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

[Glio]

I feel like both Claremont and Hickman (and Morrison) were good at creating new characters and concepts that felt real relative to the periods they were writing in, or at least had/have a lot of potential to be used in the future.

Every writer who wants to leave a mark on the X-Men should attempt to make their own creations and work on developing them, not just use the classics. What made the X-Men a hot property in the first place was new ideas and concepts being invented that hadn't been seen before.

Yes. New characters and new villains are always appreciated. They may not all work but when they do it is very satisfying.

[PrezValentine]

I think Remender uncanny was even better than Hickman, easier to read and delivered instead of just building up
Well at least Aaron and Remender didnt deletr their social media under criticism

Harassment is different than criticism, I believe. People were calling for Hickman's head, saying he should be immediately fired and never deserved his spot as X-Men writer because he didn't post what they wanted on Twitter during the protests related to George Floyd's death. Not to mention the name calling, which continued until recently among Brazilian fans of Jean Grey, mostly. I guess he was getting the same thing on his DMs if it was ever open. It was never about his writing of the books, it was people going over the edge on harassment.

[SiegePerilous02]

Yes. New characters and new villains are always appreciated. They may not all work but when they do it is very satisfying.

Especially in a franchise like X-Men, in which the big iconic characters have more than enough play. There are other comic franchises in which a lot of older characters can be dusted off and used and have it seem fresh and new because they make such rare appearances anyway. X-Men kind of runs on needing fresh blood during its big "seismic shifts" though.

[Glio]

Harassment is different than criticism, I believe. People were calling for Hickman's head, saying he should be immediately fired and never deserved his spot as X-Men writer because he didn't post what they wanted on Twitter during the protests related to George Floyd's death. Not to mention the name calling, which continued until recently among Brazilian fans of Jean Grey, mostly. I guess he was getting the same thing on his DMs if it was ever open. It was never about his writing of the books, it was people going over the edge on harassment.

For months he hardly used Twitter other than posting black and white photos of movies (I don't know why) and from time to time promoting a comic of his. The situation was absurd, it was obvious that Hickman was not used to using the social network.

And yes, he precisely opened his DMs so that anyone could talk to him about what was happening. He shouldn't have received exactly pretty messages.

[Frobisher]

I’d delete all my social media accounts if the people from the appreciation threads were like the less crazy end of the messages I got.

[PrezValentine]

For months he hardly used Twitter other than posting black and white photos of movies (I don't know why) and from time to time promoting a comic of his. The situation was absurd, it was obvious that Hickman was not used to using the social network.

And yes, he precisely opened his DMs so that anyone could talk to him about what was happening. He shouldn't have received exactly pretty messages.

Yeah, he used to take jabs at X-Men fans back in 2017 and then from some point in 2018 (I think?) it was all B&W pictures and the occasional jokes of him asking Image to stop doing special sales of his books. Then he got X-Men, some jokes before DoX started and it was all B&W pictures again. People started harassing him because of his, admitedly, poor handling of the situation when it came to the protests. And a few weeks later he deleted his Twitter. To say he deleted it over criticism of his books is bizarre, because it's a lie to make him look worse. Why someone would go this low because of comics, I'll never know.

Going into the actual topic at hand, I obviously disagree with OP's criticism because the X-Men book had a clear goal until recently: to flesh out concepts related to the nation of Krakoa and its relationship to the outside world and their enemies. The pathway to X of Swords was laid fairly early and the shift to that was pretty subtle. I think it has been going pretty well on that front and I enjoyed most of the action scenes (like Cyclops and Gorgon absolutely kicking ass in #4, the fight against the Brood and Magneto's attack on the Cotati). I don't like all issues, absolutely, but I think the book has only improved since #3. It's up to each person's judgment, I suppose. I think it, Hellions and Marauders stand above the rest. X-Force had a chance to be greater than the rest, but has been steadily going down.

[salarta]

In online culture, what counts as criticism and what counts as harassment is often dictated by whether one likes or doesn’t like what’s being said, and whether they like or don’t like who or what it’s being said about. Validity and fair consideration tend to mean nothing.

And it goes all ways. Not just one.

All I really wanna say on that mark. Continue on.

