Ok, so I admit I haven't cared a lot about the X-men since...oh, maybe when Cyclops merged with part of Aben Sur (appokolips) or so... long ago...
But I did pick up the strange Monster Island four parter that was interspaced with some other adventure, recently.
But suddenly, I discover that the powers that be have decided to end the X-men series. And start again by splitting the team into two teams with ongoing titles...
So, I see this issue #544, billed as the LAST ISSUE...and I pick it up. (SPOILERS!)
It's clearly an aftermath issue, wrapping up some mamoth conflict that has split the team up.
And it's got the splash page of the original first issue relettered...so that it doesn't really make sense...
and Mr. Sinister (do I care about him?) musing over the end of the X-men...and, it seems that he's dictating the story into some automated Harry Potter "Quick-Quill" pen that is recording HIS version of what's happened.
And then, Sinister strips and climbs into a chamber not unlike Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen....
and later gets squeezed out of some nozzle like a playdough factor product.
And then he rewrites the last scene again....and Scott packs up the photos of the team from over the years.... and Mr. Sinister says the future looks "Sinister." WTF?
What the heck is going on?
Does anyone track this issue at all?
Does it make sense to you?
Replies
"I haven't cared a lot about the X-men since...oh, maybe when"
Not long after Mariko left Wolverine at the altar, and J.R.Jr. & Dan Green plunged the level of "art" to depths unimaginable. (Yep, THAT long ago.) After that, I didn't enjoy X-MEN again until the 1st movie came out. Hollywood actually did better than the comics themselves. Who woulda believed it?
You probably posted this in the wrong section to find people who care about the current X-Men comic and the marketing decisions being made for it. There may be some here who do, but you'd find more who could answer your questions over in the General section, I bet.
You picked up an issue billed as the last of 544 issues, so it's not surprising you wouldn't understand it, especially with the way comics are written today. If there was ever a comic that was NOT a jumping-on point, it'd have to be the last issue in a 544-issue title.
As to whether you care about Mr. Sinister, my guess is you don't.
-- MSA
Somebody must be reading all those X-Men titles, but it seems the number of people who left if behind -- and I'm one of them, giving up shortly after the end of Dave Cockrum's second stint on the flagship Uncanny X-Men -- is equal to the number of current readers.
I was put off by the artwork of the second Cockrum period on the title, just like the first run...but I stuck through it, and boy, am I glad I did! The art and story of the Paul Smith run has not been matched! And it all led to the penultimate 175, with the wonderful Jason Winegard/Mastermind manipulation of Cyc and Maddie. I really liked it, but felt the sloppy artwork to round out 175 in time (the last 8 pages or so) were really poor, and have always put me off from the story. It was a shame that Paul Smith couldn't have redone those last few pages for the graphic novel, IMHO.
ClarkKent_DC said:
Good grief! I've just looked at the 1996 sales figures, as one of the earliest years you can get them for on Comichron.
Of the top 25 titles, the top 13 were X-titles, all selling 100,000 copies and above! The top 3 were all X-titles and all sold around 200,000 copies each!
The actual X-title under discussion in this thread - X-Men #544 sold 60,000 copies for Oct 2011. Wolverine and the X-Men #1 sold 90,000 but its not an indicative issue as it's a heavily hyped #1 (with incentives and god knows what else). I'd guess that not everyone bought all 13 titles each month, so we might put the figure of regular X-title readers in 1996 at 250,000. So those who stopped reading since 1996 outnumber those who still read X-Men by about 3-1, if you don't mind me being pedanticly literal about your ratio, Clark.
I have a feeling X-Men comics were selling more in 1983 (when Cockrum left the X-Men - a few years after I left them, I must say!) than in 1996. The Micronauts, long after their hey-day, were selling 166,000 copies in 1981. Maybe 300,000 regular readers of Uncanny X-Men? So the actual figure of Ex-readers vs X-readers in 2011 when stretched back to 1983 would be an even bigger ratio. 4-1 maybe.
(My dabbling here doesn't take into account all the readers that took up and dropped X-Men between 1983 and 1996 and 1996 and 2011, and thus don't show up on any of my sales figures.)
...Well , in early comics shop days , of course , stores ROUTINELY bought X-tra...Couldn't resist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...copies for saving...Oh , and I'm sad_:-(_ I missed the last Uncanny , Vol. 1 , I had fallen into this very last arc for the title .I did like the " Juggernaut marching towards them " situation , just like the CLASSIC! first Juggie story...I like " Inexorable slow-moving menace " stories , the first?? , anyway , Metal men Chemo story too .
And the ending of the San Francisco base??
The first "inexorable slow-moving menace approaching" Juggernaut story was actually X-men #11-12 with a guest artist and inker, and guest-star Johnny Storm.
Yep, I believe the San Francisan base is history. Logan and his pack are going back to the School. Don't know where Cyc and his brood are going... but it appears to be "away from the memories..."
Looking at the artwork of the first two first issues...Logan's title appears to be cartoonish and light-hearted in tone. Scott's in contrast is more realistic (god, did I say that about a comic book?) and darker..considering Mr. Sinister kills two people on camera in the opening scene.
...Thank you for the info :-) !
I read it in this condensed?? early reprint period X-MEN 48 page issue , IIRC...
Kirk G said:
Nope. Cyclops et al. are still operating out of Utopia, and the New Mutants have moved into San Francisco proper. The operations in SF are still in effect.I stand corrected. Guess I really didn't understand why Scott was saying everyone was leaving...
and then HE is shown collecting the photographs of the various graduating classes and packing
them in a box also. I thought HE was departing also.
Can someone interpret this for me?
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