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Well, we did it. We survived another year of bad comics,
thanks to a fair amount of good ones, and some few rare gems
buried in the crap. But overall, things have been ok in the world
of X, and hopefully things will get better.
So, what all happened this year that was so amazing?
We learned a lesson. Never listen to hype. Or Jemas and
Quesada. Once those two get going, just drown it out, theyll
say anything big and shocking to move comics off the shelves,
and it rarely delivers. Granted, this may sound like an obvious
lesson, but Quemas took their brand of hype to whole new
depths this year, with U-Decide, and Rawhide Kid: Slap
Leather, for starters. Best to buy what you like, and what looks
interesting to you, than try and watch the Bill and Joey Show.
Casey left Uncanny. His replacement, Chuck Austen, came
onto the title with very little fanfare, and he certainly wasnt a big
name (Heck, neither is Joe Casey, in my opinion), but he has
brought a depth of understanding, story-telling ability, and
knowledge to the X-Men that we have not seen on the title in a
good, long time, as well All of this brings to the book some of
the best-written stories weve seen in that time, with actual
momentum, sense, and characterizations behind it. Yay.
This year also saw a near-cataclysmic event, as I dropped
one of the core X-Titles (Two, if you count Ultimate X-Men.
But I dont, so lets move on.), New X-Men. The reasons why
can be found in the archives, but to sum up, its not the X-Men.
This title isnt just doing new and different things, which I am
more than ok with, but the characters in this book bear
absolutely no resemblance to any version of them that may have
gone before. Things like this are ok in say, Ultimate X-Men, but
with established characters, it just shouldnt fly. Almost
everyone Ive talked to that likes New X, either has never liked
the X-Men, so dont know something is wrong, or just dont
care.
We also learned that Marvel has no idea what a penciler
does. Looking over the four core X-Titles, over the last two
years, they have had roughly 30 pencilers over those two years.
Thirty. For more fun, lets not count X-Treme X-Men, which
had Salvador Larocca do every issue of the series AND the
annual since the title started, and you still have 29 pencilers
between three titles. Let that sink in for a minute. Done? Does
this sound wrong to anyone else?
Wait, it gets worse. The regular pencilers on Uncanny and
New have done roughly five issues each for the entire year.
Five, out of 12-15 or so issues. The guys who are the main
artists for these books cant even do half. Not even half!!
Admit that you goofed, Marvel, and stop calling them regular
artists, because no one else is, including the fill ins you hired,
such as Igor Kordey, who did the bulk of New X-Men this
year, AND almost every issue of Cable and Soldier X. I may
not like his art that much, but I have to admire his work ethic,
and he deserves to be considered New X-Mens regular artist
for 2002. Same with Sean Phillips over on Uncanny X-Men.
Heres hoping things are thought out a lot better for 2003.
And finally, this year saw hardly any output from Rob
Liefeld, and definitely none darkening the doorsteps of the X-
Office. Heres hoping THAT continues in 2003. At least
Marvel learned something from all the times they got burned by
him.
Coming up in 2003, is a new creative team on Wolverine,
with a relaunch, something I had hoped Marvel would see just
doesnt work. This past year saw Cable, Deadpool, and X-
Force all restarted, and none have kept any of their new
numbers, Cable/Soldier X sinking to new depths of the sales
charts, and the others remaining fairly stable, even losing some
sales. Once the critically acclaimed creative team on
Deadpool/Agent X leaves, Im sure that will plummet quickly
down the sales charts as well. Wolverine is at least getting a
new creative team that has some quality to it (Greg Rucka and
Darrick Robertson), and Im sure will do well, but I hate
restarting just to get a new #1. This leaves only Uncanny X-
Men as the only non-restarted Marvel comic, to the best of my
knowledge. DC at least understands legacies, as far as this
goes, and 2003 will bring us Action Comics 800.
Also this year, are some expectedly huge movies, in X-Men
2, Hulk, and Daredevil. There will be numerous comic tie-ins,
more along the lines of Spider-Man, and not the total botch that
the first X-Men movie effort was, supposedly.
Overall, 2002 wasnt a bad year. Marvel stumbled (Some
may say collapsed in a crumpled heap), but at least we as
readers have learned things, if they havent. Heres hoping 2003
brings us more good stuff, hopefully a trimmed down X-Line,
once certain titles get canned.
Hope everyone had good holidays!
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