Tom Brevoort to become X-Men's Senior Editor

[a moment closer]

Capullo has started whatever it is he’s doing for Marvel…

https://www.instagram.com/real_greg_...p/C1fZUKnx1rq/

… I’m intrigued. Hoping it’s X-related.

Those guys look like the Zebra kids that live in the Savage Land.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Joe Kelly's X-Men #70 is a masterclass on how to create a comicbook that's at the same time a continuation of everything that came before while feeling like a fresh start at the same time, and flawlessly so. Every writer should read it and take note on how you do it.

[Jackraow21]

Joe Kelly's X-Men #70 is a masterclass on how to create a comicbook that's at the same time a continuation of everything that came before while feeling like a fresh start at the same time, and flawlessly so. Every writer should read it and take note on how you do it.

Think I need to go back and read that one.

[Vanvakaris]

Joe Kelly's X-Men #70 is a masterclass on how to create a comicbook that's at the same time a continuation of everything that came before while feeling like a fresh start at the same time, and flawlessly so. Every writer should read it and take note on how you do it.

Agree, that's how a transition issue should be made. The whole "I don't care about the previous status" made me don't like a lot of runs shifts this days. Even the Krakoa era started with a "I don't care about nearly the last 10 years of X-Men stories". This is not the way to go back when American comics books were so popular.

Maybe, this is one of the main problems with all the Manga vs American comics tolking these days. I mean, in mangas, the readers can feel attached to the long term characters, in both Marvel and DC, this sensation is much more difficult.

I just wish that the Brevort era could feel with the mentioned "old" soap-opera elements that made the 70s, 80s, and 90s books so engaging.

[Arachne]

Agree, that's how a transition issue should be made. The whole "I don't care about the previous status" made me don't like a lot of runs shifts this days. Even the Krakoa era started with a "I don't care about nearly the last 10 years of X-Men stories". This is not the way to go back when American comics books were so popular.

Maybe, this is one of the main problems with all the Manga vs American comics tolking these days. I mean, in mangas, the readers can feel attached to the long term characters, in both Marvel and DC, this sensation is much more difficult.

I just wish that the Brevort era could feel with the mentioned "old" soap-opera elements that made the 70s, 80s, and 90s books so engaging.

Yeah, I agree with all of this, especially the bolded part. Manga series last years if not decades and never change their creators. (Not that I can recall, anyway.) This is something Marvel and DC have lost, and I can't see them regaining the market without it.

Knowing that any element I like isn't likely to last out the year really puts a damper on my enjoyment.

[Digifiend]

There might be a few manga that change creators, but it's rare and usually only happens if the original mangaka dies.

[Steroid]

Joe Kelly's X-Men #70 is a masterclass on how to create a comicbook that's at the same time a continuation of everything that came before while feeling like a fresh start at the same time, and flawlessly so. Every writer should read it and take note on how you do it.

I absolutely agree and loved Joe Kelly's run.

[Factor]

Actually… it would be pretty great to see Kelly get another chance with the X-men.

[Frontier]

“ And certainly, the ethos has definitely shifted away from the incumbent creative team picking up the storylines and specifics of the outgoing team in the manner of years past.”

Does anyone else feel like this is one of the problems w/ modern comics? Not that new creative should be fully constrained to what came before, but it’s like each new run ends up being a mini-reboot. To me it takes away from any sense of progression the characters might have

For sure. Every time a new writer comes in, a book basically resets. There’s rarely any efforts to try and bridge gaps, especially now that they relaunch the same books almost every year.
I’m reading X-men comics through the 90s (currently on ‘95) and it’s interesting how each book actually had a core cast and direction that lasted for YEARS. Books had their own identities even if a writer changed. Of course there were clumsy transitions like Lobdell’s Excalibur, but I’d say they were more the exception than the norm.
Now if a run ends, we don’t know if we’ll even see the concept and characters again. If the characters get relocated, their new experiences are rarely informed by what came before.
Now we get things like Percy having Jumbo Carnation and Quentin Quire on the same page without even hinting at how much Jumbo’s death motivated Quire’s entire character arc. Or characters coming back to life without reuniting with those that spent years recovering from their losses. There’s no semblance of continuity.

The ere of constant relaunches and soft-reboots.

[Grunty]

Yeah, I agree with all of this, especially the bolded part. Manga series last years if not decades and never change their creators. (Not that I can recall, anyway.) This is something Marvel and DC have lost, and I can't see them regaining the market without it.

Knowing that any element I like isn't likely to last out the year really puts a damper on my enjoyment.

It can be argued that besides the quality of the stories and character handling, one reason why it feels like no writer has yet managed to succeed Claremont or leave a comperable new mark on the franchise, is because of his long stay on the core titles in the past.

Not only did this likely create a comfortable sense of consistency when it came to how the characters were written, but also one of progression and change, since it was the same mind progressing the characters, rather than a constantly switching set of writers who all have different ideas or try to chase that big popular image someone else had set in stone.

