| For the past few years, the island nation of Krakoa has been a home, a spotlight, a refuge, an enterprise, a soap box, and a dream finally realized for mutantkind. In many ways, the Krakoan era feels like the culmination of all preceding X-Men stories going back to 1963’s X-Men #1 where we first met a ragtag group of heroes striving to ‘protect a world that hates and fears them’. The brilliance of the Krakoan era is that it’s not only a carefully crafted paradise that seemingly fulfills Charles Xavier’s original dream of mutantkind living and thriving in peace, but it also makes that original moniker ring truer than ever – the world has never hated and feared the mutants more than they do now. Krakoa is teetering on the edge and writer Steve Orlando is just the guy to give it a push.
Like many of the best X-stories, Mutant First Strike has strong political overtones that not only guide the narrative as the heroes deal with violent anti-mutant Watchdogs, misplaced public outrage, and nefarious members of the press, but they also shine a light on our own political climate. The “mutant metaphor” at the heart of these stories can sometimes be shaky-at-best and not always an apt comparison to the experiences of those minority groups they stand in for, but it’s difficult to read this story and not have your mind and heart go out to real world victims of hate and persecution.
Perhaps my favorite thing about this comic is that even though the story’s catalyst is tragic, and the wider public is not standing with our protagonists, and even the story’s title hints at impending doom, every inch of this comic is imbued with hope and heroism. Most of these pages are filled with characters from all across the X-titles brushing aside the vitriol and coming to the aid of this town in need, using their gifts to help and uplift in any way they can.
This is an X-Men comic through and through. Enjoy.
Article By: Alejandro E. |
