This is stooooopid as well.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Mavel will be cancelling “Uncanny X-Men” with issue #544 in November.  It will be relaunched with a new #1 issue two weeks later along with another series “Wolverine and the X-Men” spinning out of the events of the upcoming “Schism” event.  “Uncanny” will continue to be written by Kieron Gillen and “Wolverine/X-Men” will be by Jason Aaron, so I’m not too concerned about the quality of the books.  Or even their reason for being, as Marvel has stated that one will follow Cyclops’ team as they plot mutanity’s future from Utopia, while Wolverine and co. head out into the world and try to re-integrate mutants into society.

Though it’s obvious that some thought has been given to the purpose of these titles, the way they’re being launched is utterly ridiculous.  After DC’s plan to re-launch EVERYTHING with a new #1, and the diminishing returns of Marvel’s own relaunched #1’s, this is just depressing.  “Uncanny” has been the company’s longest-running continuing series and pulling a stunt like this is nothing more than a shameless grab for attention and sales.  Sure, sales will spike for the new #1, but as last year’s “X-Men” #1 showed, any kind of sales boost — even for a new core X-title — will be short lived.

It’s even more baffling when you consider that with this move, there will now be FIVE “core” X-books.  You’ll have “Uncanny,” “Wolverine/X-Men,” “X-Men,” “X-Men:  Legacy,” and “Astonishing X-Men.”  Of these five, only three have a clear purpose with “X-Men” just around to tell straightforward superhero stories, and “Astonishing” now reduced to featuring a rotating cast of creators.  (Regarding that title, I like Christos Gage and don’t have anything against Daniel Way, but they’re really a step down from a series meant to feature A-list talent like Joss Whedon and Warren Ellis.)  

We don’t need more X-titles diluting the brand.  The smart thing to do (at least in my raging fanboy mind) would’ve been to make “X-Men” the “Woverine/X-Men” title, thus giving it a purpose, and to just hype the hell out of issue #545.  Maybe it wouldn’t have spiked the sales as much as a new #1 would’ve, but I imagine the overall sales would be much more consistent.  Plus you would’ve had issue #550 coming up to spike sales again.

I also have this nagging feeling that with this re-launch, Marvel will finally be putting “Uncanny” trades in “premiere” editions first before the paperback editions.  As I’ve said before, putting EVERYTHING in a hardcover edition dilutes the format, and it should only be saved for “event” stories like “Second Coming” and “Age of X” (which I picked up yesterday — more on that later), or series that are truly special (like “Nextwave:  Agents of H.A.T.E.”).  If Gillen and Aaron’s work is as strong as I’ve come to expect from them, then maybe, MAYBE, I’ll consider picking up the collections in this format.  Even so, it’s a sign that as the franchise’s creative future looks bright, the business end has its head up its ass.