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Sabretooth by Victor LaValle
Sabretooth: The Adversary
The island nation of Krakoa has ushered in a bright new era for mutantkind — paradise after years of persecution. But even mutants must deal with monsters in their midst, and Victor Creed is perhaps the worst. One of the first acts of the Krakoan Quiet Council was to exile the savage Sabretooth to the pit beneath Krakoa, locked away in an endless darkness for his countless crimes against both mutants and humans. Now, you’re about to find out what Sabretooth has been up to since he was banished…and it’s not what you expect!
152 pages, Paperback
First published August 9, 2022
14 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Victor LaValle
139 books3,615 followersVictor LaValle is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, four novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, The Devil in Silver, and The Changeling and two novellas, Lucretia and the Kroons and The Ballad of Black Tom. He is also the creator and writer of a comic book Victor LaValle's DESTROYER.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Shirley Jackson Award, an American Book Award, and the key to Southeast Queens.
He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and kids. He teaches at Columbia University.
He can be kind of hard to reach, but he still loves you.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Shirley Jackson Award, an American Book Award, and the key to Southeast Queens.
He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and kids. He teaches at Columbia University.
He can be kind of hard to reach, but he still loves you.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
July 18, 2022
One of the better miniseries’ to come out of the recent line of X-titles. It’s cool seeing what happened to Sabretooth after he was tossed in the pit in HOX/POX, and even though it doesn’t do the best job at commenting on the real-world issues the writer wants to comment on, I still had fun with this.
Solid script, decent characterizations for all involved, and chaotic art make this worth any X-fan's time. There’s also a splash page in issue 1 that is one of the coolest in X-Men history, in my humble opinion of course. This does set up another miniseries that I’ll probably read eventually, but I’m not exactly frothing at the mouth for that title at the moment. But LaValle and Kirk did a wonderful job with this, and I hope they both stay on that sequel mini together.
Solid script, decent characterizations for all involved, and chaotic art make this worth any X-fan's time. There’s also a splash page in issue 1 that is one of the coolest in X-Men history, in my humble opinion of course. This does set up another miniseries that I’ll probably read eventually, but I’m not exactly frothing at the mouth for that title at the moment. But LaValle and Kirk did a wonderful job with this, and I hope they both stay on that sequel mini together.
September 9, 2022
On the one hand, this miniseries really appealed to me with its use of obscure mutants. And I liked that it talked about what life is like for supposedly "minor" characters like Skin and Mole. And as a criminal prosecutor, I was very invested in its attempt to examine the merits of the criminal justice system.
However, despite some ambitious themes, the story failed to live up to its own hype.
This story posited that Sabretooth, and then later additional mutants, were imprisoned in the bowels of Krakoa. While there, their consciousness occupied a shared astral plane. Even though they were imprisoned for some bullshit reasons (because the Quiet Council refuses to pass ordinary laws like a regular country), for some reason Sabretooth was able to pioneer his way through this astral plane by turning it into whatever happy fantasy he wanted. So, there wasn't a lot of actual punishment going on.
The Quiet Council came up with three bullshit sentences that they call their "laws." They immediately ran into trouble with the enforcement and interpretation of these laws, because they couldn't be bothered to come up with a list of definitions first, or adding some subparagraphs explaining the legislative intent behind the laws. Nor did they come up with any actual sentencing for defendants who violate these laws.
Unsurprisingly, defendants were prosecuted for political reasons rather than for actual justice. The mostly white Quiet Council managed to make 50% of their incarcerated population Black, even though the overall Black population on Krakoa is nowhere near 50%. (Assuming that there are minor mutants we don't see very often, then I would guestimate the Black population on Krakoa is no more than 20%, after one takes into account Storm, Tempo, Bishop, Synch, etc.) It didn't occur to the people in power that without creating some sort of objective sentencing standard, nor a separate judiciary branch apart from the Quiet Council functioning as also executive and legislative branch, OF COURSE their own biases and prejudices resulted in them unfairly punishing minorities.
However, this series acts as though it has some important message about how incarceration is a fundamentally unfair system, without ever positing any sort of alternative.
Okay, I agree that this little government of despots is moronic. They don't understand the basics of governance, if they can't understand why every other industrialized country in the world has REAL laws. I agree that racism clearly bled into their criminal justice system. I agree that their government is corrupt and inappropriately using the criminal justice system to silent dissent, infringing upon the civil liberties of their citizens.
BUT WHAT IS YOUR ALTERNATIVE?
Is the writer suggesting that Xavier should brainwash every single criminal to make them incapable of committing crimes in the future? Because he could. Or, is the writer positing that Magik should open a portal to the distant future, or a barren --but still barely habitable-- planet, forcing the criminals to colonize and form their own society, like how Australia was founded? Or, Masque could give the criminals a new face, and Forge could use his gun to steal mutants' powers, and Blindspot could remove key memories, and together they could transform criminals into powerless humans to be released back to the U.S.?
Maybe the Quiet Council could be a little more deferential to the victims and their family members. They could create a system where a mutant who murders a human has to get chained up and depowered by Leech while human family members come to Krakoa to beat and stab the murderer to death, only for the mutant murderer to be resurrected and do it all again the next day. While brutal, this would be cathartic for the victims' families, and it could have some measurable parameters put into place-- killing a single human results in 50 deaths for the offending mutant, to be carried out by the victims' family if they so choose?
