X-Men - Part 3

[runawayboulder]

Fans hate of Morrision's run is so heavily misplaced it's not even funny. The franchise was in a creative rut before he came along and rejuvenated it. Don't hate on him because Marvel couldn't build off of half of what he did and retconned the rest.

 

[Manic]

I thought Morrison rejuvenated The Xmen when he joined. It had gone downhill in the late 90s since Davis' run. What I found ironic was while Morrison saved the X-men when he joined, he ruined it as he left. I havent felt quite the same about the line since and yes a big part of that is due to him killing off Jean and sticking Cyclops with Emma. That pretty much shaped the direction and tone of the line since and in a negative way. Cyclops was one up there as one of my favorite character and it pained me to start hating him. He's never recovered since then and what made it worse was that he was elevated to being the undisputable #1 character (after Wolverine) thus highlighting his faults and extending his influence across most of the books. As for Emma, I hated the push she got and making her the #1 X-women, while someone like Storm got a major demotion within the books. I hated the shift in things and the Emma/Scott reign

Emma's promotion in the X-Men had little to do with Storm's demotion. Ro was still a pretty relevant character up until she married Black Panther and got shuffled off to his comic for a couple of years. Since then, writers have seemed unsure as to how much/little they can use the character.

 

[javi1024]

Fans hate of Morrision's run is so heavily misplaced it's not even funny. The franchise was in a creative rut before he came along and rejuvenated it. Don't hate on him because Marvel couldn't build off of half of what he did and retconned the rest.

There were many ideas I didn't like about his run. The leather uniforms and his reasoning behind them (like people in the MU find the Fatastic Four or Avengers ridiculous looking?), the cast of students, the affair, Xorn's special class, secondary mutation (even though it seemed to have been a line-wide decision), using mutation as some kind of pop culture sensation, Fantomex (initially, but Remender has made me care more for him- though I still don't really get him and EVA), Magento going bats*** INSANE and killing Jean, "Here Comes Tomorrow". Joe Casey had a much better (unfortunately shorter) run with the revamped X-Men in 2001 with his small cast and focus on the X-Men still playing hero in a Mutant vs. Human society. The best thing I can say about his run is that Whedon used it as a spring board to write the best X-Men run since the 90s.

 

[Manic]

Hey, I liked the pop culture stuff! During Morrison's run, he was making the mutant population grow from a scattered anomaly to a full-blown minority group. And like other "exotic" minorities before them, mutants started to become the new "cool" thing for kids to latch onto. Mutant celebrities, mutant fashion, Magneto t-shirts, etc. It all made perfect sense to me.

I also liked the idea of secondary mutations. Hell, I'm probably one of the few people who got pissed off over the subsequent years that NONE of the writers remembered that Archangel had the power to heal people.

 

[Anubis]

Yup, if only they had chosen to build off of Morrison's run instead of shoving it into a box, the X-Men wouldn't be headed for the Bendis treatment.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Morrison didn't kill the X-Men. Uncanny X-Men and (to an extent) X-Treme X-Men were still having decent runs during Morrison's run of New X-Men. Plus at the time, the new New Mutants debuted.

Morrison's run itself was good (save the affair). He killed it by how he ended it, killing Jean and sticking Cyclops with Emma. The rest of his run I liked. Unfortunately, he set the tone and paired Cyclops with the most unlikable X-Woman in X-Men history, thus, making him unlikable also. He opened the door for the poor direction other writers have taken him in. They're at fault for doing it, he's at fault for getting the ball rolling. Scott's uber-*****iness began in Morrison's run.

Oh, and in my opinion X-Treme stopped being good about halfway through Morrison's arc with the conclusion of the Invasion arc. It just got downright horrible after that. Uncanny I liked but most didn't. Those were the Austen days.

You want to know who killed the X-Men? Editor Mike Marts. He's the guy who approved House of M and Decimation, which dealt a blow to the X-Men so deadly that it hasn't recovered from it in 7 years. He approved them, set absolutely NO DIRECTION for the comics to go after that, and then abandoned ship so he could make Countdown for DC.

Decimation was just one more jab at poorly done X-Men books at that point. I remember looking at that as a potential pick-me-up, hoping the books would get better. It didn't.

Whedon's Astonishing run was a highlight though only in hindsight. It was so delayed that I had very little enjoyment out of it when it was new. By the time the last couple of issues came out I was livid and angry for even buying the stupid things. Not to mention it always bugged me that he made a big deal that no one ever wondered what happened to the large Sentinel that killed Genosha, which he then had raise from the water and attack. Morrison had Polaris turn that Sentinel into a statue of Magneto over the ruins of Genosha. Whedon apparently missed that.

