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Underground > Comic Books >

New X-Men #139

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08:07 / 10.04.03

Yes, that scene behind Emma looks like a classroom littered with dead bodies and overturned desks.

Just one continuity carp though - what happened to Scott's visor? He's wearing his old glasses.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

14:25 / 10.04.03

Whoever said the thing about the ship with the man- y'reckon? I get the Bad Company ref, and Grant WAS a 2000ad writer...

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

14:29 / 10.04.03

Also, there's a fairly large spoiler on the preview page. Just so you know...

The Natural Way

14:43 / 10.04.03

What "Door"? Emma and Scott were outside, weren't they?

I assume we're still inside some kind of psi-scape here. The Cuckoos appear to be about to walk through a wall.

Jimenez Rocks.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

14:48 / 10.04.03

So anyone who dies in this issue only dies on the psi-plane and not in reality? peice of piss.

The Natural Way

15:05 / 10.04.03

Not really, no.

From what I gather, there is some kind of investigation....blah. I'm pretty sure if the murder only occured on a psychic level then it would be preeety obvious that no-one had actually died.

Matthew Fluxington

15:16 / 10.04.03

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T READ THE COMMENTS ON THE POP CULTURE SHOCK PAGE!

Seriously, Radiator person is right - it is a massive spoiler which I casually read, and I am now massively annoyed.

Looks good. Phil's doing a good job, I think - there's some personal quirks, but that's fine. It is good, clean storytelling, not all that far off from Frank Quitely, so I'm pleased.

Too bad we have to deal with the opposite with Silvestri and Bachalo later in the year.

15:19 / 10.04.03

Well either Jean has teleported them all inside the mansion or transported Scott from Emma's mind into her own.

Matthew Fluxington

15:22 / 10.04.03

Now, from the spoiler that I'm aware of, it seems like this story could be echoing something from The Sopranos season 4 that I can't really spell out since so many of you haven't gotten that far through the season just yet.

People who have an idea of what I mean can just nod and say "oh yeah, it does follow that arc kinda..." But I'm not talking about Furio.

17:27 / 10.04.03

Just looking back over those telepathic confrontations. We've had Cassandra outing Xavier, and exposing Beast and Scott's inner demons. Jean outthinking Cassandra and stripping away her body. Jean and Xavier being manipulated by Fantomex's projected self-image. Emma's reduction of the Phoenix to a sexual metaphor. Quentin Quire stripping away Slick's self-image. The Cuckoos stripping away Quentin's self-image - and seeing the flaw in Emma's polished but hard diamond persona. And now, perhaps, the total deconstruction of the White Queen.

This isn't just about telepathy though - it's the whole decontruction of the superhero persona - Morrison's been taking the piss out of the heroic ideal, the stupid costumes and titles - e.g. Siryn comments in NXM128; Scott's complaints about only being allowed to be an uptight superhero; Emma implying he's got a fetish about the Phoenix and isn't really in love with Jean the person; Beak chosing a ridiculous name; the Omega Gang's apping of the X-Men; Sophie the stepford cuckoo's comment about wanting to be a superhero and her sisters later berating Emma for promoting the idea of heroic martyrdom.

18:03 / 10.04.03

I think Sophie IS a super-hero.

Anyway -I spoiled myself and now I shall wallow in the pits of my shame. And NXM May actually be a continuation of the Watchmen in its deconstruction of the superhero mentality. If the Watchmen taught us about what being human means to power and responsibility and obeying the greater good, how does New X-Men look at power and how we teach others to use it?

18:14 / 10.04.03

Well I haven't read the Watchmen, but the comparison between Xavier's and Xorn's teaching methods, or Emma's and Jean's teaching methods suggest that's one of the main points of NXM.

08:59 / 12.04.03

The previews are now up at milehighcomics.com as well. The title of this issue could be considered a spoiler. The preview page refers to Jean as the human host of the all powerful cosmic Phoenix force - which I'm sure won't go down too well on certain other boards. Shaping up to be a great issue.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

11:17 / 12.04.03

What I was more sort of getting at was that someone will "die" on the psi plane this ish, with the real murder then taking place in #140.

