‘Children of the Atom’ New Title Announced

[Hybrid]

Alright, let's have it stand on its own and consider the merit:

It has none.

New Mutants had to begin at ground zero just like COTA. The difference is that there was actual effort into making New Mutants legitimate as both superheroes and characters, compared to COTA where the deepest it goes is "I have a TikTok". New Mutants became a beloved franchise, but COTA? Well, you can rub it in if I turn out wrong, but I predict it'll get cancelled before we know and only reach 10 issues if that, before being completely forgotten barring the occasional snark about Marvel's bad ideas.

[Gray Lensman]

Alright, let's have it stand on its own and consider the merit:

It has none.

New Mutants had to begin at ground zero just like COTA. The difference is that there was actual effort into making New Mutants legitimate as both superheroes and characters, compared to COTA where the deepest it goes is "I have a TikTok". New Mutants became a beloved franchise, but COTA? Well, you can rub it in if I turn out wrong, but I predict it'll get cancelled before we know and only reach 10 issues if that, before being completely forgotten barring the occasional snark about Marvel's bad ideas.

How much merit can it show before the first issue has even shipped? Certainly not as much as something with 30+ years of history.

It might be good, it may suck. Let's wait until we have something real to see before crowning it as the worst X-comic of all time.

[Dthirds3]

I wonder if there is overlap between the people who want cota to fail and the same people who complaned when miles was spider man, kamala khan was invented, or any female or persion of color character did anything of relevance..

[Ferro]

those 2 were welcome to me , because legacy characthers normally need a tutor that is known as a solo characther AND if they are the first ones, even better.
Kamala and miles are two brilliantly done legacy characthers with a specific conection to their mentor, that stand on their own two feet and arent in an oversaturated market.

These kids ? there is 20 more of the same kind, their sidekick status is a flaw not a strenght, since the 5 x-men they are "sidekicking for" dont have a continuous or iconic solo stories (gambit should but that's another story) so they dont really have a legacy to atach themselves to, so instead of being original and creative, they come off as copy cats.

[Hybrid]

How much merit can it show before the first issue has even shipped? Certainly not as much as something with 30+ years of history.

It might be good, it may suck. Let's wait until we have something real to see before crowning it as the worst X-comic of all time.

I explained why very well. Sometimes, you can just tell when something is a bad idea by looking at it. You're saying not to judge a book by its cover? Well, I say sometimes the cover contains valuable information.

That's not really a good argument. COTA is making a bad impression because:

• They're just cheap copies of established X-Men. Literally, the entire premise is "take a white X-Man, change the race and/or sex". The New Mutants, from the beginning, were distinctive characters.
• The way they're defined is by a characteristic that screams "we're still relevant, dammit!". Rather than trying to make them interesting, it's just "one has a TikTok, the other has an Instagram" and so on. You can argue "well, the book's not out yet!" all you like, but objectively the information we've been given hasn't been promising.
• Their designs are generic, and utterly forgettable. Superheroes are popular in part because of their designs, which allows them to stand out among others. These look like the most throwaway Deviantart OCs ever, and that this is official just makes it more insulting.

The apologists are saying "Well, the New Mutants have 30+ years of history!". Alright, let's look at the most early appearances of them in their ongoing, which is fair as COTA has three known issues right now.


Already this looks better and gets the point across as to what they are compared to COTA's first three looking so generic and awful. Maybe you can claim I'm biased, but I just get the feeling that early '80s comic readers were more enticed by these covers than we are of COTA's. And this is just the first three issues, keep in mind that New Mutants get really good later.

[Ferro]

it also keeps you wondering without being copy cats

[Tycon]

Those NM covers are good because they’re classic. As for actually getting you engaged in the story.... no. These would be boring covers by that definition. Okay, they’re fighting Sentinels. And? The main cast in their first issue’s cover are just... running. Meanwhile the initial switch up in the Silva covers builds speculation on who these kids may be, what their powers really are, and how they interact with Krakoa.

