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

[Hcmarvel]

We are now nearing issue 12 for all of the OG Dawn of X books. In the old days this would have been a year of storytelling. Since the original 6 post House of X/Powers of X books launched (X-Men, X-Force, Marauders, Fallen Angels, Excalibur, New Mutants) , one has already ended (Fallen Angels) and 5 books have been added (Wolveirne, Cable, X-Factor, Hellions, and "Giant Size"). Plus two miniseries with serious ties to the line (X-Men Vs. FF [I know it's from a different editorial office but still] and Empyre: X-Men).

We are also on the verge of the first proper X-Men of this era and one of the biggest of all time (22 Chapters...jesus...)

The question is: Which of the Dawn of X books are best? How would you rank them? What letter grade would you give each run?

My ranking/grading -

Marauders: The biggest positive surprise to me. Strange concept but the writing of White Queen, Kitty, Callisto, etc. has just been awesome. Despite it's unique concept, this seems like the most familiar X-Book in a way. The villains are bigots and Sebastian Shaw. The heroes are all classic X-Men (plus Pyro). There have been fun one off issues like the one dealing with the micro terrorist in Pyro's body but the drama over the Hellfire Club has given a steady spine to the series throughout the run. I think this series has been a home run. The art by Lolli and Caselli is really clean superhero goodness with some excellent fight choreography. Grade: A

X-Men: The Flagship, the lodestar. The most Hickman Marvel book that ever Hickman'ed in my opinion (I have been reminded more of his independent work than any of his other Marvel work save Shield - this is not a bad thing mind you). Unfortunately the way Hickman has written the book, as a series of one or two story snippets, has not allowed the series to gain any momentum. Some issues are phenomenal - The Davos issue and the Crucible are probably the best two issues of all these books thus far - but others have fallen rather flat (the first three issues of the series were...fine). The Brood story was a lot of fun but the two Empyre tie ins were nothing to write home about. It's still Hickman, it's still fascinating seeing him build this world, but I wish the series was a bit more interested in telling stories instead of just setting up the dominos. Hickman managed to straddle that line with his FF run and still have one of the most exciting conclusions to a run I've ever read. This has read like all set-up. Yu is an artist I like but at times his art can just be flat out ugly. Kind of excited we'll be getting some new artists on the book soon. Grade: B+

X-Force: Gnarly but repetitive. I'm just not sure the Beast of this book is the Beast I've ever read in any book before. Quire and Sage have never been favorites and so far the villains have not been that interesting. The "Reavers" and the plant people stories have both just kind of puttered on and there is nothing to grab hold to. Cassara's art is gorgeous though and its exciting to think the guy has so much development yet to go. And that Tiki Bar splash is worth a few points all on it's own. Grade: B

Fallen Angels: A disaster. Like an utter disaster. Nigh unreadable both in terms of text and art. To paraphrase Roger Ebert I Hate hate hate hate hated this book. Grade: F

New Mutants: Unlike most I adored the Hickman issues. The characterization was perhaps slight but the issues were just fun and the Reis art was a revelation. I could have read the two of these creators on the book for an eternity. I adored these four issues. Unfortunately Brisson is now the principle writer and.......meh. A big ball of meh. His initial story was horrible. The most recent tale involving the psychedelic Russian girl was a lot better but still underwhelming. Glob and the Twins, Brisson's three favorite characters, do nothing for me. Flavino has talent, he's one to watch, but cannot compare to the Reis art that launched the series. Grade: B- (Hickman's issues: A, Brisson's issues: C+)

Excalibur: Man o man do I want to love this book. The art by Marcus To is wonderful and classical. The effort Howard is putting in is apparent and she's collected a fun group of characters. But this series just isn't quite working is it? I couldn't actually tell you what the hell is going on issue to issue and sometimes the story flow just doesn't work page to page. I always feel like each issue needed another 3 pages to make total sense and that's just a frustrating reading experience. Grade: C+

Wolverine: Percy is perfect for this book but I wasn't that impressed by the first three issues despite always liking Kubert's art. Issue #4 however really worked for me. It felt like the right mix of Claremont, Hama and Aaron and even if he's a knockoff Greg Cappulo, Victor Bog's art is really solid and fits the character. Issue 4 turned me around on the series and I'm excited for what's next. Grade: B

X-Factor: What a great idea for a book! What a strange and appealing cast! Those costumes! But we're only two issues in so grading it seems kind of impossible. But shows great promise. Grade: B+

Hellions: This has maybe been the best book of the whole line? How about Zeb Wells coming in with this stupid cast (Nanny? Wild Child?) And just CRUSHING it. The dialogue is superb, the humor works and the mix of creepiness, slapstick, action, character drama...it's all working for me. Grade: A+. (I love this book)

