View Full Version : *MARVEL culls the mutant universe
Sorry for posting here. But I felt that this was pretty important, especially since everyone here is a Marvel fan on some level.
No More Mutants'
'House of M' and 'Decimation' Downsize the Marvel Universe
October 14, 2005
During a conference call discussing the post-House of M/Decimation event, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada made no bones about the fact that he was happy that the result of this major Marvel event would be a drastic reduction in the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe. Quesada declared that he had placed a "moratorium" on the creation of new mutants (with the possible exception of a handful of new characters that were part of the House of M event and its immediate aftermath). Quesada also rejected the idea that mutants who bit the dust during the House of M and Decimation would be returning, stating unequivocally: "As long as I am EIC I am not bringing any of these (characters) back."
When asked by retailer Phil Boyle of Coliseum Comics if the entire House of M / Decimation event wasn't some sort of excuse to create more "X" books and further dilute the franchise, Quesada agreed that there had been too many mutants and too many X-books in the Marvel Universe. He noted that one of the elements that made the Marvel mutant characters psychologically compelling was the fact that they were part of a tiny, persecuted minority. The idea behind House of M and Decimation is to scale back the number and role of mutants in the current Marvel Universe to something similar to the Silver Age Marvel Universe. Quesada also noted that poor performing X-titles such as Nightcrawler and District X had been cancelled and that the purpose of the new approach to mutants in the Marvel Universe was to make the X-books more compelling and meaningful.
When queried about potential fan fatigue from too many "events" such as House of M, Spider-Man: The Other, and DC's Infinite Crisis, Quesada replied that it was definitely a concern, but that fans appeared to be voting in favor of "event" titles with their pocketbooks. He noted that Spider-Man: The Other was confined to just three Spider-Man titles and he maintained that Marvel did not try to prop up low-selling titles by making them key parts of crossover events. He also pointed out that the effects of the 95% reduction in the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe would be reflected through the line -- Wolverine will be the only mutant in The New Avengers and all the X-books, including Joss Whedon's popular Astonishing X-Men, will be affected by the House of M / Decimation events.
Article was found here: http://icv2.com/articles/home/7670.html
~LE
AbeSapien
10/14/2005, 10:23
Good I'm glad.
... especially since everyone here is a Marvel fan on some level.
I certainly wouldn't have gone that far.
MB7-TheFlash
10/14/2005, 10:31
what sucks is Jubilee and Chamber are rumored to be non-mutants... the only 2 decent mutants out of Generation X and they're out
ReZourceman
10/14/2005, 10:35
Urm.....why are they starting about 3 mutant comics after House of M then?
de4dp00l
10/14/2005, 10:36
Now if they could just work on that pesky continuity thing...
Wasn't the destruction of Genosha in Morrison's New X-Men Annnual originally supposed to be the catalyst for this? Kinda got glossed over.
Poor Morrison; save Beak in Exiles and Emma and Scott's weird relationship in Astonishing (and maybe Fantomex and the Stepford Cuckoos in other titles), it's all pretty much become a Marvel -- what's Marvel's equivolant of Elseworlds? -- tale.
I miss surprise secondary mutations.
But I am looking forward to the this Decimation nonsense, not so much the series but the concept, and hope they wipe out a lot more than 10% of these pesky mutants!
And, for the record, I'm glad that Joey Q has finally seen fit to do at least one thing that's needed to be done for a long, long time.
Marvel has had far too many mutants. The universe has become diluted. There are far too many X-books, and it had gotten to a point where a new one would launch about twice a month, run for six or seven issues, and then be cancelled due to poor sales.
Personally, I would've been fine with it if they'd let Wanda's little 'No more mutants.' revision stand and all mutants were permanently gone. I know that they can't do that, obviously, but I'd be fine with it if they did.
As it stands, if they just bring back a handful of mutants -- say, the major (and only the major) X-Men characters, and a few of their major villains -- I'd say that'd be fine, but they need to stick to the plan of not creating new mutant villains every week for a new story.
MB7-TheFlash
10/14/2005, 10:46
you'd also want a few of the non-combatant mutants to stick around... the ones trying to live in the human world, like Dr Reyes for example
I hope they also get more distinct on mutations, I hated secondary mutation
(and hopefully Wandas reset button brought Sunfire back to life, WITH his legs intact)
Personally, I don't think the problem is "too many mutants".
I think the problem is "too many books".
Seriously. Do we really need a dozen X titles out?
Keep the mutants, reduce the total titles.
~Le
Yeah....I don't buy it.
How many times has Quesada said one thing and done another?
The problem with Marvel is continuity. I've always liked their characters, but the picking and choosing of what has happened never worked for me.
Oh well. The only Marvel books I have on my pull list are Amazing Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men....
TheFreak
10/14/2005, 11:02
The only thing is, I'm sure kids will be born right? And they will mutate on average...so there will be some coming later I'm sure...plus there are the time travelers tearing up the time stream
The Mutants will return!
Here's my question, and no, I'm not being sarcastic:
The "main" books in the Marvel U seem to be written by the same core group of writers--if that's the case, why do they not have better continuity?
Again, I'm not Marvel bashing, but asking a legitimate question....
JustFrodo
10/14/2005, 11:43
If only Senator Kelly were alive to see this day...
Quebbster
10/14/2005, 12:12
what's Marvel's equivolant of Elseworlds?
A "What If?" Story?
A moratorium on new characters is a bad idea for a company calling themselves “The House of Ideas.” Particularly if they’re still planning on running some X-Books. Hopefully the writers will still have the authority to create new mutant characters if it’s actually called for in the story.
Old_skool
10/14/2005, 14:07
you'd also want a few of the non-combatant mutants to stick around... the ones trying to live in the human world, like Dr Reyes for example
I hope they also get more distinct on mutations, I hated secondary mutation
(and hopefully Wandas reset button brought Sunfire back to life, WITH his legs intact)
WHoaa I didn't even Know Sunfire had been "toasted" When did that happen? I may need to pick that one up. With all of the X books I simply started buying the core X-men (Astonishing, uncanny and New) I don't knowwhat I may have been missing in the others.
I bet that 2 out of these 3 bite the big one Gambit, Rouge, Nightcrawler. If it is Gambit Rouge is going to be pregnant. Nightcrawler has hios daughter in the universe now.
Milo Garret
10/14/2005, 14:14
Personally, I don't think the problem is "too many mutants".
I think the problem is "too many books".
Seriously. Do we really need a dozen X titles out?
Keep the mutants, reduce the total titles.
~Le
Seconded. Though I have been enjoying Nightcrawler.
Kaitouace
10/14/2005, 14:14
WHoaa I didn't even Know Sunfire had been "toasted" When did that happen? I may need to pick that one up.
