Krakoa has fallen. Mutants throughout the world are being hunted, shipped off planet or forced to have their powers inhibited. Charles Xavier may have given up the dream of human and mutant co-existence, but Captain America still believes the two can stand together. See the return of the Unity Squad in Uncanny Avengers #1, written by Gerry Duggan, drawn by Javier Garrón, colored by Morry Hollowell and lettered by Travis Lanham — with a special G.O.D.S. page written by Jonathan Hickman.
Armaan Babu: In these dangerous times, we need unity more than ever! So here at ComicsXF, we bring you one Avengers writer and one X-Men writer for: the ComicsXF Unity Squad. Are you ready to bring your X-pertise, Tony, to join with my … er, Av-entually-Will-Read-Earlier-Avengers-Comics knowledge?
Tony Thornley: X-Men, Assemble! To me, my Avengers! Wheeeeeeeeee!
There’s a running joke in the CXF Slack that every hero should be at least a little problematic in a very narrow, specific and comics-only way (ie: Scott Summers being xenophobic but only to space aliens). For Steve Rogers, it’s that he’s kind of a crappy ally to mutants. He’s Bradley Whitford’s character in Get Out. Well … I think this issue might do some repairs to that. Let’s jump in!
Gathering the Team
Tony: There’s definitely something to be said about the same group of creators bouncing around Marvel from character to character. But, saying what I’m about to say in a void, damn, I would love to see Duggan do a Spider-Man series with a heavy Daily Bugle focus. His Ben Urich is so good.
We’re going to get to the prelude in a minute, but the issue proper kicks off with a Ben Urich narrated state of the union. We last saw Ben in the background in X-Men #25, and we’ve since seen headlines about the Gala from the Bugle. This is a great little bit about misinformation here. The only information out there about the second Mutant Massacre is from Orchis. That’s the only information they can report.
But Ben Urich is smart. He smells a con here. And considering that this is Ben Urich, the best damn investigative reporter in the Marvel Universe, he’s going to get to the bottom of it. I don’t think Duggan and Garrón could have delivered this exposition better. The narration is spot on, and Garrón and Hollowell make it so haunting as it unfolds panel to panel.
Armaan: It’s funny you say that, because the narration was one of the things that bothered me most about this issue. To clarify — I thought the narration itself was great. There was just … so much of it. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a wordy comic in itself, but in this issue’s case it felt like it was getting in the way of me enjoying the comic. In a medium where less is more, it feels like we were being told too much — and told where being shown would make for a much more interesting read.
Tony: Oh yeah, this is exposition HEAVY. I like Duggan’s voice for Ben Urich, but when it switches to the omnipresent narration with Psylocke appearing on page, it gets rough. Also, that switch is confusing, because Lanham uses the same caption and font as Urich, but it’s clearly switched to omnipresent. Then it switches into a different caption and font style entirely a few pages later.
Armaan: Oh, confusing is right, because the tone of voice is almost exactly the same. I was wondering why Ben Urich suddenly had blue captions, this clears up a lot! Which is a sign that I might not be enjoying the captions a lot for this series.
Now, granted, this is a first issue. There’s some exposition that needs doing, but if this is going to be something we’re going to have to get used to for as long as Duggan is on the book, it’s going to bug me.
After being caught up to the status quo post Fall of X, we get right into the action, and the formation of our new team. I gotta say, this was a great sequence. At first glance, there’s not a lot of difference between Ed McGuinness’ work and Javier Garrón’s, but this action scene is where Garrón really gets to shine. The layouts do magnificent work in guiding the eye through the flow of action. The fight scene is set at night, and both Garrón and Hollowell do incredible things with the scene. Flashes of red warning lights, the blue in the air, the yellow of the floor lights. The shine on Psylocke’s (steel) blades, the oranges of the energy rifles — it’s bright, vivid and all very, very cool.
I think we can agree, Garrón’s favorite character here is Captain America, right? Of all the action-heavy moments we see in this issue, Cap and his shield get the best ones.
Tony: I would say it’s a tie between Cap and Psylocke. He does so much cool stuff with Kwannon here.
And what you’re saying about art — this feels like a well-shot action movie without being overly photoreal. I really want Garrón to stick around the line after this series concludes. It feels like he’s on the cusp of superstardom, and this issue shows why. And Hollowell’s colors! He’s never really been a color artist that’s stood out to me, but he did work here that complements and enhances the line art. That’s the perfect mark of a good color artist.
Armaan: As for the team itself, we have Psylocke, Penance, Deadpool, Quicksilver and Captain America. With three unflinching killers on the team (with a surprisingly high body count in this very issue for a Captain America-led team), this is a much darker Unity Squad than we’re used to. Then again, it’s not like Cap is a stranger to killing fascists — it looks like with this team, he’s all but declaring war.
