QUOTE: The difference between the two is that Doom ultimately beliefs and acts for himself. Magneto, I believe, would sacrifice himself if it meant the liberation of his people.

I see it the other way around.  Doom rules his people with an iron hand but he doesn't oppress them.  He really does care for his country.  Also, Doom learned the dark arts to free his mother from the Netherworld (at least that's what I remember).  The price he paid for her freedom was her eternal scorn.  Doesn't seem to me as if Doom does everything strictly for his own agenda.

Magneto, on the other hand, judging from his earlier appearnances, is seeking total dominion.  He's seeks other mutants in his cause but he won't brook insubordination.  He's acting as the aggressor, not as part of some rebellion.  His appearance preceded the Sentinels, which were part of the first concerted effort program to round up mutants.  His very character suggested he's just not a nice guy.  Then he seemed to go from being a raving megalomaniac to a genteel pacifist without any adequate explanation or logical progression.

 The books becomes all shades of grey -- and pretty muddy grey at that!

That sounds like a perfect description for most of today's books. Rather than focus on true heroism (which is apparently uninteresting), anti-heroes run around acting inconsistent, based on the needs of a given plot.

Sigh.

Well imo, I like that some of the characters are assholes. I just feel that a balance is lost. It's disconcerting when you're meant to feel someone's done something horrible when it hardly compares to the things the offended characters regularly do. That could just be me. I guess it seems alot of fans root for asshole characters that I can't possibly understand why.

I liked that Scott and Emma were such pussies in Grant's run. I was surprised most readers thought they were awesome. So it annoys me they're trusted into your face as the epitome of kewl every possible chance editorial gets. They fucking solve all storylines in all the X-Books.

If you want shades of grey, at least allow other types of characters to succeed from time to time. It's a god damn team book. You should show that there's more than one way to accomplish things. I can understand that characters full of themselves like Wolverine or Emma can act like the moral compass of the books while being assholes. But at least have some characters telling them to get screwed.

And I don't feel it's exclusive to the x-books. A lot of comics seem to root for the same archetypes and personalities.

QUOTE: Doom rules his people with an iron hand but he doesn't oppress them.  He really does care for his country.

Sure, with terror, as ginea pigs! Didn't he keep the Avengers captive while a Latverian kid needed outside medical help? He was ready to kill them all in early Fantastic Four issues as well when he tested out his killing machines on his own town. It's not just that I'm a giant nerd, I've just read Essential Avengers last year.

Boo! Hiss!

QUOTE: A few decades back, Roger Stern offered this very wise observation, as to the success of the X-Men. Comic fans as a species tend to view themselves as "outsiders", as do fans of most things.

The reason I liked Chris' run is that it was constantly changing from one thing to another.  So I enjoyed wondering what had happen between chunks of issues I had. On the other hand, a lot of books kept going back to status quo so I saw no reason to buy them regularly since nothing ever changed.

BTW I thought sales had seriously dropped on those books. They're not top dog anymore.

Whether I left the X-Men or they left me, I'm uncertain ...

I was in college until '85, and married with child by '90.  As a student, I was a pretty easy audience, and enjoyed most of what I read. 

However, by the time I had a full-time job and a family to support, the X-books felt convoluted and difficult to follow.  I felt like I had to remember too many things and follow too many threads in too many different books ... the books became more work than fun.

I prefer to call it a mutual break-up and just remember the fun times we had.