Originally Posted by
Rift
I don't think that's entirely fair. I get people being disappointed with the new and different direction, since it's not what people are expecting. Especially when the vibe feels pretty different so far. And there's nothing wrong with wanting a comic instead of a manga.
But I don't think Momoko going for a different direction is necessarily bad here. That she doesn't want to make a comic. Because taking cues from manga can be a great idea. Like there are many reasons why manga are popular, and borrowing some of them to grow is natural. Stories should feel free to take influence from each other and grow. Heck, some very popular anime were inspired by Western media, and we've had some good cartoons inspired by anime.
And this book isn't some "X-Men in Name Only" thing. They specifically chose an established (if lesser-known) X-Man who's been in the franchise for 20 years now. Armor's powers are more unique and cool, while still being recognizably her. Her plotline with Wing inspired Tsubasa and his death, and a lot of people were able to recognize the connection. There's a good chance the main villain is the Shadow King, or one of the X-Men's other longtime villains. Solicits already tell us Maystorm is going to help Armor understand her powers and what it all means. The book is clearly drawing a lot of ideas from various parts of the X-Men franchise, while still trying to get us used to the new status quo, what mutants are and what the characters are like.
The art style, different tone and choice of characters so far are different from what was expected. But it's still distinctly X. I don't think it's fair to immediately dismiss it just because some of its connections to the X-line aren't immediately obvious. And yeah yeah, Spider-Man is more recognizable to its 616 counterpart while still making changes. But Spider-Man is a single character and has much less room to deviate. And I don't think that other stories playing it relatively safe means that UXM needs to do the same. Especially when they have more room to play around with lore, powers and characters.
I also know there's some trepidation around there "eventually" being a team and the book being more traditional. You don't want to spend months waiting for something that might come, and might not even be satisfying if it does. But in this instance, I think it's reasonable to let Momoko cook. The book needs time to develop its new ideas, and it needs time to delve into the old stuff. This is also the perfect time to work on a smaller scale. Because once the team gets established and gets involved with the rest of the Ultimate verse, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.
All that said, Maystorm. Maystorm. She is a weird choice, I'll admit. My guess is that Momoko either wanted to use her, or Marvel is trying to test the waters for these sidekick characters after Spider-Boy's success. They already made those variant covers and showed them off in that Timeless one-shot. They're also variants of older characters - which is something Marvel loves, almost as much as they love fusing two character concepts together to make... variants of older characters. Yeah, I'm iffy on Maystorm. I would have preferred Surge instead.