Trials of X, Vol. 5

X-Men: Krakoan Era (Anthology Trades)

by Simon Spurrier, Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard

Evolution and revelation in the Trials of X! The X-Men’s greatest foe is back to menace Krakoa, as Onslaught slithers in the minds of the island nation’s leaders! Can Nightcrawler light the spark that will drive out the shadows…or will Krakoa slip into the abyss? Meanwhile, the X-Men are no strangers to being targeted for their genes — but when the High Evolutionary returns with his twisted brand of unnatural selection, the survival of the entire planet is at stake! Excalibur’s sense of duty is tested to its limits when Doctor Doom comes calling, seeking passage to Avalon! Plus: How does X-Corp meet nearly impossible quotas with maximum synergy and minimal bandwidth? They’ve got Dr. Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man — and he’s the world’s best boss!

COLLECTING: X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation (2021) 1, X-Men (2021) 3, Excalibur (2019) 23, X-Corp (2021) 3-4

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

152 pages, Paperback

Published February 21, 2023

Reviews

[johnny ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

x-corp sucks so bad. reading it makes me want to fuckin die. even worse than the onslaught revelation and way of x!!!

[Charles Korb]

Onslaught Revelation: This was a good conclusion to Nightcrawlers arc. I liked the new look of onslaught

X-men: Another monster of the week that advances the overarching plot a smidge

Excalibur: this was a great cameo from Doom. One of the better Excalibur issues in this segment

X-corp: this is an interesting idea, but I feel like it takes itself a little too seriously. I feel like is should embrace the absurdity of superheroes running a corporation more. The material is there

[Bertazzo · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great Way of X send-off. Duggan's X-Men has pretty much nothing to say. And It baffles me that Marvel cut trees to print Excalibur and X-Corp.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend of mine grew up with Tini Howard. And this friend and I originally bonded over our love of the Marvel X-Universe books. He asked me what I thought of Howard's X-books, and I said "I think they're really talented. Unfortunately, most of what I've read by them is Excalibur, and I've never cared about the mutants go to a magical land book. I don't care about Captain Britain or Pete Wisdom, and I think the series just drags the rest of the characters to a level I don't care about. But it's not Howard's fault. I didn't care about them when Chris Claremont, Alan Davis, or Warren Ellis were writing about them, either. But ... I swear there was another title they were working on that I really loved. But I can't think of it."

It's X-Corps.

The Onslaught Revelation #1 is the climax of the first Way Of X story. It's a more modern take on the 90s Onslaught storyline, and I've enjoyed how the storyline is about the Magneto/Professor X villain, but the focus on the story is on Nightcrawler, Cortez, and Lost, none of whom have had much spotlight in the post House Of X era.

Four stars.

X-Men #3 features The High Evolutionary, a villain I never think of, as he's supposedly mega powered but only shows up every decade or so to be absolutely battered in less than one issue, which is what happens here. There are a ton of solid one-liners in this issue that make the, frankly, silly battle so much fun that it doesn't matter that the stakes seemed highly inflated.

Four stars.

I tried to get into Excalibur #23, but, as usual, I lost interest pretty quickly.

Two stars.

X-Corps #3 & #4, however held my focus the whole way through. I feel like it's been several volumes since we've seen the Angel/Penance/Madrox storyline, and it really shines here. Howard has a tight grip on these characters, and does an excellent job making a corporate espionage story one of the best things happening in the Krakoan era.

Five stars.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onslaught Revelation - I kinda liked this although it irks me they keep creating these one-shots just to finish a story. Why didn't they just leave it in Way of X? It wraps up that storyline in which I appreciate what Spurrier was trying to do.

X-Men - Still gorgeous to look at and still a little short on substance. I like the referencing of previous/old stories which is cool, but only hinting at and setting up something for the future.

Excalibur - had to slog through it. Doom's attitude is always fun to read but otherwise, still don't care about this book.

