Before X of Swords...which Dawn of X book is best thus far?

[ExodusCloak]

Books I'm reading

1. Marauders
2. X-Factor
3. Hellions
4. X-Men
5. Cable

Books I've dropped

X-Force
Excalibur
New Mutants
Wolverine

[MentalManipulator]

I will try and do this the fairest way possible. So I thought of some categories that would earn 1 point each for the books that I read:

-Line-up
-Character Development
-Dialogue
-Art
-Premise

So for me the order would be:

- Hellions 5 points: Line-up, Art, Premise, Character Development, Dialogue
- Marauders 4 points: Line-up, Character Development, Dialogue, Premise
- X-Men 4 points: Premise, Art, Character Development, Dialogue
- X-Factor 4 points: Line-Up, Premise, Character Development, Dialogue
- X-Force 3 points: Art, Dialogue, Character Development
- Excalibur 2 points: Line-up, Premise
- Fallen Angel 1 point: Premise

[SiegePerilous02]

I've sampled the first arcs of a few of these. The only one I'm on for the long haul for sure is X-Men since it's the main one. I actually don't think any of the issues have been bad so far, just some of the early issues were underwhelming coming off of how great HoX/DoX was. But issues 4, 6 and 7 were great and setting up some very exciting stuff.

Hellions has been the second best and it's only three issues in. Zeb Wells is pretty awesome. He needs to be back on New Mutants immediately. Hickman's arc on that was great but I dropped it after that, and haven't been too interested in what has come after. Which is a shame as I love the OG New Mutants.

Excalibur was alright. I don't really get the hate it gets here, but I'm also not in love with it either. First arcs for Marauders and X-Force were good but haven't had the time or money to follow up on the rest.

[Dipter]

Marauders has to be my Number 1 so far. It's the most consistent in quality and I like all of the artists. Duggan has a really solid understanding of Emma's character. Getting to see her be a hero and repair her relationships with Kate and Ororo is a breath of fresh air after having her reputation dragged through the mud for the past few years. Emma's been given the more character growth than anyone else in Dawn of X and I love it.

[Pav]

Let me start off by saying that, for financial reasons mostly, I chose not to buy/read Fallen Angels, Cable, X-Factor, Hellions, or Wolverine -- so I obviously make no claim as to the qualities of these books.

Now, in a general order from strongest to weakest:

1) X-Men - while it's maybe not the most consistent book in the line, no other writer's work gets me as pumped for X-Men comics as Hickman's does: I love the worldbuilding he's done and continues to do, and I'm someone that tends to enjoy his take on the majority of the characters under his purview.

2) X-Force - the most consistent book despite a roster that I'm pretty ambivalent about; and while, yes, even I'm starting to yawn at the deaths, I do think the book does a fine job of presenting political intrigue in a world of mutant countries fighting sentient plant countries

3) Giant-Sized X-Men - even more uneven than the regular series, but top-notch Hickman every two or three issues is still pretty enjoyable in my estimation, especially when we get issues like the Jean-Emma and Fantomex issues.

4) Marauders - this comic had the freshest premise and an okay cast -- I do like myself some Bishop -- but it hasn't really lived up to its potential. It's consistent, but it's a fast read that doesn't deliver on the drama it presents. I wish this comic was co-written by Ben Percy, because it could use some of the emotional oomph that he injects into X-Force.

5) New Mutants - started off with a bang -- and I'm usually pretty ambivalent towards the majority of the NMs -- because, again, Hickman had a great story to tell. Since then, it's been consistently underwhelming but not really wowing me in any way. I've stayed because I like Boom-Boom, mostly.

6) Excalibur - another book with an excellent premise that doesn't really deliver what it promises because of choppy storytelling: weird transitions not only from issue but page to page and even panel to panel at times! I've stayed because the art is pretty and Hickman's Apocalypse is a fascinating character, so I'm intrigued by this comic because it's basically follows a subplot for Apocalypse that, if relegated to the X-Men comic, would get little screen time.

In fact, and as an aside -- it seems to me that the X-line of comics as currently devised works to tell in more detail subplots that Hickman has established to some degree or another but perhaps doesn't have the room (or desire) to extrapolate on in his own writing. So we get Apocalypse plotting in Excalibur; we get mutant search-and rescue in Marauders and X-Factor; we get political espionage in X-Force; we get a glimpse at what might be called "mutant rehabilitation" in Hellions, and so on. And I guess that's why I've continued reading even the underwhelming books: they shed further light on ideas that solidify the new world of the X-Men.

Still, depending on how X of Swords goes, I may shake up my monthly pull-list.

-Pav, who sees all that positive talk about Hellions...

...and wants to check out that upcoming Juggernaut book...

[Steroid]

Only focusing on the books I am following but in order:

1. Hel******* Not just my favorite X-book but closing in on Thor for my favorite Marvel comic period. Simply put this book is flawless.

2.X-Force- Top quality stuff and Cassara on art has been a godsend.

