X-men Gold soured me on her and at this point I'm over her.Kitty pryde is easily one my top five X-men and watching people write her as a bland middle school principal has been painful for years.
Hickman was the right choice, he knows that brown is the superior Wolverine costume!
Hickman was the right choice, he knows that brown is the superior Wolverine costume!
Obviously for a hunter/stealth character the combo and of bright blue and yellow works best.
Talking about Gerry DugganPolygon: The six books announced today, of the ones you're writing, do you have any favorite? Or you're excited to get it out in the world?
JH: Marauders is an amazing book. Marauders is an amazing book and it gets the world of what we're doing in a way that is perfect and unique, right?
Jordan D. White: Absolutely. I said the same thing.
JH: But the other books are cool — like, they get it. But Jerry had a distinct advantage because he has been in the writer's room every time I've pitched this, so it's been in his head, right?
JDW: Yep.
JH: For a longer period of time.
JDW: I think he first pitched Mauraders to us like a year and a half ago or something like that.
JH: Yeah, he heard my pitch and was like, "Oh my God, I want to do this book!" And so Jerry's been in a long time and so his stuff is just kind of more cooked. But they're all interesting books. Listen the stuff that we're doing going forward — it's just so different. It's just so different. And well done to this point. We'll try to keep the level up.
AiPT!: Are you getting to do things that you've been wanting to do for quite a while?
JH: There's a book that I'm going to be doing. I'm not sure when. But there's a book I'm going to be doing that is probably… no one else would do it. It only exists because I want to do it and it's going to be my favorite thing ever. So…
AiPT!: And it's an X-Men book?
JH: Yeah, no, absolutely.
Oh shoot, I didn't even notice that Gerry Duggan is writing Marauders. Coupled with what you quoted here, I'm definitely going with New Mutants and Marauders then. The others will have to wait for Marvel Unlimited.From that Hickman AiPT Interview:
Talking about Gerry Duggan
Then this bit I thought sounded neat
So theres still another Hickman book that hes got coming, that no one has done yet. Duggan's Marauders has had the most time to cook, aside from the main books. New Mutants looks like the most "classic" of all the books, at least to me.
Marauders looks like its going to be a swashbuckling pirate adventure, that is exploring the world, probably looking for new mutants being persecuted. Its being funded by Emma Frost, and something called the HellFire Trading Company.
Also, X-Force looks like its 2 teams working together. One team, with Jean, is like the CIA. A bunch of espionage and spycraft, probably similar to X-Men Red. Then, the classic black ops team, lead by Wolverine.
Oh shoot, I didn't even notice that Gerry Duggan is writing Marauders. Coupled with what you quoted here, I'm definitely going with New Mutants and Marauders then. The others will have to wait for Marvel Unlimited.
Huzzah for similar tastes! Although, I do wish I could afford to read X-Men too since it's the "main" main book and it's Leinil Yu on art... maybe I should at least check it out for the first arc. Hmm.I think I'm right there with you bunkitz. X-Men, Marauders, and New Mutants (for Hickman's first arc, at least) sound the most exciting to me. I'm hype for them all, but the other books will have to win me over a bit more.
Huzzah for similar tastes! Although, I do wish I could afford to read X-Men too since it's the "main" main book and it's Leinil Yu on art... maybe I should at least check it out for the first arc. Hmm.
To be fair, these are all meant to be accessible after you've read that 12 issue prelude.This stuff looks so interesting, I wish I didn't felt so out of the loop right out of the gate.
Do we know if it's going to be necessary to follow all 6 books to get full story details, i.e. are all these sharing the same story arc intimately? I was good with following just Avengers/New Avengers as "sister books" back when Hickman was writing them but I can't afford to keep up with 6 books. I can do 2 tops.
We don't know, but I have a feeling a lot of these questions are going to be answered over the course of HOX/PO10. That's what I'm doing- reading those and then making a decision which X titles to pick up based on their stories.
Most certainly not (it would be suicide for the new line). As it looks like, X-Men and New Mutants are the titles that are going to be importantDo we know if it's going to be necessary to follow all 6 books to get full story details, i.e. are all these sharing the same story arc intimately? I was good with following just Avengers/New Avengers as "sister books" back when Hickman was writing them but I can't afford to keep up with 6 books. I can do 2 tops.
He apparently has a different role in this relaunch.I'm still puzzled that Nightcrawler isn't on Marauders. Not complaining, mind you; it just seems like it would be a good role for him.
I was thinking the same thing.I'm still puzzled that Nightcrawler isn't on Marauders. Not complaining, mind you; it just seems like it would be a good role for him.
Hickman: Well, it's a little bit of a ...I dig the character, that's one thing. It's also one of those things whenever we decided to kill Charles Xavier in AvX - not the first time, but the third time. He wasn't in the book originally, but I brought him in for #6.... and that turned into him dying so I screwed myself, because I wanted to use him as a member of the Illuminati.
Hickman said with Xavier dead, someone else had to become the 'necessary evil for greater good' leader and Cyclops ended up being that guy.
Hickman: I think what's been messed up about Cyclops is that he's the guy who believes. Charles has a dream, he believes in an idealized world. It's the other guy, the soul of it... that's who Cyclops is. And I think we lost that, but I won't be writing him now as him having lost it anymore.
