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Underground > Comic Books >

Chuck Austen Leaves X-Men

00:18 / 03.07.04

From a Marvel release:

CHUCK AUSTEN LEAVES XAVIER’S SCHOOL FOR GIFTED YOUNGSTERS

Chuck Austen, one of Marvel’s go-to talents for the past few years, will be resigning from his monthly commitment on X-Men. Austen’s last issue is slated to ship in the fourth quarter of 2004, with more details to be announced over the coming weeks. Austen, who gained fame for his ability to relate character-driven stories, has worked on Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers, War Machine and many other titles.

“Marvel Comics, and Joe Quesada in particular, gave me a chance when no one else would, as both a writer and an artist, and helped get my career jump-started in the comics profession. For that I will always be deeply appreciative, and owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. It’s a very difficult thing to leave Marvel, particularly with the personal relationships I had developed over the past few years with the great editors--people like Mike Marts, Ralph Macchio, C.B. Cebulski, Nick Lowe, Nanci Quesada, Tom Brevoort, and of course, Joe. It’s the people who make a company, and Marvel has some of the best in the business,” said Chuck Austen.

Joe Quesada, Marvel's Editor in Chief added, “Chuck is a true professional. We at Marvel really want to thank him for his years of hard work, and we look forward to finding him another project down the road!”

Marvel's Publisher Dan Buckley concluded, “We will certainly welcome Chuck back when and if the time comes. His writing has been top-notch and his shoes will be hard to fill.”

Unless he's standing next to the Hudson and you're trying to fill them with chickenwire and concrete. Lots of volunteers for that.

00:41 / 03.07.04

so long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, good night!

i'm hoping they'll give the book to Vaughn.

02:25 / 03.07.04

Yeah, Vaughn Bodé. That'd rock.

02:47 / 03.07.04

I was thinking about AUsten a little while ago, and I don't think he has a rough life. I imagine he has a pretty cool life. Let's assume 80% of comic book readers don't like his writing style. Now, imagine that he isn't really close friends with comic book fans. So, he's getting paid enough to just write comic books he likes to write, despite the fans he keeps getting top notch work. He can tell people he wrote X-Men, and that he's writing Superman for a living, and the average joe off the street doesn't know he's doing a bad job of it. I imagine life must be pretty good for Austen. SO I don't feel bad for the guy.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:03 / 03.07.04

They should give it to Robert Vaughn, for that 'Man from UNCLE' sheen. That would rock the hardest.

21:45 / 03.07.04

Hmmm. UNCLE takes on SHIELD. I wonder...

Matthew Fluxington

23:17 / 03.07.04

Austen, who gained fame for his ability to relate character-driven stories,

That's hilarious.

You folks are nuts re: Brian K Vaughan. Haven't you seen his Ultimate X-Men stuff? Ridiculously awful! No thanks!

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

00:16 / 04.07.04

No, you're wrong. It's pretty good stuff.

04:35 / 04.07.04

Wolverine with a goatee like some fucking Chris Cornell wannabe? Peter Parker with grotesquely oversized feet, because, I don't know, Young Justice and Foot Soldiers have huge feet, so huge feet are de rigour in comics aimed at a younger demographic? Grunge Wolvie and acromegalic Spidey can kiss my bitter, alienated fanboy behind.
Bah! Ultimate Marvel: the imprint from the Marvel hacks who skimmed Gen:13.

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:21 / 04.07.04

All I've read of Brian K Vaughan is "Y - The Last Man" - which I enjoy, but it isn't exactly useful evidence for his ability to write a mutant ensemble book... Is "Mystique" any good?

12:27 / 04.07.04

a) Does anybody have any idea what Lord Morgue

b) Y is great and Mystique is solid.

c) Good riddance to Austen. Sorry but you suck. claremont will be next (one can hope)

d) Vaughn on Ultimate X-Men is a bit bland. Maybe it will develop later but for now...

Matthew Fluxington

15:47 / 04.07.04

Vaughan's versions of Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse are so deeply lame that they make the original versions seem like a work of astonishing brilliance.

16:36 / 04.07.04

Fuck all those fanboy faves, I want Ian Carney and Woodrow Phoenix on X-Men NOW!

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

20:44 / 04.07.04

I like the idea of sinister as an insane serial killer. Very solid, and a break from the usual Ultty X-Bollocks.

11:33 / 05.07.04

Ultimate everything can kiss my Ultimate X-Bollocks!

