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

[porcelainfire]

I agree. It would be best to support only X-Men titles. If sales stay strong with the X-Men, no matter what Marvel throws out, they will see that the X-Men fan base is still there. They would not want to loose money. If you boycott X-books, it would be aligning with Marvel ideals which is to diminish the X-Men to promote their other properties. If they see that the X-Men drop in sales, they will have reason to cut them, using excuses like fans are just not interested so we won't sell them. Now if the other books drop in sales, it would be cost effective in that they can't produce a book the fans are just not buying, making room for more X-books.

[Wiccan]

Obviously not. They will just find the perfect excuse to cancel everything like they did with FF. You should try boycott Fox Movies.

[Taral-DLOS]

I'm a huge fan of the strategy of "I don't like this book, so I will choose to not buy this book." It may have minimal impact on creative direction, but you save your money and your time, and you end up not consuming things you don't like.

I got into an argument with a guy who was a Star Wars completionist but didn't like reading newer Star Wars novels. When I said he shouldn't buy them, he somehow believed that buying and reading $30 books he wasn't enjoying (some to the point of not liking at all) was better than not reading them. His view was that all Star Wars was good, even when it's terrible.

But we fall into those traps here too in X-fandom (all fandom, really). So let's not buy things we're not interested in, and instead find things we are interested in. For example: liked Gillen's Uncanny X-Men? His Image work is great right now.

I myself will be at least trying the first arcs of all three X-team series (plus All-New Wolverine). If I don't enjoy them, I'll stop after 4-5 issues.

[Super-Cyke]

If they character-assassinate Cyclops I am more than ready to never spend money on a Marvel comic again


Give me Cyclops, or give me death

[Jynx]

So let try and understand this you want to boycott books that you haven't read yet, do not really know what the story is going to be, you only know the basics of what each book is going to be about. All the X-books now seem to have a different purpose and all different cast of characters in my opinion that is a good thing. About the story itself how about remember a lot of writers bring back old ideas for stories and add new ideas that make there story so much better then the original idea. Like I said you have to give something a chance before you decide to not buy it and or boycott it. If it sucks fine boycott it, but give something a chance before you decide the story and books suck. Problem is a lot of people on this board have already decided this is going to be bad and there is nothing that will change there minds. The books aren't even out yet and you talking about boycotting something you haven't even read yet or even tried to give it a chance.

[The Fury]

So let try and understand this you want to boycott books that you haven't read yet, do not really know what the story is going to be, you only know the basics of what each book is going to be about. All the X-books now seem to have a different purpose and all different cast of characters in my opinion that is a good thing. About the story itself how about remember a lot of writers bring back old ideas for stories and add new ideas that make there story so much better then the original idea. Like I said you have to give something a chance before you decide to not buy it and or boycott it. If it sucks fine boycott it, but give something a chance before you decide the story and books suck. Problem is a lot of people on this board have already decided this is going to be bad and there is nothing that will change there minds. The books aren't even out yet and you talking about boycotting something you haven't even read yet or even tried to give it a chance.

Nothing to do with the quality of the books, that's not what a boycott is.

[Moriarty]

lets boycott books that haven't even came out yet. yeah, great idea.

[Piston]

it would absolutely NOT work.

make no mistake, marvel would be pleased with nothing more than to see x-men fans reject what is left of the x-men in this day and age.

in fact, an ideal situation for them would be to convert what remains of the x-men fanbase over to the inhuman line of books. that way they get to keep their 'hated and feared' audience on books they actually own, and could happily retire the x-men line with "no hard feelings." they would come out looking like the good guys in this situation, and the population would love them for it and sing their praises.

what would be a more productive and effective use of your time is to boycott and reject the inhuman books that marvel is planning on publishing.

not only for yourself, but anyone you know. spread the word of what has been happening in this regard. reject marvel on this matter, and you will see results closer to what you are looking to accomplish.

The idea that Marvel is expending money to produce a product that they actively want to fail simply because Fox has the movie rights is stupid. The MCU movies have mad a TON of cash and there is no evidence that the Fox X-men movies are negatively impacting the MCU movies' bottom lines. Sure, Marvel would like to have the X-men back, but even if they actually canceled all of the X-men comics Fox would continue to make movies and they would continue to make money. As evidenced by the comic sales versus movie ticket sales figures, comics readers make up a tiny portion of the folks seeing these movies. Fox is not Sony, and regardless of what Marvel does, X-men properties will continue to be a cash cow for years to come. The X-men film rights are not going back to Marvel anytime soon and Marvel clearly know this. If anything, Marvel actually has an interest in keeping the property hot to some degree, because once the current X-men and Avengers lines of films runs their course, if there isn't a reboot of some kind, then a Fox/Disney joint production may become appealing to both entities. Even with a 50/50 split of profits this film would do HUGE money for both studios.

And as others have pointed out, trashing this story as an inferior version of decimation based on a handful of preview pages is ridiculous. We have no idea if this will be better, worse or the same quality as decimation. And while there are some similarities in the general concept being out now, we really don't know how this will all play out. It could be markedly different once things get rolling.

