Mutant Madness

What is wrong with today’s X-Men (In My Opinion)

The Uncanny X-men first appeared in X-Men #1 in 1963 by creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In that very first issue Stan and Jack introduced the world to the original five X-men consisting of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and the Beast, which were lead by their teacher and mentor Professor Charles Xavier. The Xavier school for gifted youngsters would serve as a living quarters for the children and help further their academic development, below the school would provide the Danger Room to sharpen their fighting skills and improve their control over their mutant powers.

The X-men were first opposed by Magneto, a powerful mutant whom had a history with Professor X. This original team would have many adventures and go on to fight an array of different villains and mutants throughout the years. Issue #66 would be the last new adventure as the book was cancelled and went into reprints for the next few years.

The X-Men would return in 1975 with Giant-Sized X-Men #1 with a cast of new international characters, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, Thunderbird and Sunfire, lead by Cyclops to rescue the original team. Soon the X-men ongoing would return and writer Chris Claremont would take over the series and propel them into the industries most popular comic by the late 70s into the 80s. Claremont’s collaborators would include but not limited to talented artists Dave Cocurum, John Byrne, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Lee in his nearly 17 year run on the book. The team would have continued success and popularity after Claremont’s departure well into the mid 90s with a plethora of spin off titles and mega crossover hits like 1995s Age of Apocalypse.

In 2001 came a blockbuster deal that brought superstars creators Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly to revitalize the team with their New X-Men run. Their 3 year and change run wasn’t without controversy, but it was the shakeup that the franchise needed at the time. Throwing away the bright costumes, going into black leather and school uniforms was a big departure from previous runs. Morrison had heavy focus on the students of the school and the happenings of the campus itself.

Immediately after Morrison’s departure Marvel would launch a new flagship series called Astonishing X-men written by creator and director Joss Whedon and art by superstar penciler John Cassidy. This would return the team to traditional superhero uniforms and adventures. This book was the talk of the LCS and messages boards.

The years following this legendary run were up and down, not all good but definitely not all bad either. Somewhere along the way it seemed the X-men were almost forgotten. They took a back seat to the Avengers and were almost (unsuccessfully) replaced by the Inhumans. The books didn’t seem to matter and many fans didn’t care.

2019 was the start of Jonathan Hickman’s Karkoa era. This was the first real hype and energy around the mutants in years. At first it was exciting and fresh, and don’t get me wrong there was a lot of fun stuff, but I think the cracks were there early on to see that this was not exactly an X-men story. Death was even more meaningless than it is in ordinary comics, too many titles to follow with some ending extremely fast. Hickman was not on the title to the end so we never got to see his ending to the story he created in the first place. The storyline went on too long after that with not much direction.

This was an extremely long set up to what I think is wrong with the X-Men today. I won’t apologize though, I love talking about the X-Men, good, bad or indifferent. Here are the problems I see with the X-Men today.

Problem: There are way too many X-Books and they all feel pretty disjointed from one another.

Yes, I know my beloved 90s era also had a ton of X-books, but this seems ridiculous. Books start and get cancelled only to come back with a slightly different title as a new mini series. There isn’t a common theme right now, not really. As I write this I believe I counted 17 ongoings and minis combined. Way too much. What is the flagship book ? Uncanny? X-men ? X-men United? We really can’t say.

My solution: Quality over quantity.

Pair down the amount of titles. Have one flagship book that the rest can take the lead from. Mini series are fine too as long as you have a strong to tell. Stories that take place in another era is okay, but way too many of them dilute the market. It’s like they are throwing every possible era out there to see what sticks. These should be special occasions not every week.

Problem: What is today’s X-men’s Mission ?

