Wood's X-men: Baby With the Bath Water

[Daithi]

How is it a gimmick? is the All white O5 a gimmick, or the white as hell X-Factor. It's like if its not a team full of white dudes, or just white people, people get up in arms about it. If this is how the X-men comic fans are going to treat anything that's not the same ****, I'm out.

There is no particular reason why this team comprises of all women. Especially as they are based in the school. It would be different if they branched off from the school and had their own base etc.

I don't know if it's a gimmick but it feels forced as hell in a way the O5 and X-Factor never did.

[elgrey]

I'd like the all-female cast to stay but I would really like them to have their own base and be much more a team that went out and did things rather than being teachers who sometimes get to moonlight as superheroes. I feel like Storm's really been restricted by that dual role and Rachel's a much better fit for getting out there and kicking ass than having to deal with bratty kids. The New Mutants not being utilized in Adjectiveless could then step up into roles in WaTXM as some of the faculty at the JGS. I would love to see Dani Moonstar in the headmaster role so that Storm could be freed up from that and back to leading a team on missions.

Also, the X-Men used to feel much more international to me, whereas it's got very North American based in the last few years. I would love to see the XX Men operating out of somewhere that isn't just East Coast or West Coast USA or just over the border into Canada. Why not operate out of Tokyo for a while or Buenos Aires or Addis Ababa or somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle? Or get Muir Island up and running again and bring back some of that whimsy and magic that used to be such a part of Excalibur?

[Daithi]

Also, the X-Men used to feel much more international to me, whereas it's got very North American based in the last few years. I would love to see the XX Men operating out of somewhere that isn't just East Coast or West Coast USA or just over the border into Canada. Why not operate out of Tokyo for a while or Buenos Aires or Addis Ababa or somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle? Or get Muir Island up and running again and bring back some of that whimsy and magic that used to be such a part of Excalibur?

Yeah I'd love something like that but unless they're freed from the school ties I can't see it happening.

[Tomppa]

I agree with this completely. Don't get me wrong, I blame Wood for his fair share, but I spread the blame equally amongst Marvel, the creative team, etc...

That's the spirit! There's enough blame to go around! Everybody at Marvel deserves some hatred : )

ugh god no.....he is HORRIBLE. put him to rest, and let it be done, let's get some new blood, new ideas. Damn it's like everyone wants to live in the past.

How is it a gimmick? is the All white O5 a gimmick, or the white as hell X-Factor. It's like if its not a team full of white dudes, or just white people, people get up in arms about it. If this is how the X-men comic fans are going to treat anything that's not the same ****, I'm out.

It's a gimmick because Marvel came up with the concept because they wanted to have more female lead titles, not because they came up with an organic story for these particular characters. And it feels forced because the team is based at the JGS and there are both guys and chicks there so having a non-team comprised of all females in every issue is forced. It would be a different thing if they formed a formal squad after the first few issues when they just happened to come together but they didn't and now all members on all missions just happening to be women feels forced when there are members of both gender at the school. X-Factor and O5 don't feel forced because there are no other characters in the team to be chosen for its missions, it's just those characters that already are there so it's not really comparable.
Having said that I'm not at all against having more diversity, either minority characters on teams or all female teams or whatever as long as it's good and feels organic instead forced gimmick for the sake of having an all female team.

Gotta agree with you on putting Claremont on this book though, he has passed his prime and no matter how many times people try to bring him back he just never quite catches on as much. It's time to stop living in the past and concentrate on making these current books new and good. I feel that maybe people want Claremont out of nostalgia because current books are such **** that people hope that they can get the old quality back if they get Claremont on the books again which is not gonna happen. He just doesn't have what it takes anymore.

I'd like the all-female cast to stay but I would really like them to have their own base and be much more a team that went out and did things rather than being teachers who sometimes get to moonlight as superheroes. I feel like Storm's really been restricted by that dual role and Rachel's a much better fit for getting out there and kicking ass than having to deal with bratty kids. The New Mutants not being utilized in Adjectiveless could then step up into roles in WaTXM as some of the faculty at the JGS. I would love to see Dani Moonstar in the headmaster role so that Storm could be freed up from that and back to leading a team on missions.

Also, the X-Men used to feel much more international to me, whereas it's got very North American based in the last few years. I would love to see the XX Men operating out of somewhere that isn't just East Coast or West Coast USA or just over the border into Canada. Why not operate out of Tokyo for a while or Buenos Aires or Addis Ababa or somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle? Or get Muir Island up and running again and bring back some of that whimsy and magic that used to be such a part of Excalibur?

Yes, yes, yes, all of this! It feels like X-Men being teachers first and superheroes second has also taken a lot away from them. There's no problem having them as teachers but we need another team working away from the school and bratty kids. Most of the X-Men are characters that I'll never get accustomed to seeing in that role of a teacher.
And that international feel too, not everything has to be centered in USA and Marvel already has FF, multiple Avengers teams and what not working in there so X-Men could establish a base somewhere else for a change. As mutant rights are a global issue X-Men is the perfect team to be working around the globe and not be based on US like FF who are all Americans or Avengers who are despite being a global superhero team still lead and backed by US government and SHIELD and comprised mostly of Americans. X-Men worked a lot outside of US back in the day.

[Mahes]

TBH, the "all-female" concept feels no more forced to me (and in many ways less) than character-assassination pieces like AvX and Schism that dictate that people who, despite their differences and flaws, have managed to work side-by-side with each other for years will suddenly turn into petty, squabbling, unforgiving children because OMFG! angst and drama. Yeah, it's a meta thing, but if Marvel wants to spotlight the X-Men who just happen to be female, I'm cool with it. It's not even like the book has been totally lacking in male characters (Sublime, Wolverine, Hellion and the X-Kid back-ups), they're just not the driving force.