Finally, as far as Inhumans goes, while I'm sure Marvel would like the comics to take off now, that's not really the point. They've brought the concept to a certain, relatively low, level of success at this point, but they are playing a long game here. The Inhumans presence on Agents of Shield will build some interest in the property and then their movie will take it to the next level. The comic is there to entice those who are interested and provide supporting add-on sales to those whose interest in the product are peaked by the tv show and movie properties. Even if these comics continues to tread water with middling sales, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

[AcesX1X]

case in point, there will be voices that will tell you how ridiculous you are in your stance and try to tell you to love the inhuman. they will tell you to sit back and let marvel destroy something we have all grown to love. something we all hold dear to our hearts.

these voices will still be there years from now, when we have finally lost every bit of the thing we once loved, encouraging us to love this new inhuman era. it is your decision to listen to these voices or not.

but i promise you this x-men fans, the battle is not lost. we have not yet lost everything, though it seems like we have lost much up until this point. do not let them win.

[jawbreaker]

no, you should support the X-titles! also support and buy X-products (the little thats still out there) like the Funko Pops, so Marvel sees all the potential money they are letting slip by just b/c of some petty grudge with Fox.

Do boycott everything Inhuman, the books, the movies, tv appearances(so no AOS) everything. Only when Inhumans fails they will realize they have no choice but to profit of the X-men, even if just with books, merch, and animation. The reason they feel the can toss the X aside is b/c they think Inhumans will make up for it but when they see that Inhumans are not getting the same results they will have to change their minds.

[Omega Alpha]

case in point, there will be voices that will tell you how ridiculous you are in your stance and try to tell you to love the inhuman. they will tell you to sit back and let marvel destroy something we have all grown to love. something we all hold dear to our hearts.

these voices will still be there years from now, when we have finally lost every bit of the thing we once loved, encouraging us to love this new inhuman era. it is your decision to listen to these voices or not.

but i promise you this x-men fans, the battle is not lost. we have not yet lost everything, though it seems like we have lost much up until this point. do not let them win.

And I'll once again remind people that the same thing happened with the F4- from two books, to one, to none.

[DDD]

The books have been shedding at least 60k readers over a few years and they are not improving. I think it would only reinforce Marvel into doing the same thing over and over again no matter what. I buy what I like and moan on message board. That's all I can do. I think my whining got someone to acknowledge Destiny as Mystique's true lover. You can still kind of get satisfaction. 2 of the new line ups had a few token additions at the last minute when people complained.

[BlkGldBlu]

I dislike the fact that a grudge match between Marvel and fox is effecting me as a reader. I read Comic books not the movies shows or animated series. To me those out lets are just expensive advertisement, to either expose new audience to the characters or genre and brand. Sure as a read and fan of the xmen and comic's i get excited for other meadia outlets and videogames but my culture is in graphic novels. The commercialization through Marvel/Disney as great marketing pull they have i feel will just eventually stale the whole industry as a whole. To the point these characters will no longer be recognizable to us, or simply fade into obscurity and eventually limbo death. Sure i buy toys tshirts and costumes for my nephews and niece's and watch the movie and shows, but marvel is losing the art form and culture to corporate profits. So if the integrity isn't already dead its dying. Want proof. Movie right is affecting the quality of my Readership.
As for rehashing old story lines, the xbooks fatal mistake was no longer being the minority and the next step in human evolution in which there was gandful fight against the entire world to survive and thrive in a world where no one barely knew the exsited and had every right to fear. But the moment the mutant baby boom happen it just lost its charm. From a handful of mutant in the world to a few that were in the school. To a millions faceless mutants that did nothing for the brand or foundation in the xbooks.

[DDD]

The books won't improve if you support them or not. It won't change anything. Case in point, countless best selling books that got made over anyway. Claremont was still selling strong when they gutted UXM.

[TakoM]

The idea that Marvel is expending money to produce a product that they actively want to fail simply because Fox has the movie rights is stupid. The MCU movies have mad a TON of cash and there is no evidence that the Fox X-men movies are negatively impacting the MCU movies' bottom lines. Sure, Marvel would like to have the X-men back, but even if they actually canceled all of the X-men comics Fox would continue to make movies and they would continue to make money. As evidenced by the comic sales versus movie ticket sales figures, comics readers make up a tiny portion of the folks seeing these movies. Fox is not Sony, and regardless of what Marvel does, X-men properties will continue to be a cash cow for years to come. The X-men film rights are not going back to Marvel anytime soon and Marvel clearly know this. If anything, Marvel actually has an interest in keeping the property hot to some degree, because once the current X-men and Avengers lines of films runs their course, if there isn't a reboot of some kind, then a Fox/Disney joint production may become appealing to both entities. Even with a 50/50 split of profits this film would do HUGE money for both studios.

And as others have pointed out, trashing this story as an inferior version of decimation based on a handful of preview pages is ridiculous. We have no idea if this will be better, worse or the same quality as decimation. And while there are some similarities in the general concept being out now, we really don't know how this will all play out. It could be markedly different once things get rolling.

Finally, as far as Inhumans goes, while I'm sure Marvel would like the comics to take off now, that's not really the point. They've brought the concept to a certain, relatively low, level of success at this point, but they are playing a long game here. The Inhumans presence on Agents of Shield will build some interest in the property and then their movie will take it to the next level. The comic is there to entice those who are interested and provide supporting add-on sales to those whose interest in the product are peaked by the tv show and movie properties. Even if these comics continues to tread water with middling sales, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

You are properly right to say that we just keep our heads cool but Marvel's strategy on Agent's of SHIELD and movie front depends too much that the taste of the consumers don't change. To sum up the formal it is : based on heroes, it is dark and it is full of action and not much story.

If any of those 3 elements starts to fail Marvel production is screwed on this front.