Rob Liefeld Trashes (and Fixes?) X-Men’s From the Ashes Relaunch

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Renowned Deadpool and Cable collaborator Rob Liefeld has fiercely criticized Marvel Comics’ X-Men: From the Ashes relaunch, highlighting the dubious creative choices that have reportedly weakened the iconic comics series. Liefeld furthermore proposed potential remedies for Marvel, a company he has openly expressed concerns about for quite some time.

In his latest podcast episode, Liefeld criticized the publisher for their mistakes regarding the X-Men series. He started by saying, “It’s high time we discuss the X-Men.” It’s been approximately a year since they announced the massive X-Men reboot, and almost everything has taken a turn for the worse. One cancellation after another, it seems like there hasn’t been a week in recent history without an X-Men book being canceled. In some instances, the comics don’t even make it to issue five before they are discontinued. Often, the second issue doesn’t even get released before the series is axed. This is quite troubling given the rich history and incredible success of this iconic franchise. There isn’t a title in the last fifty years that boasts as much legacy and achievement as the X-Men, yet now it finds itself struggling to resonate and establish a new legacy.

Liefeld expressed his disappointment in the current state of the X-Men series, citing titles such as Weapon X-Men, X-Factor, NYX, and last year’s Deadpool as letdowns that have been cancelled by Marvel. To remedy this situation, he suggested reducing the number of books being published, acknowledging that this might not be popular in the comic industry as it thrives on launching new #1 issues. He also criticized the excessive use of variant cover schemes, arguing that the company should instead focus more resources on improving the quality of the comics themselves.

As stated by Liefeld, not every X-Men character requires a standalone comic book. Instead, he suggests Beau DeMayo’s animated series provides a guide for how fans prefer the main team to interact. Moreover, Liefeld is of the opinion that as part of the X-Men restoration, Marvel should assign its top writers to the Wolverine and X-Men titles, creating meaningful stories for these characters. Additionally, during the podcast, Liefeld mentioned the immense success of DC Comics’ Absolute Universe and proposed that Marvel should make a strong effort to bring in its architect, [name], to lead the X-Men reboot.

Rob Liefeld Torches Marvel Leadership

The artist behind The New Mutants also joined X (previously known as Twitter) to advocate for the departure of Marvel’s current top management, expressing in a post, ” frankly, I can’t get people to speak publicly about it, but based on my private messages, it’s clear that many comic book professionals share the view that the X-Men department is a disaster.

Liefeld stated, “It’s time for a change at the top of Marvel Entertainment’s executive suite – specifically, Dan Buckley, David Bogart, and David Gabriel should step down. They seem to lack fresh ideas and are running out of steam; it’s obvious in their work. Let’s start over. Throughout my career, I’ve worked under 7 different Editors-In-Chief, and I’ve seen more effective leadership coming from sharper and more energetic minds.

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2025-04-24 21:10