New X-Men Appreciation 2020

[Hulkout42]

Not just Marvel, as any fan of the Teen Titans, over at DC, can tell you.

It sometimes seems like certain powers-that-be at the comic companies loathe anything that smacks of family. Familial-structure teams, like the Fantastic Four, get sidelined for years at a time. Married couples get split up, by deals with the devil, or just the brutal murder of one of them. And younger characters, ranging from children to teens, get blown up, cut in half, their heads punched off, etc. in shocking numbers (and unlike the older characters, it's not an 'Event' that ends up with them coming back a year later with a new haircut and costume, they mostly just stay dead).

I'm sure there's some sort of psychological commentary about how men of a certain age resent the entertainment industries focus on young and smooth-skinned teens and twenty-somethings, or after their second divorce can't relate to healthily married characters anymore, but whatever. It is what it is.

And isn't that a sad state of affairs?

[Hulkout42]

The problem with the New X-Men, is twofold:

First, they're popular characters. Fans are always asking about them and wanting to see them get some love. I'm sure you'll have a dogfight with New Mutants and GenX fans, but the A-X and KYost era kids are among the most demanded youth characters. HOWEVER Marvel is is chained to continuity and nostalgia, and will never let the franchise evolve past the O5+. And because they were introduced after the sacred Claremont/Byrne/Lee years, they're probably the most expendable generation. Expendability + Popularity means they're the perfect target to kill off if they need shock value without having to take any of the "core" team off the board (case in point, the angry reactions to Blindfold and Loa).

Second, the A-X/KYost kids MAKE THE O5 LOOK BAD. The kids suffered HORRIBLY and it's in large part because the O5+ completely failed them. And Marvel absolutely CANNOT allow the O5 to look bad. Thus why Marvel has been doing everything in their power to whitewash the trauma the A-X class experienced.

The Academy X/New X-men were indeed my New Mutants/Gen-X, and the latter two get to come back in some shape or form, I would kill for at least a reunion of the core team, just a one shot for crying out loud!

[scourge]

The problem with the New X-Men, is twofold:

First, they're popular characters. Fans are always asking about them and wanting to see them get some love. I'm sure you'll have a dogfight with New Mutants and GenX fans, but the A-X and KYost era kids are among the most demanded youth characters. HOWEVER Marvel is is chained to continuity and nostalgia, and will never let the franchise evolve past the O5+. And because they were introduced after the sacred Claremont/Byrne/Lee years, they're probably the most expendable generation. Expendability + Popularity means they're the perfect target to kill off if they need shock value without having to take any of the "core" team off the board (case in point, the angry reactions to Blindfold and Loa).

Second, the A-X/KYost kids MAKE THE O5 LOOK BAD. The kids suffered HORRIBLY and it's in large part because the O5+ completely failed them. And Marvel absolutely CANNOT allow the O5 to look bad. Thus why Marvel has been doing everything in their power to whitewash the trauma the A-X class experienced.

That right there. Not just the O5 either. They make pretty much every X-man look bad. Wolverine, Storm, Shadowcat, Colossus, the New Mutants...

And whenever we finally get someone calling the X-men out on it, they try to make it look like the kids are the ones in the wrong for doing it.

[Tycon]

Cyclops: left his wife n kid for his girlfriend/was literally called Hitler for three years

Beast: broke the space/time continuum/was helping blow up universes

Marvel Girl: ate a sun and incinerated an entire planet


I doubt the “O5 looking bad” is why the NXM aren’t appearing. It may make them look old and thus not as “relatable”, but the X-Men has never been a household name that’s worried about certain mutants looking bad.

[AJpyro]

Cyclops: left his wife n kid for his girlfriend/was literally called Hitler for three years

Beast: broke the space/time continuum/was helping blow up universes

Marvel Girl: ate a sun and incinerated an entire planet


I doubt the “O5 looking bad” is why the NXM aren’t appearing. It may make them look old and thus not as “relatable”, but the X-Men has never been a household name that’s worried about certain mutants looking bad.

Dont forget Iceman Freezing the World.

Oh and Warren's Dark Angel Saga. A whole town is Gone.

[Will Evans]

And now with Children of the Atom book coming out, we have teens who emulate Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Archangel, Nightcrawler and Gambit.

[Fokken]

Ehhhhh. I give Fokken's art a 4 out of ten.

Quire being in it makes it a 1 out of 10.
The Apocalypse T-shirt upped it to 4 out of 10.

.......thanks?

Look I hate Quire as much as any warm-blooded mammal, but Fokken's piece is great, some of the best fanart we've seen of these kids together. Even if his interest in Graymalkin and Quire is truly odd.

Thank you Beetle.
I love the kids folks love to hate I guess.

[Beetle]

I love the kids folks love to hate I guess.

I'm still a Wiccan fan in the year 2020, who am I to judge?

[Fokken]

I'm still a Wiccan fan in the year 2020, who am I to judge?

He needs love baby.

[Havok83]

Second, the A-X/KYost kids MAKE THE O5 LOOK BAD. The kids suffered HORRIBLY and it's in large part because the O5+ completely failed them. And Marvel absolutely CANNOT allow the O5 to look bad. Thus why Marvel has been doing everything in their power to whitewash the trauma the A-X class experienced.

The O5? Why are you blaming their issues on the O5

[Sutekh]

So this is awesome Fokken, thanks for sharing!

I really like how everyone's outfits are customized, and not all the same boring black and yellow 'classic New Mutants looks,' and yet all play off of that basic design! I especially like the lots of white on Bling! and Hellion's costumes. Also love Dust's half-transformed look.

Who are the three at the very bottom middle? Manon and Maxime, perhaps for the white-skinned pair, but I have no idea about the girl to the right of them with the pink and blue energy streamers around her face.

You can always include Hindsight and Morph (and Indra, and X-23, and Tag, and Elixir, and Nature Girl, and Evan Sabah Nur, and, and, and!) in a follow up piece.

[Veitha]

I had missed the final result! It looks great. I especially like how you depicted the elemental powers (the wind, the dust and Santo's body).

[Fokken]

So this is awesome Fokken, thanks for sharing!

I really like how everyone's outfits are customized, and not all the same boring black and yellow 'classic New Mutants looks,' and yet all play off of that basic design! I especially like the lots of white on Bling! and Hellion's costumes. Also love Dust's half-transformed look.

Who are the three at the very bottom middle? Manon and Maxime, perhaps for the white-skinned pair, but I have no idea about the girl to the right of them with the pink and blue energy streamers around her face.

You can always include Hindsight and Morph (and Indra, and X-23, and Tag, and Elixir, and Nature Girl, and Evan Sabah Nur, and, and, and!) in a follow up piece.

Thank you very much, Sutekh.
You are correct about Manon and Maxime. The other "unkown" is Bo. She appeared in ONE issue during the Bendis run. She is the young girl discovered on Monster Island by Illyana and Kitty.



I very much appreciate all the kind words.

[Sutekh]

I had missed the final result! It looks great. I especially like how you depicted the elemental powers (the wind, the dust and Santo's body).

Oh wow, the wind effects around Sofia were so subtle I didn't even see them. Great catch!

[CGAR]

Would be cool to see Wiccan hang with the New X-Men. But didnt they make him like super OP where he could probably take out the whole team?

The things I would do for at least a one-shot of the New X-Men kids...le sigh