These are all just my ideas. The writer actually posits nothing. Just prison = bad.
Yeah, we all know that prison is bad. That's the point. That's why none of us want to go there. Do you have something else you want to add?
There are 4 theories of incarceration. 1) Punishment for punishment's sake, 2) deterrence, 3) rehabilitation, and 4) protecting the public at large. Their current system of incarceration is horribly flawed, but at least it meets SOME of these criteria. It punishes criminals (theoretically) because they deserve it, which might provide some solace to the family members of murder victims. By having this form of incarceration in place, there is a deterrent effect upon the rest of the Krakoan population. And while Sabretooth is off exploring space in his astral fantasy world, the rest of the world is protected from him. Curiously, rehabilitation is the only category that is seemingly ignored with this form of incarceration; even though Krakoa COULD use the psychic fantasy world to rehabilitate Sabretooth, Cypher for some reason decided to step in and tell Krakoa to use it to give Sabretooth wish-fulfillment fantasies instead?
Maybe there is no attempt to rehabilitate in this scenario because the Quiet Council never bothered to come up with any sort of parole or appeal process, so none of these mutants are expected to ever come back from their incarceration?
I'm not even saying a tribal society would be totally wrong to give up on the goal of rehabilitation. But if you're going to do that, own it. Say that you're punishing criminals just because they deserve to be punished, and to keep everyone else safe, and that's all your society is willing to do.
However, despite some ambitious themes, the story failed to live up to its own hype.
This story posited that Sabretooth, and then later additional mutants, were imprisoned in the bowels of Krakoa. While there, their consciousness occupied a shared astral plane. Even though they were imprisoned for some bullshit reasons (because the Quiet Council refuses to pass ordinary laws like a regular country), for some reason Sabretooth was able to pioneer his way through this astral plane by turning it into whatever happy fantasy he wanted. So, there wasn't a lot of actual punishment going on.
The Quiet Council came up with three bullshit sentences that they call their "laws." They immediately ran into trouble with the enforcement and interpretation of these laws, because they couldn't be bothered to come up with a list of definitions first, or adding some subparagraphs explaining the legislative intent behind the laws. Nor did they come up with any actual sentencing for defendants who violate these laws.
Unsurprisingly, defendants were prosecuted for political reasons rather than for actual justice. The mostly white Quiet Council managed to make 50% of their incarcerated population Black, even though the overall Black population on Krakoa is nowhere near 50%. (Assuming that there are minor mutants we don't see very often, then I would guestimate the Black population on Krakoa is no more than 20%, after one takes into account Storm, Tempo, Bishop, Synch, etc.) It didn't occur to the people in power that without creating some sort of objective sentencing standard, nor a separate judiciary branch apart from the Quiet Council functioning as also executive and legislative branch, OF COURSE their own biases and prejudices resulted in them unfairly punishing minorities.
However, this series acts as though it has some important message about how incarceration is a fundamentally unfair system, without ever positing any sort of alternative.
Okay, I agree that this little government of despots is moronic. They don't understand the basics of governance, if they can't understand why every other industrialized country in the world has REAL laws. I agree that racism clearly bled into their criminal justice system. I agree that their government is corrupt and inappropriately using the criminal justice system to silent dissent, infringing upon the civil liberties of their citizens.
BUT WHAT IS YOUR ALTERNATIVE?
Is the writer suggesting that Xavier should brainwash every single criminal to make them incapable of committing crimes in the future? Because he could. Or, is the writer positing that Magik should open a portal to the distant future, or a barren --but still barely habitable-- planet, forcing the criminals to colonize and form their own society, like how Australia was founded? Or, Masque could give the criminals a new face, and Forge could use his gun to steal mutants' powers, and Blindspot could remove key memories, and together they could transform criminals into powerless humans to be released back to the U.S.?
Maybe the Quiet Council could be a little more deferential to the victims and their family members. They could create a system where a mutant who murders a human has to get chained up and depowered by Leech while human family members come to Krakoa to beat and stab the murderer to death, only for the mutant murderer to be resurrected and do it all again the next day. While brutal, this would be cathartic for the victims' families, and it could have some measurable parameters put into place-- killing a single human results in 50 deaths for the offending mutant, to be carried out by the victims' family if they so choose?
These are all just my ideas. The writer actually posits nothing. Just prison = bad.
Yeah, we all know that prison is bad. That's the point. That's why none of us want to go there. Do you have something else you want to add?
There are 4 theories of incarceration. 1) Punishment for punishment's sake, 2) deterrence, 3) rehabilitation, and 4) protecting the public at large. Their current system of incarceration is horribly flawed, but at least it meets SOME of these criteria. It punishes criminals (theoretically) because they deserve it, which might provide some solace to the family members of murder victims. By having this form of incarceration in place, there is a deterrent effect upon the rest of the Krakoan population. And while Sabretooth is off exploring space in his astral fantasy world, the rest of the world is protected from him. Curiously, rehabilitation is the only category that is seemingly ignored with this form of incarceration; even though Krakoa COULD use the psychic fantasy world to rehabilitate Sabretooth, Cypher for some reason decided to step in and tell Krakoa to use it to give Sabretooth wish-fulfillment fantasies instead?
