It is interesting to think about where Hickman's involvement first started. But in his Avengers & New Avengers runs, he seemed to take the characters as they were being developed in their own journeys and adapted his story to suit it. Sort of how he dealt with FalCap, Odinson, Superior Iron Man, etc etc so I think everything going on rn will influence Hickman's run and not the other way around.
As much as I loved crapping on Disassembled, I do think it was a culmination of everything post-Secret Wars up to now. And with Age of X-Man spliced in, I do feel like this current line-up has a consistent base. I hope that when Hickman jumps on board that we don't lose the voices we already have.
Let the flames destroy all but that which is pure and true!
Logan and Jean were resurrected too long ago but Cyclops is likely to be Hickman's business. X-Man Black also so Emma in HFC and Apocalypse in the present probably too.
I continue with the theory that it is possible for the vaccine and Age of X-man to be Xavier's previous plans for House of X.
I'll not be surprised if Hickman ties some of his previous work to this too. Remember that is now canon Apocalypse was one of the founding members of SHIELD.
Yeah I think everyone would be collectively disappointed if Hickman were handed the X-Men and only given 10 issues to write them in. Provided House of X/Powers of 10 holds up (which I'm sure it will), I want him to have at least one book with a hand-selected team of X-Men.
Then hand off the remainders and splinter books to some of the newer talent (Vita Ayala & Leah Williams for example)
Regenesis had eight team books and all of them had healthy sales. I'd love to go back to that with Hickman writing two flagship books and the other six handed out to up and coming writers. It would also allow a large amount of characters to be spotlighted (preferably with new dynamics). I don't care at all for the focus on solo books over the past few years (and neither do many other readers, according to sales numbers).
"We come into this world alone and we leave the same way. The time we spent in between - time spent alive, sharing, learning together... is all that makes life worth living." - Jean Grey
I'm all for variety. And obviously more titles would mean more X-Men in use. We'll see what happens. Hickman having two ongoings to play with and then other books being divvied up between other creative teams sounds like a good way to appeal to different audiences and ensure there's variety and diversity in X-content. With all the current X-Books bar Uncanny finishing up, we're approaching another clean slate, and too opportunity for fresh new things. We've seen some very interesting things in play across books like X-Men Red, Prisoner X, X-Tremists etc. and now's as good a time as any to have fun with it and deliver some solid content.
I'd have to agree on solo books. It's a lot harder to maintain these days unless if the characters are A-List, and at this point it honestly seems like the only character that can hold consistent sales is Logan, who I'm sure is assured a new solo ongoing by years end. Team Books are able to gather a bunch of faves in one place, and of course one of the selling points of the X-Men is their team dynamic and shared history.
Regenesis was bloated IMO. I'd like to see the X-Men franchise get a clear direction first and then expand out from there where the team books make sense, are distinguishable, but also very firmly relate to each other in some way.
Eventually, I would love to see a variety of Vita Ayala, Kelly Thompson, Al Ewing, Joe Henderson, Bryan Hill, and G. Willow Wilson on the books. Maybe Ta-Nehisi Coates...I haven't been enthralled by his Black Panther, but would like to see what kind of voice he brings to the X-Men.