454
B00ZMPYUP4
3.45
29
Jan 01, 2008
Jul 25, 2007
really liked it
After finishing this outstanding first part of a two-parter story, all I could think to myself is that, "Huh, perhaps the X-Men should get stranded in
After finishing this outstanding first part of a two-parter story, all I could think to myself is that, "Huh, perhaps the X-Men should get stranded in a horrific island more", which would be an awful thing to say to any group of people under normal circumstances (unless they happen to be the Lost flight survivors because them fuckers in that purgatory island have sure produced four seasons not even counting the last two final seasons of compelling drama). But I think that casual comment can also be excusable for the X-Men in this issue because the second installment of the Volume 2 series entitled Island X had been exciting and very funny at the same time.
I really almost thought they were in Savage Land and I have such fond memories of that wicked place because that's where Professor X and Magneto had their abduction/date courtesy of Sinister (as featured in the nineties cartoon AND IT WAS GLORIOUSLY HILARIOUS). This story almost resembles the tonality of that said episode, only this time even scarier and just plain bizarre creatures roamed around this weird-ass place. It started when Professor X "head-called" the fivesome to navigate this unnamed island somewhere. Without question, the youngsters obeyed and started on the quest.
Said quest, apparently, involved getting nearly stomped by ugly, ferocious giants, scared shitless by GODDAMN FLYING MONKEYS (much to Bobby's horror), almost get eaten by a tree that can imitate the human voice and has fangs; AND THEN almost get their blood sucked on by vicious butterflies that just started attacking them while they managed to take a break from the running and not-dying to eat their packed sandwiches.
So yes, it's no shocker that from what I described, that everything about this story was RIDICULOUS and yet strangely engrossing all the same. Professor X's very brief telepathic conversations with them were weird too; it's as if he is purposefully being evasive and neglectful (which, to be fair, is his standard shtick but after the eighth issue from Volume 1 which featured him hugging it out with his students, I was surprised that he still seemed rather distant after that). Furthermore, there are so many quotable zingers for this issue that almost made me laugh aloud while reading (but I couldn't because I was at work). Here are some of those juicy exchanges:
Angel: Those bats look kind of chubby.
Beast: Perhaps they're fruit bats.
Angel: *genuinely curious* Does fruit make you chubby?
Angel: They're FLYING MONKEYS!
Marvel Girl: NOT IN MY HAIR! *starts running away ahead from the group*
Iceman: Frostbite! And tell the Wicked Witch I've got a water bucket with her name on it. That's right, childhood trauma! This ain't little Bobby in his underoos. You're dealing with the Iceman now!
Angel: You mean all these things could be mutants?
Beast: Exactly. What if a charged meteorite landed here years ago, influencing the gene pool?
Iceman: Or what if an atom in my hand is a tiny planet and the earth is just an atom in a bigger guy's hand? I mean, whoa.
Marvel Girl: Bobby, if you don't have anything to offer, I've got a can of shut up here in the pack.
BUT MY FAVORITE MOMENT was when Scott, who has been reticent about all of this, FINALLY LOSES IT AND BLAMES XAVIER.
[image]
But that's just the icing on the cake because:
[image]
Think again, Bobby.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
After finishing this outstanding first part of a two-parter story, all I could think to myself is that, "Huh, perhaps the X-Men should get stranded in a horrific island more", which would be an awful thing to say to any group of people under normal circumstances (unless they happen to be the Lost flight survivors because them fuckers in that purgatory island have sure produced four seasonsnot even counting the last two final seasons of compelling drama). But I think that casual comment can also be excusable for the X-Men in this issue because the second installment of the Volume 2 series entitled Island X had been exciting and very funny at the same time.
I really almost thought they were in Savage Land and I have such fond memories of that wicked place because that's where Professor X and Magneto had their abduction/date courtesy of Sinister (as featured in the nineties cartoon AND IT WAS GLORIOUSLY HILARIOUS). This story almost resembles the tonality of that said episode, only this time even scarier and just plain bizarre creatures roamed around this weird-ass place. It started when Professor X "head-called" the fivesome to navigate this unnamed island somewhere. Without question, the youngsters obeyed and started on the quest.
Said quest, apparently, involved getting nearly stomped by ugly, ferocious giants, scared shitless by GODDAMN FLYING MONKEYS (much to Bobby's horror), almost get eaten by a tree that can imitate the human voice and has fangs; AND THEN almost get their blood sucked on by vicious butterflies that just started attacking them while they managed to take a break from the running and not-dying to eat their packed sandwiches.
So yes, it's no shocker that from what I described, that everything about this story was RIDICULOUS and yet strangely engrossing all the same. Professor X's very brief telepathic conversations with them were weird too; it's as if he is purposefully being evasive and neglectful (which, to be fair, is his standard shtick but after the eighth issue from Volume 1 which featured him hugging it out with his students, I was surprised that he still seemed rather distant after that). Furthermore, there are so many quotable zingers for this issue that almost made me laugh aloud while reading (but I couldn't because I was at work). Here are some of those juicy exchanges:
Angel: Those bats look kind of chubby.
Beast: Perhaps they're fruit bats.
Angel: *genuinely curious* Does fruit make you chubby?
Angel: They're FLYING MONKEYS!
Marvel Girl: NOT IN MY HAIR! *starts running away ahead from the group*
Iceman: Frostbite! And tell the Wicked Witch I've got a water bucket with her name on it. That's right, childhood trauma! This ain't little Bobby in his underoos. You're dealing with the Iceman now!
Angel: You mean all these things could be mutants?
Beast: Exactly. What if a charged meteorite landed here years ago, influencing the gene pool?
Iceman: Or what if an atom in my hand is a tiny planet and the earth is just an atom in a bigger guy's hand? I mean, whoa.
Marvel Girl: Bobby, if you don't have anything to offer, I've got a can of shut up here in the pack.
BUT MY FAVORITE MOMENT was when Scott, who has been reticent about all of this, FINALLY LOSES IT AND BLAMES XAVIER.
[image]
But that's just the icing on the cake because:
[image]
Think again, Bobby.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
I really almost thought they were in Savage Land and I have such fond memories of that wicked place because that's where Professor X and Magneto had their abduction/date courtesy of Sinister (as featured in the nineties cartoon AND IT WAS GLORIOUSLY HILARIOUS). This story almost resembles the tonality of that said episode, only this time even scarier and just plain bizarre creatures roamed around this weird-ass place. It started when Professor X "head-called" the fivesome to navigate this unnamed island somewhere. Without question, the youngsters obeyed and started on the quest.
Said quest, apparently, involved getting nearly stomped by ugly, ferocious giants, scared shitless by GODDAMN FLYING MONKEYS (much to Bobby's horror), almost get eaten by a tree that can imitate the human voice and has fangs; AND THEN almost get their blood sucked on by vicious butterflies that just started attacking them while they managed to take a break from the running and not-dying to eat their packed sandwiches.
So yes, it's no shocker that from what I described, that everything about this story was RIDICULOUS and yet strangely engrossing all the same. Professor X's very brief telepathic conversations with them were weird too; it's as if he is purposefully being evasive and neglectful (which, to be fair, is his standard shtick but after the eighth issue from Volume 1 which featured him hugging it out with his students, I was surprised that he still seemed rather distant after that). Furthermore, there are so many quotable zingers for this issue that almost made me laugh aloud while reading (but I couldn't because I was at work). Here are some of those juicy exchanges:
Angel: Those bats look kind of chubby.
Beast: Perhaps they're fruit bats.
Angel: *genuinely curious* Does fruit make you chubby?
Angel: They're FLYING MONKEYS!
Marvel Girl: NOT IN MY HAIR! *starts running away ahead from the group*
Iceman: Frostbite! And tell the Wicked Witch I've got a water bucket with her name on it. That's right, childhood trauma! This ain't little Bobby in his underoos. You're dealing with the Iceman now!
Angel: You mean all these things could be mutants?
Beast: Exactly. What if a charged meteorite landed here years ago, influencing the gene pool?
Iceman: Or what if an atom in my hand is a tiny planet and the earth is just an atom in a bigger guy's hand? I mean, whoa.
Marvel Girl: Bobby, if you don't have anything to offer, I've got a can of shut up here in the pack.
BUT MY FAVORITE MOMENT was when Scott, who has been reticent about all of this, FINALLY LOSES IT AND BLAMES XAVIER.
[image]
But that's just the icing on the cake because:
[image]
Think again, Bobby.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
After finishing this outstanding first part of a two-parter story, all I could think to myself is that, "Huh, perhaps the X-Men should get stranded in a horrific island more", which would be an awful thing to say to any group of people under normal circumstances (unless they happen to be the Lost flight survivors because them fuckers in that purgatory island have sure produced four seasons
I really almost thought they were in Savage Land and I have such fond memories of that wicked place because that's where Professor X and Magneto had their abduction/date courtesy of Sinister (as featured in the nineties cartoon AND IT WAS GLORIOUSLY HILARIOUS). This story almost resembles the tonality of that said episode, only this time even scarier and just plain bizarre creatures roamed around this weird-ass place. It started when Professor X "head-called" the fivesome to navigate this unnamed island somewhere. Without question, the youngsters obeyed and started on the quest.
Said quest, apparently, involved getting nearly stomped by ugly, ferocious giants, scared shitless by GODDAMN FLYING MONKEYS (much to Bobby's horror), almost get eaten by a tree that can imitate the human voice and has fangs; AND THEN almost get their blood sucked on by vicious butterflies that just started attacking them while they managed to take a break from the running and not-dying to eat their packed sandwiches.
So yes, it's no shocker that from what I described, that everything about this story was RIDICULOUS and yet strangely engrossing all the same. Professor X's very brief telepathic conversations with them were weird too; it's as if he is purposefully being evasive and neglectful (which, to be fair, is his standard shtick but after the eighth issue from Volume 1 which featured him hugging it out with his students, I was surprised that he still seemed rather distant after that). Furthermore, there are so many quotable zingers for this issue that almost made me laugh aloud while reading (but I couldn't because I was at work). Here are some of those juicy exchanges:
Angel: Those bats look kind of chubby.
Beast: Perhaps they're fruit bats.
Angel: *genuinely curious* Does fruit make you chubby?
Angel: They're FLYING MONKEYS!
Marvel Girl: NOT IN MY HAIR! *starts running away ahead from the group*
Iceman: Frostbite! And tell the Wicked Witch I've got a water bucket with her name on it. That's right, childhood trauma! This ain't little Bobby in his underoos. You're dealing with the Iceman now!
Angel: You mean all these things could be mutants?
Beast: Exactly. What if a charged meteorite landed here years ago, influencing the gene pool?
Iceman: Or what if an atom in my hand is a tiny planet and the earth is just an atom in a bigger guy's hand? I mean, whoa.
Marvel Girl: Bobby, if you don't have anything to offer, I've got a can of shut up here in the pack.
BUT MY FAVORITE MOMENT was when Scott, who has been reticent about all of this, FINALLY LOSES IT AND BLAMES XAVIER.
[image]
But that's just the icing on the cake because:
[image]
Think again, Bobby.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
0
2
not set
not set
Jun 08, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
455
B00ZMPYSV0
3.35
26
Jan 01, 2008
Aug 22, 2007
liked it
This is the second part of the two-parter story Island X. Unlike the previous installment which was promising in its execution (not to mention so godd
This is the second part of the two-parter story Island X. Unlike the previous installment which was promising in its execution (not to mention so goddamn humorous with its one-liners and overall comedic scenes), this issue was pretty anti-climactic for me. I didn't really have any fixed expectations as to what kind of resolution will take place here but at the same time, I feel like this story shouldn't have been stretched out for two issues at all. I think it would have worked more superbly if only the expanse of the entire thing extended to thirty pages alone.
However, the standard page requirement per issue is is twenty-four, so I think that affected the decision to divide this story into halves. It worked, I guess, as a self-contained action-adventure story where we see the X-Men in a dangerous foreign place without their mentor to hold them together. It was fun and exciting for the first installment of said arc, but the second part didn't deliver a satisfying pay-off. Basically, Professor X sent his gifted youngsters to some island crawling with creepy-as-fuck creatures, all of which are trying to murder and eat them in horrific ways and most probably not in that order. It was revealed that this wasn't the real Xavier after all (shocker) but no other than motherfucking Mastermind.
As we all know, Mags and Toad were carried by Stranger into outer space while the Maximoff twins decided to also give the hate-mongering imposition of mutant superiority a rest, so the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was officially disbanded. Mastermind, meanwhile, became some sort of statue display in the Xavier Mansion. I remember seeing a panel of him in the earlier issue and it was pretty great that Parker decided to bring him back using subtlety and surprise by incorporating him in this arc, revealing that it was him who was behind the X-Men's suicide mission after all.
My only quip was how easily the youngsters believed that it was really the Professor giving them instructions to "go to the volcano" in the most rude, snappish way possible, and not have any alarms go off until Scott thought more about it and realized that--despite his flaws--Xavier would not be so obviously neglectful with malicious intent.
I mean okay, sure, Chuck has a widely known canon history of being neglectful here and there in the general sense--who the fuck recruits kids and make them fight monsters as part of the school curriculum--but Chuck does it for the best intentions; to showcase to the rest of the society that mutants can commit heroic acts and dedicate their lives saving their unworthy asses. But to obviously lead his gifted students to their deaths and outwardly shouting at them during his telepathic communications? It's a wonder why they didn't pick up earlier, especially Jean, that they're not talking to the professor at all. But then again, they have been chased around by various monsters in a span of less than an hour so I guess it's forgivable they didn't notice sooner.
Anyway, the ruse was uncovered right before this issue ends and the real Xavier successfully tracks them down in the island known only as "monster island" (again, shocker) and confront Mastermind in a brief psionic battle, much to Bobby's glee ("Yeah, Giant-Head Fight!" as he deemed it). That amusing commentary aside, I just thought this issue was weak. There was an incompleteness to the way it was resolved.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
This is the second part of the two-parter story Island X. Unlike the previous installment which was promising in its execution (not to mention so goddamn humorous with its one-liners and overall comedic scenes), this issue was pretty anti-climactic for me. I didn't really have any fixed expectations as to what kind of resolution will take place here but at the same time, I feel like this story shouldn't have been stretched out for two issues at all. I think it would have worked more superbly if only the expanse of the entire thing extended to thirty pages alone.
However, the standard page requirement per issue is is twenty-four, so I think that affected the decision to divide this story into halves. It worked, I guess, as a self-contained action-adventure story where we see the X-Men in a dangerous foreign place without their mentor to hold them together. It was fun and exciting for the first installment of said arc, but the second part didn't deliver a satisfying pay-off. Basically, Professor X sent his gifted youngsters to some island crawling with creepy-as-fuck creatures, all of which are trying to murder and eat them in horrific ways and most probably not in that order. It was revealed that this wasn't the real Xavier after all (shocker) but no other than motherfucking Mastermind.
As we all know, Mags and Toad were carried by Stranger into outer space while the Maximoff twins decided to also give the hate-mongering imposition of mutant superiority a rest, so the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was officially disbanded. Mastermind, meanwhile, became some sort of statue display in the Xavier Mansion. I remember seeing a panel of him in the earlier issue and it was pretty great that Parker decided to bring him back using subtlety and surprise by incorporating him in this arc, revealing that it was him who was behind the X-Men's suicide mission after all.
My only quip was how easily the youngsters believed that it was really the Professor giving them instructions to "go to the volcano" in the most rude, snappish way possible, and not have any alarms go off until Scott thought more about it and realized that--despite his flaws--Xavier would not be so obviously neglectful with malicious intent.
I mean okay, sure, Chuck has a widely known canon history of being neglectful here and there in the general sense--who the fuck recruits kids and make them fight monsters as part of the school curriculum--but Chuck does it for the best intentions; to showcase to the rest of the society that mutants can commit heroic acts and dedicate their lives saving their unworthy asses. But to obviously lead his gifted students to their deaths and outwardly shouting at them during his telepathic communications? It's a wonder why they didn't pick up earlier, especially Jean, that they're not talking to the professor at all. But then again, they have been chased around by various monsters in a span of less than an hour so I guess it's forgivable they didn't notice sooner.
Anyway, the ruse was uncovered right before this issue ends and the real Xavier successfully tracks them down in the island known only as "monster island" (again, shocker) and confront Mastermind in a brief psionic battle, much to Bobby's glee ("Yeah, Giant-Head Fight!" as he deemed it). That amusing commentary aside, I just thought this issue was weak. There was an incompleteness to the way it was resolved.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
However, the standard page requirement per issue is is twenty-four, so I think that affected the decision to divide this story into halves. It worked, I guess, as a self-contained action-adventure story where we see the X-Men in a dangerous foreign place without their mentor to hold them together. It was fun and exciting for the first installment of said arc, but the second part didn't deliver a satisfying pay-off. Basically, Professor X sent his gifted youngsters to some island crawling with creepy-as-fuck creatures, all of which are trying to murder and eat them in horrific ways and most probably not in that order. It was revealed that this wasn't the real Xavier after all (shocker) but no other than motherfucking Mastermind.
As we all know, Mags and Toad were carried by Stranger into outer space while the Maximoff twins decided to also give the hate-mongering imposition of mutant superiority a rest, so the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was officially disbanded. Mastermind, meanwhile, became some sort of statue display in the Xavier Mansion. I remember seeing a panel of him in the earlier issue and it was pretty great that Parker decided to bring him back using subtlety and surprise by incorporating him in this arc, revealing that it was him who was behind the X-Men's suicide mission after all.
My only quip was how easily the youngsters believed that it was really the Professor giving them instructions to "go to the volcano" in the most rude, snappish way possible, and not have any alarms go off until Scott thought more about it and realized that--despite his flaws--Xavier would not be so obviously neglectful with malicious intent.
I mean okay, sure, Chuck has a widely known canon history of being neglectful here and there in the general sense--who the fuck recruits kids and make them fight monsters as part of the school curriculum--but Chuck does it for the best intentions; to showcase to the rest of the society that mutants can commit heroic acts and dedicate their lives saving their unworthy asses. But to obviously lead his gifted students to their deaths and outwardly shouting at them during his telepathic communications? It's a wonder why they didn't pick up earlier, especially Jean, that they're not talking to the professor at all. But then again, they have been chased around by various monsters in a span of less than an hour so I guess it's forgivable they didn't notice sooner.
Anyway, the ruse was uncovered right before this issue ends and the real Xavier successfully tracks them down in the island known only as "monster island" (again, shocker) and confront Mastermind in a brief psionic battle, much to Bobby's glee ("Yeah, Giant-Head Fight!" as he deemed it). That amusing commentary aside, I just thought this issue was weak. There was an incompleteness to the way it was resolved.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
This is the second part of the two-parter story Island X. Unlike the previous installment which was promising in its execution (not to mention so goddamn humorous with its one-liners and overall comedic scenes), this issue was pretty anti-climactic for me. I didn't really have any fixed expectations as to what kind of resolution will take place here but at the same time, I feel like this story shouldn't have been stretched out for two issues at all. I think it would have worked more superbly if only the expanse of the entire thing extended to thirty pages alone.
However, the standard page requirement per issue is is twenty-four, so I think that affected the decision to divide this story into halves. It worked, I guess, as a self-contained action-adventure story where we see the X-Men in a dangerous foreign place without their mentor to hold them together. It was fun and exciting for the first installment of said arc, but the second part didn't deliver a satisfying pay-off. Basically, Professor X sent his gifted youngsters to some island crawling with creepy-as-fuck creatures, all of which are trying to murder and eat them in horrific ways and most probably not in that order. It was revealed that this wasn't the real Xavier after all (shocker) but no other than motherfucking Mastermind.
As we all know, Mags and Toad were carried by Stranger into outer space while the Maximoff twins decided to also give the hate-mongering imposition of mutant superiority a rest, so the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was officially disbanded. Mastermind, meanwhile, became some sort of statue display in the Xavier Mansion. I remember seeing a panel of him in the earlier issue and it was pretty great that Parker decided to bring him back using subtlety and surprise by incorporating him in this arc, revealing that it was him who was behind the X-Men's suicide mission after all.
My only quip was how easily the youngsters believed that it was really the Professor giving them instructions to "go to the volcano" in the most rude, snappish way possible, and not have any alarms go off until Scott thought more about it and realized that--despite his flaws--Xavier would not be so obviously neglectful with malicious intent.
I mean okay, sure, Chuck has a widely known canon history of being neglectful here and there in the general sense--who the fuck recruits kids and make them fight monsters as part of the school curriculum--but Chuck does it for the best intentions; to showcase to the rest of the society that mutants can commit heroic acts and dedicate their lives saving their unworthy asses. But to obviously lead his gifted students to their deaths and outwardly shouting at them during his telepathic communications? It's a wonder why they didn't pick up earlier, especially Jean, that they're not talking to the professor at all. But then again, they have been chased around by various monsters in a span of less than an hour so I guess it's forgivable they didn't notice sooner.
Anyway, the ruse was uncovered right before this issue ends and the real Xavier successfully tracks them down in the island known only as "monster island" (again, shocker) and confront Mastermind in a brief psionic battle, much to Bobby's glee ("Yeah, Giant-Head Fight!" as he deemed it). That amusing commentary aside, I just thought this issue was weak. There was an incompleteness to the way it was resolved.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 09, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
456
B00ZMPYSRY
3.96
27
Nov 2007
Sep 26, 2007
really liked it
I honestly believe that I've been living for the days that I would come across heartfelt fluff like this entire series written by Jeff Parker has prov
I honestly believe that I've been living for the days that I would come across heartfelt fluff like this entire series written by Jeff Parker has proven to be time and time again. Like I said, the Original Core Five of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman and Angel are becoming my new favorite version of the X-Men because Parker has portrayed them here in such a way that still has the same flavors as the Stan Lee sixties era but also more stylishly drawn (thanks to the exuberant illustrations of Roger Cruz) and more in-tune with modern sensibilities. Everything has been either heartbreakingly delightful or delightfully heartbreaking. No issue captures both qualities in the same page as this fourth issue of Volume 2.
It's spring break in the Xavier Mansion and everyone is going home except for Bobby Drake and Henry McCoy who purposefully stayed behind the school for very different reasons. Henry wants to study for their new lessons in advance (eager to impress Xavier and devour new knowledge as usual and talk about it with Xavier) while Bobby wants to have fun without superhero-ing duties on his plate. Henry suggests that they should study together but then Xavier telepathically communicates that the two youngsters should enjoy the vacation like what normal people should be doing. Encouraged by their mentor, the two guys decided to take Warren's pricey car for a spin and go on a road trip for several days.
Ah, the formulaic road trip. Who doesn't enjoy this worn-out material as long as the characters who get to be a part of the story are interesting enough to sustain the humor, adventure and insight that such a journey entails? I know I was engrossed the entire time because Henry and Bobby are probably the most unlikely pairing I could think of among the five and yet they worked so seamlessly together that I was shocked they didn't become closer friends before. Now it looks like that's bound to happen, considering they basically crossed off all the items in the list of 'road trip with your buddy'.
They went to a casino to gamble, got kicked out; they went to a science exhibition thingie; petted animals, rode amusement park rides; speedboating; then camping--Bobby even taught Henry how to drive. And then they saved an entire city of people from getting hit by a tsunami using their identities as the X-Men. Overall, it was anyone could have wished for in a spontaneous road trip. Through it all, they had discussions about their classmates and whatnot, and then as they wait for the tsunami to subside while enclosed in a thick frozen igloo courtesy of Bobby, they had this quiet moment of reflection:
[image]
[image]
I certainly hope that we get to see their friendship evolve some more in the coming issues!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
I honestly believe that I've been living for the days that I would come across heartfelt fluff like this entire series written by Jeff Parker has proven to be time and time again. Like I said, the Original Core Five of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman and Angel are becoming my new favorite version of the X-Men because Parker has portrayed them here in such a way that still has the same flavors as the Stan Lee sixties era but also more stylishly drawn (thanks to the exuberant illustrations of Roger Cruz) and more in-tune with modern sensibilities. Everything has been either heartbreakingly delightful or delightfully heartbreaking. No issue captures both qualities in the same page as this fourth issue of Volume 2.
It's spring break in the Xavier Mansion and everyone is going home except for Bobby Drake and Henry McCoy who purposefully stayed behind the school for very different reasons. Henry wants to study for their new lessons in advance (eager to impress Xavier and devour new knowledge as usual and talk about it with Xavier) while Bobby wants to have fun without superhero-ing duties on his plate. Henry suggests that they should study together but then Xavier telepathically communicates that the two youngsters should enjoy the vacation like what normal people should be doing. Encouraged by their mentor, the two guys decided to take Warren's pricey car for a spin and go on a road trip for several days.
Ah, the formulaic road trip. Who doesn't enjoy this worn-out material as long as the characters who get to be a part of the story are interesting enough to sustain the humor, adventure and insight that such a journey entails? I know I was engrossed the entire time because Henry and Bobby are probably the most unlikely pairing I could think of among the five and yet they worked so seamlessly together that I was shocked they didn't become closer friends before. Now it looks like that's bound to happen, considering they basically crossed off all the items in the list of 'road trip with your buddy'.
They went to a casino to gamble, got kicked out; they went to a science exhibition thingie; petted animals, rode amusement park rides; speedboating; then camping--Bobby even taught Henry how to drive. And then they saved an entire city of people from getting hit by a tsunami using their identities as the X-Men. Overall, it was anyone could have wished for in a spontaneous road trip. Through it all, they had discussions about their classmates and whatnot, and then as they wait for the tsunami to subside while enclosed in a thick frozen igloo courtesy of Bobby, they had this quiet moment of reflection:
[image]
[image]
I certainly hope that we get to see their friendship evolve some more in the coming issues!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
It's spring break in the Xavier Mansion and everyone is going home except for Bobby Drake and Henry McCoy who purposefully stayed behind the school for very different reasons. Henry wants to study for their new lessons in advance (eager to impress Xavier and devour new knowledge as usual and talk about it with Xavier) while Bobby wants to have fun without superhero-ing duties on his plate. Henry suggests that they should study together but then Xavier telepathically communicates that the two youngsters should enjoy the vacation like what normal people should be doing. Encouraged by their mentor, the two guys decided to take Warren's pricey car for a spin and go on a road trip for several days.
Ah, the formulaic road trip. Who doesn't enjoy this worn-out material as long as the characters who get to be a part of the story are interesting enough to sustain the humor, adventure and insight that such a journey entails? I know I was engrossed the entire time because Henry and Bobby are probably the most unlikely pairing I could think of among the five and yet they worked so seamlessly together that I was shocked they didn't become closer friends before. Now it looks like that's bound to happen, considering they basically crossed off all the items in the list of 'road trip with your buddy'.
They went to a casino to gamble, got kicked out; they went to a science exhibition thingie; petted animals, rode amusement park rides; speedboating; then camping--Bobby even taught Henry how to drive. And then they saved an entire city of people from getting hit by a tsunami using their identities as the X-Men. Overall, it was anyone could have wished for in a spontaneous road trip. Through it all, they had discussions about their classmates and whatnot, and then as they wait for the tsunami to subside while enclosed in a thick frozen igloo courtesy of Bobby, they had this quiet moment of reflection:
[image]
[image]
I certainly hope that we get to see their friendship evolve some more in the coming issues!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
I honestly believe that I've been living for the days that I would come across heartfelt fluff like this entire series written by Jeff Parker has proven to be time and time again. Like I said, the Original Core Five of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman and Angel are becoming my new favorite version of the X-Men because Parker has portrayed them here in such a way that still has the same flavors as the Stan Lee sixties era but also more stylishly drawn (thanks to the exuberant illustrations of Roger Cruz) and more in-tune with modern sensibilities. Everything has been either heartbreakingly delightful or delightfully heartbreaking. No issue captures both qualities in the same page as this fourth issue of Volume 2.
It's spring break in the Xavier Mansion and everyone is going home except for Bobby Drake and Henry McCoy who purposefully stayed behind the school for very different reasons. Henry wants to study for their new lessons in advance (eager to impress Xavier and devour new knowledge as usual and talk about it with Xavier) while Bobby wants to have fun without superhero-ing duties on his plate. Henry suggests that they should study together but then Xavier telepathically communicates that the two youngsters should enjoy the vacation like what normal people should be doing. Encouraged by their mentor, the two guys decided to take Warren's pricey car for a spin and go on a road trip for several days.
Ah, the formulaic road trip. Who doesn't enjoy this worn-out material as long as the characters who get to be a part of the story are interesting enough to sustain the humor, adventure and insight that such a journey entails? I know I was engrossed the entire time because Henry and Bobby are probably the most unlikely pairing I could think of among the five and yet they worked so seamlessly together that I was shocked they didn't become closer friends before. Now it looks like that's bound to happen, considering they basically crossed off all the items in the list of 'road trip with your buddy'.
They went to a casino to gamble, got kicked out; they went to a science exhibition thingie; petted animals, rode amusement park rides; speedboating; then camping--Bobby even taught Henry how to drive. And then they saved an entire city of people from getting hit by a tsunami using their identities as the X-Men. Overall, it was anyone could have wished for in a spontaneous road trip. Through it all, they had discussions about their classmates and whatnot, and then as they wait for the tsunami to subside while enclosed in a thick frozen igloo courtesy of Bobby, they had this quiet moment of reflection:
[image]
[image]
I certainly hope that we get to see their friendship evolve some more in the coming issues!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 09, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
459
B00ZMQPBOW
3.30
27
Jan 01, 2008
Nov 28, 2007
really liked it
Well, well, well.
Now THIS is how you build up another chaptered arc!
The previous issue was sort of a downer which was even more disappointing because Well, well, well.
Now THIS is how you build up another chaptered arc!
The previous issue was sort of a downer which was even more disappointing because I was pleased to see the Incredible Hulk make an appearance as one of the weekly Marvel guest star for XMFC series, but the story he was included in just wasn't substantial enough to captivate my interest. The entire thing was forgettable so let's move on from that and talk about this one.
