The Bendis Board considers the X-Franchise at the end of 2006, and the overview is fairly consistent:
“Everything except New X-Men has gone up or stayed steady.”
“I’d say every book is better except for Ultimate. The line is definitely stronger than it’s been in a very long time, and I have a lot of faith in Alonso to take it in even more interesting directions.”
“I think the franchise is generally in a much healthier state than last year. Although I’m not a fan of Decimation/M-Day, it’s certainly given the books a more clear direction and tone. I love how X-Factor has been dealing with the fallout. I worry a bit about Ultimate X-Men, simply because I think it was much stronger with Vaughan and his predecessors. We’ll have to see though – it’s still not ‘bad’ by any means.”
“I think the X-Men franchise is at an incredibly strong point right now. The three core books all have distinctive identities, and excellent creators (after some weak runs by Austen, Milligan, and Claremont.) It’s the first time I’ve been interested in all three X-books. The two Wolverine books are best-sellers, have distinctive identities, and some of the best creative teams the character has ever had. Chris Claremont gets to play in his corners of the X-universe with two series which allow him creative freedom, and don’t tie into the other books, meaning the people who don’t like his current work (myself included) can pretty much ignore it, and his fans (ie- the 50.000 people a month who bought X-Men: The End) have two monthlies to enjoy. I’ve got no complaints abotu X-Factor, and Cable/ Deadpool. The weakest book right now is probably Ultimate X-men, which is lacking in sales/ buzz (it does all right but it should be selling a lot better, and Kirkman has been a step down from BKV.) It’s probably in need of some kind of a revamp. However the upcoming Ultimate Wolverine projects will probably still be compelling.”
Sorry, Robert Kirkman.
December 11th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Wow, that’s pretty harsh (about Kirkman, I mean). Unfortunately, I have to agree. I’ve only gotten back into comic books since March, but I’ve been reading the X-titles fairly consistently since then (plus lots of back issues courtesy of Ebay.com), but with the exception of “New X-Men,” which I haven’t checked out at all, the only disappointing series has been Kirkman’s.
Kirkman’s X-Men storylines have been disappointing, the pacing’s been off, the resolutions anti-climactic. Probably just another example of a buzz-heavy, popular writer stretching himself too thin (he’s writing what, four monthlies now?). “Walking Dead” is still worth buying, though.