While it's of course up to personal taste or debate as what ever these were good, bad or not just someone's cup of tea (his writing style in particular might feel quite dated now), there is no denying his influence and success at the time.

Somewhat jokingly speaking, Claremont turned the X-men into a "manga experience" and an entire generation of X-men comics reader became used to it as their standard. So it's not suprising why so much afterwards would feel... less.

And while on the subject of progression.

That's another major difference between the super hero type manga* and the classic super hero comics of Marvel and DC. Even if they might sometimes take decades to get there, they are usualy supposed to have a point of conclusion and default ending.

Some end open with the heros walking into the sunset for another adventure, others might end with everyone settling down or successors introduced, but they all have in common that at some point a line is drawn where the reader is left with the choice to take it as the end point.

A notable standard pattern for many series these days is even that it starts with little self contained adventures until an overarching story becomes established, the chapters become longer and a goal becomes established the heros eventualy have to reach.

But with the Marvel and DC super heros the goal is that there can never be a goal and this has seemingly even convinced the editors that they have to constantly cut back on developments and changes.
Which is roughly speaking because these books were arguably never meant to have longterm continuitiy.
They are running on an outdated system, with a jury rigged continuity and after 60 years that's going to produce frustration in those who become invested in the characters within a singular continuity like with Marvel comics.

*Super hero manga in this context isn't meant to refer to manga which directly copy american super hero comics, but rather those using the same themes and patterns of super powered or skilled main characters in fancy/striking outfits fighting super powered or skilled villains and monsters.

I absolutely agree and loved Joe Kelly's run.

The great "what could have been" X-men run of the late 90's.

Actually… it would be pretty great to see Kelly get another chance with the X-men.

The question is always if he could still write them lack he did back then, though? Which is often remarked to be Claremont's problem.

[Uncanny X-Man]

A quick mention of the X-Men in Tom Brevoort's latest newsletter and I think it's an interesting one - I must say I really enjoy Mr Brevoort's answers, candor and insights on his personal experience and POV.

I'm going to ask your forgiveness ahead of my question this week. It's malicious of me to do it, I know, but you were going to get this query sooner or later, and no matter what answer you gave it was going to be the *wrong* one, so it's better that we peel off the band-aid and get it over with now: In 2024, you're going to be the editor of X-Men. Mr. Brevoort, what does the mutant metaphor mean to you?

Well, Zach, I suspect that the mutant metaphor means a lot less to me than it does to many of the assorted folks who follow the series and its characters so avidly. It would be hard to be more entitled mainstream than I am, a middle-aged white man of some means. But the great thing about the X-MEN is that the metaphor at the center of it is relatable to anybody who has felt like an outcast or a misfit at some point in their lives—and haven’t we all been there at one point or another? That said,. it’s clearly of greater import to more marginalized groups, whether that be because of their ethnicity or their sexuality or their gender or what-have-you. Back when I was a reader, I didn’t really get this, not having had enough life experience to have (knowingly ) come into contact with people like the above. But I have now. And so, while when I first heard about it, I thought that Chris Claremont’s idea that Mystique had actually been Nightcrawler’s father was weird and off-putting and a ridiculous idea, today I understand how such a story is a meaningful expression of visibility for people for whom the world often isn’t very kind or accepting, and so I’m glad that Jordan and his team of creators have finally gotten to canonize that origin in the recent X-MEN BLUE one-shot. So X-MEN will always include life-and-death struggles between good and evil and fantastic visuals and larger-than-life characters. It’s a super hero adventure series, after all. But the engine that drives all of it is a story about outsiders banding together to carve out a place for themselves in the world, and to show people that they’re not as bad or as strange or as alien as they might appear to be on the surface, and are as worthy of peaceful co-existence with society as any other strata of the population.

I look forward to a bunch of people, many of whom won’t have read the above in context, going bananas on my social media feeds over the next week or two.

[Arachne]

I honestly don't think I could come up with a better answer for someone in his position to give.

[JB]

A quick mention of the X-Men in Tom Brevoort's latest newsletter and I think it's an interesting one - I must say I really enjoy Mr Brevoort's answers, candor and insights on his personal experience and POV.

I honestly don't think I could come up with a better answer for someone in his position to give.

Agreed. I always appreciate how open and honest he is with his responses.

[Ilargi]

It is an honest and mature response. It is cool to see people reflect on their past approaches and accept the changes.

[davetvs]

I honestly don't think I could come up with a better answer for someone in his position to give.

That's very kind of you; I certainly could.

To me, it reads like Will Ferrell in the Barbie movie where he figures out how misogynistic the world is and vows to change it as long as he can continue to maintain the overwhelming privilege NOT being a woman provides, as well as his position as the CEO of the company that controls Barbie's image. lol.