X-men #1 reviews (spoilers)

[Uncanny X-Man]

As far as #1 issues go, this did an AWESOME job. It established the team's mission, the tone, gave a couple of interesting lines and feats to every character (except Sunfire probably) and laid down the groundwork for the upcoming issues by establishing a new threat. I don't know if I'm terribly interested in Gameworld, and I was never a fan of the High Evolutionary, but this issue bought Duggan a lot of goodwill in my book so I'm ready to be positively surprised.

Any post on this issue however would be remiss if it didn't mention Larraz+Gracia's spectacular art. Every single panel is a joy to behold. I dare say they're probably the best art team working in comics at the moment alongside Jimenez/Morey on Batman.

[Hulkout42]

I find it disheartening that we must announce we are either white, black, latino, straight, gay, etc... to make sure we get a point across not be shot down or have a label placed upon us.

[GeneTitan]

I find it disheartening that we must announce we are either white, black, latino, straight, gay, etc... to make sure we get a point across not be shot down or have a label placed upon us.

It's just a way to add context. No one is required to do it.

[Hizashi]

I find it disheartening that we must announce we are either white, black, latino, straight, gay, etc... to make sure we get a point across not be shot down or have a label placed upon us.

I agree.

It's just a way to add context. No one is required to do it.

Sometimes it seems like it is.

[Spit and Syntax]

I find it disheartening that we must announce we are either white, black, latino, straight, gay, etc... to make sure we get a point across not be shot down or have a label placed upon us.

If you're referring to the the way I loosely prefaced my background in the prior post, you shouldn't feel disheartened.

This choice came from my own conscience, feeling that my comment would be in bad faith if I did not, rather than some fear of persecution, if that's what you're thinking. Since the topic of the conversation centres around 'how does one feel certain social and broadly inclusive elements of the book', and we were talking about a specific point location of historic black oppression, I felt that some context about myself was necessary. Simply put, I can see many people that feel that representation is a more pressing issue than social recognition and vice versa.

It is the same as one prefacing a subjective statement, "I'm not a classical historian, but Aristotle was far more accurate than Plato"; "I'm not a climate scientist, but this I think this heat has to do with global warming", or "I've never been in a band before, but, if I was, I definitely wouldn't sell out".

Revealing one's social and cultural history should not inspire fear or anxiety of diluting debate, but rather should actually provide a slight more empathy to a point, and to where somebody arrives at a position.

[GeneTitan]

The cool thing about this issue is how deep we're getting into the conversation without the writer forcing it. We had an X-Mech, several new villains, an alien kaiju, game world and lots of action and we're talking about identity. This is why I love this board and the X-Men.

[RealEyesRealizeRealLies77]

My favorite X-MAN has always been Storm but I love the X-MEN as a whole!Freaky , gross mutants and all in between, give me MORE!Does Storm have to be in an X-MEN book for me to buy,not at all but that's just my opinion.As far as the roster ,I think most of us knew going in that a new team would be revealed at the next annual Gala event.So if one of your favorites aren't on now , they maybe by the next event...if the Island doesn't burn I guess, we'll see soon. I''m personally satisfied with Sunfire & Synch representing POC on the X-MEN, it just depends if they become background reps or actively engaging & receiving equal characterization reps . I just hope that Duggan delivers on what he did in PSX, because I had to do a double take on the cover to ensure it wasn't Hickman, and pray we get his Uncanny Avengers and not his Marauders (still so bitter)lol

Opinion on Gameworld. It's an interesting premise , especially if it's the same casino Wolverine & Quentin went to .Again, they have to be more than bargain by the barrel villains and they just want to exterminate the human race but preserve the earth. They really do need more motivation for ending a race to be taken seriously &
do more than continue to send these aliens to earth until their actions draw the attention of the X-MEN . With Orchis, HordeCulture , Verendi , I feel that they haven't really had that bite for all that bark. It's up to Duggan to make them appear relative enough to the story now that he's brought them in .

