X-Men/Fantastic Four vol2 #1 (2020)
by Chip Zdarsky & Terry Dodson
Was there ever any doubt that Doctor Doom would show up in a series like this?
We are currently in the “Krakoa era” of the X-Men. It derives its name from the fact that the X-Men are residing in the newly created country of Krakoa, which is actually a living island.
This is not the first time that the X-Men gave automatic citizenship to any mutant that wants to live in their newly formed nation (we’ve had Genosha and Utopia), but if you thought that the X-Men of other eras isolated themselves from the rest of the world… that was nothing compared to Krakoa.
Admittedly I haven’t read a ton of X-Men stories from this period, but if I understand correctly being a mutant was basically the only criteria… they even let freaking APOCALYPSE join the council leading the place!!!
While there are plenty of cool and interesting ideas (it’s a fairly competent mix of fantasy, science fiction and political thriller tropes)… something never sit right with me with this era of the X-Men, and I’m kind of a casual fan of their franchise to begin with.
All this just to cover my back because I really, REALLY don’t feel qualified to pass judgment on the Krakoa era.
But of interest to THIS review is that the X-Men themselves question how to handle Franklin Richards, considering he’s not just an incredibly powerful mutant… he’s probably the most powerful mutant who doesn’t live in Krakoa.
So Magneto and Professor X… yes that’s him in that goofy helmet… basically decide they’re going to recruit Franklin for Krakoa.
This attitude is to be expected from Magneto, even if he’s supposedly in one of his heroic phases… but I really, really, REALLY don’t like Professor X in this.
The fact that he looks completely ridiculous certainly doesn’t help.
He’s counting on the personal connection that Kitty Pryde shared with Frankling during Fantastic Four vs X-Men to make the argument to leave his family sound more appealing.
Sounds legit.
As a reminder, in this period Franklin is slightly older than he should be (because he spent a couple of years outside of the universe), has hit puberty and is in a rebellious phase to the point of dying his hair black.
So he’s not in the best mood for having lost his powers.
There’s also a lot of resentment towards Reed, who hasn’t found a way to fully restore Franklin’s powers.
Although I appreciate that he’s not being entirely unfair here…
Not to mention that the Thing now fully trusts Reed. Compare and contrast with the original Fantastic Four / X-Men miniseries, where he was REALLY easy to convince otherwise.
The X-Men show up at the FF base (which is in Yancy Street in this period) for the sales pitch.
Great idea to show up, unannounced, closing ranks around the Fantastic Four. It REALLY sells the idea that you’re only here for Franklin’s sake.
Did I mention that I really, REALLY don’t like Professor X in this?
When you’re in the same room as MAGNETO and YOU are giving the mutant supremacy speech, that’s not a good sign!!!
Am I being too harsh on Chuck? I feel like his argument basically boils down to “we are the ones with the most power and so we are the ones to dictate the rules”… isn’t that supposed to be MAGNETO’s ideology???
I am asking with all sincerity to any X-Men fan who likes the Krakoan era: can you disagree with Susan’s position here and still consider the X-Men the good guys?
Also Magneto is being a COLOSSAL hypocrite here: the concern now is Franklin’s security?
REALLY? You seriously want to compare the safety of the Fantastic Four headquarters against the X-Men headquarters!?
I’m a self-admitted casual X-Men fan but I believe the score is something like…
Deaths caused by the destruction of Fantastic Four headquarters: 0
Deaths caused by the destruction of X-Men headquarters: dozens
Deaths caused by the destruction of a mutant nation: millions
That’s what I was saying, Thing!
Up to this point Kitty is the only X-Man with an understandable point of view because she’s the only one who actually bothers to ASK FRANKLIN WHAT HE WANTS.
Too bad that she did this by sneaking Franklin out of the house and bring him to one of the teleportation portals that allow access to Krakoa.
This turns into, of course, a big dumb family battle.
Notice that Reed and Susan are not against the idea of Franklin eventually moving to Krakoa. They are more concerned by the sudden interest of Xavier to bring him there immediately, and frankly THEY SHOULD BE.
So up to this point I’ve been VERY critical of the X-Men and defensive of Reed… but he then does one of the dumbest things he could’ve done in this situation.
