andraste | (no subject)

So, a month from now, Jonathan Hickman's run on the x-books will be finished when the fourth issue of Inferno comes out on January 5th to get the mutant new year under way with a bang.

A lot of people are saying that whether Hickman's run is good or not depends on the ending, but honestly, whatever happens now I've enjoyed the ride so much and the shake-up has brought about so many things I love that I don't even care. I'm just delighted that they've decided to not pack everyone up and send them back to Westchester yet. Since 2019, the line has actually felt fresh again, and that's worth a lot to me even if it doesn't stick the landing.

Chris Claremont is largely responsible for everything that's made the X-Men so successful and beloved, but his success has been a two-edged sword for the writers that have followed him. Because his run was so influential, a lot of people think the x-books have to be a mutant soap opera set in up-state New York. There's nothing wrong with that approach, but it's not the only way to write them, and while Claremont was great at exploring the 'protecting a world that hates and fears them' side of the X-Men themes, there's a lot of other stuff you can do that he wasn't much interested in. While other people have tinkered with the formula (opening up the school to a mass student population, reducing the number of mutants in the world, setting factions against each other) nobody has changed it quite like Hickman. The way he's incorporated things that happen in X-Men stories all the time - nobody stays dead, every mutant villain joins the team eventually, people keep wandering off to space - and made them thematically central is just amazing.

There's a reason I like the Marvel approach to continuity, where everyone just rolls forward with whatever backstories and retcons they've been given no matter how many problems it causes. Every now and then it leads to something truly satisfying that just wouldn't work in a series of titles that hadn't been ticking away slowly accreting story for nearly sixty years.

But of course most delightfully, for me: Charles Xavier doing a bunch of morally dubious things that are IN CHARACTER AND MAKE SENSE! Truly, the best sort of retcon. In hindsight, it's obvious the reason Charles disproved of every attempt to isolate large numbers of mutants away from humans is that he knew damn well that if they hadn't solved death first they'd just be painting a big target on themselves. And since Erik wants for no mutants to ever die and Charles wants for every mutant to hold hands and sing Kumbaya, of course 'solve death and get everyone to live on an island' is the plan they finally unite on.

My one real wish for the ending of all this is that whatever happens to Erik and Charles happens to both of them, together. Krakoa has been a fascinating look at how they bring out the best and worst in each other, and I don't want that to end until they've faced the end of Inferno together in impeccably co-ordinated outfits.

(While I'm sure that it's all going to fall to pieces eventually, I hope that even after it does Charles Xavier is able to look back and feel smug that the mutant homeland he planned raised the dead and had nacho trees, making it obviously superior to anything anyone else had come up with.)

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I'm extremely behind, but Big Yes to how it changed things up in very interesting ways. No matter what comes, it's been a great run for sure.

Whatever happens now, we'll always have the time when the X-Men really did go 'screw it, what if we just invited every mutant whoever tried to kill us to dinner?' and it actually (mostly) worked.

- nobody stays dead, every mutant villain joins the team eventually, people keep wandering off to space

And don't forget the continuous retcons themselves... It reads a bit like a commentary on the X-Men comics themselves: they kept trying to tell new stories, but it always ended up the same way. So what if it could be something else?

And how much do I hate-dmire Hickman for having figured out how to center the whole thing about fates, and the reshaping of, around Moira MacTaggert?

So what if it could be something else?

Yes! I mean, I know eventually someone will send them back to Westchester, but at least when they get there they'll have all those tropical island memories of the time they just hung out with Sinister and Apocalypse and Blob was the bartender.

And how much do I hate-dmire Hickman for having figured out how to center the whole thing about fates, and the reshaping of, around Moira MacTaggert?

I was so mad when I worked out that this whole storyline probably started with a terrible pun, yet I cannot help but doff my non-existent hat.

Ha I tried this arc and I hated what they did with some characters (Moira and Karima come to mind), but can you tell me which series seem interesting to you as a fan of Xavier?

Karima's situation is ... uh, not what it seems ... but honestly I cannot really recommend this era to people who hated what HoXPoX did with Moira. (To be honest, I find this effectively completely new character more interesting than I found the previously existing version.)

Most of the most interesting Charles stuff is in the core books HoXPox, X-Men and now Inferno but also in March there's going to be a whole book about the Quiet Council and I'm not sure I've ever been this excited about a preview cover.

Edited 2021-12-12 05:25 (UTC)

Yes, I'm loving it - of course it will all collapse in the end but goddamn if it isn't something new and exciting! I think my favourite part is the "all mutants welcome", meaning absolutely everyone no matter who they are and what they've done, and the weird and interesting collisions from that.

Yes, it's lead to so much interesting stuff, from Sinister getting his own X-Team to Nightcrawler trying to sort out Fabian Cortez to Black Tom spontaneously building everyone a Tiki bar. And so many people are alive again! Which is a really nice reset even though some writer in the future will probably get rid of the resurrection mechanism and kill half of them again.