With only eighteen pages, The Catalyst fairly did a quick and exciting job to establish the parameters and consequential stakes concerning the new clusterfuckery the X-Men and the professor are going to deal with, which actually hasn't been revealed yet. Still, I sure hope this arc would be much better than the last one with the monster island whose premise was a lot more enjoyable than its half-baked resolution.
For this issue, it started with a scene inside a space station where the professor volunteered his powers to detect a possible alien life form in a comet that's about to strike a surface of the Earth. Xavier manages to detain its direction to avoid contact with our world but was sad to inform everyone else that he didn't get to communicate with any existing life form at the comet's core.
The next day, everyone woke up without their mutant powers. Henry has normal hands and feet, Bobby can't ice up, Jean has no telekenis, Professor X has no telepathy while Warren's wings started shedding, which was quite a heartbreaking scene in itself. Scott was the only one who was happy to get rid of his pesky laser beams which was kind of insensitive to his friends, honestly.
However, he did prove himself surprisingly useful when a horde of goddamn Sentinels attacked the mansion right when everyone is stupefied and powerless. Even without his powers, Scott's training snapped into action and he lured one Sentinel inside the Danger Room using only his quick reflexes. I concur with Bobby; Scott was such a badass and he didn't even need to go all-Cyclops. It only goes to show that he's a natural, dependable leader, mutant-powered or not.
What was curious was that rather timely Sentinel attack--and the even more confounding fact that they attacked the kids in the first place when they're supposed to be programmed to detect mutants and I assume that if the X-Men are de-powered then that means that the Sentinels won't register them as threats. That could mean that the X-gene might still be present in them and is suppressed--or somebody knows shit like this is gonna go down and has re-programmed the Sentinels.
Does this have anything to do with the comet earlier? I don't know. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT. I'm really excited to see where this story leads and how and why did they lose their mutations all of a sudden.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Well, well, well.
Now THIS is how you build up another chaptered arc!
The previous issue was sort of a downer which was even more disappointing because I was pleased to see the Incredible Hulk make an appearance as one of the weekly Marvel guest star for XMFC series, but the story he was included in just wasn't substantial enough to captivate my interest. The entire thing was forgettable so let's move on from that and talk about this one.
With only eighteen pages, The Catalyst fairly did a quick and exciting job to establish the parameters and consequential stakes concerning the new clusterfuckery the X-Men and the professor are going to deal with, which actually hasn't been revealed yet. Still, I sure hope this arc would be much better than the last one with the monster island whose premise was a lot more enjoyable than its half-baked resolution.
For this issue, it started with a scene inside a space station where the professor volunteered his powers to detect a possible alien life form in a comet that's about to strike a surface of the Earth. Xavier manages to detain its direction to avoid contact with our world but was sad to inform everyone else that he didn't get to communicate with any existing life form at the comet's core.
The next day, everyone woke up without their mutant powers. Henry has normal hands and feet, Bobby can't ice up, Jean has no telekenis, Professor X has no telepathy while Warren's wings started shedding, which was quite a heartbreaking scene in itself. Scott was the only one who was happy to get rid of his pesky laser beams which was kind of insensitive to his friends, honestly.
However, he did prove himself surprisingly useful when a horde of goddamn Sentinels attacked the mansion right when everyone is stupefied and powerless. Even without his powers, Scott's training snapped into action and he lured one Sentinel inside the Danger Room using only his quick reflexes. I concur with Bobby; Scott was such a badass and he didn't even need to go all-Cyclops. It only goes to show that he's a natural, dependable leader, mutant-powered or not.
What was curious was that rather timely Sentinel attack--and the even more confounding fact that they attacked the kids in the first place when they're supposed to be programmed to detect mutants and I assume that if the X-Men are de-powered then that means that the Sentinels won't register them as threats. That could mean that the X-gene might still be present in them and is suppressed--or somebody knows shit like this is gonna go down and has re-programmed the Sentinels.
Does this have anything to do with the comet earlier? I don't know. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT. I'm really excited to see where this story leads and how and why did they lose their mutations all of a sudden.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Now THIS is how you build up another chaptered arc!
The previous issue was sort of a downer which was even more disappointing because Well, well, well.
Now THIS is how you build up another chaptered arc!
The previous issue was sort of a downer which was even more disappointing because I was pleased to see the Incredible Hulk make an appearance as one of the weekly Marvel guest star for XMFC series, but the story he was included in just wasn't substantial enough to captivate my interest. The entire thing was forgettable so let's move on from that and talk about this one.
With only eighteen pages, The Catalyst fairly did a quick and exciting job to establish the parameters and consequential stakes concerning the new clusterfuckery the X-Men and the professor are going to deal with, which actually hasn't been revealed yet. Still, I sure hope this arc would be much better than the last one with the monster island whose premise was a lot more enjoyable than its half-baked resolution.
For this issue, it started with a scene inside a space station where the professor volunteered his powers to detect a possible alien life form in a comet that's about to strike a surface of the Earth. Xavier manages to detain its direction to avoid contact with our world but was sad to inform everyone else that he didn't get to communicate with any existing life form at the comet's core.
The next day, everyone woke up without their mutant powers. Henry has normal hands and feet, Bobby can't ice up, Jean has no telekenis, Professor X has no telepathy while Warren's wings started shedding, which was quite a heartbreaking scene in itself. Scott was the only one who was happy to get rid of his pesky laser beams which was kind of insensitive to his friends, honestly.
However, he did prove himself surprisingly useful when a horde of goddamn Sentinels attacked the mansion right when everyone is stupefied and powerless. Even without his powers, Scott's training snapped into action and he lured one Sentinel inside the Danger Room using only his quick reflexes. I concur with Bobby; Scott was such a badass and he didn't even need to go all-Cyclops. It only goes to show that he's a natural, dependable leader, mutant-powered or not.
What was curious was that rather timely Sentinel attack--and the even more confounding fact that they attacked the kids in the first place when they're supposed to be programmed to detect mutants and I assume that if the X-Men are de-powered then that means that the Sentinels won't register them as threats. That could mean that the X-gene might still be present in them and is suppressed--or somebody knows shit like this is gonna go down and has re-programmed the Sentinels.
Does this have anything to do with the comet earlier? I don't know. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT. I'm really excited to see where this story leads and how and why did they lose their mutations all of a sudden.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Well, well, well.
Now THIS is how you build up another chaptered arc!
The previous issue was sort of a downer which was even more disappointing because I was pleased to see the Incredible Hulk make an appearance as one of the weekly Marvel guest star for XMFC series, but the story he was included in just wasn't substantial enough to captivate my interest. The entire thing was forgettable so let's move on from that and talk about this one.
With only eighteen pages, The Catalyst fairly did a quick and exciting job to establish the parameters and consequential stakes concerning the new clusterfuckery the X-Men and the professor are going to deal with, which actually hasn't been revealed yet. Still, I sure hope this arc would be much better than the last one with the monster island whose premise was a lot more enjoyable than its half-baked resolution.
For this issue, it started with a scene inside a space station where the professor volunteered his powers to detect a possible alien life form in a comet that's about to strike a surface of the Earth. Xavier manages to detain its direction to avoid contact with our world but was sad to inform everyone else that he didn't get to communicate with any existing life form at the comet's core.
The next day, everyone woke up without their mutant powers. Henry has normal hands and feet, Bobby can't ice up, Jean has no telekenis, Professor X has no telepathy while Warren's wings started shedding, which was quite a heartbreaking scene in itself. Scott was the only one who was happy to get rid of his pesky laser beams which was kind of insensitive to his friends, honestly.
However, he did prove himself surprisingly useful when a horde of goddamn Sentinels attacked the mansion right when everyone is stupefied and powerless. Even without his powers, Scott's training snapped into action and he lured one Sentinel inside the Danger Room using only his quick reflexes. I concur with Bobby; Scott was such a badass and he didn't even need to go all-Cyclops. It only goes to show that he's a natural, dependable leader, mutant-powered or not.
What was curious was that rather timely Sentinel attack--and the even more confounding fact that they attacked the kids in the first place when they're supposed to be programmed to detect mutants and I assume that if the X-Men are de-powered then that means that the Sentinels won't register them as threats. That could mean that the X-gene might still be present in them and is suppressed--or somebody knows shit like this is gonna go down and has re-programmed the Sentinels.
Does this have anything to do with the comet earlier? I don't know. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO FIND OUT. I'm really excited to see where this story leads and how and why did they lose their mutations all of a sudden.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 11, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
460
B00ZMQPCFU
3.46
26
Jan 01, 2008
Dec 26, 2007
really liked it
Now this was an epic resolution to a startling premise. I was very impressed, considering that the last two-parter story of this series, Island X, fel
Now this was an epic resolution to a startling premise. I was very impressed, considering that the last two-parter story of this series, Island X, fell apart in its conclusion. Meanwhile, this one entitled The Catalyst, did not. Last issue, which only ran about eighteen pages, has showcased the deftness of the narrative by being able to deliver the plot on brisk simplicity which followed a rather stakes-high cliffhanger.
NASA asked for the help of Charles Xavier to deter a comet from landing on earth. Using his telepathy, Professor X tried to assess if there is any living organism in the comet but was disappointed to find out that there is none...or is there not? The X-Men and their mentor woke up the very next day only to discover that they have each lost their respective unique powers. The only one happy about it was Scott and I would be too if it meant not always having to wear specialized shades indoors to avoid accidentally shooting off laser beams at my friends.
To make matters crazier, a horde of Sentinels started attacking the Xavier Mansion because why the fuck not. Fortunately, because of the youngsters and their teacher getting timely depowered, the Sentinels did not kill them and instead accessed Cerebro's files which included the whereabouts of other mutants, particularly Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver's location. As the Sentinels hunt them down, the X-Men and the professor decided to still do something, mutant-powered or not, and got there just in time as the twins try to fight off the motherfucking hate-mongering robots.
Just as hope for survival looks dire, the X-Men and Professor X regained their powers which also happened to be multiplied tenfold. With such a breadth and depth of powers, they were not only able to defeat the Sentinels, they goddamned owned their asses. It was spectacular and a little bit terrifying. The heroes soon realized that some entity has enhanced their mutation, giving them absolute control and powers that they know might cost their humanity. They went back to the Mansion to discover a piece of the aforementioned comet has landed near their home, undoubtedly honing in towards the professor's telepathy.
After a brief discussion, each of them--though with noted sad resignation--agreed they should give up the overflowing magnitude of their powers so the professor once again communicated with the comet entity which recognized his imprint and therefore terminated whatever it was doing to their genes. Now, they could have had it all right there. Nobody would have to know. They can continue using the comet to channel their powers from and justify doing so for the good of mankind. But the youngsters showed emotional maturity by showing that they understand the hefty price they will pay for it and decided wisely not to risk it.
It's worth noting that as they send that piece of comet back to space, we see Jean Grey staring longingly after it. Wheb Scott asked her about it, she merely dismissed that she's definitely going to miss being able to fly. As seen in the first issue of Vol. 2, Jean has been trying to use her telekenesis to fly herself from the ground...and promptly failing. Now she got the taste of real power and we all know what happens to her eventually, which was why there was some dread at the pit of my stomach as I watch her face with that hopeful expression. Jean looks as if she's open to a source of power far greater than ever before which builds up the upcoming events where she will posses the power of the Phoenix until it ultimately eats her up and transforms her into a dark entity.
This is still a PG-13 series so I wonder how far they will push through showcasing Jean Grey's dark potentials.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Now this was an epic resolution to a startling premise. I was very impressed, considering that the last two-parter story of this series, Island X, fell apart in its conclusion. Meanwhile, this one entitled The Catalyst, did not. Last issue, which only ran about eighteen pages, has showcased the deftness of the narrative by being able to deliver the plot on brisk simplicity which followed a rather stakes-high cliffhanger.
NASA asked for the help of Charles Xavier to deter a comet from landing on earth. Using his telepathy, Professor X tried to assess if there is any living organism in the comet but was disappointed to find out that there is none...or is there not? The X-Men and their mentor woke up the very next day only to discover that they have each lost their respective unique powers. The only one happy about it was Scott and I would be too if it meant not always having to wear specialized shades indoors to avoid accidentally shooting off laser beams at my friends.
To make matters crazier, a horde of Sentinels started attacking the Xavier Mansion because why the fuck not. Fortunately, because of the youngsters and their teacher getting timely depowered, the Sentinels did not kill them and instead accessed Cerebro's files which included the whereabouts of other mutants, particularly Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver's location. As the Sentinels hunt them down, the X-Men and the professor decided to still do something, mutant-powered or not, and got there just in time as the twins try to fight off the motherfucking hate-mongering robots.
Just as hope for survival looks dire, the X-Men and Professor X regained their powers which also happened to be multiplied tenfold. With such a breadth and depth of powers, they were not only able to defeat the Sentinels, they goddamned owned their asses. It was spectacular and a little bit terrifying. The heroes soon realized that some entity has enhanced their mutation, giving them absolute control and powers that they know might cost their humanity. They went back to the Mansion to discover a piece of the aforementioned comet has landed near their home, undoubtedly honing in towards the professor's telepathy.
After a brief discussion, each of them--though with noted sad resignation--agreed they should give up the overflowing magnitude of their powers so the professor once again communicated with the comet entity which recognized his imprint and therefore terminated whatever it was doing to their genes. Now, they could have had it all right there. Nobody would have to know. They can continue using the comet to channel their powers from and justify doing so for the good of mankind. But the youngsters showed emotional maturity by showing that they understand the hefty price they will pay for it and decided wisely not to risk it.
It's worth noting that as they send that piece of comet back to space, we see Jean Grey staring longingly after it. Wheb Scott asked her about it, she merely dismissed that she's definitely going to miss being able to fly. As seen in the first issue of Vol. 2, Jean has been trying to use her telekenesis to fly herself from the ground...and promptly failing. Now she got the taste of real power and we all know what happens to her eventually, which was why there was some dread at the pit of my stomach as I watch her face with that hopeful expression. Jean looks as if she's open to a source of power far greater than ever before which builds up the upcoming events where she will posses the power of the Phoenix until it ultimately eats her up and transforms her into a dark entity.
This is still a PG-13 series so I wonder how far they will push through showcasing Jean Grey's dark potentials.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
NASA asked for the help of Charles Xavier to deter a comet from landing on earth. Using his telepathy, Professor X tried to assess if there is any living organism in the comet but was disappointed to find out that there is none...or is there not? The X-Men and their mentor woke up the very next day only to discover that they have each lost their respective unique powers. The only one happy about it was Scott and I would be too if it meant not always having to wear specialized shades indoors to avoid accidentally shooting off laser beams at my friends.
To make matters crazier, a horde of Sentinels started attacking the Xavier Mansion because why the fuck not. Fortunately, because of the youngsters and their teacher getting timely depowered, the Sentinels did not kill them and instead accessed Cerebro's files which included the whereabouts of other mutants, particularly Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver's location. As the Sentinels hunt them down, the X-Men and the professor decided to still do something, mutant-powered or not, and got there just in time as the twins try to fight off the motherfucking hate-mongering robots.
Just as hope for survival looks dire, the X-Men and Professor X regained their powers which also happened to be multiplied tenfold. With such a breadth and depth of powers, they were not only able to defeat the Sentinels, they goddamned owned their asses. It was spectacular and a little bit terrifying. The heroes soon realized that some entity has enhanced their mutation, giving them absolute control and powers that they know might cost their humanity. They went back to the Mansion to discover a piece of the aforementioned comet has landed near their home, undoubtedly honing in towards the professor's telepathy.
After a brief discussion, each of them--though with noted sad resignation--agreed they should give up the overflowing magnitude of their powers so the professor once again communicated with the comet entity which recognized his imprint and therefore terminated whatever it was doing to their genes. Now, they could have had it all right there. Nobody would have to know. They can continue using the comet to channel their powers from and justify doing so for the good of mankind. But the youngsters showed emotional maturity by showing that they understand the hefty price they will pay for it and decided wisely not to risk it.
It's worth noting that as they send that piece of comet back to space, we see Jean Grey staring longingly after it. Wheb Scott asked her about it, she merely dismissed that she's definitely going to miss being able to fly. As seen in the first issue of Vol. 2, Jean has been trying to use her telekenesis to fly herself from the ground...and promptly failing. Now she got the taste of real power and we all know what happens to her eventually, which was why there was some dread at the pit of my stomach as I watch her face with that hopeful expression. Jean looks as if she's open to a source of power far greater than ever before which builds up the upcoming events where she will posses the power of the Phoenix until it ultimately eats her up and transforms her into a dark entity.
This is still a PG-13 series so I wonder how far they will push through showcasing Jean Grey's dark potentials.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Now this was an epic resolution to a startling premise. I was very impressed, considering that the last two-parter story of this series, Island X, fell apart in its conclusion. Meanwhile, this one entitled The Catalyst, did not. Last issue, which only ran about eighteen pages, has showcased the deftness of the narrative by being able to deliver the plot on brisk simplicity which followed a rather stakes-high cliffhanger.
NASA asked for the help of Charles Xavier to deter a comet from landing on earth. Using his telepathy, Professor X tried to assess if there is any living organism in the comet but was disappointed to find out that there is none...or is there not? The X-Men and their mentor woke up the very next day only to discover that they have each lost their respective unique powers. The only one happy about it was Scott and I would be too if it meant not always having to wear specialized shades indoors to avoid accidentally shooting off laser beams at my friends.
To make matters crazier, a horde of Sentinels started attacking the Xavier Mansion because why the fuck not. Fortunately, because of the youngsters and their teacher getting timely depowered, the Sentinels did not kill them and instead accessed Cerebro's files which included the whereabouts of other mutants, particularly Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver's location. As the Sentinels hunt them down, the X-Men and the professor decided to still do something, mutant-powered or not, and got there just in time as the twins try to fight off the motherfucking hate-mongering robots.
Just as hope for survival looks dire, the X-Men and Professor X regained their powers which also happened to be multiplied tenfold. With such a breadth and depth of powers, they were not only able to defeat the Sentinels, they goddamned owned their asses. It was spectacular and a little bit terrifying. The heroes soon realized that some entity has enhanced their mutation, giving them absolute control and powers that they know might cost their humanity. They went back to the Mansion to discover a piece of the aforementioned comet has landed near their home, undoubtedly honing in towards the professor's telepathy.
After a brief discussion, each of them--though with noted sad resignation--agreed they should give up the overflowing magnitude of their powers so the professor once again communicated with the comet entity which recognized his imprint and therefore terminated whatever it was doing to their genes. Now, they could have had it all right there. Nobody would have to know. They can continue using the comet to channel their powers from and justify doing so for the good of mankind. But the youngsters showed emotional maturity by showing that they understand the hefty price they will pay for it and decided wisely not to risk it.
It's worth noting that as they send that piece of comet back to space, we see Jean Grey staring longingly after it. Wheb Scott asked her about it, she merely dismissed that she's definitely going to miss being able to fly. As seen in the first issue of Vol. 2, Jean has been trying to use her telekenesis to fly herself from the ground...and promptly failing. Now she got the taste of real power and we all know what happens to her eventually, which was why there was some dread at the pit of my stomach as I watch her face with that hopeful expression. Jean looks as if she's open to a source of power far greater than ever before which builds up the upcoming events where she will posses the power of the Phoenix until it ultimately eats her up and transforms her into a dark entity.
This is still a PG-13 series so I wonder how far they will push through showcasing Jean Grey's dark potentials.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 13, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
464
3.38
21
May 2008
Aug 08, 2010
really liked it
I have maintained a very complex and inexplicable relationship with one Scott Summers, otherwise known as the mutant Cyclops. I mean, honestly, who ha
I have maintained a very complex and inexplicable relationship with one Scott Summers, otherwise known as the mutant Cyclops. I mean, honestly, who hasn't? Any X-Men reader and fan had, at one point in their lives, tried to understand how they feel about him because this motherfucker has never been flat on anyone's radar.
He's far too much of a polarizing character to just be casually dismissed.
As the leader of the Original Core Five (I'm gonna start abbreviating this to OCF now to save time), Scott bears the burden of commanding missions and being responsible for everyone's participation, performance and safety. In XMFC, we get a youthful, doubtful and moody Scott who is afraid of his powers because shooting laser beams from your eyes is as dangerous as it gets and he always has to wear specialized shades to protect people around him.
Nevertheless, Xavier sees him as someone who is born to lead mainly because he adheres to caution and values everyone's well-being because he worries in advance and sometimes to a fault. It's a sad development then to witness this golden boy turn rotten and now the infamous militant leader of the current comics run. It upsets me but it is inarguable the natural progression of his character arc which was a long time coming.
But I digress. For this installment, we finally get a story where Scott is the sole central figure which was odd in itself because you'd think a single character can't carry an entire plot by himself but if there is anyone who can do it then I suppose it has to be Scott. The reason why everyone else is out of commission is because the four youngsters got some awful case of stomach flu and Scott was already sent in a solo mission by the professor so he did not get sick.
The professor wanted to train him seperate from everyone else because he was confident in Scott's abilities and as soon as they figured out together what Cyclops is up against, Xavier maintains that he wouldn't have chosen anyone else but him. It has always been apparent that Xavier is training Scott to one day take over when he's gone so sending him out on his own was only necessary. I'm also glad that he has an open communication with Xavier here the entire time.
In this mission, Scott learns that there are dangers to always having your guard up. The truth is, he needs to be less cautious and more sensitive to other needs and to stop treating himself like a walking hazard. It's just heartbreaking that when he did eventually get over this insecurity, he gains a less than optimistic perspective on his powers and leadership and became the harsher and inflexible semi-villain he is today in comics.
So I was happy to be reminded of a young Scott, brimming with potentials. I really missed this version of him and I really want to keep reading this series just so I can hold onto this Scott Summers a little longer, if possible.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
I have maintained a very complex and inexplicable relationship with one Scott Summers, otherwise known as the mutant Cyclops. I mean, honestly, who hasn't? Any X-Men reader and fan had, at one point in their lives, tried to understand how they feel about him because this motherfucker has never been flat on anyone's radar.
He's far too much of a polarizing character to just be casually dismissed.
As the leader of the Original Core Five (I'm gonna start abbreviating this to OCF now to save time), Scott bears the burden of commanding missions and being responsible for everyone's participation, performance and safety. In XMFC, we get a youthful, doubtful and moody Scott who is afraid of his powers because shooting laser beams from your eyes is as dangerous as it gets and he always has to wear specialized shades to protect people around him.
Nevertheless, Xavier sees him as someone who is born to lead mainly because he adheres to caution and values everyone's well-being because he worries in advance and sometimes to a fault. It's a sad development then to witness this golden boy turn rotten and now the infamous militant leader of the current comics run. It upsets me but it is inarguable the natural progression of his character arc which was a long time coming.
But I digress. For this installment, we finally get a story where Scott is the sole central figure which was odd in itself because you'd think a single character can't carry an entire plot by himself but if there is anyone who can do it then I suppose it has to be Scott. The reason why everyone else is out of commission is because the four youngsters got some awful case of stomach flu and Scott was already sent in a solo mission by the professor so he did not get sick.
The professor wanted to train him seperate from everyone else because he was confident in Scott's abilities and as soon as they figured out together what Cyclops is up against, Xavier maintains that he wouldn't have chosen anyone else but him. It has always been apparent that Xavier is training Scott to one day take over when he's gone so sending him out on his own was only necessary. I'm also glad that he has an open communication with Xavier here the entire time.
In this mission, Scott learns that there are dangers to always having your guard up. The truth is, he needs to be less cautious and more sensitive to other needs and to stop treating himself like a walking hazard. It's just heartbreaking that when he did eventually get over this insecurity, he gains a less than optimistic perspective on his powers and leadership and became the harsher and inflexible semi-villain he is today in comics.
So I was happy to be reminded of a young Scott, brimming with potentials. I really missed this version of him and I really want to keep reading this series just so I can hold onto this Scott Summers a little longer, if possible.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
He's far too much of a polarizing character to just be casually dismissed.
As the leader of the Original Core Five (I'm gonna start abbreviating this to OCF now to save time), Scott bears the burden of commanding missions and being responsible for everyone's participation, performance and safety. In XMFC, we get a youthful, doubtful and moody Scott who is afraid of his powers because shooting laser beams from your eyes is as dangerous as it gets and he always has to wear specialized shades to protect people around him.
Nevertheless, Xavier sees him as someone who is born to lead mainly because he adheres to caution and values everyone's well-being because he worries in advance and sometimes to a fault. It's a sad development then to witness this golden boy turn rotten and now the infamous militant leader of the current comics run. It upsets me but it is inarguable the natural progression of his character arc which was a long time coming.
But I digress. For this installment, we finally get a story where Scott is the sole central figure which was odd in itself because you'd think a single character can't carry an entire plot by himself but if there is anyone who can do it then I suppose it has to be Scott. The reason why everyone else is out of commission is because the four youngsters got some awful case of stomach flu and Scott was already sent in a solo mission by the professor so he did not get sick.
The professor wanted to train him seperate from everyone else because he was confident in Scott's abilities and as soon as they figured out together what Cyclops is up against, Xavier maintains that he wouldn't have chosen anyone else but him. It has always been apparent that Xavier is training Scott to one day take over when he's gone so sending him out on his own was only necessary. I'm also glad that he has an open communication with Xavier here the entire time.
In this mission, Scott learns that there are dangers to always having your guard up. The truth is, he needs to be less cautious and more sensitive to other needs and to stop treating himself like a walking hazard. It's just heartbreaking that when he did eventually get over this insecurity, he gains a less than optimistic perspective on his powers and leadership and became the harsher and inflexible semi-villain he is today in comics.
So I was happy to be reminded of a young Scott, brimming with potentials. I really missed this version of him and I really want to keep reading this series just so I can hold onto this Scott Summers a little longer, if possible.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
I have maintained a very complex and inexplicable relationship with one Scott Summers, otherwise known as the mutant Cyclops. I mean, honestly, who hasn't? Any X-Men reader and fan had, at one point in their lives, tried to understand how they feel about him because this motherfucker has never been flat on anyone's radar.
He's far too much of a polarizing character to just be casually dismissed.
As the leader of the Original Core Five (I'm gonna start abbreviating this to OCF now to save time), Scott bears the burden of commanding missions and being responsible for everyone's participation, performance and safety. In XMFC, we get a youthful, doubtful and moody Scott who is afraid of his powers because shooting laser beams from your eyes is as dangerous as it gets and he always has to wear specialized shades to protect people around him.
Nevertheless, Xavier sees him as someone who is born to lead mainly because he adheres to caution and values everyone's well-being because he worries in advance and sometimes to a fault. It's a sad development then to witness this golden boy turn rotten and now the infamous militant leader of the current comics run. It upsets me but it is inarguable the natural progression of his character arc which was a long time coming.
But I digress. For this installment, we finally get a story where Scott is the sole central figure which was odd in itself because you'd think a single character can't carry an entire plot by himself but if there is anyone who can do it then I suppose it has to be Scott. The reason why everyone else is out of commission is because the four youngsters got some awful case of stomach flu and Scott was already sent in a solo mission by the professor so he did not get sick.
The professor wanted to train him seperate from everyone else because he was confident in Scott's abilities and as soon as they figured out together what Cyclops is up against, Xavier maintains that he wouldn't have chosen anyone else but him. It has always been apparent that Xavier is training Scott to one day take over when he's gone so sending him out on his own was only necessary. I'm also glad that he has an open communication with Xavier here the entire time.
In this mission, Scott learns that there are dangers to always having your guard up. The truth is, he needs to be less cautious and more sensitive to other needs and to stop treating himself like a walking hazard. It's just heartbreaking that when he did eventually get over this insecurity, he gains a less than optimistic perspective on his powers and leadership and became the harsher and inflexible semi-villain he is today in comics.
So I was happy to be reminded of a young Scott, brimming with potentials. I really missed this version of him and I really want to keep reading this series just so I can hold onto this Scott Summers a little longer, if possible.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 16, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
ebook
465
B00ZMRNXGO
2.73
22
Jun 2008
Apr 23, 2008
liked it
What the fuck are 'continue-teens'?
Well, whoever they are, they supposedly represent the real-life comic book readers who understand the laws and cont What the fuck are 'continue-teens'?
Well, whoever they are, they supposedly represent the real-life comic book readers who understand the laws and continuity lapses of superhero universes. I suppose this is Jeff Parker's attempt at meta commentary and literary style but I frankly did not give a damn. It was incomprehensible.
It's possible that the main reason why I didn't enjoy any of it was because it forced me to recall some Marvel villains who remain obscure only to me most likely because I'm not a Marvel fangirl in the first place so a few of these characters and their overall significance to the meta-plot they are playing on goes way over my head.
Shamefully so, I guess, but I couldn't google while reading this issue because I simply dislike interruptions when I read comics. Besides, right after finishing, I decided that I don't want to know more although the concept of meta teenage comic book readers helping out the X-Men does have its charm for a while.
Still, this is an issue to skip. Scott and Warren (both on individual missions) are also absent here so the OCF are incomplete so there is less interactive dynamics among them.
NOT NECESSARILY RECOMMENDED: 5/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
What the fuck are 'continue-teens'?
Well, whoever they are, they supposedly represent the real-life comic book readers who understand the laws and continuity lapses of superhero universes. I suppose this is Jeff Parker's attempt at meta commentary and literary style but I frankly did not give a damn. It was incomprehensible.
It's possible that the main reason why I didn't enjoy any of it was because it forced me to recall some Marvel villains who remain obscure only to me most likely because I'm not a Marvel fangirl in the first place so a few of these characters and their overall significance to the meta-plot they are playing on goes way over my head.
Shamefully so, I guess, but I couldn't google while reading this issue because I simply dislike interruptions when I read comics. Besides, right after finishing, I decided that I don't want to know more although the concept of meta teenage comic book readers helping out the X-Men does have its charm for a while.
Still, this is an issue to skip. Scott and Warren (both on individual missions) are also absent here so the OCF are incomplete so there is less interactive dynamics among them.
NOT NECESSARILY RECOMMENDED: 5/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Well, whoever they are, they supposedly represent the real-life comic book readers who understand the laws and cont What the fuck are 'continue-teens'?