No one knew because it happened in Rogue's "ongoing" title. Then she showed up without any real warning in Milligan's X-Men book with Sunfire's powers.
Feh on Quesada. Remember he was the man behind "Dead is Dead". Right before Colossus came back. And then it was basically said that "Dead is Dead" only really referred to Psylocke for some reason. And then she came back too.
saturnflight
10/14/2005, 14:16
I HIGHLY doubt we'll lose Nightcrawler. He has too much of a following, and the dynamic of a daughter adds to his character, not replaces it. Especially since he's now written into X3. Gambit, I see a good chance of, as his popularity waned since the 90's. And I don't see Rogue going. She's been held too long as a key X-man. But any money says Bishop bites the big one, since he's a gun-toting 90's man. And I betcha we lose Jean Grey for good. And possibly Beast. He hasn't been a dynamic member for quite some time, and they already dropped him from Ultimate X-men.
It's gonna be sad losing mutants to such a mass culling, though. I much prefer losing them to something dramatic (ie- Colossus' Legacy cure).
Here's hoping Gwen lives through this and messes with Spidey's life!
*shakes head*
Yes, there have been too many mutants, I agree. But to en masse depower most of them, and cause
others to vanish - ehhh. I'm not seeing this as a positive.
The problem is going to be that for this to work, actual X-team members are going to have to be
affected, and there's going to be fan outrage. We all but know about Jubilee and Chamber losing
their powers, and Quicksilver is all but confirmed. More likely than not, Marvel is going to end up
regretting this, and there's going to be another mess a few years down the line to correct it, regardless
of Quesada's statement to the contrary. And there'll be a bunch of people willing to buy *that,* too.
What could've handled this was a level of restraint years ago in how many mutants Marvel's editors
allowed to be created. The real explosion (no pun intended) of mutants started with the Lee/Lobdell/Nicieza era; mutant powerhouses like Magneto, Apocalypse and Stryfe came with anywhere from half a dozen to
a dozen flunkies who were mostly one-dimensional. Then enter the Morrison era. We have the Genoshan annihilation, and *then* the Xavier School gets a huge influx of new mutants - yes, Cassandra Nova was to blame for exposing Xavier's secrets, but that added almost as many as the 1990s did.
The idea of 198 mutants retaining their powers is ... predictable. We all know that for every third-tier
X-person who loses their powers, the Big Names are likely to keep theirs. No Marvel creator in their right
mind is going to depower Cyclops, Nightcrawler, or Storm. And Wolverine? Hah.
I still think we'll see another ridiculous multi-part "epic" far sooner than five or six years down the road to
repair this mess. Thank heaven I know a comic book shop that lets you skim the comic before you buy
it. I just worry that this might spill over into which Marvel mutants we get from Heroclix. I'd *like* to see
a Cecilia Reyes or Maggott 'clix, as well as Forge and Strong Guy. Now, I'm not so sure they'll ever show ...
coyotejack
10/14/2005, 14:21
Any chance we'll finally be rid of Cable? :p
gyrapados
10/14/2005, 14:27
Regardless of how i feel about this idea of culling mutants (especially since i don't read but two marvel books a month), one thing really bothers me.
I love Nightcrawler. Behind Supes and Cap A, he's my favorite character. When his solo title came out I began eagerly reading it and loved it. The story is just now getting to a point of revealing a lot about his family past that i didn't know about.
To think that his series is cancelled ,while in the middle of the story no less, sucks really hard. Good grief, I hope they at least finish the arc before the book gets the axe (and doesn't leave the story just hanging). Of course, they'll probably do it that way since that's kinda how Emma Frost ended (kinda). And let's not forget hte ONE issue of Dardevil:The Target (but we can blame that one mostly on Kevin Smith).
i just don't understand; i honestly figured Nightcrawler's book would do well, especially after x2 and with x3 on the horizon, not to mention his long history with the xmen. I was also kinda hoping that Nocturne would figure into the book as it progressed but now i guess i'll have to wait and see.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old_skool
WHoaa I didn't even Know Sunfire had been "toasted" When did that happen? I may need to pick that one up.
No one knew because it happened in Rogue's "ongoing" title. Then she showed up without any real warning in Milligan's X-Men book with Sunfire's powers.
Feh on Quesada. Remember he was the man behind "Dead is Dead". Right before Colossus came back. And then it was basically said that "Dead is Dead" only really referred to Psylocke for some reason. And then she came back too.
The other reason no one knew it was because Sunfire is alive and well (okay, rather beat up but alive and uncrippled) in Marvel Team-Up, which I suspect is a far more popular title than Rogue.
El Poolman
10/14/2005, 14:28
Any chance we'll finally be rid of Cable? :p
Jejejeje, agree.
Just leave Deadpool alone!
Any chance we'll finally be rid of Cable? :p
One could only hope.
JLovegrove
10/14/2005, 14:31
>Personally, I don't think the problem is "too many mutants".
>I think the problem is "too many books".
Whew! You got that right, dude. Man, it's just too much. At the risk of using a cliche, "Back in my day" we had Uncanny X-Men. When it hit the shelf it was special. It was an event. New Mutants came along and was different, but changed into the same stuff. Then they added X-Factor andl diluted the francise. It only got worse and worse.
Anyone remember that first Frank Miller Wolverine miniseries? Man, nothing has been done any better since. Wolverine was good in those days and he was rare.
X-Men continutity was challenging enough with only Uncanny. I can barely follow it these days. Astonishing was great. Adjective-less X-Men is okay. Uncanny is a shambles.
Joe Quesada should follow Wolvie's famous sound effect. Too much X-Men?? Snikt!
Synth
I'm predicting we'll not lose Nightcrawler, but there's a good chance his daughter will go. I don't think there's a shot in heck that we'll lose Wolverine, but I'm hoping X-23 bites it.
We can also lose pretty much anyone that was created (or, heck, was drawn with any regularity) by Rob Liefeld ... Cable, Deadpool, anyone who was ever a member of X-Force, Black Tom, etc. The new Excalibur can go away, too.
Also, use this event to reverse any of the ridiculous 'secondary mutations' on characters that are allowed to live.
saturnflight
10/14/2005, 14:43
December covers show the following characters (are these spoilers? They're general info off covers already widely shown...)
(Decimation Tie-Ins) (apparently on Teams): Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Bishop, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Polaris, Havok, Strong Guy, Madrox, Wolvesbane, Monet, Rictor, Syrin, Captain Britain, Juggernaut, Nocturne, Dazzler, Pete Wisdom, Cyclops
(Not proclaimed HOM tie-ins, but continued characters after November): Cable, Deadpool, Colossus, Longshot, Sabretooth, Morph, Blink
That's all I can see. I bet these guys all come out ok then.
hail_eris
10/14/2005, 14:50
No Marvel creator in their right
mind is going to depower Cyclops, Nightcrawler, or Storm.
