Article: Amazing X-Men #11 Solicitation

[Flightpath07]

This isn't a case of going back and cleaning up earlier stuff; most of these questions came out of AmzX #8.

~ LM

That's DAYS ago! Far, far, far in the past! People have very short attention spa...Hey! Was that a squirrel!?!? (Or, even better, a Squirrel-Girl?!)

[TSOG]

Amazing X-Men is not the place to answer these questions at the expense of it's own storyline.

A gentleman on Twitter yesterday posted a panel from Wolverine 142 and 143, a story in which Snowbird was brought back and the whole double Mac thing was done away with (and I doubt volume two sales figures were significantly better than four's).

For that matter, Heather's pregnancy was announced in Wolverine and she gave birth in Unlimited X-Men (?). It doesn't have to be an Alpha Flight book to tie up loose ends. It can be done without being a detriment to the story.

(Though I wasn't serious about the toe thing.)

[Phil]

and I doubt volume two sales figures were significantly better than four's).

They were about 4 times as good, off the of my head.

EDIT - Industry sales were generally about twice as good back in the late 90's though.

It doesn't have to be an Alpha Flight book to tie up loose ends. It can be done without being a detriment to the story.

Agreed; It doesn't have to be, but most writers don't want to spend their time cleaning up other people's dangling plots at the expense of their own characters.

[Tawmis]

I am choosing to believe that at least this fight and/or bad year, will be explained. If I am wrong, so be it. But I am hopeful.

[Phil]

I took the 'bad year' comment as a way of summing up, tying up and moving on from Volume 4 in one line, so that it doesn't need to be touched on again.

I could be wrong though.

[TSOG]

Agreed; It doesn't have to be, but most writers don't want to spend their time cleaning up other people's dangling plots at the expense of their own characters.

I don't expect them to, I appreciate it when they do. But that's different from choosing to ignore what went on before you had your turn at the characters. Unfortunately, it's happened far too many times with this group.

And it doesn't have to be at the expense of anybody. Wolverine did not suffer from what happened in issues 142 and 143 of his book.

[TSOG]

I took the 'bad year' comment as a way of summing up, tying up and moving on from Volume 4 in one line, so that it doesn't need to be touched on again.

I could be wrong though.

If it is, it's a lazy way of doing it.

[TSOG]

They were about 4 times as good, off the of my head.

EDIT - Industry sales were generally about twice as good back in the late 90's though.

I checked Comichron, and Alpha Flight 11 sold an estimated 45,100 copies.

it's actually quite jarring to see the differences in sales between then and now.

[Le Messor]

Not sure which questions you're on about

Mostly:

Where is (Heather's) daughter now?
Why is Guardians leaf upside down in this cover?

and questions about the fight Heather and Mac had.

Though the others, 'why isn't Heather in prison?', 'what happened to Heather's toes?', and 'who mentioned v3 and Omega Flight in Crackity's presence?' are, as you say, not for X-Men writers to tackle.

The Heather's daughter question could be (and has been, I believe, in the past) tackled with a simple 'Claire's at her aunt's place'-type line.

~ Le Messor
"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."
~ Mother Teresa

[TSOG]

Though the others, 'why isn't Heather in prison?', 'what happened to Heather's toes?', and 'who mentioned v3 and Omega Flight in Crackity's presence?' are, as you say, not for X-Men writers to tackle.

The Heather's daughter question could be (and has been, I believe, in the past) tackled with a simple 'Claire's at her aunt's place'-type line.

That's pretty much it. It doesn't have to be page after page of explanation. But the conversation could have been more inclusive of what's gone on before. "When I came to my senses after The Master's brainwashing, Mac and I got back together. But lately we've been having a rough go of it. We got in a major fight the other day. He walked out and took on a Dept. H assignment".

They don't have to dwell on V4, but they should at least acknowledge it. Otherwise the whole thing just feels thrown together. It was great to see them, but it was awkward because I felt like I'd missed something. "Oh, so...they're back together I guess?!"

