If You Wrote Comics: The X-Men

[The Dying Detective]

Hello everyone I'm here with another If You Wrote Comics thread. Just imagine if Marvel gave you full reign to do anything you want to everyone's favourite genetic anomalies the X-Men. Whether it's fixing any problems leftover from old writers who have yet to rectify them, giving characters in need of a solo comic to get their due, or finding a new direction for the X-Men in general other than to combat discrimination or mass extinction. Because to me anyway while relevant culturally those sometimes feel like dead horses that have been beaten to death. So go wild as you like.

[Carabas]

The last canon stories were the Morrison and the Whedon run. Everything after that, House Of M, No More Mutants, Shism, AvX, the Inhuman death cloud stuff, Magneto not being Xorn and dead... it's all scrapped, and we carry on from there.

[berserkerclaw]

id find a way to give all characters a place even if it meant many more series. no team would focus on one character like Golds doing now. and each team would have no repeat casts.

a School book would be about the younger casts and not do super hero battles.

teamates wouldnt fight among themshelves and actually save the world.

i would show more of the part of humans that actually support mutants rather then focus solely on the racist side of the conflict.

books wouldnt be about the plot but more on character..

i wouldnt have the X-Men suit up unless its needed. especially in the mansion.

but about actual events first unless marvels doing it now with Extermination is get rid of Teen O5

[rutog98]

1) I would send most of the newly created characters back to comicbook limbo. I mean, seriously, how many people really care about them?

2) I would trim the number of x-books to 5 solo titles (Storm, Wolverine, Gambit, Cable, and Deadpool would each have a solo), Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force, Generation X. The combat X-teams (so all team books excluding Generation X) would have no more than 7 members on the team and no less than 5.

3) For Generation X, I would have Adult Cyclops and Jean retire from the battlefield to teach the next generation of mutants in the role Sean and Emma played in the 90s era of the title.

4) the O5 would go back to their own time.

5) I would break up Rogue and Gambit to pair Rogue with somebody else (maybe she and Psylocke both like Thunderbird 3) and Gambit may be paired with Storm depending on whether or not I get control of T'challa.

6) Now, for the team lineups:

Uncanny X-Men: Storm (leader), Warpath, Emma Frost, Gambit, Slipstream, Lifeguard

X-Men: Nightcrawler (leader), Shadowcat, Colossus, Magik, Sunfire, Wolverine, Rachael

X-Force: Cable (leader), Domino, Siryn, Cannonball, Magma, Warlock, Cypher

X-Factor: Bishop (leader), Rogue, Psylocke, Sage, Thunderbird 3, Banshee

[The Dying Detective]

If I could do anything I'd go back to the start of the Claremont run and put Scott and Emma together to be spared the mess that came later and put Jean and Logan together as well. I'd also give the New X-Men their due and make them the way for the future for mutant kind since Xavier and Magneto failed.

[wano]

Storm becomes God and uses her power to fix all problems on earth and make everyone love mutants

[Ambaryerno]

To start with:

NO. SLIDING. TIMESCALE.

Characters would age in relatively real time. The old guard would grow up and move on in their lives. Death would be treated seriously and not the revolving door timeout it currently is (I'm not saying NO resurrection, but it would be a much bigger deal). The "Next Generations of X-Men" would ACTUALLY BE the Next Generation of X-Men, succeeding their predecessors in time, and teams would be a balance of veterans from across the generations, and newcomers.

The timeline between books would be firmly and clearly established, so readers would know EXACTLY when one book is set in relation to another. Additionally, absolutely NO ignoring continuity to force the plot. This goes double for consistency of characterization between books.

[The Dying Detective]

To start with:

NO. SLIDING. TIMESCALE.

Characters would age in relatively real time. The old guard would grow up and move on in their lives. Death would be treated seriously and not the revolving door timeout it currently is (I'm not saying NO resurrection, but it would be a much bigger deal). The "Next Generations of X-Men" would ACTUALLY BE the Next Generation of X-Men, succeeding their predecessors in time, and teams would be a balance of veterans from across the generations, and newcomers.

