To those unhappy with the relaunch, how would you fix it?

[pkingdom]

I've seen it said in many of the threads, in response to people not liking what's going on, well, what would you do differently? So why not put it to everyone: What would you do to fix your problems with the relaunch?

This can be as broad or narrow as you like. If you love what's happening but maybe have a problem with one of the books or just one particular thing, that's fine too. What small thing would you change? And if you just hate everything, how would you change things? What kind of story would you prefer?

[nx01a]

I would do away with the mutant supremacy rhetoric and the cult commune feel.

[xpyred]

Everyone sounds so robotic. Just so artificial.

[Anchorsify]

The simplest thing to do would be to show people questioning it.

Magneto has tried this before. Xavier has tried this before. Scott and Logan have tried this before. Emma has. Have someone point out the obvious and ask what is different—and then show them proving themselves to mutant kind. They showed off to ambassadors and set up Krakoa and mutantkind’s legitimacy to humans and national governments; they didn’t show why the people should listen to them when this isn’t different from what Xavier and magneto have been trying to do for decades. Why is it different? We the reader know it’s because of Moira; they, every character but those three in the loop, do not and therefore don’t have an in-character reason to follow along, seemingly blindly. Some might go for it and believe in the leadership of these men, but not everyone, for sure.

[Londo Bellian]

Have all Marvel characters in existence have a sit-down with the One-Above-All and maybe the One-Below-All, where it's revealed to them that they ARE just fictional characters in comic books (boy, will they be shooting glares at Deadpool and maybe She-Hulk after that bombshell) and that the Ones Above-and-Below ARE the embodiment of the creative and editorial teams of Marvel over the decades. We have the IRL-dead Marvel "leadership" figures like Stan and Jack manifesting as character avatars for the Ones, while the currently active (and formerly-involved but still-living) personages are represented by, say, SEELE-like monoliths.

Then the discussion starts on the ups and downs of Marvel story-smithing throughout its publishing history. Introduce the characters to the SLIDING TIMELINE, as well as the RETCON, and how this narrative tool either added or subtracted biographical elements from their fictional lives, be it for good or for ill. (Say Emma, this was your backstory as you related in in Gen-X. Great job controlling that asylum-keeper to let you out! Scratch that, here's your new backstory several publishing years later: You started in the HFC as a STRIPPER!) (Tessa, or was is Sage, SURPRISE! You were working for Xavier all this time!) (Chuck, great damage control in putting together the new X-Men team to save the originals from being drained dry by Krakoa! Let's shake things up: we'll add this event in your past that there was actually an earlier team managed by your "friend" Doc McTaggart that you then sent off to their deaths! How shocked will Scott and friends be when they discover that? Wait, Scott! now you know, Gabriel and his buddies NEVER EXISTED until we wrote them into your timeline!)

Then the Ones-Above-and-Below-All wait as the Marvel characters start venting over the realization that they were toys in a box and that their lives and histories were just an increasingly ratty patchwork of sometimes-contradictory plots that passes itself off as "continuity." It'll take some deft writing here (by the current creatives) to sell how the likes of Emma, Scott, Charles, Moira (Hey, if you were a mutant that gets reborn back in time after, who was it that was resurrected in "Necrosha?" and the non-X's like Peter (We made Gwen pregnant before her death, OUTTA nowhere!) will argue at how a constantly-changing editorial and writing office has ruined their lives for the sake of conflict, and how Stan's mandate of "our characters are HUMANLY FLAWED and will make decisions that screw themselves as much or maybe more than benefit." The entities take in the characters' feedback, try to reach a consensus on what to do with their jumbled histories and respective biographies. (Would you like something pruned from your life, Emma? Chuck, Steve? Tony? Get things streamlined and everything) Maybe we can have Walt and Mickey with Keyblade show up and say some stuff too.

"See Doc McCoy, all the Marvel World's a stage, and all you men and women merely players that go back and forth from the box to the spotlight as needed. YOU the characters tell US how you want your world to be like, and it must be a unified vision."Let's get the perfect balance out of an idealized setting, as can be had from a WORK OF FICTION, and the Marvel conceit that this universe is like THE WORLD OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW *BZZT! no mention of current politics here*. Ready? Moira X, let's put your 11th life to use now. Add in the Ressurrection protocols, and the Infinity Stones to make it work on all dead characters...Ready? *snap*

[Malachi]

Everyone sounds so robotic. Just so artificial.

This is Hickmans weakness. A weakness that some don’t care for or notice. With Hickman himself he introduces concepts, themes and overarching plots that you focus on instead.

Ponder if he picked writers that mirror himself. Or dialogue isn’t a big priority with him as showrunner. How much do we fans care?

With myself I feel that it annoys me sometimes but I overlook it due to the overalll quality and exciting ideas. Unless it comes to my favorites. Then it becomes hard to overlook.

