Though X-Men: Schism is scheduled to begin in July, Uncanny X-Men will be ending in October with issue #544. This according to The Associated Press, who sat down with writer Kieron Gillen.
“The X-Men has always been a book with ideology and ideas at its heart, and to be fair to them — to best present them — you have to be entirely true,” Gillen said. “And if the story we’re telling demands that you end the ‘Uncanny X-Men,’ you end the ‘Uncanny X-Men.’ No, it’s not taken lightly — but it’s taken if it’s necessary to do it.”
So there you go, long lasting effects of a X-Men event.
So… how long before the All New Uncanny X-Men arrives?
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Now moved up to last week of September, probably.
November?
While I continue to remain cautiously optimistic regarding the DC “relaunches” the fact that so many titles that have been in print, some from when my parents were kids (Action, Detective) and since I was a kid (Uncanny X-men, Fantastic Four) are ending and either being retitled or restarted seems like “forced competition”. There are some of us that read comics for enjoyment, “escapism”, art and literary appreciation and sometimes simply nostalgia that felt some connection looking at that three digit number on the cover and thinking how long these characters’ “stories” have been going on. We don’t run out and buy two copies of a #1 (one to read and one to put in a nuclear bomb-proof package) and we don’t see the need of “number hype.”
However, in the case of the Uncanny X-Men I can see why this would be discontinued. Even after the other “core” characters were introduced in “Giant Sized X-Men #1” the main focus of the books have been on the original students (something the damn folks that made X-Men: No Class seemed to have forgotten). Then later writers turned the focus to Scott Summers being the successor to both Charles Xavier and Magneto and that long arc apparently culminates and gets redefined with “Schism”. If, as the cover suggests, Scott Summers begins to turn away from the idealistic, clearly allegorical, themes of the X-books then ending this title is appropriate. Unfortunately, it comes at a time when damn near everybody is ending long-running titles and either “starting over” or “taking a new approach” or some other current industry buzz word.
More than any other comic, the X-men titles going back to their original run in the 1960’s made me understand many of the social problems that were going on during that time. Mutants could be an allegory for several different social and racial groups and, for those of us growing up in the South during the tumult that was the Civil Rights era, it made us think about our black neighbors that others tried to make into a threat when many were just law abiding Americans who only wanted to live in peace. Over the years the X-titles have tackled other issues both indirectly and directly. War, politics, religion, relationships between the “Baby Boomers” and, ironically, Generation X.
So, if this is a true “change of direction” with another “mutant split” along the lines of the Charles Xavier/Eric Lasheer story from both the comics and the movies, then it is a noteworthy and sound creative move.
If it’s just a marketing thing to try to get in sells while folks are grabbing DC comics in September to look as “relaunched” characters, then I’m not sure if the sacrifice is worth it.
“No, it’s not taken lightly — but it’s taken if it’s necessary to do it.” If not for that quote, I’d have said 4 months… now I’ll say 8 months.
It sounds like the comics don’t want to be about ideology or reflect social issues any more, just violence
Well put, Kevin.
It is possible perhaps if they are really going after the kidlets – whose reading skills are not as advanced as prior generations – that they will dumb it down a bit.
This is what I get for giggling at the dc decisions. One of the great joys I have in collecting is pulling out my box and showing the kids 400ish non stop series and talking about the history. Stopping a series like this, ff, or action seems like putting a bandaid over a scar and say……. It’s healing….really…don’t look under the bandaid