Matthew Fluxington

13:46 / 05.07.04

The thing that bugs me about Ultimate Mr. Sinister is that the character has almost no relationship with the regular Mr. Sinister, so why do they have to have the same name? It's just ridiculous, and fucks over a future writer who might want to seriously rework the concept of Mr. Sinister into something less bogged down in continuity. The idea of a creepy, genetically altered scientist obsessed with Scott Summers who goes on to hire assassins to wipe out an entire community of mutants doesn't have to suck.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

17:04 / 05.07.04

Ultimate Nick Fury Versus Marvel Nick Fury?

Matthew Fluxington

17:24 / 05.07.04

Ultimates > Avengers

Everything else "Ultimate" is a total waste of time.

13:07 / 06.07.04

All I've read of Brian K Vaughan is "Y - The Last Man" - which I enjoy, but it isn't exactly useful evidence for his ability to write a mutant ensemble book...

the book to read here is Runaways, his team of teenaged super-folk fighting their parents' cabal of supervillainy. it's pretty clever at times, and it's a lot of fun.

Is "Mystique" any good?

it's solid. it's about as good as a Mystique solo book could ever expect to be. a reasonably tight, reasonably intelligent action/technothriller deal set in the MU and dealing with mutant stuff. nothing life-changing, but good for what it is.

also, i really love the way he dealt with Forge in this book.

Vaughan's versions of Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse are so deeply lame that they make the original versions seem like a work of astonishing brilliance.

they're not lame. they're kind of weird and off-kilter in a way that makes me smile.

i mean, Apocalypse is a weird dummy which Sinister worships in the corner of his apartment. it tells him to kill people. what's not to love?

Ultimates > Avengers

Everything else "Ultimate" is a total waste of time.

i'm really, really digging Ellis' Ultimate FF, actually, though i know you're no fan of Ellis.

Matthew Fluxington

13:16 / 06.07.04

i mean, Apocalypse is a weird dummy which Sinister worships in the corner of his apartment. it tells him to kill people. what's not to love?

Like I said, the fact that those characters have almost nothing to do with the source material is the big problem. Why should they have the same names? I don't have anything against the concepts that Vaughan is using, but why can't they just be their own characters? It's just this snarky one-joke thing which makes it so that future writers can't rework those characters in a way which updates the actual source material. The troubling thing about the Ultimate universe is how it was intended to be this streamlined version of the Marvel Universe for a younger audience, but it's actually becoming more convoluted with continuity than the real Marvel. They make all kinds of bad decisions which fuck over future writers - like killing off the Beast, for example. That's very short sighted and cheap. So instead of this new universe with a future, it is instead the playground of a handful of writers of questionable talent. It's a wasted opportunity.

I think that the Ultimates is the only worthwhile series in the imprint because it's the only one which actually updates the core concept, and addresses a lot of issues about the motivation of the characters which cannot really be addressed in the regular continuity version of the Avengers. The series has its flaws, but it actually is a new, improved version of the Avengers, and makes those characters appealing to new audiences in a way that the other series never can.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:05 / 06.07.04

But whatever the supposed aims of the Ultimate line, a lot of it's been in-jokes for fanboys from day one. Millar was asking people on messageboards which existing characters they wanted him to recreate from very early on in Ultimate X-Men, and this has been a recurring feature that's marred everyone else's run ever since, so singling out Vaughan seems a little unfair. Having said that, I read his first issue on the title and liked it up until exactly the page where the villain was revealed, so I can see why people would have reservations about him taking over. Who else is there, though?

Matthew Fluxington

14:42 / 06.07.04

Singling out Vaughan is totally valid, because with just about every other character recreated for the Ultimate line, they are just reworked versions of the preexisting characters, who are recognizable and have an obvious connection to the original concept. Vaughan's Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse have almost nothing to do with the source characters, and exist primarily to mock the original concepts rather than to build upon their foundation. There is no sensible reason for Vaughan's Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse to have those names, they are original characters saddled with preexisting names.

02:13 / 07.07.04

Peter Milligan to take over from Austen on X-Men perhaps?

He was rumoured to be writing a fill-in arc or two for (then New) X-Men before all of the Reload stuff was announced. He's been really on lately with both X-Statix and Human Target. The Wolverine/Punisher mini he's been writing seems like something to tide him over for a few months, until he can start on another title. X-Statix is ending. Millar said the new writer was the best writer since Alan Moore (excluding Warren Ellis). Milligan rates highly with Millar, I think.

Imagine Guy or Tike on an actual X-Men team.

Is it at all possible/probable, or am I dreaming?

