How does Mike Carey's X-Men run rate?

[Celestialbodies]

He should have been made the head writer at some point during his tenure. I always thought his stories and ideas deserved a bigger spotlight unfortunately that didn't occur.

[etrumble]

Give it a go if you like Xavier, Rogue, Magento and several of the New X-mens like Trance.

Heh, simple typo makes me want that fan fiction world of X-men libidos overboard.

Professor XY
Rouge
Magento

you get the point

[H-E-D]

He should have been made the head writer at some point during his tenure. I always thought his stories and ideas deserved a bigger spotlight unfortunately that didn't occur.

It seemed like there was a point where it was either going to be him or Kyost that wrapped up the Hope arc, and it ended up going to Kyost.

[IN-a-Synch]

OMG yes, I enjoyed Supernovas but the Blinded by the Light arc was just superb.

You know I was reading it a couple of months ago. To this day I now realize now that What Gambit said to Nate was him actually helping.

[Selene]

I loved it all. Supernovas, the arc with the mummudrai on Cable’s island of New Providence — which was awesome and Cable was in a really cool place as a character then, doing cool shit — the arc with that creepy doctor who was stealing mutants’ powers, and then Blinded by the Light too. Loved the fight scene with Nathan versus Gambit and Sunfire.

The fight against the Hecatomb is honestly one of Nathan's best moments ever.

[Jackraow21]

You know I was reading it a couple of months ago. To this day I now realize now that What Gambit said to Nate was him actually helping.

Yes, that was interesting but I don’t recall it really ever getting followed up on. Did it, and perhaps I just missed it?

The fight against the Hecatomb is honestly one of Nathan's best moments ever.

For sure. That arc was so awesome. And it ended with Nathan getting his telekinesis back too, which he had lost. He temporarily had his telepathy back as well when he merged with the mummudrai, but that didn’t last while his TK was retained… a gift, as he called it, from said mummudrai.

That’s one thing that’s always been annoying about Cable… he’s lost and regained his powers more times than Logan has had his healing factor taken away even. Between that and the T-O virus flaring out of control, it’s a well that writers go back to constantly and it’s a bit stale IMO. In my view the best Cable is a solider and cyborg first, and a psychic second… if at all. That makes him unique as opposed to just another TP/TK powered mutant.

Personally I’d like to see a new status quo for him set in stone that prevents the constant cycle of “T-O virus raging out of control, nerfing his powers, then it subsides somehow and he’s uber powerful again… rinse and repeat.” This is how I’d do it…

- In X-men Red right now it’s clear that his virus has mutated, most likely due to exposure to cosmic radiation from trying to control the Peak’s descent as it crashed to Earth in the final issues of S.W.O.R.D. The arm even looks different now at times, and underneath the metal plating is much more Technarch (or Transmode virus) in appearance, looking like Warlock (only black with glowing blue highlights as opposed to black with glowing yellow highlights).

- So at some point it should be revealed why Cable wanted to be brought back with the virus in the first place (he said to study it further) and also why Brand wanted to obtain a sample of it. Coming out of that plot resolution, whatever it is, my hope is that we get a new status quo for Nathan in this regard whereby his techno-organic virus becomes benign or dormant, though it still remains a part of his cellular structure and runs throughout his body. But it becomes something that enhances his durability and strength without the downside of continuing to eat his organic tissue. So he’s still very much a cyborg who has techno-organic tissue meshed with organic tissue at the cellular level, but it’s basically no longer a deadly virus.

- Because his powers will rage out of control without being mostly concentrated on keeping the virus in check, however, this presents a serious risk for Nathan as it could physically tear his body apart over time (e.g., X-man) and also cause mental degradation/instability (e.g., Stryfe). His body was never meant to house this much power, which is probably due to the fact that he was genetically engineered by Sinister as kind of a chimera, if you will, in that he essentially combined the DNA of Jean Grey (via her clone) and Scott Summers. As opposed to Rachel who was conceived naturally, and is also unique in all the multiverse as there’s not another version of her — at least this exact genetic version (which was recently established)… just roll with it, people, as I think we can make the pseudo-science make sense here.

