 All
Things Must End
Generation X gets canceled as of issue #75 Just before Thanksgiving, Marvel confirmed what had been rumored the moment editor Bob Harris was fired: Generation X was indeed scheduled for cancellation come issue #75. Generation X is in fact only one of a hand full of titles getting cut, including X-Man, Bishop, Gambit, Mutant X, and Bishop. This will in fact put an end to the Counter-X line, since X-Force will be the only remaining title. In regards to the mass cancellations, editor-in-chief Joe Quesada spoke recently on about the issue. “I've heard it commented that our killing off of profitable books in a failing market is like committing suicide. Quite frankly, it's my belief that not doing this at this juncture is certain death. As I've been quoted before, we have the best seat on the Titanic; the difference between us and the ill-fated passengers of that vessel is that they didn't know that there was an iceberg in the way. Also, this isn't the first time Marvel has canceled healthy books, if I recall correctly didn't the Spider-Man line go through this most recently? I wasn't on the net at that time so can someone tell me, did any one scream "Suicide?" What we want to do at this time is not just trim the number of titles, but strengthen the quality of those books by bringing in the best and brightest talent available. I mean let's really look at this, we've got Morrison, Casey, Claremont and Millar doing core X books for us! I hear on some planets that's a pretty good line up! "I've had numerous talks with all of our X creators about accessibility and clarity of the upcoming X launch and you would be surprised at how I'm not a lone voice crying out in the night here. Everyone is on board, we know that there is so much to improve on and the destiny of our industry is really depending on it. From the core books to the fringe, all of our X writers and artist know what the mission is, basically failure is not an option.” Steve Grant, writer of X-Man, recently wrote in his “Master of the Obvious” column over at CBR about the entire cancellation experience. When talking about the ending of Counter-X and how brief its run was, Grant says “Me, I'm proud of what we did. I've got no regrets. It's not a tragedy the run lasted so briefly; it's a miracle it was ever done at all.” Brian Wood, current writer of Generation X, reacted similarly over on his message boards. “I knew this was coming about a month ago. Yeah, it sucks, but what can I do. I'm just glad to get my Four Days arc done first.“ "There's been some high praise and some harsh criticism, but what ever was being said, we knew it was all down to people caring passionately about Generation X, and that was fine by us!" says artist Steve Pugh. "If you're asking me why we got canned then I've got to admit that I don't know. This isn't the fans' fault, you did your part -- you've given us tremendous support; as I understand it, Generation X easily out sold heavy hitters like The Authority and I could give you a hundred reasons why Gen X should continue." As for previous writers of Generation X, their reactions have been very mixed. "I have very fond memories of my time on Gen X, with my partner-in-crime, Terry Dodson,” says previous Generation X writer Jay Faerber, “so while I'll always have a sentimental attachment to the comic, I'm glad to see Marvel starting to favor quality over quantity, when it comes to their X-books. From what I've read from Joe Quesada's interviews, it sounds like the Gen X characters won't be disappearing just because their title is being cancelled. So as long as the characters live on, somewhere, I think that's a nice compromise." Despite opposition, though, many fans of Generation X have begun petitions to save Gen X. One in particular which The Academy supports is at 123Petitions.Com and is being managed by former Academy writer and artist, Jacob Bond. Click here to sign your support. It is unknown how the cancellation of Generation X will affect the planed Emma mini-series by Brian Wood. However, it is known that at least one planed new series will not be hitting stands because of the cancellations. Section X, a planned fourth Counter-X book of an unknown plot, has been declared dead and will not go into production. However, all is not lost for Generation X. Before the cancellation was official, Wood made mention Gen X may survive on it a different form. “Well, as I understand the reports, Gen X would not be cancelled, just cut back to a once a year mini-series. And the reason for that is in a few months from now, the whole ‘mutants learning to use their powers’ theme will be played out in several X-books.” Also, Generation X: Underground 2 has been reported to be in a fine and healthy condition over at 40ozComics.Com. “I was a little worried about this myself,” says writer and artist Jim Mahfood, “but I actually just got off the phone with X-Men group editor Mark Powers and he will be taking over editing chores on the book. Still no release date on the book, as I've been working on it plus other freelance gigs in between. But fear not, I'll keep you all updated as things develop.” Also, X-Men Unlimited was not canceled and thus Generation X may land there doing guest-appearances. Generation X #75 is scheduled to hit stands in March.
It looks like Scott Lobdell’s Blink! mini-series has created so much hype with fans that plans are already underway for an ongoing series. Tentatively titled Blink and the X-iles, this new series will tell the story of Blink and a group of mutants from various alternate X-Men universes travel through alternate universes, a plot twist being compared to Sliders and Quantum Leap. The series will replace the recently replaced books with similar concepts and characters, such as Generation X, X-Man, Mutant X, and Bishop. The series will be written by Judd Winick, writer of the acclaimed Pedro and Me, but mainly known for being one of the first cast members of MTV’s Real World cable series. The series will be drawn by Mike McKone (Secret Society of Superheroes) and edited by Mike Marts. "We wanted to spin a monthly book out of X-Men: Millennial Visions, ’cause it went over so well," said Marts in a recent Wizard interview. "We figured Blink would be perfect, just ’cause she’s so popular." "Blink will be the leader of a ‘team’ of mutants from various realities—most from others, but some from our own—gathering pieces of a puzzle that she needs from across realities to solve her overall quest." Both new and old universes will be used, as Winick will be allowed to create his own but will also use others such as The Age of Apocalypse and Days of Future Past. There is one particular universe, though, that Winick wants to visit from X-Men: Millennial Visions. "One I like, just ’cause it’s a good hard tweak on the Marvel ‘prime’ Universe is the ‘W-Men,’ where Wolverine has taken the place of Professor Xavier. In a berserker rage, Wolverine finally killed the Professor. But the Prof crippled Wolverine in the process, and now Wolverine’s in a wheelchair. That could be fun." The series is expected around May 2001.
Larry Hama Speaks
When I was asking creators for their opinions on the cancellation of Generation X, I decided to ask Larry Hama as well. What I received instead was an interesting perspective on what went wrong with his Gen X and what's wrong with the comic industry in general. "I don't really know how much I could say about the cancellation since I haven't read the comic since I stopped writing it. Generally, I found the characters themselves distasteful and uninteresting, except for Jubilee. But then, I found Wolverine to be distasteful and uninteresting when I took over that book. The difference was that Wolverine was selling so badly at the time that nobody cared if I changed the character. On Gen X, I was given the directive by editorial to "whip it into shape" but they didn't really mean it. What editorial wanted was a more general public oriented book, but the only readers the book had were a small group of specialized fans who didn't want anything to change. Ergo, the audience grew smaller and smaller. "Sort of a microcosm of what happened to the comics industry as a whole. When I was a kid, way back in the stone age, EVERY kid owned a stack of comics. I didn't know a single kid who didn't have a big pile of them. Comic books and baseball cards were the most common form of kid capital. You traded and swapped and sold, but rarely cared about condition. It was universal currency. NOW, very few kids are into comics. It is a rarity for a kid to own a big stack and actually read them and wear them out. Before comics got bagged and graded, they were passed around a lot. Ad rates in comics were high and based on the established fact that the pass-along rate of a comic book was estimated at being 10+! That meant that if you sold 1 million copies, you could count on 10 million kids reading it! I don't believe there is a pass-along rate for comics anymore, and that is a big part of the decline of the medium as a mass-market item. I know the last half of this has little to do with the cancellation of Gen X, but it's my two cents."
Minor Tid-Bits
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Blink
Exiles Herself
