My disconnect from modern comics really began with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run. I LOVED Grant Morrison's New X-Men. Maybe my favorite comic run ever. 1/many

The problem is that Marvel itself seemed to hate it, almost immediately undoing everything Grant did the moment he left the franchise. That bothered me. It felt like a huge step backwards.

Given, I liked Whedon's run, too, but it wasn't going to last. Marvel decided that mutants were an origin cop out, and decided to kill off the greater mutant community, something that was built up by Morrison. The idea that Marvel was hell-bent on retconning my favorite run hurt

But not anywhere near the end of House of M and the Decimation. "No more mutants" is burned into my soul. Comic books were dead to me after that for a long time. The only good thing I saw was the radicalization of Cyclops, an extension of his character development from NXM/AXM

Cyclops tried to set up a mutant safe haven with Utopia, similar to what Magneto tried to do with Asteroid M and Genosha, but without existing as a hostile/rogue nation, but Utopia got torn up anyway, because, as we learned in NXM/AXM, the Xavier Dream was built on lies

In short, Cyclops came to the conclusion that Magneto was indeed right - human/mutant peace is impossible - and adopted a mutant-separatist agenda, even joining forces with Magneto. It was the only thing from the NXM run that survived and thrived - Cyclops' character development

The problem I see now with House of X and the aftermath is that it basically makes the X-Men into the Inhumans, a group of elites and hierarchies. Magneto's mindset has won... And it's all wrong. Mutant separatism has turned the X-Men into the very thing Xavier was trying to stop

Worse yet, this mutant separatism is being spearheaded, supposedly, by Xavier himself (I have my doubts that this revived Xavier is legit). The truth is, Magneto and Xavier are both wrong, especially in execution. The ends DON'T justify the means.

There's also a difference between mutant separatism and mutant self-determination. This is where Magneto is wrong, Cyclops failed, and Xavier never really believed was possible. Cyclops failed because humans don't want peace. Magneto is wrong because separatism creates hostility

Xavier is a hypocrite and, in some ways, a human bootlicker. He wanted peace at the expense of true equality and freedom. He was also willing to harm, manipulate and enslave others to achieve his ends. And for what? So mutants could ultimately be lapdogs to humanity

The thing that really bothered me about Whedon's run was the return of the hero costumes. Why? Public image. After years of finally being the masters of mutant destiny, the X-Men were expected to be Avengers Lite. But the selling point of the X-Men was that they were DIFFERENT

The X-Men aren't the Avengers. They're not a team of super crime fighters. They're soldiers in a war of self preservation. They are essentially the Black Panthers, not the Justice League. And sure as hell not the Inhumans, Asgardians or the New Gods

I realize that this makes me sounds like the Old Man Yells At Cloud meme, but comics ended for me with Astonishing X-Men, with a brief return for the 2016 Marvel reboot. Ms. Marvel came as close as any title has to bringing me back to the fold

I keep seeing people say that this House/Powers of X era is great. Maybe it is. I haven't read any of it, it could very well be great. But nothing about the premise appeals to me. Nor do I feel like this era is s going to last. I think it's going to get wiped like Morrison's run

I've been disappointed too many times by comics, and the constant rebooting, rehashing and retconning, making stories I love mean nothing in the long run. Are the current X books good? Maybe. But I have no interest in wasting time/money for stories that won't matter in 5 years.

As for the state of the industry itself? Gonna grab some popcorn and let the lot of you sort it out. This is about as deep into that discourse as I choose to go. Primarily because I'm not reading modern comics. I have no stake in this anymore

I just wanted to share my story and thoughts on the franchise that made me love, and eventually hate, reading comics.