while there are many fascinating aspects of the Jonathan Hickman era of Marvel's x-men no one word sums up the shift in status quo quite like the following krakoa one time little more than the mutant monster island that brought the all-new all-different x-men together greco is now the home to all mutant kind providing everything from sustenance to shelter to language and beyond today I'll answer what's the history of krakoa and Marvel Comics and how many different versions have we seen whether or not Krakow's origins match up with apocalypse is stated origin of Kurkova in powers of 10 and what secrets the island may hold and predictions for what they'll mean in the krakoa era of ax men hey I'm debut Singh founder and editor-in-chief of comic book Herald calm you are listening to the series I call cracking krakoa appropriately enough where today we'll be doing the history of krikawa if you like CBS YouTube channel or podcast please consider like and subscribing and sharing links to cbh channels and patreon sport are included in the show notes you can find full x-men and compa green wars on comic book Harold calm spoilers for discussed comics may follow kirko debuted in the pages of 1975 giant-size x-men number 1 by Len wien and Dave Cockrum appearing is the most powerful mutant cerebro had yet detected on the island known as krakoa in the South Pacific the original x-men unit of Cyclops Jean Grey Iceman angel havoc and Polaris flew to investigate and their subsequent disappearance leads Professor X to assemble the all-new all-different line of the mutants Wolverine storm Nightcrawler Thunderbird Sunfire fan chi and colossus upon investigation the new x-men are able to find the original x-men trapped on the strange island and upon furring them the team quickly learned that the mutant they're searching for is in fact the entire island itself Rico's origins telepathically flood the mutants minds telling the tale of an early atomic bomb test on the island that mutated all living things into a hive mind island intelligence curco was also able to feed on the mutant energies at the original x-men in this case without actually killing them they're kept catatonic in his wines which does raise the question what croco had been feeding on until the x-men showed up that very first time presumably there are a number of years where there were other mutants quick Cohen needed to feed on at this point in time Rico is not terribly different from the Jack Kirby and Stanley creation ego the Living Planet first introduced as a Thor villain frankly the monster is even more traditional lacking the cosmic scope and magnitude of ego PS art here by the incredible trad Moore from Silver Surfer black at the conclusion of giant-size x-men Polaris is able to fling the entire island of krikawa into space silver and bronze age understanding of magnets is a absolutely beautiful thing effectively leaving the threat concluded for the x-men's future or so it seemed in later years Marvel Comics would update the x-men's connection to croco as origins most notably in the pages of x-men deadly Genesis by Ed Brubaker and try rehearsing in the six-issue miniseries it's revealed that the all-new all-different x-men worth the first team of mutants Charles sent to krakoa and that there was another failed Scott squad led by the third summers brother Gabriel Summers aka Vulcan that marched to their deaths well some of them had to behest of Charlie X one of the more interesting aspects of the secret history at least as far as it concerns grow Khoa is that Professor X manipulated the x-men's perceptions of krakoa so that they believed the island was speaking to them in hand to be stopped there are a few elements that connect to the broader post house of X core Cola era of Axman here the first is that Brubaker and hare scenes reveal here effectively fixes the oddity of krakoa speaking English to the x-men setting the stage for Hickman and company's mutant language and a quick Owen dialect only cipher can translate the other intriguing piece to me is whether this is a part of Charlie and Moira MacTaggert plant how does this tie into Myra's goals for a tenth life and a last an effort to see mutants prevail into the distant future this is one of the bigger questions I'm considering reflecting on the entirety of cuccos history as I remind myself that Myra through nine life lines has tried everything from siding with Magneto deciding with apocalypse to assassinating the trash bloodline but now in her tenth life she picked her Cola why how does this fit admittedly it's very possible the professor's actions anchor : plot here don't fit I've already done a deep dive on timers redacted journal entries to x-men history but it's highly likely deadly Genesis fits into at least one of these redacted pieces and as a reminder these are journal actuaries that show I think in the pages of powers of 10 number 6 where Myra is explaining essentially her history with Charles Xavier through notes and she's blocked out a whole bunch of of the details I think one of these has to tie two deadly Genesis now as you can