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Post by sunofdarkchild on Mar 15, 2024 9:27:46 GMT -5
The current state is pretty dreadful. Krakoa had its flaws, but the way they're ending it has been terrible. Between the rushing, the way Orchis is treated as a joke despite supposedly being such a huge threat, and Gerry Duggan seemingly forgetting everything he ever learned about writing it's as bad now as the dark days of the pre-Krakoa years. There's a character called Orchis? That's nuts!!! Not a character. Orchis is the name of the organization that has been opposing Krakoa since the start and created Nimrod. They crashed the X-Men's big diplomatic party, killed a bunch of humans and mutants and pinned the blame on the X-Men, basically eliminated the nation of Krakoa in an instant, and are supposedly the big bads of the entire era. But when push comes to shove, they get slaughtered like chumps and are defined by their sheer stupidity more than anything. They got special Tony Stark-made sentinels that are immune to Magneto's powers and supposedly a million times more dangerous than any other sentinel, but it turns out they are easily defeated by poking a small hole in their heads and pouring a little water in the hole. It's amazing. There's this whole plot about how Orchis has infected Magik with nano-sentinels that block her powers and are slowly killing her, and instead of doing something awesome when they're removed and she gets all her powers back she just teleports some water into the sentinel's head and then nothing but serve as a taxi for Cyclops. And that's just one example of how boring Gerry Duggan's writing is in 2024. Every issue is as devoid of creativity and imagination of that scene from the last airbender movie where 6 earthbenders can't do more than throw a small rock any 1 of them could have just picked up and thrown. It's months of nothing but this. |
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Post by rberman on Apr 10, 2024 17:15:19 GMT -5
I quite liked HoX/PoX, which showed impressive ambition in tying together so many loose threads from fifty years of comics books. X of Swords was fun too. Sins of Sinister was more amusing than I expected. As soon as a big event like this gets split up among different writers, a loss of cohesion becomes inevitable. I did not remotely try to read every series r story; my interest was more in Hickman, whose previous Transhuman and Manhattan Projects indie series was my attention.
I was amused by fans who were outraged by the whole “save game/restart” mechanic of the resurrection eggs, saying that it lowered the stakes. I always saw it as giving the mutants something super-valuable to fight for (and then over) before tragically losing. The Camelot metaphor seemed obvious, and Camelot always falls from within.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 11, 2024 8:07:58 GMT -5
So, er... forgive my lack of knowledge of current events, but fan websites pretty confused when it comes to such things. Is Charles Xavier still dead? Why is Magneto in a wheelchair, are there no mutant healers anymore? Are Scott and Jean still married since death did do them part (a few times over)? Has the school been destroyed once again? Did Banshee ever come back? What about Moira? Did Beast ever recover from whatever happened at the end of Bendis's run?
AND WHEN WILL EL TIGRE BE REVEALED AS THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN PULLING THE STRINGS ALL ALONG???
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Apr 11, 2024 8:35:19 GMT -5
Xavier came back years and years ago as Marvel prepared to launch Hickman's Krakoa era.
Magneto was killed 2 years ago and was just brought back to life now in full health, despite him explicitly saying he wanted to stay dead when he was killed. Marvel is preparing another relaunch this summer - in the previews for the relaunch he is in a hover chair, but we don't know how or why yet as there are plenty of issues to go until this Krakoa era ends.
Scott and Jean are still married, though she's currently dead again and about to come back again.
The school was left abandoned and taken over by a race of alien robots during the Krakoa era.
Moira was retconned into having been a mutant all along with the power to go back in time and live out her life again from birth every time she dies. Her murder by mistake was retconned to have been a golem created to fool Mystique and allow Moira to go undercover for many years as Charles and Magneto prepared to build Krakoa. It was again retconned into Moira hating mutants all along and her powers were taken away. After this she turned herself into a cyborg and joined Orchis, the lastest group attempting to commit mutant genocide. It's assumed the current story ending Krakoa will create yet another retcon since Xavier is trying to figure out how to go back in time to prevent Moira's actions from causing a clone of Mr. Sinister from becoming a galaxy-devouring super-intelligence.
Banshee has been killed and brought back several times. At one point Moira killed him, removed his skin, and wore said skin as a disguise. He got better after that.
Beast went from being a guy who made mistakes and couldn't deal with them during the Bendis era to a full-on villain in recent years, committing genocide, turning Wolverine into his slave, and a laundry list of other atrocities. The Hank McCoy of the last 40 years was just killed in the X-Force finale and a younger version of him from the 80s was resurrected to take his place so he can be a hero again.
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Post by Dizzy D on Apr 11, 2024 10:01:50 GMT -5
So, er... forgive my lack of knowledge of current events, but fan websites pretty confused when it comes to such things. Is Charles Xavier still dead? Why is Magneto in a wheelchair, are there no mutant healers anymore? Are Scott and Jean still married since death did do them part (a few times over)? Has the school been destroyed once again? Did Banshee ever come back? What about Moira? Did Beast ever recover from whatever happened at the end of Bendis's run? AND WHEN WILL EL TIGRE BE REVEALED AS THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN PULLING THE STRINGS ALL ALONG???