Hickman: You always want to have an idea in mind. I try to always get the ending figured out before I start. What am I doing, why am I doing it, what is it? I know where I"m going. The interesting thing about the X-Men stuff is that we may... if we're too successful I don't know that we're going to get to the severe version of what I was going to do.. which is a wonderful problem to Have. I've built it in three pieces - not three acts - and the first one is what you're about to get. If you like it, we'll extend it. It's prime X-Men stuff and positive after a really long time.
Hickman: We recognize it's been a difficult time for X-Men fans for a prolonged period of time. We want to give you a bunch of wins now. The first bit of it is super upbeat, then there has to be conflict. The second piece is my favorite stuff, where... I'm not going to tell you. If that is successful, there's no telling how long that will be the status quo.
This stuff looks so interesting, I wish I didn't felt so out of the loop right out of the gate.
Making Gambit an Omega level mutant and making Wolverine's healing factor become basically a form of invulnerability are both epic levels of missing the point of those characters.
Making Gambit an Omega level mutant and making Wolverine's healing factor become basically a form of invulnerability are both epic levels of missing the point of those characters.
Right? Any word on how long the first arc of New Mutants will be? I wonder if it'll be one or two trades.
Did he indicate if it was a limited series or another ongoing book? I really don't think Hickman should write more than one ongoing book at a time. 🤣Should only be 5-6 issues for the first arc, collected in a single trade. If Brisson wasn't gonna get the book for longer than that, they wouldn't have even mentioned him yet.
Hickman said at his Q&A today that he has another book coming later, too. Something "no one else would do" conceptually.
Did he indicate if it was a limited series or another ongoing book? I really don't think Hickman should write more than one ongoing book at a time. 🤣
From the solicits it seems they are leaving for another world or creating their own country. I'm leaning more on the creating their own country and the muraders are the coast guard and xforce is their intelligence network.
So many books and so little time and money. I plan on checking out House and Power, but after that, I'm not sure which books I'll try to keep up with other than X-Men. I'm leaning towards checking out Marauders at least.
So I've been thinking a lot lately about how best to put together a new reader friendly primer that people can read while they wait for this book to come out in trade paperback / finish altogether. Dalek - consider a threadmark if you think others would find it useful.
I put this together, and from what we understand about Hickman's run (bringing the X-Men to the absolute forefront and outright prominence of the Marvel Universe), I think this list makes for a super compelling epic & desperate story that I hope serves as a ying to Hickman's yang. It will also leave you in-love with a ton of mutants.
If you have a free trial to Marvel Unlimited, you should be able to read almost all of this. What is missing should be added in time:
Grand Design: People keep recommending it for a reason. A 6 issue mini that covers the first 40 years of X-Men lore. A beautiful introduction to the characters.
New Mutants, #18-31: The oft-discussed Demon Bear saga (and a few issues after). The New Mutants are important X-Men characters, and this is classic 1980s X-Men at it's absolute prime.
The Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix / The Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix: A 90s under rated 8-issue gem that digs into the motivations & origins of important villains like Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse & Stryfe.
Generation X Classic Vol 1 & 2: This is a 4-part story called Phalanx Covenant, followed by 11 issues of a 90s classic. Introduces some all-time great characters, and features some great Emma Frost & Banshee stories.
OK - now we can get into modern stuff. You may have heard of a book called House of M - in it, an event takes place where Scarlet Witch eliminates the X-gene in all about 198 mutants in the entire world. Mutants are on the brink of extinction.
X-Factor (2005) #1-13, X-Factor (1986) #87: I know this may seem weird, but X-Factor (2005) #13 and X-Factor (1986) #87 are two wonderful issues that make you fall in love with these characters. This is a rainy, dirty noir book here and introduces some great characters you will want to know for later.
Zeb Wells' New Mutants #1-10: You may want to come back and finish this wonderful run later, but for now - this is more great New Mutants characterization and important set up for the coming storm.
New X-Men: Academy X #1-6: A very light, Harry Potters esque story that introduces a new generation of mutants. You'll want to be familiar with them a bit before moving forward.
Now you're set for the Messiah Saga:
Messiah Complex (collected in 1 trade)
X-Force Complete Collection vol 1 (this collects Kyle/Yost X-Force, issues 1-13)
X-Force/Cable Messiah War (collected in 1 trade)
X-Force Complete Collection vol 2 (this collects Kyle/Yost X-Force, issues 17-25)
Second Coming (collected in 1 trade)
And finally, the book Hickman says 'finally cracked the egg' on Mr. Sinister:
Gillen's Uncanny X-Men vol 1-4. This serves as a wonderful capstone to the Messiah Saga at the end of this run, but please note you will need to read a wiki for the events of Avengers vs. X-Men right before the last issue. I know that seems dumb, but there's no need to waste time reading the event itself, when a summary will do and the last issue will be impactful all the same.
I know this is a TON of comic books, but I just curated & read this recently and it flows super well. Take your time with it, but I do think every issue noted is worth reading and builds and builds on it. Once you're done with it, I believe you will really love the X-Men family and whatever comes from Hickman will mean more to you as a result.
B-b-b-b-BONUS READING:
Zeb Wells' New Mutants & Mike Carey's X-Men: Legacy (starts with the Supernovas book (X-Men #188) and then changes to X-Men: Legacy around issue 200) are both briefly touched on in those trades. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND going back and reading both of those after you're done. Both are incredible.