see from Coco's presence in house of X powers 10 the journey through space was not the end the island although from here it's caught its comic histories with muddier in the pages of 1990s quasar written by Merc Grunwald quasar finds himself trapped among the cosmic strangers prize collection which proves to actually contain krakoa it's brief cameo but it alludes to the survival of krikawa after being launched into space aside from this though Coco's appearances in Marvel Comics generally become tied to pieces of krikawa or offspring really leaving a lot of room for interpretation and quote unquote Lost years storytelling throughout the rest of the krikawa era of x-men but we're really moving on to Kirk hos descendants I'd also like to look back her kirko as stated origins as they compare to the updated origins in the pages of hawk Spock's apocalypse tells a story of charcoal belonging to a larger land called Okara as he puts it ancient before the world existed to my mind this pretty clearly contradicts the atomic testing origins found in giant-size x-men number one and oddly enough reinforced in the pages of the 2019 journey into mystery birth or akoha in the status column written birth of Kirk OA Nick Fury Dum Dum Dugan and the Howlin commandoes happen to fly into coma in the aftermath of the atomic test have mutated the island there are two possibilities here one the no prize solution that Kirk Oh is both ancient and was the subject of atomic testing in the mid 1940s it could be that croco was already a mutant and then was irradiated and severely enraged by the u.s. bomb testing as one might beat I suppose it's also possible to Kirk OVAs and non-sentient landsman landmass apocalypse protected in ancient days and then gained mutant abilities and sentient following exposure to radiation or to Professor X is a lying liar who lies we just established how he fabricated crew comas origins and the birth of croco especial is simply a confusing entry proving even Marvel Marvel editorial can be caught up in the professor's dark schemes otherwise as mentioned there are large and small moments of Kirk Owen descendants over the past 30 years my favorite one and done example is an Excalibur number 31 an issue I read as part of a Nightcrawler binge thinking he would you know be a big part of giant size Nightcrawler number 1 by Hickman and Alan Davis and was all too thrilled to discover it contained the son of Kirk OA again a very fun one-and-done story with Nightcrawler at his quickest and most swashbuckling the stage for the possibility of Kirk own offspring lingering around other planet Earth locales other small appearances include a brief kaiju connection in the pages of the alternate reality hopping X Isles as well as the short-lived young x-men in which they meet a frankly mysterious version of : one of the most tantalizing additions to the Kirk Owen legacy run throughout the 1990s Generation X in whisper Cohen ties to the team's ecological biosphere are sprinkled throughout the run in generation ax number 47 forged visits the campus and posits that the biosphere which up and disappeared in generation X number 44 leaves the X campus in order to make the original crackle hole as for it puts it for some unknown and possibly dire purpose again this leaves a lot of wiggle room for future creators to play with if the Lost years of krakoa are to be explored and we're actually seeing some of that in the dawn of X the absolute most memorable Khoa though is the one developed throughout the pages of Wolverine in the x-men introduced as a weapon of the new Hellfire Club by Jason Aaron and Chris baccala you know how fire club led by Kate Kilgore who's been seen in the dawn of X in the pages Marauders launched their krikawa as a weapon against the new Jean Grey school for mutants with headmaster Wolverine only to have Quentin choir eventually befrank krikawa and convinced him to skit stay with the school as a living breathing school landscape in many ways this friendly inversion er krakoa sets the stage for the allied island mutant kind currently inhabits as we see it doing very kind things like for example providing shade for husk and her class her coal becomes enough of an ally the x-men during this run that he even leads Wolverine and company to help her to the Hellfire clubs opposing school base where Kilgore and the like had their own breeding pool of alternate Creek Cullen Islands the Kurkova vers croco is Throwdown is amazing work from Jason Aaron and Nick Bradshaw I love this run very very much and at the touch of having a friendly allied krakoa is something that definitely sets it apart the same friendly croco re-emerges in the pages of 2017 super underrated Generation X written by Christina strain when croco goes looking for his powell Clint choir this is puppy-dog Ricola as the island unleashes all kind of accidental damage including the near impaling of Jubilee as it charges through Manhattan just to get to its good pal Quentin choir apart from that though the most memorable uses of Agricola relate to clones or warped versions one of these I've covered is