The new X-Men leader Captain Krakoa shows his roots in newly-revealed concept art
Since the introduction of Captain Krakoa, he has grown a bit on X-Men fans. First revealed in marketing for December’s X-Men # 6 and then given some more purpose in build for January 2022’s X-Men # 7, Captain Krakoa has sprouted into the patriotic (and possibly even nationalist) mutant hero we never knew they needed.
(Or it could all be a disguise for someone else we already know, with an afterthought. More on that soon.)
With interest in this new X-Men member – and X-Men leader as it seems – great, Marvel has shared the original concept art for Captain Krakoa by X-Men series artist Pepe Larraz. Take a look:
As you can immediately see, Larraz’s character design sheet here gives us more to this costume (which we will get into), but it also reveals one of his powers.
When it does appear, the flowers that adorn his helmet are not just an aesthetic blossom – they contradict a deeper ability to manifest plant- or plant-like extensions that would have some tactical benefits – it’s before you even see the cool plant claw. pendant in Figure 3.
In some ways, it resembles Pepe Larraz’s previous design for the Arakkoan mutant Redroot the Forest, though her expansions seemed permanent, while Captain Krakoas appears to extrude (and retire) at will.
A less related detail can be found in the twists and turns of Captain Krakoa’s head and neck, where a tree-like design runs up his spine and out under his helmet, possibly connecting with the flower blooms we’ve seen in the covers of X-Men # 6 and # 7.
It is important to note that Captain Krakoa is not a florist (as we know); these flowers would all be related to Krakoa – the sentient mutant island that X-Men now calls home (and the name of their nation).
Thanks to a little help from Professor X and Cypher, Krakoa has learned how to create unique plants – called Flower of Krakoa – that have unique abilities. There are currently six known subtypes of the flowers in Krakoa, and they had been used for everything from growing teleportation gateways to being medicinal drugs for mutant and human use, to growing self-sustaining habitat / biomes.
It seems that Captain Krakoa is the first person to be ‘driven’ by Krakoa and its flowers. (I deliberately avoid using the term ‘flower power’ right now.)
In addition to the flourishing elements of Pepe Larraz ‘Captain Krakoa design, there are several other details worth noting for mutant cheek’s patriotic new hero. Most importantly, Captain Krakoa has several outfits – While the helmet, flowers, gloves and boots remain relatively the same, the figure-hugging outfit that covers the rest of his body has different patterns between X-Men # 6’s cover, X- But # 7’s cover, and this design sheet (which probably came before the two covers).
The design sheet had a vague ‘m’ motif (as in mutant, I suppose), but the other two, although different, rejected ‘m’ for an ‘x’ – referring to the X-Men and the X gene specifically , which makes mutants stand out from humans.
This could just be set up for the final adjustments to the costume, but we would like to imagine that Captain Krakoa has a deep closet of looks that he has prepared for his debut.
Overall, Captain Krakoa’s concept art continues a series of evocative costume designs by Pepe Larraz, which have hints of the aforementioned Redroot, but also Cyclops, and even the artist’s recent renewal of Darkhawk.
Watch for Captain America’s debut on December 22nd X-Men # 6 – even though he could sprout up unannounced before.
Keep track of this and that new X-Men comics, graphic novels and collections in 2021 and onwards.
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