Reign of X, Vol. 14

X-Men: Krakoan Era (Anthology Trades)

by Leah Williams, Bob Quinn (Illustrator), Marvel Various (Writer)

Tragic endings and new beginnings in the Reign of X! X-Factor faces an eventful night at the Hellfire Gala as secrets are revealed - and a fatal discovery is made. The morning after, Nightcrawler deals with the hangover - and tries to root out the evil working to destroy Krakoa! But did any of the Children of the Atom make it to the biggest party of the year? When the truth finally comes out about these heroic teens, they face a heartbreaking goodbye - maybe forever! And as the flames of Hellfire past come licking at the heels of the Inner Circle, a new blockbuster era begins. The first elected team of X-Men is here - and they intend to save the world! Collecting X-FACTOR (2020) #10, WAY OF X #3, CHILDREN OF THE ATOM #6, MARAUDERS (2019) #22 and X-MEN (2021) #1.

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

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 27, 2022

About the author

Leah Williams is an American writer originally from Oxford, Mississippi. She has written comics for Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Vault Comics, and is working on more. Her debut novel was a YA Fantasy book titled The Alchemy of Being Fourteen and she is currently writing its sequel, The Divinity of Hitting Fifteen. Leah has nonfiction articles and essays published in The Atlantic, Oprah Magazine, and Salon.

Reviews

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, mainly reading this to get to the end of Reign of X after which I'll probably stop reading these trades. I've grown bored with the majority of them. Some of them are well done and have their own voice (X-Factor, Children of the Atom) but are geared toward a younger crowd which I'm sadly no longer a part of.

I'm not loving Way of X. It's purpose as a title seems flawed. I get the idea of examining the moral aspects of what they are doing but this feels as if that isn't the most important part of the story. The plot has this continued insistence of a villain being around which overshadows the former, and Kurt is now being portrayed as not as "clean" as he used to be so who is he to tell people what's right and wrong?

Marauders continues to be a fun title, if you like tension filled drama, lying and back-stabbing. Emma is still enjoyable to watch: someone you love to see implement her way but at the same time she's someone you don't want against you. I love the conflict between her and Sebastian and inserting a plot thread into existing, older continuity, when done right can be very satisfying like it is now.

X-Men, intending to be the title that satisfies all of us older readers who want a "classic" X-Men book. It fits this bill and Larraz's art is outstanding. I've read much further in the series and it's definitely my favorite right now.

[Luan Le · Rating 2 out of 5]

wow that was.. a bunch of nothing

At least I grew to like Dawn of X. Reign of X was B TO THE ORINGGGGG.

aside from the hellfire gala, not much really happened. Wait actually, Wanda is dead. And it’s so obvious that Magneto killed her. Every chance he gets he calls the her the pretender and blah blah blah.

X Factor was such a boring series I am glad it ended. I cared for none of those characters and the artwork was just not for me. I read a total of maybe 5 X Factor pages and skipped the rest.

Don’t get me started on Children of the Atom. Actually pmo. I don’t want to read about these kids pretending to be mutants and gender swapping the og X-Men. When I read “Cyclops-Lass” and “Marvel Guy”, boom, instant skill all 6 issues.

X corps is an odd series but I don’t mind. X force is getting weird and beast is getting weird but at least deadpool is in it.

L era. L titles. L X Factor. HICKMAN COME BACKKK

[Joselyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way of X como siempre la razón de mis 5 estrellas. Me gustó de principio a fin. La historia me tiene enganchadísima y los personajes ya me atraparon por completo.

En cuanto a X-Force, me aburrió bastante hasta el final. Aunque ya sabía de la eventual muerte de Wanda desde que inicie a leer esta era, no pensé que fuera a darse de esta manera por lo que, genuinamente, me sorprendió. Por lo tanto, su muerte fue de mucho impacto para mí, tanto que tuve que pausar la lectura porque no me podía concentrar en otra cosa que no fuera pensar en que iba a pasar con Wanda. Tuve que adelantarme a leer el Juicio de Magneto para poder estar tranquila jaja. Posterior a ello, volví a terminar este último tomo de Reign of X.

Marauders me gustó mucho y X-Men no me atrapó. Por lo tanto, a partir de aquí ya no estoy tan segura de que series seguir leyendo y cuáles no. En el camino lo iré resolviendo.

[Paulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection:
X-Factor #10
Way of X #3
Children of the Atom #6
Marauders #22

X-Factor #10
Oh look! It's Carmen! Anyway... what the f*ck was that laser beam?! WANDA WHAT? WHAT?!

