Unpopular opinion: Hickman's X-Men is going downhill

[lefthanded]

And Krakoa also has parallels with reality, about emancipation, nationalism, capitalism, community...

The whole Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse meeting in Davos is about the influence of economic systems on racism, which is more interesting and novel in the franchise than "People are racist because they are ignorant."

But as you said: Hickman has never suffered real discrimination (Like Claremont, Morrison or the dozens of white cis straight writers the franchise has had). So, wisely in my opinion, he decides to write about it from a different perspective.

In the 21st century, paralleling mutants with real racism in a direct way seems like a bad idea because there are too many "buts." But if you take it to a conceptual level of "nation", I think you can tell something

Agreed. How many stories of "evil man" hatches hate plan against mutant have we seen? Early on, these were plentiful, as the metaphor of mutants for LGTBQ or other minorities was closely trackable.

In the past two decades? No, not really anything closely related to real life. Schism has Cyclops vs X-men, which doesn't track with anything really. Bendis' run had time travel shenanigans again, and those stories don't really track with real life. All the other general outlines of X-books didn't add anything new.

X-books haven't really stood for anything for awhile now, aside from the general idea of a persecuted minority group, but that has mostly taken a backseat to superheroics.

[Glio]

Agreed. How many stories of "evil man" hatches hate plan against mutant have we seen? Early on, these were plentiful, as the metaphor of mutants for LGTBQ or other minorities was closely trackable.

In the past two decades? No, not really anything closely related to real life. Schism has Cyclops vs X-men, which doesn't track with anything really. Bendis' run had time travel shenanigans again, and those stories don't really track with real life. All the other general outlines of X-books didn't add anything new.

X-books haven't really stood for anything for awhile now, aside from the general idea of a persecuted minority group, but that has mostly taken a backseat to superheroics.

Bendis Uncanny X-Men I do think it talked about real issues, like police brutality.

[Kingdom X]

Bendis Uncanny X-Men I do think it talked about real issues, like police brutality.

I’m not gonna give Bendis credit for that cause it was very tacked on and didn’t even begin to grasp the severity of the issue. Which is EXACTLY why I don’t need people who can’t write about racism doing racism metaphors.

[lefthanded]

I’m not gonna give Bendis credit for that cause it was very tacked on and didn’t even begin to grasp the severity of the issue. Which is EXACTLY why I don’t need people who can’t write about racism doing racism metaphors.

I guess Bendis gets credit for making/confirming/changing Iceman a homosexual.

But like what you said, he can't write it well (Jean Grey reads his mind and confrontshim..... that is problematic on so many levels). People can argue about Iceman specifically, but the way Bendis did it was not done well.

[yogaflame]

And Krakoa also has parallels with reality, about emancipation, nationalism, capitalism, community...
....
In the 21st century, paralleling mutants with real racism in a direct way seems like a bad idea because there are too many "buts." But if you take it to a conceptual level of "nation", I think you can tell something

What exactly is Hickman saying though? Use strongarm tactics to consolidate economic power sufficient to undermine any and all opposition? Separate and superior? The machines will destroy everything? I applaud his, audacity, but he's not really bringing anything new to the table narrative-wise; and certainly not anything actionable or relevant to real world [identity politics]relations.

[Devaishwarya]

And Krakoa also has parallels with reality, about emancipation, nationalism, capitalism, community...

The whole Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse meeting in Davos is about the influence of economic systems on racism, which is more interesting and novel in the franchise than "People are racist because they are ignorant."

But as you said: Hickman has never suffered real discrimination (Like Claremont, Morrison or the dozens of white cis straight writers the franchise has had). So, wisely in my opinion, he decides to write about it from a different perspective.

In the 21st century, paralleling mutants with real racism in a direct way seems like a bad idea because there are too many "buts." But if you take it to a conceptual level of "nation", I think you can tell something

...pearls being dropped.

[Glio]

What exactly is Hickman saying though? Use strongarm tactics to consolidate economic power sufficient to undermine any and all opposition? Separate and superior? The machines will destroy everything? I applaud his, audacity, but he's not really bringing anything new to the table narrative-wise; and certainly not anything actionable or relevant to real world [identity politics]relations.