14:13 / 12.04.03

There's another preview page from NXM139 at comicscontium

I've seen spoilers for the whole issue now. All I'll say for the moment is that a while ago someone commented that Morrison's storytelling in NXM was straightforward - I agree. Now all you have to do is look back over his run and see how two characters have been set up as potential killers. The other possibility is that a murder isn't committed at all ... and this has also been foreshadowed.

Anyone who can't wait for Wednesday feel free to PM me.

23:02 / 13.04.03

Cheesed: "And NXM May actually be a continuation of the Watchmen in its deconstruction of the superhero mentality. If the Watchmen taught us about what being human means to power and responsibility and obeying the greater good, how does New X-Men look at power and how we teach others to use it?"

I think it can be read on another level. It's like moving from a situation where only the police have guns to one where everone in society has. Or from a global-political situation where you used to have two evenly-matched super-powers with weapons of mass destruction to one where there's nuclear, chemical and biological proliferation and massive scale terrorism - and how you deal with that new order.

11:39 / 15.04.03

Mild spoilers for the coming arc from an interview with Grant in Wizard:

"We'll see a definite swing to one corner in the Scott/Jean/Emma Triangle," hints Morrison. "Not so much a resolution, but a major turning point. And we'll gain some insights into the true nature of the Phoenix Entity.

And believe or not, readers can look forward to a death - and a birth. But as for the identity of the murderer. "Well I can't tell you that," laughs Morrison.

In fact readers won't learn the truth even when the story ends. "We have several suspects within the mansion and the school, but we don't actually find out who it is by the end of the storyline!"

As for other villains that will be popping up in future story arcs? "New X-Men has a slightly different perspective on the whole notion of heroes and villains," says Morrison, "so all I can say is expect to see new threats and some old favorites in a completely new light. For example, Sabretooth turns up in NXM142 for a different kind of showdown with Logan."

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

11:46 / 15.04.03

Anyone else worried that this is going to link in with that fucking awful Weapon X series?

11:54 / 15.04.03

I bet Sabretooth and Logan play chess.

13:29 / 15.04.03

Radiator - I doubt there will be any link to that execrable Weapon X series.

Murray Hamhandler

03:52 / 16.04.03

...with the real murder then taking place in #140

Don't be so sure. Just got my subscription copy today.

Very surprising, Grant. But maybe not so much so, in retrospect. Now, the question is, is (he?/she?) going to stay dead?

Oooooh! I wanna say! But I can wait until after tomorrow to discuss, I guess.

08:53 / 16.04.03

I don't think that's death, more a sort of character evolution

15:08 / 16.04.03

I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THIS!!!! I haven't read any of the spoilers about this issue (which is VERY VERY rare for me); it's gonna be good, I know it!!! :P The Phil J. art looks great.

Murray Hamhandler

15:19 / 16.04.03

Not talking about QQ, sleazenation. I'm talking about NXM #139, which I received yesterday (a day earlier than it hits the shops. Meaning today). And the death contained therein. Which could, I suppose, be yet another character evolution rather than a death proper. Although the person in question would definitely have to find a new body to enhabit...

16:07 / 16.04.03

Sleazenation knows what happens in NXM139 - and has an interesting take on it. You have to wait until us Brits get the issue tomorrow and then we'll fill you in with our theories.

Murray Hamhandler

17:07 / 16.04.03

Oh. All right. Sorry to doubt. Just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.

Let's say that it appears as if the person in question is no longer among the living but that the nature of the "death" (even though we do see a body) leaves the status of the ex-X-Man up in the air w/r/t life after "death". I'll concede that much, at least.

19:45 / 16.04.03

SPOILERS(although why I have to put spoilers on a topic that clearly state New X-Men 139 is strange. Can't there be a prequel thread for comics that have yet to come out, instead of having 4 pages before the comic in question even comes out?)

So Emma Frost is dead. And I don't want to assume that she psychicly went to the 5th dimension or came out the other end of Barbelith or any of that stuff. It's murder at the mansion, and there's a destroyed body at the end of the issue. Pretty straight-forward storytelling for me, until I see different.

So was this a shock? Not very much. We were pretty sure none of the main cartoon or movie characters were gonna bite it. That left the new cast. Arguments for Xorn and Emma were thrown around on why it might not be them. Grant liked them too much, they were his babies, and all that. I think one of the major clues was that Emma wasn't even mentioned in the rough drafts of Grant's X-Men proposal, but from the letter pages of his own site, she entered the picture from a fan who suggested Grant might have fun with her.

