X-Men - Part 8

[Catoti]

And you are correct that those numbers are the numbers of books shipped to stores, but by issue 6 store owners are ordering based on the demand for a comic at their store. Number 1s are always overshipped and stocked, but owners will know how much their store needs by issue 6 so the numbers at this point are more reflective of sales (but not totally).

ah ok, that makes sense. I didn’t know that.

 

[psylockolussus]

I think for a lot of people, there's just too many titles, and buying them all gets expensive quickly for those who want to get them all. Personally, if I'm given too many choices I often just end up not buying anything unless directly recommended it by a friend or somebody I trust.

Also, those sales number are how much has been shipped to comic book stores, right? Please correct me if not, but just because a certain number of books have been shipped out to stores it doesn't necessarily mean they're selling. Not saying that's the actual case, just pointing out the possibility.


I finally picked up Wolverine #1 and I was pleasantly surprised. I was low key expecting to not like it but I have quite a bit of fun reading it. If anything, the art was great. I love Bogdanovic's stuff, and I was following his promos on Twitter. Book was pretty pricey, but seeing how it's 67 pages long, I kinda expected that.

Comic books are imo more pricey than movies, videogames, even music (unless you buy ton of tour tickets every single month) and skincare. High end Skincare products can last for months. Physical format for Videogames cut their price in half in less than a year and there's always a stock left in the store. My country don't get the newest Blu rays and Cds anymore, but I can always get them overseas through the internet and I wouldn't need to quickly purchase them as I assume they don't run of stock in a year or two. Then there are streaming services which can be a lot cheaper if you aren't into buying physical formats anymore. While outside of basic necessities, you just can't buy all the monthly comics without not noticing it taking so much money from your bank account unless you earn like $2,000 a month. Then maybe someone can buy 50 new comics per month or 6 to 10 X titles per month then not feel the weight of the prices. 50 comics a month from I live would cost about 250 American dollars, thats like the price all of the movie tickets I'll pay for the entire year. and I'm assuming if someone is that dedicated to buying comics, that person would also buy Trade paperbacks and Hardbound.

I personally can't keep up with it anymore. 1 to 3 comics a month I think its fine but in the past, the more I bought comics, the more I quickly finished them and just stored them in a clearbook. Then the endless relaunches/events. There's also the X-factor that comic book shops sometimes run out of titles then I would be tempted or feel X-forced to buy a trade paperback. While pre ordering/ordering it online costs extra bucks. They also take too much space and I kinda regretted buy a lot of my comics because I just can read them online. I'll just spend my money on something else like a brand new phone every year or a dozen of videogames every six months than more or less 60 comics per year that I wouldn't read more than once.

 

[Sithborg]

I was weak, and read X-men spoilers. Now I am super bummed I can't get my books till tomorrow.

 

[psylockolussus]

This Crucible thing is odd but interesting. I haven't thought about the remaining depowered mutants from Decimation since most of the popular ones that got their powers back before The Five. And there's also about that issue that makes me think of those knockoffs appearing soon in Children of the Atom. I'm assuming they are being reborn to become the knock off of Cyclops, Angel, Gambit, Beast and Nightcrawler. But why do they need to headline a X title eXactly?

 

[Mad Ones]

Today's comics have left me speechless! Fire Fire Fire!

 

[Havok83]

Today's comics have left me speechless! Fire Fire Fire!

X-men was AMAZING. Loved the setup for the Crucible

GSX was a disappointment in that I wanted more and thought it would be more self contained but cant complain too much when Dautermann's art was absolutely gorgeous. LOVED it

The weak points were NM and X-Force. XForce is shedding light on the less popular characters but I miss Jean, Wolverine and Quentin

NM....Brisson's issues arent that good and it sucks that we have him from here on out. Not feeling Magma's new haircut. She looks like Crystal

 

[Mad Ones]

X-men was AMAZING. Loved the setup for the Crucible

GSX was a disappointment in that I wanted more and thought it would be more self contained but cant complain too much when Dautermann's art was absolutely gorgeous. LOVED it

The weak points were NM and X-Force. XForce is shedding light on the less popular characters but I miss Jean, Wolverine and Quentin

NM....Brisson's issues arent that good and it sucks that we have him from here on out. Not feeling Magma's new haircut. She looks like Crystal

I haven't even read X-Force and New Mutants yet. I love X-Force but it's not the showstopper that X-men and GSX are. I can't believe that as soon as Brisson takes the wheel he takes us to yet another location I don't care about to focus on characters I don't care about.

