Wolverine has his own book, why not the other x-men?

[Jackraow21]

Funny enough, I remember Cable being a pretty big seller back in the day. Like, top 20 big.

He was. For sure. Hell, X-Force had their own line of action figures. Alongside the X-men and Marvel line. Cable was in video games, and a prominent and frequent guest star in the animated series back in the day. He was big time.

I think one of the things that works in Wolverine's favor over many other characters is that his solo adventures aren't just X-men stories. Wolverine's stuff takes him away from the team and let's him do his own thing. In many cases, when other characters get a solo or a limited, they're still doing X-men things with other X-men characters.

And this is why. Cable also had lots of stuff going on away from the X-men. He was a player in the broader Marvel Universe, had a mysterious past where he did wet works for the U.S. military as a merc, was a time traveler and had his own agenda. Sometime his solo adventures involved time travel elements, but that wasn’t all he was about. He was an adventurer and mutant freedom fighter in the present day Marvel U most of the time. And it worked. Plus he had great artists working on his book (JRJR, Steve Skroce, Ian Churchill, Greg Capullo over on X-Force, etc.).

Gambit also had solo stuff with the whole Thieves Guild element which was cool. And his series was also highly popular for awhile.

[Ra-El]

Those elements are mainly team focused rather than his own vendetta or purpose. Taking away those things just means taking away his character.

Not really, you'll take away his support system and then explore what type of person/character he is on his own. How does he fight? How well? He's know for his tactical prowess, but how that serves him when all he got is himself? How does he function alone? Is he even capable of building relationships with no-mutants, non-superhero characters?

All this could be explored, and not just on a Cyclops story, but iwith any mutants who have always been just a x-member, Scott is the best example of this, but not the only one.

[Rang10]

Not really, you'll take away his support system and then explore what type of person/character he is on his own. How does he fight? How well? He's know for his tactical prowess, but how that serves him when all he got is himself? How does he function alone? Is he even capable of building relationships with no-mutants, non-superhero characters?

All this could be explored, and not just on a Cyclops story, but iwith any mutants who have always been just a x-member, Scott is the best example of this, but not the only one.

Teen Scott was on Champions.

I really not sure if team tacts are for any use when playing solo

He was. For sure. Hell, X-Force had their own line of action figures. Alongside the X-men and Marvel line. Cable was in video games, and a prominent and frequent guest star in the animated series back in the day. He was big time.



And this is why. Cable also had lots of stuff going on away from the X-men. He was a player in the broader Marvel Universe, had a mysterious past where he did wet works for the U.S. military as a merc, was a time traveler and had his own agenda. Sometime his solo adventures involved time travel elements, but that wasn’t all he was about. He was an adventurer and mutant freedom fighter in the present day Marvel U most of the time. And it worked. Plus he had great artists working on his book (JRJR, Steve Skroce, Ian Churchill, Greg Capullo over on X-Force, etc.).

Gambit also had solo stuff with the whole Thieves Guild element which was cool. And his series was also highly popular for awhile.

Looking now it is hard to believe Cable and Gambit were really huge. I think that Cable still lives on that fame to still get solos

[Alan2099]

Not really, you'll take away his support system and then explore what type of person/character he is on his own. How does he fight? How well? He's know for his tactical prowess, but how that serves him when all he got is himself? How does he function alone? Is he even capable of building relationships with no-mutants, non-superhero characters?

All this could be explored, and not just on a Cyclops story, but iwith any mutants who have always been just a x-member, Scott is the best example of this, but not the only one.

That works for a mini series or a story arc, but the problem with that is if you're telling stories where he's on his own and has none of his regualr support system, that means he can't be on the X-men at the same time.

[Wolverine12]

I think there are several other X-Men characters that could support a solo series. I'm not going to include Cable or X-23 because they both have regular solo series as is. I think Cyclops could definitely pull one off, Storm seems like an obvious choice and I find it odd she rarely has a solo, Gambit could easily have one and Magneto has had a few over the last few years that had pretty decent runs.

As for a rogue's gallery the X-Men have that in droves, it doesn't really need to be a new character but any of these solo's could deal with already existing threats, Cameron Hodge, Sapien League, MLF, Purifiers or you could have an OC and try to sell that. A lot of good points in this thread if Marvel would take a chance.

I think the biggest hurdle to other X-Solo's is the nature of how Marvel has always published, the Avengers were a bunch of solo stars that they later made a team, the X-Men have always been a team and never really broke out into solo adventures. I think its a tough decision for Marvel, do we make a Storm solo and cancel Dr. Strange or do we keep the Dr. Strange solo and feature Storm in a team book? I think it is a lot easier to keep Storm in the team book vs having Dr. Strange just show up in Champions or Avengers.

[Hcmarvel]

I haven't read this whole thread so forgive me if someone made this point but what Wolverine has that very few other X-Men have is that Wolverine is like Batman in that he can be put into any kind of story.