Jean leaves me cold. I think Emma came off much more human this issue than Jean, who seemed a bit psycho towards the end. "They were thinking about it! They were thinking about it!" Someone give that girl a slap back to reality. And Emma had fallen in love with Summers? And we thought it was just Emma being a bad girl. Probably a combination of both.

Missed the kids. I wouldn't mind seeing an issue devoted to Beak and what he does on his summer vacation. Overall, I liked it. And the art wasn't too distracting either.

19:46 / 16.04.03

Everybody think "snake."

And I want everyone here to use our superbrilliant hive mind to decipher the panel (very Invisibles) where Jean says, "Do you honestly think you can protect yourself against this?" Look at the top, left image. The one chopped off of the page. Tell me what you think.

Jimenez is god.

20:08 / 16.04.03

Looks like a human head without skin, just muscle. Obviously just part of the surgical imagery relating to Emma's cosmetic operations.

I was genuinely surprised at the final page - I didn't for one second think Emma would be the victim.

So how exactly does this reconcile with the upcoming Emma Frost spin-off series?

The Great Jor of Babylon

21:20 / 16.04.03

I think what Qumiper was referring to is the idea that maybe Emma evolved out of the diamond skin to something more organic. That panel he refers to points that way. Additionally, the "last" page has all the information that usually is put at the beginning ("Shattered"). It certainly looks like Emma will be made anew.

21:26 / 16.04.03

In the way that comic-book-death generally reconciles itself, I'd imagine.

I'm inclined to think along the same lines as Quimper above, she's shedding her skin (wether by choice or by accident when someone tried to kill her, I've no idea). Perhaps she's shed the diamond-form in order to cast off her ability to shield herself from her emotions/the truth. Maybe she tried to assume diamond-form to mute her pain and it shattered itself under the stress of such severe feelings laid bare.

Maybe Wolverine cut her to pieces to protect Jean's virtue. Just kidding.

I really liked this issue. Jean definitely jumping a few rungs up the imperious ladder, and I wonder how much is her and how much is the Phoenix, or even if they're seperate things (I know, tired subject). I can see Jean having a similar breakdown to Emma's down the line if the Phoenix abandons her or turns that 'high-powered perception' onto her.

Grant's already stated the mystery of the murder won't exactly be solved by the end of this storyline, so I wonder what Bishop and Sage are going to do w/ themselves for the next two issues.

I could tell Emma loved Scott - from early on, dammit, I swear it!

Murray Hamhandler

21:43 / 16.04.03

So how exactly does this reconcile with the upcoming Emma Frost spin-off series?

The spin-off will be a Year One series, apparently.

Matthew Fluxington

22:19 / 16.04.03

Jean seemed like a psycho because she is.

Jean has completely lost her mind, she's barely even there now. She's Old Testament God now, or maybe the world's most powerful paranoid schizophrenic.

I love it.

I was right about the Sopranos thing, but I really can't say anything more about it without major spoilers for people who haven't seen all of Sopranos season 4.

The Great Jor of Babylon

22:47 / 16.04.03

Spill it Flux! Sopranos, sopranos. . .

I don't think Jean is psychotic or schizophrenic, she's become this ideal and is no longer human. She's at a point where thoughts DO count. This is a very different Jean, the older Jean actually shut her telepathic powers because she knew that when she interacted with people they would be duplicitous and petty. She's supposed to know that people will think the most horrendous things and fuck, we all fantasize. Her ascension into the cosmic is making her an ideal, she's uncompromising but then again not everyone has cosmic powers. I liked what Emma said about Jean, "Your pacifist posturing hides a playground bully, Jean Grey!" Made me think of the Left, and how historically the Left can be as tyrannical as the Right.

I pity Cyclops the most, he's been infatilized by Jean. She tells him to shut up, she kicks him out of the astral plane, she closes the door on him (when he should have been IN there with them), even the Stepford Cuckoos tell him that Emma and Jean are dealing with "adult stuff." Ouch.

Matthew Fluxington

22:53 / 16.04.03

I'd be happy to make the Sopranos comparison (which is really just comparing storytelling devices, and nothing really major) to consenting adults who inquire via private message.

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