think it’s something else that’s really bothering them.
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The Krakoa Era was definitely groundbreaking, but it wasn’t all that groundbreaking. Mutants had nations where heroes and villains coexisted. There were some great books and stories in the Krakoa Era, but he run also had some problems. However, one thing that we forget about the Krakoa Era is the circumstances of the world in which it began. The Krakoa Era was popular from its beginning in 2019, but then 2020 arrived and the world changed. The pandemic put all lives on pause, and fans were looking for community. The Krakoa Era gave us that, and I think that’s what fans actually miss, even though most of them couldn’t put that into words.
The Pandemic Defined the Early Days of the Krakoa Era
COVID-019 hit the Western world at the beginning of 2020, and ground things to a halt as it spread further. The United States would begin taking measures to slow the spread starting in March 2020; While some states took longer to begin their lockdowns, by April, most of the U.S. was following suit. You had a bunch of people without anything to do; X-Men fans were riding the momentum of the Krakoa Era, as the team of X-writers created this amazing setting for the characters we loved so much.
I think one of the things we all forget is how expansive it all felt; a big strength of those early months was the world-building of Krakoa. Fans loved the setting: Our favorite characters had freedom that they hadn’t enjoyed in years (freedom that readers couldn’t enjoy in that moment), and they were actually happy. It was so much fun reading those early Krakoa books because you could lose yourself in the island and its culture. After years of seeing the X-Men treated like garbage both in-universe and out, Krakoa was a breath of fresh air. Additionally, the X-Men community actually felt like a community back then. Everyone (okay, not everyone, Krakoa had some haters…) was excited, talking about all of the new stuff, and trying to predict what was going to come next. We were suddenly trapped in our homes, but our minds were free, living in Krakoa alongside our favorite characters.
And I think that’s what fans miss. Not so much the stories, but the escapism. Krakoa gave X-Men fans a place to put their minds while their bodies were trapped in their homes. It gave us a sense of community that we didn’t have before in X-Men books. The X-Men fan community can be a… contentious space. Much of the tension fell away in those early days of the Krakoa Era. The haters had mostly fallen off, and all that was left were the people who loved it. We loved the ideas, the setting, and the way it felt like a political evolution the world needed to consider. The Krakoa Era made the X-Men way more overtly progressive, and that brought in a whole new demographic of reader. Our lives had been put on pause, but we had the freedom of Krakoa; the world was dark and getting darker, but we could go to Krakoa and discover a new place as our favorite characters were discovering it. The fan community was overwhelmingly positive: we were in the pandemic together, and it felt good to have a place for our fandom to gather. It let us forget what was happening in the world at the time and concentrate on something else. Krakoa was freedom when we needed it the most.
The Krakoa Era Felt Like Our Community
The Krakoa Era happened at the right time; it felt fresh and new, and grabbed our imaginations. After the pandemic began and the lockdowns occurred, we needed Krakoa. It put our minds in their new place, exploring it both on our own and with our fellow fans. It was never perfect from a story (or art) standpoint; the books ran the gamut from great to mediocre. However, it gave us a community when we needed it.
That sense of community is missing in the current X-Men books. I’ve written a lot about the shortcomings of “From the Ashes”, so I’m not going to go into all of that now, but I will say this — we’re in a time where we need community, and the “From the Ashes” books aren’t giving us that. The quality of the comics is very mixed; it’s all so familiar, and the politics of “From the Ashes” is hidebound compared to what we’re seeing in the world right now. Krakoa gave us something necessary and timely, and we miss that more than anything.
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