X-Men #21 (2021) - "The Beginning"

[laughing_tree]

The problem with the X-Books for the past decade or so is they haven’t had a place vertically inside of Marvel, and we were busy writing other things and making other things important. That has changed. -- Jonathan Hickman

Comments

[dianakingston]

...*has* it changed? They just brought that absence of priorities in-house, since everyone's busy writing stories other than the Moira/Nimrod/posthumans stuff HoXPoX set up.

[obsidianwolf]

It's changed in the sense that X-me is getting a major push for the first time since around the time House of M was published.

Of course Hickman is in charge of that push and Hickman is prone to taking forever to actually get his plots moving which is probably why it isn't as obvious that things have changed as they would be if a faster paced writer was handling the main direction and other folks weren't left to spin their wheels waiting on his pacing.

[lilacsigil]

I think it has, in that all the X-Men titles are based around a single concept (Krakoa as a nation) and including major concepts from that (nationhood, resurrection protocols, missions for/by the Five).

[stubbleupdate]

What a cameo!

[nyadnar17]

Who was the guy in the hat?

[icon_uk]

Why do I get the feeling that Sunfire was elected by people who'd met him and just wanted to piss him off?

I mean given how often he's quit the X-Men shortly after joining them, nominating him seems almost cruel, in a good natured "Who's got the pool on how long he lasts?" sort of a way.

[donnblake]

Well, it's useful to know *who* is going to leave the team dramatically at the first major conflict?

[tinygaylaura]

As soon as he was elected Magik said that she gives it about a week before he quits

[crinos]

You know I'm glad for once that one of these king of the Ocean heroes has finally flat out said "I control 70% of the planets surface." and used it to flex.

I've been saying for years Aquaman deserves more respect than he gets based on that fact alone, but I usually get brushed off.

[icon_uk]

But Namor doesn't really, does he?

Yes, he can ACCESS 70% of the planet's surface, but aren't there enough warring subaquatic races to keep him very much in and around Atlantis (if it's been rebuilt after the last time it got smooshed by... I want to say Wakanda but haven't paid enough attention to be sure)

[onsokumaru]

When Johnny Storm of all people is the sensitive one about privacy, it tells you how much Marvel telepaths are disgusting peeping toms.

[icon_uk]

He's probably worried that they'd find out he'd slept with Krakoa...

(It was a wild pre-party, Krakoa was slightly drunk (but not TOO drunk), thought the pretty blond was Doug and was a little surpised at how willing he suddenly appeared to be.... it ended... weirdly)

[bruinsfan]

I've seen Rachel pitch a fit because she didn't like the thoughts of nearby civilians whose minds she was casually reading for no particular reason.

I'd like to see a story with her or Betsy or Quentin prying into the mind of someone like Kaluu or Morgan le Fay, and waking up screaming from the resultant trauma-induced coma weeks later.

"My mind is an open book. And it has 'Darkhold' printed on the cover."

[scorntx]

There's that weird divide between Interview Hickman and Writer Hickman again.
In interviews, he often makes pretty valid points about the X-Men and what they've been like and what could be done with them.
Then you get Writer Hickman, who is just typical Hickman prose either hiding the fact nothing's happening, or just talking past the interesting bits, or even the bits explain what the frick is going on.


... still feel that for a Bold New Era this choice of X-Men is pretty... I dunno, safe? It's mostly just the same olds and a token Gen-X character.
(And what's the bet Shiro yelled out he was quitting five seconds after the announcement?)

[icon_uk]

Yeah, I have to say I am woefully disappointed with the line up.

Jean and Scott from the O5, Polaris and Sunfire are sort of ANAD alumni, Rogue from the 80's, Synch from the 90's (who's only just come back after 20 years or so dead, though I am glad that at least there's one member of a cadet team getting promoted and Laura from the 00's. The closest thing to a curveball is Synch and he was always been the stable, sensible one of the team.

And they're ALL "pretty" mutants, with generic powers, all of whom could walk down the street un-noticed if they weren't using their powers.

Not exactly a beacon for non-conformity, is it?

[tinygaylaura]

Hickman confirming what we all knew really, that the reason the X-men comics had been so damn bad before HOX/POX came along was because Marvel really couldn't be bothered to make them good

Thank god the X-characters are finally getting some appreciation again and also getting decent writers working on their books instead of whoever's around who'll work for cheap

[synnerman]

I don't think it's so much bothered to make them good, but since they did not own the movie rights, they felt that they were better off investing in something that would pay off gangbusters.

Now they have the rights to exploit, their position (as well as The Fantastic Four) is better with a clear vertical for exploitation.

[silverhammerman]

The Sinister gossip seem much less obscure than it did last time.
51 and 52 both sound like Mystique, 53's gotta be Apocalypse (all the more interesting because wasn't he announced as one of the new X-Men originally?), 54 is obviously Doug and Krakoa (for a second I misread and thought that Hickman was coming back around to the Warlock stuff which had been set up as being extremely important before being unceremoniously dropped), and 55's hinting that the secret Triumvirate of Magneto, Xavier, and Moira X isn't the last of the secret alliances going on.

Can't say that I've missed the Illuminati. They really play into Hickman's worst instincts of obsession with the great men theory of history and big picture writing. Sometimes I like the zoomed out, data page approach, but I really think that the Krakoan era has been missing the texture of day to day life for regular mutants.

As much as we all joke, I do think Sunfire is gonna be a cool addition to the X-Men. If he leaves immediately it'll be funny, if he sticks around I'm sure there will be interesting reasons.

[donnblake]

We could definitely use a slice of life manga set on Krakoa.

[tinygaylaura]

I had the same guesses about those two hints yeah

My guess would be that we'll be seeing more and more secret alliances forming over time.

I mean there are a lot of very powerful and clever mutants all in one place here

There are going to be secrets and plans and schemes going on

[zachbeacon]

51 could be most of the Council...except for Emma, who is carrying these people.

Magneto pretending to be a hero (assuming his return to villainy isn't an obvious fakeout).

The Professor literally wearing a mask (well, helmet) all the time. Plus all the secrets and lies that are kinda his whole deal now.

Kitty or Rogue with imposter syndrome (they're not the least qualified people at the table but everyone with less experience than them is delusional).

Nightcrawler - the most moral person there - trying to convince himself he's okay with the more shady stuff the mutants are up to.

Storm trying to convince herself that her inaction won't get a bunch of mutants killed again.

Mystique because ... yeah she seems like the obvious one.

[shadowpsykie]

i would have loved if there was a scene where Bobby and Emma showed up in similar costumes (because of their similar color schemes, and you know, they shared a body) and just awkwardness ensued....

[cygnia]

Maybe Jumbo pranked them...

[cyberghostface]

“The problem with the X-Books for the past decade or so is they haven’t had a place vertically inside of Marvel [because Perlmutter was trying to sabotage them because Marvel didn’t have the film rights], and we were busy writing other things and making other things important [like the Inhumans because Marvel thought they could replace the X-Men]. That has changed [now that Disney owns Fox].”

[deh_tommy]

THE INHUMANS WERE NOT AND WERE NEVER GOING TO BE REPLACEMENTS FOR THE X-MEN

[agent8]

"haven’t had a place vertically inside of Marvel, "

Can somebody please translate - I don't speak corporate-ese

[tinygaylaura]

I think it means that the X-books haven't received much of a push and were seen as unimportant for a while. Basically I think he's saying Marvel wasn't really bothered about promoting the franchise or doing much important with it

Which explains a lot