Reign of X, Vol. 7

X-Men: Krakoan Era (Anthology Trades)

by Benjamin Percy, Garry Brown (Writer), Vita Ayala (Writer)

Dark secrets in the Reign of X! Quentin Quire returns to Krakoa to find a nightmare creature wreaking havoc on his teammates. The only way to battle it is on its own turf. Sweet dreams, Quentin! But what is X-Force hiding? Elsewhere, a local prison riot is quickly turning into an escape — and the only ones who can stop it are…a bunch of high schoolers?! The Children of the Atom are on the case! The New Mutants have begun a wild hunt — but someone is looking for friends in all the wrong places, someone else is missing without a trace…and plans that have long been in motion are beginning to unfurl! Meanwhile, Cable’s future is coming back to haunt him…and he isn’t ready. Yet.

COLLECTING: X-Force (2019) 18-19, Children of the Atom (2021) 2, New Mutants (2019) 16-17, Cable (2020) 9

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

160 pages, Paperback

Published December 14, 2021

About the author

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big fan of the art for New Mutants, big hater of Children of the Atom

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Adam Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a strong starting collection that falls off the cliff that is Vita Ayala's strained dialogue and dull ideas.

The art in X-Force #18 and #19 is not my favorite. There are some odd shadowing/crosshatching choices that uglied the faces of characters at times where it didn't seem appropriate. But the focus on Kid Omega was fun and continues the storyline that began with Domino's DNA adventures. I like that they're continuing a story by focusing on various members of the cast, rather than letting it all unfold with one angle. 3/5

Then we come to Children Of Atom #2. It was a lot stronger than the first issue. The first half was a decent examination of being mutants in the age of Krakoa who don't want to be a part of Krakoan society. I thought Ayala's writing was growing on me, but then the action started and it seemed like someone plugged a random dialogue generator into the script. Her writing can be So Trite that it's exhausting. Her take on what's essentially The Young Avengers, but with the X-Men is just flat and unengaging. 2/5

Therefore, I was excited to get to New Mutants #16 and #17. Why? I forgot that Ayala was writing this title, too. It's some of the Young X-Men characters and some more recent young mutants who are somehow sort of kind of being mentored by The Shadow King? And then it's about...who cares? The only thing that kept me flipping through the pages was the artwork, which is very stylized and intriguing but just attached to a story that's even more boring than Children Of The Atom. I can't wait for her run on this book to end. 1/5

Cable # 9 didn't knock me out, either. I don't know whether I was just fatigued from the previous three issues but Cable looking for Cable to fight Stryfe was a slog in the 1990s, it's not something I was eager to revisit. 2/5

I hope there's more Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, and Benjamin Percy in the next volume.

[Jennifer Sigman · Rating 2 out of 5]

X-Force - art looked like ass and I still don't care about Kid Omega and his cheerleader girlfriend.
New Mutants - Highlight of the volume.
Children of the Atom - I'm really starting to like this.

[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 2 out of 5]

X-Force - Two issues wrapping up the Quentin story from the last volume. Again, redefining him to be a little more palatable, but also laying support to an upcoming conflict with another villain. The second issue has terrible art. Still one of my complaints of this title is the lack of visual stability.

Children of the Atom - one issue. The art is still pretty good and I enjoy the writing perspective. There's a very intense conversation between X-Men and Avengers that highlights exactly where their relationship is. The only problem is I just don't want to read about young/teenage mutants anymore.

New Mutants - Speaking of younger mutants, I only read the first of these two issues and just decided that I don't care so I'm not wasting my time. Not saying it is terrible, just not interesting enough for me.

Cable - have previously decided not to read this title.

It may not be worthwhile for me to continue reading the Reign of X titles, with so many of the X-Titles that aren't intriguing enough for me to read.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am just not feeling Children of the Atom, enough that I'm considering skipping future issues. For me, the X-Force story was the best of the lot, because I'm just happy to see Quintin growing out of his edgelord nonsense. New Mutants was a pretty good story, but I have reservations about the number of plot threads being spun over there. I'm not thrilled about the Stryfe stuff over in Cable, even though I generally like the way Cable is being written now.