 

[chamber-music]

I wasn't overly fond of Morrisons X-Men run but I like what other writers have done with characters from it like Kid Omega and Fantomex.

M-Day/Decimation was the real killer. They cut down the number of mutants only to allow writers to create a bunch of new mutants and then because there wasn't enough team books most of the characters ended up background characters.

Finally X-Men has gone back to being team books which makes it easier to tell stories and there is a clean direction.

 

[CConn]

I've liked what I read of Morrison's X-Men. The key to it is not really giving a damn about character continuity and just enjoying the stories for what they are.

The more time passes, the less I actually like Whedon's X-Men. He captured the spirit of the X-Men really well, but I feel like underneath of that, there really wasn't that much substance. I'm much more enjoying Aaron's WATXM.

Also. Kieron Gillen is doing a phenomenal job on Uncanny. I haven't enjoyed Uncanny in, well, ever, but his stories actually feel like valuable editions to the mythos.

 

[runawayboulder]

I wasn't all that in love with Whedon's run myself. Don't get me wrong, they were good stories but when I think about his run all I remember is how frigging long it took for them to come out sometimes.

Gillen has been hit or miss on Uncanny so far. It's been 50% brilliant and 50% blah. I don't blame him though. He's stuck with the least interesting X-Men group that's kinda stuck in a status-quo until at least after AvX.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Gillen's Namor has been awesome. The dude is willing to have sex with ANYTHING except minors and redheads.

 

[Scourge2099]

Wasn't Lady Dorma a redhead ?

 

[hippie_hunter]

But she has blue skin so it doesn't count.

 

[Scourge2099]

Racist !

 

[CConn]

I wasn't all that in love with Whedon's run myself. Don't get me wrong, they were good stories but when I think about his run all I remember is how frigging long it took for them to come out sometimes.

Gillen has been hit or miss on Uncanny so far. It's been 50% brilliant and 50% blah. I don't blame him though. He's stuck with the least interesting X-Men group that's kinda stuck in a status-quo until at least after AvX.

I disagree, I think it's been throughly solid since it relaunched. The first arc wasn't the best thing in the world, but it was still a pretty solid improvement over Fraction and even Brubaker's runs.

 

[Mad Ones]

If Gillen's run ends after AvX I'll be really dissapointed. He hasn't mentioned any planning for after the event so it seems like there will be another reshuffling

 

[runawayboulder]

I disagree, I think it's been throughly solid since it relaunched. The first arc wasn't the best thing in the world, but it was still a pretty solid improvement over Fraction and even Brubaker's runs.

I'll agree that it's a huge improvement over Bru and Fraction. The problem is the book is going up against UXF and WATXM, which are both better books right now.

If Gillen's run ends after AvX I'll be really dissapointed. He hasn't mentioned any planning for after the event so it seems like there will be another reshuffling

Then there may be some truth to the rumors of Bendis taking over the X-Men line.

 

[CConn]

Oh, WATXM and UXF are definitely better, but Uncanny has at least held my interest enough to buy it routinely.

Oh, actually X-Factor has been pretty great too.

 

[runawayboulder]

I'd like to read X-Factor but PAD is so far into this current run I have no clue where to jump in. I figure I'll wait for an Omnibus or something.

 

[Specter313]

I'd like to read X-Factor but PAD is so far into this current run I have no clue where to jump in. I figure I'll wait for an Omnibus or something.

Honestly, you might even be able to jump in with the next issue that comes up. Havok and Polaris are joining up with the team fully, and they just wrapped up a dimension hopping arc with Madrox. PAD is also pretty self referential enough that a lot of his past stuff is somewhat explained through the newer stories.

 

[CConn]

I jumped back on with #229 and wasn't THAT confused.

 

[chamber-music]

I like X-Factor although it feels barely like a X-Book right now really its in its own little world most the time.

Uncanny under Gillen has been pretty good so far. I hope they are more like Uncanny X-Force as a X-team that faces huge global threats with their backs against the wall amd high stakes.

 

[Havok83]

I like X-Factor although it feels barely like a X-Book right now really its in its own little world most the time.

Uncanny under Gillen has been pretty good so far. I hope they are more like Uncanny X-Force as a X-team that faces huge global threats with their backs against the wall amd high stakes.

Now? X-factor has always been like that

 

[chamber-music]

It felt more like a X-book under Louise Simonson and Peter Davids original 90s run

 

[Havok83]

Different books. The title that debuted post M-day had little to do with those and wasnt a continuation of it. New book, new vibe, new direction. PAD has always written it as its own thing with minimal ties to the grander X-world

 

[javi1024]

When did Rachel get her hound tattoos back, and why? I don't think we got an explanation when we saw her again when Rogue went to rescue her.