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Underground > Comic Books >

New X-Men #139

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17:54 / 22.01.03

"Murder at the Mansion" Part 1 (of 3)

Bishop and Sage from the X-Treme X-Men guest star! Does an X-Man die? Will they be able to find the killer?

17:56 / 22.01.03

Wow, you'd think Jimenez would know better than to draw an open-legged pose like that...

Return of the old school there, costume-wise.

Matthew Fluxington

18:04 / 22.01.03

Yeah, what's with the old school superhero costumes?

I am not crazy about this cover - Phil's a good artist, but the poses and the sitting-on-cloth-draped-tables thing really bugs me.

Given the plot and the Bishop/Sage thing, is this a straight X-Treme crossover?

18:51 / 22.01.03

Given the plot and the Bishop/Sage thing, is this a straight X-Treme crossover?

Considering what (indirectly) happened between Emma and Bishop/Sage in this month's issue of X-Treme I would think so. I suppose Emma probably holds a pretty hefty grudge against Sage for what amounts to years of ongoing betrayal...

But that cover - fuck. Does Jean even eat? Look at her arms!

18:57 / 22.01.03

Who is Sage? And this Bishop person is from the future, right?

19:11 / 22.01.03

I'm hoping this isn't quite real. We've seen fake covers here before, right? And I really don't think it'll be a catfight. Might be a staged one though. And so what if Emma and Scott kiss in their heads? Jean's kissed Wolvie and got all hot and bothered by Fantomex. I think ya'll want a fight.

Old school costumes might mean flashback. Did we ever see the two Queens interact telepathically back then the way they do now? Maybe it's a retcon.

Sage is Tessa. You know her? She was the Black King(Sebastian Shaw)'s personal assistant for years, while also being a spy for Xavier.

What exactly happened over in X-Treme? I customarily flip through the pages, and was-not-impressed. What'd I miss?

19:56 / 22.01.03

Leeeeet's dooooo the tiiiiiime waaaarp agaaaaaaain.....

20:29 / 22.01.03

She was the Black King(Sebastian Shaw)'s personal assistant for years, while also being a spy for Xavier.

Was X-Treme the first time we were told she was actually working for Xavier?

What exactly happened over in X-Treme?

Sage and Bishop head to the school but are refused entry. Emma then masterminds an attack on them by her students in an effort to humiliate the pair.

Meanwhile, Storm and Logan bond over what appears to be a mutual distaste for what's happening at the school (IMO there's no credible reason for splitting Storm, Logan and Kurt across three teams without doing gymnastics with their characterization). To summarize - Storm thinks the NXM team is essentially Outrage, while she thinks the whole point of being X-Men is to be PFLAG. Morrison's mutants, she feels, are Missing The Point by becoming mutants who happen to be teachers, rather than teachers who happen to be mutants. Rather nice meta-commentary actually, and the first readable issue of X-Treme. I'm hoping Claremont's been galvanized by Morrison's run and has returned to form, though I expect not.

Matthew Fluxington

20:54 / 22.01.03

Yeah, X-Treme was indeed the first time it was revealed that Tessa was working for Xavier.

I've got to get me a copy of that X-Treme issue, and possibly the issue just before that.

For the record, I completely agree with Laurence about the Storm/Logan/Kurt split - it just doesn't make sense that they aren't together in the comics more often. I think those three characters, along with Colossus and Kitty Pryde, are an ensemble that is far stronger and more interesting together than spread over three different comics. I just can't seem to care too much about Nightcrawler if he's not playing off of Storm, Colossus, and Wolverine, which has been the problem with that character since about 1986. Logan's presense in NXM makes sense though - he works well with Jean and Scott, and he's only in that comic sporadically anyway, leaving plenty of room for his appearances in every other comic he's in.

22:02 / 22.01.03

I'd sort of assumed the growing hints at some sort of hot girl-on-girl Jean-Emma catfight action was a standard (if slightly hubba-hubba) ploy to stoke x-fans' anticipation. Perhaps the corny, old-school costumes are a nod toward the hackneyed nature of such a ploy?

Ethan Van Sciver

22:21 / 22.01.03

They're getting ready to pose for the real cover. The photographer is working out the lighting.

Ethan Van Sciver

22:24 / 22.01.03

Oh, I forgot to say, I like the cover, but Townsend might not be the best inker for Jimenez. I'd like to see a nice, clean copy of the art to get a better look at it, but from what's on my computer screen, the faces don't look as nicely rendered as I'm used to seeing with Phil. What do you think, Cameron?

22:49 / 22.01.03

Why's Jean got a spiked dog collar by her left elbow? Is Scott back on the leash?

22:59 / 22.01.03

Why's Jean got a spiked dog collar by her left elbow?

She's sitting on the costume she wore back when she was Black Queen. Hence the red Phoenix outfit rather than green, too. Definitely some flashback material happening here.

The Natural Way

07:57 / 23.01.03

I think it means we're gonna see some more serious Phoenix action in this story arc.

The Natural Way

07:57 / 23.01.03

The White Queen and the Black Queen: Fight!

Maybe.

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:30 / 23.01.03

Also, that red Phoenix costume is the one Emma wore when she was playing "Jean" back in 'Some Angels Falling', when she and Scott began their affair...

12:48 / 23.01.03

So you think they're both psi-forms of Emma? That might be interesting... two objects of Scott-lust resulting in an intervention? I should just stop buying comics NOW, wait a couple of years, and buy all the trades I can get my hands on.