Maybe there is no attempt to rehabilitate in this scenario because the Quiet Council never bothered to come up with any sort of parole or appeal process, so none of these mutants are expected to ever come back from their incarceration?
I'm not even saying a tribal society would be totally wrong to give up on the goal of rehabilitation. But if you're going to do that, own it. Say that you're punishing criminals just because they deserve to be punished, and to keep everyone else safe, and that's all your society is willing to do.
February 26, 2023
There's a lot of ideas going on in this book, and I didn't like a single one, disappointing to say the least. Victor LaValle could have written a really interesting story about Sabretooth and the Pit, but this was not it. I don't know who came up with the concept for the Pit, if it was Victor, Hickman or someone else in the editorial, but the mind world is basically an imitation of Ewing's Immortal Hulk, and that automatically killed my interest in the story, and then there's the inclusion of the Exiles, who were totally unnecessary for the story, and the usual political preaching you get in every Marvel book these days.
As Immortan Joe would have said... MEDIOCRE!
As Immortan Joe would have said... MEDIOCRE!
January 16, 2023
One of the more surprising intersections with Krakoa era X-Men. When it was established in House of X Powers of X, Sabretooth was thrown in an eternal prison of the mind for killing humans on a black bag mission for the council. Proving their Justice was part and parcel to human justice. Only in this mind prison, Sabretooth hatches a scheme with other incarcerated people in a bid for freedom. In so doing, it does, lightly, touch on the nature of justice, but quickly segues into a heist type thing and sets up a future arc. I’d have wished it was more thematically deep, but even the concept is far more interesting than what most did with this shake up.
January 5, 2023
While not an out-and-out triumph for me (some of the storytelling choices, such as the Feral Council, didn't make a lot of sense to me and could have been discarded in aid of greater character development for the Other Five) this story of how Sabretooth Got His Groove Back was at least interesting in that it scratches at the darker underbelly of the Utopian Mutant Nation without having to indulge in Intergalactic adventures or millennia-spanning time travel in order to tell its story.
No Kids, This Is Not A Redemption Story
I guess this continues in Sabretooth & The Exiles (2022-)? I'm in for the ride.
No Kids, This Is Not A Redemption Story
I guess this continues in Sabretooth & The Exiles (2022-)? I'm in for the ride.
February 19, 2023
A pretty decent story considering I’ve never really cared for Sabretooth. But it was nice going back through the history of Krakoa so far as we see new prisoners sent down into the pit after certain points in time. Sucks how far I am from Sabretooth and the Exiles though because I would like to see how this story continues. Nice to see Nanny and Orphan-Maker found a team so soon after the end of Hellions.
October 10, 2022
3.25
The characters weren't particularly interesting or relatable. The general plot was ok but too abstract. The best part was probably the very end of the last issue.
The characters weren't particularly interesting or relatable. The general plot was ok but too abstract. The best part was probably the very end of the last issue.
August 30, 2022
This was a series with a fantastic premise but one that I think in short, the team possibly didn't know what to really do with - I mean they did something with it and all, but was it the right choice?
THE STORY:
For those who have been not reading the revamped and totally retooled X-Men line of books, the world has changed and the mutants now have their own island nation, language, culture, science and are the most dynamic and intriguing societies on Earth. It is a free and seemingly egalitarian society (albiet with some uneasy elements) but the starting point was that all mutants are welcome and free of their past so long as they abide by the new laws of the land - and of course our resident ultraviolent sociopathic murder-machine, a.k.a Victor Creed, a.k.a, Sabretooth is the first to be faced with charges and thus found himself pulled into the heart of the living island that is Krakoa and kept in a kind of purgatory.
His body is effectively comatose (is that the right word?) but his mind is in a mental prison he can't escape and he is supposed to be here for effectively eternity. But he is Sabretooth. He creates and carves out a whole new hell within this dream world, he runs rampant and then when new mutants are punished and sent to this dream-prison kind of place, they must contend with the pure carnage and chaos that is Sabretooth.
MY THOUGHTS:
I can't help but feel that this series was a great premise but between the narrative choices and the clearly longer-term plan in place with the fact that this story ends with a big cliff-hanger-like finale as well as a teaser for the future, it's like a placeholder or first chapter kind of tale.
The stark flaws of the series I think struck me harder because the tone of the first 2 issues into the 3rd issue and then the final two was a drastic shift in story quality and focus. We start out with Victor being thrown into purgatory and given the kind of character he is in a society that does not want to kill nor be exactly like the human style prison system that's deeply flawed, this was a fantastic exploration of possible avenues of incarceration and a metaphorical view of what prison can do to a mind. It was also a great little chink in the armour that is Krakoas image as a free and fair society - most strongly evident when we see the other mutants get incarcerated, though the bulk way in which they were all imprisoned at the same time pretty much was my first sore point in the story. It's wierd and highly unlikely but fine.
