Gail Simone came into X-Men in a lot of ways with a no-win scenario. Her editor, Tom Brevoort, had already alienated fans by attacking them and blocking them before it launched this new era with her #1 issue of Uncanny X-Men, and it was filled with a line of deep identity politics downstream, many of which had books canceled.
The title and all of Marvel’s lines have been floundering for years, and frustrated X-Men fans have taken to different platforms to voice their grievances, something Simone is clearly upset about.
Gail Simone’s Uncanny X-Men #1 was a major sales event for Marvel in 2024. The numbers since then show a launch spike that never became a rising tide for the X-Men books around it.
The opening was strong. Bleeding Cool’s weekly bestseller list showed Uncanny X-Men #1 selling more than twice what Batman #151 did that week. CBR reported that the debut ranked among the year’s highest-grossing releases, behind only DC’s Absolute Universe titles and a few Spider-Man and X-Men books. Marvel got the opening it wanted.
The flagship has been harder to hold. In ICv2’s March 2026 point-of-sale rankings, Uncanny X-Men #25 fell from #33 to #54. Comic Book Revolution’s Rokk wrote that the book had fallen out of the Top 50 conversation. In August, issues #33 and #34, the start of the “Wild Ride” arc, ranked #16 and #27, so the book can still reach the upper chart when a story kicks off. The open question is whether it stays there between arcs.
Gail Simone unloaded on Facebook after receiving criticism for her Uncanny X-Men run:
There are a couple platforms that seem to hate me personally and so of course, they make all their hatred of my work very personal. I think it’s kind of a sad way to live, but there you go. We still have the best-selling X-book and critical raves pretty much every issue. Feel free to tell people I ruined your childhood, I guess.
I don’t take it seriously, but there is one complaint I find funny, which is that I am ‘pushing my own characters’ or a certain favorite character, or whatever, over THEIR favorite character.
I mean, guilty, I guess. I would never think some character I came up with is going to be as popular as Wolverine. But Wolverine is in eighty books a month. I like using him as Fonzie, he comes in, tears up the theatre and is awesome.
Rogue and Gambit, I made Rogue the POV character for the first stories because I felt she was compelling in the role of leader (yes I know she has been point man on teams in the past, briefly). And with that came some really cool Gambit stories. But she’s barely been in a bunch of issues lately and other people have had the spotlight. She’s given leadership to Monet and Quicksilver, I am not even sure if some of the people on these platforms read the books, to be honest.
And as for ‘pushing new characters,’ well, I don’t know what to say. The Outliers, Lady Henrietta, Mutina and Howler, even the Vig, have gotten huge response, people ask to see more. When I came aboard, I said I didn’t want to just tell the same stories over and over, I wanted to add to mutant lore. It’s not about ‘my’ characters, all of which were co-created and designed by the greats David Marquez and Luciano Vecchio. In my opinion, it would be a shame not to let THOSE two guys bring characters we created together to the book.
I get that we’re not for everyone, but there are a lot of books that have been telling more traditional stories with your favorite X-People, that’s part of why I love the X-line so much. There’s a book for everyone.
I wanted a book with a LOT of new stuff, I am proud of how many things have been brought into the lore.
I totally get it if you want to see more Jubilee. She has a multi-issue story to herself after the next big arc.
Want more Pietro and Monet? On it’s way, you’re seeing more already.
Nightcrawler is becoming more of a panel hog and I love it.
And Wolverine is Wolverine, he steals most of the scenes he’s in.
I wanted to bring a lot of new stuff because I love the X-Men. It’s not about me, it’s about these books I have loved. We’re having a blast and a lot of readers are, too.
Thank you for the support!
But there’s not a lot of support for the franchise. In March 2026, the X-Men franchise placed six comics in ICv2’s Top 50, against fifteen in March 2025 and twelve in March 2024. Its Top 25 presence went from eight comics in March 2024 to six in March 2025 to one in March 2026. February 2026 had been better, with ten in the Top 50, and Comic Book Revolution blamed the drop on a wave of February launches that fell fast. August 2026 came in at six in the Top 50 and two in the Top 25, so the line has not regained its 2024 footing.
The down-line books show the pattern in detail:
Generation X-23 #2 fell from #38 to #103.
Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant #2 fell from #35 to #84.
Psylocke: Ninja #3 landed at #92 after a #15 debut.
Rogue #3 slid from #61 to #80.
Magik & Colossus #2 dropped from #24 to #60.
Inglorious X-Force #3 sat at #125.
Comic Book Revolution, using Comichron projections from 2022, estimates that titles outside the Top 100 sell under 18,000 copies. That is a rough benchmark, since Marvel does not release unit figures.
Cancellations came with the same pattern. Weapon X-Men was cancelled after five issues. NYX, X-Force and X-Factor each ended at issue #10 in spring 2025. Exceptional X-Men ended in November 2025 after 13 issues. Bleeding Cool now reports that listings suggest Inglorious X-Force, X-Men United and Gen X-23 may each end with a tenth issue this fall, and that Marvel may be preparing a December relaunch timed to Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel has not confirmed any of that.
The relaunch that began with Simone’s first issue in 2024 was supposed to reset the line. Two years in, the flagship needs a new story arc to climb back toward the Top 25, and the books launched around it are being cancelled or sliding toward the bottom of the chart. If the 2024 relaunch could not hold the line, what does a December relaunch change?
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Marvel is and as long as it's in the current hands will remain a dying comic book company, contrary to what Simone says there's not an X-Men book for everyone, if you're not into left wing politics, gay characters, or a bunch of characters you don't know or care anything about then there's no comic for you.
I just borrowed the collected Teen Titans issues #1 thru 8 on Hoopla and it was such a refreshing read. No agenda, no nonsense, Gar is inappropriate around the ladies, Donna Troy is photographing topless fashion models, and Cyborg's story arcs in issues 7 and 8 genuinely moved me (in issue 7, he reconciles with his father shorty before he dies, and in issue 8, he meets the kids with prosthetic limbs and joins them in sports activities). I miss those great old days.