Time travel back to World War One? Sure

Fights a bunch of Ninjas on a Tokyo skyscraper? Sure

Hardboiled noir story? Sure

Crazy space adventure including Nova and Ms. Marvel? Sure

Alternate reality where Wolverine is a knight or something? Sure

You can plug Wolverine into multiple genres and it works. The same is true of Batman.

Other than possibly Storm, and we wouldn't really know cause it's never really been pulled off, I can't think of other X-Men for whom this is true

[Killerbee911]

That works for a mini series or a story arc, but the problem with that is if you're telling stories where he's on his own and has none of his regualr support system, that means he can't be on the X-men at the same time.

Wait what? No he can simple be doing a solo mission for the X-men. He could be focus on X-men team mission but total from his PoV which is reason I call a certain book a stealth solo. He can very much be on X-men

The funny thing is it is very much a tool for solo characters who kinda struggle to have content to end up on "team" for supporting cast and things to do. They are bunch of marvel characters who are shield agents or some other new imaginary secret organization group for a reason( Captain Marvel Alpha Flight). Anyways I talk about this flaw before in the X-men franchise if they acted like more traditional hero group it wouldn't be an issue. Anyways X-men have Sword now and X-force both things can give solo missions from a larger organization keeping the best of two worlds. The current run of Wolverine basically has him acting as X-force agent a lot for example.

[Vishop]

Not really, you'll take away his support system and then explore what type of person/character he is on his own. How does he fight? How well? He's know for his tactical prowess, but how that serves him when all he got is himself? How does he function alone? Is he even capable of building relationships with no-mutants, non-superhero characters?

All this could be explored, and not just on a Cyclops story, but iwith any mutants who have always been just a x-member, Scott is the best example of this, but not the only one.

Ok here his the thing. His tactical or physical prowess is more technical aspect of his character. Its like writing a mini. Like for example Manifest Destiny. His affiliations or rogues are more feasible towards a group like X-Men rather than on his own. If you take away those things and make him loner then its just ruining the character. Cyclops is supposed to be a classic superhero archetype which is quite the opposite anti-authority type character like Wolverine. If you take away that prospect you are just ruining it.

[sunofdarkchild]

Even among the X-Men, Cyclops is uniquely ill-suited for a solo. His identity is far too tied into being an X-Man and a leader. You can take Storm away from the X-Men without fundamentally changing who she is. You can't do that with Cyclops. Maybe you can have a mini in which you explore him on his own, but an ongoing simply wouldn't work. He has no identity outside of his role as X-Men leader, and the one time they tried giving him one it didn't work and he ended up rudderless and desperate to go back to leading the X-Men despite being a husband and father. Cyclops without his team isn't Cyclops anymore.

[Killerbee911]

Literally the purpose of a solo, To explore the inner working of character and discover who a character is outside of their normal circumstance. It is fair to say some characters are "better" in context of team but that does not mean it impossible to create a version that works outside of team.

Batman is incapable of doing certain things which is why they create Robin to fill out an areas he was missing. A solo book has side characters and other techniques to help solo character along and fill their flaws. Y'all think Hulk had Rick Jones, Batman has Robin,Batgirl, Wolverine has Kitty,Jubilee,Armor,Yukio, Captain America has Falcon, Deadpool has Bob for no reason?

[Ra-El]

Even among the X-Men, Cyclops is uniquely ill-suited for a solo. His identity is far too tied into being an X-Man and a leader. You can take Storm away from the X-Men without fundamentally changing who she is. You can't do that with Cyclops. Maybe you can have a mini in which you explore him on his own, but an ongoing simply wouldn't work. He has no identity outside of his role as X-Men leader, and the one time they tried giving him one it didn't work and he ended up rudderless and desperate to go back to leading the X-Men despite being a husband and father. Cyclops without his team isn't Cyclops anymore.

What happened the last time was that Claremont wanted to retire Cyclops and have new characters leading the franchise and Marvel said no to it, so they brought him back. Simple.

You can take any x-men character off the x-men without fundamentally changing them, unless the goal is to change the character. You just tell stories with that character, and if the stories are good, the art is on pair and Marvel give it a fair chance, I don't see why it can't work. Saladin Ahmed told an amazing 12 issues story with Black Bolt, a character more ingrained on his mythos than any x-men, and it was great.
Would anyone think that Hawkeye would be what it was before Fraction did what he did?

[LifeIsILL]

Dazzler had a long solo for a while. Haven't read much of it.

Wolverine just works for any kind of story, that's why he has a solo. Even if a lot of his solo stories are crap, people (like me) will still read it.

[Rang10]

Ok here his the thing. His tactical or physical prowess is more technical aspect of his character. Its like writing a mini. Like for example Manifest Destiny. His affiliations or rogues are more feasible towards a group like X-Men rather than on his own. If you take away those things and make him loner then its just ruining the character. Cyclops is supposed to be a classic superhero archetype which is quite the opposite anti-authority type character like Wolverine. If you take away that prospect you are just ruining it.

