Off Panel interview with Hickman

[Kurisu]

The lashings...

[tuck frump]

Ive decided Carey is still writing the Moira book. We just figured it out too soon and Hickman is lying like he said he would.

[Omega Alpha]

Dear CBR collective,

In the spirit of hugs and friendship and appreciation of the successful X-Franchise, may I humbly suggest we start rocking avatars inspired by Jonathan Hickman's alleged gallery of eeevvviiil, scenery-chewing meanies? For instance, we could start with an Emma Frost avatar week. Then Cyclops. Then Magneto. Then Emma Frost again. Just because.

Sincerely,

Fluffy

It will be done.

[gambitxremy]

I love that x-men is cyclops book

[Devaishwarya]

Uncanny 175 was my first issue too! Loved that book. I recently picked up a copy because my original one is so worn out from being read and reread over the years.

Lol. I still have that very first copy. But yes, I did replace it about ten years ago...for that very same reason.

[ARkadelphia]

Ive decided Carey is still writing the Moira book. We just figured it out too soon and Hickman is lying like he said he would.

CAREY has only agreed to write Moira life 8. Ellis is taking on Moira life 7. Don’t know about the rest.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Attachment 88835

Never change, Fluffy. Also, I'm already on Magneto week, so into Photoshop to get that sweet Emma magic going.

What can I say, I know I've given Emma Frost a hard time over her victim complex/relationship drama antics, but it just feels oh-so-right to put aside personal grudges, promote unity and try to maintain a semblance of sanity around these parts until Queen Moira makes her big move against Daddy X and MagDaddy.

I know, I know, one could reasonably argue that two narcissistic, egomaniacal jerks on a supremacist kick would never promote an individual who was recently preaching the erasure of a minority as the most sensible means to face aforementioned minority's ultimate doom.

But you know what? I think a certain kind, brave, compassionate, awesome-at-everything and who-totally-wasn't-arbitrarily-given-a-shot-at-creating-her-own-mutant-nation-five-freakin'-minutes-after-she-came-back redheaded telepathic mutant powerhouse would want us to look inside our hearts and find that warm, fuzzy feeling which will allow us to forgive the individual who rekindled consumer interest in the X-Men in a way that hadn't been seen in almost twenty effin' years.

#JeansusForgives

[TheDeadSpace]

What can I say, I know I've given Emma Frost a hard time over her victim complex/relationship drama antics, but it just feels oh-so-right to put aside personal grudges, promote unity and try to maintain a semblance of sanity around these parts until Queen Moira makes her big move against Daddy X and MagDaddy.

I know, I know, one could reasonably argue that two narcissistic, egomaniacal jerks on a supremacist kick would never promote an individual who was recently preaching the erasure of a minority as the most sensible means to face aforementioned minority's ultimate doom.

But you know what? I think a certain kind, brave, compassionate, awesome-at-everything and who-totally-wasn't-arbitrarily-given-a-shot-at-creating-her-own-mutant-nation-five-freakin'-minutes-after-she-came-back redheaded telepathic mutant powerhouse would want us to look inside our hearts and find that warm, fuzzy feeling which will allow us to forgive the individual who rekindled consumer interest in the X-Men in a way that hadn't been seen in almost twenty effin' years.

#JeansusForgives

You continue to impress Fluff. You continue to impress.

[loke13]

I love that x-men is cyclops book

LMAO you so petty

[Killerbee911]

It is the weirdest complaint, A writer is going to come in implement the cast they like for the most part especially a creator with some pull. So the he using favorites is kinda stupid complaint thing every writer uses their favorites (and characters they have clear plan to use) They are planning the book you think they aren't going to put in characters they like? But occasional Marvel corporate/editorial tells writers they have characters they have to use as well. Also they are characters who come up as just general parts of the world and crossovers.

What separate creators is how they handle characters who aren't part of their plans. What separate creators is that they generally respect history and importance of certain characters. Good writers will implement those characters into the story seamlessly and not shove them to side for their favorites. A good writer will give smaller character not just fan favorites and popular characters meaningful to things do. Hickman has proved over and over that he is that guy.People really think Hickman and writers are the same type of fans as them. I wish Hickman was that type of fan/writer he would use Sunspot instead of Cyclops and phase out some old tired X-men but as professional writer don't just get to be a fanboy, you have a responsibility to whole franchise and he shows he understand that fact. Like I said wish Hickman was type of fan people are accusing him of being he would push his favorites Cannonball, Sunspot, M, Cypher. Synch, Husk,etc over Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast I mean because that is how "we X-fans" think we will push our favorites to top regardless it making sense or being in best interest of the health of franchise.