Well, whoever they are, they supposedly represent the real-life comic book readers who understand the laws and continuity lapses of superhero universes. I suppose this is Jeff Parker's attempt at meta commentary and literary style but I frankly did not give a damn. It was incomprehensible.
It's possible that the main reason why I didn't enjoy any of it was because it forced me to recall some Marvel villains who remain obscure only to me most likely because I'm not a Marvel fangirl in the first place so a few of these characters and their overall significance to the meta-plot they are playing on goes way over my head.
Shamefully so, I guess, but I couldn't google while reading this issue because I simply dislike interruptions when I read comics. Besides, right after finishing, I decided that I don't want to know more although the concept of meta teenage comic book readers helping out the X-Men does have its charm for a while.
Still, this is an issue to skip. Scott and Warren (both on individual missions) are also absent here so the OCF are incomplete so there is less interactive dynamics among them.
NOT NECESSARILY RECOMMENDED: 5/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
What the fuck are 'continue-teens'?
Well, whoever they are, they supposedly represent the real-life comic book readers who understand the laws and continuity lapses of superhero universes. I suppose this is Jeff Parker's attempt at meta commentary and literary style but I frankly did not give a damn. It was incomprehensible.
It's possible that the main reason why I didn't enjoy any of it was because it forced me to recall some Marvel villains who remain obscure only to me most likely because I'm not a Marvel fangirl in the first place so a few of these characters and their overall significance to the meta-plot they are playing on goes way over my head.
Shamefully so, I guess, but I couldn't google while reading this issue because I simply dislike interruptions when I read comics. Besides, right after finishing, I decided that I don't want to know more although the concept of meta teenage comic book readers helping out the X-Men does have its charm for a while.
Still, this is an issue to skip. Scott and Warren (both on individual missions) are also absent here so the OCF are incomplete so there is less interactive dynamics among them.
NOT NECESSARILY RECOMMENDED: 5/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 16, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
466
B00ZMRNW5G
3.76
21
Jul 2008
May 28, 2008
really liked it
Let's bury the lead in this review: basically, this is the last time we will see Angel and what a rather moving send-off it was!
Now that I think about Let's bury the lead in this review: basically, this is the last time we will see Angel and what a rather moving send-off it was!
Now that I think about it, it was really only a matter of time for Warren Worthington III to leave the X-Men...and so soon at that. True to his winged nature, it's not exactly hard to believe that Warren desires freedom above everything but more than anything else he wants the freedom to roam in a place where people fully accept what he is. Sadly enough, being an X-Man, fighting crime, just doesn't cut it anymore.
This twelfth issue of the series entitled Fly Away is definitely an emotionally resonant piece for me. After the weird story that preceded it, I was more than relieved to read something this intimate and intensely familiar as someone who always loved what the X-Men have long represented: underdogs who will never compromise their uniqueness as individuals as they fight to carve a piece in the world where they could both belong and live in harmony with others.
While Scott set out to confront a mutant serial killer somewhere in the jungle in issue #10, we get a flashback where Warren's parents paid him a visit to inform him that his favorite aunt (the same one who found them Gorilla-Man as their tour guide in issue #8 of Vol. 1) has been missing for a week in one of her exciting expeditions. He later leaves without permission from Xavier or informing his friends which peeved Jean. Luckily, she was able to communicate with him using a tracker and the two of them continue to correspond until Warren arrives in these majestic waterfalls where he discovered a secret passage that may lead to where his aunt might be.
Upon getting inside, he was shocked to see to find the Land of Mists, a forgotten kingdom much like an Atlantis where his aunt has been staying and having a fabulous time. Warren spent hours there with her to meet the people and explore its territory. Meanwhile the rest of the X-Men were worried so they set out to find him. But Warren wasn't in any kind of trouble. In fact, he feels right at home. Everyone was welcoming and they saw his winged feature as a beautiful vessel. That was rather unexpected for him and it was the very first time he felt at ease being different, much more so than when he was among his classmates in Xavier's school.
Once his friends saw for themselves how happier Warren is, they felt a bit guilty for not seeing before how lonely he must have been even among mutants, cooped up in a single place, limiting his interactions and contact from the rest of the world. The professor himself has also realized that he shouldn't obligate any of these kids to a life of crime-fighting if there is something else that makes them happy and Warren has clearly found it. As he eloquently explains it to Scott (who has a difference of opinion about the entire thing since he himself made a choice in issue #10 and so wanted to stay committed to their crusade as X-Men):
[image]
[image]
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Let's bury the lead in this review: basically, this is the last time we will see Angel and what a rather moving send-off it was!
Now that I think about it, it was really only a matter of time for Warren Worthington III to leave the X-Men...and so soon at that. True to his winged nature, it's not exactly hard to believe that Warren desires freedom above everything but more than anything else he wants the freedom to roam in a place where people fully accept what he is. Sadly enough, being an X-Man, fighting crime, just doesn't cut it anymore.
This twelfth issue of the series entitled Fly Away is definitely an emotionally resonant piece for me. After the weird story that preceded it, I was more than relieved to read something this intimate and intensely familiar as someone who always loved what the X-Men have long represented: underdogs who will never compromise their uniqueness as individuals as they fight to carve a piece in the world where they could both belong and live in harmony with others.
While Scott set out to confront a mutant serial killer somewhere in the jungle in issue #10, we get a flashback where Warren's parents paid him a visit to inform him that his favorite aunt (the same one who found them Gorilla-Man as their tour guide in issue #8 of Vol. 1) has been missing for a week in one of her exciting expeditions. He later leaves without permission from Xavier or informing his friends which peeved Jean. Luckily, she was able to communicate with him using a tracker and the two of them continue to correspond until Warren arrives in these majestic waterfalls where he discovered a secret passage that may lead to where his aunt might be.
Upon getting inside, he was shocked to see to find the Land of Mists, a forgotten kingdom much like an Atlantis where his aunt has been staying and having a fabulous time. Warren spent hours there with her to meet the people and explore its territory. Meanwhile the rest of the X-Men were worried so they set out to find him. But Warren wasn't in any kind of trouble. In fact, he feels right at home. Everyone was welcoming and they saw his winged feature as a beautiful vessel. That was rather unexpected for him and it was the very first time he felt at ease being different, much more so than when he was among his classmates in Xavier's school.
Once his friends saw for themselves how happier Warren is, they felt a bit guilty for not seeing before how lonely he must have been even among mutants, cooped up in a single place, limiting his interactions and contact from the rest of the world. The professor himself has also realized that he shouldn't obligate any of these kids to a life of crime-fighting if there is something else that makes them happy and Warren has clearly found it. As he eloquently explains it to Scott (who has a difference of opinion about the entire thing since he himself made a choice in issue #10 and so wanted to stay committed to their crusade as X-Men):
[image]
[image]
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Now that I think about Let's bury the lead in this review: basically, this is the last time we will see Angel and what a rather moving send-off it was!
Now that I think about it, it was really only a matter of time for Warren Worthington III to leave the X-Men...and so soon at that. True to his winged nature, it's not exactly hard to believe that Warren desires freedom above everything but more than anything else he wants the freedom to roam in a place where people fully accept what he is. Sadly enough, being an X-Man, fighting crime, just doesn't cut it anymore.
This twelfth issue of the series entitled Fly Away is definitely an emotionally resonant piece for me. After the weird story that preceded it, I was more than relieved to read something this intimate and intensely familiar as someone who always loved what the X-Men have long represented: underdogs who will never compromise their uniqueness as individuals as they fight to carve a piece in the world where they could both belong and live in harmony with others.
While Scott set out to confront a mutant serial killer somewhere in the jungle in issue #10, we get a flashback where Warren's parents paid him a visit to inform him that his favorite aunt (the same one who found them Gorilla-Man as their tour guide in issue #8 of Vol. 1) has been missing for a week in one of her exciting expeditions. He later leaves without permission from Xavier or informing his friends which peeved Jean. Luckily, she was able to communicate with him using a tracker and the two of them continue to correspond until Warren arrives in these majestic waterfalls where he discovered a secret passage that may lead to where his aunt might be.
Upon getting inside, he was shocked to see to find the Land of Mists, a forgotten kingdom much like an Atlantis where his aunt has been staying and having a fabulous time. Warren spent hours there with her to meet the people and explore its territory. Meanwhile the rest of the X-Men were worried so they set out to find him. But Warren wasn't in any kind of trouble. In fact, he feels right at home. Everyone was welcoming and they saw his winged feature as a beautiful vessel. That was rather unexpected for him and it was the very first time he felt at ease being different, much more so than when he was among his classmates in Xavier's school.
Once his friends saw for themselves how happier Warren is, they felt a bit guilty for not seeing before how lonely he must have been even among mutants, cooped up in a single place, limiting his interactions and contact from the rest of the world. The professor himself has also realized that he shouldn't obligate any of these kids to a life of crime-fighting if there is something else that makes them happy and Warren has clearly found it. As he eloquently explains it to Scott (who has a difference of opinion about the entire thing since he himself made a choice in issue #10 and so wanted to stay committed to their crusade as X-Men):
[image]
[image]
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Let's bury the lead in this review: basically, this is the last time we will see Angel and what a rather moving send-off it was!
Now that I think about it, it was really only a matter of time for Warren Worthington III to leave the X-Men...and so soon at that. True to his winged nature, it's not exactly hard to believe that Warren desires freedom above everything but more than anything else he wants the freedom to roam in a place where people fully accept what he is. Sadly enough, being an X-Man, fighting crime, just doesn't cut it anymore.
This twelfth issue of the series entitled Fly Away is definitely an emotionally resonant piece for me. After the weird story that preceded it, I was more than relieved to read something this intimate and intensely familiar as someone who always loved what the X-Men have long represented: underdogs who will never compromise their uniqueness as individuals as they fight to carve a piece in the world where they could both belong and live in harmony with others.
While Scott set out to confront a mutant serial killer somewhere in the jungle in issue #10, we get a flashback where Warren's parents paid him a visit to inform him that his favorite aunt (the same one who found them Gorilla-Man as their tour guide in issue #8 of Vol. 1) has been missing for a week in one of her exciting expeditions. He later leaves without permission from Xavier or informing his friends which peeved Jean. Luckily, she was able to communicate with him using a tracker and the two of them continue to correspond until Warren arrives in these majestic waterfalls where he discovered a secret passage that may lead to where his aunt might be.
Upon getting inside, he was shocked to see to find the Land of Mists, a forgotten kingdom much like an Atlantis where his aunt has been staying and having a fabulous time. Warren spent hours there with her to meet the people and explore its territory. Meanwhile the rest of the X-Men were worried so they set out to find him. But Warren wasn't in any kind of trouble. In fact, he feels right at home. Everyone was welcoming and they saw his winged feature as a beautiful vessel. That was rather unexpected for him and it was the very first time he felt at ease being different, much more so than when he was among his classmates in Xavier's school.
Once his friends saw for themselves how happier Warren is, they felt a bit guilty for not seeing before how lonely he must have been even among mutants, cooped up in a single place, limiting his interactions and contact from the rest of the world. The professor himself has also realized that he shouldn't obligate any of these kids to a life of crime-fighting if there is something else that makes them happy and Warren has clearly found it. As he eloquently explains it to Scott (who has a difference of opinion about the entire thing since he himself made a choice in issue #10 and so wanted to stay committed to their crusade as X-Men):
[image]
[image]
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 16, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
467
B00ZMRNVX4
3.29
21
Aug 2008
Jun 25, 2008
really liked it
With Angel gone so he can live in the very accepting Land of Mists with his aunt and new girlfriend, the X-Men are
dealing with his loss in different w With Angel gone so he can live in the very accepting Land of Mists with his aunt and new girlfriend, the X-Men are
dealing with his loss in different ways. Scott seems umoved, more focused on whatever task at hand; Bobby still believes Warren is coming back in two weeks; Henry is constructing a life-size skeletal structure of a dinosaur fossil; and Jean is visibly wary of a possible new member joining their family. In this case, it's an artificial intelligence named Aaron, who is a military experiment headed by one of Charles Xavier's scientist friends.
This installment of X-Men was significantly more centered on character interaction and composition which was great because the OCF need new depth and dimension to their characterizations as individuals and as a unit, especially now thay we are in the twenty-first issue of the series (counting Vol. 1). For that development, I appreciate the scope in which this issue tackled using enough humor and subtlety just how much each X-Man is coping with Warren leaving. To some (like Bobby and Henry), the full effect of their friend's absence hasn't really sunk in. Meanwhile, Jean is the only one who is willing to acknowledge that he's gone but he doesn't have to be replaced so soon. Scott also acknowledges the loss but is more open to training a new member for future missions if there is such a need.
I don't find it peculiar at all that Scott seemed cold and uncaring that Warren is no longer with them; the dude is goal-oriented and would rather dwell on what is to gain in the aftermath of something. Scott had also recently come to terms that he wants to lead his comrades this time without any of his usual self-doubt and ridiciously extreme caution. He has made that choice to stay on the course as much as Warren decides not to do the same. I think Scott respected that choice and accepts that bygones are inevitable which was why he welcomed the robot Aaron into their team easily because he trusts the professor's intentions and now is ready to treat every new event as a learning experience. He sees the X-Men foremost as an operational team who need to function at their best and I think he was simply trying to set an example.
But Jean sees the X-Men as a family foremost and when a loved one goes way you should allow yourself to be sad. Both have a different approach on the matter which affects how they dealt with Aaron. While both Henry and Bobby are generally curious to have a robot working with them during a new mission, Jean is uncomfortable and distrustful, treating Aaron indirectly as a threat to the way things were and what she believed should stay the same. But Scott looks at the addition of Aaron as a pragmatic advantage. After all, Aaron's abilities are handy. As far as Scott is concerned, anyone who will replace Warren shouldn't need to have a personality, let alone feelings, which I know pisses Jean off even if she maintains a calm demeanor through the rest of the issue.
But I would assert that Scott cares more than she can imagine. He's just not outwardly emotional about it or possesses enough self-awareness to allow himself to miss a friend of theirs. So their new mission is to confront the Lava Men. But the Lava Men found them instead in a tragically convenient twist of fate. So onto the next issue!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
With Angel gone so he can live in the very accepting Land of Mists with his aunt and new girlfriend, the X-Men are
dealing with his loss in different ways. Scott seems umoved, more focused on whatever task at hand; Bobby still believes Warren is coming back in two weeks; Henry is constructing a life-size skeletal structure of a dinosaur fossil; and Jean is visibly wary of a possible new member joining their family. In this case, it's an artificial intelligence named Aaron, who is a military experiment headed by one of Charles Xavier's scientist friends.
This installment of X-Men was significantly more centered on character interaction and composition which was great because the OCF need new depth and dimension to their characterizations as individuals and as a unit, especially now thay we are in the twenty-first issue of the series (counting Vol. 1). For that development, I appreciate the scope in which this issue tackled using enough humor and subtlety just how much each X-Man is coping with Warren leaving. To some (like Bobby and Henry), the full effect of their friend's absence hasn't really sunk in. Meanwhile, Jean is the only one who is willing to acknowledge that he's gone but he doesn't have to be replaced so soon. Scott also acknowledges the loss but is more open to training a new member for future missions if there is such a need.
I don't find it peculiar at all that Scott seemed cold and uncaring that Warren is no longer with them; the dude is goal-oriented and would rather dwell on what is to gain in the aftermath of something. Scott had also recently come to terms that he wants to lead his comrades this time without any of his usual self-doubt and ridiciously extreme caution. He has made that choice to stay on the course as much as Warren decides not to do the same. I think Scott respected that choice and accepts that bygones are inevitable which was why he welcomed the robot Aaron into their team easily because he trusts the professor's intentions and now is ready to treat every new event as a learning experience. He sees the X-Men foremost as an operational team who need to function at their best and I think he was simply trying to set an example.
But Jean sees the X-Men as a family foremost and when a loved one goes way you should allow yourself to be sad. Both have a different approach on the matter which affects how they dealt with Aaron. While both Henry and Bobby are generally curious to have a robot working with them during a new mission, Jean is uncomfortable and distrustful, treating Aaron indirectly as a threat to the way things were and what she believed should stay the same. But Scott looks at the addition of Aaron as a pragmatic advantage. After all, Aaron's abilities are handy. As far as Scott is concerned, anyone who will replace Warren shouldn't need to have a personality, let alone feelings, which I know pisses Jean off even if she maintains a calm demeanor through the rest of the issue.
But I would assert that Scott cares more than she can imagine. He's just not outwardly emotional about it or possesses enough self-awareness to allow himself to miss a friend of theirs. So their new mission is to confront the Lava Men. But the Lava Men found them instead in a tragically convenient twist of fate. So onto the next issue!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
dealing with his loss in different w With Angel gone so he can live in the very accepting Land of Mists with his aunt and new girlfriend, the X-Men are
dealing with his loss in different ways. Scott seems umoved, more focused on whatever task at hand; Bobby still believes Warren is coming back in two weeks; Henry is constructing a life-size skeletal structure of a dinosaur fossil; and Jean is visibly wary of a possible new member joining their family. In this case, it's an artificial intelligence named Aaron, who is a military experiment headed by one of Charles Xavier's scientist friends.
This installment of X-Men was significantly more centered on character interaction and composition which was great because the OCF need new depth and dimension to their characterizations as individuals and as a unit, especially now thay we are in the twenty-first issue of the series (counting Vol. 1). For that development, I appreciate the scope in which this issue tackled using enough humor and subtlety just how much each X-Man is coping with Warren leaving. To some (like Bobby and Henry), the full effect of their friend's absence hasn't really sunk in. Meanwhile, Jean is the only one who is willing to acknowledge that he's gone but he doesn't have to be replaced so soon. Scott also acknowledges the loss but is more open to training a new member for future missions if there is such a need.
I don't find it peculiar at all that Scott seemed cold and uncaring that Warren is no longer with them; the dude is goal-oriented and would rather dwell on what is to gain in the aftermath of something. Scott had also recently come to terms that he wants to lead his comrades this time without any of his usual self-doubt and ridiciously extreme caution. He has made that choice to stay on the course as much as Warren decides not to do the same. I think Scott respected that choice and accepts that bygones are inevitable which was why he welcomed the robot Aaron into their team easily because he trusts the professor's intentions and now is ready to treat every new event as a learning experience. He sees the X-Men foremost as an operational team who need to function at their best and I think he was simply trying to set an example.
But Jean sees the X-Men as a family foremost and when a loved one goes way you should allow yourself to be sad. Both have a different approach on the matter which affects how they dealt with Aaron. While both Henry and Bobby are generally curious to have a robot working with them during a new mission, Jean is uncomfortable and distrustful, treating Aaron indirectly as a threat to the way things were and what she believed should stay the same. But Scott looks at the addition of Aaron as a pragmatic advantage. After all, Aaron's abilities are handy. As far as Scott is concerned, anyone who will replace Warren shouldn't need to have a personality, let alone feelings, which I know pisses Jean off even if she maintains a calm demeanor through the rest of the issue.
But I would assert that Scott cares more than she can imagine. He's just not outwardly emotional about it or possesses enough self-awareness to allow himself to miss a friend of theirs. So their new mission is to confront the Lava Men. But the Lava Men found them instead in a tragically convenient twist of fate. So onto the next issue!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
With Angel gone so he can live in the very accepting Land of Mists with his aunt and new girlfriend, the X-Men are
dealing with his loss in different ways. Scott seems umoved, more focused on whatever task at hand; Bobby still believes Warren is coming back in two weeks; Henry is constructing a life-size skeletal structure of a dinosaur fossil; and Jean is visibly wary of a possible new member joining their family. In this case, it's an artificial intelligence named Aaron, who is a military experiment headed by one of Charles Xavier's scientist friends.
This installment of X-Men was significantly more centered on character interaction and composition which was great because the OCF need new depth and dimension to their characterizations as individuals and as a unit, especially now thay we are in the twenty-first issue of the series (counting Vol. 1). For that development, I appreciate the scope in which this issue tackled using enough humor and subtlety just how much each X-Man is coping with Warren leaving. To some (like Bobby and Henry), the full effect of their friend's absence hasn't really sunk in. Meanwhile, Jean is the only one who is willing to acknowledge that he's gone but he doesn't have to be replaced so soon. Scott also acknowledges the loss but is more open to training a new member for future missions if there is such a need.
I don't find it peculiar at all that Scott seemed cold and uncaring that Warren is no longer with them; the dude is goal-oriented and would rather dwell on what is to gain in the aftermath of something. Scott had also recently come to terms that he wants to lead his comrades this time without any of his usual self-doubt and ridiciously extreme caution. He has made that choice to stay on the course as much as Warren decides not to do the same. I think Scott respected that choice and accepts that bygones are inevitable which was why he welcomed the robot Aaron into their team easily because he trusts the professor's intentions and now is ready to treat every new event as a learning experience. He sees the X-Men foremost as an operational team who need to function at their best and I think he was simply trying to set an example.
But Jean sees the X-Men as a family foremost and when a loved one goes way you should allow yourself to be sad. Both have a different approach on the matter which affects how they dealt with Aaron. While both Henry and Bobby are generally curious to have a robot working with them during a new mission, Jean is uncomfortable and distrustful, treating Aaron indirectly as a threat to the way things were and what she believed should stay the same. But Scott looks at the addition of Aaron as a pragmatic advantage. After all, Aaron's abilities are handy. As far as Scott is concerned, anyone who will replace Warren shouldn't need to have a personality, let alone feelings, which I know pisses Jean off even if she maintains a calm demeanor through the rest of the issue.
But I would assert that Scott cares more than she can imagine. He's just not outwardly emotional about it or possesses enough self-awareness to allow himself to miss a friend of theirs. So their new mission is to confront the Lava Men. But the Lava Men found them instead in a tragically convenient twist of fate. So onto the next issue!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 18, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
471
B00ZMRNVZ2
3.58
24
Oct 2008
Aug 20, 2008
liked it
Professor X and the X-Men just happened to be riding their Blackbird jet plane when they picked up a distress call from an airport where a freaking fl
Professor X and the X-Men just happened to be riding their Blackbird jet plane when they picked up a distress call from an airport where a freaking flying saucer just crashed-landed. They rose to action immediately, much to Bobby's annoyance because he was really enjoying his nap when Beast threw him out the sky, clutching the younger boy with only his massive feet. Again, this greatly upsets Bobby--it's days like this that he wishes they have Angel around whenever any of them goes airborne.
So Cyclops, Beast and Iceman get themselves landed on the saucer as it flew itself back into the air. As soon as Beast and Iceman finished their small argument about the basic laws of physics, Jean mentally takes control of the saucer (muttering quite comedically "It's just me and the saucer, thr saucer and me..."). So the saucer was grounded again and the X-Men try to see who was operating the damn thing and it turns out to be a Fantastic Four villain named Madame Medusa.
I don't know anything about her except that she has long red hair that terrifyingly elongates and ensnares enemies. Basically, bitch got magic hair. After some brief altercation, M.Medusa confesses that she is no longer in league with the bad guys and wants to understand what and who she is since she has no memories of her past nor any knowledge as to where her powers came from. She surmised that perhaps she is a mutant which intrigued the professor, of course, so he agreed to take her to their mansion, seeing as Xavier didn't pick up any threats in her subconscious.
So there's a girl other than Jean in thr household and the guys flock to her with eager curiosity. Jean, meanwhile, obviously envies Medusa's luscious long locks and tries, humorously, to get her own auburn hair long using telekenisis. I always enjoy these subtle odd behaviors from Jean whenever there is another girl around. She's so adorably awkward, alternating between fuzzing over the other girl or becoming rather stiff and clumsy in her interactions. This time it was in the latter. You can tell she's uncomfortable around Medusa while Henry is clearly smitten and acts like the perfect gentleman around her.
Aside from that, I was just fine with this installment. It was nice to see Jean in such a dorky way where as Henry tries to impress a girl with his nerd skills and such. Another brilliant thing which I was so shocked by that I literally squealed was the RETURN OF WARREN WORTHINGTON. It looks like his vacation is over and he's back on the game. It was such a sweet moment to see him swoop in and scoop his three friends who were suspended in the air during a fight scene.
I am so glad to see Angel again. I wonder if he is staying for good...
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Professor X and the X-Men just happened to be riding their Blackbird jet plane when they picked up a distress call from an airport where a freaking flying saucer just crashed-landed. They rose to action immediately, much to Bobby's annoyance because he was really enjoying his nap when Beast threw him out the sky, clutching the younger boy with only his massive feet. Again, this greatly upsets Bobby--it's days like this that he wishes they have Angel around whenever any of them goes airborne.
So Cyclops, Beast and Iceman get themselves landed on the saucer as it flew itself back into the air. As soon as Beast and Iceman finished their small argument about the basic laws of physics, Jean mentally takes control of the saucer (muttering quite comedically "It's just me and the saucer, thr saucer and me..."). So the saucer was grounded again and the X-Men try to see who was operating the damn thing and it turns out to be a Fantastic Four villain named Madame Medusa.
I don't know anything about her except that she has long red hair that terrifyingly elongates and ensnares enemies. Basically, bitch got magic hair. After some brief altercation, M.Medusa confesses that she is no longer in league with the bad guys and wants to understand what and who she is since she has no memories of her past nor any knowledge as to where her powers came from. She surmised that perhaps she is a mutant which intrigued the professor, of course, so he agreed to take her to their mansion, seeing as Xavier didn't pick up any threats in her subconscious.
So there's a girl other than Jean in thr household and the guys flock to her with eager curiosity. Jean, meanwhile, obviously envies Medusa's luscious long locks and tries, humorously, to get her own auburn hair long using telekenisis. I always enjoy these subtle odd behaviors from Jean whenever there is another girl around. She's so adorably awkward, alternating between fuzzing over the other girl or becoming rather stiff and clumsy in her interactions. This time it was in the latter. You can tell she's uncomfortable around Medusa while Henry is clearly smitten and acts like the perfect gentleman around her.
Aside from that, I was just fine with this installment. It was nice to see Jean in such a dorky way where as Henry tries to impress a girl with his nerd skills and such. Another brilliant thing which I was so shocked by that I literally squealed was the RETURN OF WARREN WORTHINGTON. It looks like his vacation is over and he's back on the game. It was such a sweet moment to see him swoop in and scoop his three friends who were suspended in the air during a fight scene.
I am so glad to see Angel again. I wonder if he is staying for good...
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
So Cyclops, Beast and Iceman get themselves landed on the saucer as it flew itself back into the air. As soon as Beast and Iceman finished their small argument about the basic laws of physics, Jean mentally takes control of the saucer (muttering quite comedically "It's just me and the saucer, thr saucer and me..."). So the saucer was grounded again and the X-Men try to see who was operating the damn thing and it turns out to be a Fantastic Four villain named Madame Medusa.
I don't know anything about her except that she has long red hair that terrifyingly elongates and ensnares enemies. Basically, bitch got magic hair. After some brief altercation, M.Medusa confesses that she is no longer in league with the bad guys and wants to understand what and who she is since she has no memories of her past nor any knowledge as to where her powers came from. She surmised that perhaps she is a mutant which intrigued the professor, of course, so he agreed to take her to their mansion, seeing as Xavier didn't pick up any threats in her subconscious.
So there's a girl other than Jean in thr household and the guys flock to her with eager curiosity. Jean, meanwhile, obviously envies Medusa's luscious long locks and tries, humorously, to get her own auburn hair long using telekenisis. I always enjoy these subtle odd behaviors from Jean whenever there is another girl around. She's so adorably awkward, alternating between fuzzing over the other girl or becoming rather stiff and clumsy in her interactions. This time it was in the latter. You can tell she's uncomfortable around Medusa while Henry is clearly smitten and acts like the perfect gentleman around her.
Aside from that, I was just fine with this installment. It was nice to see Jean in such a dorky way where as Henry tries to impress a girl with his nerd skills and such. Another brilliant thing which I was so shocked by that I literally squealed was the RETURN OF WARREN WORTHINGTON. It looks like his vacation is over and he's back on the game. It was such a sweet moment to see him swoop in and scoop his three friends who were suspended in the air during a fight scene.
I am so glad to see Angel again. I wonder if he is staying for good...
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
Professor X and the X-Men just happened to be riding their Blackbird jet plane when they picked up a distress call from an airport where a freaking flying saucer just crashed-landed. They rose to action immediately, much to Bobby's annoyance because he was really enjoying his nap when Beast threw him out the sky, clutching the younger boy with only his massive feet. Again, this greatly upsets Bobby--it's days like this that he wishes they have Angel around whenever any of them goes airborne.
So Cyclops, Beast and Iceman get themselves landed on the saucer as it flew itself back into the air. As soon as Beast and Iceman finished their small argument about the basic laws of physics, Jean mentally takes control of the saucer (muttering quite comedically "It's just me and the saucer, thr saucer and me..."). So the saucer was grounded again and the X-Men try to see who was operating the damn thing and it turns out to be a Fantastic Four villain named Madame Medusa.
I don't know anything about her except that she has long red hair that terrifyingly elongates and ensnares enemies. Basically, bitch got magic hair. After some brief altercation, M.Medusa confesses that she is no longer in league with the bad guys and wants to understand what and who she is since she has no memories of her past nor any knowledge as to where her powers came from. She surmised that perhaps she is a mutant which intrigued the professor, of course, so he agreed to take her to their mansion, seeing as Xavier didn't pick up any threats in her subconscious.
So there's a girl other than Jean in thr household and the guys flock to her with eager curiosity. Jean, meanwhile, obviously envies Medusa's luscious long locks and tries, humorously, to get her own auburn hair long using telekenisis. I always enjoy these subtle odd behaviors from Jean whenever there is another girl around. She's so adorably awkward, alternating between fuzzing over the other girl or becoming rather stiff and clumsy in her interactions. This time it was in the latter. You can tell she's uncomfortable around Medusa while Henry is clearly smitten and acts like the perfect gentleman around her.
