I get that every writer wants to create new characters but this doesn't do much for me. Some good ideas though.

This book is just OK for me. The biggest struggle I have is that I don't like the team lineup at all so I'm not at all motivated to continue buying. It's kind of an issue I have with McKay's X-Men as well. I need flagship characters (which Betsy no longer is since she lost the Psylocke identity).

I do think this series is improving. The only problem I have with it is the core concept-- I'm not sold on Jean as a cosmic hero. What I love about Jean is her human side and her relationship with the X-Men. We're not seeing any of that which is a bit sad for me.

I think the editors should consider giving her more earth time but releasing the Phoenix power when on earth to balance things out. more

Not a bad debut. Not overly fond of the art style and the cast doesn't do much for me. This just doesn't feel like the cast of a flagship X-book.

And thus ends an era. The issue itself is a solid conclusion, with the idea of what happened to the mutants stuck in the White Hot Room being a particularly lovely idea — I adore the concept of the Krakoan dream ascending to Heaven, leaving its flawed architects behind to exist forever in an unreachable eternity. But it suffers in places from the rift in talent between its writers, with (presumably) Ewing giving a lovely scene between a reborn Magneto and Xavier and (unmistakably) Duggan giving us one last moment of out-of-character ultraviolence with Nightcrawler casually ripping out an enemy's eyes.

The Krakoan era was an odd beast, reinvigorating the X-Men at a time when I would have sworn they were a dead concept continuing on for no reason except that they were lucrative IP, but designed to merely be phase one of a never-completed Hickman megaplot.

The concept always had a sloppiness that reiterated its originally limited intentions, a sort of Potemkin village where only the protagonists were ever real. Krakoa was an island with no media, no art, no sports, no culture, few living spaces and no place to go except the one tiki bar with the one bartender, a place where nobody seemed to mind that the architect of one of the worst genocides in mutant history was on the ruling council or that the ruling council was self-appointed. (While much of that is because it wasn't meant to last so long, an innate aversion to democracy has always marked Hickman's constructions.) For all its immense utopian promises Krakoa was never more than a storehouse for NPCs who seemed to do little with their lives but stand around waiting to be added to the cast of the 27th monthly X-title. One could fairly accuse Krakoa of being little more than the high-concept equivalent of the smoke that endlessly drifts around a Liefeld character's feet.

But Krakoa was also a framework that forced writers to tell new and exciting stories at a time when the X-Men had been lost in the metaphorical wilderness through years of storytelling that was either sloppy (Bendis, Fraction), lazy and uninspired (Guggenheim, Lemire), or Whedon. Krakoa forced writers out of the comfort zones that they'd been trapped in with brilliant new ideas like the resurrection protocols, which broke the X-Men free from the drab cycle of routine deaths and returns and forced writers to find new ways to make the threat of death meaningful. Krakoa opened the door to new stories and new ways of looking at the X-Men in a way that nothing else had even come close to since Morrison. And while the era had its duds, there were some truly great comics that came out in the last five years: HoXPox, Way of X, Hellions, Sabretooth, X-Men: Red, Immortal X-Men — and of course the greatest of them all, X-Terminators.

And now we're headed into the backlash era. Just as Austen and Whedon followed Morrison, the conservative "back to basics" retrenchment must come after all experimental phases in superhero comics because corporate IP management means superheroes can never grow and change more than temporarily these days. I'm excited about the creative teams (I mean, Gail Simone writing X-Men!!!) and ready to love the new era and certainly ready to move on from the quagmire of Fall of X. But whatever critiques I had of it, I'm truly sad to see Krakoa go. more

I'm finding this lame duck era especially bad. Here we just get more of Duggan's pets (Laura, Emma, Kitty, Everett) continue to do their shtick and get more of the continued vilification of Xavier.

Wow. This is incredibly bad. Weird jokes in the fighting. Plot points that make no sense. While I think Duggan had good issues, this one is not it.

More Cypher please!

Yearning for a fresh take.

Personally I am happy one Laura was removed from the board. I hate the proliferation of duplicate and/or derivative characters.

It seems that Synch's Vault story has gone awry though. Synch's story was heartbreaking-- an ancient man stuck in a young man's body without the love of his life. Instead of exploring that theme, Duggan just gave him the love interest. Steps have been skipped in tight storytelling at all points.

I think this is better than a lot of recent issues, although I still can't imagine how Shadowkat with a K passed editorial. more

Was so looking forward to this. I don't think it is remotely good nor will it have any lasting impact. Yet another example of the Krakoan era whimpering and limping out.

The summer relaunch is so desperately needed.

Overall, not impressed. Need Rasputin IV and Ms. Marvel to be gone. I don't care where, just not in a flagship X-Men title.

Positive points for seeing actual A-list X-Men together: Kitty, Kurt, Peter, Logan, Remy and Rogue in a panel together? Almost unheard of compared to the try hards they have littering these titles.

Looking forward to a new lead voice for the X-Men who doesn't come up with dumb things like Shadowkat with a k. more

Good God the Krakoa era just needs to die.

Has some good retcons, has some unnecessary retcons. The X-Office continues to vilify Xavier and soften villains. Can Spurrier be done with Nightcrawler now?

