Au Revoir, Krakoa

June 5, 2024

Today, the final issue of what has become known as the “Krakoan Age” arrived in X-Men 35 AKA issue 700.

Getting to collaborate on the X-Men was and always will be a ginormous deal to me. 500 issues ago I bought issue 200 brand new off of a spinner rack.

This last issue of the first Krakoan story was a jam between myself, Al and Kieron. Al’s written a bit about it here, and Kieron at his newsletter over this way. Chris Claremont has a lovely story, and the next administration starts to open the kimono a little. It’s a hell of a comic.

I’ve been living on Jonathan’s island since 2018, the first time I heard his pitch in the editorial retreat. His BIG idea changed the X-Men, and now, years later they’re about to change again. But first, a few closing remarks…

…I’ve said it before, but once again, thank you, Jonathan.

Thanks to Pepe, Marte, Josh, Phil, Clayton, and to all our artists along the way. Whether you had a page to draw, an issue or an entire collection — I’m grateful to you for your indelible contributions to this wonderful story.

Collaborating on X-Men comics was a joy, and my brightest hours in some dark times. This big swing survived imperfect orbits and some difficult days, including ones in which we were not quite sure exactly what our distribution model was.

Schedules and plans changed, and in an industry where there aren’t enough curtains between the kitchen and the diners, I think I’ll leave those stories for your servers. I know there are magazine articles, podcasts, and even a book or two simmering about these last few years, but I think I’ll just let the comics tell my story.

None of these comics would’ve been possible without everyone in senior leadership at Marvel on both coasts. Appreciate you all. Thank you especially to CB for the opportunity to take a flagship, and especially Jordan D White. I hope I’m not misremembering (another reason I’ll be relatively quiet) but Jordan was a Krakoan skeptic and very quickly changed his tune too become the FIRST Krakoan. I don’t know if anyone else can say that they touched everything that we published from HoX/PoX? Thank you, Jordan.

And thank you to our retailer partners and all our readers.

We hope you were entertained.

The X-Men are in great hands. Tom, Gail, Jed, Jackson & Colin, Geof, and all the other creators are set to blaze their own paths with your favorite characters. I’m sure they’ll survive the experience, too. Even Stegman. Unfortunately.

Still to come, one last goodbye next month in THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, and if you need me, I have a taste for islands and you can find me over yonder. Much more to come on that in tomorrow’s newsletter.

All the best,

Gerry