3. Wolverine- One of my favorite mutants being done the right way. Can't ask for more than that.

4. X-Men- It's Hickman, It's the flagship and the Crucible issue was one of if not the best issue of any comic I have read all year.

[Technopriest]

For me it is:
X-Force
Hellions (a very close second, and could very well overtake X-Force. I will wait to see how it's first arch closes before deciding though, but a great surprise nonetheless, as I was not excited about its premise or characters)
X-Men
Cable

Books that I dropped. Not bad but also not something I am willing to spend money on right now.
Giant-size (waiting for the inevitable trade)
Maraurders (like some of the characters, but cannot stand Kate and I am really not interested on the machinations of former Inner Circle members. It suffers from being a title that you know who the writers favorites are, so the focus is on them instead of the whole cast, although I agree is the more "classic" of the bunch)
Wolverine (once again not bad just not interested in the character)

The bad
Excalibur (suffers from not knowing what it wants to be, besides having a bunch of interchangeable characters that really serve no purpose in the story and just seem to have been randomly selected to round up the cast. Logic is also thrown out the window, in which long time allies present logical arguments not to trust the villain in the mist, while at the same time you have the rest of the cast act like they are morons for pointing out that stuff, although I do admit that that might be a larger problem of the general narrative of DoX)
New Mutants (another title that suffers from not knowing what it wants to be, with an author pushing his favorites at the cost of the rest of the cast. This title should just have been a mix of the NM and GX characters and presented as such from the beginning, but instead it tried to grab a portion of the fandom through a nostalgia ploy that pretty much didn't satisfy anyone. And on top of that it chooses to still focus on the least favorite characters of the bunch. Sorry, but continuing to try to make the twins and Glob happen in an already bloated book was a bad decision)
Fallen Angels (it was just the first failure of the launch, nothing more to say really. It has some interesting explorations of Kwannon but was really a book going nowhere narrative speaking)

Haven't read yet
X-Factor

[Journey]

fallen angels was trash, X-Men is good but the lack of consistent cast bothers me, I actually enjoy New Muntants for what it is, Excalibur be all over the place but when it hits it hits well, X-Force is basic and cheap gags at this point, like Hellions, X-Men VS F4 was a hot ass mess, like X-factor so far not a fan of the art though, Marauders I love I wish the others besides Storm, kitty and Emma would get some shine though.

[PrezValentine]

X-Men, Cable, Marauders and Hellions have been the best ones, in this exact order. Excalibur is boring as all hell and X-Force has been getting more and more uninteresting. I can see it getting at the level of Excalibur at some point, sadly. X-Factor is ok enough.

[ericng]

So for me the order would be:

- Hellions 5 points: Line-up, Art, Premise, Character Development, Dialogue
- Marauders 4 points: Line-up, Character Development, Dialogue, Premise
- X-Men 4 points: Premise, Art, Character Development, Dialogue
- X-Factor 4 points: Line-Up, Premise, Character Development, Dialogue
- X-Force 3 points: Art, Dialogue, Character Development
- Excalibur 2 points: Line-up, Premise
- Fallen Angel 1 point: Premise

How would you rate New Mutants even though you might not just read a few issues (post Hickman)

[ericng]

Hellions has been the second best and it's only three issues in. Zeb Wells is pretty awesome. He needs to be back on New Mutants immediately. Hickman's arc on that was great but I dropped it after that, and haven't been too interested in what has come after. Which is a shame as I love the OG New Mutants.

You strongly echoed my thoughts exactly! Zeb Wells was great when he was writing New Mutants which each New Mutant having new creative ways to use his powers.

The cast in Hellions is underwhelming as it consists of D-graders (except for Havok) but he made it so interesting, hilarious and unique.

Put Zeb Wells back into New Mutants or else judging from the low rankings for New Mutants from the members here, they would have to cancel New Mutants series if Ed Brisson were to continue writing it.

[ARkadelphia]

X-Force
X-Men
X-Factor
New Mutants

[Captain Nash]

You strongly echoed my thoughts exactly! Zeb Wells was great when he was writing New Mutants which each New Mutant having new creative ways to use his powers.

The cast in Hellions is underwhelming as it consists of D-graders (except for Havok) but he made it so interesting, hilarious and unique.

Put Zeb Wells back into New Mutants or else judging from the low rankings for New Mutants from the members here, they would have to cancel New Mutants series if Ed Brisson were to continue writing it.

Same, I'd love for Zeb Wells to be the inheritor of the main X-book(s) once Hickman's course has run, whenever that may be. I have thoroughly enjoyed anything he's written that I've read. On par with being one of the top 2-3 X-Men writers since the turn of the century.

[MentalManipulator]

How would you rate New Mutants even though you might not just read a few issues (post Hickman)

I didn't read it.... I tend not to like the students books....even if I like some of these characters. But the art seemed very very nice in the first issues I bothered to check the previews for.

[Tenebrae]

X-Force. Then Wolverine. Then... everything else I guess. Quite a ways behind.

Same. And I'm not even a big Wolverine fan.

I've dropped Marauders, X-Men, (except if it's decreed an "important" issue) Excalibur, New Mutants.