
So, I've been reading X-Men again. There are a few reasons why.
Chiefly, X-Men '97 had a real hold on me. I was exactly the right age for X-Men: The Animated Series and the revival hit at just the right time, during a dark year for me that needed some escapism.
And I'd been hearing interesting things about Jonathan Hickman's run on the title, the self-titled "Krakoan" era of the books that took them in a crazy new direction. That run was coming to a close, and I've read so much of X-Men over the years (over a thousand issues, easily), that I thought with it ending I'd get to dive into a complete epic story I was familiar.
And then an acquaintance of mine, Marvel writer Jed MacKay (he was published in an Engen Book back in the day, Dystopia from the Rock) got assigned to take over the X-Men series with Gail Simone once The Krakoan Era ended, and I like supporting him and his work, but wanted to read the arcs leading into it. If this was a new beginning, what was it beginning from?
All those were great reasons to pick up the Krakoan Era of X-Men. It's crazy good, like a heady science-fiction concept by Robert Heinlein. It actually reads at time like Hickman had this concept ready to go and just slotted the X-Men in, but either way: it works. Big, global-politics X-Men storytelling that's removed from the main action of the Marvel Universe but feels like it's one of the biggest movers and shakers happening at the time it was being printed.
In addition to the monthly titles and regular trades, they published these sleek volumes that were somewhere in between, that basically replicate the experience of picking up a month's worth of issues. It continues the ongoing stories of all the books packaged together in such a way as to infer that this is one ongoing story... but it's not one. I appreciate the effort, but it's not.
Dawn of X vol 12 collects Hellions (2020) # 4, Marauders (2019) # 10, X-Factor (2020) # 1, Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto (2020) # 1, Cable (2020) # 2. And they're all their own thing. Yes, broadly, in the grander Krakoan-Era Marvel Comics way of looking at things that nerds like me like to, it is a part of the larger story. In the same way that part of me always wanted trades that just reproduce the Marvel Universe in chronological order. When I was a kid the Marvel Universe was one big tapestry, and I wanted it all and ate up all that I could.
But as an adult in the writing industry, this is not "all one story" in the way we talk about story, nor in the way the general public talks about story. This is five random issues linked together only through their chronology: things on the island of Krakoa happened, in this order, roughly. But make no mistake they are single issues by individual writers, and the links between them are tenuous. And they aren't even all self-contained.
We start with Hellions # 4, completing its four-issue opening storyarc. It's a great story with good art exploring characters that aren't often explored and the consequences of Xavier's deal with Sinister... but it's an odd choice to start here. At the end of "Chapter One" of this collection, you're left with a sense of finality. Marauders #10 continues the ongoing tale of the thought-dead Kitty Pride and deepens the mystery of why she can't step onto the island (the only mutant who can't), but it's very much a middle chapter. The book, frustratingly, also ends with a middle-chapter, Cable # 2, which continues the story of Young Cable... dating five clones of Emma Frost while having an 80s-movie-themed adventure as a SpaceKnight... like, as in, Rom the SpaceKnight... and it's good fun if you like 80s good fun, but wow it does not seem to fit with the others.
You'll noticed I skipped a few, and they were standouts, for different reasons. Neither bad, but on better than the other. We'll start with the lesser, Giant-Size Magneto # 1. This is a simple done-in-one-issue story about Magneto going to buy an island for Emma Frost. That's it, that's the whole story. It's very well told and the art is spectacular, but I can't help but feel like it could have been told in a single panel. Decompression in comics has been the order of the day for twenty-five years now, but when Bendis started the trend back in the day you still felt like you got a full story out of the decompression, or at least a chapter. This is fun and, again, gorgeous, but it really feels like in a series where endless things happen offscreen and we're just told about them, the really could have been summarized too.
And the standout in a good way in X-Factor # 1, a new series with a new X-Factor Investigations looking into the murder of French-Canadian mutant Aurora and ending up with a mandate to look into all missing mutants to either get them home, or, report them as dead so that they can be resurrected. It's really great, it's really smart, the art in energetic and is has a great cast. And best of all, it obeys all the rules of story.

No really, X-Factor # 1 works in a way that's kind of astounding. It's written by Leah Williams who clearly has an insanely high grasp of structure.
Story Circle: 1. We start on Krakoa with Northstar lounging with the other mutants. We don't need to spend a lot of time here: the other books have set up our "Introduction" but we get a glimpse. 2. We get a clearly defined WANT when Northstar's connection to his twin sister alerts him that she is dead. Northstar is an impulsive character, so he jumps right into 3. TAKING ACTION / ENTERING UNFAMILIAR... almost too quickly? But rather than being a writing flaw, this is a character flaw and Northstar is punished for it. But he takes progressive steps towards his goal that make sense for the world he's in.
This is the kind of thing that makes a genre story really work. Tremors is like this. There's a problem, the protagonist makes a logical choice to try to get out of it, but there's a complication that makes it not work, he takes another step to try and get out of it, rinse and repeat, escalating the feeling of peril with each iteration. This structure works. 4. ADAPTS: Northstar tries to get The Five to resurrect his sister, but they won't because there's no proof. So he tries to track her movements to get the proof he needs, goes to see Sage who tracks transit in and out of the island, finds out when she left and where from, goes to where she left from and the trail starts to run cold, but she bumps into Polaris who is ready to help. Notice here, great judicious use of Rule of Threes as well.
All wonderful. Here's where the narrative kind of reveals it's complexity... because Northstar's larger arc was wanting to get his sister back, but he's also been asking for help and not getting it, and in teaming with Polaris that arc closes and he once again ENTERS AN UNFAMILIAR SITUATION, that of being on an investigative team. Good stuff! He and Polaris recruit the rest of the team that will become X-Factor and they all head off, each of them having their own methods and opinions on how to solve the case, forming a nice little FOUR CORNER OPPOSITION. At a glance, it looks like you have characters who are in this for the thrill and characters who are in this because they care, and characters with a straightforward motivation with characters with hidden motivation, with Polaris landing right in the "because she cares" and "with mysterious motivation" square.
They 5. FIND Aurora as a team, but 6. PAY A HEAVY PRICE: she is dead, and it's not pretty. There's a mystery as to what happened. Northstar 7. RETURNS to the Five with his sister's body, proving that she's dead, and now the situation 8. HAS CHANGED and they listen, moving her up to que to be brought back to life.
But then the larger arc that will setup the series continues, because this isn't just a stellar story, it's a first issue of a series. So all of this, in a way, was an INTRODUCTION to Northstar and the other character's current status disguised as a stand-alone issue (the way to do it! Other comic writers, take note!). And now that that story is done, we're back meeting with Xavier's Council (back where we started, having changed) and they form X-Factor Investigations into a formal team to find other missing mutants... Polaris is handed leadership, but gives it over to Northstar, ending Act 1 of the series by having him ENTER this UNFAMILIAR SITUATION.
And the story ends with the POINT concisely, with Northstar leading a new X-Factor team.
That works. X-Factor by Leah Williams, that works. That is good structural storytelling. If I were reorganizing this collection, it'd be to highlight X-Factor # 1 as the focal point.
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