Tony: Oh yeah, he basically tells Psylocke he doesn’t care that she just ninja-killed a bunch of Orchis troopers. They are fascists, and Captain America punches fascists. Duggan nailed that aspect of Steve Rogers, and the way Garrón depicts Cap … There’s a disdain for Orchis on his face and in his body language that I really like.
The Captain punches fascists, and that’s what the Marvel Universe needs.
Armaan: I’ve always liked the idea of the Unity Squad, even if the execution hasn’t always been great. It’s Cap’s apology team. For all the Avengers do to fight injustice, it’s always been too little too late when it comes to mutantkind. Cap’s never there for them when it matters, but when things get especially bad, he wants to step in and help. Putting out fires is what he’s best at — which makes it especially cool looking to see him surrounded by flames, promising to avenge the fallen.
It’s still very much too little too late, and I hope at some point someone calls him out on that.
Also hey, Quicksilver’s here! I’m always happier to see a speedster on the team, and I’m looking forward to seeing an action scene that puts him front and center!
Tony: I am not a big fan of Quicksilver, and I actively dislike Deadpool. But Duggan and Garrón have a bunch of fun moments with them, and I love it. I’ve said before, Duggan’s Wade is one of the few takes on the character I like. That pays off here (with Cap having Wade just blow shit up).
Mutants Underground
Armaan: After slaughtering a handful of Orchis agents and freeing the mutants being shuttled off to Mars, the team regroups in the Morlock tunnels, where they meet up with a few of the X-Men. It’s here we switch captions, and rereading this, I gotta ask — are you absolutely sure this isn’t still Ben Urich, just him covering the same subject in another piece at a later date? Because this voice does not feel like Psylocke’s at all.
Tony: I think it switches from Ben to an omniscient narrator at some point. I’m not exactly sure at what point it switches, because the fight in the camp doesn’t feel like Ben narrating, even if it’s the same color and font. This just feels like an omniscient narrator giving us an infodump to set us up for the rest of the series.
Armaan: What happens next lays more groundwork for the current Fall of X situation; probably for Avengers readers who aren’t up to date on X-Men stuff. Earth’s remaining mutants are hiding out underground, having clandestine meetings at a crossroads in the tunnels. The Avengers side of the team meets up with more of the mutants, Earth’s few remaining X-Men, and, uh, Tony Stark. With Duggan writing Stark’s solo book, he’s been pulled right into X-Men shenanigans, but it does seem odd that he’s not on the current Unity Squad given that.
Or why Deadpool and Cap are the only people brought into this group at all. All in all, this is a very curious lineup. It potentially has a rotating cast, but if not, then Cap is either severely limiting what this team can accomplish, or is very purposefully creating a quick-and-dirty strike team. Less outright firepower, more like the edge of a knife.
Tony: I like the squad, but you’re exactly right. This doesn’t quite feel like a “Unity Squad” but rather an X-Men team with Cap in the lead. If it were an ongoing series, rather than a limited series concurrent to the Fall of X, I would expect it to be a rotating team.
I am really enjoying how “Marvel Universe” the entirety of Fall of X is. Wolverine is teaming up with Ghost Rider. Iron Man is a Fall book. Steve is leading this team. Kamala is an X-man now. We’ve got Nightcrawler diving into Spider-Man’s world next month. It feels like the beginnings of “Days of Future Past,” with Orchis not being happy to keep it to the mutants after they’re dead, neutralized and shipped off the planet.
It just works for me.
The New Brotherhood
Armaan: In the meantime, things have been happening with Captain Krakoa. Let’s go back to the beginning, to our prologue, set before Captain Krakoa made his very public attack on Washington. First, I want to say that I love the way Garrón draws MODOK here. Given his big head (and general personality), we usually see this crazed, weird, yelling version of the guy, but here he’s got this solemnity to him. He is a very serious scientist, concerned with a grave threat. I’m not sure how much it fits with the MODOK we know, but it looks fantastic in the darkness of this room; it adds a sense of importance to this scene.
Now, I know you had a theory that the new Captain Krakoa is John Walker, and this scene made me believe that was true, but I also believe this scene in particular made you change your mind about that?
Tony: Yeah, specifically that the dialogue hints that Captain Krakoa has missed most, if not all, of the Krakoa era. Walker has walked up and knocked on the Treehouse door. Plus CXF’s Chairman Emeritus Zack Jenkins did remind me that Walker is a member of the upcoming Thunderbolts team being written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly. I do think he’s an Operation Rebirth super soldier. There’s the Grand Director, William Burnside, Jeffrey Mace, William Nasland, even Jack Monroe.