[nx01a]

I'll most likely only be reading X-Men, Hellions, and hopefully S.W.⨂.R.D. once XoS is over. I'll give X-Force another arc but I just haven't been feeling it recently. The other books just aren't for me.
I can only hope that the obvious next space-based crossover doesn't require an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of everything going on like XoS has.

[Devaishwarya]

Oh. My. Goddess.

Criticism and harassment are two entirely different things. And have very little to do with the person either is levelled at and everything to do with the way the person delivering either critiques or harassment feels.

Critiques are done with a sense of positive, genuine interest in appreciation for the work and/or the artist (author in this case) that may (but not always) focus on the shortcomings and possible ways in which it might be improved upon.
Harassment is always a negative attack on the person by the one who feels wronged in some way.

Oh. My. Goddess. How?

[baxer]

In online culture, what counts as criticism and what counts as harassment is often dictated by whether one likes or doesn’t like what’s being said, and whether they like or don’t like who or what it’s being said about. Validity and fair consideration tend to mean nothing.

And it goes all ways. Not just one.

All I really wanna say on that mark. Continue on.

Yeah, sometimes people like to blur these two so they dont need to deal with criticism.
Praise is alright but every negative criticism become harassment even if not abusive and well educated.
Not saying this was Hickman or Remender case, but it happens.
Also never open DMs, rookie mistake

Harassment is different than criticism, I believe. People were calling for Hickman's head, saying he should be immediately fired and never deserved his spot as X-Men writer because he didn't post what they wanted on Twitter during the protests related to George Floyd's death. Not to mention the name calling, which continued until recently among Brazilian fans of Jean Grey, mostly. I guess he was getting the same thing on his DMs if it was ever open. It was never about his writing of the books, it was people going over the edge on harassment.

I bet there was both respectiful criticism and also harassment mixed.
I really dont know why he didnt just posted BLM like everyone was doing
I think some people were trying to explain, too bad too many trolls existed.

[salarta]

Oh. My. Goddess.

Criticism and harassment are two entirely different things. And have very little to do with the person either is levelled at and everything to do with the way the person delivering either critiques or harassment feels.

Critiques are done with a sense of positive, genuine interest in appreciation for the work and/or the artist (author in this case) that may (but not always) focus on the shortcomings and possible ways in which it might be improved upon.
Harassment is always a negative attack on the person by the one who feels wronged in some way.

Oh. My. Goddess. How?

And those definitions regularly get thrown out or argued into fitting where they don't when they're inconvenient. Assuming we take those as the definitions.

I've quite often seen the exact same behaviors called both depending on if it helps or hurts someone's interests. I've seen criticism called harassment because people didn't want a single word said that suggested what they like is anything other than perfect. I've seen harassment called criticism because the harassers didn't like others' analysis or concerns and wanted to attack the critics into silence. A reason is always given to justify. Whether someone thinks that reason is sufficient regularly comes down to "If it helps what I like then it's fine, if it hurts what I like then it's not."

Harassment is of course wrong. But fans have a way of pretending harassment isn't harassment, and criticism isn't criticism, when it doesn't align with what they want. The apparent concreteness of what defines harassment tends to disappear the instant someone really, really wants to do a harassment. Same goes when someone really wants to shut down a valid critique.

[Killerbee911]

I will just point that the anonymity of internet makes people say things they would never say in real life. Creators don't need constructive criticism from fans. You don't like a creator speak with your wallet, You don't like what creator is saying remove them from your social media. You want to complain about creator is saying or doing to talk to their higher ups not to creator(the creator isn't going to fire themselves). If the creator opens up themselves to talk about something then yeah give your opinion.

Nobody needs a unsolicited critique, Especially on the internet were they express that critique in the worse possible way in most cases. And 90% of the time it won't be how the person would express it in real life to the same person. People don't reflect what there actions actually are imagine if you are in line comic con and every 5th person a line is screaming out what they don't like at a creator. It could be 100% percent correct and accurate but that would be harassment.

[Exodus]

I will just point that the anonymity of internet makes people say things they would never say in real life. Creators don't need constructive criticism from fans. You don't like a creator speak with your wallet, You don't like what creator is saying remove them from your social media. You want to complain about creator is saying or doing to talk to their higher ups not to creator(the creator isn't going to fire themselves). If the creator opens up themselves to talk about something then yeah give your opinion.