[Snoop Dogg]

Truly, a first issue team shot, giant robots, and shadow monster are unique, eyecatching, and revolutionary to mainstream superhero comics.

[pkingdom]

Every explanation or theory I've seen about these kids makes the entire idea look terrible and rife with bad implications. If they're mutants latching onto the O5, we have literally dozens of them with their own looks and identities already.

If they're humans trying to ape them with tech, then it hits the same problem the stupid mutant cultists have of making the only good humans the ones who worship mutants. Plus now that mutants are trying to be an actual culture and distinct race/religion, it runs headlong into cultural appropriation problems.

If they get their powers through tech, then they aren't different from most of the Marvel universe and are actively making themselves less interesting by copying the powers of others instead of doing their own thing, plus making the actual mutant heroes less unique by making their powers something anyone can just make.

If they are humans or chimeras who get their powers through mad science, then the X-men are literally doing the kind of thing they used to fight against. Just a few months ago they had an arc where the bad guys were dropping mutant-creating bombs. And again, when humans do mad science to make mutants into normal humans, its evil. When mutants do the same to regular humans, its different, somehow? Even the times mutants had their powers removed consensualy it was treated as a bad thing.

[Tycon]

Gambit and Nightcrawler aren’t in the O5.

[pkingdom]

You're right. I should have said 'iconic' or something similar. The most famous and popular X-men. And Angel, for some reason.

Angel. The Zoidberg of the the X-men.

[Tycon]

From the press release for the book, the actual concept seems to be mutant kids who’ve looked up to the X-Men their entire lives that are taking advantage of the paradigm shift to make the non-Krakoa world a better place (in my own words). We know Storm is involved with this team in some way, she’ll probably ultimately train and lead them instead of the five they’ve modeled themselves off of.

[Hybrid]

Those NM covers are good because they’re classic. As for actually getting you engaged in the story.... no. These would be boring covers by that definition. Okay, they’re fighting Sentinels. And? The main cast in their first issue’s cover are just... running. Meanwhile the initial switch up in the Silva covers builds speculation on who these kids may be, what their powers really are, and how they interact with Krakoa.

Uh, yeah. They're better. I didn't say they're the greatest ever, but they get the job done. It sells you that the characters are each unique from each other and of different heroes, that they're as squad of young mutants, that they're working under Xavier, and each have their own powers. while dealing with dangerous struggles that feel real (the Sentinels and the Demon Bear that was alluded). Even the first issue with them running feels more engaging, as you get a sense of movement and them charging into action under Xavier's orders (it's also a good display of Cannonball, Wolfsbane and Sunspot's abilities).

When I see COTA's covers, all I see are knock off characters with nothing to add to the table. Oh, yeah, I'm sure everyone wanted a black lady Gambit! Again, I made the comparison of them being Deviantart OCs, and not particularly good ones, because that's the most apt.

I also deliberately chose the first three for comparison, while mentioning how much better it gets from an already solid start, because if I stacked this:



Against this



It'd only look even worse.

[Ferro]

they are also copying actions without much of a difrence besides kid crawler having a red explosion effect and an obvious power suit, every other member is doing the exact same poses, copying the powers and signatures to a T.

why couldnt the kid-clops have a blue visor, why couldnt the mini gambit have green or yellow (wich complement purple) needles, instead of the very gambity cards. Why a green halo and a pose associated with psychics? Why angelic wings when the suit has a scale pattern that would be perfect for bat-like wings?

there could have been similarities, but also an atempt to create a complementary sidekick, like how donna troy had a body suit instead of a swim suit that wonder woman had but in the same patern/colour scheme, or speedy being red and yellow to his mentor's green.
or kamala taking the iconic miss marvel lightning and colours but making it her own.
This is just cosplay

[TooFlyToFail]

Like I've already said, I'll give the book a chance, for the art alone, but the very nature of the book means it won't last.

DoX is only different because of Hickman, and that's it.

Ms Marvel and Squirrel Girl worked out because the former was q fresh idea, that was well thought out, and latter because it was a comedy (something rare in cape comics).

This is just a lazy version of better books we've already seen.