One X-Men editor has suggested that a period of time in the mutants' history fans didn't get to see would be the perfect setting for fanfic.
SUMMARY
- The X-Men's Krakoan era introduced significant changes to the X-Men lore, but there are still gaps in the story that can be explored through fanfiction.
- The limitations of comic book storytelling require writers to be economical and prioritize the most important moments, leaving some gaps for readers to infer or explore on their own.
- The expectation for action in superhero comics can sometimes limit the types of stories that can be told, but Jonathan Hickman's X-Men stories have successfully focused on world-building, politicking, and character development.
Every story has gaps in it, and while he doesn’t think they’re important, Jordan D. White, Marvel's group editor for X-Men comics agrees that the most popular story of the Krakoan era still has some places where more could be said.
This perspective is a useful one in understanding why mainstream comics end up the way they do and the challenges and limitations placed upon them. It also highlights how something like fanfic is a perfect solution for fans looking to fill in the gaps in their favorite characters' histories.
The X-Men’s Krakoan era officially launched in 2019 with the dual miniseries House of X and Powers of X, written by Jonathan Hickman, illustrated by Pepe Larraz (HoX) and R.B. Silva (PoX), colored by Marte Gracia and David Curiel and lettered by Clayton Cowles. While these series completely changed X-Men lore forever, there was a notable break from what had come before.
House of X's Charles Xavier.
While this was clearly still the universe fans knew and loved, the status quo of the X-Men had shifted dramatically since the previous run of X-Men. While HoX and PoX filled in the most important steps in the development of the island nation Krakoa, the actual process of mutantdom uprooting themselves to move to this paradise wasn’t fully shown.
X-Men Cover Cyclops and Summers Family
Now, in the most recent of AIPT’s "X-Men Monday" interview columns, Jordan D. White, the group editor for the X-Office in the Krakoan period, has joked that there’s ample room for both later writers and readers alike to fill in these gaps. That said, White doesn't necessarily see the gaps as important. From the interview -
“AIPT: [Laughs] I saw a tweet recently that mentioned the gap between eras. I think there are fans who do want to see Cyclops inviting Wolverine to live on the Moon with him and his family, and so on.
Jordan: Honestly, that’s great. This is the best opportunity for fanfiction. We have absolutely no plans right now to explore that in any capacity. So have at it, fanfic folks. Have a good time, make your headcanon for what happened.
Listen, I’ll never say never, because my hope is that sometime down the line, when a generation of creators who loved this era and fell in love with this era, come to comics and want to revisit it, who knows? Maybe at that point, they’ll go, “Here’s the Krakoa -1 mini-series. We get you more in-depth on how everybody is prepping for the big move.”
Generally speaking, there is a window there — I’m not going to lie — there’s a window given where we left everybody. But pretty much all the big stories were wrapped up, and I don’t know, it’s never seemed like that big of a leap to me. It’s mostly shoe leather.
While these gaps do exist, Jordan is correct in saying that they’re not essential. They’re interesting hypothetical conversations, but not important to an overall story. This makes them perfect for fanfiction, where these sorts of unseen moments can be explored without the limits of ongoing comics and the expectations placed upon them.
What Jordan expresses in this interview is the logic of the "economy of storytelling." A typical Marvel comic is 22 pages long, and there’s only so much that can be included in any issue or any series, especially those with a set length. Therefore, it’s important to be economical with what’s included. Readers need to see all the most important moments of a story, but you can’t show everything.
Every comic and every story asks the reader to infer a certain amount. How did a character get from one place to another? A reader can easily imagine this; it doesn’t need to be shown unless it’s actually important.
X-Men's New Era Highlights the Expectations and Limitations of Genre
It’s also important to keep in mind that most Marvel Comics are superhero stories, and imply a certain amount of action per issue, which takes up a portion of the already-slim pages for storytelling. Some argue that this is a crutch to the types of stories that can be told in mainstream comics, less a guiding force than a constraint.
The question is how much the mandate for action is driven by editors and publishers vs. the expectations of their readers. Do readers expect action because they’ve been trained to, or is there more action because that’s what readers respond to? The answer is almost certainly a little of each.
In fact, Jonathan Hickman has focused on the non-superhero action of superheroes more than most contemporary superhero writers. While Hickman’s books still adhere to the formula of having a bit of action per issue, they’re also more focused on both world-building (as seen in his use of data pages), politicking, and on the interpersonal feelings and failures of his main characters.
As Jordan points out in the AIPT interview, there were numerous flashbacks throughout HoX/PoX explaining exactly how Krakoa came about in more detail than most writers would have bothered with. That there’s still a desire to fill even the smallest gaps just shows how popular these X-Men stories are.
