Issue 5 - Flying Solo

There have been a lot of X-characters over the past 40 years who've tried to go it solo and survive in their own books. Sometimes it's worked, and sometimes you get a book like X-Men Icons: Rogue.

A successful solo title requires several characteristics: a new and innovative take or creative vision for an existing team player, a colorful cast of sidekicks and fleshed out rogue's gallery, and most importantly a title character with enough depth to generate a large and rabid enough fan base to keep said title alive for years. Let's look at a couple of solo books that got it right and some that got it wrong. Then I'll look at the most recent crop of Solo-X books and sound off on the characters that should have their own books.

The Goods:

Cable (Robert Weinberg's run): What happens when a great hero fulfills his destiny? When the hero rides off into the sunset, where does he go? That's the question Robert Weinberg asked when he began his run on Cable. The man who came back in time to stop the rise of Apocalypse had done just that, but had to continue living in a chaotic world. The story was shown through the lens of a sci-fi/horror/murder mystery epic and utilized Cable's extended family and friends in arcs that fought demons, merged timelines, and delved into a deep governmental conspiracy.

Bishop: The Last X-man: Apparently I have thing for time-lost X-Men. What do you do with an X-Man who's from a future that may or may not come to pass and you already have another character in a similar situation? Send him to a different future, a post-apocalyptic one (possibly literally) ruled by his arch-nemesis, make his sister the damsel in distress, and surround him with a bunch of fun young mutants desperate for someone to unite them. The epic fantasy geek in me loved everything about this series, I only wish we could see more of the X(M)-Faces sometime in the future (our future or theirs, I'm not picky).

Gambit: (the ongoing by Nicieza) Explored Gambit's past and relationship with Sinister, with his father, with the New Orleans guilds, and with his own powers. A well-crafted book that was able to weave itself in between Gambit's adventures with the X-team, not constantly putting him in seventeen different places at once (like a certain six-clawed Canuck you might know). Additionally, Gambit had some great supporting characters like Courier and Fontanelle, as well as the X-Cutioner and Belladonna.

The Bads (and the Uglys):

Soldier-X: Inconsistent characterization and power fluctuations and the painful to look at pencils of Igor Kordey made this book everything that Cable wasn't. Marvel took a book that wasn't broke and "fixed" it. They removed the strong supporting cast, and put Nathan in a series of "real life" crises. All, which in my opinion paled in comparison to the "fake life" crises he usually dealt with. Luckily, the run was short-lived, and Cable's back to form in Cable-Deadpool.

X-Men Icons: Rogue: Let's take a character who has really stagnated over the last ten years or so and put her in a LS that should have advanced her character and let it grow but instead retconned her past with a boring and ill-paced crapfest. The problem with most limited series is simple - the story can't support the four or six issues as published. At best, most of these stories should be one to two issues long, but get dragged out longer to sell more comics. There isn't enough space for real complexity and too much for a straight forward solo adventure.

Emma Frost: When originally solicited, Emma was the X-Men golden girl. A fulltime X-Woman with a bad girl attitude and becoming a major player thanks to Grant Morrison. The first year was supposed to focus on her past, the development of her powers and the beginning of her relationship with the Hellfire Club. Instead we got three long arcs of teen angst without a lot of real character development. Interesting peripheral characters existed in the form of her dysfunctional family, but we never get to see Emma's development much less that of Adrienne, Cordelia, or previously unseen brother Christian.

X-Man (pre-Counter-X): I'm not sure which a liked less about this title - the terrible name or the complete unnecessaryness of this character (yeah, I know unnecessaryness isn't really a word). Don't want to read Cable? Try his less likeable, overpowered, creepy maternal crushing younger alternate reality self. Out of the four characters to survive the AOA, I ranked this guy below the Sugar Man, for Pete Wisdom's sake.

The Current Books: Quick hits on the current crop of solo books (quick because I haven't read much yet)

- Jubilee: one of my fave characters but custom built to be a sidekick or part of an ensemble. Already gone from ongoing to limited.

- Rogue and Gambit: haven't picked up either yet, but I plan on buying both in trade format. Rogue doesn't look too exciting, and the fact that Tony Bedard is already being brought on to mix up the status quo isn't heartening.

- Madrox: a perfect example of how a LS should be crafted. Unique nourish vision, multifaceted character (Madrox, by definition is multifaceted I suppose), great supporting cast.

- Wolverine: Mark Millar actually has me looking through this book for the first time since Frank Tieri left the book. Not enough to buy it, but at least I'm reading it.

- Nightcrawler: like I said about the previous Gambit ongoing above, this book so far has been very good about framing the story around Kurt's X-Men adventures. This is what he does when he isn't in London saving the Queen. Good use of the X-Men, and great use of Magik.

- Mystique: eh. This was interesting to start but the story I feel really hasn't gone anywhere and Mystique has kind of entered a developmental quagmire. Hopefully the current and final arc will send her off in style.

Finally here are a couple of characters who deserve their own chance at solo glory:

- Artie and Leech: ok, so it'd be more of a buddy book, but what better eyes to view the world than from these two young mutants. It would rule!

- Agent X: I'd love to see this book come back. The humor was so good, and I think it could survive without Deadpool, though it would obviously work best with Gail Simone at the helm (who's exclusive to DC for several more years, btw, so poo poo to that idea).

- Angel: Corporate thriller? Think Iron Man with mutants. Have Bendis write it, he doesn't have enough on his plate, and is awfully concerned with superhero financing. There are a lot of stories that could be told, and even some that don't involve hooking up with near-minors or fighting Maximus Lobo! Call it something cheesy like Office-X and you got a hit on your hands.

- One more and then I gotta go: how about Stacy-X: Mutant Hooker? No? Oh well, maybe I'm not quite cut out for a job at Marvel Editorial yet. That's it for now. Seeya next time!

* The author, Dwain Smith, is a SWP (single white pirate) ISO of SF for plundering and looting. He enjoys long walks down the plank and shi tzus. Learn more at www.ahoy-matey.com.