Then we have the whole dynamic with Victor and Cypher (a.k.a Doug Ramsey, a.k.a, the voice of Krakoa) and all that's taking place - I feel like there was a purpose and a message to their interaction and all but it made little to no sense to me. There's the nature of the prison where no one, not even Xavier can see what's happening inside that felt so strange to me and a missed opportunity. There was the types of crimes for which these mutants were thrown into this purgatory that seemed not just in contrast to Krakoas mores but downright contrary and more than a tad wierd/forced. Plus there's almost a jumpy nature to the second half of this 5-issue mini series that feels like one of those poorly edited B-movies where you can see there were some good ideas in there but you didn't know how to flesh it out and ended up with a chopped up feeling narrative that bounces around and doesn't quite feel right or coherent enough. By the end, I had no one to cheer for, potentially interesting lesser-known mutants that we never got to really know and then several more that were like props that never got explored as well as a prophetic vision, barely anything resembling action and some kind of confusing attempt at a "message" that seems to have totally sailed over my head.
As to the art, I have very little to say because it was serviceable but at times, inconsistent. It was not bad but there was nothing except for perhaps the odd section again in the first issue or two that was at all striking and it left sadly little impression on me.
IN THE END:
This was a book that had many kinds of potential to it. Like the Black Bolt mini written by Saladin Ahmed, this could have been a fantastic exploration about a different kind of prison and could have even been just a fantastic meditation on being in a prison, period. It could have been a perspective on the Krakoan society and their choices and the flaws and cracks in it that were contrary to the veneer of perfection they had tried to craft.
It was in fragments, all of the above and in the end, not really any of them. It's not a bad read per-se, but did I want to read more of the same? No.
Would it motivate me to read the next installment? Unlikely.
Would I recommend it? Probably only to die-hard X-fans who have to at least try it all (as I have been) OR to fans of Sabretooth, probably worth it for some decent character moments for him and they're clearly planning much for him that starts here.
THE STORY:
For those who have been not reading the revamped and totally retooled X-Men line of books, the world has changed and the mutants now have their own island nation, language, culture, science and are the most dynamic and intriguing societies on Earth. It is a free and seemingly egalitarian society (albiet with some uneasy elements) but the starting point was that all mutants are welcome and free of their past so long as they abide by the new laws of the land - and of course our resident ultraviolent sociopathic murder-machine, a.k.a Victor Creed, a.k.a, Sabretooth is the first to be faced with charges and thus found himself pulled into the heart of the living island that is Krakoa and kept in a kind of purgatory.
His body is effectively comatose (is that the right word?) but his mind is in a mental prison he can't escape and he is supposed to be here for effectively eternity. But he is Sabretooth. He creates and carves out a whole new hell within this dream world, he runs rampant and then when new mutants are punished and sent to this dream-prison kind of place, they must contend with the pure carnage and chaos that is Sabretooth.
MY THOUGHTS:
I can't help but feel that this series was a great premise but between the narrative choices and the clearly longer-term plan in place with the fact that this story ends with a big cliff-hanger-like finale as well as a teaser for the future, it's like a placeholder or first chapter kind of tale.
The stark flaws of the series I think struck me harder because the tone of the first 2 issues into the 3rd issue and then the final two was a drastic shift in story quality and focus. We start out with Victor being thrown into purgatory and given the kind of character he is in a society that does not want to kill nor be exactly like the human style prison system that's deeply flawed, this was a fantastic exploration of possible avenues of incarceration and a metaphorical view of what prison can do to a mind. It was also a great little chink in the armour that is Krakoas image as a free and fair society - most strongly evident when we see the other mutants get incarcerated, though the bulk way in which they were all imprisoned at the same time pretty much was my first sore point in the story. It's wierd and highly unlikely but fine.
Then we have the whole dynamic with Victor and Cypher (a.k.a Doug Ramsey, a.k.a, the voice of Krakoa) and all that's taking place - I feel like there was a purpose and a message to their interaction and all but it made little to no sense to me. There's the nature of the prison where no one, not even Xavier can see what's happening inside that felt so strange to me and a missed opportunity. There was the types of crimes for which these mutants were thrown into this purgatory that seemed not just in contrast to Krakoas mores but downright contrary and more than a tad wierd/forced. Plus there's almost a jumpy nature to the second half of this 5-issue mini series that feels like one of those poorly edited B-movies where you can see there were some good ideas in there but you didn't know how to flesh it out and ended up with a chopped up feeling narrative that bounces around and doesn't quite feel right or coherent enough. By the end, I had no one to cheer for, potentially interesting lesser-known mutants that we never got to really know and then several more that were like props that never got explored as well as a prophetic vision, barely anything resembling action and some kind of confusing attempt at a "message" that seems to have totally sailed over my head.
As to the art, I have very little to say because it was serviceable but at times, inconsistent. It was not bad but there was nothing except for perhaps the odd section again in the first issue or two that was at all striking and it left sadly little impression on me.
IN THE END:
This was a book that had many kinds of potential to it. Like the Black Bolt mini written by Saladin Ahmed, this could have been a fantastic exploration about a different kind of prison and could have even been just a fantastic meditation on being in a prison, period. It could have been a perspective on the Krakoan society and their choices and the flaws and cracks in it that were contrary to the veneer of perfection they had tried to craft.
It was in fragments, all of the above and in the end, not really any of them. It's not a bad read per-se, but did I want to read more of the same? No.
Would it motivate me to read the next installment? Unlikely.
Would I recommend it? Probably only to die-hard X-fans who have to at least try it all (as I have been) OR to fans of Sabretooth, probably worth it for some decent character moments for him and they're clearly planning much for him that starts here.