I love big weird ideas but at the end of the day I’m here for character driven stories. If those characters aren’t written In character I’m out after a few issues. It’s the same with reading Morrison for me.

I just think Editorial will need to step up. Other then that it might be a question of getting warm with these characters for some writers. Let’s hope they are professional enough that they acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses and keep an open mind. Worst case scenario they realize that some characters don’t fit them and they get moved to other writers who are better fits.

[ChronoRogue]

No off-panel reactions to resurrections and decompression. I feel like this is a franchise problem in general with resurrections how we get Banshee coming back but no reactions or interactions from his daughter is lmao, but with HOX/DOX it just turned the dial up on this issue. I feel like it's a bit disrespectful to the original run to not only make the death cheap, but to rob the reader of the emotional pay offs of these characters returning which we don't see expressed with their friends or family. Realistically do we need to see every single reaction? No. But there are plenty of big one's that were huge moments for various characters. Did Husk and Cannonball completely forget they had a brother who died? Where is are the reactions of Emma in seeing the Hellions or her class in Genosha? The kids who died on during the Purifier attack for the New X-Men crowd? Synch and Skin for Generation X? etc... I feel a bit robbed in this sense, the throw-away explanation of "it happened off-panel" just doesn't cut it imho.

More coherent roster choices and less singular character focus. No stealth solos please, I'm seeing this crop up for what I've read so far in many 'team' titles but the major focus being Kate (Marauders), Betsy (Excalibur), Kwannon (Fallen Angels) and Cyclops (X-Men). Maybe this will change in later issues, but that's not the impression I'm getting from interviews. Only X-Force so far felt like there wasn't a clear protagonist in the book. I've also got my gripes with what characters seemed to be chosen for what books, but I'll leave that for another thread.

More on-panel voicing of dissent or questioning regarding of new direction and cooperation with villains. Basically tying into what others said regarding the cult-like behavior of the X-Men. Maybe this a plot point that will be addressed later down the line, but it's kinda aggravating to see these characters be so unconcerned about sleeping next to characters who have tried to kill them multiple times. Like with resurrection(s), this is another franchise-related problem though, and they do have a history of freely giving out pardons for people who wear their badge.

Characterization seems a bit weak across the board but that's more of a writer-to-writer issue.

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

Characterisation--this is equally important as plot, if not more-so! Find the character's voice, get into their head, really assess how they'd feel about the situation beyond the author thinking "This is the way forward." Challenge that, even alongside leaps of progress! Individuality is key here; though people will unite for the greater good, they'll never see it the exact same way, nor will they be quite so willing to go along. Show that! And stop with the broad-brush, hyperbole, rhetoric language. If it's important enough to challenge, have the character show us why.

Narrative resistance--only on a much more personal level. Let characters explore gut feelings, if something looks too good to be true, let them suss it out for themselves, let us as the audience see it through their eyes! Simply being told "Everything is amazing right now," quite often, isn't enough for our suspension of disbelief; we need to experience it, not just be told about it. Address the audiences concerns, don't snark at it! It hardly makes for an endearing experience. For every one character telling us about why things are great, have another asking "why do you think that?" or at least disagreeing slightly!

Nuance--this is something that feels totally lost in this new direction. Hickman's distilled the problem to "Us VS Them" on a global scale without considering the grey areas in between. For example, while characters like Magneto might be perfectly content with looking down the bridge of his nose at humans and all that makes them such, religion for example, others like Dani, Rahne, Kurt and Kitty are going to think differently; their religions and cultures have heavily shaped and informed who they are. It's not the extent of their personality, of course, but it's definitely run alongside them in a meaningful manner. That can't be simply tossed aside; show characters who still identify with the 'human' side of themselves, explore what that means! Show characters who still have close ties to their families but might not like the idea of being completely separated from them, show characters who resent the idea of having to uproot themselves from their communities, and just as importantly; have characters call out others' rhetorics. Additionally, have characters react to the things that are going to push them from point A to point B. Don't just drop us in there and expect it to be alright!

Storm is a prime example of this: why is she so dedicated to the cause beyond the data-pages? What has pushed her from what was a generally objective, moderate outlook to a much more jaded and embittered one? Even one sentence with clear, unambiguous language would help us empathise with this and be much more receptive to seeing it explored.

Enough with the data pages--The only place I've seen these used well is in Excalibur, and that's because it seems to integrate into the overall narrative much more organically. Don't interrupt the story or use these as a substitute for actual, character reactions. Those only explain the broader context, they do not account for each, individual reaction, nor what went on within those scenarios.

[FIGHT]

More coherent roster choices and less singular character focus. No stealth solos please, I'm seeing this crop up for what I've read so far in many 'team' titles but the major focus being Kate (Marauders), Betsy (Excalibur), Kwannon (Fallen Angels) and Cyclops (X-Men). Maybe this will change in later issues, but that's not the impression I'm getting from interviews. Only X-Force so far felt like there wasn't a clear protagonist in the book. I've also got my gripes with what characters seemed to be chosen for what books, but I'll leave that for another thread.

was thinking about this the other day.