The timeline between books would be firmly and clearly established, so readers would know EXACTLY when one book is set in relation to another. Additionally, absolutely NO ignoring continuity to force the plot. This goes double for consistency of characterization between books.

If you do allow resurrection how can avoid people wondering why can't you just resurrect everyone who died?

[Ambaryerno]

If you do allow resurrection how can avoid people wondering why can't you just resurrect everyone who died?

By making sure the circumstances to allow it are VERY specific.

[The Dying Detective]

By making sure the circumstances to allow it are VERY specific.

Sounds sensible, also your plans almost fall in line with how Chris Claremont wanted things to go for the X-Men. For them to have actual progress. I'd also get rid of the confusing Summers-Grey family tree.

[Wolfsbane]

It’s funny. I thought about this just yesterday......anyways, first thing I would do is prevent any of my writers from creating new characters. There are so many other existing characters that have a lot of potential to be developed. And I would ensure that they utilize some of those characters (New Mutants, X-Force, New X-Men, X-Facotr, Excalibur etc..)....and also follow continuity to a tee....I could go on and on, but those would be my top 2.

[Knives]

Less decompression.

Make X-mens a family again.

Make the characters who made mistakes look for real redemption and not make excuses or pretend it never happened.

Maintain a connection between the X-comics and the writers of each title.

Give a mission or specific goal to each team something that makes them different from each other.

Go away with all copies except Rachel, Cable, Laura and Gabby.

Characters used on one team can not be used on another for long periods.

More missions outside the US.

[Harpsikord]

I disagree with getting rid of the sliding timescale. It would probably be neat, but I don't think that it's viable as a longterm solution. Now, onto business...

1) Get rid of alternate timeline characters - but by get rid of them I don't mean not to have any books that feature them. Instead, make them the Exiles and have them out in the multiverse, saving realities and just having a good time. Rachel, Bishop, Blink, Bloodstorm, Jimmy Hudson, etc.

2) Stop trying to limit it to just on flagship title. There are so many a-list characters that people would like to see playing these roles, and put good talent on them at the same time. Stop taking concepts away from characters that make them uniquely them and stop downplaying the important relationships of these characters. No love triangles. Let Scott and Jean be together and good - have them on separate teams and just enjoy life. Let the X-Men be in the X-Men and flourish there, but allow them to appear in titles outside of the franchise.

3) Embrace the spin-offs. New Mutants, X-Force, X-Factor... Let them all be here.

4) Adjectives, adjectives, adjectives!!!

5) Bring it back to the family atmosphere. Have the X-Men themselves based at Xavier's, but have the actual school be elsewhere - Xavier's itself is way too public at this point. Bring back the Massachusetts Academy!

6) Let characters have solo runs! Let them actually be successful!! Advertise them! I'd give the line about five solos, for Wolverine, Cable, Deadpool, Phoenix, and Storm. 'Wolverine' would be more of a buddy book for Logan and the rest of his family.

7) This is for comics in general, but... LET DEVELOPMENTS LAST. No defaulting a character back to the way they were before a writer got their hands on them just because it doesn't entirely jibe with the story you wanna tell. DEAL WITH THEM.

As for teams...

Uncanny X-Men - Phoenix, Storm, Iceman, Frenzy, Beast, Dazzler, and Northstar.

Astonishing X-Men - Cyclops, Psylocke, Wolverine, Rogue, Archangel, Nightcrawler, and Danger.

Exiles - Blink, Revenant (Rachel), Bishop, Jimmy Hudson, Bloodstorm, Nocturne, and Morph.

New Mutants - Emma Frost, Banshee (mentors) // Indra, Cissie Guthrie, Lewis Guthrie, Oya, and Genesis.

Uncanny X-Force - Cable, Domino, Warpath, Marrow, Bedlam, Hope, and Shatterstar

X-Factor - Cannonball, Moonstar, Sunspot, Boom Boom, Chamber, Monet, and X-23.

[phoenixzero23]

I just need two things

1- no copies, timedisplaced characters (except cable and bishop), not AU characters.

2-no love triangles pair jean/scott, jean/logan, scott/emma whatever but don't put them on love triangles. thats why most relationships have haters. also I would put Jean and Scott together. no doubt

[wano]

So... Make the X-men great again?