Wolverine is naturally a loner, so working solo is his thing. To Cyclops works solo you have to justify why he isn't on a team, so that is lot harder to do for more than a 6 issue mini.
Teen Scott could went to space with his dad because he had no responsability, he could take time off.

If Marvel never gave him a solo, is because they think he works best as a team leader.

Dazzler had a long solo for a while. Haven't read much of it.

Wolverine just works for any kind of story, that's why he has a solo. Even if a lot of his solo stories are crap, people (like me) will still read it.

Wolverine has the right powers and back story to work on diverse stories

[Killerbee911]

*Disclaimer-this is units of a book ordered, not the number of comics sold, So this does not give an accurate understanding of how well a book did. We have no accurate numbers of how actually a comic did these numbers only show a sort of interest in a book as shops won't order fewer books if a book is selling.

So time for a little myth-busting these are numbers from arguably three of the more popular X-men characters and their lone solo attempts. 2 of the books Jean Grey and Cyclops don't really count because these were books about the teen version but it is good to see the numbers as gauge of interest in character.

Cyclops 2014-2015
1. 47,4682
2. 31,132
3. 25,925
4. 23,305
12. 26,516

20,000 is above cancellation numbers. For a book about Tyke arguably the worse version of Cyclops that is pretty impressive feat. Cyclops didn't fail as a solo property

Storm 2014-2015
1. 47,566
2. 25,268
4. 19,862
11. 12,674

Storm was Trash fire. Those are actually cancellation numbers. No defense this book just didn't work.

Jean Grey 2017-2018
1. 71,589
3. 23,140
11. 16,911

Again these are cancellation numbers but this is the teen version numbers. Luckily we have an idea what Adult Jean Grey numbers would look like and here it is

Phoenix Resurrection Return Jean Grey
1.145,057
2.51,318
3.49,261
4.46,517
5.46,689

Generations Phoenix & Jean Grey
1. 59,452

X-Men Red
1. 98,468
11. 30,415

Now, these some of these numbers are clearly influenced some by Jean Grey returning from the dead and the speculator market but as you can see there is an interest for Jean Grey. These numbers don't prove these characters should have a solo book but what these numbers show in my opinion that Marvel could have easily give Cyclops and Jean Grey second chances like they have given many characters. If you are running around saying Cyclops or Jean Grey couldn't maintain a solo the numbers aren't saying that we don't have numbers to say long term to give that opinion but you do have numbers saying short term there is a clear interest.

I will grab some of the other X-characters numbers later

[Purplevit]

*Disclaimer-this is units of a book ordered, not the number of comics sold, So this does not give an accurate understanding of how well a book did. We have no accurate numbers of how actually a comic did these numbers only show a sort of interest in a book as shops won't order fewer books if a book is selling.

So time for a little myth-busting these are numbers from arguably three of the more popular X-men characters and their lone solo attempts. 2 of the books Jean Grey and Cyclops don't really count because these were books about the teen version but it is good to see the numbers as gauge of interest in character.

Cyclops 2014-2015
1. 47,4682
2. 31,132
3. 25,925
4. 23,305
12. 26,516

20,000 is above cancellation numbers. For a book about Tyke arguably the worse version of Cyclops that is pretty impressive feat. Cyclops didn't fail as a solo property

Storm 2014-2015
1. 47,566
2. 25,268
4. 19,862
11. 12,674

Storm was Trash fire. Those are actually cancellation numbers. No defense this book just didn't work.

Jean Grey 2017-2018
1. 71,589
3. 23,140
11. 16,911

Again these are cancellation numbers but this is the teen version numbers. Luckily we have an idea what Adult Jean Grey numbers would look like and here it is

Phoenix Resurrection Return Jean Grey
1.145,057
2.51,318
3.49,261
4.46,517
5.46,689

Generations Phoenix & Jean Grey
1. 59,452

X-Men Red
1. 98,468
11. 30,415

Now, these some of these numbers are clearly influenced some by Jean Grey returning from the dead and the speculator market but as you can see there is an interest for Jean Grey. These numbers don't prove these characters should have a solo book but what these numbers show in my opinion that Marvel could have easily give Cyclops and Jean Grey second chances like they have given many characters. If you are running around saying Cyclops or Jean Grey couldn't maintain a solo the numbers aren't saying that we don't have numbers to say long term to give that opinion but you do have numbers saying short term there is a clear interest.

I will grab some of the other X-characters numbers later

Lol, Cyke sales were not as good as you try to show it.
Cyke failed and his sales were not much better then Storm.

Added missed sales to your data:
119 116 Cyclops 5 $3.99 Marvel 21,874
147 133 Cyclops 6 $3.99 Marvel 20,115
120 114 Cyclops 7 $3.99 Marvel 18,371
145 143 Cyclops 8 $3.99 Marvel 17,146
133 130 Cyclops 9 $3.99 Marvel 16,287
143 133 Cyclops 10 $3.99 Marvel 15,091
148 139 Cyclops 11 $3.99 Marvel 14,481

Issue 12 was just a part of Black Wortex crossover. The only reason why it sold more.