Aside from that, I was just fine with this installment. It was nice to see Jean in such a dorky way where as Henry tries to impress a girl with his nerd skills and such. Another brilliant thing which I was so shocked by that I literally squealed was the RETURN OF WARREN WORTHINGTON. It looks like his vacation is over and he's back on the game. It was such a sweet moment to see him swoop in and scoop his three friends who were suspended in the air during a fight scene.
I am so glad to see Angel again. I wonder if he is staying for good...
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
not set
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Kindle Edition
472
unknown
3.32
38
Nov 2008
2011
really liked it
The cover should say it all--this was going to be a very wickedly fun issue. Featuring the guest appearances of the Human Torch and Spider-Man this fi
The cover should say it all--this was going to be a very wickedly fun issue. Featuring the guest appearances of the Human Torch and Spider-Man this final issue of Parker's XMFC roster was a conclusion to a rather delightful, breezy and enthralling run that leaves for more stories to be continued in the future which I sure hope so.
In fact, even though the second season has officially ended with sixteen issues, OCF will be back in a Giant-Size one and the mini series X-Men: First Class: FINALS which you will damn sure I'll be reviewing before the month of June ends. So let's finish this review together and go forth to bolder horizons!
For this final installment, Jeff Parker examines the other two classic titles from Stan Lee's sixties era which were the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. These two were published and released alongside X-Men (and the Avengers). They are also arguably the more popular series which makes sense since they have already established a fanbase while the X-Men is still building up credibility, both as a comics title itself and as superheroes within their fictional universe. In this case, we see the X-Men and the Fantastic Four's youngest and most excitable members, Iceman and the Human Torch respectively, team up and fight crime in the name of badass-ness.
How does Spider-Man fit into all of this? Well, Gwen Stacy just invited Peter Parker to a pool party but he needs to stay and guard the city streets. Luckily for him, the two guys decided to step in and take the reigns from there on. Spidey was only slightly reluctant to let them do his own job but he was convinced eventually, mostly because he really wants to see Gwen in a swimsuit so he entrusts Bobby and Johnny to stop whatever supervillains decide to cause havoc in New York.
Both Bobby and Johnny are not camera-shy and their media exploits soon reach their respective teams whose reactions primarily range from mild amusement, annoyance and shock. But the two boys were actually great together, what with their polar-opposite powers enhancing each other. All good things have to come to an end, however, when the two prove to be slighlt irresponsible and too laid-back to ever establish a stable partnership. Still, it was good while it lasted.
Much like the series as a whole. See y'all in FINALS!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
The cover should say it all--this was going to be a very wickedly fun issue. Featuring the guest appearances of the Human Torch and Spider-Man this final issue of Parker's XMFC roster was a conclusion to a rather delightful, breezy and enthralling run that leaves for more stories to be continued in the future which I sure hope so.
In fact, even though the second season has officially ended with sixteen issues, OCF will be back in a Giant-Size one and the mini series X-Men: First Class: FINALS which you will damn sure I'll be reviewing before the month of June ends. So let's finish this review together and go forth to bolder horizons!
For this final installment, Jeff Parker examines the other two classic titles from Stan Lee's sixties era which were the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. These two were published and released alongside X-Men (and the Avengers). They are also arguably the more popular series which makes sense since they have already established a fanbase while the X-Men is still building up credibility, both as a comics title itself and as superheroes within their fictional universe. In this case, we see the X-Men and the Fantastic Four's youngest and most excitable members, Iceman and the Human Torch respectively, team up and fight crime in the name of badass-ness.
How does Spider-Man fit into all of this? Well, Gwen Stacy just invited Peter Parker to a pool party but he needs to stay and guard the city streets. Luckily for him, the two guys decided to step in and take the reigns from there on. Spidey was only slightly reluctant to let them do his own job but he was convinced eventually, mostly because he really wants to see Gwen in a swimsuit so he entrusts Bobby and Johnny to stop whatever supervillains decide to cause havoc in New York.
Both Bobby and Johnny are not camera-shy and their media exploits soon reach their respective teams whose reactions primarily range from mild amusement, annoyance and shock. But the two boys were actually great together, what with their polar-opposite powers enhancing each other. All good things have to come to an end, however, when the two prove to be slighlt irresponsible and too laid-back to ever establish a stable partnership. Still, it was good while it lasted.
Much like the series as a whole. See y'all in FINALS!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
In fact, even though the second season has officially ended with sixteen issues, OCF will be back in a Giant-Size one and the mini series X-Men: First Class: FINALS which you will damn sure I'll be reviewing before the month of June ends. So let's finish this review together and go forth to bolder horizons!
For this final installment, Jeff Parker examines the other two classic titles from Stan Lee's sixties era which were the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. These two were published and released alongside X-Men (and the Avengers). They are also arguably the more popular series which makes sense since they have already established a fanbase while the X-Men is still building up credibility, both as a comics title itself and as superheroes within their fictional universe. In this case, we see the X-Men and the Fantastic Four's youngest and most excitable members, Iceman and the Human Torch respectively, team up and fight crime in the name of badass-ness.
How does Spider-Man fit into all of this? Well, Gwen Stacy just invited Peter Parker to a pool party but he needs to stay and guard the city streets. Luckily for him, the two guys decided to step in and take the reigns from there on. Spidey was only slightly reluctant to let them do his own job but he was convinced eventually, mostly because he really wants to see Gwen in a swimsuit so he entrusts Bobby and Johnny to stop whatever supervillains decide to cause havoc in New York.
Both Bobby and Johnny are not camera-shy and their media exploits soon reach their respective teams whose reactions primarily range from mild amusement, annoyance and shock. But the two boys were actually great together, what with their polar-opposite powers enhancing each other. All good things have to come to an end, however, when the two prove to be slighlt irresponsible and too laid-back to ever establish a stable partnership. Still, it was good while it lasted.
Much like the series as a whole. See y'all in FINALS!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
The cover should say it all--this was going to be a very wickedly fun issue. Featuring the guest appearances of the Human Torch and Spider-Man this final issue of Parker's XMFC roster was a conclusion to a rather delightful, breezy and enthralling run that leaves for more stories to be continued in the future which I sure hope so.
In fact, even though the second season has officially ended with sixteen issues, OCF will be back in a Giant-Size one and the mini series X-Men: First Class: FINALS which you will damn sure I'll be reviewing before the month of June ends. So let's finish this review together and go forth to bolder horizons!
For this final installment, Jeff Parker examines the other two classic titles from Stan Lee's sixties era which were the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. These two were published and released alongside X-Men (and the Avengers). They are also arguably the more popular series which makes sense since they have already established a fanbase while the X-Men is still building up credibility, both as a comics title itself and as superheroes within their fictional universe. In this case, we see the X-Men and the Fantastic Four's youngest and most excitable members, Iceman and the Human Torch respectively, team up and fight crime in the name of badass-ness.
How does Spider-Man fit into all of this? Well, Gwen Stacy just invited Peter Parker to a pool party but he needs to stay and guard the city streets. Luckily for him, the two guys decided to step in and take the reigns from there on. Spidey was only slightly reluctant to let them do his own job but he was convinced eventually, mostly because he really wants to see Gwen in a swimsuit so he entrusts Bobby and Johnny to stop whatever supervillains decide to cause havoc in New York.
Both Bobby and Johnny are not camera-shy and their media exploits soon reach their respective teams whose reactions primarily range from mild amusement, annoyance and shock. But the two boys were actually great together, what with their polar-opposite powers enhancing each other. All good things have to come to an end, however, when the two prove to be slighlt irresponsible and too laid-back to ever establish a stable partnership. Still, it was good while it lasted.
Much like the series as a whole. See y'all in FINALS!
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 22, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Paperback
448
1599614006
9781599614007
1599614006
3.57
53
Dec 20, 2006
Dec 20, 2006
liked it
My sole connection to understand the in's and out's of the storylines featured in the Stan Lee sixties version of the X-Men starring the Original Core
My sole connection to understand the in's and out's of the storylines featured in the Stan Lee sixties version of the X-Men starring the Original Core Five is by subscribing to the
Danger Room
podcast where two nerdy dudes painstakingly take the time to talk about each silver-age issue offered in that roster. I managed to reach their twenty-eighth episode before I took a break so I can begin my official X-Men comics diet this year. I highly recommend you listen to said podcast if you have the time because it did help me in my readings of this title after all, since Jeff Parker's series serves as a re-vamp, modernized version of the Stan Lee X-Men era in a lot of sense and this fourth issue clearly shows that he borrowed certain plot elements from it.
I've been giving a consistent 8 out of 10 stars for the issues so far but I think I'm taking out one star from this one because I frankly didn't care much for the main story itself even if the comedic moments and entertaining fight scenes more than made up for the lack of my interest in whatever the fuck is happening. It has something to do with the ruby gems and the Cytorak assholes whom I believe bestowed powers on Cain Marko as the Juggernaut in the first place. So fuck those guys. Also, we got a rogue sentinel here. Fuck that bastard too.
While fighting the lone sentinel, however, Cyclops gets freaked out by a creepy-ass demon popping out of nowhere and he's the only one who can see it so everyone treats him like a nutcase which only pissed him off. Fortunately, the professor thinks there may be more to this so he asked permission to look through Scott's mind to see for himself what the guy saw. Thinking it must be magic, Xavier consults a certain well-known master of the arts.
We also get a callback explanation to Cyclops' ruby-gem visor which was a nice touch, as well as seeing the rest of the team wear them so they can see what he sees. Beast eloquently points out that he had always wondered how Scott literally sees the world (in a shocking shades of red, apparently) and perhaps this should give his friends some insight on what makes Scott such a damaged, emo fool sometimes. But who cares, Jean loves him for it and I certainly love him for it too.
To help them in their mission, Charles Xavier employs the assistance of his fabulous magician friend, Dr. Strange, who was generous enough to chaperone but leaves midway through the actual crisis to resolve another subplot somewhere in this issue, leaving the kids to fend off for themselves. What the hell is up with the supposed adults in this series? But it doesn't matter because X-Men: First Class is all about the fun and the cool so nothing terrible or long-term deadly is going to happen to any of our heroes anyway. Xavier does keep in touch telepathically and helped Jean channel her mental powers stronger, enabling her to literally rip a huge hole from the ground to save her boyfriend from the demon monster that's attacking him. With lot of team effort and wise cracks along the way, the Original Core Five all managed to throw back the piece of shit to whatever swamp he lives in and make sure he stays stuck there for good.
Dr. Strange chooses to come back right after the cavalry ends, much to his embarrassment.
[image]
"Don't talk back to me, boy! I'm the adult here, dammit!" replies Strange to whom I assume is Bobby Drake.
Next time I hope Bobby says "YAYBO!" because that expression has become criminally underused.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
My sole connection to understand the in's and out's of the storylines featured in the Stan Lee sixties version of the X-Men starring the Original Core Five is by subscribing to the Danger Room podcast where two nerdy dudes painstakingly take the time to talk about each silver-age issue offered in that roster. I managed to reach their twenty-eighth episode before I took a break so I can begin my official X-Men comics diet this year. I highly recommend you listen to said podcast if you have the time because it did help me in my readings of this title after all, since Jeff Parker's series serves as a re-vamp, modernized version of the Stan Lee X-Men era in a lot of sense and this fourth issue clearly shows that he borrowed certain plot elements from it.
I've been giving a consistent 8 out of 10 stars for the issues so far but I think I'm taking out one star from this one because I frankly didn't care much for the main story itself even if the comedic moments and entertaining fight scenes more than made up for the lack of my interest in whatever the fuck is happening. It has something to do with the ruby gems and the Cytorak assholes whom I believe bestowed powers on Cain Marko as the Juggernaut in the first place. So fuck those guys. Also, we got a rogue sentinel here. Fuck that bastard too.
While fighting the lone sentinel, however, Cyclops gets freaked out by a creepy-ass demon popping out of nowhere and he's the only one who can see it so everyone treats him like a nutcase which only pissed him off. Fortunately, the professor thinks there may be more to this so he asked permission to look through Scott's mind to see for himself what the guy saw. Thinking it must be magic, Xavier consults a certain well-known master of the arts.
We also get a callback explanation to Cyclops' ruby-gem visor which was a nice touch, as well as seeing the rest of the team wear them so they can see what he sees. Beast eloquently points out that he had always wondered how Scott literally sees the world (in a shocking shades of red, apparently) and perhaps this should give his friends some insight on what makes Scott such a damaged, emo fool sometimes. But who cares, Jean loves him for it and I certainly love him for it too.
To help them in their mission, Charles Xavier employs the assistance of his fabulous magician friend, Dr. Strange, who was generous enough to chaperone but leaves midway through the actual crisis to resolve another subplot somewhere in this issue, leaving the kids to fend off for themselves. What the hell is up with the supposed adults in this series? But it doesn't matter because X-Men: First Class is all about the fun and the cool so nothing terrible or long-term deadly is going to happen to any of our heroes anyway. Xavier does keep in touch telepathically and helped Jean channel her mental powers stronger, enabling her to literally rip a huge hole from the ground to save her boyfriend from the demon monster that's attacking him. With lot of team effort and wise cracks along the way, the Original Core Five all managed to throw back the piece of shit to whatever swamp he lives in and make sure he stays stuck there for good.
Dr. Strange chooses to come back right after the cavalry ends, much to his embarrassment.
[image]
"Don't talk back to me, boy! I'm the adult here, dammit!" replies Strange to whom I assume is Bobby Drake.
Next time I hope Bobby says "YAYBO!" because that expression has become criminally underused.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
I've been giving a consistent 8 out of 10 stars for the issues so far but I think I'm taking out one star from this one because I frankly didn't care much for the main story itself even if the comedic moments and entertaining fight scenes more than made up for the lack of my interest in whatever the fuck is happening. It has something to do with the ruby gems and the Cytorak assholes whom I believe bestowed powers on Cain Marko as the Juggernaut in the first place. So fuck those guys. Also, we got a rogue sentinel here. Fuck that bastard too.
While fighting the lone sentinel, however, Cyclops gets freaked out by a creepy-ass demon popping out of nowhere and he's the only one who can see it so everyone treats him like a nutcase which only pissed him off. Fortunately, the professor thinks there may be more to this so he asked permission to look through Scott's mind to see for himself what the guy saw. Thinking it must be magic, Xavier consults a certain well-known master of the arts.
We also get a callback explanation to Cyclops' ruby-gem visor which was a nice touch, as well as seeing the rest of the team wear them so they can see what he sees. Beast eloquently points out that he had always wondered how Scott literally sees the world (in a shocking shades of red, apparently) and perhaps this should give his friends some insight on what makes Scott such a damaged, emo fool sometimes. But who cares, Jean loves him for it and I certainly love him for it too.
To help them in their mission, Charles Xavier employs the assistance of his fabulous magician friend, Dr. Strange, who was generous enough to chaperone but leaves midway through the actual crisis to resolve another subplot somewhere in this issue, leaving the kids to fend off for themselves. What the hell is up with the supposed adults in this series? But it doesn't matter because X-Men: First Class is all about the fun and the cool so nothing terrible or long-term deadly is going to happen to any of our heroes anyway. Xavier does keep in touch telepathically and helped Jean channel her mental powers stronger, enabling her to literally rip a huge hole from the ground to save her boyfriend from the demon monster that's attacking him. With lot of team effort and wise cracks along the way, the Original Core Five all managed to throw back the piece of shit to whatever swamp he lives in and make sure he stays stuck there for good.
Dr. Strange chooses to come back right after the cavalry ends, much to his embarrassment.
[image]
"Don't talk back to me, boy! I'm the adult here, dammit!" replies Strange to whom I assume is Bobby Drake.
Next time I hope Bobby says "YAYBO!" because that expression has become criminally underused.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image]
Merged review:
My sole connection to understand the in's and out's of the storylines featured in the Stan Lee sixties version of the X-Men starring the Original Core Five is by subscribing to the Danger Room podcast where two nerdy dudes painstakingly take the time to talk about each silver-age issue offered in that roster. I managed to reach their twenty-eighth episode before I took a break so I can begin my official X-Men comics diet this year. I highly recommend you listen to said podcast if you have the time because it did help me in my readings of this title after all, since Jeff Parker's series serves as a re-vamp, modernized version of the Stan Lee X-Men era in a lot of sense and this fourth issue clearly shows that he borrowed certain plot elements from it.
I've been giving a consistent 8 out of 10 stars for the issues so far but I think I'm taking out one star from this one because I frankly didn't care much for the main story itself even if the comedic moments and entertaining fight scenes more than made up for the lack of my interest in whatever the fuck is happening. It has something to do with the ruby gems and the Cytorak assholes whom I believe bestowed powers on Cain Marko as the Juggernaut in the first place. So fuck those guys. Also, we got a rogue sentinel here. Fuck that bastard too.
While fighting the lone sentinel, however, Cyclops gets freaked out by a creepy-ass demon popping out of nowhere and he's the only one who can see it so everyone treats him like a nutcase which only pissed him off. Fortunately, the professor thinks there may be more to this so he asked permission to look through Scott's mind to see for himself what the guy saw. Thinking it must be magic, Xavier consults a certain well-known master of the arts.
We also get a callback explanation to Cyclops' ruby-gem visor which was a nice touch, as well as seeing the rest of the team wear them so they can see what he sees. Beast eloquently points out that he had always wondered how Scott literally sees the world (in a shocking shades of red, apparently) and perhaps this should give his friends some insight on what makes Scott such a damaged, emo fool sometimes. But who cares, Jean loves him for it and I certainly love him for it too.
To help them in their mission, Charles Xavier employs the assistance of his fabulous magician friend, Dr. Strange, who was generous enough to chaperone but leaves midway through the actual crisis to resolve another subplot somewhere in this issue, leaving the kids to fend off for themselves. What the hell is up with the supposed adults in this series? But it doesn't matter because X-Men: First Class is all about the fun and the cool so nothing terrible or long-term deadly is going to happen to any of our heroes anyway. Xavier does keep in touch telepathically and helped Jean channel her mental powers stronger, enabling her to literally rip a huge hole from the ground to save her boyfriend from the demon monster that's attacking him. With lot of team effort and wise cracks along the way, the Original Core Five all managed to throw back the piece of shit to whatever swamp he lives in and make sure he stays stuck there for good.
Dr. Strange chooses to come back right after the cavalry ends, much to his embarrassment.
[image]
"Don't talk back to me, boy! I'm the adult here, dammit!" replies Strange to whom I assume is Bobby Drake.
Next time I hope Bobby says "YAYBO!" because that expression has become criminally underused.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
2
not set
not set
Jun 03, 2015
not set
Jan 05, 2024
Paperback
590
B00ZME3OBQ
4.01
83
May 28, 2008
May 28, 2008
did not like it
"Everything is so fragile. There's so much conflict, so much pain. You keep waiting for the dust to settle and then you realize, this is it: the dust
"Everything is so fragile. There's so much conflict, so much pain. You keep waiting for the dust to settle and then you realize, this is it: the dust is your life going on. If happy comes along, that weird, unbearable delight that's actual happy--I think you have to grab it while you can. You take what you get 'cause it's here and then GONE."~Kitty Pryde
WHAT. THE. FUCK. I'm sorry, let me be clearer: I actually meant: WHATTTTT??? THE FUCCCCCKKKK??!!
The Breakworld story arc Unstoppable was my least favorite of all of Joss Whedon's arcs for The Astonishing X-Men and his run officially ends with this Giant-Size issue which mercifully concluded the mixed bag that Unstoppable anyway. I have enjoyed the significant character moments among the pairs of Kitty and Peter, Emma and Scott, Agent Brand and Hank, and Logan and Hisako. Meanwhile, some story about an alien planet is happening in the background of these great character moments, and when all is said and done, I still couldn't give a crap. But now I do, but only because I was upset about all the revelations and THAT GODDAMN RESOLUTION that poignantly closes Whedon's run but doesn't change the fact that it was WILDLY UNFAIR and VICIOUSLY HURTFUL and every other combination of adjectives-used-as-adverb plus adjective which is usually my linguistic style when it comes to describing things when I write reviews.
First of all: AGHANE IS THE BAD GUY AFTER ALL AND ORD IS THE UNSUNG HERO. What? I spent so much time thinking Aghane was going to put things right because she interpreted the prophecy in terms of a spiritual and physical destruction of their home planet in order to make way for a more compassionate and community-based kind of civilization as oppose to the barbaric and pathethically patriarchal kind that the Breakworlders has lived under for so long. Well, no more. We have Colossus now to rip out the planet's power core and change things for the best. Except that Aghane became the villain just pages before she was killed by Ord. Ord the fucking Dumb-Dumb whom I wanted to die since his first appearance. Apparently, Ord was doing the right thing and killin Aghane has made him a hero. Wait, what? Was I not paying that much attention to the way this story was going since the beginning? I thought I got it all figured out and it turns out I'm an idiot because I've been rooting for the bad guy all along (and her sudden shift to villainy doesn't make sense to me!) and the bad guy whom I wanted to die turned out to be good and Colossus even held him in his arms as he took his last breath. HUH? Wasn't Colossus just pounding on this guy several issues ago? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? Also, Brand is a half-alien progeny and has a thing for Hank? SINCE WHEN? Will the next writer even explore this throwaway development in the next run?
[image]
The worst thing that could ever happen to a character happened to Kitty and here is how I reacted
But all these things are forgivably minuscule compared to what happened to Kitty Pryde. Last issue (#24), we see Kitty phasing inside the missile that the Breakworld has aimed at our Earth in case Colossus goes through the plan to rip out the power core. She can't phase out because it's no missile. Hell fucking no. It's a GODDAMN BIG-ASS BULLET. And it's hurling for Earth. So Marvel's Mightiest Heroes gather to try and solve this problem but the bullet has some hypnotic ability and they were all under a trance as it gets closer and closer to the world. Emma was the last person Kitty ever talks to as she summons all her strength, fortitude, courage and badass awesomeness to phase, turning the giant bullet in phase mode as well so as soon as it hit a major city, the physical property of it just went through the buildings, becoming transparent and shit. So Kitty is forever entombed there, unable to phase out because doing so would trigger the bullet and it would explode and kill everyone. Nobody knows how to fix it, not even the combined geniuses of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hank McCoy, etc. And the worst part of it all is that Peter never got to say goodbye. Emma was the only one who talked to Kitty. I mean, Emma can fucking link everyone's minds together, right? Why didn't she do that? At least Peter would have talked to Kitty one last time, and it wouldn't have been so unfair for everyone especially to Kitty WHO IS JUST TRAPPED INSIDE A BULLET FOR GOOD! Where the fuck is Magneto? That bastard is still alive somewhere. He should help disarm the bullet and set Kitty free, dammit! I hate this! And I don't understand why no one is angry! Logan wasn't even that affected. He was just all sad. I mean, it's the FUCKING WOLVERINE! He loved Kitty like a sister and HE WOULD HAVE CLAWED SOMEONE BY NOW! Why is Peter so accepting of this? Has he lost it? Maybe he has gone insane to the point that he can't react properly anymore or even grieve Kitty. He looked so lost in his last panel. Poor guy.
BUT GODDAMMIT I AM SEETHING WITH FURY RIGHT NOW. I wish I have never read this issue. Sure, it was all poignant and melancholic how Kitty sacrificed herself for everyone. She went the extra mile to save countless of lives even if it meant forfeiting her own.
BUT FUCK THAT! SHE DESERVED BETTER, WHEDON!
Then again, I shouldn't expect less from Joss Whedon who has a habit of KILLING OFF FAN-FAVORITE CHARACTERS in his works. Goddamn you, Whedon! At least you killed the other fan-faves but you doomed Kitty to a fate worse than death! She's still alive and has to keep phasing that bullet FOR AN INDETERMINABLE LENGTH OF TIME, I assume. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS ABOUT THIS SHITE?!!
[image]
Please take note, Mr. Whedon!
I still consider the rest of the twenty-four issues gold but this one? KITTY DESERVED BETTER!
NOT THAT RECOMMENDED: 1/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
not set
Oct 20, 2015
Oct 20, 2015
Kindle Edition
592
0785131493
9780785131496
0785131493
3.57
1,384
Nov 10, 2010
Jan 01, 2010
liked it
You would think that the insanity would have calm down just a bit after the clusterfuckity that was Joss Whedon's first run for The Astonishing X-Men.
You would think that the insanity would have calm down just a bit after the clusterfuckity that was Joss Whedon's first run for The Astonishing X-Men. But you're reading an X-Men title so your plucky optimism will only be surely crushed if you ever expected any different. Sure, Warren Ellis' two story arcs so far within ten issues haven't been as crazy and experimental compared to all of Whedon's four arcs, but it doesn't mean things have improved. In fact, the last time we left our heroes, certain events still remain to conspire against them, and this time their survival as a species is at stake, all thanks to Scarlet Witch's irreversible decimation where the mutant X gene had been wiped out, causing a tectonic shift in power. Now with only two hundred or less mutants globally, the X-Men are in a tight place. After recently discovering a mutant baby born in the aftermath of M-day and sending her somewhere dimensions far away under the care of Cable, Scott Summers' estranged son, the X-Men have been occupying themselves in making sure no more mutants will die, but that has to be the most difficult thing to do given the never-ending amount of enemies showing up left and right, trying to take advantage of the whittled down number of surviving mutants.
In the last arc Ghost Box, self-proclaimed mutant engineer Forge tried to create his own mutants by placing a modified X-gene in a different chromosome strand akin to those mutants who belong in alternate worlds. Mentally unstable, he justified this radical move on his part as a necessary evil but the X-Men fortunately was able to put a stop to all of it by allowing S.W.O.R.D leader Agent Abigail Brand (Beast's current squeeze) to step up and obliterate said alternate worlds via explosion through a ghost box which connects dimensions together. It was an enjoyable story especially with the pleasant addition of Ororo Munroe who was recently married and now queen of the rising African nation Wakanda. Because of M-day, she felt that her old friends needed her to fight by their side once more, and her timing couldn't have been more right. However, there seems to be a tension between her and Scott concerning how to run the team and his methods in containing situations during battles. Their difference in philosophies was pronounced by the previous arc and I got the feeling that Ellis might explore this some more in their other upcoming missions. Scott Summers has been changing--evolving into someone who more often than not has to cross certain lines his old self back in the more idyllic days of his team-leading never would have taken. As we will later witness in other titles and during the course of other decimation stories, this change in his leadership will only continue to grow and in turn will create a chasm between him and his colleagues/friends. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's discuss Elli's second arc, Exogenetic covered by issues #31-35.
Much like Ghost Box some asshole is taking advantage of M-day and specifically targeting the X-Men. His nefarious plan is much more twisted than Forge's was, however. Apparently, he's been reanimating dead mutants and combining their DNA with certain machines which is as disgusting as it sounds. This unholy union of genetics and confounding vendetta has produced really nightmarish killing machines such as a flesh-made Sentinel, and a horde of rabid Broods. But the most appalling thing about it was how this unseen enemy was able to get access to such a horrid necromancy idea in the first place; and that is no other than the helpful information provided by Hank McCoy's research. As a scientist, he had been working on different scenarios to ensure the safety of their mutantkind and that meant thinking outside the figurative box of conventional methods so, yes, he had written down the possibility of harvesting recently deceased mutants in hopes of possibly activating the X-gene...or some shit. Frankly, I was definitely as horrified by the fact that he considered much like everyone else. But not like Scott though because Scott is more than horrified; he is absolutely livid and is getting ready to kick his old friend's ass.
>They have a lovely verbal sparring where all their issues towards one another are finally discussed out in the open and in the presence of other parties. It's a really great way to clear the air. I loved the conversation because it was brutally honest and considering how Scott and Hank are now for the MARVEL NOW! continuity, it's great to see them speak up their minds and not worry about offending each other. There remains trust and friendship between these two and it's a remarkable relationship that was unfortunately snuffed out after the Avengers vs. X-Men debacle (you know, where Scott was possessed by the Phoenix force and ended up murdering Professor X).
[image]
[image]
[image]
[image]
[image]
>Hank raised valid points concerning Scott, psychoanalyzing him in a way that Emma had before during the TORN arc. Meanwhile, Abigail Brand has been developing as a rather likable character for me even if Scott disagrees because they never seem to ever get along (for now). I think that the only reason why they don't get along is the simple fact that they actually have the same methods of operating and leading their teams--and are therefore very judgmental of one another because they see their flaws reflected back at them through each other. I wonder if they were even aware of this paradox concerning their interactions but perhaps Ellis will touch upon in the next arc. So Agent Brand has known about this asshole targeting the X-Men for quite some time and was trying to contain the situation all by her lonesome before the X-Men get mixed up on it because, well, I think she is beginning to deeply care about the mutants. As brash, mercurial and stubborn as the woman is, Brand always upholds her duty and takes her job seriously but now that she's in love with Hank and is always hanging around the X-Men, her emotional investment is growing. She's now experiencing sentiment which Hank has pointed out back in Whedon's run is something that she lacked. It's pleasantly surprising to see that this has changed and now she's putting herself at risk to defend the X-Men from any unseen forces trying to tear them down. Scott will continue not to like her and distrust her, however, which I think Brand would rather have because they both keep each other honest and this actually works well for their strained and begrudging alliance.