The Thing continues to be the most relatable character in this story.
Followed by Susan, because of course.
Franklin then decides that if he’s not going to use the portal to get to Krakoa, he can get there with the boat that the X-Men are currently using on a mission.
Too bad that the boat is intercepted by Valeria’s godfather.
X-Men/Fantastic Four vol2 #2 (2020)
by Chip Zdarsky & Terry Dodson
Of course when you involve the X-Men, you run the risk of involving dozens of them.
After the disappearance of the kids, the FF suspect the X-Men are involved for obvious reasons.
Cyclops isn’t any better than Xavier, considering he very blatantly doesn’t care about Valeria AT ALL just because she’s a mutant.
Please explain to me why Cyclops shouldn’t come off as INCREDIBLY racist here.
One of the reasons why I didn’t spend too much time listing my problems with Krakoa?
Susan is basically doing the job for me.
Meanwhile, Doctor Doom is serving dinner.
The reason why the X-Men were on a boat is that they were trying to rescue some mutants…
…who were never lost in the first place. Because it turns out that Doctor Doom ALSO has an island for mutants.
Obviously Doom has ulterior motives… HE’S DOCTOR DOOM, of course he does… but to me he comes off as way more reasonable than the X-Men here.
The X-Men have been throwing around their newfound power lately, and Doom relocated the Latveria mutants to this island to avoid an all-out war between Krakoa and Latveria.
Which isn’t exactly a good thing… you just KNOW the Latverian mutants weren’t asked… but considering the alternatives?
By the way, there is a page with a useful graphic that informs us there are about 200,000 mutants living in Krakoa and 10,000 living elsewhere (there is no number for “omega-level mutants” but from the graphic there’s less than 50).
This is a big problem I have with most of the X-Men series of the 21st century (as this really kicked off only from 2000 onwards)… there are WAY TOO MANY MUTANTS for me to accept that Earth wouldn’t be unrecognizable by having so many superpowers around.
Also, to prove the Thing’s point from earlier? MOST of these Krakoan citizens will die by the end of the era.
All superhero teams spend more time planning how to fight other superheroes rather than worrying about missing children and teammates, right? No? Just the X-Men?
To be fair, they DO need to defend themselves this time… but mostly because they brought this to themselves.
Those 200,000 are STILL not enough to stop an incredibly angry mother.
Meanwhile Doom is giving a tour of his island…
…and being a magnificently manipulative bastard.
You can tell Franklin has matured because while he’s willing to listen to what Doom has to offer, he doesn’t buy in the slightest that he’s doing it for selfless reasons.
Remember when Kitty was the only reasonable X-Man in this book? Good times.
I should remind you that Doctor Doom has previously tried to sacrifice Franklin to the Devil and, IN A COMPLETELY SEPARATE OCCASION, has exiled him to Hell.
And yet he’s STILL the most reasonable authority figure Franklin can currently rely on.
Yeah, Doom has been plenty reasonable so far.
Pay no attention to how he’s building himself an army of Doom Sentinels.
Doom significance: 0/10
Ultimately doesn’t have a lot of consequences besides making the X-Men distrust Doom, but what else is new?
Silver Age-ness: 0/10
Not really.
Will it stand the test of time?
If you like the Krakoan era: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you dislike the Krakoan era or know nothing about it: 8/10
That’s really the elephant in the island. While I appreciate the era has several things in its favor on a technical level, I have a reeeeally hard time not to root against the X-Men for most of it.
And I get the feeling that Chip Zdarsky is WAY more on the side of the Fantastic Four in this; Reed does some questionable things, but compared to the X-Men he’s kind of a saint.
Because if I haven’t made the point abundantly clear, I think the X-Men are just HORRIBLE here… is everyone now buying the whole “Magneto was right” crap? How are these heroes!?!?
It’s so blatant that I think poking holes into the Krakoa situation was one of the major goals of the miniseries, and as such I’m not detracting any points.
I should also point out that the artwork is just gorgeous: I’ve always had a soft spot for Dodson, but he’s just incredible in this.
Crazy tech
Doom managing to hide his island to the X-Men doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering the kind of truly bonkers resources the X-Men have at their disposal in this era… yeah that’s QUITE impressive.