 

[Sithborg]

I forgot that X/FF was out this week. Going to have to pick it up.

But the other X books were good. NM was okay, but I am willing to see where Brisson goes with it.

GSX was good, even if it was mostly art. X-men was where the real heat was this week, though. The Crucible is such an Apocalypse idea, it is a wonder everyone went along with it. I am curious about the wills. And it is continuing to ask questions about the whole resurrection protocol. And now, I really want the Maximoffs to visit Krakoa sometime.

Also, the triad is real. And completely going all ways.

 

[psylockolussus]

The cover for X of Swords looks good and X mutants will get a sword... I'm not a fan of Jonathan's era but this sounds interesting. I wonder who those X will be as there are more than X mutants in the cover, and if all those X are featured in the cover. I for one don't want any villains being part of the X but I'm thinking many of them will be partof it just like the Quiet Council.

My choices to be part of the X of swords:
1. Captain Britain (eXcalibur)
2. Sage (X-Force)
3. Polaris (X-Factor)
4. Multiple Man
5. Vulcan
6. Angel
7. Iceman (Marauders)
8. Dr. Reyes
9. White Queen
10. FantomeX

And I wonder if Storm would survive but I think she will.

 

[Catoti]

I reread the H/P of X story because I feel like I didn’t properly understand what was happening when I read it the first time round and, again, all of it just rubs me the wrong way.

Krakoa feels like a creepy cult to me, and rereading the new X-Men books I got, none of the characters feel like the characters to me. Maybe that’s intentional and some revelation’s going to happen, but atm, everything just feels...off?

Not bad, per say, and it’s definitely interesting to an extent now that I reread it, but something just feels off.

Then again I’ve been too busy to pick up the more recent books, so I may be missing something :/

 

[Weather Witch]

Krakoa feels like a creepy cult to me, and rereading the new X-Men books I got, none of the characters feel like the characters to me. Maybe that’s intentional and some revelation’s going to happen, but atm, everything just feels...off?

I stopped reading X-Men comics a while back and in recent weeks I finally decided to catch up starting with HOX & POX and all of the Dawn of X books. I just finished the last one with X/FF #2. While I agree that some things feel off, I believe that most of that is by design, and that's what makes it so interesting. The rest of it is probably just the result of how radical a change this is for the X-Books, but personally I feel like it's worth it. X-Men comics have been stagnant for way too damn long. Change. New things. I'm here for it.

I didn’t really enjoy H/P/DoX nor the following books, but I also didn’t enjoyed X-Men gold/blue. The few of my friends who do still read comics general found them a bit ‘meh’ and I haven’t been particularly encouraged by reviews.

I really didn't like 90% of the ResurrXion stuff, though Astonishing X-Men was great. Dawn of X has some stories that aren't as strong, but overall I think it's a huge improvement.

 

[Catoti]

I stopped reading X-Men comics a while back and in recent weeks I finally decided to catch up starting with HOX & POX and all of the Dawn of X books. I just finished the last one with X/FF #2. While I agree that some things feel off, I believe that most of that is by design, and that's what makes it so interesting. The rest of it is probably just the result of how radical a change this is for the X-Books, but personally I feel like it's worth it. X-Men comics have been stagnant for way too damn long. Change. New things. I'm here for it.

I really didn't like 90% of the ResurrXion stuff, though Astonishing X-Men was great. Dawn of X has some stories that aren't as strong, but overall I think it's a huge improvement.

Oh definitely, the change was super needed. The story has me intrigued but I’m always suspicious of everything and everyone because of the weird vibe I get off them. If it’s by design, then cool, there’s probably a twist or revelation somewhere.

I think the ‘cultish’ feeling I got off the books started really strongly with Powers of X 5 with all the resurrection stuff. Xavier acted really creepy to me and the whole ending of that book gave me uncomfortable shivers and cringe inside. It was really weird imo.

The story overall is intriguing though.

Astonishing X-Men had some really good stories, ye.