[Flightpath07]

That's pretty much it. It doesn't have to be page after page of explanation. But the conversation could have been more inclusive of what's gone on before. "When I came to my senses after The Master's brainwashing, Mac and I got back together. But lately we've been having a rough go of it. We got in a major fight the other day. He walked out and took on a Dept. H assignment".

They don't have to dwell on V4, but they should at least acknowledge it. Otherwise the whole thing just feels thrown together. It was great to see them, but it was awkward because I felt like I'd missed something. "Oh, so...they're back together I guess?!"

That's a great way of looking at it.

[Phil]

But that's different from choosing to ignore what went on before you had your turn at the characters.

As long as it doesn't contradict it though, does it matter? Why rehash it?

And it doesn't have to be at the expense of anybody. Wolverine did not suffer from what happened in issues 142 and 143 of his book.

That was a solo book though.
The cast of Amazing X-Men is Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Iceman, Firestar, Beast, Warbird, Rachel Grey, Angel + now Colossus.
And there are only 20 pages in each of the 5 parts to the storyline.

If it is, it's a lazy way of doing it.

Is a haiku lazy?
Is a short story lazy?

Surely it's good writing to tell an engaging, logical story without excess information, that gives the reader the credit/intelligence/creativity to world build and fill in gaps themselves.

That line for anyone that's never read X-Men and has never heard of Heather & Mac before will read it as the couple had a fight and understand that.
Anyone that read Volume 4 will understand what the fight was about and get the tip of the hat.
Both audiences catered for without the loss of pages.

That's not lazy.

However, as I stated here, I believe that Heather was written badly, for which I'll go into in a bit.

I checked Comichron, and Alpha Flight 11 sold an estimated 45,100 copies.

I stand corrected and apologise for my poor memory/maths in that case.
Still double Vol 4 though

The Heather's daughter question could be (and has been, I believe, in the past) tackled with a simple 'Claire's at her aunt's place'-type line.

Agreed, it just has to come at an organic point in the story.
It can't just be blurted out by Wolverine mid-fight.
An ideal place would be when(/if) Wolverine & Heather rescue Mac and he utters a "... our daughter...?" line, to which Heather replied "She's safe, don't worry about her." (Although thinking about it that's pretty much exactly the dialogue between Walt & Heather in CW:AF)

BUT that would then just complicate things and confuse readers even more because the daughter wasn't mentioned in #8.

Claire SHOULD have been mentioned in one throwaway line in #8 but she wasn't (due to poorly written Heather), so now it makes no sense to bring her up later in the arc.

That's pretty much it. It doesn't have to be page after page of explanation. But the conversation could have been more inclusive of what's gone on before. "When I came to my senses after The Master's brainwashing, Mac and I got back together. But lately we've been having a rough go of it. We got in a major fight the other day. He walked out and took on a Dept. H assignment".

But remember there are readers here who didn't read Volume 4.
Marvel Comics don't have footnotes anymore so were the writers to use that line they'd then need to explain:

• when Heather was brainwashed
• how Heather was brainwashed
• why Heather was brainwashed
• who The Master is
• how Heather came to her senses.

You've lost an entire page there, at least.

They don't have to dwell on V4, but they should at least acknowledge it.

That's the equivalent of saying that Amazing X-Men should acknowledge every loose end from Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, or every guest appearance Wolverine has made this month.

It was great to see them, but it was awkward because I felt like I'd missed something. "Oh, so...they're back together I guess?!"

I agree; it was awkward, not because of the lack of Volume 4 references, but because Heather was out of character.

[Le Messor]

An ideal place would be when(/if) Wolverine & Heather rescue Mac and he utters a "... our daughter...?" line, to which Heather replied "She's safe, don't worry about her." (Although thinking about it that's pretty much exactly the dialogue between Walt & Heather in CW:AF)

BUT that would then just complicate things and confuse readers even more because the daughter wasn't mentioned in #8.

