X-Statix: An X-book discussion

(Well, in the beginning i was hoping to make this an "X-Statix" only discussion thread.. But as i wrote the thread, i found that it seemed to have an "X-book in general" feel to it, so we'll go for an all X-book thread )

...okay, so i used to be a huge comicbook collector.. HUGE..But, about a year or so ago, i was forced to drop comics.. They were MUCH to expensive, and, to be quite honest, the state of the business was terrible.. The comicbook industry has, above all other businesses and industries, been the most under the influence of the opinions of the fans. If fans of a particular book like a creative team, the creative team stays.. If fans of the book don't like the team......
Well, things get revamped.. And to say that my tastes didn't quite gel with the tastes of the apparent-average fan (Grant Morrison is SUCH a hack. I don't understand what people see in him.. And the current trend (at the time) to make everything look like Japanese Manga was REALLY annoying.. Sure, i like Manga, but i like other art-styles, too)
So anyways, Money and a general state of disinterest (for the most part) in comicbooks caused me to walk away..

Well, yesterday, i walked into a comicbook store for the first time in a long time.. And it got me to thinking..And when i think, i start typing..

Okay among my favourite books to collect, back in the day, were Marvel's "X-Men", and it's various spin-offs and subsidiaries..

Well, as everyone knows, "X-Men" was made into a very successful film (and a surely-just as successful sequel is on it's way )

Well, this was PERFECT for the comicbook X-Men, right?

People would go see the movie, and then, having enjoyed it, they'd run out and check out the comicbook.. Makes perfect sense..


So Marvel, in what, at the time, seemed like a genius move, brought back the man who had MADE X-MEN into the phenomenon that it is today, CHRIS CLAREMONT.

Of course, as things turned out, this became one of the biggest gaffs in Comicbook history.. Claremont, for some inexplicable reason, made the book INSANELY inaccessible to new readers (heck, long-time readers had a tough enough time understanding what was going on!)..

Now, in defense of Claremont, there WERE some very interesting possiblities presented in the storylines he was introducing...And there were 2 or 3 issues that WERE quite good..

For the most part, however, he was too erratic..Too inconsistent.. And above all, too confusing! (One issue didn't seem to have anything to do with the one that came before it, sometimes.. And then there's the stuff Claremont decided to do with ROGUE..The FIRST thing he did was alter Rogue's powers DRASTICALLY! Not the thing to do with one of the MAIN characters of the film..)

Well, Marvel was in a pickle...They had to do SOMETHING to make the X-books 'the talk of the town' again, so they decided to pretty much relaunch the x-books AGAIN...

Grant "Hack" Morrison took over "X-Men"..

Joe Casey took over "Uncanny X-Men"...

Morrison left me unimpressed. The stuff he was doing was super-cheese.. I don't understand what people see in him...

Casey's stuff i found quite enjoyable..Marvel was advertising the X-Men as being "Edgy and 21st century"... Casey achieved this in spades, imo..(for the record, i was quite disheartened to find out that Casey didn't last much longer after i left..)

Well, of course, from the title of this thread, you know i haven't mentioned one particular book yet..

At the same time as Morrison and Casey took over the X-books, marvel made perhaps one of it's boldest moves to date with the sagging-in-popularity "X-Force"...

The reigns of the book were handed over to cult-artist Mike Allred and little-known writer Peter Milligan..They were apparently given carte-blanche to COMPLETELY overhaul "X-Force", forgetting pretty much everything that had happened up to the current point in time..
This move, of course, was quite controversial.. Long-time fans of X-Force were in an uprage..It's unfortunate (i thought) that there WERE 'fans' of what was a cli

X-statix is the X book I enjoy about the most at the moment. I like its off-beat approach and the sardonic characters. General concensus on comics boards seems to be that the title has passed its prime (around the time it stopped being X-Force) The storylines are now a little more conventinal, and since they stopped killing off a member of the cast practically every issue, the book is slightly more predictable.

I'm actually enjoying New X-Men. I think Morrison has a good grasp of generational conflicts and some sound ideas about how to contemporise and develop the superhero genre.

The Claremont books, like you said, are just not reader freindly, they are continuity heavy in the worst way and written in a very outdated style.

..hmm, so it's become more conventional, eh?

I guess, reading just 3 of the 6 available issues, i didn't get 'the full effect'..

One question: What ended up happening to Arnie Lunt? at the end of issue 4, he was being welcomed to the team, but he's nowhere to be seen in Issue 6.. Figure he must've gotten knocked off. But how?


And i guess i liked that whole "is Bad Guy really the Orphan?" mystery thing they have going on (though, of course, it can't be the Orphan, right?)

As for Morrison: I dunno.. I just wasn't impressed with him.. Based upon the hype, i was expecting a WHOLE lot more (and i guess i'm still upset at the 'alteration' that Beast went thru..It just seems like change for the sake of change, and nothing more.. And the whole "Xavier had an evil twin sister" thing just kind of.. i dunno.. Seemed silly to me..)

You should really read X-Statix #5. Guy takes some drastic, and morally questionable, measures to get rid of Arnie.

I suppose New X-Men does lapse into unoriginal territory occasionally, with stuff like Xavier being able to walk again, for about the third time. Still the problems you mentioned do sometimes get addressed in the stories. Like the Beast's sexuality, where his earlier comments turn out to be a media stunt. The main problem some people have with New X-Men seems to be the inconsistent art teams, which they feel spoil the flow of the stories. I partially agree with this view.

X-Statix I have not read yet. Have to check it out. I do like reading the earlier X-Men comics - even some of the Clairmont ones (mostly for the artwork).

Love the first X-Movie, and I can't wait for X2 to get here!