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When Marvel relaunched the X-Men franchise in 2019 with what became known as the Krakoa era of the comic book line, it was a significant shift for the property, both physically and intellectually, as all of mutantkind moved to a new island utopia and became a political force that had solved death. What was applauded at the time as a masterstroke by writer Jonathan Hickman has become, in retrospect, what he calls “the most disappointing creative experience” he’s ever had — and all because he had to walk away from the franchise midway through the story.

“I’ve said this multiple, multiple places at this point, I'm sure, private and public, but [X-Men] is the most disappointing creative experience that I've had because I didn't finish the story that I set out to do, which is a cardinal sin and a total, total bummer,” Hickman said during his most recent appearance on the Off Panel podcast.

Hickman devised the entire Krakoa era framework of the X-Men franchise, and went on to write the core X-Men series that initially followed the launch titles, House of X and Powers of X (both also written by Hickman); within a couple of years, however, Hickman left the X-Men line with the four issue Inferno miniseries, seemingly happily. Now, it seems, he’s come to terms with admitting his frustration with what happened behind the scenes.

“Saying that, my head working the way that it works, I have tried to reverse engineer how it could have worked. I don't think there's a version of it where it wasn't me not getting to finish it,” he continued on Off Panel. “You know, it's a lot of business stuff, COVID stuff, publishing schedule, stuff like that [...] It was a perfect storm of really, really bummer things that just derailed the project. And so it's really, really difficult for me to talk about it or think about it in any kind of positive aspect, because I would have crushed it.”

This shouldn’t be taken as a sign that he didn’t appreciate the work that others in the X-Office put in on the Krakoa-era after his departure, he emphasized.

“One of the reasons why I don't like talking about [this] is it people immediately start think[ing] that I'm throwing shade, or that I'm upset with editorial, or that I'm upset with the company, or that I'm upset with the other creators and all that kind of stuff. It's on me to tell the story that I'm supposed to tell, period,” Hickman said. “I don't have any negative feelings about any of the other stuff outside of me not bringing it home, you know? It was complicated and convoluted, and I don't think I'll ever talk about it, because I think that's shitty."

He was willing to tease one thing, though: when he initially pitched the Krakoa era, he pitched the whole thing — including his planned ending. “I told when what the three arcs were,” he said. “The point of the book, I was very clear about what it was. If you talk to people who were in the room and know what the whole thing was… It’s a bummer. It’s a real bummer.”

Well, we’ll always have House of X/Powers of X, if nothing else...

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• The MCU needs Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik in it (and not just for the X-Men connection)
• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.