We're currently in the middle of a storyline and I'm a bit behind (up to Immortal X-Men volume 4), so answers so far:
- No, Charles Xavier is currently (end of Immortal X-Men volume 4) alive and has been for the past few years. - Magneto is currently dead, but as there is a mini-series running now called "The Resurrection of Magneto" which today had its final issue published, probably not for long. - I don't know if they are legally married, but they lived together during House of X/Power of X and its follow-ups. - School is abandoned for now, but will be in use again when the new series will start later this year. - Banshee is alive and well the last I checked. - Moira ... long, long story. She currently is an evil cyborg (which was a terrible bit of writing of Benjamin Percy, because that is definitely not where Hickman left her when he left the series). - I haven't read Bendis X-Men, so I don't know what happened there. As far as I know (haven't been following the series myself); there are currently two versions of Beast running around: the original who is at odds with basically everybody and a younger version from around the time he was with the Defenders who now lives together with Wonder Man. - El Tigre was revealed as the mastermind behind the Nimrod Project in the Extremely Important X-Men #5 last year.
These are the upcoming series that have been announced so far:
X-Men by Jed McKay and Ryan Stegman. Cyclops, Magneto, Beast, Psylocke (I guess), Magik, Kid Omega, Oya and Juggernaut
Uncanny X-Men by Gail Simone and David Marquez: Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Nightcrawler and Jubilee.
Extraordinary X-Men: Eve Ewing and Carmen Carnero, Emma Frost, Kate Pryde and a lot of new students. Seems to be focused on the school aspect.
X-Force by Geoffrey Thorne (his first comic AFAIK, normally screenwriter) and Marcus To: Forge, Tessa, Surge, Rachel Summers and Betsy Braddock (and somebody I don't know)
Phoenix by Stephanie Phillips and Alessandro Miracolo: Solo Jean Grey series, cosmic adventure.
Details on NYX and X-Factor have not been revealed yet.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 11, 2024 10:15:25 GMT -5
Xavier came back years and years ago as Marvel prepared to launch Hickman's Krakoa era. Magneto was killed 2 years ago and was just brought back to life now in full health, despite him explicitly saying he wanted to stay dead when he was killed. Marvel is preparing another relaunch this summer - in the previews for the relaunch he is in a hover chair, but we don't know how or why yet as there are plenty of issues to go until this Krakoa era ends. Scott and Jean are still married, though she's currently dead again and about to come back again. The school was left abandoned and taken over by a race of alien robots during the Krakoa era. Moira was retconned into having been a mutant all along with the power to go back in time and live out her life again from birth every time she dies. Her murder by mistake was retconned to have been a golem created to fool Mystique and allow Moira to go undercover for many years as Charles and Magneto prepared to build Krakoa. It was again retconned into Moira hating mutants all along and her powers were taken away. After this she turned herself into a cyborg and joined Orchis, the lastest group attempting to commit mutant genocide. It's assumed the current story ending Krakoa will create yet another retcon since Xavier is trying to figure out how to go back in time to prevent Moira's actions from causing a clone of Mr. Sinister from becoming a galaxy-devouring super-intelligence. Banshee has been killed and brought back several times. At one point Moira killed him, removed his skin, and wore said skin as a disguise. He got better after that. Beast went from being a guy who made mistakes and couldn't deal with them during the Bendis era to a full-on villain in recent years, committing genocide, turning Wolverine into his slave, and a laundry list of other atrocities. The Hank McCoy of the last 40 years was just killed in the X-Force finale and a younger version of him from the 80s was resurrected to take his place so he can be a hero again. Who says you can’t jump on a comic series any time you want? |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 11, 2024 11:47:18 GMT -5
So, er... forgive my lack of knowledge of current events, but fan websites pretty confused when it comes to such things. Is Charles Xavier still dead? Why is Magneto in a wheelchair, are there no mutant healers anymore? Are Scott and Jean still married since death did do them part (a few times over)? Has the school been destroyed once again? Did Banshee ever come back? What about Moira? Did Beast ever recover from whatever happened at the end of Bendis's run? AND WHEN WILL EL TIGRE BE REVEALED AS THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN PULLING THE STRINGS ALL ALONG??? We're currently in the middle of a storyline and I'm a bit behind (up to Immortal X-Men volume 4), so answers so far: - No, Charles Xavier is currently (end of Immortal X-Men volume 4) alive and has been for the past few years. - Magneto is currently dead, but as there is a mini-series running now called "The Resurrection of Magneto" which today had its final issue published, probably not for long. - I don't know if they are legally married, but they lived together during House of X/Power of X and its follow-ups. - School is abandoned for now, but will be in use again when the new series will start later this year. - Banshee is alive and well the last I checked. - Moira ... long, long story. She currently is an evil cyborg (which was a terrible bit of writing of Benjamin Percy, because that is definitely not where Hickman left her when he left the series). - I haven't read Bendis X-Men, so I don't know what happened there. As far as I know (haven't been following the series myself); there are currently two versions of Beast running around: the original who is at odds with basically everybody and a younger version from around the time he was with the Defenders who now lives together with Wonder Man.