Are they a team that swears to protect a world that fears and hates them? Finding and helping new mutant’s along the way? I’m not so sure. It seems they can’t ever get on the same page or they are too busy telling stories set in a more popular era. ( I just saw an Outback X-men mini announced.) In the X-Men title it seems they are now trying to avoid a horrible future. In Uncanny they are teaching a group of new mutants out of a Bed and Breakfast? Books that were cancelled in this From the ashes era like X-force, X-factor and NYX all had completely different missions from everything else.

My Solution: Get back to the Mansion. Protect a World That Fears and Hates.

Get back to one central place that teams can coexist and strategize. If there is the blue team, gold team and a young mutant team all interacting with each other it makes it feel like a more cohesive structure. Have characters from different teams interact with one another and they don’t necessarily have to see eye to eye on everything. Yes, it’s fine to have an X-book like how Exiles or X-static were, they kinda did their own thing, but the main titles would benefit to be more centralized and the school structure will really bring it back the the core of the original 1963 book.

Problem: Way too many Mutants

I feel like we are back at the levels of mutants in the marvel universe, maybe more so than before House of M. New characters debut and never really get developed by the time the next batch of characters debut. With so many characters coming and going and series changing in and out it’s all very confusing.

My solution: It’s time to cut down the amount of characters.

Get the teams down to manageable numbers and make your most interesting characters shine. When introducing new characters bring them along slowly, it’s hard to compete with Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit etc.. Forcing four new characters into the main spotlight too soon won’t do them any favors.

Problem: Magneto the Hero, Professor X absent.

Magneto has been on or with the X-men team for maybe the better part of 20 years now! He really is a shell of his former self.

If Professor X isn’t being portrayed as the bad guy he usually not around at all.

My solution: Bring back Magneto vs Professor X

Have an event or story that turns Magneto back into the villain we all know and love and in doing so bring Professor X back to his former self. Make Professor X the stern but caring father figure to the X-men that really is trying to help young mutants and create a better world for everyone. The two ideas that these characters have is timeless. Seeing this struggle between two former friends, each not willing to to compromise is great storytelling that keeps you coming back for more.

Problem: The Phoenix force is back for the 100th time

I am joking, but it sure feels like it. The original Phoenix saga and the Dark Phoenix saga are some of the best and beautifully told stories of all comics. That was over 40 plus’s years ago and the Phoenix force is still coming back for poor Jean Grey. I believe there even was a mini series called Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey in 2018 that Jean a the Phoenix force “broke up”.

My Solution: Send the Phoenix Force off into the Universe for Good.

At this point I don’t care if it’s an epic send off or done in passing off panel. The Phoenix force story has been beaten to death. I was done with it back in 2012 during the Avengers vs X-men event and it brings little interest to me making Jean the Phoenix once again. So, I say be done with it all together. Find something new.

Problem: No Blink or Morph

This one is a just me wanting Blink and Morph on a main X-men team. Those characters are great.

My Solution: Put them on a main team.

They should use these great characters because I like them haha. That’s my main defense.

Who do you want to see on the main roster? Do you agree, disagree, think this whole thing makes no sense? Please let me know ! The last article on Spider-Man saw a lot of different opinions which I think is great. These are all strictly my opinion of what I would like to see happen. I don’t know if it would work or not sales wise, but if anything it would hope it would generate some new interest. I fear once the X-Men make their debut into the MCU we will get an even more bland version of these characters in the comics and stories and characters will be changed just for the sake of the movies.

Well that’s it for this time. I feel like I wrote a lot but have so much more to say. I’m sure I’ve missed some points, but I hope you enjoy it!

Until next time, Keep it EPIC!

The X-Men were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

My love for comics would not have happened without the work from the great writers, artist, inkers, colorists and editors that the X-men have had throughout the years.

This article featured art from Jack Kirby, Dave Cockrum, Frank Quitely, John Byrne, John Cassidy, Salvador Larroca, Jim Calafiore, Stefano Caselli and Andy Kubert.

X-men, Magneto and all other characters mentioned are registered trademark of Marvel Characters Inc. and Copyright of Marvel Entertainment. All rights reserved.