Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

X-Book Renovations

Page: 1 2 3 4 5(6)

Matthew Fluxington

20:51 / 17.02.04

Also, isn't it interesting how every post-Morrison X-comic seems to be based on premises and concepts introduced by Grant? It looks like we're going to settle in on a number of years where everything in X-comics will be based on every stray detail Grant put in the comic rather than people following Grant's lead and coming up with their own concepts.

20:52 / 17.02.04

Dude where did u get this??

21:09 / 17.02.04

All these concepts sound great -- it's just a shame that they picked writers who will churn out unreadable comics (Joss temporarily excepted, though of course he might turn out to drop the ball just as hard as Claremont & Austen always do). And damn, that's an awful lot of ongoing series starting up... the X-Men geek in me is screaming "Yes! Yes" but the reasonable human being with limited money and a revulsion towards tacky writing is slapping him and screaming "Get hold of yourself, woman!"

Also: does anybody want to comment on the "return to classic greatness" line? "God damn you, Grant Morrison, for finding a way to innovate on a 40-year-old property! You've ruined EVERYTHING!"

21:10 / 17.02.04

Make a change from everything being based on Claremont's stuff, or not if you saw links between Morrison's work and Claremont's.

So, who plans on sticking round to read any of the new x-books?

21:13 / 17.02.04

Sleazenation -- I'll probably try one issue of each book, maybe two for Whedon, and I consider that exceedingly generous on my part. If this event wasn't happening now, at a personal moment where I'm desperately in love with the X-Men, I'd probably just cut my losses instantly and never even touch 'em -- it felt great the first time I did it back in the late '90s, so we'll see.

Matthew Fluxington

21:19 / 17.02.04

Also: does anybody want to comment on the "return to classic greatness" line? "God damn you, Grant Morrison, for finding a way to innovate on a 40-year-old property! You've ruined EVERYTHING!"

I think that's just ad-speak. Seeing in that almost every single storyline which has been planned is based on Grant's stories and characters, I don't think they plan on disowning NXM any time soon.

Do you really think that the "New X-Men: Academy X" thing sounds good? The premise for that first story sounds totally retarded to me.

Anyway, I plan on giving Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and Excalibur a shot. Excalibur has a great premise, so I'm really hoping that Claremont doesn't fuck it up. I like the X-Men, so I'd like to follow at least one of the series.

Murray Hamhandler

21:41 / 17.02.04

I'll continue on w/Astonishing as long as Whedon sticks around. Probably regardless of whether he starts to suck or not. That's how big of a sap I am.

And I think I'll read through Claremont's X-Treme run. If I like it, I might start picking up his new stuff.

Matthew Fluxington

22:00 / 17.02.04

Deric, don't bother with X-Treme. It's not that great, and it probably won't give you an accurate idea of what the new stuff is going to be like. Claremont's weird now, you've got to judge him on a project-by-project basis these days. I think that there's a good chance that Alan Davis might reinvigorate him, so Uncanny might be interesting.

22:11 / 17.02.04

The Academy X writing team did this: Maria's Wedding and Skinwalker so they may be some use, I dunno.

I think I'll read Whedon: He's a fan -

“For the last couple of years, I’ve really been reading New X-Men pretty avidly,” Whedon told Wizard. “I was really into the book...

From here: Wizard's website.

I'm getting this because I dare tread the comics internet!

But really, this guy's blog: Fanboy Rampage! is really good for all comics news. He used to post here occasionally, too.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

22:26 / 17.02.04

I think I'll try a couple; more specfically Whedon's Astonishing and Uncanny. Maybe Excalibur.

I've realised lately I really, really, like the X-men (I think mostly because of the last movie, actually. I've watched it, like, 3 times in the last week. It's really comforting for some reason, and seems like the best x-movie you could ask for. It's pretty much perfect, in my eyes) and I'd like to carry on getting at least one of the comics.

I'm hopeful for both of these titles, Astonishing a little more, I guess. I thought the thing Joss wrote, w/ Cameron illustrating was pretty nice, a little slight, but packed a lot in six pages. I think a team based comic might suit him well.

22:34 / 17.02.04

Whedon's only doing twelve issues, that's a bit disappointing, but I guess it's unrealistic to expect him to devote years to writing the book. However, that does make it plausible that Cassaday will be able to draw the whole thing, and maybe another big name writer will be attracted to it after Whedon is done, with the promise of a relatively short arc.