If Iceman is popular enough to have his own solo series over so many other mutants, it better be good. This is just treading water.

It’s gotten to the point where every issue in this series feels forced and repetitive. I feel like I’m reading the same dialogue each month with different names and locations sprinkled throughout. Romeo is concerned with Bobby pushing himself too hard. Bobby pushes himself even harder while delivering one-liners that fall flat. Random Orchis villain plans an attack and tries to draw Bobby ouy. Bobby saves the day. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. I see no vision for what Orlando is building towards other than having fun writing a queer mutant. There’s nothing wrong with that, but Orlando’s execution is failing his main character. What saves the day is Vincenzo Carratù’s captivating artwork which captures Iceman’s powers in some of the most vivid and imaginative ways in recent memory. more

To cap off their sham nuptials, Tony and Emma embark on a sham honeymoon as a farce to hide the next phase of their plans to take down Orchis. Compared to Astonishing Iceman, Gerry Duggan’s run on this series shows how you can land one-liners while building a narrative and advancing a plot beyond individual issues. I’ve loved how Duggan has written Tony and Emma’s “will-they” or “won���t-they” chemistry because it all feels completely natural now that we know their true intentions. I also appreciate that Duggan hasn’t tried to make Tony into some stalwart, mutant defender, which wouldn’t come across as a role he’d assume. Instead, Duggan’s kept Tony’s intentions squarely on his own personal vendetta against Orchis/Feilong, making the payoff of Tony seemingly getting the upper hand again by the end of the issue all the more satisfying. more

As with last month, I am not a fan of Spurrier's X-writing but this has been good.

I blame editorial for small things like Dagger saying "moaning" instead of "complaining". She's American, Spurrier is British, get it right folks.

Docking .5 for Nightcralwer saying "F@#%@ off". He's not a character who curses.

So I HATED Way of X. I HATED Legion of X even more and all the Onslaught garbage too. Expected to hate this but gave it a fair shake.

As a Nightcrawler fan I feel like this is a return to form. It helps that he jettisoned the clunky supporting cast of the last 2 books. (No one cares about Lost and Forgetmenot).

Liked the relationship between Kurt and Peter. Like the street level aspect which mutants don’t usually get. Intrigued to carry on, and I don’t give this score lightly. more

I feel like I'm wondering through the desert myself trying to find a way to enjoy this series again. Guillen is skilled in his storytelling with Exodus and Xavier but it's not hooking me. I'll see what happens but Fall of X isn't doing it for me.
Edit: I forgot to mention Paco Medina on art was nice and he gives Selene that beautifully menacing look.

I liked seeing Selene and Shaw. Unsure about the rest still.

Great to finally have a series with adult Jean. Would have been nice to have something where she isn't between life and death and flashbacking, but I can't deny that the writing and the art was top notch.

A definite step backwards in momentum; this felt like filler.

Low points:

- The jig is ALREADY up with Firestar? Wha???
- The continued idiotic spelling of Shadowkat. Maybe she can have an intervention by Cyklops and Nightkrawler.
- Continue retconning of Emma's deeds as a former villain. Even Butter Rum now?

I've generally liked the Duggan run but focus on the obvious pet characters is wearing thin; ready for a change. more

Ms. Marvel as one of the X-Men feels forced/contrived/MCUwashed.

The Kitty vs. ORCHIS scene was badass though.

Emma is Duggan's Mary Sue.

Don't at all like Ms. Marvel as a mutant.

Some things didn't add up like the practitioners of the Red Triangle Protocol.

Plausible practitioners of the Red Triangle Protocol

Angel
Nightcrawler
Shadowcat
Wolverine
Bishop
Forge
Gambit

Probably Not

Emma Frost (She would have her own defense; it was designed to withstand her in the first place)
Rasputin IV (if this technique survived generations)
Monet (never a student of Xavier; would use an Emma technique)
Synch (nevert a student of Xavier; would use an Emma technique but maybe learned from Jean)
Kwannon (never a student of Xavier)
Northstar (never a student of Xavier)
Aurora (never a student of Xavier; also a very fragile psyche)


No Way

Ms. Marvel - absolutely 100% implausible
Daken
Lourdes Chantel (trained by Emma if anyone, definitely not Xavier)
Talon more

This has spectacle, drama and awesome art to make it worth the extra money so Kudos to Gerry Duggan and all the fantastic artists. It sits up there with HOX/POX and Planet-X along with Immortal/Red as high points. But this issue is a series of whiplash acts coming out of the last 2 years where things advanced at a snails pace so the amped up level is just not registering correctly for me. I wish the X office hasn't delayed and slowed things unnecessarily so we had a better landing for Fall of X but hey it is what it is. The Ms. Marvel stuff is still a bitter pill to swallow along with Moira's character destruction are problems and matters not handled well. This issue works as well as it did because the artists from Larraz/RB.Silva/Vecchio/Cassara/Pina/Anka/Dauterman/Lolli/Kubert along with colorists have delivered amazing art. I only care about Immortal and Red and those are the only titles I will continue to follow because of creators. If those go then I will too because mutants massacred then returning to being feared and outlawed has been done to death. more