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Yeah, I think this has to be the best issue of NXM since the last couple of Quitely ones. I'd be the first person to agree that in his NXM run, Morrison has been guilty of weird pacing and of expecting people to fill in gaps (this is fine by me if we're supposed to read between the lines of what actually happens in the issues, what's jarring is when the 'story so far' box tells us about stuff we had no clear way to figure out). But Morrison often wobbles and screws the pace up and makes you think "uh-oh, this isn't worth it", only to deliver pay-off moments that are just awesome (think: the big 'The Sting' moment at the end of Invisibles V.2). When you get stuff as good as the best bits of this issue, it makes me forgive even questions like "huh, isn't E.V.A. kinda dead?" (my guess: Fantomex can vomit out new E.V.A.s if one gets destroyed, maybe).
This issue is all about the pay-off starting to arrive. And it's all about two peeps: Beakie and Xorn.
To me, Beak in this issue is - and this is gonna sound like cliched super-shit - the epitome of the X-Men spirit. Everybody's been talking about how Beak is going to grow into a beautiful eagle and then we'll see his quality, but I don't think it's about that - I think the whole point is that this skinny mess of feathers and bone has never been more magnificent than getting up again that alley, shoeless and bloody and bruised. He's had his mind fucked with repeatedly, he's made some big mistakes, he's been dropped out of the sky and had the shit kicked out of him, he's lying there in the rain and the shit, he's just some weird seriously depressed little fucker up against impossible odds... and he gets up again, looking to go fight the bad guy. Love the way the ttile of this issue can refer to him too: Beak IS that last hope, the freaking Phoenix in the darkness... I get all tingly and 'Make Mine Marvel' when I think about that: it's like Peter Parker lifting that rubble so he can get Aunt May's medicine (you know, famous ish). I want to punch the air.
I also love the way Beak's slightly flaky, hippie idealism is celebrated while being affectionately mocked. He thinks a carrot feels pain! Sure, why not? It's so totally in character - Beakie feels so convincingly young to me in that scene - his views are still quite unformed and messy - but I think Morrison really drives home here how that kind of compassion is better than, y'know, slaughtering countless innocents. Which might seem really obvious but when you think about how anti-war protestors are always being called emotional, sentimental, etc...
(Oh, and I can so completely see how this ish could have been written with Beak actually flying when he gets out of that car - big Disney moment - "I did it!" - how yuck would that have been?)
As for Xorn: oh, it's just so RIGHT. That page with the panels of the skull/helmet rolling around on the floor and coming to rest so that it stares at Magneto - probably my favourite page of NXM so far. Xorn is the flipside of the kind of tulpa described in the last issue of Morrison's FF1234: instead of putting all the 'bad' bits of yourself into an independent body, and having it come back to haunt you (see also: RZA/Bobby Digital), Magneto has externalised all his 'good' bits and created this separate entity that can't be discarded. 'Memo To Turner': "be careful who you say you are". Classic Morrison.
I wonder if Phoenix will incinerate Erik's head. |
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