The Island That Walks Like A Man!

 

It was hard to imagine in 1975 that Krakoa--the evil mutant island mass created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum which inadvertently paved the way for the creation of the new X-Men--would have such staying power, especially when taking into account the circumstances of (what we thought was) its final fate. Yet in one form or another, Krakoa continues to endure to this day, as Marvel's writers find means of providing it with new life and direction; for our purpose, however, we'll spotlight Krakoa's existence in the twentieth century, when his future was still uncertain, if even considered.

Krakoa's sheer size, of course, enabled it to overwhelm the original X-Men, as they investigated readings of a new mutant detected by their Cerebro unit:

But the horror of their situation wouldn't be realized until the lone person to "escape" the fate of his friends, Cyclops, returned with an all-new team of X-Men formed by Charles Xavier and discovered that he and Xavier were little more than pawns, following the commands of a community intelligence that took its shape from the very ground they stood on.

All of that directed power, and no one thinks to target this thing's "eyes." Then again, does an intelligent, mobile island need vision in the conventional sense?

Finally, following a plan devised by Xavier, the X-Men shift tactics, pooling the talents of team members both current and new to remove the threat of Krakoa from the world, in the fullest sense of the word.

Fifteen years later, we would discover that the Stranger had at some point intercepted and secured Krakoa for study on his laboratory world where other beings whose paths crossed with Earth at one time or another had also been sequestered. In the meantime, Krakoa would find new life in Marvel's imaginary stories excuse me, parallel-world book, What If--in not one, not two, but three tales, where you can be sure that the X-Men, in one way or another, pay the price for their encounter with the Island That Walks Like A Man.

As we can see by the cover of the first story, things don't end well for any of the X-Men who battled Krakoa this time around. As recounted by the Beast to Xavier's close friend, Moira MacTaggert, and her ward, Rahne Sinclair, the two teams of X-Men combine their forces as before, in order to carry out their plan against the gigantic mutant--but this time, they share its final fate.

Thus, in his grief, and his guilt, a later conflict that the X-Men would have had with Count Nefaria remains a threat to the world that Xavier washes his hands of...

...yet the Beast would use Cerebro to gather others to meet the threat, at the end of which Xavier invites them to be part of a new team of X-Men. (You'll have to read the entire story to see how they respond--though given all that's befallen the X-Men, you'd think their first instinct would be to head for the hills.)

Just over a year later, things on Krakoa happen a little differently for the original team--all because of the presence of Marvel Girl, who's on the ground with those who have disembarked from their jet and deflects Krakoa's first strike, giving the X-Men a fighting chance against the threat. Writer Kurt Busiek then finds a creative way to implement Xavier's original solution, which still depends on Lorna Dane regaining her full magnetic powers.

Still, you'll see a few of the new X-Men in the issue, as Busiek and artists Rodney Ramos and Doug Hazlewood go on to feature the original team in adventures that the new group had cut their teeth on.

That brings us to a What If/X-Men album issue three years later, a mix of imaginary alternate stories where our old friend Krakoa reappears--at the point where the original members have decided to get out while the getting's good depart and Xavier has assembled a new team, most of whom you may recognize.

This time, however, Xavier is on site with the team when Krakoa strikes--and in this new telling, there will be no one to come to their rescue, though forces will assemble to stop this mutant that goes on to become a world threat.

An admittedly gruesome aftermath for Xavier and the B-team of X-Men, though by this time such endings had practically become a What If trademark.

BONUS!
Roy Thomas, who launched the What If book, introduces its concept for new readers. (Featuring a house ad for a character only recently profiled in the PPC--the 3·D Man!)