[JKtheMac]

Then he choose a wrong way to express it, because say to people not have expectations with their favorite character isn't realist

He didn’t say that. He simply said that X-Men fans buy team books but want then to be solo books. No judgment and tongue in cheek. Compare to him saying Maggot would have more people at his funeral than Gambit. He was poking fun at fans not attacking them.

We all have favourites. If there is an underlying commentary he is saying that some X-Men fans say they want their favourites on the team but really just want their favourites full stop.

Nothing underlines this more than the nonsense about X-Men Red being a Jean book. It categorically wasn’t. In key issues fans complained irrationally about this even as she played a minor part. It was utterly crazy and myopic. It is an opinion that has stuck and become the received wisdom despite not being true. That kind of blinkered analysis that bears no comparison to reality and yet is somehow true to a vocal community is why I only poked my head into those threads disagreed then walked away. There is no arguing with delusion.

[Anchorsify]

He didn’t say that. He simply said that X-Men fans buy team books but want then to be solo books. No judgment and tongue in cheek. Compare to him saying Maggot would have more people at his funeral than Gambit. He was poking fun at fans not attacking them.

We all have favourites. If there is an underlying commentary he is saying that some X-Men fans say they want their favourites on the team but really just want their favourites full stop.

Nothing underlines this more than the nonsense about X-Men Red being a Jean book. It categorically wasn’t. In key issues fans complained irrationally about this even as she played a minor part. It was utterly crazy and myopic. It is an opinion that has stuck and become the received wisdom despite not being true. That kind of blinkered analysis that bears no comparison to reality and yet is somehow true to a vocal community is why I only poked my head into those threads disagreed then walked away. There is no arguing with delusion.

People will hear what they want to hear but he isn't wrong and I'm glad he said it. It's normal for people to have favorities in any sort of ensemble but sometimes people take it too far.

[JKtheMac]

I tjink what I mean is that he tries to portray the characters accurately rather than moving their personal growth forward a whole lot.

Indeed. Because that isn’t his story. He tells stories about stuff happening. That will have impact upon character but essentially character has to be be subservient to the plot in this instance. Plot development is primarily driven by people ‘doing’ because the conflict is external to the character. Indeed that is the only real difference, the question is ‘is the main conflict either internal psychologically or an external reflection of that internal conflict?’: if so it is character driven. A huge number of comics are not.

This challenges some readers that have only learnt how character driven storytelling works. The behemoths of storytelling are movies and the psychological novel and so many of those are character driven. It becomes the pattern that everyone follows and therefore all the online advice and a great deal of amateur analysis of story or movie industry advice focuses upon that. It becomes synonymous with “good story” or even “valid story” for some critics.

In the case of HoX and PoX the driving conflicts are not representative of deep conflicts within someone’s psychology. Moira for example hasn’t got a fear of moving on. The resonance is about changing her and by extension everyone’s outlook on the future but that isn’t about her inner fear of the future. That fear is driven by external forces and she is seeking to change some of those external factors. She isn’t secretly fixing herself. She has a protagonist role and she wants something but what she wants is not just about her.

The change that is needed is external. Therefore any character “development” is incidental.

[Relugus]

Yes. I think because he sees half of Avengers a mess he delayed HOX POX with AOX-Man. That delay made enough of time to make HOX POX into a quality event.

Boss Man? Hickman or you mean someone else?

[JKtheMac]

People will hear what they want to hear but he isn't wrong and I'm glad he said it. It's normal for people to have favorities in any sort of ensemble but sometimes people take it too far.

Importantly he never blamed anyone. His entire thesis is that the X-Men franchise has been in an unhealthy loop and that these behaviours are a part of that. That the writing is just as much to blame if not more so than the fans.

“The books themselves had become a really dark and destructive place”.

Certainly the solutions are entirely in the hands of the writers.


Note his comments about not getting freelancers in to write their ‘commentary’ on what is happening. He called that kind of thing as ‘the nonsense we do’. You know what that would include? Getting Claremont in to do an annual in which he tries to comment on ‘years of Kitty Pryde or Nightcrawler misuse.’

The reason that this is a bad thing is not necessarily obvious. I mean, I personally lap that stuff up because I love subtext and commentary. But it isn’t additive and it encourages entrenched viewpoints and fan ownership. It has unintended consequences because the book is no longer about entertaining teenagers and instead is about preaching to a self-entitled choir by a self-entitled writer.

This is what creator owned books are for. That kind of commentary can be done by analogy. I don’t need Starlin coming back and writing Thanos to point out that his Thanos is different. I would happily read an analogous book by him that covered that ground outside of continuity.