Thanks, sunofdarkchild and DizzyD! It looks like continuity is more of a mess than ever. I had hoped that after that semi-reboot of the MU a few years back, the attitude would be "let's take this opportunity to quietly pretend that none of the nonsensical stuff that accrued over the last decades ever happened, and let's make sure not to make the same mistakes again. No Death revolving door, no turning long-established characters into cyborgs, no revelation that someone was a villain or a Skrull all along, no turning Willie Lumpkin into the next Punisher. Except as a joke". Alas... Wait... WHAT???  |
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Post by Mormel on Apr 19, 2024 9:18:08 GMT -5
I don't find them that hard to get into! In spite of the big heap of continuity they keep building upon, any title I picked up recently did a good job establishing its setting and characters fairly quickly. The only thing I regret about the current age of Marvel/X Comics is that they don't allow series to continue for years and years before wiping the slate clean again and starting all new series (like they're doing in July). 'Cause I could have happily gone on reading Immortal X-Men and X-Men: Red for another 40 issues. (Nevertheless I'm kinda excited about Gail Simone writing the new Uncanny X-Men series!  ) |
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Post by Marv-El on Apr 19, 2024 17:36:39 GMT -5
Being a longtime X-Men reader, I must say that this current era, started by Hickman, has been a creative success.
When Hickman did the House of X/Powers of X miniseries and the resultant 3-5 years of stories, he did more to re-energize the X franchise than anyone at Marvel did in the previous decade. Prior to Hickman, the X-Men's main focus was on survival, avoiding extinction. (I have my own ideas on why Editorial was so focused on this agenda, mainly due to the rise & success of the Avengers in the MCU and the mutants' absence from that success. But I digress). From Wanda's 'No More Mutants' scenario to the Inhumans' terrigen mist being released globally and the fatal effects it could have on mutants (an scenario that ironically enough began in Hickman's Avengers run), mutants were constantly on the verge of extinction. And it was a theme that I found was becoming very tired, very repetitive over that time.
Enter Hickman, with a simple twist to the backstory of Moira McTaggert. Yet it was so brilliant in its' simplicity that I have to wonder why no one thought of this before now. That twist opened a floodgate of story potential and greatness for the mutants again.
On the one hand, the mutant island nation of Krakoa showed their true potential as Homo Superior, the next step in evolution. By accepting the new laws of Krakoa, everyone, heroes and former villains, now worked towards the betterment of mutant-kind while trying to establish better relations with humanity. Heck, they even terraformed Mars! Of course, not everyone was comfortable with a new mutant state in existence, not all former villains remained so as Hickman was exploring these new avenues of conflict and characterization.
For example, an early issue of Hickman's X-Men run featured a story focusing on mutants who were de-powered by Wanda's magic. With the combined mutant powers of the Five and Cerebro's backup mind files on nearly every mutant, a mutant who died could be reborn making them virtually immortal. Krakoan law allowed for a de-powered mutant to petition to be re-born as they were as a mutant, the caveat being they had to die first. The petition allowed them to face Apocalypse in battle. He tested their worthiness to become a mutant again for if they fought him and did not concede in any way, Apocalypse would kill them thus allowing them to be reborn and rejoin mutantkind. It was a dark issue dealing with hefty moral themes but Hickman was exploring this new status quo that now existed in ways that you the reader may not ever consider.
On the other hand, myself, sometimes I found the lovey-dovey feeling/tone of this new-found mutant freedom to be irritating especially early on into his run. In fact, my nickname for this period is the Hippie Era for that is what it reminds of most. It's tampered down some over time but still rears up every so often.
Now Hickman did leave a few years back so I will admit that the current batch of X-writers have a task on their hands trying to bring this current era to something akin to a good ending. They may be trying to follow Hickman's original ideas on how to end the Krakoan Era but obviously they aren't capable of replicating his style nor his ingenuity. So it may be lacking in some creative areas.
I've had my issues with Hickman's writing and style over the years but I will say this venture of his has, by far, been my favorite of his Marvel work.
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Post by impulse on Apr 20, 2024 9:28:59 GMT -5
I stopped reading the X-Books around the Wolverne teaching a team by Jason Aaron time, around 10 ish years ago? The character assassination in Bendis' AvX was the straw that broke the camel's back. That said, X-MEN was my first comics north star, so I periodically check in on what the general goings-on and current meta arc are offering up.
...the more I find out, the more I feel they should have kept Claremont on in 91 and let him do his original thing. I will concede that I haven't read the Krakoa arc, but nothing I've read about it makes me regret that.
It sounds like the X-lore is a complete mess at this point and that the story is a shambles. I mean, I guess at least it wasn't just the perpetual "freeze everything like it's 1991" again, but this doesn't sound much better. It still sounds like Marvel has a lot of the same problems that soured me on Big Two ongoing books to begin with. Endlessly convoluted, too many overlapping books, incessant events one after the other, one-upsmanship for ever higher stakes, reboot and repeat.
I think I've just moved past where Big Two franchise comics have gone, personally.
X-MEN 97 is fire, though.
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