Unless you count Chris Claremont who, in Uncanny X-Men 185, did exactly that...
JustFrodo
10/14/2005, 15:23
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the line cut back to a previous point in time:
Uncanny X-Men - the X-Men as superheroes;
New Mutants - the mansion as a school for young mutants.
Within these two titles, let the creators make as many mutant characters as they want... as long as they regularly kill off the extras (and keep them killt off) to prevent things from getting out of hand again. Superheroing is a dangerous business, and folks get hurt, maimed and killed from time to time.
For example, some baddie could rip Cyke's eyes out. He'd still be a mutant, technically, but without powers, and could be kept around as a supporting character. It would give him something different to angst about!
"Woe is me, my girlfriend's dead... oh no wait, she's back... now she's dead again... no, she's back... OW! Hey! WHERE'S MY FREAKIN EYES!"
Unfortunately, I predict that every character "Decimated" will be brought back again by some later writer, regardless of what Joe Q says.
Ultimate2099
10/14/2005, 15:31
I'm predicting we'll not lose Nightcrawler, but there's a good chance his daughter will go. I don't think there's a shot in heck that we'll lose Wolverine, but I'm hoping X-23 bites it.
We can also lose pretty much anyone that was created (or, heck, was drawn with any regularity) by Rob Liefeld ... Cable, Deadpool, anyone who was ever a member of X-Force, Black Tom, etc. The new Excalibur can go away, too.
Also, use this event to reverse any of the ridiculous 'secondary mutations' on characters that are allowed to live.
X-23 isn't going away. She's slated to start being a student in New X-Men once House of M is over. Though I agree with you. As if we don't get enough of Wolverine, now we get his friggin' clone daughter too.
hail_eris
10/14/2005, 15:48
X-23 isn't going away.
I rage at Quesada over the train wreck that is Lil' Wolvie. NYX looked *so* promising. Great art by Middleton, a totally different look at life as a young mutant (some of them don't grow up in a gated estate in Westchester), and, in Kiden, one of the most interesting new characters that Marvel's introduced in years. What do we end up with? Blown deadlines that make Liefeld look timely, an attitude that drives Middleton to DC (where he's doing quite nicely on the Superman/Shazam book, thank you very much), and yet *another* blasted Wolverine book. Say what you will about his editorial decisions, NYX was Quesada's book. And it showed a ton of promise. Two years and seven (yes, seven - and no, it was not intended to be a quarterly publication) issues later, it's dead and frankly, good riddance. If only it could have taken Wolverina with it...
shock man x
10/14/2005, 16:12
I'm predicting we'll not lose Nightcrawler, but there's a good chance his daughter will go. I don't think there's a shot in heck that we'll lose Wolverine, but I'm hoping X-23 bites it.
1. Is Nightcrawler still a mutant? I thought his dad was reveled to be some kind of real demon? 2. Nocturne won't be missing, she's in the new new Excalibur book. 3. X-23 is shown on the cover of New X-Men.
We can also lose pretty much anyone that was created (or, heck, was drawn with any regularity) by Rob Liefeld ... Cable, Deadpool, anyone who was ever a member of X-Force, Black Tom, etc. The new Excalibur can go away, too.
I wouldn't miss any of them.
Also, use this event to reverse any of the ridiculous 'secondary mutations' on characters that are allowed to live.
I'd miss Emma at least.
I'd have to agree with the guy who said there where just to many books was the problem. For some reason it seemed mutants could only fight other mutants. Instead of the X-Men running into the Masters of Evil they keep running into other bad mutants.
This does have me worried. One of the few X-books I got was New X-Men. Mostly because I thought it would be interesting to see a school drama type book with mutants. Granted the book isn't that, but with the reboot it looks like I'll be missing out on some of the interesting characters they've made in that book, especially the new Hellions group, and now it's got no hope of becoming better with the drama aspect.
If they are going to explain some characters as non-mutants now that's fine, but seems to be an easy cop out to me to keep some around that they feel should be axed.
Paradox Factor
10/14/2005, 16:28
Sabretooth, Morph, Blink
These three are all members of the Exiles team and not the Marvel 616 equivelent (Sabertooth and Blink are from AoA, Morph from a yet unknown world). Also, There's some spoilers here from the latest issue of Exiles.
Add Proteus (Yes the reality warping son of Mora McTagart was brought back in House of M) to the list of surviving mutants. In the current issue of Exiles he figured out how to warp reality so he can travel to another world. He also possessed the body of Mimic. He's going to be leading the Exiles on a merry little extradimentional chase though the next dozen or so issues, making stops in the New Universe, Marvel 2099, Squadren Supreme, Future Imperfect, and Heroes Reborn universes. The Exiles are going to be picking up new teammates as they go from world to world, one of which is strongly rumored to be Longshot. However, it's looking like Beak is going to be very happy after House of M, since he was returned to his home universe just prior to Wanda's "No more mutants"
Kaitouace
10/14/2005, 16:30
I'm predicting we'll not lose Nightcrawler, but there's a good chance his daughter will go. I don't think there's a shot in heck that we'll lose Wolverine, but I'm hoping X-23 bites it.
We can also lose pretty much anyone that was created (or, heck, was drawn with any regularity) by Rob Liefeld ... Cable, Deadpool, anyone who was ever a member of X-Force, Black Tom, etc. The new Excalibur can go away, too.
Also, use this event to reverse any of the ridiculous 'secondary mutations' on characters that are allowed to live.
If you're referring to Nocturne, she's slated to be one of the main members in New Excalibur. I doubt she's going anywhere TOO soon either. X-23 DEFINITELY isn't going anywhere anytime soon (unfortunately). Cable/Deadpool sells too well for anything to happen to that book and its main characters. Although to be honest the "Cable" part of Cable/Deadpool isn't very entertaining.
Doesn't matter, really.
With Marvel's continuity problems, some writer somewhere is going to use a character that was erased and they're going to come up with some sort of loophole for why that character re-appeared when everyone thought they were gone, and then the door's going to be open to bring them all back.
Add me to the list of folks who wouldn't at all mind seeing a trimming down of the mutant population. (I voted for Kelly in 89). I am a long time X-Men fan, but the book explosion claimed me as a casualty.
After years of sitting on the sidelines I gave Ultimate X-Men a chance for six trades or so, then finally found some satisfaction with Astonishing X-Men.
Hopefully Joe Q's thought process will lead to a simpler X-World, where you don't have to collect a dozen titles to get your X fix. I am excited about the prospect of Marvel rediscovering the old school magic.