[Charles Korb]

X-Force: Quentin's evil side is a good plot for them, though beast deserves more suffering for his sins

Children of the Atom: why are the entire Avengers asking about some kids? The high school drama is a change of pace but not really what I'm looking for

New mutants: why would they let Karma do the crucible but not the nightmare girl? I 100% understand her resentment.

Cable: Cable remains the best part of this; fun, well drawn, with a compelling plot

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Force - Good story, but the art didn't really work for me.
Children of the Atom - Good art, but the story didn't really work for me.
New Mutants - Good story, really good art.
Cable - I could have skipped this and saved fifteen minutes of my life. This book just isn't what I'm looking for in a Cable story and I hate that Stryfe is a thing again. Enough already with that guy.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well..... They're trying to make Quentin Quire and young Cable likeable, and I'm not sure they are succeeding. I'm still interested in the old mutants teaching some new mutants, though they seem to be learning more from The Shadow King. Children of the Atom is a trainwreck that should never have been published.

[Carl Printer · Rating 4 out of 5]

X-Force has taken a fun detour playing with Kid Omega’s dark side. The redemption of a generally unlikable character through battling with a nightmare version of himself wasn’t as hokey as it could have been. The art went a long way toward selling it.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 for me.

New Mutants may have too much going on, with a Legion of Superhero’s vibe. And the Children of the Atom are a group I’m. It bought into yet.

Also I feel like we were marching to the Hellfire Gala and there is no mention here.

[Sara I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I had already read the New Mutant issues included in this volume already, they were still enjoyable and it was nice to see them in larger context with other storylines and knowing, now, what else was going on elsewhere for mutantkind and Krakoa.

[Fredrick C · Rating 5 out of 5]

yet another great book

I really, really, really really really really really really really love these books and all the storylines and all the characters and they’re showing their humanity even though they’re mutants

[Sohrab Rezvan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's not much to like in this volume. The art for X-Force is really uneven at times, Children of the Atom is not grabbing me at all, New Mutants is all over the place, and Cable moves too slowly despite it's interesting trajectory.

[Peter Zackowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great except for the "Children of the Atom" issue.

[Hanieh · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.7/5
Great start
Drastic ending...

[Nico · Rating 3 out of 5]

high highs and low lows in this volume
x-force and cable are fantastic, but new mutants is losing steam and i couldnt even stomach much of children of the atom, i had to skip past it

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Force (2019) 18-19 - 3/5
Children of the Atom (2021) 2 - 4/5
New Mutants (2019) 16-17 - 3.5/5
Cable (2020) 9 - 4/5

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quentin had such an interesting arc in this!

[Malcolm Fraser · Rating 1 out of 5]

A hot mess. A real slump. Making me wonder why I'm reading all these mid comics...

Even the art is bad, except for Cable.

[Brett Remesch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved everything except the New mutants portion. If that was cut out I’d give it 5

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these issues were ok. I couldn't care less about Children of the Atom (and I guess no one else could either since it was cancelled pretty quickly) and the art in Cable was pretty bad.

[Liv]

girls when they go so many issues without mystique and finally she's there for 3 whole pages

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

the way the different comics intersected in this collection especially is rly great!!! the art in the dani and karma sections was so so good......

[A Broken Zebra · Rating 3 out of 5]

→ X-FORCE ... ☑
→ CHILDREN OF THE ATOM ... ☒
→ NEW MUTANTS ... ☑
→ CABLE ... ☑

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another interesting mix of titles, although it largely takes me away from other stories I want to lear more about.

The X-Force issues continue Quin Quire's efforts to figure out what dark force is "haunting" his fellow mutants and why it feels so familiar. In the end, it nicely tied back to the larger story arc of the book and the threats they've been facing.

I still don't understand the purpose of Children of the Atom apart from having younger mutants again. Still not sold on where this book wants to go.

It was nice to dive back into New Mutants and both the art and the storytelling remain significantly compelling.

And I'm also pretty invested in the Cable stories as well. Young Cable is being more than just a jerkr and in recent issues has had to face his responsibilities when it comes to Stryfe being at large.