Don’t Think We Didn’t Notice The X-Men Getting Religious

The past month or two hasn’t seen Marvel putting a whole lot of new comics out. For many of us at the virtual offices of BNP, this is particularly troubling because we’re not getting any new offerings from Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men arc. You see, those of us in the comic department are a little smitten with this bold new direction Charles Xavier and his flock are headed in. With so many new storylines opening up for so many characters, it feels cruel to be left hanging like this even though it’s ultimately nobody’s fault (nobody expected that one day, the whole world would be on time out). For example, something really interesting happened a few issues ago that’s still developing…I hope. X-Men #7 partially followed Cyclops and Nightcrawler and they waxed poetic, pondering the virtue and morality of Crucible, a new Krakoan ritual to determine a mutant’s worthiness.

Life Beyond Death For those of you that aren’t up on current events, the mutant nation of Krakoa has conquered death by discovering a way to resurrect dead mutants through five select mutants combining their powers. This is a landmark advancement for a species that has experienced serious losses over the years when you consider Genosha was made a disaster zone by a villain’s attack that took millions of lives. Most famously, there are the countless mutants who found themselves suddenly depowered because of the Scarlet Witch.

So, clearly, our heroes have their work cut out for them rebuilding and strengthening what…