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

05:32 / 07.07.04

BUT BUT BUT:

Sinister and Apocolypse are shit. The idea that Jean and Scott can have uber-babies is shit. The mutant massacre? The morlocks? Shit. Bad fucking Claremont ideas that have weighed down the X-Men comic books ever since (trial of Gambit, anyone?). The idea of Sinister as a nuts mutant serial killer is a genius twist. There was this guy called sinister, he killed some mutants. No Dark Beast retro-continuity, no fucking marauders. Instead, a kind of mutant Son-Of-Sam and a nice elegant story.

FYI, Austen introduced the idea of an Ultimate Nathan Essex, who gambit did some work for. So they might be two seperate guys.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

05:39 / 07.07.04

And he killed Ultimate Marrow and Maggot at the source. That gets big love from me.

08:19 / 07.07.04

But where is Ultimate Squirrel Girl?
I'll tell you.
YOU CAN'T IMPROVE ON PERFECTION, BABY!

11:36 / 07.07.04

I would definitely go back to X-Men for Milligan, especially if Guy or Tike was on the team! I was thinking that would be cool for the all-new, all-different Avengers team also. I'd hate for them to drop off into limbo, only to pop up in some Exiles story or some alternate universe flashback in Paradise X:2.

Matthew Fluxington

14:04 / 07.07.04

Please. The Morlocks massacre is one of the best and most definitive X-Men stories. Lots of lame stuff came up later with lesser writer's stripmining the old ideas, but that original story is classic.

Matthew Fluxington

14:10 / 07.07.04

I'm a bit amazed that some of you would like to see the X-Statix characters crossover into the proper Marvel Universe - it seems to me that a lot of the appeal of that comic is that it's happening in this slightly off pocket version of the Marvel Universe.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

15:47 / 07.07.04

Dude, it has fucking POWER PACK in it. Yuck.

ONLY NICE THINGS

16:10 / 07.07.04

I'm a bit amazed that some of you would like to see the X-Statix characters crossover into the proper Marvel Universe - it seems to me that a lot of the appeal of that comic is that it's happening in this slightly off pocket version of the Marvel Universe.

Agreed. I think X-Statix being more closely integrated into X-Men continuity would be pretty unwise. Chris Claremont writing Myles, anyone? It would be embarrassing...

REVEALED! DOOP'S DARK SECRET!

Yeeesh.

Milligan on X-Men *could* work, just about, as long as he was given something like NXM that would not have to cross over much. But why would they? X-Statix, although critically acclaimed, has not sold that well, has it? And it is being wound up after...34 issues or so (can't remember when we hit X-Statix #1). Milligan killed Elektra, usually solid gold, within about a dozen issues... I suspect he gets work on stuff like "Tangled Web" or "Phantom Wings" because he is the kind of genuinely interesting, genuinely intelligent writer that editors wish they were, but I also suspect there may be a tacit suspicion that his name does not sell books, and his work des not attract mass audiences.

Then again, x number of people will buy an X-book because it is an x-book, y because it has a certain character, and z because of the writer, with z being a pretty small number, presumably? So if they put Milligan on an X-book, they would not lose x or y, but they would gain z, and there must be more people actively pursuing Milligan's work than Austen's, mustn't there?

Guys?

Guys?

Matthew Fluxington

16:28 / 07.07.04

If Milligan were to write a core X-Men comic, I'd more interested if he wasn't going to work with the Morrison/Whedon cast. It's time for some of the other X-characters to get their makeover - if he's getting the job, it's probably going to be to take over Austen's crew, who are for better or worse, the leftover characters in the franchise. Since Milligan always has some fun with the meta, it'd be cool to see him run with the idea of the writing the adventures of the third-string X-Men characters that no one really cares about.

13:25 / 26.07.04

>> Talking of his Action Comics, writer Chuck Austen said that his book is the one where Superman gets into a fight, finishes it and starts another one in the next issue, and then does it all over again.

Since there isn't already a DC San Diego Comic Con thread, I didn't want to start a new thread, but I had to include the above somewhere.

The Natural Way

14:27 / 26.07.04

Mr Sinister looks like a scary, icily beautiful sadist in leather. What's not to like? He's definitely into "the sweet suffering", and Flux is absolutely right about Vaughn fucking shit up for other writers.

But Ultimate Spiderman is still an entertaining book, even if it is comics as telly. It's too easy to get caught up in these concepts and miss the entertainment.

I'll say it again: Peter Parker having to smuggle himself across America in the cargo hold of a plane, dressed in spidey-suit/ladies winter wear, is fucking choice. Choice!!