HOUSE OF X #1: The House That Xavier Built

It's the dawn of a new era as Charles Xavier and Magneto welcome us to Krakoa: not just an island, but a state of mind!

Originally Published July 2019

(This post was originally featured on the Uncanny X-Cerpts Patreon and may be subject to formatting issues)

Good morning Patrons! Anybody get up to anything exciting last night?

Oh... well, that's one way to start the day. 

How about some breakfast? Anybody up for some eggs?

We begin with what we are likely to assume is Professor Charles Xavier, sporting a stylish new bobblehead helmet and black improv-troupe-ready leotard as he oversees what appears to be the emergence of several newly-reborn mutants, hatching from what a yellow egglike pods. Among the goo-covered newborns are Scott Summers (identifiable from the glint of red optic blast he gives off) and beside him a redheaded woman we can only infer is Jean Grey. They crawl, looking for all the world like Brad and Janet at the end of Rocky Horror, toward their mentor, who is ready for this meeting of the mutant Midnight Society to commence.

In a montage over the course of several months, we see some familiar X-people - Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Beast, and others - planting strange flowers in places as significant and disparate as Westchester, Washington, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Savage Land and Jerusalem.

Only two weeks after planting, the Jerusalem habitat has grown to overtake an entire building.

There, ambassadors from the U.N. Security Council nations have gathered seemingly for a meeting with the head homo superior, Charles Xavier. Seems old Charlie has made the nations of the world the proverbial "offer you can't refuse."  In exchange for legitimizing the nation of Krakoa, the people of the world will gain access to wonder-drugs derived from its indigenous flora, including drugs that extend the human lifespan, drugs that prevent diseases of the mind, a virtually universal antibody, and, I would have to assume, some top-notch male enhancement pills.

The catch?

Right, yes -- protections and considerations, including but not limited to tabula rasa for all mutants who happen to have transgressed against so-called "human" law while expressing their mutantity.

While the humons discuss whether there's any way to actually negotiate in this scenario, they are ushered into the habitat by Esme and Sophie (who may soon select a new name as part of her Krakoan re-christening) of the Stepford Cuckoos. The assembled state officials were hoping to meet directly with Charles, but unfortunately have to settle for his proxy:

That's correct, it's Ambassador Magneto.

We now pause for a data sheet informing us of the attributes of Krakoan flowers. Under the "For Humans" section, we get a rundown on Human Drugs L, I and M, which increase lifespan, act as a universal antibiotic, and cure "diseases of the mind" respectively (the boner pills are still in R&D.) We learned all about these in some of that stodgy, old-fashioned in-universe exposition.

Under the "For Mutants" banner, we learn about the Gateways, portals between places where one flower anywhere in the world can join with its counterpart on Krakoa, which sure beats relying on a mysterious wise old Aborigine. We also hear about the Habitats, self-sustaining biomes that are part of the consciousness of Krakoa, and -- somewhat ominously -- the No-Place, which is an environment produced separately from the consciousness of Krakoa. Seems bad.

We are given brief glimpses of island life and administration as Jean Grey leads a troupe of Gifted Youngsters through a Krakoan portal, explaining that any mutant can go through, but anyone who is not must be guided by a mutant and also get a Krakoan permission slip first. Jean seems to be going through some kind of midlife crisis, having started wearing clothes from when she was a teenager, although exactly what constitutes "midlife" when you have died several times is a matter that bears investigation.

Within Krakoa, we see Sage, the living computer mutant, and Doug Ramsay, the part-robot Babelfish mutant, running the communications network, as they take the opportunity to discuss the unique Krakoan server, and its language (understood only by Doug and Krakoa itself.)

You too, reader!

After a data page showing us a map of the location of Krakoa (it is in the Pacific Ocean) and detailing several specific locations on the island (such as the House of X, the House of M, the Cradle, the Grove, the Wild Hunt, the Swan, the Pearl, the Giant Foot where Jacob lives -- oops, wrong island for some of those) we change venues to outer space, specifically a satellite orbiting the sun called The Forge. (Not to be confused with the mutant Forge, who is still presumably on Earth.)

