Young Mutants/School Book

[Veitha]

So I am reading Boku no Hero Academia for the first time and I'm thinking that the Hero Academia format would do wonders for a book about the younger generation of mutants. All the recent or not so recent books about the school such as Wolverine & The X-Men and Bendis' run (kinda), Young Mutants (whathaver that was), Generation Hope and the more recent Generation X did nothing for me. The recent books that made the whole "training a new generation of heroes" experience more enjoyable for me were X-Men Legacy (and it was not always about that, but Rogue as a teacher was very nice) and New X-Men.

I would really like an approach like My Hero Academia to the format: a new class of students being taught how to be mutant heroes by adult X-Men or graduated former students (Hellion, Surge, Pixie, the Cuckoos etc. have already been in enough decimation events to be able to teach new mutants about that), with a big focus on their powers and how to improve them, but also how to be a nice hero while also including the mutant problem and discrimination into that.
I think some books have tried this approach or something similar (maybe) but they failed miserably, going into too much teen drama or turning it into yet another generic superhero book and I've failed to feel the sympathy for new characters since New X-Men or the original Gen X.

Do you guys think something similar to My Hero Academia could work for mutants? And how would you execute the idea?

[Filthy Mutie]

Maybe.

Thing is, there isn't really a market demand for books that focus on young mutants in training.

Creators also sabotage themselves by introducing their own uninteresting young mutants into the mix and sidelining a lot of the existing ones, creating this never-ending churn of background cameos and regurgitated "don't treat us like kids" stories.

Further, the "X-Mansion as a large school" bit has run its course for the time being. No where to run with it anymore--there were opportunities, but no one took them, and were content to retell the same stories.

Generation-X was great, because--for starters--it had the premise you describe, but it took the setting to another (familiar) location (Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy), and anchored it with familiar characters (Jubilee, Banshee, and Emma Frost--plus some characters that were introduced in 'Phalanx Covenant'). It also told weird stories with the "teenage drama" sprinkled in, and enlisted a very creative, non-Jim-Lee-derivative artist in Chris Bachalo.

Oh, and it came out at a time when Marvel didn't need to, or necessarily want to, require a book be anchored with A-list characters--X-Men were very popular, and people would give the book a try based on the strength of its X-ness.

If I made a young mutant school book, it would use Generation-X as a template: Bold writing, bold art, takes place off-site with a fresh take on a familiar setting, anchored by familiar faces. I might introduce one character as the "new kid POV," but try to renovate an existing character to fill that role--otherwise would fill the remainder of the cast with the also-rans of the last 20 years.

[Havok83]

No more school books! Even if Marvel is to do a book of young mutants, it should take the ones that already exist and have them as an actual squad of X-men or breaking out and doing their own thing. The school thing is so played out as is getting a new crop of students every couple of years and then doing nothing with them

[Veitha]

No more school books! Even Marvel is too do a book of young mutants, it should take the ones that already exist and have them as an actual squad of X-men or breaking out and doing their own thing. The school thing is so played out as is getting a new crop of students every couple of years and then doing nothing with them

I think a good way to have characters like Surge, Hellion etc. become more relevant is to give them a tutor/mentor role like Dani and Rahne in New Mutants v2. Otherwise I don't really see Marvel wanting to use them as more than cameos. It's almost like they're scared of establishing new main characters.

Maybe.

Thing is, there isn't really a market demand for books that focus on young mutants in training.

Creators also sabotage themselves by introducing their own uninteresting young mutants into the mix and sidelining a lot of the existing ones, creating this never-ending churn of background cameos and regurgitated "don't treat us like kids" stories.

Further, the "X-Mansion as a large school" bit has run its course for the time being. No where to run with it anymore--there were opportunities, but no one took them, and were content to retell the same stories.

Generation-X was great, because--for starters--it had the premise you describe, but it took the setting to another (familiar) location (Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy), and anchored it with familiar characters (Jubilee, Banshee, and Emma Frost--plus some characters that were introduced in 'Phalanx Covenant'). It also told weird stories with the "teenage drama" sprinkled in, and enlisted a very creative, non-Jim-Lee-derivative artist in Chris Bachalo.

Oh, and it came out at a time when Marvel didn't need to, or necessarily want to, require a book be anchored with A-list characters--X-Men were very popular, and people would give the book a try based on the strength of its X-ness.

If I made a young mutant school book, it would use Generation-X as a template: Bold writing, bold art, takes place off-site with a fresh take on a familiar setting, anchored by familiar faces. I might introduce one character as the "new kid POV," but try to renovate an existing character to fill that role--otherwise would fill the remainder of the cast with the also-rans of the last 20 years.

Yeah the Mansion setting might be overused. Maybe after HoX and PoX the new status quo will allow to explore something different, like a more militaristic approach. I actually liked the idea of Dazzler and Northstar training the young students as vigilantes during the Utopia era.

I guess a new school book would need a writer on Hickman's level to give it a new flavour and make it really succesfull.

[Havok83]

I think a good way to have characters like Surge, Hellion etc. become more relevant is to give them a tutor/mentor role like Dani and Rahne in New Mutants v2. Otherwise I don't really see Marvel wanting to use them as more than cameos. It's almost like they're scared of establishing new main characters.

Been there, done that. We just had that with Generation X. Im over the school aspect and the last thing we need is more teenage students

[The Big G]

I think FM said it best about how each new writer that comes in creates new characters in an attempt to create the next big X-Men. And when that writer leaves that character fades into the background. And while I do think the "school" is apart of the X-Men's creative DNA....I do think its time to for it to rest for a bit and spread the younger X-characters across the books.

And I'll give Hickman props for saying there's enough neglected toys on the shelf to warrant not creating more

[CRaymond]

There should be multiple schools, like the Wizarding World.

There’s the Braddock Academy already, it would make sense for Wakanda to be a mutant refuge.

[Stormultt Divine]

I think FM said it best about how each new writer that comes in creates new characters in an attempt to create the next big X-Men. And when that writer leaves that character fades into the background. And while I do think the "school" is apart of the X-Men's creative DNA....I do think its time to for it to rest for a bit and spread the younger X-characters across the books.

And I'll give Hickman props for saying there's enough neglected toys on the shelf to warrant not creating more

Agreed x10.