Decimation rant

it's best if you dont think about it....Marvel obviously didnt

 

Wanda did it?

 

Ironically, DECIMATION was supposed to sort of allow the X-books to regroup, fit into a "humans hate mutants, and there are too few mutants for there to be much subculture anymore" status quo from about 20 years ago, but by and large most of the core X-books (I mean X-MEN and UNCANNY X-MEN, or even other books) seem to have been doing their all to go on with their own thing with only token mentions of the after-effects of DECIMATION on mutants. Those after-effects are left to other mini's.

Also, Marvel didn't bother to coordinate things well or think them through. Firstly, the amount of mutants still "active" is still not determined. Some books claim only 198 remain. Others claim that it is "10% out of a few hundred thousand, a million maybe", which is naturally more than 198. Which is which depends on the book.

Secondly, the Sentinal O*N*E* thing really is a half thought idea. The big idea was having big robots pilotted by humans inside, which if Marvel thinks this is really original, then they've apparently never watched anime, where this crap have been old hat for at least 25 years (and across various incarnations of GUNDAM at least). This is even a whole genre of anime called "mecha". However, the main draw of "mecha" is that all of the pilots have distinct, clear-cut personalities and their "mechas" all by-and-large look distinct and different to fit their personas. SENTINAL ONE's have none of that; they all look the same and their pilots only have the most basic of personalities (this one's nice, this one's a *****bag, this one's a bigot, this one's a surly chick, etc). Imagine TRANSFORMERS that all look alike, and you can seel the dilemma. Much like DECIMATION, most X-books either ignore them as much as possible or make them inconsequential to get their business done.

Thirdly, most of the mutants "effected" by DECIMATION are C-List or lower. Thus, an event that effects no major character to the franchise feels, well, cowardly and empty. Imagine if a Spider-Man cover posted pictures of his supporting cast and said, "ONE OF THESE WILL DIE!" and instead of Aunt May or Gwen or Betty or whatever, it was this guy from 3rd period Biology who's only appeared in background shots and only has one line, Lester. Would it lose some punch? Most likely. Personally, I prefer more straightfoward, simple, basic storytelling, which can still be great, but if you are going for an event, then pulling your punches only lessons it. At least sucking out Wolverine's adamantuim in FATAL ATTRACTIONS was BALLSEY, even if it kind of drug on (for 6 years).

And finally, DECIMATION by and large takes the X-Franchise nowhere it has never been before, and to some fans weary of the never-changing status quo of it all, that can grow tedious. It just feels like an old present with new wrappings.

 

...like Infinite Crisis?

 

Startin' ta post more fer once, eh GOODT!MES ?

 

Oviously you found out the plot holes with in that storyline.Your not the first to,that`s why some people complain about it every so often.

 

I find it best to just ignore any book with an "x" on it...

 

Astonishing an' Ultimare X-men are great.

 

True true. Two of my favorties. I own both the collections in trades, mainly 'cause I can't take suspense.

 

I'd liked to have seen fewer X-books, it seems we got more X-related books.

go figure.

 

Those the only two I enjoy.

 

I hate when people say that there are 198 left.

1) Who the **** knows how many are left? In such little time we have a ballpark number that exact? It's ok for fantalk, but inside of the titles, it's stupid.

2) Would anyone actually use that number in real life? For God's sake, at least say 200!

 

^ Decimation did nothing to stave the over exposure of the X-men.

It made it worse, now more than ever we have aimless X-books with little or no direction.

It's not like the X-men sell like they used too.

 

yeah, those two. And X-Factor, but X-Factor's too tied into the rest of the x-verse. Astonishing and Ulitmate are on thier own, for the most part

 

The only good thing to come out of that crap was son of m

 

Son of M is excellent

 

I agree with all most everything you said. Only minor quibble i have us that 2 A listers have lost their powers, (prof X and magneto).

Minor quibble though. That last paragraph sums it all up.

 

That and X-Factor in my opinion. And I'm liking New X-Men too. I was never really interested in the series before but it's been great since Decimation began.

 

Peck has spoken

 

Which may be why those are the two I read most regularly.

The problem with the X-Men is the very fact that they are a franchise. Being a franchise limits how much they can grow as a character/story, but demands they their line be over-represented in the market because of the high sales (total) of the line itself. The amount of X-books per year, whether ongoings, mini's, or so on, seem to remain the same every year, and nearly every time someone in the company claims to be "cutting back", whatever books that are cancelled return within a few years. True, this isn't new for Marvel (SPIDER-MAN became a franchise a few years before the X-Men had their boom in the 90's, and even ran alongside them; remember how NEW WARRIORS was desperately shoehorned as a "Spider-book" towards the end?) or DC (there are no end of Batman or Superman books/minis/one-shots/appearences).

Perhaps it is a problem that unlike most franchises, the X-Men revolve around a cast of DOZENS of unique heroes instead of just ONE hero and their cast. Plus, the X-Men have an overall "agenda", basically an allegory about bigotry and relations amung different groups, whereas most solo heroes are pretty much about generic superheroing/soap opera. ULTIMATE X-MEN works for me because it reminds me of the X-Men at their strongest; as a team book, not a franchise.

Relying on the X-Line for, oh, a good ten years before DISASSEMBLED and Bendis jazzed up the Avengers have taken their toll. 5 years ago, nearly any X-book that was launched sold in the Top Ten, even BROTHERHOOD #1. But come 2006, not even titles starring "popular" X-Men like Nightcrawler, Gambit, or Rogue can survive longer than 2 years (recall that during the 90's boom, SLEEPWALKER managed to remain for 3 years). Even WOLVERINE doesn't usually sell in the Top 10 anymore. True, DC has stepped up its game and is competing a lot harder for the past 2 years, but the fact is that the more books that got tagged as X-books, the less strength the line held. Joe Q even claimed that DEADLY GENESIS was "underperforming" because it wasn't selling in the Top 10 (and still isn't; although any EIC who sees the Top 15 as a problem really needs to gain some perspective).

As for "inter-title coordination", I feel that ironically, it is easier to do than it has ever been, and thus isn't done as often as it should. Joe Q seems to feel this sort of stuff is best left to "niggling fanboys" and so on, but being defensive doesn't solve the problem. It's called stonewalling, and a company that publishes books that historically criticize topical political climates should know that.

Maybe the X-Franchise could benefit from a REALLY new idea for the staus quo, that is thought out, coordinated and maintained. But that would be a considerable thing to pull off, especially for a fanbase and franchise so used to "lather, rinse, repeat".

Very true. I concede both are not C-Listers. But on the other hand, both Xavier and Magneto have exitted the stage for long periods of time, either via death, believed death, inprisonment, or whatever, and the books have proven to still fare well. Therefore, the loss of both yet again is hardly new. Heck, "losing powers" itself is hardly new to the X-Franchise. I'm sure we could make a list of at least a half dozen X-related characters who lost their powers at some point in a story (Storm being the most recognizable). Heck, "power loss" stories were common fodder for DC golden age Superman comics.

 

When you say it, 198 sounds more dramatic.

 

well said, Dread