Claire SHOULD have been mentioned in one throwaway line in #8 but she wasn't (due to poorly written Heather), so now it makes no sense to bring her up later in the arc.

There's still time.
I think they could work it in without being too inorganic.

And, of all these questions, this is the only one that actually bugs me - and it's the one that I do think needs to be addressed. These two have an infant daughter, wayyyy too young to be out on her own, and yet she's nowhere to be seen.

They can go without talking about how Heather got over the brainwash, but not that.

~ Le Messor
Lawyer: Mrs. Jones, do you believe you are emotionally stable?
Mrs. Jones: A: I used to be.
Lawyer: How many times have you committed suicide?
~ allegedly real court transcript

[TSOG]

As long as it doesn't contradict it though, does it matter? Why rehash it?

It did contradict. When last seen, Heather had run away from Mac with their daughter. Now they've apparently been living together again for some time. It's totally opposite to what we last saw of the characters (Heather at least).

That was a solo book though.
The cast of Amazing X-Men is Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Iceman, Firestar, Beast, Warbird, Rachel Grey, Angel + now Colossus.
And there are only 20 pages in each of the 5 parts to the storyline.

I'm not asking for more. I'm saying apply the ones used better. Even a splash page recap would take no more space or as I said earlier, dialogue more appropriate and specific to the character(s).

Surely it's good writing to tell an engaging, logical story without excess information, that gives the reader the credit/intelligence/creativity to world build and fill in gaps themselves.

That line for anyone that's never read X-Men and has never heard of Heather & Mac before will read it as the couple had a fight and understand that.

Anyone that read Volume 4 will understand what the fight was about and get the tip of the hat.

Both audiences catered for without the loss of pages.

That's not lazy.

I disagree because we actually don't know what the fight was about. We're just told that there was one. They can't even be bothered with a basic mention. "We fought over Clare again". Five words solve several complaints; you know why, you ackowledge their kid, and you indicate that it's fairly common.

As it is, it ends up feeling like they needed Mac gone for a couple of days so they said "let's just say they had a fight". You're left to assume the reason, and because I don't see Mac as the type of walk out on someone he didn't want walking out on him, it makes no sense to me.

I stand corrected and apologise for my poor memory/maths in that case.
Still double Vol 4 though

Which is equivalent in sales by today's standard, as you stated.

But remember there are readers here who didn't read Volume 4.
Marvel Comics don't have footnotes anymore so were the writers to use that line they'd then need to explain:

• when Heather was brainwashed
• how Heather was brainwashed
• why Heather was brainwashed
• who The Master is
• how Heather came to her senses.

You've lost an entire page there, at least.

No, you don't need all of that stuff because if someone wants to find out, the material IS out there. I don't know if Marvel never ever does footnotes anymore, but restoring it to say "see Alpha Flight volume four" is hardly an insurmountable barrier, if the dialogue alone doesn't do enough to explain that she took off under a bad situation, came back, and the whole thing put a strain on their marriage.

The things I refer to, that I feel should have been handled better, are things that are NOT stated anywhere. There was nothing to suggest that Mac and Heather were back together or that Heather had a change of heart about Mac being a suitable father. It's just thrown out there out of nowhere.

That's the equivalent of saying that Amazing X-Men should acknowledge every loose end from Claremont's Uncanny X-Men, or every guest appearance Wolverine has made this month.

If they use a character from the past, yes. There's no point in having a shared universe if things that happen to a character in one book are ignored in others. I'm not expecting the writers to build on what happened in AF v4, but I do expect them to recognize that it happened and write accordingly.

[TSOG]

And, of all these questions, this is the only one that actually bugs me - and it's the one that I do think needs to be addressed. These two have an infant daughter, wayyyy too young to be out on her own, and yet she's nowhere to be seen.

You have to assume that there aren't many family members who would want to babysit these days...