Wondering about the interrelations of the various X-Books over at Marvel? Axel Alonso lays out the internal thinking behind them:
With the Marvel NOW! X-Men line, it was pretty clear out the gate that “All-New X-Men” — which focused on the Lee and Kirby X-Men, returned to the present — would be the core X-Men series, and that the “Uncanny X-Men” would now focus on Cyclops and his band of mutant revolutionaries. Once these two pieces were in place, we knew what space was left for other series. ” Wolverine and the X-Men” stayed focused young mutants at the Jean Grey School, struggling to find their place in the universe. [Editor] Daniel Ketchum and [writer] Si Spurrier relaunched “X-Men Legacy” so Legion replaced Rogue as the core character. [Editor] Jeanine Schaefer and [writer] Brian Wood redefined adjectiveless “X-Men” as an all-female X-Men team. And [X-Men Group Editor] Nick Lowe conferred with two writers — Sam Humphries and Dennis Hopeless — and saw the potential for two X-Force titles: “Uncanny X-Force,” which focused on two characters from Rick Remender’s run, Fantomex and Psylocke, and “Cable & The X-Force,” which focused on a team of X-Men that became fugitives for a crime they didn’t commit. The goal was to provide enough variety in the line that a reader could decide what they want to read.
I get that the Bendis/Immonen/other artists pairing makes All-New X-Men a flagship book for Marvel, but I admit; I’d not thought of it as the core X-book, because it doesn’t feature the characters that we’ve been following for years as regular lead characters (with the exception of Kitty). For me, Wolverine & The X-Men was the core book, in that it hews closest to the original concept and centers around “today”‘s incarnations of the characters, not a time-tossed retro team. Another reason, perhaps, why I’m not the editor-in-chief of the most successful comic book publisher in America.
February 4th, 2013 at 9:20 am
What a very DC Comics approach to things, then. Only without a retcon/reboot to make the nostalgia possible.
February 4th, 2013 at 10:40 am
I agree with you, Graeme; All-New seems too specific to be the core title.
While Wolverine and the X-Men is the closest to the X-Men’s original premise, it’s interesting that Wood’s X-Men book is probably the closest to what they’ve become. So far, it sounds like the only one that’s a super team type of book like Uncanny X-Men was years back.
I’d really prefer if they sold it that way, too, instead of the “it’s all girls!” bit.
February 4th, 2013 at 11:05 am
Wolverine & the X-Men is my favorite, but I’m also enjoying All-new enough that I’ll check out Uncanny again. I dropped the last run that started alongside WATXM after #1.
I really don’t like Woods and having YET ANOTHER book for Storm and other X-people that I’m not a big fan of seems like a waste. I’ll try it at least.
I don’t like Legion, so I didn’t even bother with Legacy. The entire existence of the book seems unnecessary, and based on the negative reviews, I’d expect another reboot for that one soon.
February 4th, 2013 at 11:09 am
Wolverine and the X-Men is the only X-Men book I’m reading, but I’d never in a million years say it’s anything above a tertiary book. It’s way too goofy to be a big time book with most readers.
February 4th, 2013 at 12:39 pm
I love All New X-men, and Wolverine & the X-men. I will check out Uncanny and the all girl X-men (I love Jubilee). I quit reading all X-books for years, because they sucked so badly. It is nice to have top-talent handling my favorite characters again. Can’t wait to see where Bendis goes. So far so good, but then his Avengers run started great and fizzled out around Secret Invasion. If you ask me Wolverine & the X-men is best X-book so far. It has humor, action, great characters, but mostly it has heart. That coupled with a good story, is what the X-men are all about. LOVE that book!
February 4th, 2013 at 2:28 pm
In a society where mutants are retconned and wear bathing suits.
February 4th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
I believe Marvel’s X-title strategy is not to label something ‘core’ because it could potentially take away sales from other ‘B’ or ‘C’ list titles. However, people are savvy enough to know that Bendis’ titles are the flagship titles right now.
That said, I am really enjoying Wolverine and the X-Men. Aaron has captured the energy of Morrison’s run, especially the Jean Grey School is essentially Hogwarts bit. This is the de facto New Mutants/Young X-Men title right now. I am also looking forward to Brian Wood’s X-Men because I love the cast. All New X-Men is very enjoyable, but I keep going back-and-forth on the title. The shipping schedule is rough. Plus you have to factor in purchasing Uncanny X-Men when it starts.
February 4th, 2013 at 11:51 pm
plus you are not in charge of anything because based on you inane posts…you are an idiot
February 5th, 2013 at 4:49 am
Wolverine and the X-Men can’t be the core book of the line because it’s awful, with nobody written in-character. It’s NEXTWAVE for X-Men. The key book to the line is whichever book you want it to be, though. If your favourite character is Dazzler, you read her in X-Treme and it doesn’t matter at all what happens in the other books. If your favourite character is Psylocke or Cable, then again – the ‘main’ book has no impact on you.
Marvel can say a book is the core title (and they probably have to in order to keep Brian Bendis happy), but for about 10 years the core of the X-Men is that there is no core. You have Morrison and Claremont at the same time. Gillen and Remender. And now Bendis or Spurrier, Aaron, Pak, anybody you want it to be.
February 5th, 2013 at 7:12 am
He doesn’t mention X-Treme X-Men or Astonishing X-Men. We know X-Treme is up for cancellation in April. Is Astonishing heading for the chopping block too?