One Doctor Gregor, with associates named Erasmus, Karima and Doctor Smith, surveys the area, filling us in on the noteworthy features of whatever it is. The main takeaway is that it was built as part of the Orchis Protocols, which were activated in response to Xavier the recent mutant activity, that being that they're starting to make big, scary moves. So these Orchis people have some big, scary moves of their own planned too. How big and scary?

Need I say more?

In case you didn't learn enough from that scene, we go to a handy data sheet explaining the Orchis protocol. Orchis is a group comprised of several different organizations familiar to Marvel Comics readers such as A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D., S.T.R.I.K.E., S.W.O.R.D., H.A.M.M.E.R., A.R.M.O.R., Alpha Flight, and one guy from Hydra.

If you ask me, this venerable think tank ought to have spent two or three more minutes coming up with a better name.

But anyway, they were busy. It seems that at one point, they were of the impression that mutants were on the way out, but then Marvel Studios regained the film rights a huge surge in mutant activity occurred, apropos of nothing. Instances of the X-Gene started to surge worldwide, sending anxious human enterprises into a tizzy. Before you know it, Xavier is in the pharmaceutical biz, and establishing his own island nation.  According to the Orchis research, humankind has about twenty years left as masters of the Earth -- unless they can whip up some killer robots to kill off the mutants tout-de-suite, one supposes.

The data sheet leaves us with some names to know in the Orchis command structure, such as Director Killian Devo, whom I'm sure whips it good, Head of Engineering alpha Flight's Zaha Gehry, Military Command Walker Kin of S.H.I.E.L.D., Science Commander Alia Gregor of A.I.M., (we've met) and boss robot Karima Shapandar, who is a perpetually sexy 28-year-old female robot, presumably single and ready to FTP all night long.

Alexa who?

Elsewhere, at the Contested Storage Facility of Damage Control (the group that collects and hoards fancy weapons and technology after big super battles, like in Spider-Man: Homecoming) we catch up with Mystique, Sabretooth and Toad in the midst of some Classic Villain Shit.

They're about to make their getaway when they are stopped by the Fantastic Four.

Meanwhile, Esme -- or maybe Sophie, or whatever she'll be calling herself -- leads the Ambassadors through the Habitat into the Hub, the Warp Zone of Krakoa where you can go from one gateway to another. As our tour guide explains all of this to the Ambassadors, one of them chortles that the writing atop many of the doorways is incomprehensible gibberish -- which Magneto corrects by pointing out that the writing is Krakoan, a language known to all Krakoans.

Talk about a party foul. 

I feel like rule #1 of international diplomacy is to not dismiss another culture as gobbeldygook.

As they demonstrate the seemingly limitless possibilities of the gateways, which can take the Krakoans to the far reaches of the Earth instantly, the increasingly fearful and perhaps hateful humans indicate that it is slightly problematic that a group can simply breach borders whenever they feel like it, upending millennia of military strategy.

Magneto counters that mutants are not a warlike people, don't fight among themselves, have never had slaves. Which is big talk from a guy who once erupted a volcano in Russia and sank a military submarine (and boy, he heard about that one for years afterward!)

Mags lays it out -- mutants are destined to be the inheritors of the Earth, no doubt about it. But instead of grabbing it, all they want is their little piece of heaven in the Pacific.

Back in New York, Mystique and Toad manage to escape the FF through a gateway, but Sabretooth is trapped in an invisible box (hey, he never told me he was a mime!) The FF prepare to take him in to the authorities when who should arrive but...

At first it's very cordial, as Scott makes pleasantries with his fellow adventurers, but when it comes time for Cyke to take custody of Sabretooth, there is reticence from the FF. After all, this famous mass murderer has just been caught handed doing Classic Villain Shit.

The moment is tense, and it seems like there might be a conflagration -- but Scott steps back, agreeing that this can be handled some other time, some other way, leaving his sometime-foe and fellow-homo-superior high and dry.

