X-Men #4 Review: What Makes This Hickman's Best Issue Yet?

While 2019’s Dawn of X ended on a middling, muddled note, 2020 is off to an improved start, beginning with the energizing X-Men #4 by Jonathan Hickman and Lionel Francis Yu. The issue features Professor X, Magneto, Apocalypse and their security detail of Cyclops and Gorgon heading to a global economics summit to discuss Krakoa’s newfound place in the world. The issue is full of Hickman’s riveting political tete a tete perfected in East of West, as well as the ethos of financial influence so elegantly explored in The Black Monday Murders. Honestly, in many ways X-Men #4 would have made a very sensible first issue, and I’m curious to explore why that is.

Today I'll answer:
+ What makes X-Men #4 the best Hickman/Yu issue to date
+ The state of the Krakoa X-Men era heading into 2020!

For the full Dawn of X reading order:
https://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/jonathan-hickman-x-men-reading-order/

For all Comic Book Herald X-Men videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS1Af6tptTc&list=PLbUTT7Ae14QsfMq3Uz8bNnnzpiUwXHgJ-

Certainly there’s a surface level analysis of X-Men #4 that could reduce the issue to “people sitting around talking,” but there’s so much more happening here that addresses much of what I’ve been looking for in the Dawn of X. Whereas X-Men #3 was a wild curveball in the dirt (although I’m sure it’s not the last we’ll see of Hordeculture), issue #4 cuts directly to issues of Krakoa’s place in the world. We hear Magneto eloquently share mutantkind’s new plan for peaceful takeover, we see Professor X take Cerebro off for the first time (his X-Force #1 assassination not withstanding), and we learn of Krakoa’s ability to adapt to human hostility in the form of Gorgon’s security.

Hickman’s first three issues of X-Men are an intriguing blend of offbeat humor, seed planting (yes, sometimes literally, but mostly I’m thinking here of Arrako and the Summoners), and defying expectations. I’ve been torn between just enjoying the breath between HoX/PoX and what Mister Sinister calls in Incoming #1 “The great crossover in the sky,” and wanting to see the Dawn of X more directly proceed from the big ideas in HoX/PoX. This is less specific to just the X-Men comic book, but my biggest sense of disatification with Dawn of X has come from a feeling of untapped potential in the era’s launch: The Powers of X and Moira X timelines were the biggest hook of the opening event, and have been lost to way more familiar ground.

What X-Men can do instead, though, is answer the practicality of Krakoa in the Marvel Universe, and this is where X-Men #4 excels.

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About Comic Book Herald:
My name's Dave, and Comic Book Herald is a labor of love designed to help new, lapsed, and curious comic book readers explore and enjoy the wonderful world of comics. I've been developing reading orders, chronology guides, and detailed comics recommendations since late 2011. Comics can be confusing and intimidating; I try to help.

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