Reign of X, Vol. 6

X-Men: Krakoan Era (Anthology Trades)

by Al Ewing, Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Gerry Duggan (Writer)

Desperate times in the Reign of X! The mutants are dying. Krakoa is dying. Earth itself is dying. All hope for humanity as a species lies in S.W.O.R.D. and Protocol V. But Protocol V isn’t going to work! Weeks ago, Synch, Darwin and X-23 stepped into the Vault. Now they are about to emerge…but inside the Vault, centuries have passed! What has become of them? The Marauders return to Madripoor to pay tribute to a fallen friend…but old enemies are being forged anew. The team has been living as pirates — so now it’s time to pillage and plunder! And after a turbulent time with X-Force, death gives Quentin Quire a new lease on life. Long live Quentin Quire!

COLLECTING: S.W.O.R.D. (2020) 4, X-Men (2019) 18-19, Marauders (2019) 18-19, X-Force (2019) 17

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Science Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 2021

Reviews

[Carl Printer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t bad, wasn’t my favourite. Could be the haze of stress and sleeping pills to manage the stress, but I wasn’t bowled over. It feels like the interstitial come-down/build-up book, and that’s fine.

[Bertazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank Zod Hickman is back!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stuff in the Vault is really cool conceptually, but I fortunately doesn't really feel fleshed out enough to land. They don't commit to the premise enough, and it feels pretty rushed. I don't really get Quentin Quire as a character.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't find any weak spots in this collection.

SWORD #4: I hadn't recognized Cable as the symbiote villain in his first appearance as such but I liked his use once they identified him. I also enjoyed the focus on Manifold, which I hadn't in the previous issue. There was a lot of X-continuity porn in this whole volume, but particuarly in this issue, and I enjoyed it. I am tentatively excited to read the King In Black book. 4/5*

X-Men #18 & 19: I've missed seeing Hickman's work in the last couple of trades. The story here about Wolverine (formerly X-23), Darwin, and Synch trying to invade and then escape from the vault was well told and engaging, and mercifully brief. 4/5*

Marauders #18 & 19: We last saw Madripoor in the pages of Wolverine, and it was the usual desolate, anti-mutant wasteland, but in the pages of Marauders we see it becoming a welcoming place as Emma Frost opens the Moira Mactaggert Memorial Hospital. There are a ton of fun winks to the larger Krakoan story, and Gerry Duggan writes with some of the best sense of character in modern comics. 4/5*

X-Force # 17, with a focus on Quentin Quire, was also fantastic. Obviously I'm reading these in trades, and not issues, but it really feels like they're writing a lot of these X-books as either standalone issues or two-parters. This peek into Quire's psyche is clearly a setup to a larger story but it also felt contained and well constructed. 4/5*

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 4 out of 5]

S.W.O.R.D. (2020) 4 - 4/5
X-Men (2019) 18-19 - 4.5/5
Marauders (2019) 18-19 - 4/5
X-Force (2019) 17 - 4/5 (i like x force really but what is up with the art!? made kid omega look like old man omega for a minute)

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spring 2020 (April);

Dawn of X (Vol. 11-16)
X of Swords (full)
Reign of X (Vol. 1-7)

** As a spoiler warning, do not read this review unless you've read all of the above issues, not just the volume where you've found this review. **

I did a massive multi-volume, multi-arc blitz recently and so I'm going to just drop a lot of what's hot here & going to be copying it down across a million books. My favorite thing literally is now and forever the Polycule going on in Summer House. I love his universe and am certainly very curious about the things still hiding in the shadows.

I'm glad Kitty found her way through that thing. I'm glad we didn't lose Betsy while we were in the other universe where death *sort of* sticks. Excalibur remains the most arrestingly gorgeous art. I'm still not interested in the one and only story comics know how to tell with Beast. I love the whole council and can't stop cooing over Erik as the Left Hand/Charles as the right (and even more so the bits where/how Jean & Scott are off to reform the X-Men #goodboy).

Jeanne & The Twins, in general, are back and I'm super duper in love with that. I really madly adore that there isn't any vast soap opera drama with any relationships or old bad blood that can't be given a new chance in Krakoa. There's such a breath of fresh air reading a lot of the choices Hickman and his writers have made. Illyana remains a badass demon-sorceress at all times, and Ororo remains a goddess. I loved all the Giant-Size art across Emma, Jean, Ororo.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this I've read previously in their own TPBs. See a little more comment in those books:

S.W.O.R.D. - Final wrap-up of the King in Black. You get to see how cool Manifold is and another hint at the upcoming conflict between Magneto and Cortez.

X-Men - Two issues to wrap of the Children in the Vault storyline. This might be my favorite story so far that Hickman has written for the X-Men. It feels like a sci-fi short story, wherein time works differently in the Vault. We're treated to a sprawling epic with Darwin, X-23 and Synch. This story alone deserves 4 stars.

Marauders - Two issues here which were new to me. The mutant nation make an open (non-violent) attack on the Verendi in Madripoor, while the Marauders make a violent attack in Madripoor. Some political intrigue and even a little bit of inter-mutant drama. There's also a new version of an old foe.

X-Force - One issue here focusing on Quentin, both characterizing who he is as well as transforming him into something new. And it's effective. I never knew or cared much for him and he's become more likable since being in X-Force. While not perfect, his new costume (I mean uniform) is pretty cool.

