Tom Brevoort to become X-Men's Senior Editor

[Devaishwarya]

Here's my thinking on the Jason Aaron Avengers run. I personally didn't like the small bits I read but it made it to issue #66. These days when books are chopped at the knees as early as 5 or 10 issues in, 66 is a pretty long run. I assume that means it was selling enough for Marvel to keep it going until it wasn't. While I've seen plenty of criticism about that run, enough readers were buying it and money talks.

Exactatiously. As he said Sales numbers/Higher ups are the main (but obviously not the only) deciding factors.

And Brevoort is 1000% correct. We (myself included) here in these boards have already decided if we didn't like a particular direction/tone his X-Books were taking we're not buying them...and that is without so much as a single definitive sentence of what they may look and read like beyond "back to basics" and "From the Ashes" teaser. Absolutely nothing has been revealed yet and already we are hating it. Uninformed faux-outrage and personal "hot takes" are the gist. The trick is to be able to recognise and ignore them for what they are. Much like what we do here.

[Pulp Fiction]

The quote is also from 2012 and he has since written a lot about his views on continuity and other things on his substack. It's honestly worth checking out just generally speaking as he gives a lot of insight about the biz.

It seems he's not just annoyed with negative forecasts of his era as he mentions the Black Panther/Ridley conspiracy that was way off the mark. Unfortunately we as fans get lumped in with such looneys.

How as a black man are you supposed to read that captain america interaction? Wouldnt an editor catch that? With X fanbase being built of virtue signaling and your post specifically giving white privilege, not seeing an issue is ironic. But go on

[JB]

How as a black man are you supposed to read that captain america interaction? Wouldnt an editor catch that? With X fanbase being built of virtue signaling and your post specifically giving white privilege, not seeing an issue is ironic. But go on

Don't make it personal about me cause I'm not interested and you don't know me. But reread what he said, he was talking about being accused of bringing John Ridley on to the book to undermine Black Panther. He said "getting Ridley to handle that assignment was in no way my doing" so that makes that particular accusation that he's referring to moot.

[Devaishwarya]

How as a black man are you supposed to read that captain america interaction? Wouldnt an editor catch that? With X fanbase being built of virtue signaling and your post specifically giving white privilege, not seeing an issue is ironic. But go on

What was there to catch, really?
Some Black American men took it personally. And I can see why they would. Most, I'm betting didn't...and just thought it was bad writing from a writer who clearly came on board with his own ideology and direction that obviously didn't mesh with the Black Panther fans (myself included). Am I going to now put ALL the pressure and blame on the editorial for simply not being as offended as we were? I loathe Coates' BP run because I think it was very shoddy, half-baked, clap-trap writing (but apparently a lot of fans liked it) but you know what? I've been reading comics long enough to know that what we personally think as rubbish falls between the cracks a lot and I just have to move past it simply because it's inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

[Pantherflash]

We have that Steve Jobs Quote:



And I tend to agree with that.
Last time Marvel gave what readers wanted we got Mark Guggenheim's X-men Gold. The lowest point in the X-men franchise since the 90's.

So I'll give Brevoort the benefit of the doubt and let him present his approach for the team.

To be fair, we had Gen X Vol.2 with the original gang becoming mentors and Jubes got her mutant powers back. This gem didn't affect my concerns with the sales figures despite it's a book without top tier art and good writing. RessureXXtion era was really just the X-men barely surviving the Avengers/Inhuman MCU synergy and the movie rights war with Fox then...... and I have to read one of the worst comic book weddings just to ruin Piotr x Kitty shippers, well mostly Piotr fans.(Bat and Cat dodged the bullet from Tom King)

And I'm glad that was long over...

[Grunty]

If this July X-Men relaunch is bad this might be my exit from Big 2 comics as a whole. Like you said, i don’t think they should be bending to fans whims but to be like, “just ignore them,” is so sold wild to me. ESPECIALLY, because comics fandom has done nothing but shrink over the years.

To have a sales model where no one knows what’s going on is beyond insane. Whole time they’re increasing the price of books, cancelling said books more frequently, and charging the same amount for digital even though those sales “don’t count”. Not to mention the fact that each run feels like a reboot (something Brevoort said in a previous one of these) leading to very little long-term growth and continuity. Amidst all that it takes a LOT of loyalty to be a comics fan, and the reward is, “yeah don’t listen to them cause the dummies will always buy ASM no matter what we do.”

Sorry for the pessimism lol

Pessimism is easy to settle in when one notices that things are bad and agreed as such by many others silent or loud, but also that they could infact be better even just using the tools that are already there, merely requiring a risk and temporary loss to be taken.

To make a joking comparison.
Being on a passanger ship you love for it's old fashioned charm, like an art-deco design and pointing out to the captain that there is a hole in the hull, which seems to get bigger every year. Only for the captain to dismiss it because it has always been there and they had done just fine using an old diesel powered pump system to get the water out without sinking.