Cannot praise the art team of Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia.They have created a masterpiece time & again and put their stamp on this decade ,I'm in awe page after page.Pepe with his beautiful facial expressions and that everyone has their lil movement and personality. I swear when I become a millionaire I'm gonna have me one of them treehouses built for a home.Hope they release a book with the architecture and specifications of technology and structures of Krakoa and all it's habitats.

Lastly , if they have to have fill-in artists if Pepe can't keep up ,please keep the caliber of beautifully detailed artistry up .Only Dauterman or Coipel will do. Let's not start losing numbers rapidly due to not having a top tier artist on this .This is an a visual medium and if you're asking me to pay $4 to $5 per book at times ,the art better damn well be up to par. None of the bait & switch tactics of having a AAA artist for the first arc & then WHAM! , you're looking at some slop sh*t.STOP THIS!

[lefthanded]

Historically, the various superhero teams have included international/intergalactic team members, but X-men/Krakoa seem to represent a major paradigm shift.

The X-men, although the majority of their roster are US Citizens (aside from Sunfire), are now part of the nation of Krakoa. Wouldn't they be considered a military arm of Krakoa?

So regardless of them purchasing property in New York, wouldn't this be seen as a military base of Krakoa on New York soil? The teleporting gates of Krakoa renders the idea of needing a base moot, but it seems that this team of X-men raises a lot of questions in terms of politics.

[Hulkout42]

If you're referring to the the way I loosely prefaced my background in the prior post, you shouldn't feel disheartened.

This choice came from my own conscience, feeling that my comment would be in bad faith if I did not, rather than some fear of persecution, if that's what you're thinking. Since the topic of the conversation centres around 'how does one feel certain social and broadly inclusive elements of the book', and we were talking about a specific point location of historic black oppression, I felt that some context about myself was necessary. Simply put, I can see many people that feel that representation is a more pressing issue than social recognition and vice versa.

It is the same as one prefacing a subjective statement, "I'm not a classical historian, but Aristotle was far more accurate than Plato"; "I'm not a climate scientist, but this I think this heat has to do with global warming", or "I've never been in a band before, but, if I was, I definitely wouldn't sell out".

Revealing one's social and cultural history should not inspire fear or anxiety of diluting debate, but rather should actually provide a slight more empathy to a point, and to where somebody arrives at a position.

I understand what you are saying and It is not so much singling out any one person but that in multiple threads and comments i see this happen and it feels like it shouldn't be needed, i don't know if this idea is coming across correctly or if my meaning is understood tbh.

[Celestialbodies]

Yes, I gathered, Celestialbodies. My point was missed entirely by many, including you, it seems. Thankfully, we’ve moved on from this discussion and, honestly, I’d rather not rehash it.

It wasn't an attack, I've been on these boards for close to 12 years the sentiments you're expressing aren't new, original, or insightful. Just regurgitated information we've all myself included, heard yearly sometimes monthly. Anytime a discussion about diversity specifically POC comes up, the opinions you expressed are used to support the rather minimal efforts expressed by the comic book industry.

That's all!

Well said!

Thank you!!!!

Yes to all of it!!!

Thank you!!!!!

NO!! Sorry, but you are the only one here who accuses people in this thread of calling Duggan a racist! Everybody else speaks about a certain racial bias in representation that can be seen in his and many other comicbook authors' work.

The Seneca Gardens topic asks an extremely valid question:
Are the X-Men comics whitewashing topics about minorities? HOW I SEE IT: We cannot continue to tell fictional stories about minorities in superhero/sci-fi comics through dominantly white and cis-gendered bodies!! Thus, the X-Men as a socio-political commentary have to take their own metaphor more seriously and must urgently evolve.

There is a difference and it is ok to have this debate. Please try not to silence this debate with accusation which are not there.

Sorry but I think you feel a little uncomfortable speaking about race and you project something onto this debate that is not there.

All of this!

[Hizashi]

Historically, the various superhero teams have included international/intergalactic team members, but X-men/Krakoa seem to represent a major paradigm shift.