Hickman laid the seeds for future conflicts by creating some major anti-mutant villains, and two titles in this volume contained battles between them. I'm curious how long Marvel will be dragging these out.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

SWORD is even more King in Black stuff. Probably the less said about that, the better. X-Men finally gets back to Laura, who'd been left behind ages ago. These two issues actually make for a pretty good story, and use the power sets of the characters to good effect. The Marauders remains really good, with these two issues focusing on Madripoor. Finally, X-Force is somehow a character study of Quintin Quire that didn't make me hate him. I wish the King in Black stuff weren't here, but the rest is well worth a read.

[Hanieh · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review for RoX vol1-vol6
3.8/5

All together the series so far has been satisfying.( Probably anything is really after X of Swords but you know what I mean). I've read some issues on their own before but few of them were really worth the re read.

I think i have dropped Excalibur and new Mutants, AGAIN!

X-Factor I think has one of the most solids storylines. The X-Men and Marauders are as amazing as always. SWORD had taken an interesting turn. The rest of the stories till now we're alright I guess.

[Charles Korb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sword: Manifold seems a little overpowered but I really like Brand as a Nick Fury type

X-Men: I found this pretty disappointing. I had high hopes for a a hyper time adventure but this felt... sterile. Like I think I could have presented these exact plot points in a more exciting way

Maurauders: This is an on brand adventure for the Maurauders without retreading old ground

X-force: I didn't know who kid omega was before I started reading Krakoa and his relationship with Phoebe is the high point of the x-force line

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid volume for the Reign of X era. The ongoing SWORD and Marauders adventures are pretty compelling and I'm curious to see how this will pan out.

I've been waiting to pick up the X-Men story given the whole notion of the Vault and it's efforts to develop a post-human counter to mutant supremacy. This all feels like a totally bizarre science fiction side-story, but I'm totally here for it.

More solid Marauders adventures. And then finally, a very strange X-Force story focused on Kid Omega that I also found quite engaging.

[Myles Likes Tacos and Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly curated collection in 1-2-2-1 format: cliffhanger from Vol 5, Children of the Vault 2 parter, Marauders in Madripoor and a X-Force story that was meh when I read monthly, but turned out to be a nice relief after the intensity of the Vault and Madripoor.

Vault story is one of the best of the Krakoan era. Extras were limited to variants (only low of this volume)

[Jennifer Sigman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My one gripe about this and the previous one: getting dropped cold into a world spanning crossover event sucks. You're collecting and producing these volumes after the fact, it would be SO MUCH BETTER if you'd put a page or two of just how the f*** Cyclops and Storm ended up Venom'd, and then un-Venom'd. Geez.

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Children Of The Vault bit was a bit confusing, while still quite fun - though I could have done without the sexist drawing of Laura's outfit when it got ripped up in battle. The rest was great though!
TW for violence, imprisonment, blood, stabbing, arms being chopped off, human experimentation.

[Sara I · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume wrapped up the storyline with Knull and some new mysteries are introduced or hinted towards. I particularly found the time spent in the Vault with Wolverine, Darwin and Sync interesting and the way a timeline graph was included that gives the reader an overview and panels that hone in on the important moments.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hickman stuff continues to bore. I don't read comics for text pages. He needs to give the money back on these info dump pages. The Marauders are the stars here, trying to give Madripoor a chance... Never been a Quentin Quire fan but maybe some focus toward Omega and away from Kid will change that ..

[Nick Callebaut · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've whined about the Krakoa era a lot, but I liked this TPB in its entirety. All the stories are character-oriented and well flesh-out. The X-Men part is very original and the Marauders issues manage to characterize Morlocks properly. Nice.

The art in X-Force remains astonishing and this issue succeeded in making me dislike Quentin Quire a little bit less.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like this volume was a little unfairly stacked by giving us double doses of X-Men and Marauders with a nice serving of X-Force for dessert, but this serves as a good reminder about how great the current status quo of X really is.

[Nick Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glad to wrap up the King and black stuff right away in a fairly satisfying way. A whole lot of feelings in this collection, but I really enjoyed the X-Men Marauders and x force stories. As bad as I thought volume five was, I think volume six s that good.

[Malcolm Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great stuff here. The Vault storyline is very sci fi. The QQ issue also really good. Reading the multiple series in this way is tricky though, it's hard to remember what's happened where and when. It's all washing over like one big mass...

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the Vault story. A 2 issue masterpiece! What happens in X-Men 18 & 19 was set up back in X-Men 5 & I’ve been dying to know what happened in the vault. Incredible story. One of the best things to come from the whole Krakoan age so far.

[Terrance · Rating 2 out of 5]

X-Force was good. The rest was convoluted.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are always beast when Hickman’s X-men are in them and show off the king game…wow we waited a long time for the children adventure! But worth it.

[Derrick O'Rourke]

Strong addition

This is a strong addition to the reign of x series particularly the middle chapters in the vault. That was very well done. The other stories are solid too.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know what path that they’re taking the series in. But I do hope that it gets better soon. The story’s in the last two volumes were pretty much lower than what I’m use too.

[Nico · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty solid issues here. hood but not much special. however, the standout is x-force 17, probably the best x-force issue of this run so far

[Sam Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me care about Quentin Quire wow

[Cody]

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...#

[Fredrick C · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a great book

I love the storyline of this book all the rich characters and the intricate story slowly putting the pieces together. Can’t wait for the next one.

[Sohrab Rezvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the "time bubble" (Vault) storyline where the X-Men had to infiltrate the futuristic society. Otherwise, another middle of the road volume that just moves along.