I mean… it’s supposedly the same “universe”, but in the Fantastic Four’s book Ben Grimm is nicknamed “the idol of millions” and Human Torch has his own fan-club, while in the X-books Jean Grey and Angel are treated as “freaks”? What the–?!? Where’s the difference? Is it because one is “mutant” and the other is “human”? Heh, show a picture of the Thing and one of the Scarlet Witch to ANYone and ask them which of those characters is human. Why is the hot babe called a “freak” and the other is a hero? Is it just because she calls herself a “mutant”, and he doesn’t? In that case, you’d have to be truly retarded to EVER announce yourself as a mutant in the Marvel Universe.

If non-mutant superheroes become idols but mutant superheroes become pariahs, why would any/i> mutant youngster admit that he’s a mutant? Far better to just say that he was bitten by a radioactive hamster, or that space aliens gave him his powers. Admitting that you’re a mutant in the Marvel Universe is just about the dumbest thing anyone could do. “A mutant, me?? Nah, I got my powers from… a magical amulet! Yeah, that’s the ticket, it’s all magic.” And if someone stole his amulet to steal his powers, our theorethical mutant could explain that his magical amulet only works on himself. Why admit that you’re a mutant, if that would make you an instant pariah?

What did you think of X-Statix? I thought it was a great spin on the civil-rights angle. Whereas older X-books were more of a race metaphor, more modern takes (especially thanks to Singer’s X-movies) seem to be going more for the sexuality metaphor. I thought X-Statix hit the minority-as-celebrity angle, in addition to being darn fine storytelling.

I’m sorry, but we are the problem. We have officially Heard It All Before, and we demand that the writers do All-New Things with the characters. We want them to kill off Professor X, ditch the entire cast, change the status quo, kill off all the villains, and completely revamp things.

If that’s what we want, then why are we still reading freaking X-Books?

The fact of the matter is, every year, a whole new set of people gets into comic books for the very first time. (Or at least they should; I’ve stood on that soapbox before, so I won’t here.) Those people deserve to get stories with a setting, cast, and central concept that work. (Setting, cast, and central concept forming the “status quo” of the book, but “status quo” is a dirty word for a lot of comics fans, so we’ll stick with the longer definition.) But we, the older fans, have seen so many stories with the existing setting, cast, and central concept that we’re sick of them, we want something new…but yet, out of nostalgia, we want that new thing to still be X-Men. So we demand these changes, which destroy the central concept of the series.

One writer above suggested killing Xavier. Y’know what? There are a lot of stories you can tell about Xavier while he’s alive. It’s a substantially smaller number when he’s dead.

Eventually, there are stories you’re meant to outgrow. If X-Men books don’t interest you anymore, stop reading them. Leave them to someone who still finds them new, fresh, and interesting. But don’t break the damn things trying to get one last fix out of them. Don’t assume that any big change is a good change (Morrison’s a great writer, but his editor should have told him, “No, you can’t kill Magneto; if you do, the next guy to write the book is just going to bring him back, and it’s going to sound stupid when he does it.”) Sometimes these stories just aren’t for you. Deal with it.

So yeah. X-Men, as a comic, is pretty much doomed. Doomed to blunder about, mouthing the same empty platitudes about racism and civil rights, about Malcolm X and MLK, about love and loss and change and doing something good and making the world a better place, but in the end (as Hank McCoy would undoubtedly point out) “It’s a tale told by an idiot. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Well they were so different from other ‘action’ SF films I was thrilled with them. I love the idea of the mutants who could pass among the human world – and as ever there is good and evil on both sides and this lead to many confrontations, stnunts, action excitement etc.

Next astounding experience was Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman – I did rub my eyes I thought I was seeing things the first time and last time up to then I had only seen Hugh on the London Stage playing Curley in ‘Oklahoma’ to full houses all the time and standing ovations during the performances. He wasnominated the Lawrence Olivier Award for his performance.