Anyway, the unseen enemy here is a man named Kaga who was a villain I did not expect to feel so much sympathy for when his motivation for attacking the X-Men was finally revealed. It turns out that his mother was a survivor of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki US bombings and her mother's exposure to radiation has malformed in during pregnancy. He is the original "child of the atom" and this has made him physically disfigured, shunned and unloved by the majority. He has no superpowers whatsoever and his intelligence came from his dedication and hard work to rise above his afflictions. Finding out that there is a group of mutants who fight for equality rights such as the X-Men has gotten him so excited because he thought he will finally have a place to belong to and a new family to accept him. But seeing what the X-Men are and what they can do made him feel betrayed and cheated on because he argued a valid observation concerning the privilege that mutants have even if they are considered outcasts by humans. Kaga claimed that they at least have their powers and are aesthetically attractive as a unit, and that they will never know how real alienation, savagery and deprivation truly feel like, not like he has. That's why he felt the need to punish them. He was merely lashing out because he has been hurt all his life and it's time to hurt back even if most of his torment and the target of his vengeance are only imagined slights. Still, I can't help but feel very sorry for him:
[image]
[image]
Kaga's story is a great cautionary tale against revenge and also an introspective story about self-loathing and self-acceptance. It's great for writer Warren Ellis to raise these issues in his arc and for creating a supposed villain who is only acting out due to the anguish, jealousy and grief over the unfairness of his life, humanizing him as someone who doesn't know how to be compassionate and kind because he has not known anything remotely close to those qualities. The X-Men also realized that even though they represent a marginalized sector of society, their outsider status can still be considered a privilege next to someone like Kaga. Unfortunately, Ellis didn't commit to the message and the story awkwardly ends with an out-of-place humorous exchange about Wolverine after he knocked out Kaga because he mistakenly thought Kaga was still going to attack them when it was obvious he was finally surrendering. I was upset that Ellis pulled back the punches and instead left me cold and disappointed. He could have had something emotionally powerful and meaningful here by making the X-Men consider other people outside their mutant community who look up to them and what their fight for equality symbolized.
But instead, he chickened out in the last minute and just turn a redeemable villain like Kaga into a prisoner, some burden that Scott was only going to take care of not because he felt pity towards the guy but because he wanted to spite him. What a douche move, slim. Ororo should have said something because she seemed to be the only one who sympathized, given her facial expression in that one panel. Emma was expectedly cold-hearted; Hisako was too young to comprehend the poignancy and moral quandary she is witnessing; and Wolverine was UNCHARACTERISTICALLY BRUTISH. When he punched Kaga, that really shocked me. Sure, Logan can be a bit macho but we all know that underneath that is a man who had fought enough wars and experienced enough bloodshed to understand that Kaga is someone to heal, not someone to assault like that! I'm just very disappointed by how everyone acted here. It's times like this that we need Kitty Pryde more than ever; someone who is humane and empathic. But Kitty is gone, so who will step up to that plate and fill her role?
For such an insensitive conclusion, I'm deducting one star and making this arc a seven our of ten.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
In the last arc Ghost Box, self-proclaimed mutant engineer Forge tried to create his own mutants by placing a modified X-gene in a different chromosome strand akin to those mutants who belong in alternate worlds. Mentally unstable, he justified this radical move on his part as a necessary evil but the X-Men fortunately was able to put a stop to all of it by allowing S.W.O.R.D leader Agent Abigail Brand (Beast's current squeeze) to step up and obliterate said alternate worlds via explosion through a ghost box which connects dimensions together. It was an enjoyable story especially with the pleasant addition of Ororo Munroe who was recently married and now queen of the rising African nation Wakanda. Because of M-day, she felt that her old friends needed her to fight by their side once more, and her timing couldn't have been more right. However, there seems to be a tension between her and Scott concerning how to run the team and his methods in containing situations during battles. Their difference in philosophies was pronounced by the previous arc and I got the feeling that Ellis might explore this some more in their other upcoming missions. Scott Summers has been changing--evolving into someone who more often than not has to cross certain lines his old self back in the more idyllic days of his team-leading never would have taken. As we will later witness in other titles and during the course of other decimation stories, this change in his leadership will only continue to grow and in turn will create a chasm between him and his colleagues/friends. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's discuss Elli's second arc, Exogenetic covered by issues #31-35.
Much like Ghost Box some asshole is taking advantage of M-day and specifically targeting the X-Men. His nefarious plan is much more twisted than Forge's was, however. Apparently, he's been reanimating dead mutants and combining their DNA with certain machines which is as disgusting as it sounds. This unholy union of genetics and confounding vendetta has produced really nightmarish killing machines such as a flesh-made Sentinel, and a horde of rabid Broods. But the most appalling thing about it was how this unseen enemy was able to get access to such a horrid necromancy idea in the first place; and that is no other than the helpful information provided by Hank McCoy's research. As a scientist, he had been working on different scenarios to ensure the safety of their mutantkind and that meant thinking outside the figurative box of conventional methods so, yes, he had written down the possibility of harvesting recently deceased mutants in hopes of possibly activating the X-gene...or some shit. Frankly, I was definitely as horrified by the fact that he considered much like everyone else. But not like Scott though because Scott is more than horrified; he is absolutely livid and is getting ready to kick his old friend's ass.
>They have a lovely verbal sparring where all their issues towards one another are finally discussed out in the open and in the presence of other parties. It's a really great way to clear the air. I loved the conversation because it was brutally honest and considering how Scott and Hank are now for the MARVEL NOW! continuity, it's great to see them speak up their minds and not worry about offending each other. There remains trust and friendship between these two and it's a remarkable relationship that was unfortunately snuffed out after the Avengers vs. X-Men debacle (you know, where Scott was possessed by the Phoenix force and ended up murdering Professor X).
[image]
[image]
[image]
[image]
[image]
>Hank raised valid points concerning Scott, psychoanalyzing him in a way that Emma had before during the TORN arc. Meanwhile, Abigail Brand has been developing as a rather likable character for me even if Scott disagrees because they never seem to ever get along (for now). I think that the only reason why they don't get along is the simple fact that they actually have the same methods of operating and leading their teams--and are therefore very judgmental of one another because they see their flaws reflected back at them through each other. I wonder if they were even aware of this paradox concerning their interactions but perhaps Ellis will touch upon in the next arc. So Agent Brand has known about this asshole targeting the X-Men for quite some time and was trying to contain the situation all by her lonesome before the X-Men get mixed up on it because, well, I think she is beginning to deeply care about the mutants. As brash, mercurial and stubborn as the woman is, Brand always upholds her duty and takes her job seriously but now that she's in love with Hank and is always hanging around the X-Men, her emotional investment is growing. She's now experiencing sentiment which Hank has pointed out back in Whedon's run is something that she lacked. It's pleasantly surprising to see that this has changed and now she's putting herself at risk to defend the X-Men from any unseen forces trying to tear them down. Scott will continue not to like her and distrust her, however, which I think Brand would rather have because they both keep each other honest and this actually works well for their strained and begrudging alliance.
Anyway, the unseen enemy here is a man named Kaga who was a villain I did not expect to feel so much sympathy for when his motivation for attacking the X-Men was finally revealed. It turns out that his mother was a survivor of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki US bombings and her mother's exposure to radiation has malformed in during pregnancy. He is the original "child of the atom" and this has made him physically disfigured, shunned and unloved by the majority. He has no superpowers whatsoever and his intelligence came from his dedication and hard work to rise above his afflictions. Finding out that there is a group of mutants who fight for equality rights such as the X-Men has gotten him so excited because he thought he will finally have a place to belong to and a new family to accept him. But seeing what the X-Men are and what they can do made him feel betrayed and cheated on because he argued a valid observation concerning the privilege that mutants have even if they are considered outcasts by humans. Kaga claimed that they at least have their powers and are aesthetically attractive as a unit, and that they will never know how real alienation, savagery and deprivation truly feel like, not like he has. That's why he felt the need to punish them. He was merely lashing out because he has been hurt all his life and it's time to hurt back even if most of his torment and the target of his vengeance are only imagined slights. Still, I can't help but feel very sorry for him:
[image]
[image]
Kaga's story is a great cautionary tale against revenge and also an introspective story about self-loathing and self-acceptance. It's great for writer Warren Ellis to raise these issues in his arc and for creating a supposed villain who is only acting out due to the anguish, jealousy and grief over the unfairness of his life, humanizing him as someone who doesn't know how to be compassionate and kind because he has not known anything remotely close to those qualities. The X-Men also realized that even though they represent a marginalized sector of society, their outsider status can still be considered a privilege next to someone like Kaga. Unfortunately, Ellis didn't commit to the message and the story awkwardly ends with an out-of-place humorous exchange about Wolverine after he knocked out Kaga because he mistakenly thought Kaga was still going to attack them when it was obvious he was finally surrendering. I was upset that Ellis pulled back the punches and instead left me cold and disappointed. He could have had something emotionally powerful and meaningful here by making the X-Men consider other people outside their mutant community who look up to them and what their fight for equality symbolized.
But instead, he chickened out in the last minute and just turn a redeemable villain like Kaga into a prisoner, some burden that Scott was only going to take care of not because he felt pity towards the guy but because he wanted to spite him. What a douche move, slim. Ororo should have said something because she seemed to be the only one who sympathized, given her facial expression in that one panel. Emma was expectedly cold-hearted; Hisako was too young to comprehend the poignancy and moral quandary she is witnessing; and Wolverine was UNCHARACTERISTICALLY BRUTISH. When he punched Kaga, that really shocked me. Sure, Logan can be a bit macho but we all know that underneath that is a man who had fought enough wars and experienced enough bloodshed to understand that Kaga is someone to heal, not someone to assault like that! I'm just very disappointed by how everyone acted here. It's times like this that we need Kitty Pryde more than ever; someone who is humane and empathic. But Kitty is gone, so who will step up to that plate and fill her role?
For such an insensitive conclusion, I'm deducting one star and making this arc a seven our of ten.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
Oct 19, 2015
Oct 26, 2015
Oct 19, 2015
Hardcover
591
0785133909
9780785133902
0785133909
3.39
2,175
Sep 02, 2009
Jan 01, 2009
really liked it
[CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
From this point forward in my The Astonishing X-Men reviews, I'll be doing a collective analysis of a story arc instead, much [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
From this point forward in my The Astonishing X-Men reviews, I'll be doing a collective analysis of a story arc instead, much like this one which is comprised of issues #25-30 and penned by Warren Ellis who is generally an awesome comic book writer. This is due to some time constraints in RL stuff at my workplace. I simply can't find enough time to write individual reviews anymore, at least for the time being. As a compromise, I'll finish The Astonishing X-Men with the consistent format of collective reviews because since Whedon's run, I honestly just ran out of steam for this title. It's not because it left a bad aftertaste in my mouth (well, there is that fucking goddamn shitty Giant-Size issue about the conclusion of Unstoppable concerning Kitty Pryde's fate). After all, I was irreconcilably in love with the entire twenty-four-issued run (that I actively try to forget that Giant-Size even happened). It's mostly because of my RL obligations taking most of my time so I was forced to read more than pause to construct reviews for the blog.
However, I also think it's because I don't know if anyone can top whatever clusterfuck awesomeness Whedon has accomplished in the first run. Mind you, Ellis has done a fine enough job in his story arc Ghost Box (which I will discuss in detail below), but I simply can't find enough strength in me to devote individual reviews for each issue so I think it was a really wise choice in my part to post one official review for each volume. We're now at the fifth. Let's get on with it.
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #25-30, "GHOST BOX"
This segment of the AXM is composed by a new writer and artist, and picks up in the aftermath of the Decimation which is the historical event prompted by cuckoo Scarlet Witch when she re-wrote Marvelverse and expunged the mutant gene for good to punish her daddy Magneto for being a world-class jerk. Also known as M-Day, this crossover big event can be read in its glorious coverage in Brian Michael Bendis' House of M . For its second season, The Astonishing X-Men is back with the heroes that Whedon established in the first run: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine and Beast (minus two other members) and with the addition of the recruit Hisako and the visitation of now Queen Ororo Munroe who got married to the former superhero Black Panther so she's both a wife and fellow ruler of Wakanda in Africa.
Before we head on to the story, let's first talk about Simone Bianchi's illustrations first. I don't think I ever once commented on the visual style of X-Men comics until John Cassaday's in the first run of AXM. I may have complimented Stuart Immonen once or twice for his art in Bendis' All-New X-Men , but generally I don't pay attention to the visuals which is weird because I often indulge in describing the artwork for the current run of Batman titles in DC specifically when it came to the work of artists Greg Capullo and Patrick Gleason. Still, I was heavily critical of Age of Apocalypse because it's visual style was too period-particular for my taste and honestly, the most of nineties comics back then for me were ugly to look at so I'm biased on that front. For Ellis' run, I think Bianchi's illustrations didn't exactly fit the narrative until the third installment. The entirety of the art is just too pretty with a lesser pronounced depth to convey motion, even when it came to more action-oriented scenes. Still, when it's expository, Bianchi managed to draw some intriguing panel choices that can even be comparable to Capullo's rendition for Snyder's Batman. I think that most of the time Bianchi's art can be distracting when I'm focusing on the action part. But when it's all just characters conversing and sitting around contemplating and planning among themselves, her illustrations bring dimensions to these interactions, enhancing the more subtle psychological messages implied in the dialogue. And for that, I can commend Bianchi. I think his artwork for action scenes did improve, however, when we got to the last two installments, particularly on #30 which was loaded with lots of creative fight sequences and landscape panels depicting explosions and the like. It was beautiful composition which was splendidly colored as well. Overall, Bianchi's work for Ellis' arc Ghost Box is a mixed bag but when it does shine on the most special places, it blinds.
[image]
Here are some sample pages that I liked in issue #30
Now let's talk about the content itself. After M-Day, there are only less than two hundred mutants that are active globally and the X-Men are determined to defend and protect those precious few in any way they can. After the birth of the the so-called mutant messiah in Messiah Complex, said baby carrying the X-gene post-M-Day was then whisked away by Scott's son Cable (Nate Summers) who traveled across dimensions to keep the baby safe from harm. Now the X-Men are just waiting for any sort of sign from Cable and this unique specimen he is safekeeping, so they decided to keep working cases in the meantime. Hisako is a former student of the Xavier School recruited back in Whedon's Unstoppable last arc and she was still in her adjustment period, mostly keeping close with Wolverine who is now her go-to mentor, and cracking up jokes in his expense to lighten the mood in their group every so often. I find her readily endearing especially when she makes it easy to forget sometimes that Kitty Pryde is gone, and so is Colossus. The reason why these two lovebirds aren't even here anymore (when they took up a good 70% of what is going on in Whedon's run) is because GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN IS CRAP. Kitty is left inside the hollow center of the giant bullet that would have murdered Earth if she didn't phase it. So now she can never be removed there because she's intrinsically part of the weapon, physically-speaking. But it begs the question: If M-Day happened and the mutants were de-powered, was Kitty the lucky few who retained her powers much like most of the veteran X-Men? I mean, that should be the case. Otherwise, the bullet would have stopped phasing and broke earth's core already. Ah, fuck it. Let's not talk about this anymore. I'm just getting angry again.
All you need to know is Colossus is gone because how the fuck does anyone expect him to keep on fighting after losing his soulmate in such a horrid, depressing way? So yeah, we got Hisako as a new member and the pleasant return of Ororo Munroe whom Bianchi, to his credit, drew so ethereally and appealingly that you never forget that she is supposedly a self-made goddess. It shows in the way she hovers in the panels, all silver-haired beauty and deadly strength. My favorite moments in issue #28 have to be when she and Emma were trapped together with a mutant whose sole power is to inhibit other mutants' powers. So Storm had to do it the old-fashioned way and freaking knife-attacked the bastard to near death like the pro she is. I will always enjoy that scene because she got to work with Emma and both ladies do not back down especially when they are pushed against a corner by some enemy. I'm already rambling on about characters when I haven't even discussed what Ghost Box is all about. Well, the X-Men are investigating the murder of a mutant, but further scientific findings revealed that this mutant's genes were tampered on, meaning that his X-gene sits on the wrong chromosome. They follow a set of clues which led them to the spaceship graveyard called Chaparanga where people are literally taking apart spaceships for metal scraps they can sell to parties and places interested in acquiring them. The setting has a very haunting look to it the moment it was shown and this is where they found another modified mutant who killed himself rather than to reveal his group's plans to the X-Men.
This dead mutant had been trying to get a machine called a Ghost Box to operate but Storm messed up the electrical currents and so he was unsuccessful. The team brought the Ghost Box with them and it got the attention of Special Agent Brand who is now Hank's "lab partner" o the side (and by lab partner, we mean they are sexing each other; or, as Scott likes to call it, the two are committing "crimes against nature"). Brand's first name is Abigail, and Scott is not happy with her and even said a bad word in her presence which amused everyone because no one has pissed of Scott enough to make him say the F-word. Through Abby Brand, they discovered that a Ghost Box is a portal between parallel dimensions. Later on, they went to Tian which was apparently the headquarters of Chinese X-Men who were left for dead the moment M-Day hit the shores. That was when they encountered three more modified mutants (dubbed by Beast as Triploids). So, this Triploids have Ghost Boxes and they came from several dimensions that have their own mutants but with X-genes resting in a different chromosome. Somehow, they figured out that M-Day doomed the mutant species in our world, and now are interested in conquering ours because...well, why not? Unfortunately, former X-Men Forge disagrees. And when Forge disagrees with something...bad things follow.
[image]
Goddammit, Forge. Must we always meet this way?
Before we get to that, I'd like to post this great exchange between Scott and Ororo in issue #26 which spoke volumes of how much they differ in handling their leadership roles, and the fact that Scott was kind of a hardass on Ororo and I actually liked that because he was more committed in his making the difficult choices he has now more than ever. Ellis has done a phenomenal job keeping the established characterizations from Whedon's previous run intact, making readers feel at ease because these people are the ones they can recognize and still relate to as if the writer hasn't changed at all for this title. So here's Scott being straightforward with Ororo regarding deaths:
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Now let's go back to Forge. Apparently, the asshole has once again lost it, most especially after M-Day occurred. I mean, the guy is already hanging by the thin line and now it has gotten so worse. How worse? Well, he operated on mutants and transformed them into his own version of Triploids. And now he planned on using a Ghost Box to travel to those other dimensions and attack them. Because in Forge's demented, decaying mind, that solves everything. And, of course, since this is an alien invasion, it's the territory of S.W.O.R.D., much to Scott's chagrin. Agent Brand stepped in in the nick of time and fired a concentration of lasers to destroy the parallel dimensions on the other side as soon as the Ghost Box went online, so to speak. But before that, we get this harrowing conversation between Forge and Ororo who already have a complicated history God, let's not bring up The X-Tinction Agenda. It's sad and I feel a little bit bad for Forge here
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The five-issued arc Ghost Box was nice. Nothing that special or memorable but it made up for its superb character interactions and small moments of humor and poignancy. The appearance of Storm is a welcome treat. The last two series that I read where she was a central figure was X-Men Forever and the goddamn X-Tinction Agenda . I hope she stays around for the next arc. STORM IS MY THIRD FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER from the X-Men and I love reading more of her. I expect Ellis to deliver some Storm-centered scenes my way in his next arcs, hopefully. A girl can dream. Overall, Ghost Box was not a bad start. I'm still very much invested with its character roster.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
From this point forward in my The Astonishing X-Men reviews, I'll be doing a collective analysis of a story arc instead, much [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
From this point forward in my The Astonishing X-Men reviews, I'll be doing a collective analysis of a story arc instead, much like this one which is comprised of issues #25-30 and penned by Warren Ellis who is generally an awesome comic book writer. This is due to some time constraints in RL stuff at my workplace. I simply can't find enough time to write individual reviews anymore, at least for the time being. As a compromise, I'll finish The Astonishing X-Men with the consistent format of collective reviews because since Whedon's run, I honestly just ran out of steam for this title. It's not because it left a bad aftertaste in my mouth (well, there is that fucking goddamn shitty Giant-Size issue about the conclusion of Unstoppable concerning Kitty Pryde's fate). After all, I was irreconcilably in love with the entire twenty-four-issued run (that I actively try to forget that Giant-Size even happened). It's mostly because of my RL obligations taking most of my time so I was forced to read more than pause to construct reviews for the blog.
However, I also think it's because I don't know if anyone can top whatever clusterfuck awesomeness Whedon has accomplished in the first run. Mind you, Ellis has done a fine enough job in his story arc Ghost Box (which I will discuss in detail below), but I simply can't find enough strength in me to devote individual reviews for each issue so I think it was a really wise choice in my part to post one official review for each volume. We're now at the fifth. Let's get on with it.
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #25-30, "GHOST BOX"
This segment of the AXM is composed by a new writer and artist, and picks up in the aftermath of the Decimation which is the historical event prompted by cuckoo Scarlet Witch when she re-wrote Marvelverse and expunged the mutant gene for good to punish her daddy Magneto for being a world-class jerk. Also known as M-Day, this crossover big event can be read in its glorious coverage in Brian Michael Bendis' House of M . For its second season, The Astonishing X-Men is back with the heroes that Whedon established in the first run: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine and Beast (minus two other members) and with the addition of the recruit Hisako and the visitation of now Queen Ororo Munroe who got married to the former superhero Black Panther so she's both a wife and fellow ruler of Wakanda in Africa.
Before we head on to the story, let's first talk about Simone Bianchi's illustrations first. I don't think I ever once commented on the visual style of X-Men comics until John Cassaday's in the first run of AXM. I may have complimented Stuart Immonen once or twice for his art in Bendis' All-New X-Men , but generally I don't pay attention to the visuals which is weird because I often indulge in describing the artwork for the current run of Batman titles in DC specifically when it came to the work of artists Greg Capullo and Patrick Gleason. Still, I was heavily critical of Age of Apocalypse because it's visual style was too period-particular for my taste and honestly, the most of nineties comics back then for me were ugly to look at so I'm biased on that front. For Ellis' run, I think Bianchi's illustrations didn't exactly fit the narrative until the third installment. The entirety of the art is just too pretty with a lesser pronounced depth to convey motion, even when it came to more action-oriented scenes. Still, when it's expository, Bianchi managed to draw some intriguing panel choices that can even be comparable to Capullo's rendition for Snyder's Batman. I think that most of the time Bianchi's art can be distracting when I'm focusing on the action part. But when it's all just characters conversing and sitting around contemplating and planning among themselves, her illustrations bring dimensions to these interactions, enhancing the more subtle psychological messages implied in the dialogue. And for that, I can commend Bianchi. I think his artwork for action scenes did improve, however, when we got to the last two installments, particularly on #30 which was loaded with lots of creative fight sequences and landscape panels depicting explosions and the like. It was beautiful composition which was splendidly colored as well. Overall, Bianchi's work for Ellis' arc Ghost Box is a mixed bag but when it does shine on the most special places, it blinds.
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Here are some sample pages that I liked in issue #30
Now let's talk about the content itself. After M-Day, there are only less than two hundred mutants that are active globally and the X-Men are determined to defend and protect those precious few in any way they can. After the birth of the the so-called mutant messiah in Messiah Complex, said baby carrying the X-gene post-M-Day was then whisked away by Scott's son Cable (Nate Summers) who traveled across dimensions to keep the baby safe from harm. Now the X-Men are just waiting for any sort of sign from Cable and this unique specimen he is safekeeping, so they decided to keep working cases in the meantime. Hisako is a former student of the Xavier School recruited back in Whedon's Unstoppable last arc and she was still in her adjustment period, mostly keeping close with Wolverine who is now her go-to mentor, and cracking up jokes in his expense to lighten the mood in their group every so often. I find her readily endearing especially when she makes it easy to forget sometimes that Kitty Pryde is gone, and so is Colossus. The reason why these two lovebirds aren't even here anymore (when they took up a good 70% of what is going on in Whedon's run) is because GIANT-SIZE ASTONISHING X-MEN IS CRAP. Kitty is left inside the hollow center of the giant bullet that would have murdered Earth if she didn't phase it. So now she can never be removed there because she's intrinsically part of the weapon, physically-speaking. But it begs the question: If M-Day happened and the mutants were de-powered, was Kitty the lucky few who retained her powers much like most of the veteran X-Men? I mean, that should be the case. Otherwise, the bullet would have stopped phasing and broke earth's core already. Ah, fuck it. Let's not talk about this anymore. I'm just getting angry again.
All you need to know is Colossus is gone because how the fuck does anyone expect him to keep on fighting after losing his soulmate in such a horrid, depressing way? So yeah, we got Hisako as a new member and the pleasant return of Ororo Munroe whom Bianchi, to his credit, drew so ethereally and appealingly that you never forget that she is supposedly a self-made goddess. It shows in the way she hovers in the panels, all silver-haired beauty and deadly strength. My favorite moments in issue #28 have to be when she and Emma were trapped together with a mutant whose sole power is to inhibit other mutants' powers. So Storm had to do it the old-fashioned way and freaking knife-attacked the bastard to near death like the pro she is. I will always enjoy that scene because she got to work with Emma and both ladies do not back down especially when they are pushed against a corner by some enemy. I'm already rambling on about characters when I haven't even discussed what Ghost Box is all about. Well, the X-Men are investigating the murder of a mutant, but further scientific findings revealed that this mutant's genes were tampered on, meaning that his X-gene sits on the wrong chromosome. They follow a set of clues which led them to the spaceship graveyard called Chaparanga where people are literally taking apart spaceships for metal scraps they can sell to parties and places interested in acquiring them. The setting has a very haunting look to it the moment it was shown and this is where they found another modified mutant who killed himself rather than to reveal his group's plans to the X-Men.
This dead mutant had been trying to get a machine called a Ghost Box to operate but Storm messed up the electrical currents and so he was unsuccessful. The team brought the Ghost Box with them and it got the attention of Special Agent Brand who is now Hank's "lab partner" o the side (and by lab partner, we mean they are sexing each other; or, as Scott likes to call it, the two are committing "crimes against nature"). Brand's first name is Abigail, and Scott is not happy with her and even said a bad word in her presence which amused everyone because no one has pissed of Scott enough to make him say the F-word. Through Abby Brand, they discovered that a Ghost Box is a portal between parallel dimensions. Later on, they went to Tian which was apparently the headquarters of Chinese X-Men who were left for dead the moment M-Day hit the shores. That was when they encountered three more modified mutants (dubbed by Beast as Triploids). So, this Triploids have Ghost Boxes and they came from several dimensions that have their own mutants but with X-genes resting in a different chromosome. Somehow, they figured out that M-Day doomed the mutant species in our world, and now are interested in conquering ours because...well, why not? Unfortunately, former X-Men Forge disagrees. And when Forge disagrees with something...bad things follow.
[image]
Goddammit, Forge. Must we always meet this way?
Before we get to that, I'd like to post this great exchange between Scott and Ororo in issue #26 which spoke volumes of how much they differ in handling their leadership roles, and the fact that Scott was kind of a hardass on Ororo and I actually liked that because he was more committed in his making the difficult choices he has now more than ever. Ellis has done a phenomenal job keeping the established characterizations from Whedon's previous run intact, making readers feel at ease because these people are the ones they can recognize and still relate to as if the writer hasn't changed at all for this title. So here's Scott being straightforward with Ororo regarding deaths:
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Now let's go back to Forge. Apparently, the asshole has once again lost it, most especially after M-Day occurred. I mean, the guy is already hanging by the thin line and now it has gotten so worse. How worse? Well, he operated on mutants and transformed them into his own version of Triploids. And now he planned on using a Ghost Box to travel to those other dimensions and attack them. Because in Forge's demented, decaying mind, that solves everything. And, of course, since this is an alien invasion, it's the territory of S.W.O.R.D., much to Scott's chagrin. Agent Brand stepped in in the nick of time and fired a concentration of lasers to destroy the parallel dimensions on the other side as soon as the Ghost Box went online, so to speak. But before that, we get this harrowing conversation between Forge and Ororo who already have a complicated history God, let's not bring up The X-Tinction Agenda. It's sad and I feel a little bit bad for Forge here
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The five-issued arc Ghost Box was nice. Nothing that special or memorable but it made up for its superb character interactions and small moments of humor and poignancy. The appearance of Storm is a welcome treat. The last two series that I read where she was a central figure was X-Men Forever and the goddamn X-Tinction Agenda . I hope she stays around for the next arc. STORM IS MY THIRD FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER from the X-Men and I love reading more of her. I expect Ellis to deliver some Storm-centered scenes my way in his next arcs, hopefully. A girl can dream. Overall, Ghost Box was not a bad start. I'm still very much invested with its character roster.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
Oct 19, 2015
Oct 21, 2015
Oct 19, 2015
Hardcover
589
B00ZMCJ2LO
4.00
36
unknown
Nov 07, 2007
really liked it
[CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
We have reached the official end of Joss Whedon's run for The Astonishing X-Men. The last story arc of this run is called Uns [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
We have reached the official end of Joss Whedon's run for The Astonishing X-Men. The last story arc of this run is called Unstoppable and much like the last two great ones entitled Danger and Torn--I'm sorry, I meant TORN --this one lives up to its name in essentially a lot of ways during certain pivotal scenes in its six-issued-installment. The fifth and sixth parts of Unstoppable have been...interesting, as far as my apathy can stretch because as enjoyable as the characters have been on this arc, the main plot alienated me.
You see, I still maintain that I don't care about Breakworld even if Whedon did spend an ample amount of time fleshing out its villain and secondary characters in relation to Breakworld. The lady rebel Aghane was sympathetic because she had gone against everything that the Breakworlders stand for which is about warmongering, brutality, patriarchy and a narrow-minded desire to value strength and cruelty as the formidable traits of their so-called enlightened society. The ones who rule are a barbaric, undeserving lot and I don't care if this opinion is heavily contextualized by the fact that I'm human and I don't have anything else to base on but my own cultural experiences--I still think the Breakworld leaders are thugs and tyrants who rely so much on their power and conquest that they don't see anything past their overblown self-importance and egos. I just can't care if their planet gets destroyed if Aghane is right when she interprets the prophecy as a way to rebuild a stronger, more loving world. We should give that bright tomorrow a chance. We should let Colossus tear down the very core of this fucking planet and allow other Breakworlders like Aghane to thrive and create something more community-oriented than whatever shit-piss excuse of a government system that is still in place when it should have been obsolete. So, yes, I was a hundred percent in agreement with PLAN B: LET BREAKWORLD BE DESTROYED SO IT CAN BE REBUILT AGAIN. Every destruction follows creation. That's the way the universe works.
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Good fucking riddance, Breakworld and best of luck, Aghane and co.
