Would a mass boycott of the X-books work or would it be counter-productive?

[Bl00dwerK]

A drop in sales might be exactly what Marvel wants. They would have the perfect excuse to cancel the line, if that's what they're wanting to do. I say keep buying them and show they we won't go down w./o a fight...

[Icefanatic]

It's a catch-22 situation. If you don't buy the books, Marvel will say there is not enough interest/sales and cancel more X-Books. If you do buy them even though you don't actually like what is in them Marvel will say that's what people want because it's selling and keep producing more of it.

There is literally no way, as a fan, to win.

Personally, I am boycotting ordering any more Marvel comics until Uncanny X-Men #600 actually, FINALLY ships; or hell freezes over, whichever comes first(I'm betting on hell experiencing a cold front). Speaking as an Iceman fan, a month's delay, then four more month's delay, and now ANOTHER month's delay on that issue has been hell, and apparently a needless, ridiculous one at that. If Bendis is to be believed the comic was ready for print many MONTHS ago, and is being held up because of...*editorial reasons*

Uggh.

I dropped DC completely about a year after Flashpoint and the rise of the New52, and have cut my Marvel order to just a few books. My comic buying and reading focus is now on Image and Valiant. I not only enjoy what I read from them, I actually feel good about supporting them as publishers. At this point, I am completely turned off to DC and Marvel as publishers, and Secret Wars and the All-New ALL-Different Marvel reboot looks to be a good jumping off point for me.

Less of a boycott and more of a goodbye.

[MarvelMaster616]

A drop in sales might be exactly what Marvel wants. They would have the perfect excuse to cancel the line, if that's what they're wanting to do. I say keep buying them and show they we won't go down w./o a fight...

Exactly. I think Marvel would love it if people started boycotting the X-men. It gives them exactly what they need to prop up the Inhumans. Never mind that to date, every effort at creating an Inhumans series has not succeeded in terms of sales. But if people stopped buying X-men, then Marvel certainly would love it because it means there's less support for X-men overall. That weakens Fox and that helps them. They want Inhumans to become bigger than X-men. They want the X-men to fade to the point where Fox will part with the movie rights. But that's never going to happen. Fox will never give up those rights. Just look at how terrible the Fantastic Four movie turned out. And yet Fox still wants to make a sequel. That should prove that Fox is never letting those rights go, no matter how much Marvel hates it. And by not supporting X-men in the comics, fans would just be giving Marvel more reasons to negate them. So it's really one of those catch 22 moments. There's really nothing we can do to change Marvel's approach to X-men.

[TheNewFiftyForum]

Out of pure curiosity (I've read maybe 15 X-Men comics in my life and have no agenda or preferences about them what so ever): What's so bad about the upcoming X-books?

[motherofpearl1]

I think it would only work if people stopped buying all their stuff!

And stopped going to the movies - although, saying that, Age of Ultron got some bad reactions from fans and a lot of people were disappointed in Thor 2.

Movie wise, Marvel need to stop damselling their heroines.

[The Fury]

You can't just boycott a book, they'd think it's just not selling well. They need to be made aware that a boycott is occuring, you need to specifically tell them why you aren't reading their books. And not just X-men, all of them.

[Username taken]

I think we should wait and see how good or bad the book are before we start dropping them.

I don't like what I've heard (the whole extinction angle has been played before) so far but the creative teams aren't bad and the stories just might turn out to be good.

If they end up being bad, then I'll stop reading.

[The Fury]

If they end up being bad, then I'll stop reading.

Many of us don't have that excuse... we stayed during Austen.

[wwise03]

I think you're being unfair. If you haven't read anything from Jeff Lemire yet, you have no idea how good of a writer he is. Also, I highly doubt you know the story he is telling. It could very well be completely original. Also, I highly tout a boycott started on comicbookresources.com's message boards will even register in the sales numbers.

[jwatson]

I can't speak for anyone else but it's really not that deep for me. My fave mutants for the most part are around and I'm going to buy because I want to read them. The best boycott if your going to do it would be to not buy other marvel books i would think. Money talks.

[LocoSteve]

It would not work. Also I doubt a mass boycott would come to fruition at this point.

[donpricetag]

It'll super backfire. Marvel doesn't even really care about the money as much as they did. Their company is no longer solely subsidized via books, merchandise and licensing. They've got the mouse. You boycott something they don't really care much for any, they'll either cancel the book entirely or cut back the output, until it cancels itself.

[Fokken]

Fans of Storm, Iceman, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Magik, Jean, Logan, Magneto, Monet, Fantomex, Mystique, Psylocke, Sabertooth, X-23, and everyone ELSE featured in an X-title: HOORAY! This looks entertaining!

Fans of everyone who is NOT featured in an X-title: BOO! This is trash and doomed to fail!


Arguing against the Extinction angle for the X-Men just seems silly.
As many have already pointed out, that whole thing has been a staple of the X-Men for a long time now through multiple events and we all read them.
Extinction Agenda, Second Coming, AvX, The Legacy Virus, the Phalanx Covenant, Decimation, House of M.

Fans always claim they want new and original stories, but just so long as it doesn't stray too far from what they love. Its a very delicate and impossible balance to achieve.
Wolverine is dead, long live X-twenty-rine! YAY! BOO!
Cyclops is out! Storm is back in! YAY! BOO!
Jean is back! Jean is back, but its kind of a different Jean! YAY! BOO!
Angel! Archangel! Amnesi-gel! Alterna-gel! Teen Angel! YAY! BOO!
Kitty is this years IT girl. No its Jubilee. No its Armor. No its Pixie. No its Oya. YAY! BOO!



Endless.

[petrefax]

The only reason we are getting the titles we are getting is because the X-men sell too well to be canceled. A boycott would do nothing Fox will continue to have the film rights until they are no longer profitable and if Marvel sees the X-men don't sell any longer it would give Marvel the impetus to pull back the amount of titles or write off completely and share the same fate of the Fantastic Four who do not have a title coming out because it didn't sell. Disney only cares about the IP farm that Marvel comics provide. They could theoretically get rid of it's comics division and just the Marvel IP's to make movies and tv shows, video games, t-shirts, toys, and Disneyland rides alone.

[People Of The Earth]

Lemire and Bunn are great writers, so I'm not gonna drop their books until they give me a reason to do so - like Bendis did during his X-run.
Especially now that the line seems to get a sense of direction...
I'm curious to see how many people who are currently swearing up and down they won't touch an X-book/Marvel book anymore in sign of protest, will effectively stay true to such stance and walk the talk all the way.
I'm betting not much.