Way of X #2: "Let Us Prey"

[alliterator]

Something has slithered into a gap in the mutant community. This evil thing has identified that if you are part of a society that has no limits then you also have no direction. Look, there's a whole heap of anthropological and sociological stuff that I could bore you with here, to hint at the big picture and foreshadow some of the fears and doubts Nightcrawler is sensing on the horizon, but this is comics! So, luckily for us, all this high-falutin’ stuff takes a very familiar, and utterly terrifying, form. It’s an individual who is lurking in the shadows, exacerbating the risks that arise when you have a society without any rudder or anchor. Especially when that society is made up of people with superpowers. It’s the sociological equivalent of a nuke, and this thing, this threat, has its finger on the button.
-- Simon Spurrier

Comments

[deh_tommy]

Probably me. But that feels like every time there’s even a whiff of nuance or debate or something uncomfortable, that gets swept under the rug and unconsciously glorified as being right actually, or that turns out the critics are secretly bigoted/evil the whole time.

[rainspirit]

I think that's a fair point, and I'm not sure how I'd begin to tackle that as a writer. Given that it's Hickman's magnum opus and Si Spurrier and the like are guest writers, I feel as if a lot of the problems are stemming from internal communication--how much are the writers of the X-books allowed to point out flaws and tear into Krakoa as a society without undermining what the lead writers are doing or deflating interest in the current status quo?

I feel like this is a first for Marvel, the only comparable thing being Civil War, which itself had its problems with portraying political ideology and nuance in character. I'm sure this will all make for pretty interesting post-mortem interviews when Age of X has run its course.

[alliterator]

I think the story Hickman and Spurrier are telling here is different. Neither Nightcrawler nor Legion are shown to be in the wrong at all for questioning Krakoa, while Xavier and Magneto have shown time and again how easily they keep secrets and how that can backfire.

[tinygaylaura]

None of the X-books including Hickman's have tried to claim that everything about Krakoa is perfect. They're just also not pretending that its somehow the worst thing ever like some fans are bizarrely trying to claim.

Krakoa as a whole is a good thing and a beautiful idea. It has problems both because every society has problems and also because if it didn't have any problems there would be no drama which would be a problem for superhero book

[alliterator]

Exactly. I think Hickman is trying to tell a nuanced story about the difference between the IDEA of an ideal society free from want and the reality of maintaining one.

[tinygaylaura]

Indeed

And the people who say that because Krakoa has problems that means its bad and should be gotten rid of just remind me of the people who claim that what happened to the Republic and the Jedi in the Star Wars prequels was somehow what they deserved