[PsychoEFrost]

No off-panel reactions to resurrections and decompression. I feel like this is a franchise problem in general with resurrections how we get Banshee coming back but no reactions or interactions from his daughter is lmao, but with HOX/DOX it just turned the dial up on this issue. I feel like it's a bit disrespectful to the original run to not only make the death cheap, but to rob the reader of the emotional pay offs of these characters returning which we don't see expressed with their friends or family. Realistically do we need to see every single reaction? No. But there are plenty of big one's that were huge moments for various characters. Did Husk and Cannonball completely forget they had a brother who died? Where is are the reactions of Emma in seeing the Hellions or her class in Genosha? The kids who died on during the Purifier attack for the New X-Men crowd? Synch and Skin for Generation X? etc... I feel a bit robbed in this sense, the throw-away explanation of "it happened off-panel" just doesn't cut it imho.

More coherent roster choices and less singular character focus. No stealth solos please, I'm seeing this crop up for what I've read so far in many 'team' titles but the major focus being Kate (Marauders), Betsy (Excalibur), Kwannon (Fallen Angels) and Cyclops (X-Men). Maybe this will change in later issues, but that's not the impression I'm getting from interviews. Only X-Force so far felt like there wasn't a clear protagonist in the book. I've also got my gripes with what characters seemed to be chosen for what books, but I'll leave that for another thread.

More on-panel voicing of dissent or questioning regarding of new direction and cooperation with villains. Basically tying into what others said regarding the cult-like behavior of the X-Men. Maybe this a plot point that will be addressed later down the line, but it's kinda aggravating to see these characters be so unconcerned about sleeping next to characters who have tried to kill them multiple times. Like with resurrection(s), this is another franchise-related problem though, and they do have a history of freely giving out pardons for people who wear their badge.

Characterization seems a bit weak across the board but that's more of a writer-to-writer issue.

I think you're confusing "team leader and point of view character" with "only this character will get any panel time".

[Marvell2100]

I would do away with the mutant supremacy rhetoric and the cult commune feel.

That and cut down on the titles.

[H-E-D]

That and cut down on the titles.

There's less titles right now than during the Utopia era...

[RD155]

I don’t have an issue with attempting the relaunch because truth be told the X-verse has just grown stale and was in a bad spot. Stale convoluted series and those god awful movies weren’t making things any better. Hickman did a fantastic job of injecting some much needed life into this universe. I mean the HOX/POX event was insane and the comic shops were bumping in a way that I hadn’t seen in a while.

For the most part I’ve enjoyed DOX. Don’t get me wrong it does have its issues....

X-men....has been awful but I’m willing to hold out faith that the title will turn things around. Issue #2 was flat out one of the worst poorly written issues I’ve read in a long time for any comic. It highlighted all of a Hickman’s weaknesses as a writer. This smaller more
Personal character driven stories are not for him. He was allowed to hide behind HOX/POX because that series was tailor made for him and allowed Hickman’s strengths to be on full display. Once X-men begins to deal with other situations and the stakes rise, I think the series will turn around. Hickman just needs to stay away from the “smaller” moments. Hopefully leave that to some of the other dox titles or get another writer to handle the writing while Hickman handles the plot (which I know will never happen)

Excalibur is another title with some issues. While X-men was a title that I expected huge things from, Excalibur was the title I wanted to love so badly. Tini has been gifted a great colorful cast of characters, beautiful settings/art and great themes -and yet there something missing. While Hickman is writing everyone as robots in X-men it seems as if Tini is writing extremely one dimensional characters. Poorly timed jokes, Gambit is grumpy and mad, Rogues had one line about making babies, and so on. Massive potential for this title but I’m worried that Tini won’t be the one to tap into it.

Other then that I’m loving Xforce Marauders and Fallen angels. Honestly I think there are just too many books and way too many others coming out. Having stories that are connected is great but fans should never be forced to pick up other series to keep up with important plot events.

[Marvell2100]

There's less titles right now than during the Utopia era...

That still doesn't mean that there aren't too many titles.

[PeterParked]

That still doesn't mean that there aren't too many titles.

Any title can be read individually, the only “ties” until now have been a character stating an event that happened in another book (Bishop in Mauraders and Magneto in Fallen Angels saying that Xavier was killed and that’s literally it), nothing that requires to read another book to understand what’s happening in one favorite book. Nobody is forced to buy ALL the books, unless they want to; there are no crossovers or books starting from event happened in previous books, except for House of X obviously. If someone feels compelled to buy a whole line for whatever reason it’s his problem, the great majority of people buy the books they like, regardless of lines, genres and so on and they shouldn’t be limited by a minority that because for some reason need to buy EVERYTHING then they expect that EVERYTHING must fit their budget. Buy what you like and can afford as any sensible person does and you won’t have problems.