Musing on the X-titles and comics in general

[angelophile]

Speaking of superheroes, man, my comic pull list is dwindling. I've bitched about this before - that a couple of years ago I was still picking up every X-Title going. Now? Well, I'm down to Ellis's Astonishing X-men and kinda indifferent to that.

I did pick up the X-men Legacy issues with Emplate, which reminded me that Mike Carey can write, be fun and has respect for characters and a knowledge of their histories, but sadly, I was already soured to the title by the extended and dull "Professor X takes a road trip" storyline, the re-villianication of Juggernaut and other elements. But I lost all respect for PAD and his X-Factor title when he pulled the revolting stunt with the baby, Matt Fraction's jockish sex-men makes me want to punch myself in the face, X-Force is just torture porn - occasionally well written, but do I want to put myself through that?

CBR's advanced X-men solicits don't do much to persuade me to jump back in either. In fact, just the opposite. By launching a big cross-title crossover, it makes it all the easier to drop the one title I am picking up for the duration of the crossover - New Mutants. A decision that's made even easier by the solicit teasing yet another "shocking death of a team member" moment. You know what? I find it far more interesting reading about characters living than characters dying and for the X-titles, and perhaps comics in general, that appears to be the only trick writers know. A character shockingly dies. A character shockingly returns. It's one big circle jerk.

So, the decision to drop the X-titles entirely's made easier still by the "Second Coming" crossover, especially when the solicits do a lot of foreshadowing, suggesting a revolving door aspect on death following that pattern. One comes back so another must die and it seems to be heavily implied that Emma's going to die so Jean can return. Feh.

It's sad that an X-related book that did fit my criteria of being awesome, S.W.O.R.D., was officially cancelled over the weekend, while the torture porn and lazy death plots continue to find an audience. Over at his blog writer Kieron Gillen talked about it:

"Comics operate on a system of pre-ordering. As in, the first issue’s orders were in before anyone had even read a single page of the book. The numbers which people are reporting are low enough that the inevitable second issue dip -- also ordered before anyone had read Issue 1 -- would move it into a clearly dangerously low sales for a book in the X-family. In other words, I actually don’t feel that bad about the cancellation. It was already on unsteady ground before anyone had even read the thing, and got annoyed over Sanders’ Beast design or my over-verbal theatrics."

Which beggars the question, why didn't the book get those pre-orders? It's a book with Joss Whedon created characters and setups, decently promoted, X-men related, yet stores didn't order it. Perhaps stores are just being more careful when they order non-core titles - sales on miniseries and "non-essential" titles do seem to have dipped quite considerably while crossovers have thrived, meaning the death of books like this and Runaways. Yet is an obscure Blackest Night tie in which doesn't affect the ongoing plot more essential than a book that exists almost entirely in its own universe, but is fun and entertaining? Stores appear to think so, even if the readership doesn't. Just before the official cancellation was announced a grass-roots campaign was gathering pace to save the title. It's too late for that now, but, as Kieron Gillen says:

"While cynics have noted, it’s unlikely this sort of activity will magically get S.W.O.R.D.’s run extended. But it’s not just about that. Letting a publisher know they released a book which people liked and had an audience is always worthwhile. As others have noted, if you dug it, it’s worth being grateful for five issues.

In other words, people being vocal about their like of a comic isn’t really just about trying to save S.W.O.R.D. - it’s about making it clear that this was a book you were interested in, and encourage editors and publishers to think about books in a similar part of the emotional terrain and then work out a way to sell ‘em."

I guess at the end of the day, that's the answer. Just buy the books you like and hopefully retailers and publishers will catch on that it doesn't all have to be about superhero torture porn, Deadpool over-saturation and premature death.

Unfortunately, for the X-titles, it seems there's a way to go yet.

Comments

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm probably dropping NM for the duration of Second Coming, too. Unless it becomes clear by then that they're actually bringing back all the mutants and ending this dreary "we're on the edge of extinction" line, at least. And as NM is the last book I buy, that means no comics at all until that crossover is over. I'll probably pick it up once it ends, because it gives me an excuse to get out at least once a month.

SWORD looked sort of interesting, but as crazy as it sounds, strange-looking Beast from the preview art really messed it up for me, as did the 'just a cameo' inclusion of Karolina from the Runaways (if you're writing a plot that's supposed to involve a major threat to her status, she should actually be heavily involved in the plot, too). I guess I also didn't buy the "well, we just repelled an alien invasion, so now we're going to deport every single alien on Earth" premise, either dramatically (no tension because there are too many alien characters that won't just go away and have no reason to be left off the list), or within the universe (you're cutting off all your contacts in those areas and raising a lot of bad feelings for no good reason... just because a particular alien race who's whole raison d'etre is to be an infiltrative secret invasion because they can shapeshift got past you does not mean that all aliens are secretly going to be able to or willing to sneak a similar invasion onto Earth - most will just launch a massive invasion force of ships, and if that happens, even a cynic would want members of that species on hand you can interrogate) so it fell into my 'wait and see' list.

There hasn't been a book I was excited about in a long time, save for the NM, I guess, for either universe.

[kingrockwell]

Well, it really involves a major threat to the status of a number of characters, but they didn't get more than cameos either.

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Yes, but they're not characters I care about. ;)

But really, the same applies to them, it just won't be on my mind when I'm considering how the book makes me feel. And, I'll be honest, it's a bit more to do with the solicitations than the book itself. If it had been a QUIET cameo, that would be one thing (even though, like I said, dramatically you know they're not going to really be in danger), but when the solicitations list all the aliens that have to go away now because of the new policy as though they're playing a role in the book, I'd like them to actually play a role. It feels a bit like a bait and switch. "(read solicits) Oh, cool, something new for (character I like!)... (look furthur into it) oh, she's just standing around in the background waiting for everybody else to resolve the plot."

Probably not the writer's fault, but comics is a collaborative medium and all of it goes into decisions what to buy.

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

I'm perfectly okay with the cameo idea - I rather like cameos on the whole. I'm also unphased by the "deporting all the aliens" plot, because, well, it's Gyrich's plan and Gyrich is traditionally short sighted and reactionary. I don't think anyone's meant to sympathize with the plan or think it's a good one.

[argaud.livejournal.com]

A shame about SWORD, it was fun (despite Beast's weird new looks).

But really, it surprised me it wasn't a LS in the first place. Beast does not have enough pull for a series (not even with Lockheed helping) much less Ms. Greenhair.

Now, if they had /very/ quickly announced Death's Head, Beta Ray Bill and a few other interesting characters being part of the permanent cast of the series, maybe it would have had a chance to survive a few years. Alas, it was not so.