the Warren Ellis written on ston assha x-men unleashes a clone krakoa infected by the brute the biggest take away from me here is that krakoa or at least versions of kokoa again this is a clone can be manipulated by outside influences here we have the brood infecting and and manipulating and possessing the the island you know sentient but what else might be able to do that I think is a very interesting question to consider moving forward another incredible inversion can be found in the Karen Gillan written uncanny x-men where artist Daniel Cunha delivers a vision of castle sinister atop the back of sim stirs cloned krakoa the sinister heavy x-men run is set during the events of Avengers vs. x-men at this point in time it's issues number 14 to 17 of a encounter of a nebula uncanny and krikawa is more or less included purely to escalate the action but it's worth noting in both these instances that krakoa can be cloned and infected I think it's particularly interesting that mr. sinister would have experimented with clones Agricola obviously mr. sinister is a key player in the krakoa era of x-men and his eventual betrayal of mutant kind is all but assured plus we know from sinister secrets that mr. sinister is likely no longer controlled by pres Professor Xavier and is operating his own schemes and plans it's possible that he even predicted professor magneto and Mira's moved to krikawa and began developing his own insights into croco his nature well before the move have to consider it when we're talking sinister so what else have we actually learned about krikawa in house of act powers 10 and the dawn of x to me the most important reveal comes in powers of 10 number 1 when we see the crew Khoa survives in tomorrow's night life line to become one of apocalypses final horsemen this indicates that Moyer and apocalypse have some experience working with Ricola likewise data pages and the issue refer to the fall of kokoa establishing that a crew : stronghold as a part of Motorz 9th life line as well scanning Mira's life lines will also reveal the chiyan apocalypse free the first horsemen which if events played out similarly in life line 9 now 10 indicates a successful journey to limbo on arauco as well again iraq wa being the other half of krakoa all of this tells me that something about krakoa and the plan has to be different this time otherwise myra is just replaying scenarios she's already seen loose right if they already used curricula or utilized Ricola as a nation state in life line number nine what is it about Kerr Cohen now that is different than what has changed in the present apart from Doug Ramsey both characters that have a unique relationship to koa were also tied to the mutants presence however mysterious in the pages of Generation X the first is mando who dug convinced his slash tricks into becoming a conduit for director Cohen conversation mano is also able to keep it crackin gateway flower in his belly when the new mutants discover the flower kills one of the Starjammer space plants which is a very interesting detail in ur of itself the second character is black Tom Cassidy who reveals in generation X number 25 that he created a plant flown in mondo to sabotage Gen X and used the croco and biosphere to infiltrate the team bak tom is particularly one with crow Cohen now although developments in x-force are indicating that this bonding is driving tom further and further from sanity the biggest development for koa itself is when the island is made whole in x-men number two with arauco joining its long-lost other half this happens oddly fast although since the joining we've hardly seen arauco save a map here in a cable number one journey there I anticipate the upcoming 10 of swords event will play heavily into a Rocco and apocalypses first Horseman being trapped in some mysterious dimension perhaps accessible through the island but until then I do think it's interesting to consider that krakoa is set up and performing throughout house and powers without its other half what changes for the mutant island when it's reconnected as it now seems to be Creek Owen feeding requirements remain one of the more troubling components of life on the island and a reflection of the broader impact where koa has on mutant kind often times without them even realizing you secure koa as an island nation and mutant kinds collective willingness to allow Krukow and feeding on their own psychic energy is what enables croco to grow to the size and operate a hive mind collection of gates across the globe as opposed to the reduced versions we've previously seen a lion sized x-men number one in addition to low-level feeding on mutants at all times when something goes wrong with McCullough as it does when horticulture crashes our crew khon kaen x-men number three effects include aggressive wildlife decreasing land mass in telepathic disruption similarly in x-force number nine beast casually remarks that crackle requires the consumption of two mutants per year if it's going to survive the implication remains that this two per year quota is negligible when spread across the