The X-men, although the majority of their roster are US Citizens (aside from Sunfire), are now part of the nation of Krakoa. Wouldn't they be considered a military arm of Krakoa?

So regardless of them purchasing property in New York, wouldn't this be seen as a military base of Krakoa on New York soil? The teleporting gates of Krakoa renders the idea of needing a base moot, but it seems that this team of X-men raises a lot of questions in terms of politics.

The teleporting gates are nonsense, I can hardly believe it isn't a bigger plot point. Why are nations allowing an instant back door to Krakoa?

As to your point, as long as they are transparent about not taking orders from Krakoa, they should be fine. I'm sure there'll be accusations of corruption or something - if the story is written with narrative logic in mind.

[pkingdom]

Historically, the various superhero teams have included international/intergalactic team members, but X-men/Krakoa seem to represent a major paradigm shift.

The X-men, although the majority of their roster are US Citizens (aside from Sunfire), are now part of the nation of Krakoa. Wouldn't they be considered a military arm of Krakoa?

So regardless of them purchasing property in New York, wouldn't this be seen as a military base of Krakoa on New York soil? The teleporting gates of Krakoa renders the idea of needing a base moot, but it seems that this team of X-men raises a lot of questions in terms of politics.

I brought that up when this series first was announced, and wasn't going to bring it up here because the story just seemed to ignore the implications, but your right. From a logical standpoint, this is a paramilitary team of a nation that the US government does not trust at all setting up a giant base in the middle of an American city. Realistically, they would never have been allowed to build that gigantic structure in the middle of a public park, especially since those Krakoa plants can be literally controlled and expanded pretty much at will. To say nothing about the gates that they just plant all over the place in every series; those things would be a national security nightmare and would probably be torched on sight.

They might argue that they are not beholden to the Krakoan government, but that's an almost laughable argument when 1) they are appointed by the people of Krakoa, 2) a former leader of the nation is on the team 3) Current leaders of the nation are popping in to help set everything up. The story doesn't look like its going to even acknowledge how this would go over and how nonsensical it is in the current status quo, so I'm honestly not sure what to think of it. But it does contribute to me not taking any of the political intrigue of this entire run seriously. Its just so poorly thought through.

[Hizashi]

I brought that up when this series first was announced, and wasn't going to bring it up here because the story just seemed to ignore the implications, but your right. From a logical standpoint, this is a paramilitary team of a nation that the US government does not trust at all setting up a giant base in the middle of an American city. Realistically, they would never have been allowed to build that gigantic structure in the middle of a public park, especially since those Krakoa plants can be literally controlled and expanded pretty much at will. To say nothing about the gates that they just plant all over the place in every series; those things would be a national security nightmare and would probably be torched on sight.

They might argue that they are not beholden to the Krakoan government, but that's an almost laughable argument when 1) they are appointed by the people of Krakoa, 2) a former leader of the nation is on the team 3) Current leaders of the nation are popping in to help set everything up. The story doesn't look like its going to even acknowledge how this would go over and how nonsensical it is in the current status quo, so I'm honestly not sure what to think of it. But it does contribute to me not taking any of the political intrigue of this entire run seriously. Its just so poorly thought through.

Well... yeah. There's plenty of pitfalls ahead for Duggan, hopefully the creative and editorial teams are working these things out.

[Ying Ko]

I feel Duggan is doing a great job taking over the main book. Planet Size and this were both great.

Still think the renumbering was kinda pointless though.

[Outburstz]

The teleporting gates are nonsense, I can hardly believe it isn't a bigger plot point. Why are nations allowing an instant back door to Krakoa?

As to your point, as long as they are transparent about not taking orders from Krakoa, they should be fine. I'm sure there'll be accusations of corruption or something - if the story is written with narrative logic in mind.

The Krakoa drugs deal that's why. The drugs were not given to humanity for free it was in exchange for recognizing Krakoa and other perks. If nations don't want the gates (Wakanda, Latveria to name a few) they don't have to have them.