Even though they could not only carry more passanger, improve their reputation and safe money on the fuel cost, if they would put the ship in dry dock for a few months and hire a proper engineer to fix it.

[bishop66]

circle Feb 22 23 23 on your calendar that when comcispro annual meeting is and all the marvel execs will be there expect at least some x news i know marvel would prefer to wait but talking to a bunch of other retailers sales on rise and powers of x has been dismal ,wolverine and the first issue of mageto were strong but besides the ultimate books and contrary to what the crazies on the spidey boards here say amazing sm has been strong as ever the rest of the marvel books have been in the gutter so look forward to some cool announcements especially about capullos book

[Nisus]

to me this is what gives me hope, I could care less for continuity.

I want to see authorship and not continuity or fan kowtowing.

I think that there are comics that work great in "isolation" (not acknowledging continuity) and there are others that get elevated by previous stories. In my opinion X-Men comics work better as the latter.
It's also a matter of when, of the context of the line and the character. For example Cates made a pitch for a Hulk ongoing, but the editors choose Ewing's. After Ewing's run concluded, Cates made the same pitch, with minimal modifications and mostly ignoring the previous run. This wasn't well received by fans.

[Pantherflash]

circle Feb 22 23 23 on your calendar that when comcispro annual meeting is and all the marvel execs will be there expect at least some x news i know marvel would prefer to wait but talking to a bunch of other retailers sales on rise and powers of x has been dismal ,wolverine and the first issue of mageto were strong but besides the ultimate books and contrary to what the crazies on the spidey boards here say amazing sm has been strong as ever the rest of the marvel books have been in the gutter so look forward to some cool announcements especially about capullos book

The numbers don't lie.... Goodness, what reason is there for anyone to buy ASM other than its Spider-man? EVERYBODY LIKES SPIDER-MAN. But Zeb Wells and Nick Lowe's Gobble Gook Post Paul Saga run continuing strong sales!?? I'll rather buy Duggan's Kitty Pryde fanfiction over that hubris Post Paul ASM run. There are so many Paul internet memes piling up becomes of that book....

[charliehustle415]

circle Feb 22 23 23 on your calendar that when comcispro annual meeting is and all the marvel execs will be there expect at least some x news i know marvel would prefer to wait but talking to a bunch of other retailers sales on rise and powers of x has been dismal ,wolverine and the first issue of mageto were strong but besides the ultimate books and contrary to what the crazies on the spidey boards here say amazing sm has been strong as ever the rest of the marvel books have been in the gutter so look forward to some cool announcements especially about capullos book

hell yeah, thanks for the inside info

[charliehustle415]

I think that there are comics that work great in "isolation" (not acknowledging continuity) and there are others that get elevated by previous stories. In my opinion X-Men comics work better as the latter.
It's also a matter of when, of the context of the line and the character. For example Cates made a pitch for a Hulk ongoing, but the editors choose Ewing's. After Ewing's run concluded, Cates made the same pitch, with minimal modifications and mostly ignoring the previous run. This wasn't well received by fans.

for me when a writer is given free reign you get works like HOX/POX & New X-Men.

I totally understand and get where you are coming from, but with 60 years of continuity it's a prison for any writer worth their weight.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

How as a black man are you supposed to read that captain america interaction? Wouldnt an editor catch that? With X fanbase being built of virtue signaling and your post specifically giving white privilege, not seeing an issue is ironic. But go on

You're asking the fandom of a franchise that very rarely has a black male (or black people generally; Ororo fans had to beg for her to be used like a major character) on page historically, and typically not in a positive light when one is on page. What was this Captain America interaction?

[Steroid]

You're asking the fandom of a franchise that very rarely has a black male (or black people generally; Ororo fans had to beg for her to be used like a major character) on page historically, and typically not in a positive light when one is on page. What was this Captain America interaction?

He beat the hell out of a defenseless T'Challa and proceeded to tell him to "Go back to Wakanda"

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

He beat the hell out of a defenseless T'Challa and proceeded to tell him to "Go back to Wakanda"

Whaaaaa

That seems really out-there, though it sounds like more of a view on Cap than the writer trying to say something about T'Challa.

[JB]

Whaaaaa

That seems really out-there, though it sounds like more of a view on Cap than the writer trying to say something about T'Challa.

It's a very controversial run because it saw T'Challa's sleeper agent program exposed which eventually led to him being exiled from Wakanda, his nation falling into civil war, and him getting kicked out of the Avengers. It was a horrible time for him. While we're not privy to his contract, I would think an acclaimed writer like John Ridley would be given as much space as he wanted with minimal editorial interference. I have to look back to see if it was brought up at the time but Tom's substack is wide open to questions and I'd like to see a discussion about the decisions during that run.