22:56 / 17.02.04

I like the "book set at the school" premise -- the whole "choose sides" things actually does sound kind of moronic, yes, but I'm assuming there's a reason for it. Whether or not it's a good reason, well, that's up in the air and more than likely to not be the case... but hey, less than three bucks to find out.

All the issues of X-TREME X-MEN I've picked up have made my eyes bleed, for the record. I remember I picked up a TPB in the store and was flipping through it -- it was that story that only featured Shadowcat -- and as I was reading I thought "Wow, this is actually decent stuff -- it's psychologically realistic and the dialogue's pretty acceptable," it was about Kitty adjusting to normal life and thinking about her relationship with her now-dead father.

I turned a few pages and out of nowhere she was fighting killer robots.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

22:59 / 17.02.04

12 issues is a bit dissapointing, especially considering Whedon's first story is six parts.

What's it gonna be, like, two stories? Hmm. They better be long winded ol' things. I doubt we'll get to see any big arcs put in to play, though, which is a bit of a pity.

23:31 / 17.02.04

I might pick up Excalibur, Academy (Xavier's school really is a guerilla military academy at its heart) and maybe even Whedon's stuff (not a rabid Buffy fan).

But does anyone know if the writer to that DISTRICT X is any good? Sounds like Jokertown from the WILDCARD series. Could be excellent. Could be shit.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

23:37 / 17.02.04

Wedon's book sounds like a limited series to me.

If it's as bad as the last four seasons of buffy, god help us...

00:53 / 18.02.04

Google sez David Hine of DISTRICT X is a 2000AD creator (writer and artist, by the look of it). Anyone here read any of his stories, possibly without realizing it? I'd never heard of him before tonight...

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

01:03 / 18.02.04

Hine's OK, I forget what his strip was called in 2000ad but it was pretty good.

01:23 / 18.02.04

as I was reading I thought "Wow, this is actually decent stuff -- it's psychologically realistic and the dialogue's pretty acceptable," it was about Kitty adjusting to normal life and thinking about her relationship with her now-dead father.

I turned a few pages and out of nowhere she was fighting killer robots.

That sounds really good, man.

01:56 / 18.02.04

Do you really think that the "New X-Men: Academy X" thing sounds good? The premise for that first story sounds totally retarded to me.

it doesn't sound nearly as bad as District X. jeeezus h christ, what a load of shit that sounds like.

02:02 / 18.02.04

That sounds really good, man.

Man, was it ever not. What I really disliked was that for once, Claremont was writing in a naturalistic mode, and then when Kitty's suddenly and unnecessarily fighting the (stupid-looking) robots, he was back in that "The character CLEARLY needs to describe all of the action in internal monologue!" mode.

I just really, really can't stand Chris Claremont now. Bringing him back to the X-Men might've sounded like a fantastic idea, but his stuff has just been execrable... Paul O'Brien's already made the case in a much clearer and sharper way than I could. All I know is, he hurts me.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

02:13 / 18.02.04

Actually, you can read Academy X right now. It's the same writers working on the new New Mutants. It's not awful. I read it every month, mostly because Grant caused a gigantic crush on my part for the school concept as far as Xavier's goes. They managed to scare a couple of novel ideas for powers. Although the art is pretty horrific. And for some reason, when there's not great art, my God does the lettering look all the shittier. Joss needs to put his foot down and stand up for Uppercase.

I think Excalibur is a slightly suitable name, you know, new country, sword, et al. Actually, I have no idea how it relates, but hey, I'm still bitter for some reason that Alan Davis isn't drawing that book instead. And that it's not funny. And that Meggan and Lockheed are most assuredly not in it.

Warwolves, maybe? The Technet? Juggernaut? (Oh man, remember how good issue 3 of that book was?)

Arcade?

Excuse me. I'm going to go read some musty and gloriously Orzechowski-lettered comics.

04:24 / 18.02.04

Astonishing X-Men:
I'm going to give it a shot above all else because it's Joss Whedon. Season 4 and 5 not withstanding (I never saw 6) Buffy was always pretty above and beyond most stuff on TV! Whedon's been wanting to do something X-Men for awhile, he should be good for it. Check out Fray if you question his comic book writing ability.

District X and Academy X:
Sound --- for lack of better expression --- gay. I'm all about a book on the students, but Xavier should be a place for mutant kids to get a normal education, not to train them to be superheroes. I never realized that until Grant came along and now they are going to foul it up. And District X, does this have to be an ongoing series?

Excalibur:
I'm upset because here is a Claremont book I actually want to read because of it's premise. Dammit! I hate Claremont. I expect him to fuck it up! But why is it called Excalibur?

