Art by the incredible Hayden Sherman and Tamra Bonvillain

Think about it. Marvel heading into SDCC had a lot going against it:

-The Ultimate Universe’s hype and momentum died, which allowed DC’s Absolute to become a juggernaut.

-Brevoort’s X-Men line is underwhelming

-Spider-Man

-The Midnight line does not inspire optimism

-Editorial repeatedly ends books at issue #10 and relaunches those books with #1s, and more often than not, keeps the exact same creators for those books (Scarlet Witch, Moon Knight)

-Editorial’s reputation was so awful it turned people off of Marvel.

And now out of the blue, Cebulski’s out and Wacker is in. I think it’s safe to say Marvel, on the comics side of things, knew it was gonna get torn apart at SDCC thanks to the reasons I listed above. There was no scenario where Cebulski would quell fan criticisms or worries about the future of Marvel.

Now Wacker being named EiC is a surprise, but now the dude has to leave a great first impression at SDCC (assuming he will be there in the first place) or people will probably not be encouraged to touch Marvel.

Cebulski being replaced also creates questions with what will happen to Lowe and Brevoort. Brevoort’s X-Men line is neither selling well nor the fans like it. Brevoort has also been at Marvel for 30+ years, he has to be replaced. And Lowe is viewed as one of Marvel’s most incompetent editors. I think keeping the two of them around with only Cebulski being replaced won’t fly with fans.

What happens next week at SDCC will be telling of Marvel’s future.

Charles Soules is a genius. When I got to the last four issues, I couldn’t stop reading during this storyline.

All the fights are 10/10 badass.

Loved Frank challenging Matt’s morality, that he’s not high and mighty letting the criminals go get the death penalty instead of letting Frank kill him.

And the art is beautiful. Some of the best I’ve ever seen in a comic.

The only constant is change but regardless the move to CA is pretty startling

What writers of ongoing titles defined characters, presented amazing stories, or just managed to keep consistantly high quality over a long time?

Runs that are for the 2000s and 2010s what Frank Miller Daredevil, Alan Moore Swamp Thing, or Marv Wolfman Teen Titans are for the 80s.

I know there has been only two issues out so far, and finally got around to reading them last night. HOLY SHIT, this is good!! The colors and artwork are great so far, and the story is quite compelling! Honestly shaping up to be my favorite read by Image Comics this year!!

I get it that when Claremont was fired it was kind of a scramble to get anybody to work on all of the X books, many of which were double shipping. So I get how me might have initially been brought on, but he outlasted SO many other writers on all of those books, despite him being a pretty bland to bad writer.

Guys like Niecieza, Ellis, David, and Waid were all brought in to the X rotation while Lobdell was working on the main book, and Lobdell outlasted all of them.

Was he just a company man and that was a strategy that worked? He had a very slim writing resume prior to being brought on UXM. I know Harras was an asshole and difficult to work with, and apparently Lobdell is too, was it just a boys club thing?

It’s so wild going through the X Men in chronological order and seeing just how many books he wrote. He worked on both of the main book, Excalibur, Gen X, and tons of the 90s miniseries and tie ins. And none of his stuff was very good compared with most of the guys that came and went in that office at that time. He did a handful of really good issues (the Magick death issue always stands out).

But so much of his writing felt like he was trying to write like Claremont, but the only thing he took away from Claremont was to make it “complicated.” It lacks any of the theming, narrative strength, characterization, or prose of Claremont but still tries to constantly tie everything together unnecessarily.

Just weird that this is the guy who became the tentpole of the X line when compared with the other people working on those books.

I've been reading comics for years. I'm a former comic retailer and journalist. I'm working on an article about the secret rules of DC and Marvel Comics that new readers don't get told about. Like how does the sliding timeline work, or new number one issues, or crossover events, or variant covers?

There's a lot of weird rules about DC/Marvel superhero comics that aren't really written down anywhere, and I am interested in actually making a list of them.

So, when you started reading what was confusing for you? Or, if you're new to reading, what still seems confusing to you?

Amazing artwork by Dev!

Found on Instagram @thealexrossart