All-New, All-Different Marvel (Part 2 of 5) - X-Titles

Marvel has been announcing their post-Secret Wars plans.  I'll be posting them up over the next few days with some commentary.  I tried to break them up by theme.  Today, we’re talking X-Men.   For months now, we’re heard the rumors that Marvel was going to be getting out of the mutant business.   I’ve called BS on those rumors all along, and I think that this lineup of books SHOULD put that to rest.  These are some terrific, top-notch creative teams and should be a strong indicator that Marvel still has a lot of faith in their mutant line.

UNCANNY X-MEN #1 by Cullen Bunn and Greg Land

Commentary: Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – I usually don’t let renumbering bother me, but I think it’s insane that this is the third time UNCANNY X-MEN has started over since 2010.  It managed to go 47 years without a relaunch… Welcome to All-New, All-Different Marvel Now!

But, aside from the renumbering, I am real excited about this book.  Cullen Bunn has quickly become one of my favorite writers.   Greg Land takes a lot of flak, but I’ve been a fan since SOJOURN.   And the team here is a hell of combination: Magneto, Sabretooth, Fantomax, Psylocke, and Mystique. Actually, they sound a little more like an X-FORCE team than your core X-Men, but I can’t wait to see what Bunn can do with these characters.

ALL-NEW X-MEN #1 by Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley

Commentary: Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – I actually was not expecting ALL-NEW X-MEN to stick around…or at least if it did, it would be without the time-tossed original X-Men.  I’ve enjoyed Bendis’s work on ALL-NEW X-Men, but I did kind of think that this thread might have been played out.   BUT, Hopeless has done some great work over on SPIDER-WOMAN, and Mark Bagley was my first favorite comic artist way back in the 90’s on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.   So, putting them on this book definitely has my attention.

If nothing else, this should be a real fun version of X-Men.  I did notice that Young Jean seems to have moved on from this book.  I’m actually not sure if that is supposed to be Kitty Pryde or X-23 with them in the Volkswagon Van of Love.

EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN #1 by Jeff Lemire and Humberto Ramos

Commentary: Excitement Level: 3.5 out of 5 – Rounding out the core X-Men teams is EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN (which is an awful title).  The team here looks great.  Storm, Old Man Logan, Magik, Iceman, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Young Jean.   BUT, I don’t have a lot of faith in the creative team.  Jeff Lemire has been very hit or miss for me.  Loved his work on ANIMAL MAN, couldn’t get into most of his other work. And I really hate Humberto Ramos’ work on “normal” superhero books.  He’s great for IMPULSE or X-NATION 2099, but when you put him on a core X-Men book, it’s just not going to work for me.  

For me, I will check this book out to get my X-Men fix, but I’m really hoping for a major creative team shift real early on…

OLD MAN LOGAN #1 by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino

Commentary: Excitement Level: 3 out of 5 – I actually think this is a real clever way to bring Wolverine back.  You get an old, grizzled Wolverine who can serve as a mentor for the next generation of X-Men, and you get to keep classic Wolverine dead.  I may have hated how they killed him, but I would hate it a lot more if they brought him back.  I am a firm believer in “LEAVE CHARACTERS DEAD!”

I think Bendis has done a real good job with OLD MAN LOGAN during SECRET WAR, and I am not sure Lemire will be able to match that, much less the original OLD MAN LOGAN, which is classic.  But, Andrea Sorrentino’s art is always terrific, so that makes me a little more confident in this book.

ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #1 by Tom Taylor and David Lopez

Commentary: Excitement Level: 2.5 out of 5 – So apparently Marvel’s solution for “Wolverine used to appear in every comic” is to reverse it and have EVERYONE fill in for Wolverine.  We have Sabretooth, Old Man Logan, and now X-23.   I liked NYX a lot, but most of X-23’s major appearances came when I wasn’t reading comics, so I don’t have a lot of connection to the character.  I have enjoyed what I read, and I do think she is a cool character, but I just have no real tight ties to her or desire to read a book with her starring in it.  I will admit that isn’t particularly fair, but I can only give my honest opinion on any comics I review or preview.

DEADPOOL #1 by Gerry Duggan and Mike Hawthorne

Commentary: Excitement Level: 1 out of 5 – I love that the teaser line for this one is “more Deadpool than you wanted.”  That is pretty much exactly how I feel about the character these days.  I was a huge fan of X-FORCE back in the early 90’s, and I used to really like Deadpool.  But he’s just become ridiculously oversaturated.  He’s a character that I’ve always thought worked best in small doses.  If you have been reading our Front Lines columns, my wife is still a huge Deadpool fan, but I’ve basically left that boat.