Pretty much all this. The word "gimmick" gets put out a lot and the word is starting to lose meaning.

Current "gimmicks"":
1. 05 back in present
2. Xavier having a "shocking" will
3. Cyclops leading a "revolution"
4. Broken powers
Really, the list could go on for a while.

This title has had its issues but I think there's blame to go around everywhere. I just think it ran out of gas when it came to BOTA and never recovered.

[Imraith Nimphais]

That's kind of like if I was complaining about Storm getting her own solo and focus as the leader on other books, great for Storm fans but not so much for X-fans as a whole.
Storm isn't the only x-man not getting focus and it recently feels like we're going from one extreme of having no focus on Storm to the other of everything centering on her. All characters need and deserve face time. And writers/editors should do their best to make that work.

But anyway, I think it's unfair to blame Wood alone if this title fails. Writers don't have a say about wht events they participate in, who they have in their cast or who the artist is, not unless you're an 'architect'. Bendis took Kitty away and Wood had to work with that. Remender/Brevoort took Rogue away and Wood had to deal with that without being able to talk about it. And artists were on board for 3 issues max. Hard to see Wood as the only or even the biggest failure on this book.

I was not complaining about Rachel getting focus...I actually like Rachel and would have loved to see her character given some much needed development, other than "petty bitchin' for drama-sake". I was commenting on the writer using the End of Greys storyline and another BAF Space jaunt as reference to his story direction...As David intimated, it's high time the character got past her effed-up family history and start forging her own path. I would have been more interested if he had referenced her Askani heritage (minus the time travel crap, of course) as I thought that aspect of her life is greatly unexplored and undeveloped. And...

I was not blaming BCW alone for the travesty of events pertaining to X-Men. In fact, of all parties I've always maintained he carries the least amount of blame (and mainly from the perspective that his story-telling was not up to par), the majority of which fell to the editors and their obvious disinterest in seeing this title become a success by switching out the characters and artists so early on, among other transgressions.

[Imraith Nimphais]

TBH, the "all-female" concept feels no more forced to me (and in many ways less) than character-assassination pieces like AvX and Schism that dictate that people who, despite their differences and flaws, have managed to work side-by-side with each other for years will suddenly turn into petty, squabbling, unforgiving children because OMFG! angst and drama. Yeah, it's a meta thing, but if Marvel wants to spotlight the X-Men who just happen to be female, I'm cool with it. It's not even like the book has been totally lacking in male characters (Sublime, Wolverine, Hellion and the X-Kid back-ups), they're just not the driving force.

I quite agree and I do like the idea of switching out characters as the story permits while keeping a core cast and solid direction.

Wot I cannot agree to is having Claremont on writing duties. I've been re-reading his early XM work with Cockrum and Byrne recently and I am generally disgusted (in a "rolls my eyes" way) with the tedium of his particularly recurring tropes. Thank the Goddess I read his 80's into 90's stuff first back then. In addition to artistic stability, we really need someone new and distinctive to give this book an identity.

But first they need to figure out its purpose.

[Kisinith]

But first they need to figure out its purpose.

Honestly I think thats true of everyone at the JGS, even if you don't like Bendis his books have a purpose, X-Factor and X-Force have purpose, the Nightcrawler, Magneto and Cyclops solo's all have a purpose but the JGS books just have a gimmick.

[Omegastorm]

Honestly I think thats true of everyone at the JGS, even if you don't like Bendis his books have a purpose, X-Factor and X-Force have purpose, the Nightcrawler, Magneto and Cyclops solo's all have a purpose but the JGS books just have a gimmick.

Bendis has no purpose that has actually been shown in a comic book.

o

[Mahes]

Bendis has no purpose that has actually been shown in a comic book.

o

His books have the appearance of going somewhere and has the bonus of being billed as the books that drive the X-Men's narrative.

Compare that to JGS side and you find that lack of focus overwhelming.

[Imraith Nimphais]

Honestly I think thats true of everyone at the JGS, even if you don't like Bendis his books have a purpose, X-Factor and X-Force have purpose, the Nightcrawler, Magneto and Cyclops solo's all have a purpose but the JGS books just have a gimmick.

Other than WatXM and X-Men wot are the other JGS books are there?

[Anduinel]

Other than WatXM and X-Men wot are the other JGS books are there?

Amazing X-Men.

[Imraith Nimphais]

Ah! Completely forgot that one.

WatXM...features the X-Kids (kind of/sort of/but not really) not doing much just sitting at school waiting for the adventure to come to them.
X-Men...X-Women going on adventures.
Amazing X-Men...Assorted X-Men going on adventures.

Yup, Kisinith...no distinctive raison d'etre between the three.

[jdtennesse]

Shogo's story will be wrapped up but for now he might stay here... Depend on the writers. Sure, he can come and go as he pleases. Somehow I couldn't get around to like him or care about him. As for the team being official - which of the teams is official anyway? Are they like backed by the government or something? Of course not. Do they get a get-go from any real officials? Whatever. Let's just hope that the end will be better than the whole run - it was a bit bland to me.

[victor borkowski]

Yeah I'd love something like that but unless they're freed from the school ties I can't see it happening.

whatever happened to that island in the burmuda triangle illyana was taken to limbo and came back as a teenager, old Claremont run era.