‘Children of the Atom’ New Title Announced

[Hybrid]

What's funny about the COTA rumors is that it lines up with an idea I had, but in the wrong way.

I remember one of the ideas I gave out in a thread was to have a book about a group of non-mutant superpowered beings who are in with mutant culture, like they help them out, promote equality, and follow Xavier's orders, the idea being both that they believe in it, and to gain favor with the mutant population in the event that they take over. That idea sounds cool, and could help add some gray areas especially with the whole World War X thing we all know this is leading to.

Unfortunately, this just isn't the way to do it. Having a bunch of knock-offs with no charm other than "TikTok" (kind of the opposite of charm) doesn't add, it subtracts. It gives us forgettable characters across the board, and makes everything else worse by having this drivel tied to it. Ugh.

[Tycon]

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.

Ah yes. Stacking the 19th issue of an arc that got its own movie versus the first issue of something that...again...hasn’t come out yet. There’s no comparison between these two covers that makes any sense.

And I didn’t accuse you of saying these were the best covers either, just that they don’t grab my attention or interest in the story. The second issue for CotA didn’t do that for me either, but the third cover grabbed me because it’s unveiling a bit of the mystery surrounding these kids (whom we again know nothing about). Chang’s cover for the CotA gives each of them a distinctive yet surface level personality that differentiates each of them. Yes, they are dressed in clothes that represent their idols...that’s the point. It’s literally what happened in Young Avengers. Were people asking for a gay, Jewish Thor or blonde vers Hulk? I’d wager probably not.

[Killerbee911]

Unfortunately, this just isn't the way to do it. Having a bunch of knock-offs with no charm other than "TikTok" (kind of the opposite of charm) doesn't add, it subtracts. It gives us forgettable characters across the board, and makes everything else worse by having this drivel tied to it. Ugh.

You are literally commenting on things you need to find out by reading the book. How do you know if a character is charming or not by not reading. You can complain about design all you want that is fair but you are complaining now about characterization and execution without a read a page of book which makes no sense.

[Ferro]

the only design I'd keep is baby-angel, change the wings from a normal avian shape to a more abstract/pterodactil fashion since colour scheme/textures are pretty unique, very solid you wouldnt tell the relation unless you are thinking of archangel.
baby-crawler change the tail, make it difrent shape/type/size and if you want a difrent hand shape dont copy the very specific kurt trait, make it 4 fingers or something, those physical traits are essential to kurt but the pose can create a similarity in sillouete. Also add another colour besides the shared red, but make it a light colour to contrast to kurts red-black.

kid gambit, jean and cyclops need complete overalls to their colour schemes, costumes and power signatures, throw the whole thing away, also we dont need another blonde or red head, but baby gambit is cute and that hairstyle is immediatly recognizable so that 100 % stays.
Everything else is pure trash and needs to be rethinked.

[Tycon]

the only design I'd keep is baby-angel, change the wings from a normal avian shape to a more abstract/pterodactil fashion since colour scheme/textures are pretty unique, very solid you wouldnt tell the relation unless you are thinking of archangel.
baby-crawler remove the tail and make the tail of a difrent shape/type/size and if you want a difrent hand shape dont copy the very specific kurt trait, make it 4 fingers or something.
kid gambit, jean and cyclops need complete overalls to their colour schemes, costumes and power signatures, throw. the whole thing away, also we dont need another blonde or red head, but baby gambit is cute and that hairstyle is immediatly recognizable so that 100 % stays

But Marvel (fan)Boy doesn’t even have an outfit resembling Jean besides the color scheme.

[Ferro]

But Marvel (fan)Boy doesn’t even have an outfit resembling Jean besides the color scheme.

I know its just ugly

[Hybrid]

That's funny, because Young Avengers was an actual good book that was smart about the way they did the legacies, being subversive and clever, and digging deep into the lore itself, and said characters have a reason for being there. There's a reason YA was cool, won awards, and sold well.

That, and it gets a pass because back in 2005, the "model new characters after existing ones" thing hadn't been done to death like it has now. Also, the YA as characters may model themselves after existing heroes, but at least they look distinct and cool, like taking something that exists and making it your own.

Also, Vita Ayala is not a proven writer. In fact, they're proven to be bad at writing, as her past work has been terrible, so there's really no reason to believe Ayala can do this one any better. Allan Heinberg at least had an idea of what's appealing to millennials, that and it wasn't just targeted to young audiences, but had enough darker and edgier content to keep older ones interested as well.

