Nerds always love their secret codes and leadership votes

I've really lost track of what is happening with the X-Men these days. I try to keep up with the books as they come into the library, but there are so many titles, constantly rebooting, that I can feel so much of it slipping by. I only just caught up on the Judgment Day stuff this past weekend, and have never been to a Hellfire Gala.

This isn't a big deal, because I'm not 15 and the X-Men aren't the most important thing in my life anymore. Besides, so many of my favourite x-characters are acting like fucking creepozoids every time I check in, and I am constantly feeling disgruntled by how they keep doing the dirty to my boy Beast.

But one of the things I have really liked about this whole Krakoa era is that for all its talk of the new evolutions and such, it has been tapping into some of the oldest and most successful ways to engage a nerd audience, and it's almost comforting to see there is some value in the lessons of how they sold the the Legion of bloody Super Heroes.

DC don't really bother with Legion of Super-Heroes comics anymore, but they once had one of the most dedicated fan bases in all of comics. Committed and passionate readers brought in over decades of Legion lore, all digging on the massive cast, the vast array of powers, the cute girls and the absolutely bonkers science fiction concepts.

The audience also got into it because they had some skin in the game. There was interaction between the comic and readers, who got to have their say in how it all went down, and even had a secret language to speak.

Jonathan Hickman is a very serious writer who writes very serious superheroes, and has an obvious affection for the Legion, with homages and pastiches creeping into his work. And there is a definite line between the new Krakoan language and the 30th centure Interlac that kids in the 1960s spent ages avidly transcribing.

Not only that, but you could vote for the Legion's leader, just like the X-books have let readers have their say on the roster for the big team. This shit still works.

The Krakoa thing is stretching out far longer than it really should, and with the hundreds of comics already published under the new status quo, it's all feeling a bit thin. And while I can't fully engage with it - (I'm also pissed about Moira turning bad. Seriously, what is Marvel's issues with smart people being intrinsically susceptible to corruption?) - some things are universal, whether you're on a living island, or far in the future.