I have to agree though, that I would rather have the culling (and killing) done over a series of many arcs, where the characters death or the consequences of it could take a major role. There are some stories that can only be told with a hero or villains death, and this is a great opportunity for Marvel to do just that, without having to face the fact that they killed a hugely popular character and eventually it will be time to bring them back.
George Smiley
10/14/2005, 16:51
I've been reading & collecting comics for over thirty years so I'm talking about reading roughly ten comics a week for 31 years. Almost everyone but the editors and staff at Marvel and DC know that both companies produce way too many titles. Some of the books are slopped together so poorly that its obvious that what happened was a rushed story/rushed artwork. This has always been a problem but the problem is rampant now.
A particullarly irritating practice is putting a "popular" artist and or writer on the initial title and then having said creator abandon the title after a few issues. If its a miniseries make the creators start and finish. If it is a long standing series sign the creators to contracts of at least a year. And creators should be professionals, they should be able to finish a project by a deadline.
And there are some characters that are just overexposed. Wolverine immediately comes to mind. Superman and Batman seem to be in too many titles. Another pet peeve of mine is the "forced succession" character. You know what I mean, the character that clearly seems designed to replace an existing, popular character. (Can anyone say X-23, or Superboy.)
Editors haven't been doing their jobs with creators. Characters powers and motivations, and general tone shouldn't vary greatly from one issue to the next or from one title to the next. Creators should be given a lot of lattitude but editors need to be willing to step in and place some controls on creators.
Gentlegamer
10/14/2005, 17:00
Oh well. The only Marvel books I have on my pull list are Amazing Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men....New Thunderbolts is really good!
Gentlegamer
10/14/2005, 17:04
A moratorium on new characters is a bad idea for a company calling themselves “The House of Ideas.” Not new characters. New mutant characters. How much of an "idea" does it take to come up with an origin story of "he's a mutant so he has powers."
Sentry, for example, is an interesting new character that isn't a mutant and therefore has an actual origin that takes more than one line.
Another pet peeve of mine is the "forced succession" character. You know what I mean, the character that clearly seems designed to replace an existing, popular character. (Can anyone say X-23, or Superboy.)
Except that neither of the two characters that you named, one I like and one I despise, comes across as that to me.
A 'forced succession' character would be Azrael/Jean Paul Valley.
Superboy was initially meant to be a literal replacement for Superman in the Reign of the Supermen arc, but he's developed into far more than that and has been around as a major character in the DCU.
If you're putting him in that category, you'd have to also put Robin, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Arsenal, Speedy, Kid Flash, and most of the modern JSA into that category and they clearly don't fit there.
X-23 was also never meant to replace Wolverine. She's meant to capitalize on the popularity of the character and expand the market by giving teenage girls a 'cool' character that's similar to another popular character to read about. She's no more a 'replacement' than Supergirl, Batgirl, Spider-Girl, She-Hulk or whichever other feminized version of a popular character has been created.
I go back to the sixties era. The "House of Ideas" stopped being that about when Kirby left if you ask me. It hasn't been all bad since that point, but the REAL creativity was done long before the current generation of creators were probably even born.
The mutants are nothing but redundant now. Sure, there've been some nice additions, but too many characters sport powers that somebody else has in some form or another. The overlap os pathetic. --If one argues that it's more about personality than powers one might have a case, but still, there are too many mutants and too few good ones. Scott needed a whiney brother sure, but hey, Alex's got the same power if you ask me. What is Sabertooth but a meaner Wolverine? Rogue's a variant on Mimic. A better version maybe, but sorta the same powers. Keep Rogue, kill Mimic. Pyro? Sunfire? We need another fire-related character? Bishop? That's a power we even care about?
Clean it up I say. Choose the best of the lot and cull the rest. Die lame mutie die. There will be fewer books if there are fewer characters. Raise the bar on character-creation. We got a Wolverine? --Don't come to me with a Sabertooth. And I don't care if you're new so-and-so has prehensile snot. Show me a real power, an interesting power, not some retread. Show a little imagination or get another job.
Well, I used to be a big fan of the X-Men a while back you know. :grin:
JustFrodo
10/14/2005, 17:33
...prehensile snot...
Isn't that Nightcrawler's secondary mutation?
Wasteland
10/14/2005, 18:49
Except that neither of the two characters that you named, one I like and one I despise, comes across as that to me.
A 'forced succession' character would be Azrael/Jean Paul Valley.
Superboy was initially meant to be a literal replacement for Superman in the Reign of the Supermen arc, but he's developed into far more than that and has been around as a major character in the DCU.
If you're putting him in that category, you'd have to also put Robin, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Arsenal, Speedy, Kid Flash, and most of the modern JSA into that category and they clearly don't fit there.
Truthfully, that's what I think of almost all of those characters as well. I don't like the "kill of Flash, and replace him with his neighbor's second cousin's friend, who will just dress up almost exactly the same and have the exact same powers. After a bit we'll bring back the other Flash and throw him somewhere else" type ideas. I want my new (relative) characters to be original. If it's not original, and is simply a replacement, then don't and keep the old character. That's what comics are missing these days...new ideas that are original.
X-23 was also never meant to replace Wolverine. She's meant to capitalize on the popularity of the character and expand the market by giving teenage girls a 'cool' character that's similar to another popular character to read about. She's no more a 'replacement' than Supergirl, Batgirl, Spider-Girl, She-Hulk or whichever other feminized version of a popular character has been created.
Who are all capitalization/replacements in the end. They are "replacements" in other titles, so they are using the same basic character, but can justify it because they are"different". This is what I don't like about most comics these days (and is why I focus my reading/followings on indepent comics, and is why I liked Image comics when they were out).
Truthfully, that's what I think of almost all of those characters as well ...
Then, truthfully, you don't really read any of those characters.
Not new characters. New mutant characters. How much of an "idea" does it take to come up with an origin story of "he's a mutant so he has powers."
Sentry, for example, is an interesting new character that isn't a mutant and therefore has an actual origin that takes more than one line.
True. But would Sentry’s story necessarily tie in with the X-Men?
The X-Men are mutants. They deal with issues that Mutants face. It makes sense that if any book is going to be able to introduce new mutant characters, it’d be the X-Men. This doesn’t mean go out and create a whole new roster, but if a writer has an interesting concept hook for a character who happens to fit the X-Men storyline, then so be it!
And for that matter, occasionally, having a character be revealed as a mutant in other team books can make for some good stories. I recall Slingers made use of that when they revealed Ricochet as a mutant.
d_knight7
10/14/2005, 19:53
Clone Kelly and Graydon Creed and dust off the buttons!
A serious huzzah for the decision to weed out the mutant population.