Matthew Fluxington

12:57 / 23.01.03

Well, that's a good point, because Grant said it would be a psychic cat fight.

Anyway, 'Murder At The Mansion', huh? Sounds like a game of Clue. Any guesses?

13:10 / 23.01.03

Xorn, in the conservatory, with the candlestick.

15:25 / 23.01.03

>>>What do you think, Cameron?<<<

Yeah, I agree - Townsend's a good inker, I was looking at some of the original Quitely NXM pages a month or so ago and the inks were superb, but I don't think this is a good match at all.

16:12 / 23.01.03

Yeah, X-Treme was indeed the first time it was revealed that Tessa was working for Xavier.

actually I believe this was revealed in one of those "X-men tales" Clairmont wrote as a back up to the reprints marvel put out ages ago...

So is this eXtreme X-men issue worth buying?

16:29 / 23.01.03

actually I believe this was revealed in one of those "X-men tales" Clairmont wrote as a back up to the reprints marvel put out ages ago...

Those John Bolton stories? Man, those are my favorite X-Men stories! I wish they would put out more volumes of that Vignettes TPB.

Whether the X-Treme issue (actually, the next three) is worth buying depends entirely on how big of an X-Men geek you are. It's a nice counterpart to the current NXM storyline, but not essential.

The Photographer in Blowup

19:46 / 23.01.03

What exactly happened over in X-Treme?

Sage and Bishop head to the school but are refused entry. Emma then masterminds an attack on them by her students in an effort to humiliate the pair.

Meanwhile, Storm and Logan bond over what appears to be a mutual distaste for what's happening at the school (IMO there's no credible reason for splitting Storm, Logan and Kurt across three teams without doing gymnastics with their characterization). To summarize - Storm thinks the NXM team is essentially Outrage, while she thinks the whole point of being X-Men is to be PFLAG. Morrison's mutants, she feels, are Missing The Point by becoming mutants who happen to be teachers, rather than teachers who happen to be mutants. Rather nice meta-commentary actually, and the first readable issue of X-Treme. I'm hoping Claremont's been galvanized by Morrison's run and has returned to form, though I expect not.

Only Claremont to come up with such a crappy issue - does Emma at least have a reason to humiliate the pair, or is just a whim of hers? It sounds just like the crap Claremont has been writing since he go back in writing X-men from issue 100... Christ on a motorcycle, why can't he just drop dead and stop haunting the X-men in live?

Anyway, the cover is fine with me - very nostalgic - but i do hope this doesn't end as a catfight; i'm sure Morrison has more original stuff than that in his head.

20:23 / 23.01.03

The cover does reflect how the two women see each other. I doubt the old outfits and poses are to be something literal, but reflections of the characters and their relationship. Emma's always ridgidly careful about her posture, how she's presenting herself to others, the icy untouchable sex goddess, while Jean's always been more relaxed and open, never one to worry about poses.

Also, notice how they're looking at each other on the cover. Neither trusts the other.

E

20:37 / 23.01.03

Only Claremont to come up with such a crappy issue - does Emma at least have a reason to humiliate the pair, or is just a whim of hers?

Considering the history between Emma and Sage, the reaction is pretty in character.

It sounds just like the crap Claremont has been writing since he go back in writing X-men from issue 100...

Or you could, you know, read it and make an informed comment.

21:27 / 23.01.03

Sorry - didn't mean to be so snarky there!

07:31 / 24.01.03

It would be nice to have a return of Jason Wyngarde. The world can always use another Peter Wyngarde character now we don't have Mister Six any more.

11:11 / 24.01.03

I think Wyngarde's dead. His daughter took on the Mastermind mantle and was running around in X-Treme last year, I think.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

16:11 / 24.01.03

On the Jean/Emma thing, Grant did say that Emma is secretely afraid of Jean, so this could be the story where that comes to the fore, either Jean will be forced to talk to Scott and deal with their marriage or 'release' him to go with Emma.

Matthew Fluxington

17:07 / 24.01.03

Yeah, the original Mastermind was killed off in the Lodbell years; he died of the Legacy virus. It's a real shame, because that character had so much potential to be written into something really special by a guy like Grant. It looks like Millar's botched the job with his Ultimate Mastermind, too. But that's not a shock, right?

The 'new' Mastermind is his daughter, and she was part of Joe Casey's X-Corps storyline. Of course, Casey's writing on Uncanny X-Men was awful, and so was this new Mastermind. I don't think Mastermind's very interesting without the 'creepy old man' factor, honestly.

As for Emma, it's no secret that she's afraid of Jean, as evidenced by her discussion about Jean with Scott in #131.

00:03 / 26.01.03

Are you out of your mind? this is every masoquist telepath's dream come true... fuck the old school costumes... this may be an astral plane cat fight... bring it on...

A

00:59 / 27.01.03

Astral Plane Cat Fight would be the best band name ever.

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

01:08 / 27.01.03

"I am not crazy about this cover - Phil's a good artist, but the poses and the sitting-on-cloth-draped-tables thing really bugs me."

Those aren't cloth draped tables. Look closer. The white side is Emma's cape and the black side is the cape from Jean's old Black Queen outfit. (From the Dark Phoenix days) You can see the spiked collar at the top.

Matthew Fluxington

02:01 / 27.01.03

Yes, I knew that. But the illustrative effect is the same.

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