I'm not going to bother to talk about every painstaking detail and scene that happened in these last two installments because I'm quite frankly tired of all the nonsense concerning Breakworld. Just thinking about what to type and actually typing more about their bullshit are already draining endeavors so I'm not going to torture myself with that. After all, this alien race for me feel like they're merely a device to make the main characters shine and that's how Unstoppable became such a entertaining read for me regardless of how absurd and bland I find the storyline concerning Breakworlders and their prophecy. The X-Men both as a unit and as respective individuals were all uncannily well-written, sympathetic, and incredibly riveting heroes whose growth and development in the last twenty-four issues were crucial to my appreciation for the overall direction and climactic moments that Whedon--bless his big, fat geek heart--has graced us with. And that's how I want to spend my last review for a Whedon-AXM issue in this post--by discussing its strengths in characterizations that keep readers fully invested enough to see the fates of our heroes with the choices they made and did not make. By this weekend, I'm going to compose my official review for the collected omnibus of Whedon's run and I'm going to have to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for it. I may copypasta some highlights from my reviews of issues 1-24 just to recap the overall awesomeness, badassery and lovable quirkiness that Whedon has provided me during my three-week journey to its fantastic roster. Now, let's talk about our heroes and their contributions to the series
~* PRESENTING THE ASTONISHING X-MEN *~
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There are three X-Men who really took the center stage consistently for the twenty-four issues, and the most who has done so is no other than Kitty Pryde . Whedon's first issue began with seeing her again as she walks back into the Xavier School for the Gifted, bags in hand but looking as if she has never left the place at all. What I enjoyed about Kitty in her appearances here in the series is the fact that she's a darling. Really, she is. Inquisitive, selfless but clever, and brave to a goddamn fault, Kitty always becomes the star of a story when a writer really knows how to commit her stellar characterization on paper. I thought she had an impressive run so far, taking on the responsibility of becoming an X-Man head-on even if she maintained that "being an X-Man does not always suit me". In spite of whatever insecurities she had about her skills and role in the team, she never lets it get to her and performs under pressure quite creatively and adamantly. This isn't really the first time Kitty caught my attention. In Claremont's X-Men: Forever, she accidentally phased through Wolverine while a mutant got them stuck and when she separated from him, he got a piece of his adamantium claw on her knuckle. The way she dealt with that physical transformation was so riveting to watch because at her core, Kitty remains the resourceful and compassionate kid she is through all of it. In her first appearance after the Dark Phoenix Saga, thirteen-year old Kitty is inexperienced in so many ways but was eager to learn and prove herself. This is around the time Days of Future Past hit, and her older self and younger self merged to save the day. It's such a shame that the movies don't put her front and center (alongside Wolverine if they must insist, considering Logan and Kitty have a good brother-sister thing going on anyway), especially when they cast a talented actress like Ellen Page for the role. In any case, at least in Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, she truly got to shine. Rogue may be my first love growing up with the cartoons, but Kitty is undoubtedly my MOST FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER as of the moment for X-Men, more so than Jean Grey in Brian Michael Bendis' version for All-New X-Men. I don't want to talk about the cliffhanger scene in issue #24, however, because I still can't wrap my head around what's going to happen to her, but I trust Kitty's survivor mode. Gods please let her be okay!
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Oh, Emma Frost . The White Queen has always fascinated me since her very first appearance in the Dark Phoenix storyline as one of the formidable henchwomen of the Hellfire Club. It's worth noting that she and Kitty were introduced together especially here in Whedon's tale where the two are obviously at odds with each other. Kitty has made it no secret that she has no love for Emma and does not and will probably never trust her. And Emma knows this. She understands people way more than we give this cold-hearted woman credit for. The reason why she brought Kitty into the fold in the first place (as revealed in issue #18), is because Emma is losing her mind because parasitic Cassandra Nova hijacked her telepathically, and she knew Kitty would be the only one who won't hesitate to kill her. That's a powerful thing to entrust someone with, and it didn't help her already temperamental relationship with Kitty either. But Emma had revealed to Kitty that she is capable of murder if she's motivated for the right reasons, and such a startling revelation, I know, has shook Kitty, but she's not able to deal with that for now. Still, I think, in a twisted sort of way, Kitty began respecting Emma and what she can do after that incident. With little empathy and people skills, Emma can be so easy to dislike and cast aside as a woman forever trapped in the villain role, but Whedon had composed her here in such a validating perspective where she's finally vulnerable and in love with a man she feels she doesn't deserve. That broke my heart as much as Scott Summers has thawed the frost in her heart. She's so entralling in the story arc TORN that I can hardly keep up with her! I really like Emma, more than I ever thought I would. Her relationship with Scott is also worth shipping. They're an intriguing pair.
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The third center stager of Whedon's epic had to be Scott Summers . I've always been in a neutral space when it comes to Cyclops as a character. I admire his good qualities but also get turned off by his shortcomings. That being said, I can honestly testify that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIM here, thanks to Whedon's writing for him in TORN where I got to read all the inadequacies he had as it was laid bare by Emma during a telepathic hostile takeover of his mind. I think we often take for granted what a complex and tortured character this go-to golden boy scout had always been especially because he gets unfairly compared to baddass Wolverine. Whedon proves once and for all that Scott's baggage is a shade darker than we have thought collectively; this is a man who is afraid of his immense power, knows the kind of pain he can inflict, and is therefore more empathic about the people he leads, and he is a leader to the boot, make no mistake about that. We can question his ethics now in the current comics line with MARVEL NOW! We can argue that he has become an anti-hero that's dangerously walking the villain line every so often these days. But the Scott Summers I remember and I sympathize greatly with is exactly what Whedon has delivered for this series. Witnessing Scott take more control over his life while also giving up a little control when necessary is an uplifting testament to his self-awareness and dignity of person. After Emma strips him away off his mutant powers temporarily, he is able to access the strength he never knew he had; to channel all his fear of losing control into something meaningfully courageous and this had been show during the Unstoppable story arc. When Scott declared, "To me my X-Men," his five teammates definitely came running because as flawed, seemingly stoic and dull as Cyclops comes off from an outsider's point of view, his X-Men knows he is a leader worth following and fighting side by side with. I think one of the things I can applaud Whedon's AXM is that its Cyclops is a hero worth rooting for to the end!
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During the first story arc Gifted, Hank McCoy faces the biggest temptation of his life yet--there is a mutant cure that was recently invented by his former colleague and friend Dr. Kavita Rao, and it's supposed to remove the X-gene forever since she believed that mutation is merely a genetic defect. Faced by the stern disapproval of his friends and teammates, Hank was still tempted to take the cure for himself since it was proven genuine (at the cost of a teenage mutant's life who was forced to take it). Hank's mutation as Beast had been a rather challenging struggle. His physical evolution, though he much prefer deeming it as 'devolving', has been integral to his character development in the X-universe. He goes through various stages of physical change and he fears that there may come a time he will lose his higher functions, not just his intelligence and wit but also his humanity. Whedon examines Hank's worst fear come to life briefly when he was telepathically hijacked by Cassandra Nova via Emma Frost in TORN (this arc is the gift that keeps on giving, I tell you!). We see him truly acting like a beast there, preying on people and acting like a mere savage creature. Since the focus shifted on other characters, this part of his personal story has been set aside for now but hopefully the new writer replacing Joss Whedon who is no other than Warren Ellis will pick this up too because I'm very much interested to see if Beast will take the cure or not, and if taking it might really be the chance at normality that he seeks. However, taking the cure is an affront to who he is an X-Man; it will jeopardize his status as the role model for other mutants everywhere. I'm excited to see how his next character-focused story will deal with this dilemma, and I hope it'd be compellingly done.
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Now this is how I like my Wolverine : just an uncomplicated dude who likes beer and clawing bad guys, performing in the background as an effective killing machine but then also gets to be surprisingly sweet with young students who are in need of a big-brother figure (in this series, it's the newly recruited member Hisako a.k.a Armor). Logan is always rough around the edges, picking up fights when the moment calls for it, but is always going to be reliable so you want him on your team. He is free of drama in this series (which is not even a thing you can say about his Hugh Jackman version in the films) and is often an unintended comic relief every now and then when the stressful situations are getting to everyone else but this functional alcoholic whose healing abilities has probably made his liver cirrhosis-proof. I really thought he and Scott will continue to keep butting heads but luckily he is compliant enough, doing whatever he can and whatever is asked of him like a good soldier. Though a terror anarchist in the surface, Logan clearly cares about the welfare of everyone particularly the ones who can't protect themselves yet. He doesn't protect or coddle them, however. He throws them in a baptism of fire without hesitation but is always there to put out the fire if things do get out of hand. I'm interested to see him bonding more with Hisako because Logan is teacher material as we have seen in the current MARVEL NOW! with his own series Wolverine and the X-Men (my December upcoming pick!). I think Logan truly showcases his grit and softer side when around young teens and children because the most admirable trait Logan has is he is a sort of a knight in shining armor for the weak and helpless but rather than rescuing them, he teaches them how to fight even if it's the hard, hellish way. I can see him doing the same thing for Hisako and it's hilarious and sweet all at once! So I hope Ellis brings that out some more in his own run.
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By all accounts, Peter Rasputin a. k. a Colossus should have stayed dead. He sacrificed himself for the Legacy Virus, saving countless mutants in the process. By being the science experiment to procure the mutant cure that will remove the X-gene, and then turning him into a planet-destroyer with that goddamn absurd alien prophecy, I really thought Whedon has a grudge on this character and is set out in undoing all the good and noble things Peter has done in the previous storylines. If it wasn't for the fact that he and Kitty are getting it on (in the most confusing way possible; this couple angst-ed their way through the issue like no other, save Scott and Jean during Claremont era), I really would have concluded Whedon doesn't like this character. Personally, Colossus is an appealing X-Man because he is an upright figure since the beginning. Raised in Soviet Russia, Peter is hardworking and is ready to offer everything for his homeland. When Charles Xavier recruited him, the professor made a promise that Peter can help more people globally by becoming an X-Man. And all that Peter ever wanted to do since he had discovered his mutant powers is to do good, to help people in any capacity he could. For Whedon's writing of this character, we can see that he is not portrayed as that at all but rather as a prophesied figure of destruction. By the end of Unstoppable, we see that the prophecy has a more uplifting interpretation but it doesn't change the fact that Colossus will be responsible for the death of millions if he did end up doing what he must by the end of issue #24 (it was another cliffhanger for him, much like with Kitty's situation). I think he's my least favorite character in the X-Men for now because I just don't like the way he's being portrayed. Whedon hit the right notes with the rest but his Colossus was problematic for me because I preferred the old Colossus. Hopefully his characterization will even out by Ellis' run, and he will continue to be lovey-dovey with Kitty because these two babies are gorgeous together--as long as they get one fucking day without the commotion of their danger-filled vocation of being X-Men. Which never happens, of course because being an X-Man fucks you up one way or another.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
AND THERE WE HAVE IT! THE END OF JOSS WHEDON'S RUN! What a miracle worker, this man! Consider me very, very happy about The Astonishing X-Men.
[image]
Like, this amount of happy
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
We have reached the official end of Joss Whedon's run for The Astonishing X-Men. The last story arc of this run is called Uns [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
We have reached the official end of Joss Whedon's run for The Astonishing X-Men. The last story arc of this run is called Unstoppable and much like the last two great ones entitled Danger and Torn--I'm sorry, I meant TORN --this one lives up to its name in essentially a lot of ways during certain pivotal scenes in its six-issued-installment. The fifth and sixth parts of Unstoppable have been...interesting, as far as my apathy can stretch because as enjoyable as the characters have been on this arc, the main plot alienated me.
You see, I still maintain that I don't care about Breakworld even if Whedon did spend an ample amount of time fleshing out its villain and secondary characters in relation to Breakworld. The lady rebel Aghane was sympathetic because she had gone against everything that the Breakworlders stand for which is about warmongering, brutality, patriarchy and a narrow-minded desire to value strength and cruelty as the formidable traits of their so-called enlightened society. The ones who rule are a barbaric, undeserving lot and I don't care if this opinion is heavily contextualized by the fact that I'm human and I don't have anything else to base on but my own cultural experiences--I still think the Breakworld leaders are thugs and tyrants who rely so much on their power and conquest that they don't see anything past their overblown self-importance and egos. I just can't care if their planet gets destroyed if Aghane is right when she interprets the prophecy as a way to rebuild a stronger, more loving world. We should give that bright tomorrow a chance. We should let Colossus tear down the very core of this fucking planet and allow other Breakworlders like Aghane to thrive and create something more community-oriented than whatever shit-piss excuse of a government system that is still in place when it should have been obsolete. So, yes, I was a hundred percent in agreement with PLAN B: LET BREAKWORLD BE DESTROYED SO IT CAN BE REBUILT AGAIN. Every destruction follows creation. That's the way the universe works.
[image]
Good fucking riddance, Breakworld and best of luck, Aghane and co.
I'm not going to bother to talk about every painstaking detail and scene that happened in these last two installments because I'm quite frankly tired of all the nonsense concerning Breakworld. Just thinking about what to type and actually typing more about their bullshit are already draining endeavors so I'm not going to torture myself with that. After all, this alien race for me feel like they're merely a device to make the main characters shine and that's how Unstoppable became such a entertaining read for me regardless of how absurd and bland I find the storyline concerning Breakworlders and their prophecy. The X-Men both as a unit and as respective individuals were all uncannily well-written, sympathetic, and incredibly riveting heroes whose growth and development in the last twenty-four issues were crucial to my appreciation for the overall direction and climactic moments that Whedon--bless his big, fat geek heart--has graced us with. And that's how I want to spend my last review for a Whedon-AXM issue in this post--by discussing its strengths in characterizations that keep readers fully invested enough to see the fates of our heroes with the choices they made and did not make. By this weekend, I'm going to compose my official review for the collected omnibus of Whedon's run and I'm going to have to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for it. I may copypasta some highlights from my reviews of issues 1-24 just to recap the overall awesomeness, badassery and lovable quirkiness that Whedon has provided me during my three-week journey to its fantastic roster. Now, let's talk about our heroes and their contributions to the series
~* PRESENTING THE ASTONISHING X-MEN *~
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There are three X-Men who really took the center stage consistently for the twenty-four issues, and the most who has done so is no other than Kitty Pryde . Whedon's first issue began with seeing her again as she walks back into the Xavier School for the Gifted, bags in hand but looking as if she has never left the place at all. What I enjoyed about Kitty in her appearances here in the series is the fact that she's a darling. Really, she is. Inquisitive, selfless but clever, and brave to a goddamn fault, Kitty always becomes the star of a story when a writer really knows how to commit her stellar characterization on paper. I thought she had an impressive run so far, taking on the responsibility of becoming an X-Man head-on even if she maintained that "being an X-Man does not always suit me". In spite of whatever insecurities she had about her skills and role in the team, she never lets it get to her and performs under pressure quite creatively and adamantly. This isn't really the first time Kitty caught my attention. In Claremont's X-Men: Forever, she accidentally phased through Wolverine while a mutant got them stuck and when she separated from him, he got a piece of his adamantium claw on her knuckle. The way she dealt with that physical transformation was so riveting to watch because at her core, Kitty remains the resourceful and compassionate kid she is through all of it. In her first appearance after the Dark Phoenix Saga, thirteen-year old Kitty is inexperienced in so many ways but was eager to learn and prove herself. This is around the time Days of Future Past hit, and her older self and younger self merged to save the day. It's such a shame that the movies don't put her front and center (alongside Wolverine if they must insist, considering Logan and Kitty have a good brother-sister thing going on anyway), especially when they cast a talented actress like Ellen Page for the role. In any case, at least in Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, she truly got to shine. Rogue may be my first love growing up with the cartoons, but Kitty is undoubtedly my MOST FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER as of the moment for X-Men, more so than Jean Grey in Brian Michael Bendis' version for All-New X-Men. I don't want to talk about the cliffhanger scene in issue #24, however, because I still can't wrap my head around what's going to happen to her, but I trust Kitty's survivor mode. Gods please let her be okay!
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Oh, Emma Frost . The White Queen has always fascinated me since her very first appearance in the Dark Phoenix storyline as one of the formidable henchwomen of the Hellfire Club. It's worth noting that she and Kitty were introduced together especially here in Whedon's tale where the two are obviously at odds with each other. Kitty has made it no secret that she has no love for Emma and does not and will probably never trust her. And Emma knows this. She understands people way more than we give this cold-hearted woman credit for. The reason why she brought Kitty into the fold in the first place (as revealed in issue #18), is because Emma is losing her mind because parasitic Cassandra Nova hijacked her telepathically, and she knew Kitty would be the only one who won't hesitate to kill her. That's a powerful thing to entrust someone with, and it didn't help her already temperamental relationship with Kitty either. But Emma had revealed to Kitty that she is capable of murder if she's motivated for the right reasons, and such a startling revelation, I know, has shook Kitty, but she's not able to deal with that for now. Still, I think, in a twisted sort of way, Kitty began respecting Emma and what she can do after that incident. With little empathy and people skills, Emma can be so easy to dislike and cast aside as a woman forever trapped in the villain role, but Whedon had composed her here in such a validating perspective where she's finally vulnerable and in love with a man she feels she doesn't deserve. That broke my heart as much as Scott Summers has thawed the frost in her heart. She's so entralling in the story arc TORN that I can hardly keep up with her! I really like Emma, more than I ever thought I would. Her relationship with Scott is also worth shipping. They're an intriguing pair.
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The third center stager of Whedon's epic had to be Scott Summers . I've always been in a neutral space when it comes to Cyclops as a character. I admire his good qualities but also get turned off by his shortcomings. That being said, I can honestly testify that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIM here, thanks to Whedon's writing for him in TORN where I got to read all the inadequacies he had as it was laid bare by Emma during a telepathic hostile takeover of his mind. I think we often take for granted what a complex and tortured character this go-to golden boy scout had always been especially because he gets unfairly compared to baddass Wolverine. Whedon proves once and for all that Scott's baggage is a shade darker than we have thought collectively; this is a man who is afraid of his immense power, knows the kind of pain he can inflict, and is therefore more empathic about the people he leads, and he is a leader to the boot, make no mistake about that. We can question his ethics now in the current comics line with MARVEL NOW! We can argue that he has become an anti-hero that's dangerously walking the villain line every so often these days. But the Scott Summers I remember and I sympathize greatly with is exactly what Whedon has delivered for this series. Witnessing Scott take more control over his life while also giving up a little control when necessary is an uplifting testament to his self-awareness and dignity of person. After Emma strips him away off his mutant powers temporarily, he is able to access the strength he never knew he had; to channel all his fear of losing control into something meaningfully courageous and this had been show during the Unstoppable story arc. When Scott declared, "To me my X-Men," his five teammates definitely came running because as flawed, seemingly stoic and dull as Cyclops comes off from an outsider's point of view, his X-Men knows he is a leader worth following and fighting side by side with. I think one of the things I can applaud Whedon's AXM is that its Cyclops is a hero worth rooting for to the end!
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During the first story arc Gifted, Hank McCoy faces the biggest temptation of his life yet--there is a mutant cure that was recently invented by his former colleague and friend Dr. Kavita Rao, and it's supposed to remove the X-gene forever since she believed that mutation is merely a genetic defect. Faced by the stern disapproval of his friends and teammates, Hank was still tempted to take the cure for himself since it was proven genuine (at the cost of a teenage mutant's life who was forced to take it). Hank's mutation as Beast had been a rather challenging struggle. His physical evolution, though he much prefer deeming it as 'devolving', has been integral to his character development in the X-universe. He goes through various stages of physical change and he fears that there may come a time he will lose his higher functions, not just his intelligence and wit but also his humanity. Whedon examines Hank's worst fear come to life briefly when he was telepathically hijacked by Cassandra Nova via Emma Frost in TORN (this arc is the gift that keeps on giving, I tell you!). We see him truly acting like a beast there, preying on people and acting like a mere savage creature. Since the focus shifted on other characters, this part of his personal story has been set aside for now but hopefully the new writer replacing Joss Whedon who is no other than Warren Ellis will pick this up too because I'm very much interested to see if Beast will take the cure or not, and if taking it might really be the chance at normality that he seeks. However, taking the cure is an affront to who he is an X-Man; it will jeopardize his status as the role model for other mutants everywhere. I'm excited to see how his next character-focused story will deal with this dilemma, and I hope it'd be compellingly done.
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Now this is how I like my Wolverine : just an uncomplicated dude who likes beer and clawing bad guys, performing in the background as an effective killing machine but then also gets to be surprisingly sweet with young students who are in need of a big-brother figure (in this series, it's the newly recruited member Hisako a.k.a Armor). Logan is always rough around the edges, picking up fights when the moment calls for it, but is always going to be reliable so you want him on your team. He is free of drama in this series (which is not even a thing you can say about his Hugh Jackman version in the films) and is often an unintended comic relief every now and then when the stressful situations are getting to everyone else but this functional alcoholic whose healing abilities has probably made his liver cirrhosis-proof. I really thought he and Scott will continue to keep butting heads but luckily he is compliant enough, doing whatever he can and whatever is asked of him like a good soldier. Though a terror anarchist in the surface, Logan clearly cares about the welfare of everyone particularly the ones who can't protect themselves yet. He doesn't protect or coddle them, however. He throws them in a baptism of fire without hesitation but is always there to put out the fire if things do get out of hand. I'm interested to see him bonding more with Hisako because Logan is teacher material as we have seen in the current MARVEL NOW! with his own series Wolverine and the X-Men (my December upcoming pick!). I think Logan truly showcases his grit and softer side when around young teens and children because the most admirable trait Logan has is he is a sort of a knight in shining armor for the weak and helpless but rather than rescuing them, he teaches them how to fight even if it's the hard, hellish way. I can see him doing the same thing for Hisako and it's hilarious and sweet all at once! So I hope Ellis brings that out some more in his own run.
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By all accounts, Peter Rasputin a. k. a Colossus should have stayed dead. He sacrificed himself for the Legacy Virus, saving countless mutants in the process. By being the science experiment to procure the mutant cure that will remove the X-gene, and then turning him into a planet-destroyer with that goddamn absurd alien prophecy, I really thought Whedon has a grudge on this character and is set out in undoing all the good and noble things Peter has done in the previous storylines. If it wasn't for the fact that he and Kitty are getting it on (in the most confusing way possible; this couple angst-ed their way through the issue like no other, save Scott and Jean during Claremont era), I really would have concluded Whedon doesn't like this character. Personally, Colossus is an appealing X-Man because he is an upright figure since the beginning. Raised in Soviet Russia, Peter is hardworking and is ready to offer everything for his homeland. When Charles Xavier recruited him, the professor made a promise that Peter can help more people globally by becoming an X-Man. And all that Peter ever wanted to do since he had discovered his mutant powers is to do good, to help people in any capacity he could. For Whedon's writing of this character, we can see that he is not portrayed as that at all but rather as a prophesied figure of destruction. By the end of Unstoppable, we see that the prophecy has a more uplifting interpretation but it doesn't change the fact that Colossus will be responsible for the death of millions if he did end up doing what he must by the end of issue #24 (it was another cliffhanger for him, much like with Kitty's situation). I think he's my least favorite character in the X-Men for now because I just don't like the way he's being portrayed. Whedon hit the right notes with the rest but his Colossus was problematic for me because I preferred the old Colossus. Hopefully his characterization will even out by Ellis' run, and he will continue to be lovey-dovey with Kitty because these two babies are gorgeous together--as long as they get one fucking day without the commotion of their danger-filled vocation of being X-Men. Which never happens, of course because being an X-Man fucks you up one way or another.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
AND THERE WE HAVE IT! THE END OF JOSS WHEDON'S RUN! What a miracle worker, this man! Consider me very, very happy about The Astonishing X-Men.
[image]
Like, this amount of happy
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
not set
Oct 16, 2015
Oct 16, 2015
Kindle Edition
588
B00ZMCJ21E
4.14
35
unknown
May 02, 2007
really liked it
[CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
Elation. Trepidation. Nausea. Liberation. Damnation . All wrapped up in a tight bun that is me after I finished reading th [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
Elation. Trepidation. Nausea. Liberation. Damnation . All wrapped up in a tight bun that is me after I finished reading the third and fourth installments of Unstoppable. Stephen Colbert himself captures all of these feelings in this singular gesture demonstrated below:
[image]
I hardly remember my comic-book reading life before The Astonishing X-Men. My September pick was Brian Michael Bendis' forty-one issues of All-New X-Men and I remember falling in love with that once but the truth is all I could recall more clearly is how I fell out of love with that series. I never expected things to get better since then because I was sorely let down. And then this happens to me. Whedon and his AXM happens to me. And now Bendis' ANXM is nothing but a fading memory next to what Joss Whedon has accomplished here in The Astonishing X-Men. I don't ever remember feeling this intellectually stimulated and emotionally rewarded before. And I feel sick. I feel like ugly-crying.
[image]
Tobey Maguire would have been proud
Don't worry. I promise to keep it together until the end of this review. It'll be tough for me but I'll get through it.
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #21-22 "UNSTOPPABLE" parts 3 & 4
I've been combining reviews for two issues in one post and it's been a great way to discuss certain plot points and character developments back-to-back especially when they are intrinsically inseparable from each other. Instead of wasting time summarizing every scene that happened for both installments, I'll simply talk about the highlights and touch briefly upon the main plot which I still do not care about because the truth for the matter is that PLENTY OF OTHER INTERESTING THINGS are happening around it. And here they are:
KITTY AND PETER
Where do I even start and end with these two kids? The constant push-and-pull between these two lovers is akin to Gossip Girl's Chuck and Blair. One issue they're reunited poignantly; the next they're awkward around each other; then lovey-dovey and sexy times commence; then sad realizations occur that puts them in the verge of a break-up; and then they get stuck somewhere and have to deal with each other; then sexy times happen again; then more sad realizations. You know what, just look at their notable interactions in these two issues and judge for yourself how agonizingly sweet and sad everything about their unstable relationship has been:
[image]
[image]
A couple of scenes later...
[image]
EMMA AND SCOTT
While Kitty and Peter are angst-ing away together, Emma is angst-ing by herself, far too selfish to carry the load of her previously believed unrequited feelings for Scott. The two were also stranded together in Breakworld, fighting their way through the shit and scum thrown their way. Here they are with their backs on each other, trying to have a normal, adult conversation about their feelings and whatnot. Emma refuses to apologize and Scott is livid. And yet, for some reason, he admits that he has truly fallen for her. I mean, what the hell?! She broke you down and repressed your mutant powers. She made you face your cowardice and insecurities about being a mutant, an X-Man and a leader. She tore you right at the soul and core of your inadequacies and limitations...and YOU FALL THE FUCK IN LOVE WITH HER, SLIM? It's...it's....BLOODY BRILLIANT, that's what it is! I will always adore the childhood-sweethearts that were Scott and Jean together (especially their OCF counterparts in X-Men: First Class and the All-New X-Men comic books), but Emma and Scott together is proving to be volatile, wickedly sexy and breathtakingly raw and vulnerable together!! Just look at this shit:
[image]
And how does Emma react to this confession? She asked for Danger TO KILL HER ON THE SPOT.
[image]
WOULD YOU LET YOURSELF BE LOVED, EMMA FROST, FOR FUCK'S SAKE?! Take a look at your Once Upon A Time counterpart who is also named Emma and is just as guarded as you. She certainly stopped bullshitting around her love interest and finally owned up to how she felt about him. Instead of standing there as Scott almost lay dead, asking for some AI to murder you, you should have just grabbed Scott and kissed him out of his damn mind. Like this, you stupid bitch:
[image]
FUCKING KISS THE BOY ALREADY LIKE THIS EMMA HAS DONE!
THE RADICAL BREAKWORLDER LADY
I still don't care about what happens to Breakworld but then this lady shows up and has a different way of looking at the prophecy. I instantly warmed up to her, especially when you compare her to the masculine assholes who all have such raging hard-ons for intergalactic nuclear war that they are mere savages whose extinction will not even make me blink once it happens. That being said, I want her and the rest of her followers to survive when this story ends. The rest of the patriarchal, chauvinistic, war-mongering population of this planet can go ahead and suck it. There is a villain in this story whose name I don't even care enough to learn and properly spell here in my review. It's Kruunun-something-fucker. I don't know, fuck him. Let's read the passages of this benevolent, wise lady instead:
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[image]
[image]
DANGER'S RUDE AWAKENING
So, Danger. How you been, old girl? Still spiteful and bitter. Nope, not really buying it. I knew you weren't so bad. She sided with Kruunnunnn-something-fucker in the earlier pages of issue #21, promising to deliver him the X-Men since she knows how to defeat them. But when faced with the prospect of killing Emma, she couldn't do it. And Emma's reasoning for it was...pretty moving.
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[image]
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AGENT BRAND'S MERCURIAL MOMENTS
I already said in my previous post than I'm okay with Special Agent Brand now although she does have to work on her manners.
[image]
[image]
That being said, she has a good point in the next panels concerning Lockheed's involvement and how we should treat alien species with dignity and respect. The bitch may be as cold as Emma at times, but she's not heartless. She's just really dedicated with her job that she comes off dismissive and a hardass. In any case, I know there's a softie underneath that gruff. Hopefully, Whedon will show us that in the later installments. For now, I'm cool with Brand. She just needs to act like a human being and less of a severe fix-it control freak.
[image]
The rest of the story is about the Breakworld preparing their nuclear forces to annihilate Earth/capture Colossus/overthrow Kruunuun-fucker/whatever the hell it takes to keep this story going so it can provide me with more emotionally meaningful moments among characters. I'm looking forward to Wolverine/Hisako scenes next. That's mostly what happened here in the third and fourth parts of Unstoppable. Whew! I managed to keep it together after all. Did I miss anything...? Oh wait...
...how does issue #22 ends, pray tell? Oh, that's right. I rememeber now:
SCOTT DIES .
[image]
I'm not going to start jumping into conclusions again (like that time when I thought Emma stabbed him with the mutant cure, remember that, folks? I was deadly wrong with that). However, I AM GOING TO OVERREACT AS IF IT'S REALLY THE END OF HIS LIFE AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE I'MA START UGLY-CRYING AS SOON AS THIS SENTENCE IS OVER!!!
[image]
JESUS LOKI TAKE THE WHEEL!!