It started in the 60's where mutants were rare wonderous things, scared and aminority, trying to survive in the humans world. By the modern day we have MILLIONS of them. I say good riddance to the gorge of mutants, and may they take a thousand and one x-books with them.
Back when they re-launched the x-men book in the early 90's and they had teams red and gold I knew we were in trouble, they were like a plague of locusts.
They need to:
Make them a real minority again.
Stop giving every mutie awesome powers. It used to be most mutant powers were pathetically weak or non-useful, with only the cream joining the x-men or Brotherhood, then suddenly Xaviers has more students than MIT.
Make the humans scary again. They watered down anti-mutant groups and sentinels so much that they lost the fear. It used to take the whole X-team to combat a couple of sentinels, now the kids can eat 5 each before breakfast.
My vote for culling: all the daughter 'clones'. Ooh it's just like nightcrawler/wolverine/Don King but a sassy teenage girl! Someone pull the flush cord, please!
Trim weapon X to the core. So many people ended up with healing factors and adamantium that Wolverine was lost in the crowd to me, make him unique again.
Stop desecrating the bones of Excaliber. It was a unique European flavored team back in the day before it became a dumping ground for unwanted characters and they ran it in to the ground. Let it rest in peace, pretty please.
d_knight7
10/14/2005, 19:55
I go back to the sixties era. The "House of Ideas" stopped being that about when Kirby left if you ask me. It hasn't been all bad since that point, but the REAL creativity was done long before the current generation of creators were probably even born.
The mutants are nothing but redundant now. Sure, there've been some nice additions, but too many characters sport powers that somebody else has in some form or another. The overlap os pathetic. --If one argues that it's more about personality than powers one might have a case, but still, there are too many mutants and too few good ones. Scott needed a whiney brother sure, but hey, Alex's got the same power if you ask me. What is Sabertooth but a meaner Wolverine? Rogue's a variant on Mimic. A better version maybe, but sorta the same powers. Keep Rogue, kill Mimic. Pyro? Sunfire? We need another fire-related character? Bishop? That's a power we even care about?
Clean it up I say. Choose the best of the lot and cull the rest. Die lame mutie die. There will be fewer books if there are fewer characters. Raise the bar on character-creation. We got a Wolverine? --Don't come to me with a Sabertooth. And I don't care if you're new so-and-so has prehensile snot. Show me a real power, an interesting power, not some retread. Show a little imagination or get another job.
Well, I used to be a big fan of the X-Men a while back you know. :grin:
For a man with a GL's icon you have a lot of hate for people with similar powers :p LOL
DOOMSTRIKER
10/14/2005, 20:20
For a man with a GL's icon you have a lot of hate for people with similar powers :p LOL
hey now. Green Lanterns all have very unique powers. some can make force bubbles others can create giant jade baseball bats, some can fly others can cary a bunch of people around with them when they fly......... wait.. they all have those powers? oh. never mind
coyotejack
10/14/2005, 20:24
hey now. Green Lanterns all have very unique powers. some can make force bubbles others can create giant jade baseball bats, some can fly others can cary a bunch of people around with them when they fly......... wait.. they all have those powers? oh. never mind
And here I thought he was likening a GL's powers to prehensile snot. lol It's been a looooong day at work.
Shadowlost
10/14/2005, 21:56
So can we finally say good bye to the summers family tree?? Please?? Just the basic two brothers and Mr. Sinister *non mutant*. Maybe they will leave Jubilee alone too.
stark's heir
10/14/2005, 23:04
Hmmm. Don't know if anyone else (just saw this and didn't read all 4 pages thus far) has written regarding this, but I've heard it this way: ((rumors, mind you...))
There will be only 190 or 180, or some number like that [less than 200] of mutants floating around the world... Series next year? Can't remember exact facts, but this idea was discussed at a retailer summit thing by Marvel reps.
Again- just rumors...
Frontman
10/14/2005, 23:24
Don't worry that Gambit would be non-mutant. He's in X3, Marvel will have Gambit in the X-titles all over the place next summer.......
Frontman
10/14/2005, 23:25
With all this mutant reset, I'd love to see "Alpha Flight" return to its orignal core members and be the Canadian equivilent of "New Avengers."
AbeSapien
10/14/2005, 23:43
With all this mutant reset, I'd love to see "Alpha Flight" return to its orignal core members and be the Canadian equivilent of "New Avengers."
Didn't they just cancel Alpha Flight again?
Frontman
10/14/2005, 23:45
Just because "Alpha Flight" is on the cover doesn't mean they got the stuff on the inside of the book right. Alpha fans want the originals, not knock off characters.
Paradox Factor
10/14/2005, 23:45
While the X-books should be the home for mutants in the Marvel U, there are some mutants running around that have no connection with the X-Men. Personaly, I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of them go, but some of them need to stay as mutants. Sub-Mariner is the big example that I can think of. Firestar and Justice are more closely associated with the Avangers then the X-Men. Taskmaster has never been an X-villian and he's a mutant as is Whirlwind. Molly aka Bruiser of the Runaways is a more obscure mutant I would hate to see go. Aurora, Box, and a couple of other Alpha Flight characters are mutants.
TKMandroid
10/15/2005, 00:25
Unfortunately, I predict that every character "Decimated" will be brought back again by some later writer, regardless of what Joe Q says.
Very likely, since Marvel will want to retain all rights related to every character that got "decimated." :cheeky:
Seriously, I used to enjoy these mega-events....... :tired:
AbeSapien
10/15/2005, 00:53
Just because "Alpha Flight" is on the cover doesn't mean they got the stuff on the inside of the book right. Alpha fans want the originals, not knock off characters.
I also like the originals, but I just don't think that yet another relaunch of AF is coming anytime soon.
Maniac_nmt
10/15/2005, 01:11
Oh well. The only Marvel books I have on my pull list are Amazing Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men....
Captain America and New Thunderbolts are both top notch books right now.
Chalk me up as someone who would like to see the mutant action trimmed down. Particularly in the cross over department. It seems like every earth shaking event in Marvel any more is caused by a mutant/mutants, and everyone else has to clean up the mess.
IE Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught, Inferno, Xtinction Agenda, Mutant Massacre, even Dissassembled/House of M is all caused by a mutant/mutants. Can't we get a major event caused by Dr. Doom, Red Skull, Loki, Ultron, Mandarin, or other? I mean sheesh!
With eveything they get away with, can you actually blame a Senetor Kelly or a Bolivar Trask for their stance? Honestly, Xmen has lost any credance as being a metaphor for racial harmony, and seems more like reverse racism (as let's face it, if Professor X REALLY wanted to bridge the gap, there would be non mutants on the Xmen).