As Cyclops takes his leave, Sue asks him exactly what is the deal with this Krakoa thing? Are you guys serious? And Cyclops says yes, we are serious, and don't call me Shirley. And Sue says "I didn't say 'surely.'" And Scott says "Oh, well it felt like you did. I thought you did." But she didn't.

Cyclops affirms that he believes in what Charles has going on, and -- in a moment of supreme dickishness -- bids the Richardses to let their son know that anytime he wants it, he has family waiting for him on Krakoa.

On that note, a data sheet appears to give us a rundown on the concept of omega-level mutants -- that is, mutants whose abilities are the uppermost of their kind (meaning Magneto is an omega-level mutant, but Forge isn't, because there's, like, tons of regular humans way better at Forge-stuff than Forge is.)  Among those Omega-level mutants are Storm, Quentin Quire, Kevin MacTaggert (Proteus) and... well, well, well, Franklin Richards, the only Omega-level mutant whose allegiance is listed as "human."

Back at Jerusalem, Sophie, or Esme, runs down all the Ambassadors for their hidden agendas, which she has gleaned by reading their minds, including noting that one, Walter Reppion, (Agent of S.T.R.I.K.E.,) is actually just here to keep an eye on another, Reilly Marshall, whose affiliation is hidden behind psychic defenses.

Magneto disarms him -- literally -- and gives him a good "You're in our you're out" speech. When Marshall asks "Do you know what you sound like?" Magneto smirks that he does.

Which is great for him but I wish he would have said what it was because I'm a little fuzzy.

Magneto closes by pointing out the significance of holding this meeting in Jerusalem:

And I mean, I'm not at all a conventionally religious person, but that is a dick move.

Further Thoughts:

There are two, somewhat disconnected, ways that a book like this can be read. One is as a moment, an event, a piece of comics history moving forward. The other is as a product, a piece of fiction to be ingested and enjoyed. You know, a comic.

As a grizzled veteran comic reader, especially one who makes his bones rehashing the glory years that preceded even my birth, it's easy to look sideways at this comic and try to keep it at arm's length. I've been promised big changes and bold new directions before, but who can ever back it up?

Here we have an X-Men comic that is suspiciously light on the X-Men. Professor X is a distant figure in it. Jean Grey barely gets a moment. Cyclops does get a significant moment but only as a one-scene wonder. The closest thing to a starring role is given to Magneto who admittedly, has spent most of the last ten years as some version of an X-Man, and the Cuckoos, who are admittedly well-established but not given much distinguished to do. There's little in the way of action and dramatic tension or action.

And while we're busy establishing all the new status quo, the book seems to hold back quite a bit. There is a ton of exposition but a lot that goes specifically unsaid. Professor Xavier's world-changing speech is not dramatized, given to us only as a brief soundbite at the beginning. There's a lot, it feels, that we don't know, and are not meant to know, but the characters know. But there's something to be said for the way it begins in medias res, skipping the setup and getting to the important part and going from there. We can catch up on the rest soon.

In the wake of the world-changing paradigm of House of X, there was a contingent of fans that came to the conclusion that the X-Men were bad guys now. They're not, but they certainly aren't coded as good guys. There's something unsavory about the new incarnation of Charles Xavier, for as much as we've see him. Overall the mutants are brusque and unkind to human characters -- a demographic that represents most, perhaps nearly all, of the comics' real-world readership. They all seem to share this weird secret that they get off on flaunting as they throw their weight around, and the humans, us included, are locked out. For now.

