Right now is an interesting time to be a fan of the X-Men. The Krakoa Era was a revolution, and the X-Men books became the hottest superhero comics of them all in 2019 and 2020. Writer Jonathan Hickman was responsible for some of the best X-Men stories of all time, and the other books in the line were killing it. However, Hickman’s original outline started to change as his collaborators added their own ideas, and he left the books, allowing the other creators to take the story in new directions. However, the Krakoa Era started to peter out without Hickman and the ending was nowhere as great as the beginning. Marvel ended it early, giving the X-Men to Marvel editorial legend Tom Brevoort, who kicked off the new “From the Ashes” era in the summer of 2024. While there was some early sales success, there was nowhere near the esteem that the Krakoa Era got in its beginning.
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Marvel fumbled the X-Men by allowing Hickman to leave the X-Men books and stretching out the Krakoa Era to make more money — the X-Men books kept the company going through COVID — and “From the Ashes” continues that fumble. The X-Men books have a load of problems, and it honestly doesn’t really seem like anyone actually wants to fix them. The X-Men are one of Marvel’s greatest franchises, but I don’t think they’re salvageable at this point.
The X-Men Are Dead…
The main problem with “From the Ashes” is that there are no new ideas in the vast majority of the books. The status quo doesn’t have an overarching story behind it, like most of the X-Men runs of the 21st century have. Instead, it feels more like the ’90s books, where the X-Men were pretty much just there. There’s one word that has become synonymous with “From the Ashes” and that’s rehash. X-Men is basically Bendis’s Uncanny X-Men mixed with Morrison’s New X-Men. Wolverine is trying to be Larry Hama Wolverine and failing miserably. X-Factor was basically X-Force/X-Statix mixed with the ’90s government X-Factor team, and X-Force just felt aimless, like the X-Force books before their return in the Utopia Era. Exceptional X-Men was Generation X set in the ’20s. Uncanny X-Men is the most original book of the bunch (and the best), but uses the Claremont method of character based storytelling that builds and builds. Phoenix and Storm aren’t rehashes, although making Jean Grey Phoenix again is definitely nostalgia pandering. Several have already been cancelled, and others are on the chopping block, with ends already announced for most of the second round of books. “From the Ashes” is far from a failure, but there’s really nothing exciting going on in the books. It honestly kind of feels like the line is treading water until the X-Men’s MCU debut film comes along, and the comics will basically echo whatever happens there.
There’s nothing wrong with simple X-Men stories. Not everything needs to be an era. However, the X-Men work the best when there’s something more than just cool stories. The last time the X-Men were truly great was Grant Morrison’s New X-Men (look, I love the Krakoa Era too, but it was remarkably uneven, especially as time went on) and it worked because Morrison had an idea that evolved the X-Men. The post-House of M era had a massive change, cutting the dross of the mutant race away. The Utopia Era was all about the X-Men trying to survive with greatly reduced numbers. The Schism Era gave Wolverine a chance to lead. Even the bad post-Secret Wars (2015) years had an idea behind them — the Terrigen Mist clouds and the rise of the Inhumans — even if it was a bad idea. “From the Ashes” has nothing like that, and it feels extremely cynical. Tom Brevoort doesn’t seem to have love for the X-Men (or their fans; check out how he answers fan questions on his Substack) and the only idea he seemed to bring was “rehash”. It feels like no one cares about the X-Men at Marvel, other than as a way of boosting sales. The X-Men have a lot of books right now, but no one is excited for the vast majority of them. We’re all waiting for the teams to reunite back at the X-Mansion. That’s the obvious endgame of “From the Ashes” and it’s about as exciting as an empty piece of paper.
…Long Live the X-Men
The X-Men are as cold as Iceman right now. Sales are pretty good, but the massive success of DC’s Absolute line, which started around the same time as “From the Ashes”, quickly overshadowed the X-Men line. While things aren’t completely lost — Uncanny X-Men and Storm are sensational — the line is stale and predictable. We all kind of know where it’s all going to go. Xavier will come back to Earth. The X-Men will kick the humans out of the X-Mansion. The fractured teams will come back together. The only idea behind “From the Ashes” seems to be MCU synergy.
I don’t really know what to do about the line. There’s really no easy fix for the X-Men, because it doesn’t feel like Marvel thinks there’s anything wrong. One of the problems with Marvel is that they only listen to the sales, and not the fans’ complaints. As long as the X-Men books keep selling, Marvel won’t change anything. The irony of that is that’s exactly what happened in the ’90s. The writing got worse and worse, but Marvel didn’t care because the books sold. It wasn’t until things completely fell apart later in the decade that Marvel broke the emergency glass, brought back Claremont, and then got Morrison to fix it all. The X-Men are heading that way again, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone out there who wants to change course.
What do you think about the X-Men right now? Sound off in the comments below.