Uncanny and regular X-Men will suck because of the writers! Emma Frost is crap and will always be crap (god they made a good character seem so dull). Cabel/Deadpool is unecessary. What was wrong with the regular Deadpool book? It was funny until it became Agent X! Mystique will hopefully stay afloat without Brain Vaughn! Bottomline: Marvel is oversaturating again. too much junk on the shelves that cant survive past six issues. I'm sorry but I'm already seeing that things were better when Jemas was making the big decisions with Quesada. Now Jemas is done and Quesada is fending for himself it seems.

09:28 / 18.02.04

First interview of the new creative team here:
Wizard

Did you see this ?

Wolverine seems to get out from his own grave...

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:51 / 18.02.04

At this point, I'd assume that's a promotional image based on the first thing people associate Whedon with (vampires!) rather than anything to do with the plot of his first few issues, although I could be wrong.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

09:51 / 18.02.04

Look on the bright side- no Leifield X-Force!

10:45 / 18.02.04

Re David Hine

his past works include this gem.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

11:36 / 18.02.04

Actually that illustration was a Wizard cover promoting Wolverine: The End. Don't worry. I fell for it so bad I bought the issue. And I don't even think it was the one with the 151 preview.

Matthew Fluxington

11:59 / 18.02.04

If anyone was wondering why X-Statix isn't mentioned anywhere, it's because it's going to be published under the Marvel Knights imprint, so it's safe from X-office tampering and will be seeing no changes to its team or general direction.

What's it gonna be, like, two stories? Hmm. They better be long winded ol' things. I doubt we'll get to see any big arcs put in to play, though, which is a bit of a pity

Well, the trend at Marvel is doing insanely decompressed storylines, but I don't think Whedon will go for that. I get the impression that he's going to pack as much into 12 issues as possible, as any reasonable writer should.

15:03 / 18.02.04

Ideally, the Whedon/Cassaday run will be bundled in one nice, satisfying, ad-free 12-issue TPB and can sit next to the three Mozza hardcovers on my shelf.

No more monthly junk for me thanks.

16:34 / 18.02.04

Jesus, has anyone seen THIS> yet??

Ugh. Spandex????

21:18 / 18.02.04

Aw goddamnit. Here's a link to the image that I think Mike-O was trying to post:

http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Marvel/Ast_Unc_Covers.htm

What appear to be the covers for ASTONISHING #1 and the Alan Davis UXM. Say goodbye to the best uniforms the X-Men ever had; say hello to... new spandex suits that look just like the crap they used to wear. But different! We swear!

Sigh.

Matthew Fluxington

22:19 / 18.02.04

That Cyclops outfit is AWFUL! Well, at least we can be glad that he's going to be in Whedon's book. He and Henry are my favorites, so I'm glad that they are in good hands. Is that Kitty Pryde with them? That's another good sign.

Shame about the costumes, though.

Matthew Fluxington

22:22 / 18.02.04

Oh, I see Emma there now too. So it's basically the NXM cast, minus Charles and Jean, plus (I think) Kitty. That's cool with me. It's a good mix.

Why the hell would they go back to the costumes though? That makes no sense whatsoever.

23:15 / 18.02.04

I was never a fan of the old costumes (gawd, I stayed away from X-books until Morrison's NXM for that very reason), and I loved Quitley's uniforms, but I always thought that Morrison's original aeshetic rationale for the uniforms was a bit lame -- exo-rubber/leather as college-"hip" to the wha? So *Nineties*, in the way that The Matrix was so uh, late-'80s. If Whedon and Cassaday's run features spandex, it's a confirmation that Xavier's X-Corporation smugness and conformity is buried, (and rightly so, IMHO). And you can be guaranteed that Whedon will find a nice mixture of camp and concept, so if spandex is part of it, then I'll keep an open mind. My worry is how the different titles might overlap.

05:35 / 19.02.04

I think the book lost me after Riot at Xavier's.

I have to say that I have no real interest in Whedon because I thought Buffy was mediocre television at best and the characters were unlikable and far from cool.

Won't lie that I won't check it out but it could be delayed a year and I still wouldn't care.

Spandex might be the final nail in the coffin for me. I don't see how they can go back from those brilliant uniforms to embarassing flashy knickers. Just the way I don't see how anyone can follow Grant despite the worst sort of stories in his last year.

I wish I could be excited about comics again.

Page: 1 2 3 4 5(6)