 

[Weather Witch]

Oh definitely, the change was super needed. The story has me intrigued but I’m always suspicious of everything and everyone because of the weird vibe I get off them. If it’s by design, then cool, there’s probably a twist or revelation somewhere.

Oh yeah, I think there's a good reason to be suspicious of most of what's going on right now.

I think the ‘cultish’ feeling I got off the books starting really strongly with Powers of X 5 with all the resurrection stuff. Xavier acted really creepy to me and the whole ending of that book gave me uncomfortable shivers and cringe inside. It was really weird imo.

Yeah, the stuff with the five is very cult-ish, as is just about everything in Issue #7. Particularly in dialogue for characters like Storm. I really enjoy that angle though and I'm curious to see how that could develop or blow up in their faces.

The story overall is intriguing though.

Ditto and not based on pure nostalgia for once!

Astonishing X-Men had some really good stories, ye.

Yeah, I really enjoyed the stuff they did with Shadow King. Very much in line with what FX did with Legion.

 

[Catoti]

Oh yeah, I think there's a good reason to be suspicious of most of what's going on right now.
Yeah, the stuff with the five is very cult-ish, as is just about everything in Issue #7. Particularly in dialogue for characters like Storm. I really enjoy that angle though and I'm curious to see how that could develop or blow up in their faces.
Ditto and not based on pure nostalgia for once!
Yeah, I really enjoyed the stuff they did with Shadow King. Very much in line with what FX did with Legion.

I haven’t picked up the X-Men books in a while because I’ve been so busy, but issue 7 has peaked my interest.

It’s definitely a curious angle to take it from, and I guess it’s because of my upbringing that anything mildly cult-like makes my skin crawl.

Nostalgia stories drive me up the wall sometimes ngl haha

 

[Weather Witch]

I haven’t picked up the X-Men books in a while because I’ve been so busy, but issue 7 has peaked my interest.

Yeah I've only started getting back in like 2 weeks ago. Like I said, I wasn't a huge fan of most of ResurrXion.

It’s definitely a curious angle to take it from, and I guess it’s because of my upbringing that anything mildly cult-like makes my skin crawl.

Oh same here tbh. I grew up on an island that might draw some unfavorable parallels to this story. Still very interesting to me.

Nostalgia stories drive me up the wall sometimes ngl haha

Same. New isn't always good but in this case, we've had so much nostalgia that it's very refreshing to see a different take.

 

[Mad Ones]

I think most of what people interpret as a cult is just a fictional culture breaking off from American/Western norms.

 

[Weather Witch]

I think most of what people interpret as a cult is just a fictional culture breaking off from American/Western norms.

Well for me it's not just the behavior itself, really, but more the change in attitude for some specific characters. I'm used to Magneto calling people brothers and sisters, but not Storm. As I said, I don't have a problem with it, and I find it extremely interesting, but it's definitely different. I don't think what I see as the more cult like aspects are a negative thing at all. It makes sense now that we're exploring a new mutant culture that too a certain degree is more isolationist and plays by its own rules. But... (X-Men issue #7)

Spoiler

A kid was just killed by Apocalypse in ritual combat to be reborn into their mutant nation and greeted by Apocalypse, Storm, and Xavier. If you had told me that 2 years ago, I wouldn't have believed that would ever be a thing. I'm grateful that it is though!

 

[Mad Ones]

Well for me it's not just the behavior itself, really, but more the change in attitude for some specific characters. I'm used to Magneto calling people brothers and sisters, but not Storm. As I said, I don't have a problem with it, and I find it extremely interesting, but it's definitely different. I don't think what I see as the more cult like aspects are a negative thing at all. It makes sense now that we're exploring a new mutant culture that too a certain degree is more isolationist and plays by its own rules. But... (X-Men issue #7)

Spoiler

A kid was just killed by Apocalypse in ritual combat to be reborn into their mutant nation and greeted by Apocalypse, Storm, and Xavier. If you had told me that 2 years ago, I wouldn't have believed that would ever be a thing. I'm grateful that it is though!

Yeah it's wild. And it rules lol.