November 12, 2022
The Pit was a real place of mystery and horror in Krakoa. I'm not sure that actually showing how it works did anything but weaken that mystery. (Could a better miniseries have done so? Maybe.)
I'm also not convinced by some of the peoples that got thrown into the Pit. I mean, if the Quiet Council has really turned *that* evil it's problematic, but I can't see how it would have.
Despite those problems, this is a perfectly good miniseries, though I wish it weren't such a transparent setup for the _next_ story (Sabretooth & The Exiles).
I'm also not convinced by some of the peoples that got thrown into the Pit. I mean, if the Quiet Council has really turned *that* evil it's problematic, but I can't see how it would have.
Despite those problems, this is a perfectly good miniseries, though I wish it weren't such a transparent setup for the _next_ story (Sabretooth & The Exiles).
May 18, 2023
Sabretooth: The Adversary fits the mold of an X-verse mini-series. Lots of big ideas vaguely gestured at. A handful of new mutants who could easily be offed. An old foe resurrected in a weird new way.
Way back in House of X/Powers of X Sabretooth was exiled to the Pit, Krakoa's first and only prison. In this trapped state, he's created a mind palace with (of course!) his very own council of Sabretooth iterations. When new prisoners arrive in his mind palace, they decide to work together to escape - if one of the versions of Sabretooth doesn't decide to murder them first.
The Adversary is ably told and often intriguing, but it feels like important scenes were skipped in favor of a five-issue run. Like, one page to the next doesn't seem to line up. The mutant "villains" all make it off Krakoa and Destiny envisions a terrifying future for Sabretooth, but what if any of it will matter going forward?
Way back in House of X/Powers of X Sabretooth was exiled to the Pit, Krakoa's first and only prison. In this trapped state, he's created a mind palace with (of course!) his very own council of Sabretooth iterations. When new prisoners arrive in his mind palace, they decide to work together to escape - if one of the versions of Sabretooth doesn't decide to murder them first.
The Adversary is ably told and often intriguing, but it feels like important scenes were skipped in favor of a five-issue run. Like, one page to the next doesn't seem to line up. The mutant "villains" all make it off Krakoa and Destiny envisions a terrifying future for Sabretooth, but what if any of it will matter going forward?
June 10, 2023
Leads into new Exiles...
October 31, 2022
3.5 Stars
Starting us into the "Destiny of X" era (post X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine) we head down into the Pit of Krakoa to find Sabretooth, still imprisoned there after his transgressions, as the only prisoner of Krakoa. He is contacted by Cypher, who feels bad for him, and is given the ability to control a fantasy world controlled by his mind, which he soon deems Hell. However, more mutants have broken the 3 laws and have been put down there with him. They (Nekra, Madison Jeffries, Oya, Melter, and Third-Eye) battle against Sabretooth's illusions, then begin to work together with Sabretooth on an escape plan. Projecting their consciousnesses to others on the island, the group begin to stir up anti-Quiet Council sentiment. The tactic works and plans are discussed for freeing them all from the Pit, however Sabretooth escapes on his own and flees the island.
I can tell the X-Books are heading in a darker direction, most likely towards something very bad. How long will the era of Krakoa last?
Looking forward to continuing the titles working up to A.X.E. (Avengers/X-Men/Eternals).
Recommend, though not vital to the overall story, for the most part.
Starting us into the "Destiny of X" era (post X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine) we head down into the Pit of Krakoa to find Sabretooth, still imprisoned there after his transgressions, as the only prisoner of Krakoa. He is contacted by Cypher, who feels bad for him, and is given the ability to control a fantasy world controlled by his mind, which he soon deems Hell. However, more mutants have broken the 3 laws and have been put down there with him. They (Nekra, Madison Jeffries, Oya, Melter, and Third-Eye) battle against Sabretooth's illusions, then begin to work together with Sabretooth on an escape plan. Projecting their consciousnesses to others on the island, the group begin to stir up anti-Quiet Council sentiment. The tactic works and plans are discussed for freeing them all from the Pit, however Sabretooth escapes on his own and flees the island.
I can tell the X-Books are heading in a darker direction, most likely towards something very bad. How long will the era of Krakoa last?
Looking forward to continuing the titles working up to A.X.E. (Avengers/X-Men/Eternals).
Recommend, though not vital to the overall story, for the most part.
June 7, 2024
What happens when you’re banished in to the island of Krakoa? You got a little mad that’s what.
This story deals with the aftermath of the Quiet Council punishing Sabretooth for breaking their rules. But the story goes over the seedier nature of the Quiet Council and how, despite being told they’re all equal, there is still a hierarchy within the mutants.
The opening is some great gory fun that shows how Victors mind works and how he’s able to channel his rage in a way many other rage driven characters can’t.
The team he assembles by the end is solid and the open ending is good stuff.
4/5
This story deals with the aftermath of the Quiet Council punishing Sabretooth for breaking their rules. But the story goes over the seedier nature of the Quiet Council and how, despite being told they’re all equal, there is still a hierarchy within the mutants.
The opening is some great gory fun that shows how Victors mind works and how he’s able to channel his rage in a way many other rage driven characters can’t.
The team he assembles by the end is solid and the open ending is good stuff.
