Can't even blame Charles for going bald through all of the Krakoa Era can you imagine hair getting stuck in Cerebro... Pain

The Krakoa Era Reading List Cherik Version (PART 4):

7. Inferno

A whole lot of awesome twists and long-awaited answers in this one! It felt like a true continuation of the House of X Powers of X storyline with Charles, Erik, and Moira's narratives finally taking the limelight again. I gotta say I was overjoyed by the Cherik interactions in this one, so if you're reading for them this is a must-read!

The readers guide I've been consulting said that Inferno takes place around volume 6 of Trials of X, but I think it works fine if you just read it after. I skimmed most of Trials of X tho so I may not be a good authority on it lol

(I loved how ride-or-die Erik was for Charles 🥰 he has that man on a leash fr)

I'll try not to spoil too much but some characterization decisions may blind-side ppl XD Fair warning! This is a shorter arc with only 4 issues so no skimming is necessary, there is also a convenient single omnibus available for purchase.

See the rest under #krakoa era reading list

Erik and Charles in X-Men: Inferno 🥰

(gonna reblog with more images from this comic bc I hit the post limit)

The Krakoa Era Reading List Cherik Version (PART 3):

5. Hellfire Gala

This one confused me a bit since I expected it to be considered its own separate collection of stories. It was actually entirely contained within Reign of X. Not to be confused with the 2022 and 2023 runs which are separate and may be ignored for now. See the Part 2 of my Krakoa reading list for my thoughts.

6. Trials of X

The start of this series was my absolute favorite. You got the Trial of Magneto which was just a great story with lots of twists and fun characterization moments for Erik. It takes off immediately after the dramatic ending of the Hellfire Gala/Reign of X storyline, and you have the option to read only the parts with Magneto via the Trial of Magneto TPB. If you read this as part of the entire Trials of X collection there will be other side plots and issues dispersed throughout, which Charles and Erik will largely not be included in. Trial of Magneto is contained in Volumes 1-2 and Volume 3 is entirely skippable.

After this we get the continuation of the Nightcrawler/Legion vs Onslaught storyline, which was super trippy and a fantastic read. There are several mentions of Onslaught and Legion being half-brothers and Onslaught refers to his creators as "fathers" lol any mention of Onslaught being Magneto and Charles's lovechild just made me super happy. Legion's characterization in the Krakoa era is super endearing and there are several scenes where we get to see his unhealthy dynamic with Charles (mostly on Charles part lmao he is a terrible father, poor David was just tryna help 😭).

A moment of appreciation for these covers, I'm obsessed with them.

As for Cherik levels, the fact that their kid(s) are a large part of this story makes it worth reading, but we don't actually see Onslaught referred to as a son by either of them. He is more of a "thing" and a problem, which is fair bc he is literally the manifestation of both of their evils. There is a scene where the possessed!Erik is viciously protecting the possessed!Charles, which I really liked even though it was brief. Then the anti-Onslaught team (including Magneto) is chasing down a possessed!Charles cornering him in a clever trap designed by Legion. Once released from Onslaughts control we get this super cute panel:

Look at him holding Charles hand 🥰🥰🥰 They then immediately get vaporized and we hardly see them again for 5 whole volumes. Spoilers aside I really loved the solution to the Onslaught problem and thought the end of this arc was very satisfying! All of this was neatly contained in Volumes 4-5 of the Trials of X TPB, but there may be a collected version of just Nightcrawler and Legion's storyline that I'm unaware of. I hope so bc I really loved it and there's just WAY too many side plots that I don't care about even a little bit in the main collection. The Onslaught saga is distributed throughout Reign of X and Trials of X and it'd be great to see the complete story without interruptions.

As I mentioned, we then don't see Charles and Erik again until Volume 10. I had expected a resurrection scene bc they did both die but I guess that's implied to happen off screen? Anyways Volumes 6-9 I think there are literally only two panels that have either of them in it so safe to say you can skip those if you are only reading for Cherik.

Their inclusion in Volumes 10-12 are sparse with them mostly having their moments in Silent Council meetings and impersonations of Charles in the Hole™. They finally reveal what goes on in the Hole™ which was super interesting and worth reading imo. Also it's great to see them get along in these volumes, they finish each other's sentences and even when they disagree they are mostly civil XD

Overall some great stuff despite the long lull in the middle 👍 See the rest of my Krakoa reviews under #krakoa era reading list

An attempt was made to make the Official Krakoa figures a little less ugly 🙃 not much could be done for Erik's weird pug nose unfortunately

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