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

[BroHomo]

Perhaps, then why not slip in some kind of sneak peek of what they are doing. The problem with every big writer doing the same few favorites is best illustrated by DC and Batman. So much energy is given to him and now his verse is sucking in everything else to the point its hard for other, or new characters to be developed cause Batman has to be Godmode over everyone. The company needs to mandate the building of other characters for long-term viability.

Damn! Good Point

[Frobisher]

Damn! Good Point

What's the bit about Batman's verse mean though? Is he known for his rhymes?

[Glio]

If all mutants hated Xavier, no one would have cared that Cyclops / Phoenix killed him.

[loke13]

Whatever the motivation is, I'm also surprised. One of the guys at my LCS loves Hickman's work and yet he was very disappointed to say the least.

I mean I don't think it's an either you love it's / hate it type of thing. While being disappointed in the reused content of issue 14 my disappointment in the outweigh the fact that we got to see the Fall of Arrako from the perspective of Genesis as well as an explanation for how Arrako sided with Amenth.

[Kingdom X]

While I'm not exactly surprised, 'cause HoX#6 used 6 pages from HoX#1, X-Men#14 is even more pathetic, using fucking 14 pages from issue#12? That's more than half of the issue.

About the only interesting thing about this is how the number of the issue matches the number of recycled pages, but only because it's kinda funny, doesn't make it less ridiculous.

At least HoX kinda earned it. We were receiving good to great issues on a weekly basis for 3 months and it was an appropriate way to bring the story full circle. X-Men 14 was a joke.

[SiegePerilous02]

Perhaps, then why not slip in some kind of sneak peek of what they are doing. The problem with every big writer doing the same few favorites is best illustrated by DC and Batman. So much energy is given to him and now his verse is sucking in everything else to the point its hard for other, or new characters to be developed cause Batman has to be Godmode over everyone. The company needs to mandate the building of other characters for long-term viability.

I feel like if they snuck in a peek at what they are doing, people would still complain that it was taking too long to come back into focus as the A-plot.

[ZephyrSurf]

Maybe it's just me, but i always thought Genesis was just a really on the nose expy of Hickman's Moira.

[dkrook]

I feel like if they snuck in a peek at what they are doing, people would still complain that it was taking too long to come back into focus as the A-plot.

And....that's OK, you want people to be anticipating especially when its mutants not named Wolverine, Cyclops, or Jean. Let readers know that there's a whole world of mutants that matter, and are great characters. Writers that lack awareness of this deserve scrutiny. If Hickman comes in with all his greatness does the same thing with the same few characters, that's not too impressive. Wanna be known as great, do great stuff. Take Artiee and elevate him. Then you get the dap's

[SiegePerilous02]

And....that's OK, you want people to be anticipating especially when its mutants not named Wolverine, Cyclops, or Jean. Let readers know that there's a whole world of mutants that matter, and are great characters. Writers that lack awareness of this deserve scrutiny. If Hickman comes in with all his greatness does the same thing with the same few characters, that's not too impressive. Wanna be known as great, do great stuff. Take Artiee and elevate him. Then you get the dap's

But who determines that that equates to greatness? why is that proper criteria to judge the effectiveness of a story?

"He's not using my favorite C-lister and elevating them to importance to my satisfaction" can impact subjective enjoyment, but I'm not sure it works as an objective criticism to justify intense scrutiny. Especially since the main draw of a jumping on point is to get lapsed and casual/non fans to give X-Men a try, so of course they go with the ones people know. Putting Artiee at the forefront would probably just result in crickets.

Maybe it's just me, but i always thought Genesis was just a really on the nose expy of Hickman's Moira.

That might be deliberate.

[Glio]

Maybe it's just me, but i always thought Genesis was just a really on the nose expy of Hickman's Moira.

Akkaro and Moira's ninth life have obvious similarities.

[Snoop Dogg]

"i'm going to do a bunch of character/worldbuilding sci-fi stories and just write about what i want from month to month, exploring concepts and setting up threads"

"write what i want you bitch"

[Triniking1234]

I don't know what people were expecting from the guy who made Valeria Richards a Doctor Doom simp.

[Snoop Dogg]

I don't know what people were expecting from the guy who made Valeria Richards a Doctor Doom simp.

it was the other way around really

[Jackraow21]

I’m actually fascinated by all this “First Mutant Age” stuff with Okkara/Arakko/Krakoa and the dark dimension of Amenth which erupted from the Earth via extra dimensional portal and tore the land asunder and whatnot. Crazy stuff, on top of the geopolitical world building on Earth stemming from the new mutant nation-state. The revelation that Apocalypse’s “survival of the fittest” dogma was really just to prepare this world for the return of the Amenthi hordes was a pretty cool twist/retcon IMO.

So in my view this run has been great and is actually building steam, rather than slowing down or going downhill. I honestly can’t wait to see what Hickman has on tap for the next act. Clearly expanding the mutant empire beyond the confines of Earth (via S.W.O.R.D.) is one thing. I’m sure there will be lots more that I couldn’t even hazard a guess at.

Definitely enjoying the f@#$ out of the ride right now... despite the lack of OG Cable. The Percy-written Wolverine is scratching my grizzled badass itch for now.

[Exodus]

What I personally really enjoy is how Hickman is using those concept from the past X-Men fans have hated and is turning them into gold.

For example:
1.) he basically has turned the X-Men into the Inhumans (something we were all afraid of during the complex days)
2.) The whole first mutant nation living in a demonic hell dimension is basically Chuck Austen's The Draco storyline redone.

I also love how he has brought all "mutant philosophies" of different conflicting leaders together as one large compromise. Krakoa is really the best of all those worlds brought together. The only concept that is missing from it is Jean's wonderful and brilliant 'decentralized mutant nation' from 'X-Men:Red' (I forgot who wrote it)...she is unfortunately just there and looks funny in old outdated clothing...

I agree with the person who said before me that Hickman has delivered so far but his team of authors really does not (besides Benjamin Percy).