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Elation. Trepidation. Nausea. Liberation. Damnation . All wrapped up in a tight bun that is me after I finished reading th [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
Elation. Trepidation. Nausea. Liberation. Damnation . All wrapped up in a tight bun that is me after I finished reading the third and fourth installments of Unstoppable. Stephen Colbert himself captures all of these feelings in this singular gesture demonstrated below:
[image]
I hardly remember my comic-book reading life before The Astonishing X-Men. My September pick was Brian Michael Bendis' forty-one issues of All-New X-Men and I remember falling in love with that once but the truth is all I could recall more clearly is how I fell out of love with that series. I never expected things to get better since then because I was sorely let down. And then this happens to me. Whedon and his AXM happens to me. And now Bendis' ANXM is nothing but a fading memory next to what Joss Whedon has accomplished here in The Astonishing X-Men. I don't ever remember feeling this intellectually stimulated and emotionally rewarded before. And I feel sick. I feel like ugly-crying.
[image]
Tobey Maguire would have been proud
Don't worry. I promise to keep it together until the end of this review. It'll be tough for me but I'll get through it.
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #21-22 "UNSTOPPABLE" parts 3 & 4
I've been combining reviews for two issues in one post and it's been a great way to discuss certain plot points and character developments back-to-back especially when they are intrinsically inseparable from each other. Instead of wasting time summarizing every scene that happened for both installments, I'll simply talk about the highlights and touch briefly upon the main plot which I still do not care about because the truth for the matter is that PLENTY OF OTHER INTERESTING THINGS are happening around it. And here they are:
KITTY AND PETER
Where do I even start and end with these two kids? The constant push-and-pull between these two lovers is akin to Gossip Girl's Chuck and Blair. One issue they're reunited poignantly; the next they're awkward around each other; then lovey-dovey and sexy times commence; then sad realizations occur that puts them in the verge of a break-up; and then they get stuck somewhere and have to deal with each other; then sexy times happen again; then more sad realizations. You know what, just look at their notable interactions in these two issues and judge for yourself how agonizingly sweet and sad everything about their unstable relationship has been:
[image]
[image]
A couple of scenes later...
[image]
EMMA AND SCOTT
While Kitty and Peter are angst-ing away together, Emma is angst-ing by herself, far too selfish to carry the load of her previously believed unrequited feelings for Scott. The two were also stranded together in Breakworld, fighting their way through the shit and scum thrown their way. Here they are with their backs on each other, trying to have a normal, adult conversation about their feelings and whatnot. Emma refuses to apologize and Scott is livid. And yet, for some reason, he admits that he has truly fallen for her. I mean, what the hell?! She broke you down and repressed your mutant powers. She made you face your cowardice and insecurities about being a mutant, an X-Man and a leader. She tore you right at the soul and core of your inadequacies and limitations...and YOU FALL THE FUCK IN LOVE WITH HER, SLIM? It's...it's....BLOODY BRILLIANT, that's what it is! I will always adore the childhood-sweethearts that were Scott and Jean together (especially their OCF counterparts in X-Men: First Class and the All-New X-Men comic books), but Emma and Scott together is proving to be volatile, wickedly sexy and breathtakingly raw and vulnerable together!! Just look at this shit:
[image]
And how does Emma react to this confession? She asked for Danger TO KILL HER ON THE SPOT.
[image]
WOULD YOU LET YOURSELF BE LOVED, EMMA FROST, FOR FUCK'S SAKE?! Take a look at your Once Upon A Time counterpart who is also named Emma and is just as guarded as you. She certainly stopped bullshitting around her love interest and finally owned up to how she felt about him. Instead of standing there as Scott almost lay dead, asking for some AI to murder you, you should have just grabbed Scott and kissed him out of his damn mind. Like this, you stupid bitch:
[image]
FUCKING KISS THE BOY ALREADY LIKE THIS EMMA HAS DONE!
THE RADICAL BREAKWORLDER LADY
I still don't care about what happens to Breakworld but then this lady shows up and has a different way of looking at the prophecy. I instantly warmed up to her, especially when you compare her to the masculine assholes who all have such raging hard-ons for intergalactic nuclear war that they are mere savages whose extinction will not even make me blink once it happens. That being said, I want her and the rest of her followers to survive when this story ends. The rest of the patriarchal, chauvinistic, war-mongering population of this planet can go ahead and suck it. There is a villain in this story whose name I don't even care enough to learn and properly spell here in my review. It's Kruunun-something-fucker. I don't know, fuck him. Let's read the passages of this benevolent, wise lady instead:
[image]
[image]
[image]
DANGER'S RUDE AWAKENING
So, Danger. How you been, old girl? Still spiteful and bitter. Nope, not really buying it. I knew you weren't so bad. She sided with Kruunnunnn-something-fucker in the earlier pages of issue #21, promising to deliver him the X-Men since she knows how to defeat them. But when faced with the prospect of killing Emma, she couldn't do it. And Emma's reasoning for it was...pretty moving.
[image]
[image]
[image]
AGENT BRAND'S MERCURIAL MOMENTS
I already said in my previous post than I'm okay with Special Agent Brand now although she does have to work on her manners.
[image]
[image]
That being said, she has a good point in the next panels concerning Lockheed's involvement and how we should treat alien species with dignity and respect. The bitch may be as cold as Emma at times, but she's not heartless. She's just really dedicated with her job that she comes off dismissive and a hardass. In any case, I know there's a softie underneath that gruff. Hopefully, Whedon will show us that in the later installments. For now, I'm cool with Brand. She just needs to act like a human being and less of a severe fix-it control freak.
[image]
The rest of the story is about the Breakworld preparing their nuclear forces to annihilate Earth/capture Colossus/overthrow Kruunuun-fucker/whatever the hell it takes to keep this story going so it can provide me with more emotionally meaningful moments among characters. I'm looking forward to Wolverine/Hisako scenes next. That's mostly what happened here in the third and fourth parts of Unstoppable. Whew! I managed to keep it together after all. Did I miss anything...? Oh wait...
...how does issue #22 ends, pray tell? Oh, that's right. I rememeber now:
SCOTT DIES .
[image]
I'm not going to start jumping into conclusions again (like that time when I thought Emma stabbed him with the mutant cure, remember that, folks? I was deadly wrong with that). However, I AM GOING TO OVERREACT AS IF IT'S REALLY THE END OF HIS LIFE AND I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE I'MA START UGLY-CRYING AS SOON AS THIS SENTENCE IS OVER!!!
[image]
JESUS LOKI TAKE THE WHEEL!!
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
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Notes are private!
1
not set
Oct 15, 2015
Oct 15, 2015
Kindle Edition
587
B00ZMCJ1TM
4.11
37
Jan 01, 2005
Feb 14, 2007
really liked it
[CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
I find myself in a really weird place right now with this new story arc entitled Unstoppable. A huge part of me doesn't care [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
I find myself in a really weird place right now with this new story arc entitled Unstoppable. A huge part of me doesn't care about the Breakworld and whatever is going to happen to it because I have no emotional investment in this alien planet whatsover. On the other hand, I should care because the mutant who was prophesied to destroy Breakworld is an X-Man and no other than fan-favorite Colossus who had just been resurrected after his noble sacrifice of life during the Legacy Virus storyline. He sacrificed himself so mutants can live virus-free and now he's supposed to destroy an alien race. That in itself is a compelling contrast that I can applaud Whedon for trying to explore right now. Still, after the amazing previous arc concerning Emma Frost being afflicted by a Cassandra Nova brain worm, this one doesn't feel like a worthy follow-up as of yet. But since we're only in two installments in, I want to reserve my judgments once it's completed. So far, I'm fine with how the story is progressing. The pacing is acceptable and nothing gets unexplained for a long time because it's all very straightforward, actually.
The X-Men were captured by Special Agent Brand and the rest of S.W.O.R.D and are forced/tasked to help them inflitrate Breakworld and hopefully stop the prohecy from happening. If they can't and the Breakworlders prove to be hostile because they have a plan in place to attack Earth, then Colossus should destroy Breakworld. I mean, WHAT? This kind of logic is so frustratingly simple but for some reason is complicated to execute. I don't understand why we're bothering to make peace with the Breakworlders anyway when there's a Plan B where we just let Colossus fulfill his prophecy. I suppose Brand is hoping to appease the Breakworlders and if diplomacy doesn't work and they still want to blow up Earth then Colossus should totally just kill them and their planet. Typing this all out now has made me realized how laughably stupid Brand's plan had been. Whatever. The .GIF below summarizes how I feel about this story arc as a whole so far:
[image]
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES 19 & 20 "UNSTOPPABLE" parts 1 and 2
Here are the noteworthy parts of the two issues:
PLOT POINTS
Lockheed is the mole for S.W.O.R.D.
There was a time that I was annoyed that Emma Frost is the obvious candidate for mole tasked by the S.W.O.R.D to spy on the X-Men because she seemed to be the only person who may turncoat. When she did turncoat, that left no doubt in mind that she's the mole--but it was revealed that she's in cahoots with Nova and the imaginary new Hellfire Club. That meant she wasn't the mole for S.W.O.R.D because it was pretty clear she wasn't a double agent or anything. So I forgot about the mole situation until this issue reminded me about it by casually revealing that it was Kitty's adorable dragon pet Lockheed. I would have expected anyone to be the mole--not a creature like Lockheed. Agent Brand did say that Lockheed is fiercely loyal and bonded to Kitty so if he is spying for the S.W.O.R.D, it's because it has determined that it's in the best interest of Kitty and the X-Men that said dragon pet has to work with the shady embassy. It was worth saying, though, that Lockheed may have been avoiding Kitty, probably a little ashamed for what it had been doing, even if it's for the right intentions.
The Breakworlders and their fixation on the prophecy
I don't give a shit but I'm putting this in anyway because it's important to the story, being the primary focus. The Breakworlders have been preparing for the day their home planet is laid to waste and the precautions and steps they took to achieve a level of defense against the threat of Colossus are bewildering and very disturbing. I don't really understand some of it so I'm not going to explain it here yet. I have a feeling that we will get a more nuanced look at how they operate by the next installments. I can only trust in Whedon's exceptional skills as a writer to keep me interested in this direction of the plot because by now I'm barely awake while reading parts about the Breakworlders.
Danger and a few SWORDees were captured
In issue #19, the Breakworlders proceed to shoot at the S.W.O.R.D embassy space shuttle and to divert their attention, Agent Brand sent a cockpit called the splinter so the Breakworlders will focus their time on apprehending that vehicle instead. It was a successful ruse, but one of the passengers is the previously sentient AI Danger whom we all know hates X-Men with her every synthetic fiber, and she is about to meet up with a few Breakworlder leaders, possibly to reveal strategic weaknesses that will make it more difficult for the heroes to fight against the Breakworlders. I'm interested to read more of Danger again, and how she's going to contribute to the story. She's a fascinating creation and I wonder if she will ever side with the X-Men or become one of their most formidable foes in the future.
CHARACTER MOMENTS
Special Agent Brand is not so bad
I called her an unrepentant asshole before in Gifted because her questionable role in the mutant cure and the Ord's revenge scheme has been so gratingly evasive. I simply did not trust her at first sight. She seemed cold, distant and a little too professional even when dealing with personal interactions. However, by the time issue #20 rolls around, I can actually see things in her perspective now. She's becoming more of a real person with real values and motivations than some unknowable secondary character who doesn't share her goals with the people she's interacting with. What I know about Agent Brand so far is she has a strong sense of duty and will not apologize for it. The latter part of that could be a personal flaw; that's the characteristic I have seen in her first few appearances in this series. But her sense of duty is something to be commended because it helps her make decisions under the most stressful situations. Mostly her choices are unpopular and that makes her unlikable for outsiders like myself and the X-Men. But now that I have spent an ample amount time to understand what drives her to do the things she had, I can appreciate her backbone. She cares about our planet and its safety from alien predators. It's the reason she's the leader of S.W.O.R.D. She is well-versed with the cultural differences and political tensions between human beings and the alien, and acts accordingly to what is the least damaging of the situations at hand. Right now she's maintaining peaceful accord with the Breakworlders but she also acknowledges that said alien race is ready to nuke Earth if the need arises. If that is the case, she has no problem unleashing the prophetic destruction on them. I know I said it was a laughably stupid plan, but it's only because I don't understand why they even bother.
I'm know that I'm totally being a racist towards the Breakworlders, sure, I get that. So I'll just shut my racist mouth and let this story unfold by itself. Maybe I might start liking the Breakworlders later on...who knows?
Kitty and Peter Drama
I love this pairing since its conception, but I also admit that collective writers have not made it easy for them to be in a relationship that's healthy and long-lasting. Their mutant powers have an interesting duality and parallelism with each other as well. The basic foundation of their budding relationship this time around in The Astonishing X-Men is the fact that Colossus should have been dead but was resurrected and is suffering PTSD from all the science experiments Ord had put him through. Meanwhile, Kitty lost her father in the Genosha genocide. Both are healing from their respective wounds, and they found solace in each other's presence. Things are getting crazier by the minute for the X-Men so Kitty and Peter decided to stop delaying things between them just because it's inconvenient. Good for them. And then the thing with Cassandra Nova happened where a brain worm Nova inflicted Emma with had compelled said White Queen to put Kitty in the most horrific kind of mind trick where she was led to believe she and Peter were married, had a kid in their three years together, and said kid's life was in danger and she's the only one to save him. That may have all been imaginary but the basis was taken from what Emma knew regarding Kitty and Peter's defining qualities as individuals that may and will always make it impossible for them to stay together. Kitty will always choose the most rebellious options if it's for the good of someone she loves; Peter is driven to choose the most practical option for the good of everyone else. That's how different they are in approaching things, and often this costs them each other in the long run.
Kitty is learning to deal with those fundamental contrasts and she had to be honest with Peter about it:
[image]
[image]
I know that they will have to rehash more of their problems while on the mission, considering the two of them got separated from the rest of the X-Men and now have to depend on each other and trust one another if they hope to survive the Breakworld and their stupid prophesy about Colossus destroying their home planet. And I think this is the most character arc I look forward to because I've always cared about Kitty and her problems, and I do adore Colossus and his vulnerable side which I hope to see more of particularly now that he's dealing with a setback concerning his romantic relationship with Kitty. I like these two characters for what they offer in the story so far and the dynamic allure of their relationship with each other. Will they stay together or keep things platonic for good? It's a fair game at this point.
SMALL MOMENTS
Speaking of more pairings for this story arc, we also have Wolverine and Hisako. Logan has always been a big brother to a lot of young ladies who are aspiring X-Men and he's developing the same kind of bond with Hisako that he did with Jubilee in the nineties. I like the idea of him apprenticing someone who is so inexperienced and frightened since this is her first mission. Brash, violent and cynical as Logan may be, he can be shockingly warm and patient with his students (although he'd rather drive his claws through metal than admit that to himself, especially). We also have Scott and Emma who have yet to discuss the status of their relationship and if there is a chance they can repair and restore what has been broken and severed to the point of no return. Of course, I'm rooting a hundred percent for this couple to make it. As strange as the circumstances their romantic affair started in, Emma and Scott actually jive fantastically together (as far as I've read in other titles). Emma shows in TORN that she understands Scott right down to his insecure, tragic core, and she loves him for it anyway. Scott may also be the only to thaw the ice in Emma's predator heart and help her open up just a little. Both people also like to be in control and around each other, they learn to let go of that control in order to be together, and I think that's the most encouraging quality of their relationship.
In a nutshell, the first two installments of Unstoppable have been acceptable. I like a lot of parts in both issues especially the characterizations but the main plot has yet to grow on me. I have no strong feelings of either love or hate. Let's see what else in store next.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
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I find myself in a really weird place right now with this new story arc entitled Unstoppable. A huge part of me doesn't care [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
I find myself in a really weird place right now with this new story arc entitled Unstoppable. A huge part of me doesn't care about the Breakworld and whatever is going to happen to it because I have no emotional investment in this alien planet whatsover. On the other hand, I should care because the mutant who was prophesied to destroy Breakworld is an X-Man and no other than fan-favorite Colossus who had just been resurrected after his noble sacrifice of life during the Legacy Virus storyline. He sacrificed himself so mutants can live virus-free and now he's supposed to destroy an alien race. That in itself is a compelling contrast that I can applaud Whedon for trying to explore right now. Still, after the amazing previous arc concerning Emma Frost being afflicted by a Cassandra Nova brain worm, this one doesn't feel like a worthy follow-up as of yet. But since we're only in two installments in, I want to reserve my judgments once it's completed. So far, I'm fine with how the story is progressing. The pacing is acceptable and nothing gets unexplained for a long time because it's all very straightforward, actually.
The X-Men were captured by Special Agent Brand and the rest of S.W.O.R.D and are forced/tasked to help them inflitrate Breakworld and hopefully stop the prohecy from happening. If they can't and the Breakworlders prove to be hostile because they have a plan in place to attack Earth, then Colossus should destroy Breakworld. I mean, WHAT? This kind of logic is so frustratingly simple but for some reason is complicated to execute. I don't understand why we're bothering to make peace with the Breakworlders anyway when there's a Plan B where we just let Colossus fulfill his prophecy. I suppose Brand is hoping to appease the Breakworlders and if diplomacy doesn't work and they still want to blow up Earth then Colossus should totally just kill them and their planet. Typing this all out now has made me realized how laughably stupid Brand's plan had been. Whatever. The .GIF below summarizes how I feel about this story arc as a whole so far:
[image]
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES 19 & 20 "UNSTOPPABLE" parts 1 and 2
Here are the noteworthy parts of the two issues:
PLOT POINTS
Lockheed is the mole for S.W.O.R.D.
There was a time that I was annoyed that Emma Frost is the obvious candidate for mole tasked by the S.W.O.R.D to spy on the X-Men because she seemed to be the only person who may turncoat. When she did turncoat, that left no doubt in mind that she's the mole--but it was revealed that she's in cahoots with Nova and the imaginary new Hellfire Club. That meant she wasn't the mole for S.W.O.R.D because it was pretty clear she wasn't a double agent or anything. So I forgot about the mole situation until this issue reminded me about it by casually revealing that it was Kitty's adorable dragon pet Lockheed. I would have expected anyone to be the mole--not a creature like Lockheed. Agent Brand did say that Lockheed is fiercely loyal and bonded to Kitty so if he is spying for the S.W.O.R.D, it's because it has determined that it's in the best interest of Kitty and the X-Men that said dragon pet has to work with the shady embassy. It was worth saying, though, that Lockheed may have been avoiding Kitty, probably a little ashamed for what it had been doing, even if it's for the right intentions.
The Breakworlders and their fixation on the prophecy
I don't give a shit but I'm putting this in anyway because it's important to the story, being the primary focus. The Breakworlders have been preparing for the day their home planet is laid to waste and the precautions and steps they took to achieve a level of defense against the threat of Colossus are bewildering and very disturbing. I don't really understand some of it so I'm not going to explain it here yet. I have a feeling that we will get a more nuanced look at how they operate by the next installments. I can only trust in Whedon's exceptional skills as a writer to keep me interested in this direction of the plot because by now I'm barely awake while reading parts about the Breakworlders.
Danger and a few SWORDees were captured
In issue #19, the Breakworlders proceed to shoot at the S.W.O.R.D embassy space shuttle and to divert their attention, Agent Brand sent a cockpit called the splinter so the Breakworlders will focus their time on apprehending that vehicle instead. It was a successful ruse, but one of the passengers is the previously sentient AI Danger whom we all know hates X-Men with her every synthetic fiber, and she is about to meet up with a few Breakworlder leaders, possibly to reveal strategic weaknesses that will make it more difficult for the heroes to fight against the Breakworlders. I'm interested to read more of Danger again, and how she's going to contribute to the story. She's a fascinating creation and I wonder if she will ever side with the X-Men or become one of their most formidable foes in the future.
CHARACTER MOMENTS
Special Agent Brand is not so bad
I called her an unrepentant asshole before in Gifted because her questionable role in the mutant cure and the Ord's revenge scheme has been so gratingly evasive. I simply did not trust her at first sight. She seemed cold, distant and a little too professional even when dealing with personal interactions. However, by the time issue #20 rolls around, I can actually see things in her perspective now. She's becoming more of a real person with real values and motivations than some unknowable secondary character who doesn't share her goals with the people she's interacting with. What I know about Agent Brand so far is she has a strong sense of duty and will not apologize for it. The latter part of that could be a personal flaw; that's the characteristic I have seen in her first few appearances in this series. But her sense of duty is something to be commended because it helps her make decisions under the most stressful situations. Mostly her choices are unpopular and that makes her unlikable for outsiders like myself and the X-Men. But now that I have spent an ample amount time to understand what drives her to do the things she had, I can appreciate her backbone. She cares about our planet and its safety from alien predators. It's the reason she's the leader of S.W.O.R.D. She is well-versed with the cultural differences and political tensions between human beings and the alien, and acts accordingly to what is the least damaging of the situations at hand. Right now she's maintaining peaceful accord with the Breakworlders but she also acknowledges that said alien race is ready to nuke Earth if the need arises. If that is the case, she has no problem unleashing the prophetic destruction on them. I know I said it was a laughably stupid plan, but it's only because I don't understand why they even bother.
I'm know that I'm totally being a racist towards the Breakworlders, sure, I get that. So I'll just shut my racist mouth and let this story unfold by itself. Maybe I might start liking the Breakworlders later on...who knows?
Kitty and Peter Drama
I love this pairing since its conception, but I also admit that collective writers have not made it easy for them to be in a relationship that's healthy and long-lasting. Their mutant powers have an interesting duality and parallelism with each other as well. The basic foundation of their budding relationship this time around in The Astonishing X-Men is the fact that Colossus should have been dead but was resurrected and is suffering PTSD from all the science experiments Ord had put him through. Meanwhile, Kitty lost her father in the Genosha genocide. Both are healing from their respective wounds, and they found solace in each other's presence. Things are getting crazier by the minute for the X-Men so Kitty and Peter decided to stop delaying things between them just because it's inconvenient. Good for them. And then the thing with Cassandra Nova happened where a brain worm Nova inflicted Emma with had compelled said White Queen to put Kitty in the most horrific kind of mind trick where she was led to believe she and Peter were married, had a kid in their three years together, and said kid's life was in danger and she's the only one to save him. That may have all been imaginary but the basis was taken from what Emma knew regarding Kitty and Peter's defining qualities as individuals that may and will always make it impossible for them to stay together. Kitty will always choose the most rebellious options if it's for the good of someone she loves; Peter is driven to choose the most practical option for the good of everyone else. That's how different they are in approaching things, and often this costs them each other in the long run.
Kitty is learning to deal with those fundamental contrasts and she had to be honest with Peter about it:
[image]
[image]
I know that they will have to rehash more of their problems while on the mission, considering the two of them got separated from the rest of the X-Men and now have to depend on each other and trust one another if they hope to survive the Breakworld and their stupid prophesy about Colossus destroying their home planet. And I think this is the most character arc I look forward to because I've always cared about Kitty and her problems, and I do adore Colossus and his vulnerable side which I hope to see more of particularly now that he's dealing with a setback concerning his romantic relationship with Kitty. I like these two characters for what they offer in the story so far and the dynamic allure of their relationship with each other. Will they stay together or keep things platonic for good? It's a fair game at this point.
SMALL MOMENTS
Speaking of more pairings for this story arc, we also have Wolverine and Hisako. Logan has always been a big brother to a lot of young ladies who are aspiring X-Men and he's developing the same kind of bond with Hisako that he did with Jubilee in the nineties. I like the idea of him apprenticing someone who is so inexperienced and frightened since this is her first mission. Brash, violent and cynical as Logan may be, he can be shockingly warm and patient with his students (although he'd rather drive his claws through metal than admit that to himself, especially). We also have Scott and Emma who have yet to discuss the status of their relationship and if there is a chance they can repair and restore what has been broken and severed to the point of no return. Of course, I'm rooting a hundred percent for this couple to make it. As strange as the circumstances their romantic affair started in, Emma and Scott actually jive fantastically together (as far as I've read in other titles). Emma shows in TORN that she understands Scott right down to his insecure, tragic core, and she loves him for it anyway. Scott may also be the only to thaw the ice in Emma's predator heart and help her open up just a little. Both people also like to be in control and around each other, they learn to let go of that control in order to be together, and I think that's the most encouraging quality of their relationship.
In a nutshell, the first two installments of Unstoppable have been acceptable. I like a lot of parts in both issues especially the characterizations but the main plot has yet to grow on me. I have no strong feelings of either love or hate. Let's see what else in store next.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
not set
Oct 14, 2015
Oct 14, 2015
Kindle Edition
586
B00ZMCJ17O
4.05
39
Jan 01, 2005
Nov 15, 2006
it was amazing
[CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
This is it, y'all. The moment of truth. We are at the last two installments of TORN. This is my most favorite of the four sto [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
This is it, y'all. The moment of truth. We are at the last two installments of TORN. This is my most favorite of the four story arcs written by Joss Whedon for The Astonishing X-Men yet ,and if this is any indication of the quality of work that Whedon can come up with in the last 18 issues so far then I am absolutely trusting of what he has in store for me next for the fifth arc, as I continue my reading and review of this tantalizing and excitingly unpredictable series. "Exciting unpredictable" is the same phrase I would describe issues #17-18 of TORN because I did not see that resolution coming at all! Right after finishing them, I was in such the best of moods because I was fulfilled by something that I had such a strong emotional investment in, and wasn't let down when all was said and done. There are only a handful of comic book stories that I enjoyed from the start to the finish; most of them have bumpy middle acts and problematic endings. But I can honestly say that TORN was everything that I ever wanted and needed in an X-Men comic book story. All the elements aligned brilliantly together and all of the characters were utilized in the completion of its arc. Well done, Mr. Whedon. This calls for a celebration!
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THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #17-18 "TORN" parts 5 & 6
TORN is essentially a story about Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde, both as individual characters and as rivals. The men are merely players in the background and the true main attraction is the traitorous game that Emma played against her teammates, and how the ever resourceful Kitty might be the only key in undoing all that damage, as long as she is strong enough to fight her way through the deceptions and the illusions. Unfortunately for her, battling a telepath is always going to be too much or anyone's plate especially a formidable one who will stop at nothing until she is reduced into an emotional mess. That's exactly the greatest threat and challenge for Kitty Pryde.
Issue #17 opens with Kitty inside a well-crafted telepathic mirage where she believes that she and Peter are married and has just given birth to a baby boy named Michael. The entire illusion lasted only for a few minutes in the real time but inside Kitty's head, she had three years with her fake life and fake family. The one responsible for such a cruel mind trick is the original White Queen (the seventies-costumed villainess we were first introduced to during Dark Phoenix) while the other Emma was still buried underneath the school thanks to Kitty back in the previous issue. So while Kitty is busy living an illusion she much believes is real and urgent, a pussified and petrified Logan can only watch in horror and helplessness as she gets tricked into thinking that Xavier's most guarded vessel called only as "the manger" is where her fake son Michael is trapped in. Last issue, the Hellfire Club talked about the fact that they can never open the damn thing because it's sealed with all kinds of protective measurements as reinforced by Charles himself, and only Kitty's physics-defying phasing mutant power can penetrate through. In doing so, the White Queen wisely realized that she has to give Kitty a proper motivation to break through it, and what better way to do that than make her think that the life of her imaginary three-year-old son depends on it?
[image]
Kitty's state of mind right now
It was chilling and all kinds of infuriating to see such a desperate and vulnerable Kitty phase her way through something incredibly painful, all because of a telepathic mind trick courtesy of this original White Queen whose very appearance in this story has made me incredibly suspicious as to what is really going on with this new Hellfire Club. Suddenly, I'm not sure what to trust. None of this is making sense--until we find out what's inside that goddamn manger anyway. It's the disgusting, filthy larvae of Cassandra Nova who is foremost a parasite who needs a host, and as soon as Kitty was successful in taking out that the larvae from the container, and happily shows it to Peter, claiming it as their son, he is just what-the-fuck-ing in his confused state right now, and the two were easily knocked out by Emma as Cassandra whispers into her mind to get Kitty's unconscious body prepared because she is about to become the host. But before Emma could get the transference ready, Scott--bloody de-powered Scott--rises to the occasion, brandishing a gun, and shooting the fuck out the original White Queen. That's how Issue #17 ends; with this heroic panel of Scott being awesome. He looks so hot without that fucking visor hiding his beautiful brown eyes.
[image]
Issue #18 is the concluding piece of this epic story arc, and it delivered enough shocks, thrills and a very unexpected revelation so that by the end of the road, I was immensely satisfied with what I was handed. Sure, I was also screaming and seething but I had a big grin on my face once everything finally started making sense, and even when it made sense, that awful sense of dread still took over and I was all the more worried for the characters and the future storylines that are coming especially now that we have another stage that was set. Before we go to the revelation concerning Emma Frost, it's important for me to discuss the B-story that is soon to be the A-story for the next story arc which is the exhausting countdown to Ord the Dumb-Dumb's confrontation with the future Breakworld destroyer, Colossus, and what an asshole Danger is for siding with him. By midway issue #18, these two unlikely allies make their appearance and things get more topsy-turvy for everyone because they have to deal with these assholes while the X-Men are still clamoring over the attack by Frost and the Hellfire Club.
[image]
Me, panicking for everyone else
But with Scott Summers finally taking over, things are filled with hope once more. Whatever crippling telepathic stupor that Emma has put Scott under in the earlier issues, well, the badass was able to shake it off just in time to start shooting sons of bitches. I thought it was weird that he just started gunning for Sebastian Shaw and Negasonic so easily without either of them putting up a fight. He was also very casual about the entire thing as he explains to Kitty who is the real villain in this centerpiece. This is being done all the while he maintains a connection with the young student telepath Blindfold who is busy trying to tame Beast and get him to accessing his higher functions as an intelligent man....using a fucking ball of thread. Because, Beast is a cat now. Meanwhile, this is when Ord and Danger struck with an explosive entrance, causing Logan to get tossed around and get a beer can hit in him the face. The impact of both those things managed to be painful and abrupt enough to release him from Nova's telepathic manipulation and so the Wolverine is back to put concerned individuals into some world of hurt. He starts with Ord and Danger. Beast joins the fight once he puts on a fancy suit and starts using a Magento-inspired gadget he had worked on so he can nail Ord and Danger on the ceiling using magnetism. All is looking well for everyone, and the players now gather to Scott who reveals whatever the hell is happening with Emma and the Hellfire Club.
