Xavier's Dream, Dead?
What the hell have they done to the
X-Men? Someone please tell me! I know someone can, because (according to the stats) there are a lot of fans out there still reading these books.
My initial exposure to the Xavier mansion's mutant cast was right around the time that The Hellfire Club first came into the picture. Chris Claremont hooked me immediately with the plots, but the minute I saw Wolverine pop out of the sewer at the end issue #132? Done. Fully blown addiction, just like that, and it lasted more than a decade for me.
The things Claremont did when Paul Smith came on to
Uncanny X-Men is still my all time favorite comic work. Partly because it was an amazingly fun series of events in the book, but also because it was when I really embraced the medium. The days when every album you heard could potentially change your life and whatever else you got into, you
REALLY got into it.
Flash forward to the 90's boom. I was regularly helping out at my local comic shop and you had the death of Kirby and the distribution war. I was so disgusted with Marvel's business practices that I quit buying their books altogether. Soapboxes are a *****, and I seem to have no problem standing on one all day if need be. Didn't spend a dime on a Marvel book for years after that.
But lo and behold...Grant Morrison happened to the mutant universe. How could I not be curious about what his take would be on my beloved stable of heroes and villains? (Now just give me a minute because I'm gonna come back to this one shortly!)
So...like I've said. I know there's more than a few of you out there that are reading these books. Have you noticed that you find yourself having to wash the muck off of your hands after reading an issue these days? Seems like that's the only thing that's happening anymore, dragging the cast repeatedly through the muck over and over again. Cyclops alone should be at least twice his physical size due to the extreme amount of dirt and muck that is clinging to him. What the hell? Scott is actually the perfect example of everything that's so wrong with The X-Men. He's been made to be a complete ass. His character is so far off from what he's supposed to be that it pretty much kills the books for me.
In the same vein, there's the mishandling of Nightcrawler. Hey, he's got a spiritual side so let's overdo it as much as we can and make it an overpowering aspect in his character! Yeah yeah! Make him a priest for awhile, that'll be awesome too!
But
Joss Whedon is trying. He's obviously read the same books I referenced earlier and has just as much love for what the X community used to mean, but I think he's bogged down by the mud and mire of what started, continuity wise, with the things Grant Morrison did.
I think Grant's story was great, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it and thought he took situations that could easily be called "tapped out" and did what Grant Morrison does on a regular basis...he mixed it up. BIG time. But there's the rub. I think, partly, that he shouldn't have been allowed to do that so drastically. It didn't help that when he left, the replacement writers (was Chuck Austin in there?) really had no clue as to where to go with it. Yet I really thought that what was done was interesting and entertaining. I'm a big believer in writers getting the opportunity to run with stuff. Don't hold them back and let the creativity fly and that change can be great.
Basically, I've found myself in a bad catch 22. Anyone else identify with this? Joss Whedon's book is one of my sleeper faves. I never think about it or get excited, but when each new issue comes out and I bring it home, it goes right toward the top of the pile.
About 6 or 7 months ago I started picking up Uncanny X-Men and X-Men. Those books, aside from Chris Bachalo's wonderful art, are terrible. I am finding myself hating characters that I used to love. Every one of them has huge issues with secrets, inner turmoil, bad decisions, cycles of death or just a huge viral outbreaking of what can only be called "*******-ishness".
Does this actually entertain any of you? Really? Look deep into your opinion here. Are you reading these books because of quality and love, or is it out of habit?
Astonishing X-Men doesn't deserve this rant. Art and story are very well done on that one but I think there needs to be a gut check at Marvel. Stop plowing along because of what's been established with the newer character dynamics, kick the muck off of them, and get them back to being the heroes they're supposed to be, not just *******s who save the day and cry at night.
'Fist out.
