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New X-Men #20 slugfest

After a couple of shaky issues to start off "Decimation", it would seem Marvel and "The House of Ideas" (sure) have started to get it right. And this is why I disagree with those who think that thinning out the mutant population somehow weakens the mutant/minority storyline. To me, it only hieghtens their struggle as a minority. Indeed, it returns them to "minority" status, as before this it appeared that there was a mutant in every household. Hard to be counted as a minority if that was the case.

The other thing I like about this development is that it returns the mutants in the MU to a state much closer to that originally envisioned by Lee and Kirby. Their original concept seems much more interesting to me than anything that has been done over the past 20 years or so. In fact, this is really the first time mutants in the MU have been interesting to me since the 80s (though Morrison's run was pretty good).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roland

[font=Georgia]Indeed, it returns them to "minority" status, as before this it appeared that there was a mutant in every household. Hard to be counted as a minority if that was the case.

Women are a minority class in many countries, despite their numerousness. The term needn't be literal to have meaning.

Shawn H.

Quote:

Originally Posted by seric26

Women are a minority class in many countries, despite their numerousness. The term needn't be literal to have meaning.

Shawn H.

Yeah, it does. Women aren't a minority; they're oppressed. Big difference. Your definition would rob them of some of what they are going through. It's lazy use of language.

Couple things. I thought House of M was atrocious, and the "thinning the herd" sounded like a terrible idea. Yet, the Decimation titles I've seen so far (NXM, Gen M, and the latest issue of X-Men) have been remarkably good. So it appears that Marvel did have a plan in place, or at least they have a pack of writers who know how to spin crap into gold.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueThunderArmy

Well, to me this is the danger of pre-judging a concept. HoM wasn't the best comic series I ever read, but it wasn't the worst, either, and it got better when I had the opportunity to read it as a whole. However, if one were to believe what was being said about HoM prior to issue #1 even being distributed, it was "crap". And if that is what one believes before they have read the book, chances are he or she will find a way to support their original opinion.

All that said, I reiterate, I think this provides Marvel a wonderful opportunity to return their mutants back to a state more closely envisioned by Lee and Kirby when they created the X-Men. So far, so good.

However, I will add this: Marvel takes so bloody long to execute an idea these days, i don't wonder that fans are POed with them. I mean, technically, this idea they are just starting to get to with Decimation started over three years ago. Blah!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roland

Well, given limited funds, a certain degree of prejudging is necessary. I've picked up series that I really wanted to be good and simply weren't, and been pleasantly surprised by certain titles I had expected not enjoy at all. But these are generally margin-of-error things, and I can usually tell by the solicitation copy if a particular title is going to be for me.

This, I think, is why a large selection of reviews and reviewers is a benefit. You may know that you typically disagree with me, or Ray, or that Shawn H. shares your tastes. If one of us picks up something and says it's good (or that it's not), it might influence your decision. Not always, of course, there are books that I will buy or would not touch regardless of what anybody said about it, but particularly for new series or new directions on an existing series I think it's useful to look around at what people are saying about a book.

In re: Decimation, I actually loved the idea that mutants were an actual population, a minority but a sizable one. I think Grant Morrison did some amazing things with the concept, and creators following him really dropped the ball. But, like I said, Marvel's writers are doing some really good work with what they've been given, and what good is having this great Morrisonian concept if nobody's using it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueThunderArmy

Well, I'm not certain Morrison's version had mutants in the minority, but aside from that, it was an interesting idea, but ultimately one that was sort of explored in Earth X.