Cable: The first book I've just found myself unable to be excited for in the slightest. I don't care about Teen Cable. I don't care about the Space-knights. I just...blergh. Pretty art though. Grade: C-

Giant Size: Not technically a series but there have been more issues of this than some of the other books and there is an ongoing story being threaded in some of the series. But obviously some issues have been spectacular and some have been merely serviceable. The Fantomax issue is another contender for best single issue of the whole run so far but the Magneto and Nightcrawler issues were just okay. Great art throughout and this isn't a small thing as it's clearly a key component of the concept behind these issues is showing off some of the best artists Marvel has to offer. On average Grade: B

X-Men Vs. FF: I thought the first issue was excellent but by the end of the series I couldn't help but feel everyone was acting like a big jerk. As a sequel to the original, it just doesn't measure up. While some might not think it is fair to compare the two, you can't help but do so when the series directly comments on the original in so many ways. Whereas the original had some dumb fights and all that, it had so much heart and one of the great portrayals of Doom and Franklin...ever. I was let down by this mini but can't deny it was competently put together and had it's heart in the right place. Grade: B-

Empyre: X-Men: I might be alone in this but I really liked this. I liked finally seeing Scarlet Witch in an X-Men book, I liked Hordaculture a lot more here than in their original appearance. I liked the touching scene in issue 4 that I did not see coming. The art was diverse but fit together well and never distracting. A pleasant surprise. Grade: B+

So my ranking:

Hellions
Marauders
X-Men
X-Factor
X-Men: Empyre
Wolverine
Giant Size
X-Force
X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four
New Mutants
Excalibur
Cable
Fallen Angels

What about y'all?

[Jackraow21]

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

[mozzle]

__________________________
LOVE

X-Men
Hellions
Marauders
X-Force
New Mutants
__________________________
LIKE

Cable
X-Factor
Wolverine
X-Men: Empyre
Giant Size
__________________________
DISLIKE

X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four
Excalibur
Fallen Angels


Overall very happy with the first year of DoX. It's not all homeruns, but this new era is fasncinating. We're seeing charcters we haven't seen in years, and the whole thing is fun. Like who thought in 2020 we'd have a book with Nanny on the team... wild.

Stoked for X of Swords. I know it's not gonna be nearly as tight and well plotted as HoX/PoX, but that's okay. I'm sure it's gonna drag, and have some lows, but I'm still counting on it being a fun summer (well I guess autumn) event.

[Thievery]

I like Excalibur the best, closely followed by X-Force, Wolverine, Marauders, Fallen Angels, and Hellions. Cable also seems pretty good so far.

Actually, if Hellions wasn't so early into it's run, I might rank it first.

I wouldn't call the others bad, rather I would say that they average.

Well, except for X-Men/Fantastic Four mini because I did not read it and therefore cant speak on it, and Empyre: X-Men mini because that just seemed to turn into a jam comic between the various writers that got away from them.
Really, the only bad one that I have read was the Empyre: X-Men mini.

So I would say that the bulk of the comics are really good, with the others being at least average in my opinion.
So there is something for every X-Men fan to like the way that I see it.

Just my opinion.

[Lady Midnight]

Marauders holding a slight lead over Hellions.

[MYCMTSC]

**LOVE**
X-Factor (all two issues)

**UNEVEN**
X-Men (LOVE to Meh 60/40)
Excalibur (Like to Meh 40/60)
New Mutants (Love to Dislike 25/75)

**LIKE**
Marauders
Cable

**MEH**
Hellions
X-Force
Giant Size
Fallen Angels

**DISLIKE**
X-Men Vs. Fantastic Four
X-Men: Empyre

[Laufeyson]

Love
X-Men
Wolverine
Excalibur
Giant Sized X-Men

Like
Hellions
Marauders
X-Force
X-Men vs FF

Didn't read yet
X-Factor
Fallen Angels
X-Men: Empyre

[zinderel]

Love:
Excalibur
Marauders
Hellions
X-Factor

Like:
X-Force
X-Men
Giant-Sized X-Men

Meh:
Wolverine
X-Men vs FF
X-Men: Empyre

What Even Was?:
Fallen Angels

[Purplevit]

Love
X-Force
Wolverine

Like
X-Factor
Hellions

Meh
X-Men most issues
Giant Size
Marauders

Dislike
Excalibur

[X-Logan]

My top 3:
1-Wolverine
2-X-Men
3-X-Force

[Frobisher]

Marauders then Hellions.

[Whim]

The Good

X-Men. the main course. pretty good for the most part. though I still hate Hordeculture. I still want more cohesion and there's a ton of characters we need to see more of.