The change was astounding and then he made the part of Wolverine not only his own but the most popular of the series. His acting is special, facial expressions and small details are in abundance and so graceful in movemnet and walks tall. The whole team of this series worked and bounced off each other and were extremely happy in production. A rare commodity nower days with so many prima donnas about [mostly men]

I think it is a great series and have enjoyed it very much in fact I had been in a bad accident just before X3 The Last Stand was released and I was unable to go and see it – I was in great pain and still am to a lesser degree but it is getting better. But two of my friends helped me to the cinema so I could see the film. I enjoyed it and it was only when the film had finished and I had been sitting still for quite some time did I realise I was in pain. I would not go through that for any other actor than Hugh Jackman a multi talented actor of our times whom I am sure will make his mark this year and next and may be there is that Oscar with his name on it.

stories: about ‘mutant issues’, screw aliens/ time travel etc.

only because all that has been done well for X-Men in the past and need not be repeated and works better with the fantastic four

costumes: that’s tough, i loved the new x-men uniforms, and it’s mainly because they were UNIFORMS not costumes and made them feel like a proper team not a random bunch of earths mightiest heroes. on the other hand i love the jim lee era costumes – they’re some of the greatest in comics.

I spent a long time away from the X-Men in the 90s, so there may have been retcons since then. In the 80s, I remember the reading that the reason he couldn’t control his eyeblasts was because when he parachuted out of the exploding plane with his brother, he suffered a blow to his head, and that if he never suffered that blow he’d have grown up with control over his eyeblasts. But that could have been retconned, which is always highly probably with the X-Men.

No, I’d say it’s more like this: Scott is like a a crippled person trying to teach a class on walking. His efforts are surely appreciated, but it falls under a “physician, heal thyself” banner. If he can’t control his powers, how can he help others do the same?

Yeah, flimsy argument, but worth saying, perhaps.

Is Scott’s handicap actually incurable, though? Jean and Emma have both proven that, if he can get over the mental scars from his past, he’ll have a finer control of his powers. With the right kind of therapy (and/or some telepathic coaxing), he should be able to come to grips with his childhood trauma: being forced out of an exploding plane by his parents, watching them “die,” trying to save his brother, facing abandonment, and so forth. After a series of sessions with Doc Samson, Summers should, theoretically at least, be able to turn his optic blasts on and off mentally.

Unless, of course, I misunderstand Cyclops’ malady, and his brain actually has scar tissue that can’t be removed. In which case, I recant my statement.

In either case, you’re right: he can certainly still inspire and educate. Few know more about leadership than he does.

What kind of sense does that make? It’s one thing for a new mutant to idolize Cyclops because he kicks ass with his laser-eyes, but, honestly, would you really trust a guy who can’t control his own powers to teach you how to use yours? That’s like asking a guy who flunked math to teach Algebra: he may make for an okay substitute teacher now and then, but what does he actually know? What advice can he actually impart? Date a hot psychic who’ll fix your head?

I disagree with your analogy. What Scott has is an incurable handicap, so to say that he can’t teach unless he cures it is a mistake I believe. It’s like saying that a paralyzed person that learns to have a fulfilling, well-rounded life despite his handicap isn’t suited to inspire and teach others unless he can walk again.

Fantastic analysis! I’ve feel the exact same way about the execution of the X-Men concept. Xavier seems to want them all to fail.

Personally, I think the X-Men should function like Sinn Fein used to, with a political arm led by Prof. X as Gerry Adams and a military arm led by Scott Summers. Charles Xavier would be the public face, lobbying Congress and making the rounds on TV shows, operating the Institute, etc., while Cyclops would be in the trenches fighting and striking from the shadows.

Finally, it seems like the idea of the X-Men being a tale of discrimination and civil rights is just a conceptual “Potemkin’s Village” Quesada and crew trot out whenever the mainstream media shows up at the Marvel offices. It’s really just tights and super-powered punchouts.

in XMEN, it seems like humans just evolved into what most of the Marvel U homo sapiens are accusing them as being: living weapons.

nice analysis, though. i agree on shifting the spotlight towards the lower tier characters, and actually having the senior cast GRADUATING to wherever. maybe four year arcs of constant renewal of cast, a la real time academic process? but christ, that’d actually give Marvel more mutant characters!