how would you rate main cast usage in the team books of the current era

[Rev9]

1. Hellions
2. SWORD
3. X-Factor
4. New Mutants (Ayala)
5. X-Men (Duggan)
6. Way of X
7. CotA
8. X-Force
9. Marauders
10. Excalibur
11. X-Corp
12. Fallen Angels

Didn’t include Hickman’s book because it jumped all over the place. Duggan’s could be higher, but it’s only been 3 issues. Way of X had the benefit of having no defined cast so every character spotlight was a pleasant surprise. 8, 9, and 10 are pretty interchangeable.

Like your list but Marauders must be last.

[Wiccan]

Excalibur and Marauders are the worst for sure. But I don't mind Excalibur being lowkey a Betsy solo (with some good developments for Rictor and Apoc back when he was there).

[Krakoa]

Disclaimer that this is focused more on the level and kind of usage of each character, not necessarily on if I agree with the direction a character was taken. Some books have good, even usage of their team even if I don't really like how a team member is used.

Great

1. X-Factor: Especially given that this had far less issues than most other books, I think that it has to take the lead. Everyone had strong moments, and everyone had some level of growth except Rachel, who was still well-used, there just wasn't enough time for her to be the star of any given issue.

2. New Mutants (Ayala): Ayala has refocused on a core group of characters, and I don't fault her for not using the ones in the previous cast (like, Warlock is around, but he's clearly not one of her main cast). Out of her characters, she's had great roles for Dani, X'ian, Rahne, and Gabby, with a strong supporting role for Warpath and good background plot movement for him, as well as some good supporting roles for younger mutants (including Cosmar carried over from the previous run). Magik is the least used here, which I think is because she's committed in a lot of other places in the line, so she gets good appearances but doesn't have much of an arc.

3. Hellions: I think all of the characters here have been great, especially because many of them required a lot of legwork to really establish on their own. That being said, some members of the team are more clearly background players than others, and Psylocke, Sinister, & Greycrow steal the show often.

4. Children of the Atom: Though Carmen was clearly the star, as was kind of the point of this book, we got to learn about each of the characters in a meaningful way. It was just short.

5. X-Corp: I thought this book did a great job using each member of its small cast (Monet, Angel, Trinary, Multiple Man, Selene, Mastermind). You may not have liked the direction each character was taken in, but each character had some real moments, which is hard in a book that was only 5 issues.

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Alright

6. New Mutants (Brisson): Though this book made questionable choices in its focus, the characters it did focus on had a lot to do. It started to crumble a little bit once Hickman's arc ended and Brisson picked up some of the Hickman characters.

7. Way of X: This is a weird one to place because it wasn't quite a Nightcrawler solo or Nightcrawler/Legion duo, but wasn't quite a real team book either and there's not a clear core cast. While it had nice moments for some members of its cast (Dr. Nemesis & Pixie), and some good moments for others who appeared only a few times (Lost, Fabian Cortez, Stacy X, Dust), some members of the cast felt more there to serve plot than character (Dazzler, Mercury, Loa).

8. S.W.O.R.D.: I love this book, but I'm not quite sure why people have it so high. The cast is pretty huge, and lots of them have had fun feats of power to show and are in interesting new roles, but few of them have really had any sort of arc outside of Brand. Manifold definitely has something going on, but Frenzy, Wiz-Kid, Khora and Cable have pretty much served the plot. Magneto has had nearly the most screen time outside of Brand and I'm not sure he's even part of the core cast.

9. X-Men (Duggan): This book is kind of too soon to tell for me. He's definitely using all of the characters, but no one really seems to have a character arc except Synch at the moment. Like, their voices are mostly good but I'm not sure where they have to go as characters.

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Not great

10. Excalibur: Not sure why so many people have this book last, given that unlike some of the others, its core cast at least appear in speaking roles in most if not all issues. Betsy, Apocalypse, and Rictor have large arcs (even if you don't like the direction of those arcs), Rogue had a prominent role but not much of an arc, and Jubilee and Gambit have smaller roles but feature in lots of moments across the series, just not a lot of growth or reason to be there. Pete Wisdom & the Braddocks also have nice supporting roles. It definitely wasn't good at utilizing all its characters, but it was better than multiple others.

11. New Mutants (Hickman): This arc was great for Bobby & Sam but the rest of the characters were pretty background, but had fun moments across.

12. X-Force: This book is frustrating. There has been some kind of development for most of its core characters, but not all (Domino, Quire, Jean, Beast have had arcs, while Sage sort of has and Wolverine, Forge, and Colossus haven't really). But outside of issues where they get focus, characters have basically nothing going on. Domino had an arc about her resurrection in the first few issues but has been complete background filler since then. Quire had the arc before the Hellfire Gala but has been complete background filler before and after that. It feels like characters come and go and are forgotten about and move so slowly that I'm not even sure I have the lineup of the team correct. Whole issues go by where it feels like no character had any meaningful moment, and most other issues just have a moment for Beast. Colossus has been more shafted than basically any other character this era that allegedly is appearing in a book.

13. Marauders: This book was doing all right at first. There was a subplot building for Iceman with Christian Frost. Bishop had a prominent role in Arc 1. But then it seems like Duggan just lost interest in every character but Emma, and Kitty or started to focus elsewhere, to the point where Callisto, Jumbo Carnation, Tempo, & Banshee have done more than the real members of the team. Iceman has appeared in a speaking role in probably less than half of the last 15 issues, and has had literally no plot direction. Bishop is a little better, getting to star in the King in Black tie-in, but still not great. Contrary to what some have said, Storm did get a real role in this book compared to some of the other members, despite limitations on how Duggan could use her and the fact that she was going to be leaving for her new role after the gala. She had a large role in the Kitty resurrection arc, and she had multiple focus issues later on (X of Swords Wakanda issue, Callisto Crucible issue, her goodbye issue).

14. Fallen Angels: X-23 and Cable were in this?