Bluebeard
10/15/2005, 01:28
All I'm asking from Marvel is a Dr. Strange book, and maybe a Thor book. I've never had any interest in anything mutant, so much of what Marvel is doing right now is as interesting as a lecture on plastics. Gimme my Strange!
Paradox Factor
10/15/2005, 01:38
It seems like every earth shaking event in Marvel any more is caused by a mutant/mutants, and everyone else has to clean up the mess....Can't we get a major event caused by Dr. Doom, Red Skull, Loki, Ultron, Mandarin, or other? I mean sheesh!
Well, off the top of my head, there was Secret Wars, Secret Wars II, Secret War, Acts of Vengence, Contest of Champions, Maximum Security, Kree/Skrull War, Operation Galactic Storm, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Atlantis Attacks, Korvak Quest, The Evolutionary War, Citizen Kang, The Spider-Clone Saga, and Marvel: The End. Yes some of them had mutant characters, but the major players in all were non mutant.
Heinrich
10/15/2005, 02:23
If Quesada thinks it was a mistake to make all these mutants, well, where was he when these recent ones were created. The bad decision was to milk money out of readers by making too many unneeded Mutants. Guess What Joe? For the most part, you were the boss when the bad decisions were made. The XMen were one of the hottest storylines in comics, but Joe you came along and decided that there should be so many books put out that continuity became impossible to keep up with. Then trying to be clever, a flood of new mutants were dished out in so many different time lines that it turned into one great big ball of Bunk! There is NO ESCAPING BAD DECISIONS. Nothing can replace well done, interesting story lines. Killing of major heroes and villains for shock value is not great writing. Don't get rid of the characters, just create stories that are more interesting. Then you wouldn't have to act like some hero here to save some one from some one elses problem.
I'm through ranting now! Thank you!
der-drach
10/15/2005, 03:01
The loss of continuity has less to do with too many books than the mollycoddling of star writers. Somebody gets popular and they can write any story they want and the editorial staff obviously is fine with it. Mark Millar (some of whose stuff I've enjoyed) destroyed Spider-Man continuity left and right in his godawful Marvel Knights Spider-Man run. They let him write a story without worrying about any connection to even current events in the other Spidey titles. He and Bendis (some of whose stuff I enjoy as well) are the pretty boys and they run roughshod over the editors. It's embarrasing, really.
HollywoodGhost
10/15/2005, 03:24
Honestly, Xmen has lost any credance as being a metaphor for racial harmony, and seems more like reverse racism (as let's face it, if Professor X REALLY wanted to bridge the gap, there would be non mutants on the Xmen).
Read Morrisons "riot at xaviers" arc from new xmen.
2 Gun Kid
10/15/2005, 04:12
Well...Wolvies bound to lose some Jail bait be it Jubilee (hope not), Kitty (whos yet to die at all), X-23 (His own daughter that sicko!)
Speedball isnt a mutant so Im not worrying, but what about Firestar, Justice, and Sil?
BEAK SURVIVES!!!! Thats like being on the Titanic and giving up your seat to a 134 year old man whos having a heart attack and has a knife in his chest! That spot could be given to a more worthy mutant!
Cable can go but please leave the Deadpool at the door...we need him.
What will happen to our once favorite but now missing charcters like Banshee, Cannonball, Husk, Sunfire, and Quicksilver?
Nocturne isnt from our Reality so she should be immune same with Rachel Summers, and Bishop isnt from our time so he should be immune also.
But charcters like that one girl from Xmen who can see pheromones, Feral, Monet, and Maverick should really look into a good casket.
Cloak and Dagger were small mutants that had drugs experimented on them that mutate there mutant power, it can easily be fixed by saying "Nope a dr. never said u were a mutant mutant..." but still Id hate to lose them.
Now will the mutants just die, lose there powers, or vanish? Will Banshee just drop dead, lose his powers, have his powers erased and forgeten and he would have lived his life as a normal man, or will he just fade away into non existence?
Looks like theres going to be a lot of room left at Xavier U. Maybe now I can get a room near the Womens locker room.
Im just glad...Howard the Duck, Brother Voodo, Speedball, Nova, 2 Gun Kid, Black Knight, Taskmaster, Juggs, Black Panther, and Turbo arent mutants, maybe now they can get a 2nd, sorry 5th chance
And the Exiles exist outside of Quesade reality so they can always pick up a few old favorites.
Darth Sabre
10/15/2005, 04:41
Didn't they just cancel Alpha Flight again?
Yeah, last year. But there was a ost of problems with the series.
First it wan't really centered on THE Alpha Flight team, but rather some recruits that were brought together by Sasquatch, to save the original team , who was captured by some aliens (sound familiar?). Then the old team took the remaining aliens home (or to another planet, I can't remeber right now) and the new team took their place (again, sound familiar?).
Second, the team was essentially a guffaw of both the X-Men and Alpha Flight. There wasn't anyting serious in the book, and the members were less than spectacular, with the exception of two-Nemesis, and the Indian/Wilderness/God version of Thor, who's name escapes me. His father sold him to Langkowski, to get him out of the tribe for awhile.
The limited sereis was more comedic, and I actually found it amusing. But I knew that, when the annouced that it was going ongoing, that it wouldn't last. So I never followed it after the initial 6 issues. It was canceled 6 months later.
michiganj24
10/15/2005, 05:08
[QUOTE=2 Gun Kid]
Cable can go but please leave the Deadpool at the door...we need him.
Dont Worry Deadpool isnt a mutant. I dont belive they have revelaed the whole story but it has been refreneced to much for them to not use that as a cop out he will stay
What will happen to our once favorite but now missing charcters like Banshee, Cannonball, Husk, Sunfire, and Quicksilver?
Cannonball also isnt technically a mutant as I thought he was and Eternal like Selene and Gideon
Im just glad...Howard the Duck, Brother Voodo, Speedball, Nova, 2 Gun Kid, Black Knight, Taskmaster, Juggs, Black Panther, and Turbo arent mutants, maybe now they can get a 2nd, sorry 5th chance
Sorry but Taskmaster is Mutant Power equals photographic reflexes. And those who gained theor powers like Cloak adns Dagger from outside means have never really been considered mutans as they didnt gain their powers from themselves. If they were real mutants then Spidey the FF and cap would all have to be considred Mutants too
diggergig1
10/15/2005, 05:21
I thought Deadpool had mutant-healing? I don't follow Marvel much except for the epics, but he took on Hulk in CoCII and survived!
TKMandroid
10/15/2005, 05:57
And those who gained theor powers like Cloak adns Dagger from outside means have never really been considered mutans as they didnt gain their powers from themselves. If they were real mutants then Spidey the FF and cap would all have to be considred Mutants too
Years ago, one of the Marvel big-wigs settled the arguement, regarding the status of Cloak, Dagger and Spider-Man;
Spider-Man, having been bitten by a radioactive spider, is NOT a mutant.