entirety of a growing mutant kind but never forget that Cocola eats mutants I also find little comfort in the committee's plan to let Selene and M plate I eat other mutants who feed on mutants monitor Cocoa's behavior as neither character has been particularly trustworthy historically speaking of reasons to question Ricola there are hints of proko and trickery throughout comics in the dawn of X perhaps most memorably in x-men number seven when Nightcrawler is weirded out by the exactness with which the island fills his needs many longtime x-men fans have been put off by the cult-like attitude of everyone on the island and per hour perhaps vocalized when Kurt wonders aloud doesn't that make your hair stand on end the questionable under turns led me to think of the Professor X potent powers attend number 5 when he states they will think we are doing one thing but the truth is we are doing something altogether different the broader plan and croco is connections to it simply can't be as simple as new safe haven home Moira and company know that is not enough so what then are the secrets of krakoa one that really sticks out to me is the still mysterious no place which is a non naturally occurring flower that sets up habitats krakoa itself has no knowledge of we know myra is hiding out in an established no place but other options include the prison saber-tooth is kept in or even a gateway to look the limbo demons that apocalypse is first horsemen are keeping a bay remember if croco has already been a part of Moira's past lives perhaps the use of no place sanctuaries is a piece of the new developments that make this all the game changer it's also worth noting that both Free Cone biology and a no place are utilized by forge as part of his designs to keep cerebro capable of backing up so many mutants of Resurrection protocols I considered that perhaps Kirk Cole was a front and that the real plan was for mutants to settle elsewhere but details like this make it appear absolutely essential as such I'm more inclined think ongoing advances in queer cowan technology lead to more surprising transformations for the island including what is my favorite theory that I come up with which is an engineered Kirk Owen failings hybrid how do you beat the man-machine supremacy you make a mutant machine hybrid using the Phalanx that we see play out so prevalently in the pages of powers of 10 so there are many big-picture questions about krakoa and its place in Hickman's master plan so many that I haven't even yet mentioned the mortal universe now possesses another domain to place alongside the likes of Wakanda and Liberia in unique earth locations for me the biggest questions remain how do Charles Xavier Magneto and Myra get krakoa in place as mutant kinds home what exactly is a creek own no place and how are they being utilized and what does it mean for koa and arauco to be whole how does this fundamentally change their nature moving forward next time on crack and krakoa it's my 50th episode I'm pretty excited about this and a little bit surprised I'm going to be doing the great house of X and powers of 10 re-read with supplemented issues for context in an eye towards theories and ideas I'm really curious to reread house in vex and powers of 10 I haven't done it you know now that we are this deep almost 10 issues in x-men and of course all sorts of dawn of x issues if you're sitting playing along please do I would love it if you reread house of X and powers of 10 with me the video will be coming out a week from whenever this video is released here and we can do a read and come up with all the new theories and ideas we have now that we have some dawn of X under our belt I think it'll be super fun and I'm looking forward to it patreon updates hey you can support Compaq Herald over at patreon.com slash comic book herald thank you to everyone who has done so already as always I would like to thank here the mysterious benefactors tier Jeff Sakurai astray Conrad Jesse W Slade Ron Robert Mickelson professor pride and Steve Brennan this week I'd like to give a special thank you to slate Ron who offered some of his technical superiority and intelligence to the comic book Herald faithful it's a you know behind the scenes thing that I won't go into too much detail on but it is very meaningful and very much appreciated such an awesome community of fans I'm debuting this is comic book Harold if you like the content and site you know please check out combo Carl calm you can find me at comic Harold social anywhere and I'll look for the best comics ever and my marvelous year podcasts where you can find me talking comics as well otherwise I want to hear your theories thoughts opinions ideas in at the comments about Ricola in about house of expires 10 where we're going and of course I want everybody listening to play along with the great house of X and powers of 10 reread I think it's gonna be super fun to look back and come up with some new ideas and theories now that we're deep into this era of the hickman written x-men so thank you everybody for listening and as always enjoy the comics