Nobody needs a unsolicited critique, Especially on the internet were they express that critique in the worse possible way in most cases. And 90% of the time it won't be how the person would express it in real life to the same person. People don't reflect what there actions actually are imagine if you are in line comic con and every 5th person a line is screaming out what they don't like at a creator. It could be 100% percent correct and accurate but that would be harassment.

I find your post a little bit generalizing. People should stop having opinions about cultural productions? So much of the criticism online is super valid and important. Not every shitstorm is the same though...In particular in queer-feminist and critical race contexts where many creators are absolutely behind the times and lack knowledge. It is important that we have a call-out-culture where white straight cis men and women are called out on their problematic bullsh*t. Luckily we have the internet where we can bring those debates to more public awareness.

Does it have to be articulated as a personal attack? I don't know. But very often I really do not mind a harsh tone (for example in the case of TERF J.K. Rowling and her extremely problematic and violent opinions. She ABSOLUTELY deserves all the hate she gets!)

I'm not saying that Hickman for example is even close to Rowling's hate speeches (not at all!!!) but I also felt that he was lacking a certain level of sensibility when it comes to feminist discourses and female representation. You can try to listen to these opinions, find value in them, or simply get defensive. I think he mainly did the latter without paying attention what was indeed valid criticism.

[Killerbee911]

I find your post very generalizing. People should stop having opinions about cultural productions? So much of the criticism online is super valid and important. Not every shitstorm is the same though...In particular in queer-feminist and critical race contexts where many creators are absolutely behind the times and lack knowledge. It is important that we have a call-out-culture where white straight cis men and women are called out on their problematic bullsh*t. Luckily we have the internet where we can bring those debates to more public awareness.

Does it have to be articulated as a personal attack? I don't know. But sometimes I really do not mind a harsh tone (for example in the case of TERF J.K. Rowling and her extremely problematic and violent opinions. She ABSOLUTELY deserves all the hate she gets!)

They can have opinion just not directly at her.There is a difference in speaking out against a person on the internet and personally seeking out a person to tell the person that opinion. I think Chuck Austen books were terrible, I am not seeking out Chuck Austen to tell him his books are terrible. If I was talking to Chuck Austen in person(or on twitter) I would say I didn't like your run but I like what you did with Stacy X. I wouldn't be disrespectful because he is a person still and I am not going looking for him to tell him that. You don't need to seek out the creator themselves and interact with them. Now if JK open up herself with opinion on twitter about transwomen sure light her up in comments she open herself up for that opinion. There isn't any reason to troll all her post not related to that topic that is harassment.

It is different coming on boards and talking about not liking Vita or Hickman, and going on their twitter page.And unsolicited giving them critique of their work, If there is a format where they are looking for interacting sure give your critique but other than keep your opinion to yourself. That said I am believer in matching the energy a person puts out as well so if you are being a smart ass well that is the energy people are going to give you back.

[Exodus]

They can have opinion just not direct at her .There is a difference in speaking out against a person and personally seeking out a person to tell the person that opinion. I think Chuck Austen books were terrible, I am not seeking out Chuck Austen to tell him his books are terrible. If I was talking to Chuck Austen in person I would say I didn't like your run but I like what you did with Stacy X. I wouldn't be disrespectful because he is a person still. You don't need to seek out the creator themselves and interact with them. Now if JK open up herself with opinion on twitter about transwomen sure light her up in comments she open herself up for that opinion. There isn't any reason to troll all her post not related to that topic that is harassment.

It is different coming on boards and talking about not liking Vita or Hickman, and going on their twitter page.And unsolicited giving them critique of their work, If there is a format where they are looking for interacting sure give an your critique but other than keep your opinion to yourself. That said I am believer in matching the energy a person puts out as well so if you are being a smart ass well that is the enegry people are going to give you back.

I agree when it comes to discussion on the "quality" of work but I highly disagree about offensive content. I don't care where and when Rowling articulated her rhetorical violence. She should be canceled as a cultural producer and "public voice". Call her out everywhere till she is indeed silenced and overshadowed. Her opinion as a filthy rich powerful person receives so much more attention than some internet comments on twitter by a private person or by trans activists.

Other option: no platforming! Some people really should not get any attention.