For me, it  does raise the hackles on my neck (which, I didn't even know I had hackles). I'm used to characters bickering and being uncertain and representing different points of view, so now when seeing a large group of protagonists who share a common goal, that they pursue in a common way, with a common attitude and defensiveness, (and all seem mind-bendingly happy with themselves) I think... monoculture. I think zealots. I think cults. And it probably says something about me that I see a group of happy people on the same page and I think "There's something wrong here," but that is what it is. I do think "this is wrong," and I do think "bad guys." But they're not. The X-Men, the mutants, the Krakoans, the homo superior here, appear to be donning some of the trappings of comic book villains here because that's largely the dressing of being the Other. Because the X-Men are the Other, and we readers have been identifying with them for so long that that has been forgotten. Here they are uncompromisingly Other, akin to the way Black people and Gay people and Trans people and Muslim people all get Othered in certain spaces in our society and I think that emphasizing that is a really good way of testing our ability to identify with those who do not immediately and obviously reflect ourselves, and afford them the respect they deserve. After all, the Krakoans aren't bad, and what they want isn't bad and how they do things isn't bad, it's just not the way things have been. It's not safe and familiar and comforting but that doesn't make it wrong or nefarious. They are trying to improve their lot in a way that resembles -- not as a 1-to-1 transplant but does echo -- real-world struggles for progress, and what we might conceive as a next step once a marginalized community gains power (while also being superpowered mutants.)

To see these characters behaving a certain way, or in a newly-redesigned circumstances so abruptly, without any transitional phase or prolonged setup, is jarring. But it has to be jarring to have a full effect. You have to become unsettled. That's why this all works as a moment, and why so much of my resistance to it is unimportant nitpicking. In the two years since its publication, it has spawned far more of a cult (so to speak) than any Marvel Comic seems to have in generations. When that happens, you do not dismiss it, you seek to understand.

This comic announces, boldly and loudly, that this is not "business as usual." It's a shock to the system that spurs one of Marvel's foremost franchises, which had been languishing for nearly decades, to the forefront of its portfolio. It would be a mistake to say that the X-Men's corner of the Marvel universe was stale or stagnant -- if anything, it had been casting about for years for the new status quo that would revitalize it and let itself be dented and morphed over and over in the process. The X-Men had been casting about in the darkness for their Krakoa moment for over a decade. Only nobody in that time had the guts to try to tear down so much of the architecture of the X-Men comics, nor been inspired to build something nobody had ever seen before. Whether you like it, or whether you do not, it is every bit the Big Leap Forward as Giant-Size X-Men #1, and New X-Men #114, presenting a new paradigm and new ideas for what this story is.

Now, there is a ton of precedent for what Hickman and Co are doing here. There are plenty of stories where the X-Men go find an island to live on and maybe get away from the hassles of the human world. There are stories that bring them into conflict with their fellow heroes and there are stories, oh so many stories, where the bad guys are paranoid humans who just want to throw Sentinels at the mutants over and over until they go away. What we get here is very much rooted in the X-Men mythos but it's obviously making a point to be about it differently than it ever has been before, upending the longstanding dynamics of the mutants being in a fight for their lives. Now we have the promise of getting to see what happens when they win that fight and actually get to live those lives. Maybe.

This comic feels less like the safe, comfortable Marvel Universe and more like the great unknown of an Image-published creator-owned property. Marrying that vibe to everything the X-Men has been and represents is a killer app, since the X-Men, better than any idea that has yet been brought to bear in comics -- mainstream or otherwise -- is equipped to meld to the spirit of the times, as long as someone has the temerity to do it. Giving the X-Men a radical new concept, and loading the franchise's various books with new, fresh voices that actually represent some analogous worldviews the mutant metaphor is meant to reflect, is a winning move. Even though it was published in 2019, the X-Men are the first Marvel Comic of the 2020's.

Jonathan Hickman is definitely one of the foremost minds making comics today and I know that going forward is he not alone in chronicling the adventures on Krakoa, but he sets things off on the right foot, as does Pepe Larraz. Every big moment of the X-Men's history has been pencilled by one of the finest talents of the day, and Larraz befits that tradition. He balances the world of Krakoa and its wonders, and the mundane, uncomfortable world in which it is situated. He finds the grace note between the mutants as titans and gods, and as living, breathing people. The book looks gorgeous and is awash with Marte Gracia's lush colors.

What I'm most glad to see is a comic about a new what of being, of fighting for something instead of fighting against -- building a new world instead of protecting the old one. The utopia is unlikely to last forever, but for the moment, it seems like just about everything is possible.