The structural economic reasons that perpetuate racism in the world have rarely been discussed in the X-Men comics.

In most of the X-Men comics that version of racism of "People just fear what they do not know" is shown, as if there are no people who know perfectly and are still racist. It's ... naive. As if we were still 30 years ago. Giving money and economic power to mutants has not made racism disappear, it has simply changed its face, more similar to anti-Semitism (The parallels are obvious).

[Devaishwarya]

...and taking it to the school house.

[Kingdom X]

I guess Bendis gets credit for making/confirming/changing Iceman a homosexual.

But like what you said, he can't write it well (Jean Grey reads his mind and confrontshim..... that is problematic on so many levels). People can argue about Iceman specifically, but the way Bendis did it was not done well.

Yeah you hit the nail on the head with the Iceman reveal too. Only a writer with no understanding of the coming out process would be like “let’s just have his straight friend FORCE him to confront his sexuality before he’s ready and then act like she’s in the right”. So yeah I’ll take a multiversal sword contest over some poorly written “real life issues”. Plus like others have mentioned, Hickman has undertones of sociopolitical commentary in his work, so I’ll wait and see where those aspects go in the long-run.

[FIGHT]

Yea I hear you OP. From the very start X-men issues have been hit or miss. I think the crucible is still the most interesting issue so far. But we also have stuff like the crappy 3rd issue. Or even the last issue. Apocalypses and Genesis meeting each other and revealing the past of the Arakko mutants had to happen, but it didn't need an entire issue. Padding/Filler with reused art work.


Beyond that I don't see much to look forward to. Half the cast for Sword is meh. Excalibur always sucked. Not a fan of the flamboyant Sinister and his Hellions. X-force and the other books r not 4 me. Nor is that new kid book with copycat characters.

Also sucks that Apocalypse is gone after X of Swords. He has been very boring in this event. Which is a shame since I expected more interesting stuff from him. Maybe all this build up will pay off but I doubt it. I don't really see anything good to look forward to once this story is done.

I can say X of Swords isn't as exciting as Infinity. By now Shuri would've nuked Atlantis and Namor hit Wakanda with a Get Gud.

I didn't read that story but i saw some scans here and there and it look pretty interesting for an Avenger story. Can't be worse then X of Swords.

[yogaflame]

The structural economic reasons that perpetuate racism in the world have rarely been discussed in the X-Men comics.

In most of the X-Men comics that version of racism of "People just fear what they do not know" is shown, as if there are no people who know perfectly and are still racist. It's ... naive. As if we were still 30 years ago. Giving money and economic power to mutants has not made racism disappear, it has simply changed its face, more similar to anti-Semitism (The parallels are obvious).

This idea is not new. Both the original Genosha stories and the later(civil war phase and Magneto's) ones explored this, with more realistic parallels. If anything, having Magneto say the mutants will take over the world financially is dangerously close to anti-Semetic(the parallels to the Rothchild banking dynasty are obvious).

[TheCape]

Bendis Uncanny X-Men I do think it talked about real issues, like police brutality.

I never read that story, but the idea of superheroes calling out police brutality is kind of cringe, considering the kind of stuff that supers do regurlary.

[gurkle]

I like what Hickman's doing conceptually, my problem is just what it was with his Avengers run: he always seems to be pointing forward to something that is about to happen but I don't think he cares that much about telling a compelling story in the here-and-now.

I really got a sense of where Hickman is coming from in an interview where he went off about how he hates episodic television where each episode tells its own self-contained story ("The Mandalorian" is an example of a show like that, where there is a broader story but mostly adventures of the week). This absolutely shows in his work. He thinks in terms of broad sweeping plans and he wants us to come along for the ride, but for me it always feels like the stories are just placeholders until the actual story gets started. I just wish he'd reveal all the mysteries behind Krakoa right now and then get to telling some stories.

Rick Remender wrote a thing in Uncanny Avengers that is widely suspected of being a Hickman diss, and of course if it is, then it's just petulant jealousy that Hickman's Avengers book was more popular and acclaimed than his, but it does kind of sum up how I feel when I read a Hickman run.

[yogaflame]

Wow, that is amazing!

[nandes]

Not when the "real nuanced storytelling" Rememder was boasting about was the Call Me Alex speech