Cloak and Dagger, having been injected by a synthetic designer drug (apparently triggering latent abilities), ARE mutants.
The above was the company's ruling, the following are my thoughts alone....
I guess that if any character got their powers by a radioactive source, they're NOT considered mutants.... :confused:
Yes, Captain America got his enhanced abilities by injections, but has never exhibited any super-natural abilities outside that of an athlete in excellent physical conditioning.
Therefore (again my thoughts), Fantastic Four, Captain America, Hulk, Spider-Man will be spared from "Decimated." Cloak and Dagger, may not be so fortunate. :disappoin
Shadowlost
10/15/2005, 05:58
So have they given a list or hints as to which mutants may be removed from the marvel universe?
Wasteland
10/15/2005, 06:45
Then, truthfully, you don't really read any of those characters.
You're right. Now tell me...what makes them "different"? What makes them unique that couldn't have been done with the original versions of the character?
stark's heir
10/15/2005, 16:13
BEAK SURVIVES!!!! Thats like being on the Titanic and giving up your seat to a 134 year old man whos having a heart attack and has a knife in his chest! That spot could be given to a more worthy mutant!
Maybe not...
[SPOILER]
In recent issue of Exiles, Beak mysteriously fades away with his "wife" Angel.
Maniac_nmt
10/16/2005, 16:00
Well, off the top of my head, there was Secret Wars, Secret Wars II, Secret War, Acts of Vengence, Contest of Champions, Maximum Security, Kree/Skrull War, Operation Galactic Storm, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Atlantis Attacks, Korvak Quest, The Evolutionary War, Citizen Kang, The Spider-Clone Saga, and Marvel: The End. Yes some of them had mutant characters, but the major players in all were non mutant.
Right, but most of the major ones, other then Infinity War, were quite a while back. Most of the more recent stuff has all been mutant motivated (Dissassmbled/House of M could just as easily been commited by a cosmic Red Skull, or something).
Spider-Clone Saga does not deserve to be known as anything other then expensive fire starting kindling that it is.
Taskmaster has never been an X-villian and he's a mutant
Actually, I believe that the official word from Marvel is that Taskmaster is not a mutant.
The confusion comes between the evolutionary definition of "mutant" and the Marvel definition of "mutant." The basic definition of mutant, which applies to Taskmaster, is being born with an ability not possessed by one's forbearers. However, in the Marvel universe a mutant is someone born with the X-gene. So Taskmaster was born with his abilities, but doesn't have the X-gene so he isn't a "mutant," and will most likely be unaffected by Wanda's twist.
Of course, this is Marvel, so they may decide to ignore established history (did someone say Bucky?)...
Citizen V
10/16/2005, 22:49
I personally dont like this.I have heard rumors for a decent amount of time,about Marvel deciding to "cut off" the mutants that they have.I personally dont think its such a good idea,mutants is part of what Marvel is.Why are they doing that?And as loong as Quesada is in charge,none of them will be brought back?This is why i stoped reading Marvel,DC is where its at.People will just wait until Quesada leaves,and someone else brings back the characters.
I think this is a bad move that is goign to end up going over badly. Comics are a character driven genre, an announcment of the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of potentially interesting characters and a moratorium on the introduction of any new ones seems like a means to stagnation not inovation. The problem with the X-books isn't too many, it's that too many of them are tied to the past, the only things that need to die in the X-universe are Charles Xavier and the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Xavier was a good character as a mentor and source of guidance back when the X-men were still young and starting out, but thats finished they are veteran super-heroes now, haveing the ever-present father figure still lurking around just makes them seem like they aren't real super-heroes. It doesn't help any that most of the times Charles ends up in a story nowadays it is because some secret wrongdoing from his past shows up to screw things up or he is doing some shady dealing. He'd be much more valuable as a martyr then a living character, while he still has some credibility left. The X-mansion was a fun mechanic when there was just one team in it adn the school aspect made for a neat backdrop. Now it is a web of bad continuity as it gets assailed on a weekly basis with no regard to the fact that there are like 100 super-being in it, an assembly line to churn out 1-dimensional mutants with little to no background, and numerous rehashed "we must defend the children" storylines.
AbeSapien
10/19/2005, 19:11
Yes comics are character driven, but with so many characters in the choked to the brim X-books there isn't enough room to have stories about all the characters AND have fighting/adventure/excitement thrown in.
The X-men in the last 15 years have successfully killed off like 5 members, while adding literally dozens and dozens of new characters. Something has to give at some point.
I think this is a bad move that is goign to end up going over badly. Comics are a character driven genre, an announcment of the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of potentially interesting characters and a moratorium on the introduction of any new ones seems like a means to stagnation not inovation. The problem with the X-books isn't too many, it's that too many of them are tied to the past, the only things that need to die in the X-universe are Charles Xavier and the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Xavier was a good character as a mentor and source of guidance back when the X-men were still young and starting out, but thats finished they are veteran super-heroes now, haveing the ever-present father figure still lurking around just makes them seem like they aren't real super-heroes. It doesn't help any that most of the times Charles ends up in a story nowadays it is because some secret wrongdoing from his past shows up to screw things up or he is doing some shady dealing. He'd be much more valuable as a martyr then a living character, while he still has some credibility left. The X-mansion was a fun mechanic when there was just one team in it adn the school aspect made for a neat backdrop. Now it is a web of bad continuity as it gets assailed on a weekly basis with no regard to the fact that there are like 100 super-being in it, an assembly line to churn out 1-dimensional mutants with little to no background, and numerous rehashed "we must defend the children" storylines.
m0rpheus
10/19/2005, 23:58
Jejejeje, agree.
Just leave Deadpool alone!
Deadpool isnt a mutant.
Yes comics are character driven, but with so many characters in the choked to the brim X-books there isn't enough room to have stories about all the characters AND have fighting/adventure/excitement thrown in.
The X-men in the last 15 years have successfully killed off like 5 members, while adding literally dozens and dozens of new characters. Something has to give at some point.
The answer to that is simple, just don't write about all of them. It shouldn't be too difficult to move the focus of the books away from all the hundreds of tertiary characters back to the main characters. Then just don't write the extra ones, that way they aren't in the way anymore. That way they still exist if ever someone comes up with a good story involving them, but they aren't cluttering the place up when noone is interested. This works fine for most other books, there are an enourmous number of characters that are actually Avengers, but most of the time they just are off doing their own thing while the boom focuses on just a few. Killing so many characters off then declareing that they will not come back and that there will be no new ones just seems to stifle options to me. Think about it, if that actually goes over it means that you have seen the last of the Brotherhood, as they can't fill out a decent roster anymore without some new people, it means no X-villians will ever show up again, haveing somehow cheated death, because the editorial staff guarantees that they are dead, it means that after decimation you are stuck with the characters that get chosen, if they are stale and tired (and some of them are) well too bad because that's what your left with since no fresh new characters will be introduced, and it's unlikely that they will write anyone out after such a sweeping gesture.
