Dawn of X, Vol. 8

X-Men: Age of Krakoa (Anthology Trades)

by Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Bryan Edward Hill (Writer), Ed Brisson (Writer)

Staggering stories of the Dawn of X! As the Marauders grapple with what they have lost, Storm and Emma Frost fi nally come to blows! Deep in Shi'ar space, the New Mutants cope with an intergalactic power struggle! Can they rescue Deathbird and root out a traitor to the throne? Then, silence please as Jean Grey and Emma Frost perform a psychic rescue. But who is their patient, and what has happened to them? And after recent traumas, can Domino and Colossus fi nd the strength to heal themselves - or each other? Krakoa's Ressurection Protocols have changed everything for mutantkind - but what does the Crucible mean for the X-Men's souls? And Excalibur faces a hunt for the truth!

COLLECTING: MARAUDERS #8, NEW MUTANTS NEW MUTANTS (2019) #7, GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: JEAN GREY AND EMMA FROST, X-FORCE (2019) #8, X-MEN (2019) #7 and EXCALIBUR (2019) #8.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2020

About the author

Jonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that Fallen Angels has been culled, all the X-books are consistently good. The New Mutants end their space adventure. Jean Grey and Emma Frost silently travel through Storm's psyche in Giant Size X-Men. Domino finds out what has happened to her luck over in X-Force. Bazaldua's art in X-Force looks very unfinished, almost like sketches. Things aren't looking too good for Kate Pryde over in Marauders. Even Excalibur has been better with this war wolves storyline. I always thought the war wolves were pretty cool back in the Claremont and Davis days of Excalibur. I'd give each of these books 4 stars on their own.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some good stories in this volume. 3.35 stars

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Dawn of X that I'm giving less than 4 stars to. The New Mutants and Excalibur issues were very anti-climactic. It almost feels liken the writers don't really know what to do with those stories and are just spinning their wheels. Also, Deathbird in New Mutants doesn't really feel like herself. It's like the person writing her isn't very familiar with the character. The Giant Sized X-Men issue was mostly dialog free and seemed like an excuse to show off some pretty art. X-force, Marauders, and X-Men were very good as usual.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benjamin Percy is such a good writer I'm loving the Wolverine run

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm behind on these volumes! Good stuff!

[Matty Dub · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marauders #8 is such an emotionally charged issue! We see the team deal with the discovery and fallout of Shaw's dirty deed. I can't wait for him to get his due!

Wolverine #2-3 isn't what I wanted it to be. After a good first issue, #2 just spins it's wheels and shows us Wolverine doing a lot of the same thing he does in #1. In #3, you realize that it was set-up for what feels like the arc's finale and while this issue is satisfying, it really doesn't make up for the mediocre 20 pages I just read. From a X-Men line perspective, this really builds up the Russian threat in a big way. It's so much worse than we thought!

X-Force #7-8 was a step down from previous issues as well. The art for one isn't great and this gloomy Domino adventure wasn't a fun read. The concept of her losing her luck with her skin was lame, the connection between her and Colossus just wasn't well written... like I get how central to the story she is and has to be but I just don't feel Percy is doing her justice. Also at the end I got a really big red flag, will writers just kill off any character that lives through trauma just for a lazy reboot? We're 8 issues in and she's already getting a sort of retcon by being reborn on Krakoa....

Giant Size Emma and Jean was beautiful, sooooo very beautiful. It ends with a reveal that Ororo was infected off panel by those vault brats, I honestly didn't care, I just wanted to start the issue over to look at the art.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

X-Read Backlog check-off
~ read in 2020

[Raul Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marauders 3
Again more setup, when is the story actually going to kick in, also very weird that on wolverine issue one they specifically show Kate talk to wolverine after they show on marauders that she’s been killed, why have trades collecting every series if they’re not going to be in order.
Wolverine 3
I like the actual plot, but i DONT care about wolverines arc, and progressing the story via actual pages of just text is not good, we need to see the things they talk about since they’re pretty important

X force 3.5
I like the domino and cable relationship, and interesting development.

Jean Grey and Emma Frost: 3.5
Really cool visuals and some funny visual gags

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great addition to the Dawn Of X series
TW for death of a friend (three separate times), mind control, murder, mentions of death via virus, grief, forced drugging, human experimentation, scenes involving severed body parts, PTSD

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all need our scars to remember the past. An incredible psychic journey.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hickman, Duggan and Percy. What a team up of writers!!!

This is a great combo of issues and titles...and X-men isn’t even in there.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the flow of this collection, taking us on a journey from the Marauders to Wolverine by focusing on the follout from a major character "death" in the previous collection.

The Wolverine book is much better than I imagined. I love the way the character plays off of a human, mutant-hating police detective.