I threw a few names out right after the Free Comic Book Day special that’s heavily referenced in this issue, and while I think I might have missed the exact suspect, I was on the right track.
Armaan: Now freed and given new purpose, Captain Krakoa recruits a new Brotherhood. We have Wildside from the old Mutant Liberation Front, whose main role on the team appears to be “he just wanted to kill” (which, at the moment, feels like he could be on either side, really). We also have the Blob, sans his fancy mustache, which I gotta say was disappointing. I loved bartender Blob, looking hot and serving drinks at the Green Lagoon, making sure everyone was having a good time — but at the same time, I can’t say he’s acting entirely out of character with this regression.
The Blob has always been someone in need of direction, and he tends to take that direction from other people — particularly strong authority figures who have a definite plan of action. With Krakoa gone, it’s easy to imagine the Blob is feeling somewhat lost, so why not fall back into comfortable territory? Captain Krakoa is, as far as Blob knows, the last remaining authority figure Krakoa really has, and he’s promising vengeance on those responsible for the Fall of X. I’m hoping Blob eventually sees the light, but I don’t imagine that’s going to be happening anytime soon.
Tony: Sensitive Freddy Dukes has been a fan favorite since the Age of X-Man, mostly because he got character development for the first time. I’m glad to see Duggan doesn’t completely push him back into the cackling sociopath here. This is a misguided, scared and traumatized soul who’s searching for purpose, not a villain.
Armaan: Lastly, Captain Krakoa makes a visit to the Pit to retrieve … the Strucker twins. Ugh. They’ve been a thorn in Krakoa’s (the nation, not the Captain) side from the very beginning, constantly popping up at odds with the nation for their own self-serving ends. I do not enjoy them as villains. They’re less imposing than they are frustratingly bratty, their weird co-dependency is not a fun dynamic for anyone, but for some reason writers keep picking them up. Is there something I’m missing here?
Tony: I think Duggan is going for someone explicitly evil. Freddy is misguided. Wildside is mentally unstable. The Struckers are fascists at best, and actual Nazis at worst. I’ve never “liked” them as a concept, except maybe when Andreas was the Swordsman. Here, this gives Captain Krakoa an explicit villain on his side, ensuring the new Brotherhood as a whole isn’t redeemable. I would have rather seen Nanny and Orphan Maker instead, though (Yes, I’m pretty sure they broke out of the Pit with Sabretooth, but still). The Struckers aren’t totally bad characters, but they’re not great.
They did make for a fantastic comedy moment in the issue-ending fight though when they punch a hole in Deadpool’s chest. And hey, even though it doesn’t feel like the team is quite gelling in the conclusion of the issue, that third act at least made for a great action sequence. We’ll see if it gels next issue, I think.
Armaan: So overall, I’m having fun with this series. This is a simple, safe, enjoyable comic. Fun, dynamic art, a plot that goes at a fast clip, plenty of action. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t lamenting what we’ve lost with the Fall of X. For all that it started meandering, Krakoa felt like hope. It felt like the X-Men had a future beyond simply being hated and feared. Though the tone of this book is slightly darker than usual, it feels like it could be an X-Men story set in any era. It’s a return to very familiar X-Men storytelling — we’ve even got a new Brotherhood to boot.
It feels like another nail in the coffin of one the most exciting things to ever happen to the X-Men, and a return to the kinds of stories everyone is more familiar with. We know Marvel can churn out those kinds of stories indefinitely — there’s nothing new here. Nothing worth being excited about.
It is, though, still fun. So that’s something.
Tony: I have to agree for the most part. I think the past year of Krakoa stories was meandering quite a bit and needed some shaking up. Considering that we know the Fall of X limited series are only four to five issues each, it seems like this is a finite story before Krakoa moves into its next phase at the end of the year.
But yeah, the darkness is pretty omnipresent. I think short term that’s making for some interesting stories, but I’m with you — I hope it’s not long term, because it’s the 198 all over again otherwise.
Avenging X-Notes
- Deadpool is written, relatively speaking, a lot less silly here, and it does a lot to make the character more likable to see him as more than just a joke factory.
- Ms. Marvel’s cameo was fun, we’re still very curious to see what larger role she has to play in the X-Men’s adventures.
- Garrón’s take on Quicksilver is one of the biggest highlights of the book, can’t say that enough.
- Rogue didn’t have enough to do, hope that gets rectified next issue.
- Has anyone had more of a glow-up in the Krakoa era than Kwannon?
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Armaan is obsessed with the way stories are told. From video games to theater, TTRPGs to comics, he has written for, and about, them all. He will not stop, actually; believe us, we've tried.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
