X-Men #20 Review *spoilers*

[Brian B]

I'd be very surprised if Hickman won't have remade the universe a couple more times before this latest epic of his wraps up.

You got that right! LOL!

C’mon, Hickman. Get on with it.

[Rev9]

You got that right! LOL!

C’mon, Hickman. Get on with it.

I'm most surprised by Orchis getting their hands on Legion ,or his brain, like how is that even possible? Would be cool if they mapped his psyche into Nimrod, would explain how Nimrod has contingencies for so many abilities(although even AI adaptation is fine)

[cranger]

Searched the thread and did not see it brought up, but is this the first issue with no data pages?

[Killerbee911]

Searched the thread and did not see it brought up, but is this the first issue with no data pages?

First? Probably

yeah it definitely didn't have data pages but all the X-books didn't need data pages but it was an interesting experiment with all of them having it, I doubt Hickman stop using them he uses it in all his other books.

[Wolverine12]

As I finally got around to reading #20 last night, my main issue with HiXmen came into focus.

There’s too much wait time between the books that matter and the story within them crawls.

They’re filling X-Force on a near monthly basis with some nice soap opera and a really unimportant plot about plant peoples. Good, I guess.

Marauders — trading! Beef with Shaw! Killing Kitty? No, killing Shaw! Good, I guess.

X-Factor! Detectives! Or... not really. Okay, maybe...

But we can count on X-Men to deliver! Right! Right?...

I also went back and re-read #19 last night. As all those other really unimportant plots have continued...

...Meanwhile, we’ve got X-Men trapped in the vault for months. (Okay, 50 years? It feels like 50 years.) And for what? Orchis stole Vault tech and the Children of the Vault view themselves as the next stage in evolution, and they want to kill mutants? Really, that’s it?

That would have been a decent revelation in the span of 2 issues, or maybe 2 pages, but it took months!

Now, we’re back to Orchis and Mystique in X-Men #20. She takes four or five pages to ask for a bomb from Forge? And we’ve been waiting 2 months for this?!?

Oh, and Nimrod is “born,” finally, two minis, the X of Swords event, and 20 horribly off-schedule issues later.

Compare this run to Hickman’s FF or Avengers. Those flew on a regular schedule by comparison.

The real problem with the X books is the ones that matter — Hickman’s — don’t come out often enough or on time.

Maybe Duggan’s X-Men is going to be the new focus, because that’s what’s needed. Focus. Focus and a reliable schedule. I could care less about Beast’s plant fighters. Get back to Moira X and the story at hand in a timely fashion. Hickman as Head of X should be farming out even the important stuff to keep it timely if needed. Because that’s what we need— timely schedules and focus.

The plot is being lost to too many books, meandering, and bad scheduling, IMO.

I love the new Hix-Men but I gotta agree that it is taking a long time to move forward. Covid takes most of the blame in my eyes, but even still, XoS took a long time and X-Men has been seeding plot points until the last issue basically. I'm still 100% on board and loving it, but I can't fault readers who are growing impatient. I just can't wait to go back and re-read the whole run when it's finished, being able skip XoS if I want (I don't want to skip it) or just get into the real meat and bones so to speak.