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    X-Men

    Team » X-Men appears in 13410 issues.

    The X-Men are a superhero team of mutants founded by Professor Charles Xavier. They are dedicated to helping fellow mutants and sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them.

    Good story but pointless?

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    rodwell

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    #1  Edited By rodwell

    I just read someone's comment on an xmen story and they said it was a entertaining story but it seemed pointless and it got me thinking. I starting thinking of the idea of story vs continuity. Let me explain, some story's can be really good and interesting but ultimately not effect anything. For example age of x or schism, I feel schism really effects continuity but the story itself is just not that great. However I would consider it an essential story to buy as oppose to age of x even though that is better. Then it got me thinking how messed up is that. I would rather buy a worse story and advise others to buy a worse story because of the stories that come after, as opposed to the strength of the story itself. Why is this? My conclusion has something to do with the sheer number of x books and the need to cheery pick and the desire to follow the overall story of the x verse

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    Koays

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    #2  Edited By Koays

    My 2 cents:

    I have no love for Morrison's run anymore. I enjoy the Jean Grey stuff and the pacing is awesome, not to mention the world building is something that the X-Men just didn't have before his run. But overall from start to finish, he ruins the run with character assassination.

    The guy with the claws isn't Wolverine, the new Emma Frost (while better) isn't the one we last saw, and Cyclops isn't a team leader or a human being beyond being an irredeemable A-Hole because Morrison never tells you that he's recovering from Apocalypse possession PTSD.

    Still , in order to get to the truly great stuff that happened from 2004 - 2008 I have no choice but to tell people to go read it Morrison's work since the books that came from the relaunch at the end of his run are in my opinion some of the best in a long time.

    It's a sacrifice we make to grow the fandom.

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    John Valentine

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    #3  Edited By John Valentine

    @koays said:

    My 2 cents:

    I have no love for Morrison's run anymore. I enjoy the Jean Grey stuff and the pacing is awesome, not to mention the world building is something that the X-Men just didn't have before his run. But overall from start to finish, he ruins the run with character assassination.

    The guy with the claws isn't Wolverine, the new Emma Frost (while better) isn't the one we last saw, and Cyclops isn't a team leader or a human being beyond being an irredeemable A-Hole because Morrison never tells you that he's recovering from Apocalypse possession PTSD.

    Still , in order to get to the truly great stuff that happened from 2004 - 2008 I have no choice but to tell people to go read it Morrison's work since the books that came from the relaunch at the end of his run are in my opinion some of the best in a long time.

    It's a sacrifice we make to grow the fandom.

    Mentioned several times.

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    Koays

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    @john_valentine: I recall one time when it was mentioned in passing early on. Not at any points during New X-Men when Cyke's morals become questionable.. I do remember alot of "He's going through some things" and "Jean doesn't get it" but the plot point is at best implied IIRC.

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    John Valentine

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    #5  Edited By John Valentine

    @koays said:

    @john_valentine: I recall one time when it was mentioned in passing early on. Not at any points during New X-Men when Cyke's morals become questionable.. I do remember alot of "He's going through some things" and "Jean doesn't get it" but the plot point is at best implied IIRC.

    I'll have to check. Thought Jean mentioned it when talking to Wolverine/Beast or something/it was mentioned when Scott was being consoled by Emma. There were definitely references to it, though. Cyclops-Xorn?

    That said, it's been a while (a year and half at least) since I've read through New X-Men, so I might have assumed this passed on prior knowledge.

    You're right in saying that this is certainly not a main theme throughout the book, though, which maybe it should have been.

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    Koays

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    @koays said:

    @john_valentine: I recall one time when it was mentioned in passing early on. Not at any points during New X-Men when Cyke's morals become questionable.. I do remember alot of "He's going through some things" and "Jean doesn't get it" but the plot point is at best implied IIRC.

    I'll have to check. Thought Jean mentioned it when talking to Wolverine/Beast or something/it was mentioned when Scott was being consoled by Emma. There were definitely references to it, though. Cyclops-Xorn?

    That said, it's been a while (a year and half at least) since I've read through New X-Men, so I might have assumed this passed on prior knowledge.

    You're right in saying that this is certainly not a main theme throughout the book, though, which maybe it should have been.

    Beast alluded to it when talking to Jean while reassembling Emma but that was the "He's going through some things".

    If it had been a recurring point i dont think there'd have been nearly as much flack for the way things ended up between he, Jean and Emma but Cyclops is a supporting character at best for most of the run so he doesn't get much exploration.