AbeSapien
10/20/2005, 08:40
This works fine for most other books, there are an enourmous number of characters that are actually Avengers, but most of the time they just are off doing their own thing while the boom focuses on just a few.
Well, look at Bendis. People may not like him, but he's doing what every writer does; write about the heroes he wants to. With so many x-books you wouldn't be able to kep figures off of the forefront.
Frontman
10/20/2005, 10:46
So Joe Quesada has put a moratorium on the creation of any further mutants.
Huh. This is the same Joe Q. who swore he wasn't going to bring characters back from the dead anymore.
Characters like Bucky, Colossus, Psylocke.
Marvel now uses these types of announcements just to get attention.
Well, off the top of my head, there was Secret Wars, Secret Wars II, Secret War, Acts of Vengence, Contest of Champions, Maximum Security, Kree/Skrull War, Operation Galactic Storm, Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, Atlantis Attacks, Korvak Quest, The Evolutionary War, Citizen Kang, The Spider-Clone Saga, and Marvel: The End. Yes some of them had mutant characters, but the major players in all were non mutant.
Ahem Spider-Clones don't exist :laugh:
Vevilaughs
10/28/2005, 11:56
Sorry but Taskmaster is Mutant Power equals photographic reflexes. And those who gained their powers like Cloak and Dagger from outside means have never really been considered mutants as they didn’t gain their powers from themselves. If they were real mutants then Spidey the FF and cap would all have to be considered Mutants too
and
Cloak and Dagger, having been injected by a synthetic designer drug (apparently triggering latent abilities), ARE mutants.
In Marvel history it was established that Cloak and Dagger are mutants. In fact, the experimental drugs not only activated their powers, but switched them. There was an episode or two that showed Cloak as Dagger and Dagger as Cloak. It was the explanation used for a while as to why Cloak has such a problem controlling his powers. I think it may have been touched on in the "Cloak & Dagger" series when Cloak's powers were taken from him by Ecstasy. Further evidence of the Cloak & Dagger as mutants can be seen in the New Mutants series when Sunspot and Wolvesbane absorbed their powers after they were also experimented on by the same drug lords.
doctor_x
10/28/2005, 12:54
Oh well, this needs to be done to the XMen universe.
A LONG time ago too.
Wether they will remains to be seen.
IMO-this is who should/probably will stay:
Cyclops
Jean Grey
Beast
Angel
Iceman
Wolverine
Storm
Colosuss
Rogue
Gambit
Nightcrawler
Banshee
Sunfire
Deadpool
Cable
Bishop
Havok
Mystique
Sabretooth
Shadowcat
Jubilee
Blink
Cannonball
Psylocke
MultipleMan
Toad
Blob
ScarletWitch
Magneto
Quicksilver(hear rumors to the contrary though)
Forge
IMO=get rid of ALL THE REST.
INCLUDING Prof X.
Assassinate him already.
Lets ramp this thing up a notch or 20 in one fell swoop.
Live on the edge Marvel!
And get rid of Franklin Richards, and Emma Frost, and ____________________.
All of these I listed are the core characters that most fans love or that have powers that are either all their own or that have duplicates in other mutants. We don't need 5 different mutants with the exact same powers guys. We don't need characters that have cheesey names like Proteus or whatever. Wether it's a core X character's kid or not. Let's see some real tragedy in the X books for a change.
I also say take mutants out of other teams like the Avengers. I did like Beast when he was a key member, but he is more needed within the mutant universe.
Wolverine is starting to suffer from OVERSATURATION.
Keep the core bad guys only around like Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, The Hand, Bastion and the Sentinels etc.
Get rid of Stryfe and any of the others that are just filler throughtout the years.
I'm sick of all the clones running around ya know, and his story is beyond tired now that the Legacy virus thing reached it's end.
Juggernaut does not and should never have been an XMan. He should retain villian status and return only ONCE IN A BLUE MOON to give the mutants fits.
If Marvel wants new mutants, they can always make a bad guy turn good, that's always a stress inducer for a while.
I always thought that Mystique could or would turn good one day. Not too mention raise tons of suspicions. This creates drama that the stories need.
Maybe I should collicit Marvel to become a writer? :rolleyes:
Id take the XMen that stay around and create no more than 3 X books out of them.
I'd make Forge a team leader of mutants that are more edgey like Deadpool, Mystique, Cable, and Bishop.
The combinations are endless.
Plus Marvel needs to explore the mutant future that they sorta started with Bishop, and then dropped for some reason.
Plus they can take the Mutants back into space with the Shiar Empire and the Starjammers again. Plus make them meet other outer space baddies like the Kree or Skrulls. How's about new aliens?
DC always seemed to have the edge reagrding alien worlds IMO.
That always makes for good stories when having all your stories located on earth becomes tiring.
I'd make certain that other characters from the Marvel universe made cameos or teamed up with the XMen from time to time to change things up.
The only reason the XMen universe is doing so bad is because of a lack of focused direction and hardline imagination.
Exiles is a sad attempt to use, reuse and rehash lots of characters that should be culled, killed, or relocated to other books and X teams IMO.
If Marvel does this smart-they could have a winning situation on their hands.
George Smiley
10/28/2005, 13:52
I don't know how familiar you are with The Exiles but the stories and characters are pretty good and well written. Sure there are some plot devices where you just roll your eye (the bugs) but the stories are interesting.
Paradox Factor
10/28/2005, 16:45
I don't know how familiar you are with The Exiles but the stories and characters are pretty good and well written.
I fully agree. Exiles, hands down, is my current favorite Marvel book. BTW, did anyone look at the new Marvel Previews? They are soliciting X-Men: the 198, and X-Men: The 198 Files. The Files info say's it features bios on over 100 characters, so it sounds like Marvel errored on the side of caution, in case a non X-Men mutant pops up later. Also it looks like we know another powered down mutant.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
The former mutant featured on the cover of the Generation M preview is none other than the Blob. Add him to the list of Jube's, Chamber, and Quicksilver.
Also, in tha solicitation for Nextwave, Meltdown (AKA Boom-Boom) is metioned as a team member. So she might be one of the 198.
Well I'm glad the Blob isn't a mutant anymore! Being fat and unmovable hardly seems like a real power. But without any powers though, I wonder how long before he has a heartattack. Or does maybe becoming human make him lose most of his girth?
I'd also like to say that Exiles is awesome. My favourite X Book at the moment.
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