I only just picked this issue up today (I really should start geting my arse to the comic store earlier, so i'm not always coming in on these conversations so late), and I'd have to say that it's probably my favourite issue of NewXMen so far. I think that the way the Morrison has handled the characters, their emotions and their interactions, and the way Jiminez has illustrated them is just fucking fantastic.
Personally, I found Scott, Jean and Emma to all be really sympathetic characters in this issue. There are no "good guys" or "bad guys" here. Just people doing fucked-up things because they are human, and that's what humans do. Emma's character, particularly, was fleshed out so much in this issue. The revelation that she was in love with Scott was a surprise, but made perfect sense.
It's been my theory since the beginning of Grant's run on NewXMen that rather than Scott and Jean's relationship being headed for doom, they're instead being raked over the coals, but will ultimately wind up together, better than ever. This issue only strengthens my conviction. They might be fucked-up, but they're obviously nuts about each other.
As far as Jean and the Phoenix force goes, it seems to me that, at the moment, Jean is letting the Phoenix force direct here, when it should be the other way around. Rather than this ending with a cataclysmic battle between Xorn and the Phoenix, I think that this might well end with a battle between the Phoenix force and Jean's humanity. I think that Jean can and will control and contain the Phoenix force, kind of in the same way that...
(INVISIBLES SPOILER)
...Jack "eats" the Archons at the end of the Invisibles.
(/INVISIBLES SPOILER)
I think that Scott and Jean's love for each other may well have a lot to do with this.
As for Emma's apparent death, I thought that, as many people here have already suggested, it may have been a case of Xorn healing her by shattering her diamond skin and removing her lack of empathy, which, ultimately, is a weakness, rather than a strength. Exactly what this would mean for Emma, both mentally and physically, will be interesting to see, if this is indeed what happened.
If it was actually a murder, however (and I think a suicide seems unlikely and rather dull in this instance), I think that the prime suspects, to my mind, are the Cuckoos. They are young and still emotionally immature, and blame Emma, their former role-model, for the death of their sister. It was them who alerted Jean to what was happening between Emma and Scott, and they did this to punish Emma.
Xorn, however, seems to be just about the least likely candidate of anyone. It just seems completely out of character, both for Xorn and Morrison, for him to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing" type. Morrison doesn't generally do cartoonish supervillain types whose only motivation is that they are "evil" (I don't think Cassandra Nova is as simple a character as that), and that's what Xorn would seem to be if he was responsible. I'm sure that there are much more interesting things in store for Xorn than that.
Whoever was responsible for Emma's murder (assuming that it was a murder), it's going to be a lot more interesting than asimple case of a baddie killing a superhero. |