X-Corp - Surprisingly interesting, enough to push this book solidly in the 3 stars category. Definitely not a must-read for me but wasn't terrible. But once again, it's another book showing the less than honorable traits of many of the mutants. While I guess they can't all be perfect, it's hard to read these stories when I don't look up to many of them. Flaws are ok, but just being a jerk or having no morals and ethics isn't my type of hero.

[Nick Callebaut · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first iteration of Onslaught was a terrifying threat. I read it when I was about sixteen years old and it had been built up for months, an looming presence that turned out to be an insidious one and ended up killing many of Earth's mightiest heroes (who were then resurrected through a handy plot involving Franklin Richards and a blue ball sometime later). In any case, it wasn't dispatched by means of Fabian Cortez's introspective moment. One can like the Onslaught character or not, but it seems like it was more of a tool for what needed to be done in the narrative than anything else. This is something the Krakoa storyline has a habit of doing and it bothers me to no end.

X-Men 3 was ok. The art was great. Excalibur taking Doom on a trip in Otherworld was fun. X-Corp was entertaining. I like the fact that Madrox is back and his role as an entire lab workforce is pretty funny, but the writers seem to have forgotten that he's not actually a mutant, as elaborated in Peter David's X-Factor run. That's a detail of course.

[Paulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection:
X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation #1
X-Men #3
Excalibur #23
X-Corp #3-4

X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation #1
Absolutely brilliant, this run made me love Nightcrawler. Great art, great action scenes, the collaborative usage of powers was done very well. It's just a shame that that's the state Legion is forced to be in, as a stronghold of sorts for others, but I also understand that keeping this character otherwise would be a writer's hell.

X-Men #3
So now they know about Cordyceps in exchange for mutant blood (and not just any mutant). I have no idea who they were, but they seemed like formidable foes. I love this run of the X-Men with this new team.

Excalibur #23
Adventures with Doom around are always interesting to read about, but this one seemed a bit dull and lackluster.

X-Corp #3-4
This story is quite interesting, and finally, it has some content to follow through and to give these mutants a chance to showcase themselves and their powers in this exotic setting.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a meh collection. The Onslaught oneshot is basically an epilogue to Way of X, and I really don't understand why it's not collected in that trade. Frankly, it feels a little cheap to bring in Onslaught and then evidently dispose of him so quickly and easily. The X-Men issue is pretty good, and sets up what's going to be a very big deal shortly. I still don't care for Excalibur, and I think now that I don't really care for X-Corp either.

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Legion, his interactions with Nightcrawler were so much fun, as was their storyline. Doom and Excalibur was also good fun, as was the High Evolutionary stuff. The X-Corp stuff though still was not my favourite - this one was slightly more fun than previous issues, but still not my favourite of the bunch.
TW for violence, death, religious themes, mentions of parental abandonment, mentions of severe mental health issues, mind control.

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation (2021) 1 - 4/5
X-Men (2021) 3 - 4/5
Excalibur (2019) 23 - 3.5/5
X-Corp (2021) 3-4 - 2/5 (this series feels like a waste of potential. and whats with the weird art)

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

a step down from the last volume's big stakes, this has a lot of chess pieces moving in fun directions and leans into the crazy scifi fantasy elements of the Xworld well

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the same.

Really enjoyed the X-Corp story which made up the final part of this volume.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing wrong with this one. Some good and some average, but it just didn't hit me like some of the previous chapters have.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25.

X-corps is a little underwhelming at risk…there are Madrox decks plot lines I want more of.

Excalibur I’m not just getting.

[Derrick O'Rourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag

This is an ok volume. It's got it's ups and downs. Onslaught and Excalibur are good and fun. X-Men is fine but I found x-corp to be a bit of a choir of a read.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only good part was X-Corp because someone is actually pushing back on what the X-Men are doing. Everything else is yawn we've solved death disease religion... Bandwidth.

[Adam Burchett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onslaught & X-Men: 5/5
Excalibur: 4/5
X-Corp: 1/5

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

in which rogue and polaris beat the shit out of an abuser while nightcrawler invents a new religion