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    HAWK2916

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    Well every single story arc doesnt have to change the status quo. I think thats something that the current writers and editors look to do to promote every event and crossover. While Age of X didnt accomplish what Schism did, there were minor changes that just havent been capitilized on like repowering Chamber and making Frenzy a hero and one the xmen's allies. Also I tend to think that not the most talented or creative writers are put in the main stream books. Age of X felt more like a Legacy event as opposed to Uncanny at the time. I guess it could be chalked up to the freedom or lack thereof that a writer may have but still talent should shine through though thats not always the case. Still though I could make the argument that Schism isnt essential reading. I mean you could read a summary on wikipidia or check out a board such as this and come away more satisfied than reading the actual story. I mean really the xmen split and some followed Wolverine others stayed with Cyclops after the two fell out over whether children should fight and the philosphy that everyone had been following and seemed to be perfectly fine with before. Dont get me wrong Schism is the more hyped mainstream story but its not better and while Age of X isnt as impactful, its better written. And really all it would take would be for a writer to come along and capitilize on some of what happened and then all of a sudden Age of X becomes the catalyst for a major development much like the Apocalypse thing for Cyclops

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    rodwell

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    @hawk2916 said:

    Well every single story arc doesnt have to change the status quo. I think thats something that the current writers and editors look to do to promote every event and crossover. While Age of X didnt accomplish what Schism did, there were minor changes that just havent been capitilized on like repowering Chamber and making Frenzy a hero and one the xmen's allies. Also I tend to think that not the most talented or creative writers are put in the main stream books. Age of X felt more like a Legacy event as opposed to Uncanny at the time. I guess it could be chalked up to the freedom or lack thereof that a writer may have but still talent should shine through though thats not always the case. Still though I could make the argument that Schism isnt essential reading. I mean you could read a summary on wikipidia or check out a board such as this and come away more satisfied than reading the actual story. I mean really the xmen split and some followed Wolverine others stayed with Cyclops after the two fell out over whether children should fight and the philosphy that everyone had been following and seemed to be perfectly fine with before. Dont get me wrong Schism is the more hyped mainstream story but its not better and while Age of X isnt as impactful, its better written. And really all it would take would be for a writer to come along and capitilize on some of what happened and then all of a sudden Age of X becomes the catalyst for a major development much like the Apocalypse thing for Cyclops

    Good points agree 100%

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    Avenging-X-Bolt

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    A good story is a point in itself.

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    kasino

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    this is comics 99% of the stories don't effect continuity

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    AwesomePerson

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    I'll probably get killed for saying this but I think AVX

    What was the point of that story? At the end, it was basically the Avengers saying they know mutants are feared and the Phoenix thrown in to make it more dramatic, just like 90% of x-Stories do!

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    deactivated-5a162dd41dd64

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    @rodwell said:

    I just read someone's comment on an xmen story and they said it was a entertaining story but it seemed pointless and it got me thinking.

    Sounds like every review I've ever written for an X-men comic.

    Except for the entertaining part, by and large.

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    oldnightcrawler

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    if the best thing you can say about a story is that it's relevant, what does that say about the story?

    Schism and Avengers Vs. X-Men may have implemented changes that would lead to the directions that followed them, but that shouldn't be enough for them to be considered essential reading. What happened of relevance in either case can be summed up in a few sentences. What should make a story essential is a combination of story quality and relevance, but both are somewhat subjective, and I personally don't see any story as relevant if I don't think it's a good story in the first place.

    You can read Whedon's Astonishing X-Men without having read Morrison's New X-Men or even any other X-men comics. I've known quite a few people who started with Whedon and not only had no problem with not knowing who Cassandra Nova was (or what happened to the mysterious Jean Grey, or who most of the characters were to begin with), but still became X-men fans because of it. That's just because it's a good story, not because it's relevant to anything else.

    I got back into reading comics with Regenesis, so I only knew the bare bones of what happened in Schism, but it didn't matter; by the time I got around to going back and reading Schism, I just felt like I didn't really need to, since I already knew the results and the story itself really wasn't that great. Then I did read Avs.X before the Marvel NOW! initiative, but the Marvel Now books all started off explaining what happened in that story anyway, so again, since itwasn't a great story in itself I felt like I needn't have bothered.

    I guess Battle of the Atom was supposed to be relevant since it crossed over through the four main books, but it wasn't as good a story or use of the characters as the The Arms of The Octopus story that happened at the same time. AotO made me interested in seeing the "O5" in continuity, BotA just made me drop 'All-new.

    I mean, there are lots of non-essential, yet awesome X-men stories that are just way better stories than any of the big crossovers or events, and to me that in itself makes them more relevant to what I actually like about the characters in the first place.

    The X-men aren't my favorite characters because of what marvel or anyone else tells me is a relevant story, the X-men are my favorite characters because they've been in stories I loved. To me it's just that simple.

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    John Valentine

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    if the best thing you can say about a story is that it's relevant, what does that say about the story?

    I guess Battle of the Atom was supposed to be relevant since it crossed over through the four main books, but it wasn't as good a story or use of the characters as the The Arms of The Octopus story that happened at the same time. AotO made me interested in seeing the "O5" in continuity, BotA just made me drop 'All-new.

    I mean, there are lots of non-essential, yet awesome X-men stories that are just way better stories than any of the big crossovers or events, and to me that in itself makes them more relevant to what I actually like about the characters in the first place.

    The X-men aren't my favorite characters because of what marvel or anyone else tells me is a relevant story, the X-men are my favorite characters because they've been in stories I loved. To me it's just that simple.

    Couldn't agree more.

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