Hellions. I'm liking this so far. Great art. interesting cast and is written well so far.

X-Force. mostly good. though I think people are dying a bit too much. overdoing it. still not much of a fan of Quentin but otherwise this is pretty good.

Maybe Worth It

Marauders. this might as well be Kitty, Emma, sometimes Storm and some others that don't matter. Bishop, Iceman, and Pyro are just well there. the excessive partying was a bit much and it felt like way too long has been spent on "Kate" and her changes.

X-Factor. Not really sure on this one yet. It's ....ok so far but can they keep interest? The group is a bit random and the way they picked the characters easily doesn't fit.

Wolverine. I'm not really reading much of this tbh. Not really into Wolverine solo's but it seems ok.

Cable. I don't like the art here. The Space Knight plot is rather meh.

DUDS. aka Needs New Writers ASAP

Excalibur. Yeesh. Going back and rereading this and it still doesn't read well. The cast is super random. Rogue and Gambit shouldn't be wasted here. Gambit spent most of the time whining about Rogue while Rogue does almost nothing. The whole call me ]A[ thing is just cringe. I'm tired of Shogo and Jubilee being handicapped by him. The art is pretty good but that's about all I can say so far.

New Mutants. The Hickman issues were of course fine.... but man Brisson is just .... bad. The tone of his writing goes nowhere. There's so many potential characters this book could use but it's probably going to overuse Magik and keep using uninteresting characters like the twins and Glob among others.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I have to say X-Force has probably been the best and most-consistently well-written on the bunch. Ben Percy is just a solid and entertaining writer with an excellent grasp on pacing, plot and character voices. Marauders is a close second and another truly excellent book.

Jonathan Hickman's X-Men swings between amazing and inane - I'm hoping his year 2 goes has less one-parters and more of his usual tightly-plotted multi-issue stories now that all the groundwork has been seeded. His Giant Size X-Men one-shots are probably the biggest disappointment of all and frankly I'd rather he put out more issues of the ongoing book instead. On the other hand, his all too brief New Mutants run has been wonderful from start to finish.

Closing out on the good books, Hellions has been off to a great start and to a lesser extent so has X-Factor, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of both.

On the average side of things, Percy's Wolverine has been good but hasn't excited me as much as his X-Force, and Brisson's New Mutants has been getting progressively worse and doesn't quite seem to know what it wants to do.

Excalibur's gotta be the worst of the bunch, which is too bad because Tini seems to be a fan of the characters and there's stuff to like in her writing, but she just doesn't seem to have a good grasp on plots and pacing and things would sometime happen in her comics without rhyme or reason, or just aren't terribly compelling. Which is a shame because the book had a solid cast and mission statement.

[ericng]

Of all the books that I read, from best to worst.

1. X-Force
2. Hellions
3. X-Men
4. Marauders
5. Excalibur
6. New Mutants

X-Factor is too early to judge, but it's not as good as Hellions so I don't know how to rank it yet.
Hellions is too early to judge but the first two issues takes it to the top 2 but this is a tentative position, depending on future issues.

Marauders could have been better if it focused more on Iceman's gay life instead of Kitty most of the time.

I ranked Excalibur higher than New Mutants due to its better art, both titles suck at story-telling.

Couldn't be bothered reading Fallen Angels, so that's just for ongoing series.

[Captain Nash]

As of right now Hellions is my favorite book, followed by Marauders and X-Force. Although X-Force is getting a bit rinse/wash/repeat and the way it handles death and resurrections is not really on par with the rest of the franchise. Though it had DoX's strongest opening arc. I could see me continuing to buy these books after X of Swords.

X-Men is very hit or miss, it's literally the only book that has some interesting and some boring issues so its quality and worth varies greatly to me. I get it's world building and setting things up for the future, but it's rotating cast and storyline means, for me, it doesn't always hold my interest. That said, "The Crucible" is probably the best DoX issue I've read. I'm not sure if I'll continue with it after XoS. But Wolverine is also middle of the road, while I"m not a huge fan of the character it is at least interesting, but because I'm not a huge fan of the character I don't know if I'll continue after XoS

The rest I'm definitely dropping after XoS. New Mutants is just not interesting to me and seems to have no point to exist other than to showcase the characters. Just read the second issue of X-Factor and while the premise is interesting, I'm not at all taken in by the writing style. Excalibur is a bit dull, which is sad because it contains what is my favorite cast. I'm only collecting Cable due to it tying into XoS.

I'd like to point out that Fallen Angels had what was probably the strongest opening issue, but the quality quickly plummeted. I did at least finish it.

So:

Hellions
Marauders
X-Force
Wolverine
X-Men
Excalibur
X-Factor
New Mutants
Cable