Final thoughts on "Year One" of X-Men (2021-22)?

[Triniking1234]

Nice to have an X-Men book where stories aren't dragged out for trades but the book was mid story-wise but fantastic art wise.

The Gala every year in real life time is silly especially when we lost publishing time cuz of delays and X Lives/Deaths. It feels like only a month has passed in world since the last Gala.

[Celestialbodies]

Enjoyable! And left you wanting more if we're being honest. He didn't take anything away from his cast, put them in interesting situations that tested their resolve and left them all in places where they could go anywhere.

Its about the most I can expect from modern comics, sure you have your S.W.OR.D's or Hellions, but usually its one or two character being given all the attention with the rest of the cast being incompetent. I think it was for the best that Jean/Scott/Everett stayed Duggan seems to have more in mind for them. However, he did the most with Polaris in years and helped demonstrate a new side to her character which I hope other writers develop, did little to nothing with Sunfire but set him up perfectly to join Red plus he consistently showed that Sunfire was a powerhouse I look forward to seeing where he lands.


I gotta pushback on the sentiments express in this thread for Wolverine and Rogue, no they were not the focal points but to be fair most the cast weren't Jean, Polaris, nor Sunfire had ongoing story arcs. Wolverine however did, I think her voice hurt more than anything, she came off as "girl Wolverine". But Duggan, was incredibly respectful of her presence and gave her motivations that made sense for the character. Same with Rogue, no again she was not the focal point of this series, but she was absolutely used better here than she was in Excalibur. And every time Duggan did touch her he showed he knew her character and her voice, then dedicated an issue towards her future developments. Was it perfect no, but Rogue definitely had an ongoing story and inclusion of character important to her which is more than most the cast had, now she's moving onto a new adventure. I won't speak for her fans but when she did get focus Duggan went overboard in showing how formidable she is imo.

[nx01a]

Enjoyable! And left you wanting more if we're being honest. He didn't take anything away from his cast, put them in interesting situations that tested their resolve and left them all in places where they could go anywhere.

Its about the most I can expect from modern comics, sure you have your S.W.OR.D's or Hellions, but usually its one or two character being given all the attention with the rest of the cast being incompetent. I think it was for the best that Jean/Scott/Everett stayed Duggan seems to have more in mind for them. However, he did the most with Polaris in years and helped demonstrate a new side to her character which I hope other writers develop, did little to nothing with Sunfire but set him up perfectly to join Red plus he consistently showed that Sunfire was a powerhouse I look forward to seeing where he lands.


I gotta pushback on the sentiments express in this thread for Wolverine and Rogue, no they were not the focal points but to be fair most the cast weren't Jean, Polaris, nor Sunfire had ongoing story arcs. Wolverine however did, I think her voice hurt more than anything, she came off as "girl Wolverine". But Duggan, was incredibly respectful of her presence and gave her motivations that made sense for the character. Same with Rogue, no again she was not the focal point of this series, but she was absolutely used better here than she was in Excalibur. And every time Duggan did touch her he showed he knew her character and her voice, then dedicated an issue towards her future developments. Was it perfect no, but Rogue definitely had an ongoing story and inclusion of character important to her which is more than most the cast had, now she's moving onto a new adventure. I won't speak for her fans but when she did get focus Duggan went overboard in showing how formidable she is imo.

Exactly. You've summed up my feelings on the run perfectly.

[PolarIceFire]

Welp, for starters...

X-Men by Gerry Duggan Vol. 1 Paperback – March 1 AND X-Men By Gerry Duggan Vol. 2 Paperback – September 27, 2022, @amazon

THEY will be the 1st in my HoX/KrakoArakko Kollection, while I hopefully await the full, deluXe HC edition, and comfort myself w/some selects from HeLLions, OG Marauders, XFAQtor, WoX, SWORD, NuMu, etc., in the meantime.

[Jackraow21]

Exactly. You've summed up my feelings on the run perfectly.

Same. It was enjoyable. Not on the same level as X-men Red or Immortal X-men for me, in that it’s just not as smartly written. But an enjoyable book IMO for sure. The art certainly helped it out a lot too.

[ARkadelphia]

Gold was better

[Kurolegacy]

It was decent but I wasn’t really a fan of the Game World overarching plot especially when it kinda turned the entire thing into a monster of the week kind of comic. It never really felt like the X-Men were really being challenged, which is always part of the spice of any superhero comic. All in all, I liked it better than Hickman’s anthology style X-Men but hope that year 2 can bring more meat to the story.