The great reveal is that THERE IS NO HELLFIRE CLUB. There never was. It was only Cassandra Nova...or at least a splinter of her inside Emma Frost's mind, taking root and slowly growing, driving her to act accordingly to what the cunt has planned which is her escape from that container. Everything had been a grand illusion which Frost was able to sustain enough with Nova's guiding force so intricately imprinted in her psyche, controlling her and influencing her actions. Sebastian, Perfection, Negasonic, even that physical manifestation of Cassandra---they're all false and it was just Emma and her guilt which Cassandra Nova feasted on. Scott and Hank expound:
"It was Emma who stuck Cassandra Nova's consciousness inside that blob in the first place. And Nova does a 'hail mary' into Emma's brain before she fades. One tiny suggestion, too small to notice, but clamped on to Emma's greatest weakness, feeding, growing, creating an alternate reality for Emma."
[image]
[image]
[image]
Really heavy and riveting stuff. Emma Frost is losing her mind to a brain worm courtesy of Cassandra Nova, and her last plea out of it is by recruiting Kitty back in the team as her failsafe. She knows Kitty won't hesitate to take her out and Scott is right to say that Kitty is doing exactly what Emma expected for her to do...which is to kill her. Horrified, disgusted and very vulnerable, Kitty doesn't go through it but it doesn't mean she's ready to forgive Emma for the deception and that cruel mind trick about her imaginary three-year-old son. Who could ever move on from that? I feel for Kitty. But I also feel for Emma. And I am very, very proud of Scott! I just confirmed that Scott was not injected with the mutant cure , so we can all stop freaking out about that. False alarm, my bad.
[image]
The collective reaction of my readers concerning that
The issue ends by Whedon picking right up on the B-story concerning the Breakworld without a moment's preamble. Not a very smooth transition, I must say. Everyone is still reeling from Emma's betrayal and the Nova brain worm lodged in her consciousness; Kitty is still emotionally wounded from the hurtful mind trick, and Scott is unable to access his powers which means we will get to see more of those beautiful brown eyes. So Agent Brand kidnaps the X-Men, not giving a single fuck of what they have just been through as she readies to throw them in another baptism of fire where chances of survival might be slimmer than expected. That's usually just Wednesdays for X-Men, ain't it?
RECOMMENDED: 10/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
This is it, y'all. The moment of truth. We are at the last two installments of TORN. This is my most favorite of the four sto [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
This is it, y'all. The moment of truth. We are at the last two installments of TORN. This is my most favorite of the four story arcs written by Joss Whedon for The Astonishing X-Men yet ,and if this is any indication of the quality of work that Whedon can come up with in the last 18 issues so far then I am absolutely trusting of what he has in store for me next for the fifth arc, as I continue my reading and review of this tantalizing and excitingly unpredictable series. "Exciting unpredictable" is the same phrase I would describe issues #17-18 of TORN because I did not see that resolution coming at all! Right after finishing them, I was in such the best of moods because I was fulfilled by something that I had such a strong emotional investment in, and wasn't let down when all was said and done. There are only a handful of comic book stories that I enjoyed from the start to the finish; most of them have bumpy middle acts and problematic endings. But I can honestly say that TORN was everything that I ever wanted and needed in an X-Men comic book story. All the elements aligned brilliantly together and all of the characters were utilized in the completion of its arc. Well done, Mr. Whedon. This calls for a celebration!
[image]
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #17-18 "TORN" parts 5 & 6
TORN is essentially a story about Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde, both as individual characters and as rivals. The men are merely players in the background and the true main attraction is the traitorous game that Emma played against her teammates, and how the ever resourceful Kitty might be the only key in undoing all that damage, as long as she is strong enough to fight her way through the deceptions and the illusions. Unfortunately for her, battling a telepath is always going to be too much or anyone's plate especially a formidable one who will stop at nothing until she is reduced into an emotional mess. That's exactly the greatest threat and challenge for Kitty Pryde.
Issue #17 opens with Kitty inside a well-crafted telepathic mirage where she believes that she and Peter are married and has just given birth to a baby boy named Michael. The entire illusion lasted only for a few minutes in the real time but inside Kitty's head, she had three years with her fake life and fake family. The one responsible for such a cruel mind trick is the original White Queen (the seventies-costumed villainess we were first introduced to during Dark Phoenix) while the other Emma was still buried underneath the school thanks to Kitty back in the previous issue. So while Kitty is busy living an illusion she much believes is real and urgent, a pussified and petrified Logan can only watch in horror and helplessness as she gets tricked into thinking that Xavier's most guarded vessel called only as "the manger" is where her fake son Michael is trapped in. Last issue, the Hellfire Club talked about the fact that they can never open the damn thing because it's sealed with all kinds of protective measurements as reinforced by Charles himself, and only Kitty's physics-defying phasing mutant power can penetrate through. In doing so, the White Queen wisely realized that she has to give Kitty a proper motivation to break through it, and what better way to do that than make her think that the life of her imaginary three-year-old son depends on it?
[image]
Kitty's state of mind right now
It was chilling and all kinds of infuriating to see such a desperate and vulnerable Kitty phase her way through something incredibly painful, all because of a telepathic mind trick courtesy of this original White Queen whose very appearance in this story has made me incredibly suspicious as to what is really going on with this new Hellfire Club. Suddenly, I'm not sure what to trust. None of this is making sense--until we find out what's inside that goddamn manger anyway. It's the disgusting, filthy larvae of Cassandra Nova who is foremost a parasite who needs a host, and as soon as Kitty was successful in taking out that the larvae from the container, and happily shows it to Peter, claiming it as their son, he is just what-the-fuck-ing in his confused state right now, and the two were easily knocked out by Emma as Cassandra whispers into her mind to get Kitty's unconscious body prepared because she is about to become the host. But before Emma could get the transference ready, Scott--bloody de-powered Scott--rises to the occasion, brandishing a gun, and shooting the fuck out the original White Queen. That's how Issue #17 ends; with this heroic panel of Scott being awesome. He looks so hot without that fucking visor hiding his beautiful brown eyes.
[image]
Issue #18 is the concluding piece of this epic story arc, and it delivered enough shocks, thrills and a very unexpected revelation so that by the end of the road, I was immensely satisfied with what I was handed. Sure, I was also screaming and seething but I had a big grin on my face once everything finally started making sense, and even when it made sense, that awful sense of dread still took over and I was all the more worried for the characters and the future storylines that are coming especially now that we have another stage that was set. Before we go to the revelation concerning Emma Frost, it's important for me to discuss the B-story that is soon to be the A-story for the next story arc which is the exhausting countdown to Ord the Dumb-Dumb's confrontation with the future Breakworld destroyer, Colossus, and what an asshole Danger is for siding with him. By midway issue #18, these two unlikely allies make their appearance and things get more topsy-turvy for everyone because they have to deal with these assholes while the X-Men are still clamoring over the attack by Frost and the Hellfire Club.
[image]
Me, panicking for everyone else
But with Scott Summers finally taking over, things are filled with hope once more. Whatever crippling telepathic stupor that Emma has put Scott under in the earlier issues, well, the badass was able to shake it off just in time to start shooting sons of bitches. I thought it was weird that he just started gunning for Sebastian Shaw and Negasonic so easily without either of them putting up a fight. He was also very casual about the entire thing as he explains to Kitty who is the real villain in this centerpiece. This is being done all the while he maintains a connection with the young student telepath Blindfold who is busy trying to tame Beast and get him to accessing his higher functions as an intelligent man....using a fucking ball of thread. Because, Beast is a cat now. Meanwhile, this is when Ord and Danger struck with an explosive entrance, causing Logan to get tossed around and get a beer can hit in him the face. The impact of both those things managed to be painful and abrupt enough to release him from Nova's telepathic manipulation and so the Wolverine is back to put concerned individuals into some world of hurt. He starts with Ord and Danger. Beast joins the fight once he puts on a fancy suit and starts using a Magento-inspired gadget he had worked on so he can nail Ord and Danger on the ceiling using magnetism. All is looking well for everyone, and the players now gather to Scott who reveals whatever the hell is happening with Emma and the Hellfire Club.
The great reveal is that THERE IS NO HELLFIRE CLUB. There never was. It was only Cassandra Nova...or at least a splinter of her inside Emma Frost's mind, taking root and slowly growing, driving her to act accordingly to what the cunt has planned which is her escape from that container. Everything had been a grand illusion which Frost was able to sustain enough with Nova's guiding force so intricately imprinted in her psyche, controlling her and influencing her actions. Sebastian, Perfection, Negasonic, even that physical manifestation of Cassandra---they're all false and it was just Emma and her guilt which Cassandra Nova feasted on. Scott and Hank expound:
"It was Emma who stuck Cassandra Nova's consciousness inside that blob in the first place. And Nova does a 'hail mary' into Emma's brain before she fades. One tiny suggestion, too small to notice, but clamped on to Emma's greatest weakness, feeding, growing, creating an alternate reality for Emma."
[image]
[image]
[image]
Really heavy and riveting stuff. Emma Frost is losing her mind to a brain worm courtesy of Cassandra Nova, and her last plea out of it is by recruiting Kitty back in the team as her failsafe. She knows Kitty won't hesitate to take her out and Scott is right to say that Kitty is doing exactly what Emma expected for her to do...which is to kill her. Horrified, disgusted and very vulnerable, Kitty doesn't go through it but it doesn't mean she's ready to forgive Emma for the deception and that cruel mind trick about her imaginary three-year-old son. Who could ever move on from that? I feel for Kitty. But I also feel for Emma. And I am very, very proud of Scott! I just confirmed that Scott was not injected with the mutant cure , so we can all stop freaking out about that. False alarm, my bad.
[image]
The collective reaction of my readers concerning that
The issue ends by Whedon picking right up on the B-story concerning the Breakworld without a moment's preamble. Not a very smooth transition, I must say. Everyone is still reeling from Emma's betrayal and the Nova brain worm lodged in her consciousness; Kitty is still emotionally wounded from the hurtful mind trick, and Scott is unable to access his powers which means we will get to see more of those beautiful brown eyes. So Agent Brand kidnaps the X-Men, not giving a single fuck of what they have just been through as she readies to throw them in another baptism of fire where chances of survival might be slimmer than expected. That's usually just Wednesdays for X-Men, ain't it?
RECOMMENDED: 10/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
not set
Oct 13, 2015
Oct 13, 2015
Kindle Edition
585
B00ZMCIZQW
4.14
36
Jan 01, 2005
Jun 21, 2006
it was amazing
[CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
Previously in Joss Whedon's The Astonishing X-Men:
The New Hellfire Club--consisting of asshole-constant Sebastian Shaw, Mothe [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
Previously in Joss Whedon's The Astonishing X-Men:
The New Hellfire Club--consisting of asshole-constant Sebastian Shaw, Motherfucking Face of Genosha Genocide Cassandra Nova, Perfection, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (for reals, that's her name)--starts their major attacks on the pressure points of the X-Men, by enlisting the help of formerly reformed villain Emma Frost. She succeeds in utterly destroying the man she loves by digging deep into his insecurities, exposing his inadequacies in the most belittling way as possible and then, out of mercy and love, freaking stabs him with the mutant cure, which renders his powers moot. I'm assuming that's what happened, right, because how else are we to explain the fact that we can now see Scott Summer's beautiful (granted, lifeless) brown eyes? He's been cured.
And EVERYTHING CONTINUES TO FRACTURE HERE IN ISSUES #15-16 OF THE STORY ARC WITH A TITLE THAT ENCAPSULATES EVERYTHING IT IS: TORN
Much like the Natalie Imbruglia song of the same name, I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is TORN.
[image]
Of the four story arcs released by Whedon including this one so far, TORN is the best. I was a big fan of Dangerous, but no, TORN is the best which is why I will always refer to it here and in the foreseeable future using bold and underlined caplocks, preferably also attaching a .GIF image of the pop-rock song of the same name. In another related news, I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED TO BINGE-WATCH THE MOTION COMICS OF THIS SERIES BECAUSE GODDAMMIT THIS HAS BEEN SUCH AN ABSOLUTE PLEASURE AND DELIGHT THAT TYPING MY INTRODUCTION IN CAPS LOCK CAN CAPTURE HOW RIDICULOUSLY IN LOVE I AM RIGHT NOW WITH JOSS WHEDON'S WRITING FOR THE ASTONISHING X-MEN. Not since his fastidious work with the short-lived masterpiece Firefly did I feel like Joss Whedon is my lord and savior. If you've read this series yourself before I did, then you're my peeps and you're the choir I sing to. If you haven't, then wake the fuck up, sunshine, and pick up a copy somewhere. I don't care. Kill if you must. Sell your kidneys, whatever, as long as you acquire The Astonishing X-Men which you SHOULD BE READING NOW. Nothing is more important to a self-respecting X-Men fan than to read this.
[image]
I have two large boxes of McDonald's fries beside me as I write this review. So, here we go, let's talk about TORN some more.
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #15-16 "TORN" parts 3 & 4
All of Whedon's arcs for AXM have been composed of six issues and TORN is no exception. We are now at the third and fourth installments and, honey, the twists and turns just keep on coming. The previous issue did a helluva job freaking me out because Emma is one stone-cold predator bitch (and a huge part of me still doesn't want to believe she's a bad person) and making me feel so very sad for Scott who is crushed by his self-doubt from the very beginning about almost everything; his leadership; his role in the X-Men; his relationship with Jean; his rivalry with Wolverine who is also Jean's love interest--he's been on the hinges for a very long time and a conversation with Emma brings that to a screeching halt when she 'frees' him by taking away the mutant powers which he had always seen as burden than blessing. With Scott de-powered, Emma rushes to the others, bearing a well-rehearsed single teardrop on her cheek, to inform them about what happened. The men, Logan and Peter, were eager to take care of a broken down Scott who much resembles this part of Imbruglia's lyrics:
[image]
But Kitty--after looking at the well-kept bed where he is found--was immediately suspicious, especially since Emma describes that she and Scott went to bed together that night like usual, and she wakes up to find him already like that. So why the neat bedsheets, Emma? Kitty has never trusted the White Queen so she understandably hangs back behind to investigate. What she finds is Negasonic Teenage Warhead (WHO NAMED THIS BITCH?) whose mutant power is about...dreams and illusions? I don't know exactly what's her deal except that she looks like a horribly dressed goth chick. But she's powerful enough to mess with Kitty's phasing. So Kitty is essentially stuck phasing into solid surfaces so down, down, down she goes to the earth's deepest surfaces, unable to stop herself. Oh, Kitty. Didn't she get strapped into a giant meteorite thing one time as it hurls itself into the Earth? Damn. With Kitty out of commission, her boyfriend Peter is left alone with the still broken Scott. This is when Sebastian Shaw makes his timely appearance, goads Peter into a fight, and the poor thing bites.
He forgets that Shaw absorbs kinetic energy so after he gets Peter worked up and all metal-raged, Shaw merely has to touch him and absorb all of that energy, rendering Peter unconscious as fuck as Scott looks on from a gurney somewhere, crying and helpless. Not a heroic way to be, slim. So what about Hank and Logan? The Beast and Wolverine's combined brains and brawn should be able to tip the scales better in their favor, right? Except, Cassandra Nova got to them. And Cassandra, as I stressed in my previous review, is a filthy cunt. Do you guys remember that sidestory concerning Beast's fear of devolving into an actual beast, and that we got a glimpse of it in issue #12 when he was chewing off Danger? Well...Nova takes credit for that. She basically shuts off Hank's higher human functions so the beast takes over, turning him into a mindless killing monster. And Wolverine, if you can believe it, gets the worse half of that manipulation because Nova turns him into a frightened, quivering pansy who gets chased around by Beast. It's the most emasculating thing you could ever do to a badass like Logan. I'm simultaneously appalled and impressed by Nova here which makes me want to run my entire body in hot water because actually admiring her even just a little bit makes my soul dirty. Also, this image of Wolverine looking like a sissy bitch:
[image]
And so the Hellfire Club gathers around in the common room to celebrate their success. Everything is going according to plan. "Summers is a zombie. Pryde's a ghost. Rasputin is a victim of his own rage," Shaw proudly claims. Nova adds, "My two were simplicity itself. A beast who thought he was a man; and a frightened little boy who fancied himself a beast."
Meanwhile, in outer space, Danger approaches the imprisoned Ord the Dumb-Dumb and proposes an alliance. Special Agents Brand and Maria Hill have a serious discussion on ethics and alien diplomatic immunity, and then one of Brand's helpers figured out the mutant who will be responsible in destroying the Breakworld in the prophesied future. I don't really care but by the next issue, this seemingly uninteresting B-story will come back and bite everyone in the ass including mine so stay tuned.
Kitty remains undeterred, however: "Being an X-Man means a lot to me even though it doesn't always agree with me." She focuses on the fact that Peter is in danger and she's the only one who is left to kick Emma's ass. Once doing that, she got herself to stop phasing. And she's ready to face the White Queen once and for all.
Issue #16 opens with Ord the Dumb-Dumb escaping S.W.O.R.D space headquarters. He has just learned the identity of the mutant who will destroy his planet in the future and needs to kill said mutant ASAP. Brand is deeply concerned about these proceedings, obviously. Back on Earth, Logan continues to be a pansy and Beast still wants to eat him. Young students Hisako and Blindfold try to help out. Kitty finally arrives back in the school just in time to see Logan be a wimp. The Hellfire Club, on the other hand, is about to get access into Xavier's 'manger' but even Emma's diamond-formed body can't break into it...which is where Kitty comes in. But Negasonic Teenage Warhead (whose name is a mouthful to this day) has already casts her down the earth's core. Luckily enough for them, Kitty is tougher than she looks, and she's right there to punch Emma in her goddamn pretty face which she does and I know for a fact that she's been dying to do that ever since meeting her for the first time.
Thanks to the intel from scaredy Logan, Hisako and Blindfold, she quickly catches on whatever the hell is going down with the Hellfire Club. After she makes sure her beloved Peter is safe (and Scott is still a useless body on a gurney), she goes to confront the rest of the bad guys (but only after burying Emma somewhere under the school so the traitorous bitch could think about what she had done). The enigmatic hooded Perfection telepathically communicates with Emma that she's going to be fine down there, and that Perf is going to finish the job and handle Kitty herself. I've been dying to know who Perfection really is under that hood and when it was finally revealed, I was...speechless because it's no other than:
[image]
Kitty had the perfect reaction, though, which I share a hundred-percent:
[image]
The issue ends with Special Agent Brand and the rest of S.W.O.R.D hunting down Ord the Dumb-Dumb who is headed back to Earth (with Danger, his new ally). Ord the Dumb-Dumb is beyond reasoning now which isn't really new because he's always been a narrow-minded, insipid fucker who should have died before. But this is even better because, as it turns out, the identity of the Breakworld destroyer is no other than...COLOSSUS! Brand perfectly phrased it with the question: "What would you do if the one mutant destined to destroy your entire planet is the one you brought back to life?" BOOM! If y'all can remember, Peter was supposed to be dead because of his sacrifice to get rid of the Legacy Virus. But Ord the Dumb-Dumb resurrected him just so he can experiment on him for the mutant cure that Dr. Kavita Rao was working on. BUT THEN I suppose by torturing Colossus in all those months he kept him captive, Peter began to really hate him; hate him enough to destroy his planet. Look, Peter is a good kid, so I know if he does get around to destroying a planet, he must be under some kind of spell or manipulation (maybe Nova was controlling him? We all know that cunt loves genocides), but how awesome would it be that it was Ord the Dumb-Dumb who doomed his race in the first place? HAHA! That means that if he wasn't such a piece of shit then Breakworld never would have been destroyed. Look, I hate Ord. I just do. And if Breakworld gets obliterated then just let it happen. Having your planet named with the word "break" in it alone is already asking people to target it for annihilation so really, what's the big deal? In any case, we are now down to two remaining installments for TORN and I am just...ASDFGHJKL!!!!!
[image]
RECOMMENDED: 10/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Previously in Joss Whedon's The Astonishing X-Men:
The New Hellfire Club--consisting of asshole-constant Sebastian Shaw, Mothe [CLICK TO VIEW FULL POST]
Previously in Joss Whedon's The Astonishing X-Men:
The New Hellfire Club--consisting of asshole-constant Sebastian Shaw, Motherfucking Face of Genosha Genocide Cassandra Nova, Perfection, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (for reals, that's her name)--starts their major attacks on the pressure points of the X-Men, by enlisting the help of formerly reformed villain Emma Frost. She succeeds in utterly destroying the man she loves by digging deep into his insecurities, exposing his inadequacies in the most belittling way as possible and then, out of mercy and love, freaking stabs him with the mutant cure, which renders his powers moot. I'm assuming that's what happened, right, because how else are we to explain the fact that we can now see Scott Summer's beautiful (granted, lifeless) brown eyes? He's been cured.
And EVERYTHING CONTINUES TO FRACTURE HERE IN ISSUES #15-16 OF THE STORY ARC WITH A TITLE THAT ENCAPSULATES EVERYTHING IT IS: TORN
Much like the Natalie Imbruglia song of the same name, I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is TORN.
[image]
Of the four story arcs released by Whedon including this one so far, TORN is the best. I was a big fan of Dangerous, but no, TORN is the best which is why I will always refer to it here and in the foreseeable future using bold and underlined caplocks, preferably also attaching a .GIF image of the pop-rock song of the same name. In another related news, I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED TO BINGE-WATCH THE MOTION COMICS OF THIS SERIES BECAUSE GODDAMMIT THIS HAS BEEN SUCH AN ABSOLUTE PLEASURE AND DELIGHT THAT TYPING MY INTRODUCTION IN CAPS LOCK CAN CAPTURE HOW RIDICULOUSLY IN LOVE I AM RIGHT NOW WITH JOSS WHEDON'S WRITING FOR THE ASTONISHING X-MEN. Not since his fastidious work with the short-lived masterpiece Firefly did I feel like Joss Whedon is my lord and savior. If you've read this series yourself before I did, then you're my peeps and you're the choir I sing to. If you haven't, then wake the fuck up, sunshine, and pick up a copy somewhere. I don't care. Kill if you must. Sell your kidneys, whatever, as long as you acquire The Astonishing X-Men which you SHOULD BE READING NOW. Nothing is more important to a self-respecting X-Men fan than to read this.
[image]
I have two large boxes of McDonald's fries beside me as I write this review. So, here we go, let's talk about TORN some more.
THE ASTONISHING X-MEN ISSUES #15-16 "TORN" parts 3 & 4
All of Whedon's arcs for AXM have been composed of six issues and TORN is no exception. We are now at the third and fourth installments and, honey, the twists and turns just keep on coming. The previous issue did a helluva job freaking me out because Emma is one stone-cold predator bitch (and a huge part of me still doesn't want to believe she's a bad person) and making me feel so very sad for Scott who is crushed by his self-doubt from the very beginning about almost everything; his leadership; his role in the X-Men; his relationship with Jean; his rivalry with Wolverine who is also Jean's love interest--he's been on the hinges for a very long time and a conversation with Emma brings that to a screeching halt when she 'frees' him by taking away the mutant powers which he had always seen as burden than blessing. With Scott de-powered, Emma rushes to the others, bearing a well-rehearsed single teardrop on her cheek, to inform them about what happened. The men, Logan and Peter, were eager to take care of a broken down Scott who much resembles this part of Imbruglia's lyrics:
[image]
But Kitty--after looking at the well-kept bed where he is found--was immediately suspicious, especially since Emma describes that she and Scott went to bed together that night like usual, and she wakes up to find him already like that. So why the neat bedsheets, Emma? Kitty has never trusted the White Queen so she understandably hangs back behind to investigate. What she finds is Negasonic Teenage Warhead (WHO NAMED THIS BITCH?) whose mutant power is about...dreams and illusions? I don't know exactly what's her deal except that she looks like a horribly dressed goth chick. But she's powerful enough to mess with Kitty's phasing. So Kitty is essentially stuck phasing into solid surfaces so down, down, down she goes to the earth's deepest surfaces, unable to stop herself. Oh, Kitty. Didn't she get strapped into a giant meteorite thing one time as it hurls itself into the Earth? Damn. With Kitty out of commission, her boyfriend Peter is left alone with the still broken Scott. This is when Sebastian Shaw makes his timely appearance, goads Peter into a fight, and the poor thing bites.
He forgets that Shaw absorbs kinetic energy so after he gets Peter worked up and all metal-raged, Shaw merely has to touch him and absorb all of that energy, rendering Peter unconscious as fuck as Scott looks on from a gurney somewhere, crying and helpless. Not a heroic way to be, slim. So what about Hank and Logan? The Beast and Wolverine's combined brains and brawn should be able to tip the scales better in their favor, right? Except, Cassandra Nova got to them. And Cassandra, as I stressed in my previous review, is a filthy cunt. Do you guys remember that sidestory concerning Beast's fear of devolving into an actual beast, and that we got a glimpse of it in issue #12 when he was chewing off Danger? Well...Nova takes credit for that. She basically shuts off Hank's higher human functions so the beast takes over, turning him into a mindless killing monster. And Wolverine, if you can believe it, gets the worse half of that manipulation because Nova turns him into a frightened, quivering pansy who gets chased around by Beast. It's the most emasculating thing you could ever do to a badass like Logan. I'm simultaneously appalled and impressed by Nova here which makes me want to run my entire body in hot water because actually admiring her even just a little bit makes my soul dirty. Also, this image of Wolverine looking like a sissy bitch:
[image]
And so the Hellfire Club gathers around in the common room to celebrate their success. Everything is going according to plan. "Summers is a zombie. Pryde's a ghost. Rasputin is a victim of his own rage," Shaw proudly claims. Nova adds, "My two were simplicity itself. A beast who thought he was a man; and a frightened little boy who fancied himself a beast."
Meanwhile, in outer space, Danger approaches the imprisoned Ord the Dumb-Dumb and proposes an alliance. Special Agents Brand and Maria Hill have a serious discussion on ethics and alien diplomatic immunity, and then one of Brand's helpers figured out the mutant who will be responsible in destroying the Breakworld in the prophesied future. I don't really care but by the next issue, this seemingly uninteresting B-story will come back and bite everyone in the ass including mine so stay tuned.
Kitty remains undeterred, however: "Being an X-Man means a lot to me even though it doesn't always agree with me." She focuses on the fact that Peter is in danger and she's the only one who is left to kick Emma's ass. Once doing that, she got herself to stop phasing. And she's ready to face the White Queen once and for all.
Issue #16 opens with Ord the Dumb-Dumb escaping S.W.O.R.D space headquarters. He has just learned the identity of the mutant who will destroy his planet in the future and needs to kill said mutant ASAP. Brand is deeply concerned about these proceedings, obviously. Back on Earth, Logan continues to be a pansy and Beast still wants to eat him. Young students Hisako and Blindfold try to help out. Kitty finally arrives back in the school just in time to see Logan be a wimp. The Hellfire Club, on the other hand, is about to get access into Xavier's 'manger' but even Emma's diamond-formed body can't break into it...which is where Kitty comes in. But Negasonic Teenage Warhead (whose name is a mouthful to this day) has already casts her down the earth's core. Luckily enough for them, Kitty is tougher than she looks, and she's right there to punch Emma in her goddamn pretty face which she does and I know for a fact that she's been dying to do that ever since meeting her for the first time.
Thanks to the intel from scaredy Logan, Hisako and Blindfold, she quickly catches on whatever the hell is going down with the Hellfire Club. After she makes sure her beloved Peter is safe (and Scott is still a useless body on a gurney), she goes to confront the rest of the bad guys (but only after burying Emma somewhere under the school so the traitorous bitch could think about what she had done). The enigmatic hooded Perfection telepathically communicates with Emma that she's going to be fine down there, and that Perf is going to finish the job and handle Kitty herself. I've been dying to know who Perfection really is under that hood and when it was finally revealed, I was...speechless because it's no other than:
[image]
Kitty had the perfect reaction, though, which I share a hundred-percent:
[image]
The issue ends with Special Agent Brand and the rest of S.W.O.R.D hunting down Ord the Dumb-Dumb who is headed back to Earth (with Danger, his new ally). Ord the Dumb-Dumb is beyond reasoning now which isn't really new because he's always been a narrow-minded, insipid fucker who should have died before. But this is even better because, as it turns out, the identity of the Breakworld destroyer is no other than...COLOSSUS! Brand perfectly phrased it with the question: "What would you do if the one mutant destined to destroy your entire planet is the one you brought back to life?" BOOM! If y'all can remember, Peter was supposed to be dead because of his sacrifice to get rid of the Legacy Virus. But Ord the Dumb-Dumb resurrected him just so he can experiment on him for the mutant cure that Dr. Kavita Rao was working on. BUT THEN I suppose by torturing Colossus in all those months he kept him captive, Peter began to really hate him; hate him enough to destroy his planet. Look, Peter is a good kid, so I know if he does get around to destroying a planet, he must be under some kind of spell or manipulation (maybe Nova was controlling him? We all know that cunt loves genocides), but how awesome would it be that it was Ord the Dumb-Dumb who doomed his race in the first place? HAHA! That means that if he wasn't such a piece of shit then Breakworld never would have been destroyed. Look, I hate Ord. I just do. And if Breakworld gets obliterated then just let it happen. Having your planet named with the word "break" in it alone is already asking people to target it for annihilation so really, what's the big deal? In any case, we are now down to two remaining installments for TORN and I am just...ASDFGHJKL!!!!!
[image]
RECOMMENDED: 10/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
[image] ...more
Notes are private!
1
not set
Oct 12, 2015
Oct 12, 2015
Kindle Edition
Loading...
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