The X-Force issues focusing on Domino and Colossus was also a solid read. I'd forgotten what happened to each character and liked how this storyarc reminded me, dovetailed their experiences together, and then gave a satisfying conclusion ... for now.

The highlight for me was the Giant Sized Jean Grey and Emma Frost issue. It's a lovely callback to the silent issue of Grant Morrison's New X-Men, Volume 2: Imperial, only this time, instead of a silent search through astral plane for Professor X, the search is on for an injured Storm. It's lovely, creative, and pushes the story in an interesting direction.

I'm still loving these Dawn Of X books, especially now that Fallen Angels is out of the way. If you love X-Men books, I think you'll find the way this series is collected to be the most satisfying read of an X-book since Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men Omnibus run.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continues the trend of me enjoying the read but being still fairly disappointed in the direction of the books.

The X-force issues are quite good. Wolverine was better than I expected but fairly cliche. Marauders was alright, some good Iceman and Bishop moments. I was disappointed in the Jean/Emma story. The art was gorgeous but it felt like a throwaway issue otherwise (which is strange as I often love silent issues of comics as long as they aren't overdone).

Overall, a better read than many of the volumes have been. I just wish the writers would touch on so many of the story hooks promised way back in HOX/POX. Where's Moira? What happened to Mystique and her goal of bringing back Destiny? So much of the promised story ahead of us has just been forgotten to focus on the more mundane stories that we are getting. X-force feels like it has some direction - otherwise so many of these books feel like walking through mud right now.

As has been the truth for the other volumes, I am sure I will enjoy it more when I read it for a second time (when I am not expecting/hoping for forward motion with the more interesting plot points Hickman teased us with).

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

COLLECTS MARAUDERS (2019) #8, WOLVERINE (2020) #2-3, GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: JEAN GREY AND EMMA FROST (2020), X-FORCE (2019) #7-8

I was let down because this collection didn't feature an issue of "X-Men," but I was happy to see that there was an issue of the (sort of miniseries) Hickman-written "Giant-Size X-Men" included in this collection. Unfortunately, that issue ended up being a mostly silent issue, so even though the art was good, it wasn't strong enough to warrant a text-free story. Imagine spending $4.99 for this issue, and then being able to flip through the entire book in one to two minutes. I would have been extremely disappointed.

Marauders continues to be outstanding, and I was intrigued by the Domino-centric story found in the two issues of "X-Force" in this collection. "Wolverine" seems to have wrapped up its first arc.

Here is my ranking of the issues in this collection:

1. Marauders
2. X-Force #8
3. X-Force #7
4. Wolverine #3
5. Wolverine #2
6. Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost

Final rating = 3.5 stars

[Hanieh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Altogether I think I give this a 3.5 (thanks God for the conclusion of fallen angels I couldn't stomach the way it was goin anymore)

X-MEN #7 : 5/5
This was just as amazing and always. I absolutely loved this one as much as all the previous stories in this series. It's consistent with quality and creativity both in story and art.

X-FORCE #8 : 4.5/5
Okay now I understand why half of the things that happened, has happened and it actually make a lots of sense. Absolutely enjoying this.

MARAUDERS #8 : 4/5
Another consistent story in the series. I just love the entire bizarre situation and tbh it's quite progressive.

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN: JEAN GREY AND EMMA FROST :3/5
The art was fascinating and I really liked the idea just, I can't believe I'm saying this, perhaps a bit more dialogue next time.

NEW MUTANTS#7 : 1.5/5
WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL ARE THEY DOING WITH THIS STORY??????

EXCALIBUR #8: DROPPED

[Myles Gerber · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the Dawn of X books, I’ll be reviewing each issue individually

Marauders #8: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
GREAT issue! Loved seeing how passionate everyone was about Kate, and seeing Emma attempt to comforting was really interesting. So much drama and emotional tension. This issue is an easy 5 stars.

Wolverine #2-3: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great story. Loved seeing the story between Bannister and his daughter, art was great, Wolverine is also just written so well. Really enjoying this series.

X-Force 2-3: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Interedting to see where the Domino storyline has gone. Loved seeing her interactions with Peter.

Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Gray and Emma Frost #1: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Beautiful art and an interesting way to tell the narrative. Great one-shot.

Overall, the scores average out to 4.6/5, which I’d say is fitting. Another great entry in this series!

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really good Dawn of X collection. The Marauders story has some excellent scenes, including Bobby showing off that he really is a very dangerous mutant and the improbable but oddly touching bonding moment between Storm and Emma Frost. The Wolverine issues are decent Wolverine fare. Sure, they serve to build up the Russian threat, but otherwise they're like almost every Wolverine book ever written. X-Force concentrates on Domino, and it does a good job of showing her very understandable trauma. Finally, there's a silent issue where Jean and Emma try to psychically heal Storm. It's really good, and the visuals are fantastic. It's interesting that this volume seems to be largely serving to build up one specific threat, a new direction for Dawn of X.

