Let’s go back to X-men Unlimited and have these characters have some time to shine. Two or three stories an issue for a few issues. Marvel Comics Presents: X-men
Let’s go back to X-men Unlimited and have these characters have some time to shine. Two or three stories an issue for a few issues. Marvel Comics Presents: X-men
I suggested X-men Unlimited in the last page but it should be 1 story an issue. The short story format from the last volume were largely forgettable. I preferred the book when it originally launched as supplemental to the X-line and 1 issue with extra pages can do wonders
No other X-character has their own villains like Wolverine, which took years for Claremont to seed. A solo needs not just one but multiple recurring antagonists. Until anyone else gets those, their books won't work.
That’s true. In addition to Stryfe, they attempted to give Cable some dedicated villains for his rogues gallery over the years, but none of them really stuck. Sinsear, Post, The Harbinger, Conquest... to name a few. Highly forgettable. All of them. His other primary villains are really more X-men/X-Force villains like Apocalypse, Sinister, the Externals and the MLF. Not truly Cable adversaries.
Whereas Logan has Sabretooth, Deathstrike, Bloodscream, Silver Samurai, Wendigo, Cyber, Omega Red and now Solem. To name a few.
This thread got be thinking about Legends of The Dark Knight series which ran throughout the late 80's to the mid 90's.
Too bad we can't get a X-title similar to it, where up and coming writers and artists can write a 2-3 issue arc with whatever X-character outside the bounds of continuity.
I would love to get some real weird ass stories with the myriad of X-characters that we have.
Wolverine is the best at what he does, and what he does is not get cancelled after 12 issues......
Simple answer: popularity, which leads to sales, which leads to profits.
But beyond that:
(1) Logan benefits from having a long history (life lived) and a lot of "empty gaps" which gives writers a very wide berth in terms of telling stories. In reality it's almost endless.
(2) His healing factor also contributes to the sort of stories that can be told. Due to the fact that he always gets better, there are no lasting damages to the character that can be suffered. Physically at least. This raises the stakes in storytelling.
(3) Tied to (1), his interaction with the wider Marvel universe (both heroes and villains) further widens possibilities of stories. His featuring on multiple teams/groups, and friendships/colleague shows this.
Logan is argueably the most connected character in the Marvel Universe in terms of the "6 degrees of separation" principle.
To be honest, I used to be against only Logan having a shot at an ongoing and wanted more X-characters to have ongoings. Especially during/after the terrible (imo) Depowering, Death, "Absence" and Rebirth Arc/Era.
While there have been good runs (e.g. Gambit and Magneto in recent times come to mind), the reality is there aren't many (if at all any) that can carry an "ongoing".
That's why I liked the recent Juggernaut LS.
A solo character LS but written in continuity (this is fantasy, it could still be weird) so that new and interesting characters and events could be used/referenced within the larger XU, would work very well, I think.
That format, could also be used to "flesh out" tertiary plots and ideas that exist in the current Krakoa context.
If you structure it to four issues, and tell a concise story with a definitive start middle and end, using one writer and artist (both very skilled) you can have three self-contained but relevant stories in a year which you can now bundle and sell as maxi Trade.
Each instalment isn't going to rake in millions of dollars (not even on-goings are doing that) but that's not the point. The point is/should be to capture and hold existing and new readers with interesting and consistent stories while building expanding the existing world and characters.
I'm not suggesting anything that wasn't done, and successfully, in the past...the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine LS in 1985...just be more thoughtful and consistent and high quality, so the we actually look forward to the next LS.
An alternative, but very much in the same vein, would be to continue doing the One-shots...6 per year (one every two months) but still maintaining high quality, consistency and relevance.
Lord Ewing *Praise His name! Uplift Him in song!* Your divine works will be remembered and glorified in worship for all eternity. Amen!
Money. Percy`s Wolverine #1 sold more in dollars then HiX-Men #1.
Last edited by Purplevit; 01-13-2021 at 06:52 AM.
I do think there are a handful of other characters who, with the right push and a strong creative team, could see a revival and make a solo book work. Namely Cable and Gambit. X-23 too. The problem is just that some of their more recent books, especially in the case of Cable and Gambit (with Mr. and Mrs. X), just weren’t good enough. In the case of Cable, they keep sending him off into the timestream into alternate timelines and futures that nobody cares about and which disconnects him from the broader Marvel U. When he was at the height of his popularity, it was precisely the fact that they made him a big deal and put him at the center of a lot of stuff both in the X-books and also had him appearing across the Marvel Universe that was part of his appeal. Similar to Logan.
Wolverine scratched the "itch" of the Every-Bub.
Both Asmus and Bunn pitched Gambit solos to Marvel but they refused. Bunn told that for some reason Marvel is not interested.
It was when Iceman and Cable got new books.
It annoys me when Deadpool gets 8 issues mini in Nola where he fights Gambit villains but marvel are not interested to see how Gambit fights his villains.