4/5
November 8, 2022
2.5 I like Lavelle's writing and I think given more time he could make this idea work. It's too big an idea for five issues. I think using Sabertooth as the example of what a "just" society does when someone doesn't fit the molds is interesting.... But it didn't go far enough. Paradise wouldn't be paradise for everyone. Some of us just have itches that need to be scratched.
November 8, 2022
I don't have any interest in Sabretooth as a character, but I enjoyed this as a critique of the dark underbelly of the Krakoa era. Great to see some of these characters again, but certain elements of the story felt like a stretch to me.
November 10, 2023
The Pit! This was a concept that I’ve been curious to know more about since HOX/POX and I’m glad to have finally read this one. I think the character of Sabretooth is very interesting and I’d look forward to reading more of him in the Krakoa universe and in past stories, as well.
January 18, 2025
This one surprised me. It didn’t try to make Sabretooth likeable or redeemable - instead it used his story to illuminate flaws in the mutant paradise. I found it really interesting. It also sets up the follow on read, Sabretooth and the Exiles. Let’s do this!
November 3, 2022
Some good stuff about the role of prison in paradise, but it seems a little tentative.
October 16, 2023
Sabretooth is actually pretty decent overall, but feels like a tease for another series by the end. Which is still more than you can say about the average X-book these days.
February 28, 2025
Solid reading. LaValle knows how to tell a good horror story. Extra points for exploring more about Doug's hidden agenda on the island.
May 12, 2023
There is a deep (lol) story about overcoming the odds at any cost but this doesn’t feel like that story. The philosophical quotes at the beginning give you the arc ideas of redemption but I feel like Sabretooth never becomes this mastermind- a matrix type story where the mind is able to transcend the body
July 13, 2022
Deserved better art but extremely well written
December 16, 2022
A Marvel comic about the prison industrial complex and the way cultural narratives define villainy and the anti-establishment. The smartest X-Men comic in a VERY long time.
December 17, 2022
I want to like this book more than I did. Conceptually, there’s some really great stuff about the carceral system in general, and specifically how it’s been implemented on Krakoa. However, I spent a lot of time mostly distracted by just how out of character some of this stuff was. Seeing Idie show up as being thrown in the pit, after she was so close with Hope, Wolverine, the time displaced O5, Kid Omega, and others was a big shock. I don’t see how she gets just unceremoniously thrown in the Pit without any of them knowing or trying to help (and I know the time displaced teens are gone, but their adult counterparts inherited all of their memories).
I think what bothers me is that there are so many characters on Krakoa who are supposed to be advocating for good, yet somehow we are ending up with Xavier and Magneto becoming more and more villainous seeming. I read this right after Inferno, and I still don’t have a full understanding of why they were so on board with Moira, and here they are throwing nearly half a dozen mutants in the pit without so much as a vote from the quiet council. It doesn’t sit right as part of their characterization or what the island is hoping to accomplish in this era. It feels like an excuse to get Sabretooth back on the board, rather than a natural evolution of the plot thread. Though I guess it does fit with what we saw for Nanny, Orphanmaker, and Toad.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of Leonard Kirk’s art. It didn’t look quite right to me at times. I also don’t think Idie has looked right since back in the Wolverine and the X-Men days (though I haven’t revisited that in a while either, so I could be wrong). It wasn’t bad, just not something that I was excited about.
All in all, this could have been worse, I just wanted more. That said, I’m eager to see what comes from the next series with the Exiles team and how long that lasts (I read it was a miniseries, which would annoy me for not being ongoing), so that’s something for how much of a “hook” there is with this concept at least.
I think what bothers me is that there are so many characters on Krakoa who are supposed to be advocating for good, yet somehow we are ending up with Xavier and Magneto becoming more and more villainous seeming. I read this right after Inferno, and I still don’t have a full understanding of why they were so on board with Moira, and here they are throwing nearly half a dozen mutants in the pit without so much as a vote from the quiet council. It doesn’t sit right as part of their characterization or what the island is hoping to accomplish in this era. It feels like an excuse to get Sabretooth back on the board, rather than a natural evolution of the plot thread. Though I guess it does fit with what we saw for Nanny, Orphanmaker, and Toad.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of Leonard Kirk’s art. It didn’t look quite right to me at times. I also don’t think Idie has looked right since back in the Wolverine and the X-Men days (though I haven’t revisited that in a while either, so I could be wrong). It wasn’t bad, just not something that I was excited about.
All in all, this could have been worse, I just wanted more. That said, I’m eager to see what comes from the next series with the Exiles team and how long that lasts (I read it was a miniseries, which would annoy me for not being ongoing), so that’s something for how much of a “hook” there is with this concept at least.
November 22, 2022
I tried reading this in singles as it came out, but I lost the thread at some point. It reads much better as a trade. It pokes and prods at larger ideas about the nature of prison and rehabilitation and justice while providing a pretty fun story. I was unaware of most of the supporting cast when I first tried this. I recommend doing a quick Wikipedia visit on each of them before getting too far.