Storm is fairly accustomed to ceremonial roles from her time in her mom's Kenyan village and as queen of Wakanda. She's also very dedicated to uplifting the people around her. And that's what I see Storm doing on Krakoa. And the Crucible is essentially a standardized version of what she went through in Lifedeath I & II (which the issue is even named after) so her behavior makes sense to me.

Lots of things will be new to us because we've never seen mutants thrive like this.

 

[Catoti]

I think most of what people interpret as a cult is just a fictional culture breaking off from American/Western norms.

I’m from Europe, and grew up mainly in Eastern Europe, along with being exposed to many different cultures growing up due to my mother’s job, and very little contact with America outside of comics so I’m not sure what counts as American norms.

I was more saying it was cult-like on a religious basis. Magneto and Xavier keep acting as if the mutants are gods, especially Magneto saying how the humans have ‘new gods now’ in House of X 1 or 2 (I think), and as I said before, the whole resurrection thing made my skin crawl.

I think that it’s genuinely creepy (probably on purpose) and I don’t think norms has much do to with it.

But again, story-wise I don’t think it’s a bad thing as it’s certainly interesting.

 

[Mad Ones]

Most of the mutants don't share Magneto's perspective but he was sending a very specific message to human ambassadors that things are different now. The gods comparison is very dramatic and highly theatrical so quite in character with Magneto but given what the Five can do (and what other potential combinations of mutant powers could someday do), mutants are something different and do challenge human norms around life and death. And we see the same things around property ownership and sexuality. Mutants can't own land on Krakoa because it's a living entity (unlike capitalist, enlightenment thinking obsessed with property at the expense of Indigenous peoples). Mutants opening themselves up to polyamorous relations seems to have resolved a long standing and toxic love rectangle. Etc Etc. I prefer what mutants are doing now to what they had before (and what we have irl).

Things are so good for mutants right now. They're not perfect but worth fighting for.

 

[Catoti]

I’m one of those messed up readers who loves seeing the protagonists being beat up and dragged through every most horrendous scenario possible, so the x-men thriving is like ‘oh, ok I guess, let’s see where it goes’. I don’t find them thriving weird or unusual it’s just a ‘shrug and move on’ type of thing for me.

I am expecting something horrible to happen because hey it’s Marvel comics and that’s usually the case.

“Hey things are actually going okay for once-“
Gets hit in the face with a life shattering, world ending event

 

[Catoti]

I prefer what mutants are doing now to what they had before (and what we have irl).

Eh idk, I prefer some of the 70s-90s comics, they were more fun to read imo.
What do you mean by ‘what we have irl’?

 

[Mad Ones]

I've had enough grimdark ultra oppression stories from the last 20 years.

Eh idk, I prefer some of the 70s-90s comics, they were more fun to read imo.
What do you mean by ‘what we have irl’?

I meant compared to what we were getting from the "extinction years" aka M-Day to Rosenberg's Grimcanny X-men. We're never going to have 70s-80s X-men again. Ever. So let's do something new instead of nostalgia retreads.

And I mean I prefer a world without property ownership, with a strong community, and less restrictive norms around sex and sexuality like Krakoa compared to the late-stage capitalism we're living through.

 

[Catoti]

I've had enough grimdark ultra oppression stories from the last 20 years.



I meant compared to what we were getting from the "extinction years" aka M-Day to Rosenberg's Grimcanny X-men. We're never going to have 70s-80s X-men again. Ever. So let's do something new instead of nostalgia retreads.

And I mean I prefer a world without property ownership, with a strong community, and less restrictive norms around sex and sexuality like Krakoa compared to the late-stage capitalism we're living through.

I mean I only started reading American comics roughly six years ago, so it’s all still pretty new to me haha. And having new stuff is great don’t get me wrong. I just find the other style more fun.

I don’t really get what you mean by the last part, sorry. I’m completely foreign to the concept of American capitalism and what that includes

 

[Mad Ones]

I mean I only started reading American comics roughly six years ago, so it’s all still pretty new to me haha. And having new stuff is great don’t get me wrong. I just find the other style more fun.

I don’t really get what you mean by the last part, sorry. I’m completely foreign to the concept of American capitalism and what that includes

Those comics are why the X-men are such a big deal so enjoy! I love them too and I'm happy they exist but I'm ready for something fresh in 2020.

I mean the concept of billionaires when things like homelessness exists.