Way of X #3
Still loving all this philosophical drama unfolding and how Nightcrawler keeps being forced (and we, the readers) to see things in different perspectives. That Legion thing with Loa and Mercury was... something... a mess.

Children of the Atom #6
So that's over. Nice. And for the record, I almost believed I was about to watch the birth of a polycule of teenagers... problematic.

Marauders #22
Closing the ties with what was showcased in the last issue with Lourdes. Wonder if we'll ever see her again. This issue only made me even more interested in Emma's past.

X-Men #1
Oh look! The X-Men in New York, what could go wrong? At least the treehouse looks dope (and what the f*ck is the Cordyceps Jones??)

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

it really sucks that x-factor fell so flat in the last issue when it was so good otherwise. the fact that leah williams was rushed to finish it sort of explains it but tackling stuff this serious when you know you don't have the time to deal with it appropriately.... i think it would have been better if prodigy and aurora's big mysteries were just left unsolved. someone else could have picked it up some day and did it justice. i'd rather tommy and prodigy got to have a moment together for longer before wanda was found

otherwise the rest is good!! the way all the different gala storylines intersect in this issue especially is very fun. i cant believe i got so attached to carmen when i did NOT give a fuck about the children of the atom to start. i hope she shows up more

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up front, I skipped Way of X, because I'd already read it, and Children of the Atom, because I don't like that series. X-Factor and Marauders were both really good, which is as to be expected at this point. I love both series, and their respective casts. Last up was the first issue in the new X-Men series. It's a big issue, but it's also almost entirely exposition. The point is to set up the new team, and it does that. I think it's a pretty strong team. Heavy hitters, both obvious and less obvious choices. Interesting to see them embraced by the world at large, too, at least for the time being. A strong volume, at least among the issues that I read.

[Kwan-Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standing in for Reign of X vols 7-14.

Enjoying how they play in this sandbox, it really feels like they are exploring the premise to its limits

some standouts:
- X-Factor, I love the X-Files x found family trope stuff (Northstar & Polaris are swiftly becoming two of my faves, and Eyeboy is very endearing)
- Hellfire Gala stuff is great, love the over the top costumes & wish there was more of this honestly
- Nightcrawler Way of X features are genuinely one of my favourite issues
- Cable genuinely started to grow on me as well through the series

unfortunately there are some issues I also didn't really care for, like the Children of the Atom stuff and also whatever SWORD is...

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this book still covers material that was part of the Hellfire Gala compilation, so that's important to note. But we do start to get stories that cover events right after the gala including an interesting Marauders issue that sets up a long arc (and explains the throwback to a previous Hellfire Gala). The other fun bit is the new X-Men team's first mission and their unique New York headquarters. Pulling Ben Urich into things rather excites me because you know how that's going to go given his role as an investigative journalist.

[Charles Korb]

Fun that x-factor has another murder mystery to investigate (I hope)

The ending of children of the atom was a satisfying payoff if a little predictable.

Now I see why the previous volume had the flashback to the other hellfire gala. This is actually a pretty good way to deal with the problem that it used to be more ok in media for men to hit their partners even if it is a goofy retcon of something that happened decades ago.

Lastly, the new X-Men team has the potential to be really fun, even if this issue felt a little campy.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much a bagful of meh. The standout is clearly X-Men #1 and the new direction which seems pretty interesting. We'll see - I really am enjoying the Hickman era, but now that Hickman isn't really a part of it anymore, my curiosity to see where is all is headed is starting to wane and I'm probably going to become more of a passive fan again instead of trying to keep up with the entire X-Universe. I also know that I keep saying that over the past few months, yet here I am, so...

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reign ends. It's bothersome to me that no one uses their powers in a superhero comic. There are some interesting character moments: Eye Boy seems to be non-binary.Stacy X is handing out condoms even though rule #1 on Krakoa is Make More Mutants. Sebastian Shaw gets some heartache. The XMen plant a treehouse in Central Park, just to be that way.

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this had focused a bit more on the Scarlet Witch murder plotline, but other than that, another great addition to the Reign Of X run!
TW for mentions of murder/serial killers targeting queer Black men, death, sex, mentions of pregnancy, abandoning of babies, crisis of faith, and violence.

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Factor (2020) 10 - 3.5/5
Way of X (2021) 3 - 3.5/5
Children of the Atom (2021) 6 -3.5/5
Marauders (2019) 22 - 3.5/5
X-Men (2021) 1 - 3/5

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The gala has repercussions and a new era for the X-men.

[Derrick O'Rourke]

Solid enough edition

This felt a bit like an after the mayor's show moment. All decent reads but not that interesting either. Shaw's story is probably the best of the bunch.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

New xmen team is badass