Read
June 26, 2023As in his The Ballad Of Black Tom*, LaValle takes a character originally positioned as the villain in someone else's story and, without taking the obvious, boring and usually flat wrong approach of making him a blameless victim, delights in picking at all the ways in which the system that condemns him really shouldn't be too proud of itself either. Creed may be a brutal killer, after all, but the new mutant utopia has plenty of 'former' villains on its ruling council, even the likes of Sinister and Apocalypse, whose names say it all. And yet where they sit in judgment, he was condemned to the oblivion of the Pit, for a crime which wasn't even a crime at the time, committed while on a mission in service of the infant nation.
This isn't even revisionism; right back to Hickman's inaugural miniseries, it served as a hint of something amiss, one of Krakoa's original sins. But LaValle digs into it, shows Creed left to his own imaginings down there, first taking refuge in fantasies of vengeance, then trying to be something better, before ultimately making manifest the Hell that's all he knows. Which is unfortunate when, despite all Xavier's noble pronouncements that he wouldn't be making a habit of this, more mutants start being consigned to the Pit, mostly ones less obviously villainous than Sabretooth, for 'crimes' even more arguable, particularly when more famous and popular characters have been getting away with worse. All mutants are equal in Krakoa - but some are more equal than others.
As to where it goes from there, that would be telling; there are a lot of twists and turns in these five issues, and most of them work (though the conclusion did feel a little disjointed, as if it had only been amended relatively late in the day to set up a sequel series instead of fully concluding the story). But just as it doesn't cop out to exonerating Creed, so I liked the way that it showed Krakoa manifesting versions of the problems which afflict all societies without flatly replicating the ways a certain other utopian project for a new nation has gone so impressively wrong. And on a geekier note, I liked the way it dug marginal characters out of old stories to populate its cast of unnoticed Krakoans; I only got into the original Generation X recently and I'd been wondering what became of Skin. There's still the fundamental tension in there which afflicts all anti-carceral projects - what do you do with the occasional irredeemably dangerous individuals like, well, the title character of this series? But while that renders a manifesto nonsensical, in a story (at least so long as it really is a story, which this is, and not a manifesto in disguise) it can remain simply interesting, uneasy, a knot.
*Yes, Krakoa has its own Black Tom, and no, LaValle can't resist dropping him in here.
This isn't even revisionism; right back to Hickman's inaugural miniseries, it served as a hint of something amiss, one of Krakoa's original sins. But LaValle digs into it, shows Creed left to his own imaginings down there, first taking refuge in fantasies of vengeance, then trying to be something better, before ultimately making manifest the Hell that's all he knows. Which is unfortunate when, despite all Xavier's noble pronouncements that he wouldn't be making a habit of this, more mutants start being consigned to the Pit, mostly ones less obviously villainous than Sabretooth, for 'crimes' even more arguable, particularly when more famous and popular characters have been getting away with worse. All mutants are equal in Krakoa - but some are more equal than others.
As to where it goes from there, that would be telling; there are a lot of twists and turns in these five issues, and most of them work (though the conclusion did feel a little disjointed, as if it had only been amended relatively late in the day to set up a sequel series instead of fully concluding the story). But just as it doesn't cop out to exonerating Creed, so I liked the way that it showed Krakoa manifesting versions of the problems which afflict all societies without flatly replicating the ways a certain other utopian project for a new nation has gone so impressively wrong. And on a geekier note, I liked the way it dug marginal characters out of old stories to populate its cast of unnoticed Krakoans; I only got into the original Generation X recently and I'd been wondering what became of Skin. There's still the fundamental tension in there which afflicts all anti-carceral projects - what do you do with the occasional irredeemably dangerous individuals like, well, the title character of this series? But while that renders a manifesto nonsensical, in a story (at least so long as it really is a story, which this is, and not a manifesto in disguise) it can remain simply interesting, uneasy, a knot.
*Yes, Krakoa has its own Black Tom, and no, LaValle can't resist dropping him in here.
January 31, 2023
I did not finish this, the story makes no sense and the art is quite unfit.
Professor Xavier imprisons Sabretooth in what we are told is an inescapable place but his mind will run free in a Matrix like environment where he seems to have control of what happens, he can experiment assassinating whoever he wants as many times as he wants, or he can become leader of an adventurous group and have fun, or become a satan-like figure in his imagined hell, and rule it with the incarnation of his ego, super-ego and it. Sabretooth seems to have plenty of control in this imaginary world, nonetheless how it gets reset is not explained.
Our protagonist seems to be having a good time in his imaginary cell, then he is able to project himself into some roots or a tree in the living island of Krakoa. He was not trying that, he was not aware that such a thing was possible, but he stumbled upon it quite easily. Krakoa did not feel any disturbance, no alarms were turned on by this, and although another mutant saw a tree becoming a Sabretooth shaped thing, she did not think it was relevant to ask anyone if this may be a problem. After this a group of forgettable characters get imprisoned with Sabretooth, in a totally non-sense move, they get to share the same dream that Sabretooth is having, instead of being in their own individual mindscapes. Quite soon one of them discovers that he can escape from there just by projecting himself as a ghost into the real world, so much for the inescapable prison, the others don´t take long in using the same method that Sabretooth used and escape by becoming rocks, or other elements with their physical shape in Krakoa. Without any effort, wit nor sacrifice these boring characters are able to escape almost immediately.
Then I stopped. There are some interesting ideas here, but the writer throws them away immediately to give time to boring characters who break the rules that have been established. Nothing is developed.
