Genext: Lame concept with a lame name

I should be a motivational speaker. Look at my results!

I spotted in Marvel's solicitations for May a curious title called GENEXT apparently written by Chris Claremont. It's a five issue mini series, with the first issue being solicited thus:

You asked for it, X-Fans, and now, you got it! Marvel.com asked you what Chris Claremont’s next project should be. You, the fans, said you wanted to know what today’s new generation of X-Men would be like if the Marvel Universe aged in real-time! Who are the children of the X-Men? And what happened to the original team, Professor X, and Magneto after over 30 years of conflict, victories, and tragedies? Now, at last, the answers arrive as beloved X-Men scribe Chris Claremont reveals an all-new generation of mutant teens!

My obvious question would be who in the hell asked for another "possible X-future" book from Chris Claremont? Didn't we all learn better after X-Men: the End? It's such a random premise, I doubt that any collection of fans would ask for that - and I don't recall seeing a vote anywhere. But of course, I stray from Claremont books nowadays, so it may have turned up in Exiles or New Excalibur.

So let's look at the premise specifically as it is written. Let's say the X-Men debuted - with the original five members being teenagers - in 1963. Here we are, 45 years later. Uh, I think we'd be past the "next generation" by this point, or at least past where they'd be teenagers. We'd be heading towards the "generation after that", and they really wouldn't be old enough to be doing much of anything heroic (Power Pack notwithstanding, because it kills my argument).

But nevermind that first gaffe. Fine - teenagers, next generation, I got it. So we'll be looking at, in real time, a group of mutants who have aged through times like Vietnam, the end of the Cold War, September 11, and the hullabaloo that's gone on since (which is an opportunity for a plug on my other blog). That, I think, would be neat.

But I know better than that. It's not going to be like that at all. Instead, we're going to get exactly what X-Men: the End was, except with new characters and without the whole "last X-Men story" thing. The current team is old, new people come in. It'll be nothing but a chance for Claremont to plug his own stories, so expect Rogue to be called "Anna Raven", the Phoenix to show up somewhere, someone to yell "I am (NAME)!!!!" and Sage to be the deus ex-machina for whatever the situation needs.

This is going to be nothing more than five issues to let Claremont write a Claremont story. Personally, I thought that's why they retooled Exiles for him, but apparently, this is what the X-Fans wanted. I have been an X-Fan since the late 80s, so as long as they keep him away from the core books, I'll have what I want. I appreciate everything Claremont has done, but I don't think he's anywhere near the quality he used to be - and even if he was, comics of the 00s are not like they were in the 80s.

Definitely going to skip this one.