[PolarIceFire]

Same. It was enjoyable. Not on the same level as X-men Red or Immortal X-men for me, in that it’s just not as smartly written. But an enjoyable book IMO for sure. The art certainly helped it out a lot too.

For argument's sake, I'd say that's by design. It is to the X-line what the Avengers are/were to the MCU, and/or what arena bands are/were to music's touring industry: a more easily accessible...
CROWD-PLEASEr, for both casual & diehard fans alike. Immortal & Red are far more eccentrically steeped in the current lore of Krakoa & Arakko.

So, unless already indoctrinated, their density & other, more unconventional content choices... makes them more boutique, pretty much by default. You need 1 2 B the 'mainstream' flagship, in order to have the other(s). Sorta like the head, tail, & claws... of the DRAGON!

[Uncanny X-Man]

For argument's sake, I'd say that's by design. It is to the X-line what the Avengers are/were to the MCU, and/or what arena bands are/were to music's touring industry: a more easily accessible...
CROWD-PLEASEr, for both casual & diehard fans alike. Immortal & Red are far more eccentrically steeped in the current lore of Krakoa & Arakko.

So, unless already indoctrinated, their density & other, more unconventional content choices... makes them more boutique, pretty much by default. You need 1 2 B the 'mainstream' flagship, in order to have the other(s). Sorta like the head, tail, & claws... of the DRAGON!

I really like the analogy and wholeheartedly agree.

[Frontier]

For argument's sake, I'd say that's by design. It is to the X-line what the Avengers are/were to the MCU, and/or what arena bands are/were to music's touring industry: a more easily accessible...
CROWD-PLEASEr, for both casual & diehard fans alike. Immortal & Red are far more eccentrically steeped in the current lore of Krakoa & Arakko.

So, unless already indoctrinated, their density & other, more unconventional content choices... makes them more boutique, pretty much by default. You need 1 2 B the 'mainstream' flagship, in order to have the other(s). Sorta like the head, tail, & claws... of the DRAGON!

It's even like the MCU Avengers where they shake up the team roster right when it's getting settled.

[Rev9]

Stellar artwise, ok featwise ,underwhelming storywise.

[GeneTitan]

I'm at HeroesCon in Charlotte. I went to the Jonathan Hickman and Scottie Young panel. When talking about the "X-Men" book that preceded Duggan's run, Hickman said that book was never meant to be called "X-Men." Marvel gave it that title b/c of marketing in sales. Hickman said the plan was to always tell mutant stories in that book and things would eventually lead to Duggan's "X-Men."

This may not be news to most of you, but I wonder how Duggan's run would've been perceived if there was no "X-Men" title attached to Hickman's book.

Also, is Pepe Larraz not staying on as the artist? He recently posted on IG when issue 12 was released"...on this final issue of our X-Men run."

[Mercury]

I'm at HeroesCon in Charlotte. I went to the Jonathan Hickman and Scottie Young panel. When talking about the "X-Men" book that preceded Duggan's run, Hickman said that book was never meant to be called "X-Men." Marvel gave it that title b/c of marketing in sales. Hickman said the plan was to always tell mutant stories in that book and things would eventually lead to Duggan's "X-Men."

This may not be news to most of you, but I wonder how Duggan's run would've been perceived if there was no "X-Men" title attached to Hickman's book.

Also, is Pepe Larraz not staying on as the artist? He recently posted on IG when issue 12 was released"...on this final issue of our X-Men run."

God, I wish I would've been able to ask Hickman a few questions...

Also, C.B. Villa is taking over artistic duties for "year two" of X-Men.

[jwatson]

Enjoyed the run, felt like it was in a holding pattern half the time. would have liked to see more. i think the team change is happening too soon and honestly want Cyclops/Synch/Polaris at least to remain (still want Jean in red, i'm bias and feel it could do more for her). Think the vote book should have been a seperate book like "public x-men" or even "secret xmen" where it was a maxi series with the vote but the ongoing with a vote kind of derails things imo. like i feel there is more for the team.

[Steroid]

The art was of course phenomenal and Duggan damn sure did right by my dude Synch. That being said as a team book it wasn't very good but unlike Duggan's Marauders it actually benefited me this time when Duggan forgot about writing the whole team.