The selected artist is quite unfit for this, his sensibilities seem more appropiate for a story where the are no surreal elements. There's a general lack of detail which is increased by the rushed job that the inker did. Someone like Esad Ribic would´ve done great things here.
I found this story ranked in a top of the 2022 comicbooks, I read three out of the five issues that make this story, and I can only think that the person who did the ranking is related to the writer, the artist or someone in the production team of this book since it could never enter the best of anything.
Professor Xavier imprisons Sabretooth in what we are told is an inescapable place but his mind will run free in a Matrix like environment where he seems to have control of what happens, he can experiment assassinating whoever he wants as many times as he wants, or he can become leader of an adventurous group and have fun, or become a satan-like figure in his imagined hell, and rule it with the incarnation of his ego, super-ego and it. Sabretooth seems to have plenty of control in this imaginary world, nonetheless how it gets reset is not explained.
Our protagonist seems to be having a good time in his imaginary cell, then he is able to project himself into some roots or a tree in the living island of Krakoa. He was not trying that, he was not aware that such a thing was possible, but he stumbled upon it quite easily. Krakoa did not feel any disturbance, no alarms were turned on by this, and although another mutant saw a tree becoming a Sabretooth shaped thing, she did not think it was relevant to ask anyone if this may be a problem. After this a group of forgettable characters get imprisoned with Sabretooth, in a totally non-sense move, they get to share the same dream that Sabretooth is having, instead of being in their own individual mindscapes. Quite soon one of them discovers that he can escape from there just by projecting himself as a ghost into the real world, so much for the inescapable prison, the others don´t take long in using the same method that Sabretooth used and escape by becoming rocks, or other elements with their physical shape in Krakoa. Without any effort, wit nor sacrifice these boring characters are able to escape almost immediately.
Then I stopped. There are some interesting ideas here, but the writer throws them away immediately to give time to boring characters who break the rules that have been established. Nothing is developed.
The selected artist is quite unfit for this, his sensibilities seem more appropiate for a story where the are no surreal elements. There's a general lack of detail which is increased by the rushed job that the inker did. Someone like Esad Ribic would´ve done great things here.
I found this story ranked in a top of the 2022 comicbooks, I read three out of the five issues that make this story, and I can only think that the person who did the ranking is related to the writer, the artist or someone in the production team of this book since it could never enter the best of anything.
June 8, 2024
This was a weird series and the other reviews do a better job explaining why its brilliant and yet flawed, and the writer clearly had something to say about the incarceration thing and examining what the pit is like for the criminals or the ones sentenced, and its fascinating and I have different views than the author here but its fascinating to see how a character like Sabretooth makes the prison his hell and thrives in it and at first you see how he is torturing the others and then connects to them and you feel like there is a change coming and a prison break for sure.
But then you see the manipulations that Victor did and its brilliant showing the cunning side of him and how he gets people to do his bidding, inciting a rebellion and thats how he defeated Professor X in a way and how its becoming troublesome for Cypher too and seeing him in the end face off like that without even fighting was cool way to explore him.
There were some confusing things but I like how we get the backstory of the other trapped mutants and I really like Third eye and Nekra and they had fascinating backstories and why they got punished is actually fascinating and also shows the flawed krakoan law system and no appeals and all here and weird interpretation of the law. The council acting as all 3 forms of legislation, executive and judiciary shows how its so flawed and actually kinda dangerous, its like you're questioning the authority and getting punished for it and all so yeah from a legal pov its fascinating.
And the other thing is wow there is a lot of American history here and it could be fascinating but sometimes it becomes too much, but this is my first time reading this writer, so maybe its a hallmark of his writing or something but I like how he shows the psychic nature of Victor's mind ad how messed up he is, and cunning and dangerous and what happens to him next will be fun to see and I like the team on the hunt for him, it actually lives upto the name and the why of it all, so the next series should be fun.
BUT AS FAR AS this is concerned, this was good too but flawed and good counter arguments can be derived and it will make you question Krakoa and is it really perfect or what and also showing how dangerous Creed is.
But then you see the manipulations that Victor did and its brilliant showing the cunning side of him and how he gets people to do his bidding, inciting a rebellion and thats how he defeated Professor X in a way and how its becoming troublesome for Cypher too and seeing him in the end face off like that without even fighting was cool way to explore him.
There were some confusing things but I like how we get the backstory of the other trapped mutants and I really like Third eye and Nekra and they had fascinating backstories and why they got punished is actually fascinating and also shows the flawed krakoan law system and no appeals and all here and weird interpretation of the law. The council acting as all 3 forms of legislation, executive and judiciary shows how its so flawed and actually kinda dangerous, its like you're questioning the authority and getting punished for it and all so yeah from a legal pov its fascinating.
And the other thing is wow there is a lot of American history here and it could be fascinating but sometimes it becomes too much, but this is my first time reading this writer, so maybe its a hallmark of his writing or something but I like how he shows the psychic nature of Victor's mind ad how messed up he is, and cunning and dangerous and what happens to him next will be fun to see and I like the team on the hunt for him, it actually lives upto the name and the why of it all, so the next series should be fun.
BUT AS FAR AS this is concerned, this was good too but flawed and good counter arguments can be derived and it will make you question Krakoa and is it really perfect or what and also showing how dangerous Creed is.
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