[Zachary Waxman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best TPB I've read in this whole series. The interplay between scott, jean and wolverine; the reconciliation between scott and wolverine; their reliance on each other really kind of shine through. The recharacterization of Scott makes sense now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's some plot development later in the future. The addition of a Wolverine run the last couple of Vols makes no sense, easily could've been an X-force side story. 3 issues of X-Force that actually deliver some character development and start to call into question Xaviers new ideals.

The "silent" issue of the Giant Size X-men; the call back to Grant Morrison's New X-men run; where Jean and Emma do a similar thing with Xavier, excellent. Just top notch comic story telling.

[Frank Jarome · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m basically reusing a review across this series, as it seems to hold as things go on. Overall it’s a bunch of highs and lows. Some books are consistently excellent (Marauders, X-Force, Wolverine, and it looks like X-Factor & Hellions will join that group) while some are middling to mediocre (Excalibur being the worst of the lot, plus Cable being so-so, and the main X-Men book varying in quality from one issue to the next). I’m still reading, so the overall whole is quality, and the whole setting that they’ve established is still unique and intriguing. It’s like a house of cards that we know is doomed to fall eventually, it’s just a question of when and how)

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fantastic Time with Lots of Big X-Men!

This book is a must if you love Storm, Iceman, Domino, Emma Frost, Jean Grey, and/or Wolverine!

Marauders has its most emotional and best paid off issue yet!! Specific shout to Iceman in this one!

Wolverine's story is wonderful! I love the human protagonist that is situated with Wolverine and I cant get enough of the art!

X-Force had me realizing Im not a huge fan of Domino on her own, I like when she riffs off other characters, but I can see that alone time being needed for the direction this is going! The theme of whether or how to hold onto your own trauma feels powerful!

The Giant Size at the end is gorgeous and fun!

[M.L.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marauders #8: Still no resolution to that thing from #6, but I'm enjoying all the political intrigue. 5/5

Wolverine #2: Good stuff 5/5

Wolverine #3: Ending seemed rushed, but I enjoyed. 4/5

X-Force #7: The connection with Colossus seems a tad forced, but I approve of Domino-centric story lines. 4/5

X-Force #8: I guess with the resurrection protocols, we just kill people off willy-nilly? Still, maybe Domino won't be sporting the half-skinned look, which has been kinda gross. 4/5

Giant-Sized X-Men (Jean & Emma) -- pretty for sure, but not enough plot for my taste 3/5

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't particularly fun for me, mainly because The Wolverine issues just don't draw me in just yet. The final X-Men book that had Jean Grey and Emma Frost performing a delicate telepathic operation in a largely wordless comic was certainly the highlight of the book.

X-Force is also doing a lot better now as the story has matured and we are on the trail of those who had kidnapped Domino and apparently had done more than take some of her skin so that soldiers could filtrate Krakoa.

[Martijn Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gian-Size: Jean Grey & Emma Frost: 4,5☆ Just a filler story, but a beatifull one.
Marauders: 4☆ Felt to short. Can't wait for the next one
X-Force (double bill): 3☆ More a Domino than X-Force story. Overall okay.
Wolverine (double bill): 2,75☆ The flashbacks and twists feel like cheap storytelling tricks. Overall okay.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been hard for me to rate. What we have is a Hickman-led mutant initiative. The sections re-printing X-Men by Hickman and Len Yu are thrilling and amazing.
Then there is the rest of it.
Mixed quality sums up the other offerings. (But they get better as it goes,...)
But I see what they are trying to do here, and so I will be generous and give 4 stars.

[Charles Korb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the one that broke me. You cannot have a character have a long speech about this is the first time she is doing something since her trauma, when she did that thing with no fanfare in the last volume. I had to look up a timeline and read them in that order.

The giant sized x-men was fun though.

[James Verreault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Domino is the definition of badass. The X-Force issues stole the show but every issue was very nice and as always, every artist present in the book does an incredible job. Great to have Dawn of X back after a little break!

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of the x-titles is still the way to go. They try to make Domino interesting but she speaks in gambling cliches. Colossus is numb. So glad I read the silent issue here cause I'd be pissed if I paid for that in a floppy.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoying all of the X-books currently. Marauders, Wolverine and X-Force are really interesting so far.

Giant-Size X-Men was different but really enjoyable. Russell Dautermans artwork is really something special.

[Jennifer Sigman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why Wolverine needed his own series for a story that would've fit in just fine in either X-Factor or X-Men, two other books he was already in.

The Emma/Jean thing was pretty, but.... when does it take place?

[Sam Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved the Wolverine story, as well as the X-Force story. I don't know how I feel about the Giant Sized X Men one shot though. I think the concept of very little text is pretty creative, but I don't know if I ENJOYED IT myself.