Oh, and lol at posting that variant cover. It only highlights how uninspired they are.

Also, enough with the "The book's not out yet, you can't judge it!" because that's not true. You can tell when something is a bad idea when you see it, ie "sometimes the cover contains valuable information". That, and if there were anything interesting about these characters, they would've defined them as something more than "One has a TikTok, one has Instagram" and ****. I know, how about telling us about the characters themselves? While they're at it, how about they actually make characters that don't look like Deviantart waste?

The backlash speaks for itself. For contrast, there's Strange Academy, a book about young characters being mentored by established ones, which has been received positively. Let's look at the YouTube announcement videos:

Strange Academy: 5.1k likes, 100 dislikes.
Children of the Atom: 1.3k likes, 7.2k dislikes.

Something tells me there's more fault on them, than us simply not giving it a chance.

[Alan2099]

Until I saw this image, i wasn't even sure who Marvelgirl-Man was supposed to be copying. He looks like like a luchador from HYDRA than anything Jean grey related.

[H-E-D]

It does seem a bit much to criticize them for lack of charm when we haven’t even gotten a proper preview of the first issue.

[Ferro]

strange academy is a product of the proud nation of Troupe-topia, in colaboration with "fanfiction 0C'S DONUT STEAL island, its not much better either.

and using the "young avengers" argument is not really a smart argument because:
1: they were the first of their kind, this book is the sixth of its kind
2: thor, iron man, hawkeye, etc etc are actual solo characthers, who are normally open to sidekicks to acompany them in their said solo adventures, these are sidekicks to team characthers.

[H-E-D]

Also, Vita Ayala is not a proven writer. In fact, they're proven to be bad at writing, as her past work has been terrible, so there's really no reason to believe Ayala can do this one any better. Allan Heinberg at least had an idea of what's appealing to millennials, that and it wasn't just targeted to young audiences, but had enough darker and edgier content to keep older ones interested as well.

I’ll go to bat for Prisoner X. That **** was good.

And it’s not like Heinberg has done any good comics besides YA.

[Hybrid]

I’ll go to bat for Prisoner X. That **** was good.

And it’s not like Heinberg has done any good comics besides YA.

Because he's not really a comic writer, with YA being his big contribution, the only other thing was co-writing a Justice League arc with Geoff Johns. Anyways, he did The O.C. beforehand, which while not up my alley was a show very popular with teens, so clearly he knew how to write for a teen audience and prove successful when doing YA. Then he wrote Wonder Woman 2017, which speaks for itself.

So he has more cred than Ayala in my book.

[Ferro]

ugh the designs (sans nu angel and baby gambit's head) are absolutly vile, god bless

[Tycon]

That's funny, because Young Avengers was an actual good book that was smart about the way they did the legacies, being subversive and clever, and digging deep into the lore itself, and said characters have a reason for being there. There's a reason YA was cool, won awards, and sold well.

That, and it gets a pass because back in 2005, the "model new characters after existing ones" thing hadn't been done to death like it has now. Also, the YA as characters may model themselves after existing heroes, but at least they look distinct and cool, like taking something that exists and making it your own.

CotA isn’t out. Young Avengers showed itself to be subversive when it was actually given the chance to prove itself. It didn’t win awards because of teasers, covers, and youtube videos. It won because fans let the book come out without harshly judging it for its obvious mysterious setup that would play out in the book. Hmmm that’s probably how Children of the Atom could play out.

The only one who looks almost part for part like their idol is Cyke-kick. The rest actually have distinct looks. They are literally taking an existing identity and making it their own. And these are not legacy characters and I’m pretty sure they aren’t taking the names of those heroes. This is not a Miles Morales or Sam Alexander situation where they’re taking a mantle that belonged to a previously established white hero.

Also, Vita Ayala is not a proven writer. In fact, they're proven to be bad at writing, as their past work has been terrible, so there's really no reason to believe Ayala can do this one any better. Allan Heinberg at least had an idea of what's appealing to millennials, that and it wasn't just targeted to young audiences, but had enough darker and edgier content to keep older ones interested as well.

Vita’s Shuri stand-alone issue was one of the best received issues and their Prisoner X was a top fav even among people who hated AoXM. Bad writing where?

Strange Academy: 5.1k likes, 100 dislikes.
Children of the Atom: 1.3k likes, 7.2k dislikes.

Fooling yourself if you think this has nothing to do with racism and New Warriors blow back.

[Hybrid]

So now it's about racism???