- So… Hope and The Five simply work to nerf Nathan’s powers genetically, by tweaking his DNA. He’s now “psi sensitive” with low level, tactile telekinesis. Meaning he can sense some thoughts or intentions, but only in close proximity (like in Spurrier’s X-Force run where he could see what was about to happen before he walked into a room). And his TK also only works in close proximity, basically augmenting his strength and allowing him to pick up/move things that are nearby or that he’s physically touching. Nathan being Nathan, of course, he figures out how to use his newly nerfed TK in conjunction with the technology (techno-organics) running throughout his body to create energy force fields, similar to the ones he had in the Deadpool 2 movie.

All that is to say that would be a pretty cool status quo change for Nathan that would end the stupid cycle of T-O virus flare up and powers raging out of control and/or going away completely. Just make him a cyborg infused with benign techno-organic bits, and low level psychic abilities that augment his physical capabilities. Boom. Problem solved.

[cable guy]

You know I was reading it a couple of months ago. To this day I now realize now that What Gambit said to Nate was him actually helping.

I forget what Gambit said to Cable. I just remember Cable's reply was something like "What... did you just say"?

Anyway yes, Carey was great. Loved his stuff.

[IN-a-Synch]

I forget what Gambit said to Cable. I just remember Cable's reply was something like "What... did you just say"?

Anyway yes, Carey was great. Loved his stuff.

"We’re thinking it’s one minute before dawn", Gambit said that to Cable to (I'm assuming) to get Hope to safety. Nate told the professor (computer) to check it out for him. We never got any concrete answer because Shiro and Gambit was terrorizing Him. He did say it to Hope as a baby when no one else knew who had the baby,
as the sun was rising.

I say that to say Mystique was working with Remy. So she probably revealed to him a prophecy from Destiny diaries. (all to bring rogue back to health)

[cable guy]

"We’re thinking it’s one minute before dawn", Gambit said that to Cable to (I'm assuming) to get Hope to safety. Nate told the professor (computer) to check it out for him. We never got any concrete answer because Shiro and Gambit was terrorizing Him. He did say it to Hope as a baby when no one else knew who had the baby,
as the sun was rising.

I say that to say Mystique was working with Remy. So she probably revealed to him a prophecy from Destiny diaries. (all to bring rogue back to health)

Yep, very cool stuff.

[Mutant X]

Mike Carey is the spiritual successor of Chris Claremont.

He knows chronology and understands each X-men character so well.

His Advectiveless arc Blinded by the Light is a modernized version of Mutant Massacre.

Endangered Species is an amazing horror story.

And the rehab work he's done with Professor X is genius.

It's a shame he had never been the main X-writer.

Seems like he was left out by the X-office until he gave up.

[Minerboh]

Ι really liked No More Humans OGN.

[Jackraow21]

"We’re thinking it’s one minute before dawn", Gambit said that to Cable to (I'm assuming) to get Hope to safety. Nate told the professor (computer) to check it out for him. We never got any concrete answer because Shiro and Gambit was terrorizing Him. He did say it to Hope as a baby when no one else knew who had the baby,
as the sun was rising.

I say that to say Mystique was working with Remy. So she probably revealed to him a prophecy from Destiny diaries. (all to bring rogue back to health)

Yeah, I wish we'd gotten some follow up regarding that phrase... how Remy knew it, and why it meant something at all. That's an unresolved thread I'd have liked to have understood better as it implies some connection there between Gambit and what he knows and Cable's future or destiny in this regard, considering the quote jumped out at him enough to have his computer check into it.

[alexphantom]

It was great for the most part, especially Supernovas and Blinded by the Light, some of the best X Men I've ever read but it trailed off a bit towards the end though.

[BobbysWorld]

If anyone ever read his work on Ultimate Fantastic Four, the two arcs he did with Seed 19 and Thanos felt a lot like what I'd imagine his take on Krakoan era stuff might look like. Seed 19 and their war with Acheron felt like the kind of stuff that could easily be reimagined or repurposed in keeping with the Arakkii/X of Swords or the Life 6 or Life 9 stuff from Moira's previous timelines, etc, etc.

[sage]

Like some other users have said here, the first half of Mike Carey's tenure on X-Men was superb. His work on X-Men Legacy wasn't bad but his writing was superior when it was still adjectiveless X-Men. "Age of X" was also a high point.