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Underground > Comic Books >

X-Men 169

13:26 / 02.06.05

I'm a Milligan ubergroupie but even i will accept that when he's bad, he is *really* bad: Elektra, most of his Batman stuff, Minx and those awful one shot X-books he did.

but...

I actually quite like this. Especially the clever way that he's kept an Ellis/Authority style extinction level event concealed up his sleeves by double blinding us with some soapy foreground shenanigans.

The scene where Emma tries to do a face lift on herseflf with a pair of scissors is up there as well.

Pretty good. And this guy Larocca's getting better every issue. Hurrah!

15:46 / 02.06.05

I liked this last issue. interesting blend of character moments with a "save the world" storyline under it all.

15:59 / 02.06.05

is it really issue 196? I picked up the most recent issue last week and still just want the good Pete Milligan back. It seems like a script from Human Target; evil Pete Milligan takes over Good Pete Milligan'a life and writes crap comics convincing the good Pete Milligan he can't write... I think I will just walk away an maybe try it again in a few months, maybe it will get better...

However, I seriously can't understand what *anyone* sees in Larocca's artwork. No, seriously. Apparently people really like it. Just like there were apparently people happily buying Chuck Austin's comics. No one I've met seems to have any truck with it.

16:19 / 02.06.05

Isn't it more like 169? Heh.

Anyway, I've been avoiding X-Men, as it seemed like "bad Milligan" from the start, but I just want to chime in and say... I really liked his Batman stuff, dammit! "The Hungry Grass" is a classic.

16:39 / 02.06.05

Is this the brand-new issue where the solicits promised a "Lolita" type character to become part of the book?

17:34 / 02.06.05

I thought we were talking about the final chapter of GOLGOTHA...

17:44 / 02.06.05

What's this Hungry Grass Batman story he wrote?

I only remember the Riddler evil spirits possess Gotham City story he wrote years back, with covers by Mignola.

Anyway, I haven’t been to the comic store yet, wasn’t sure it was the final issue of Golgotha we’re discussing or maybe the first issue of the new story arc. From the sounds of it, I guess the new story arc hasn’t started up yet.

20:58 / 02.06.05

Mea culpa. I am of course referring to #169. I have been at home to Ms Typo today. I will correct the post title now.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

22:15 / 02.06.05

I have very mixed feelings about his run. I got a cheap subscription last summer so at $1 a pop, it's worth my time.

But look at what we DID get; X-Men in space, giant maggots, freak out hallucinations, Emma Frost, and a mutant riot in LA... all in one story.

Looking at it this way it's a lot of fun and while I agree that Larocca is not my cuppa, in the right mood this comic is great stuff. Not world-rocking stuff, but good cheap fun.

23:01 / 02.06.05

I was put off by Milligan's X-Men at first, but having gone back and re-read the story so far, I honestly think this is the best X-series out there right now.

12:04 / 03.06.05

The problem I had with the first issue was that the writing was technically bad (the story was merely dull, although I can believe it improves).

Oh, and I didn't like the art.

12:28 / 03.06.05

Isn't that often the way of Milligan piecies, though? Some may be sold, right out the gate, but mostly I find people drift to his stuff after a few parts are out... entertained in retrospect, or just sold after he's changed gears for an issue or so. But then, he gave us that brilliant and lovely 'Enigma' mini, and Phoenix falling naked through time into a church in Victorian England steady and ready to confront whatever was going on, hence, my inability to properly criticize things he has written which might otherwise by considered really, really terrible. Like 'Elektra'.

22:49 / 03.06.05

The Phoenix book is rubbish. Even though it's got Leon on art, and fucking 1)Apocalypse & 2)Mr. Sinister in it.(!)

'Library of souls' is Milligan's finest hour on the Dark Knight, I reckon. Dewey Decimal System inspired hijinks.

On #170 - there's no point in going into space if no-one even dies. I don't like to criticise artists, given that my own palsied hands could barely pick up a pencil, but I really don't like the gummy quality of Larroca's art.

21:58 / 05.06.05

Milligan wrote a Phoenix book? What was it called?

22:19 / 05.06.05

Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix

I got it thinking it was cool. Not so impressed.

23:37 / 05.06.05

If you're intent on getting it, it'll just be one of those mistakes you have to learn from. UN-recommended.

07:34 / 06.06.05

I read three issues, worst of Milligan's worst I felt. I think he can't write superheroes for shit, whatever I've liked by him is nonsuperhero. That is, if you dont count Enigma as a superhero book.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:35 / 06.06.05

I think he can't write superheroes for shit

What didyou think of X-Statix? That felt to me like Milligan getting his arms round the superhero thing quite nicely, in a way that he hadn't previously, at least since the somewhat underrated "Phantom Wings"...

I'm finding this one interesting enough to read - the second episode, with Boy and the Hollywood approach to mutant terrorism, were fun, and some of the Face-ish stuff in the third was also fun. The battle in space was less interesting, primarily although not solely because spacesuits are basically pretty boring to look at (the whole thing felt like a setup for the Rogue/Gambit non-kiss). It does feel a bit directionless, which I think is related to the question of why this X-comic really has to exist: X-Treme X-Men at least had some sort of direction. This has a couple of characters who are already in other books (Emma Frost. Wolverine), another couple who are notionally popular but in narrative terms fatal (Rogue and Gambit), and some second-stringers with no really interesting characteristics. I mean, what, ultimately, is the point of this set of X-Men? What do they do that the Claremont X-Men don't?

10:13 / 06.06.05

Oops? Forgot about those.

But Yeah I loved X-force and bits of X-statix. But I sort of think that none of those characters qualified as superheroes. It was his Doom Patrol done for E! The traditional superhero stuff or something along those lines isn't his thing I feel. The Magneto, Phoenix, Elektra stuff I read years ago and hated it without havign any familiarity with the name Milligan. I need to check out this library of souls comic but I read his Batman/Riddler story and couldn't get through his Queen of Hearts arc in the batbooks.

I'll concede it's a bit of a sweeping statement even if the ratio to bad nonsuperhero comics: bad superhero comics is a bit telling.

Not sure, I think I should post after I've had some sleep.

11:55 / 06.06.05

I liked Milligan's 'Further Adventures...' Maybe it's just by comparison to other X-stuff out at the same time. Trying to play Mr. Sinister serious is always a dangerous game, but I thought, in presenting someone serious unbalanced and, er, taken to manic moodswings, I was able to suspend my belief securely enough to almost hang it. That bit with Jean in the church is probably my favorite attempt at giving her some definition, throughout the entire decade. Pre-Sinister's casual assholity and cold/hot melodrama. Scott and orphans leading to the Summers clan, was a nice, if unnecessary touch, but then again, it may have been the more serious time-travel-change-things issue than whether or not Apocalypse started head-hunting Darwin or something. Life without Summers in the X-verse?
It's a three issue toss-off in the midst of the most convoluted and generally disdained X-era, opens and closes itself, explains itself neatly in between, had a few glowing character moments, and didn't radically invalidate anything previous. Was it 'Enigma 2'? No.

12:49 / 06.06.05

Just read 170 - I want to enjoy the book, but it feels rushed or over edited or something. The art doesn't help, it feels muddy and seems to be not conveying something, which makes jumps from panel to panel seem a bit out of sync or something. I've always liked Havok as a character, and Milligan can be a fantastic writer, but this book is not really holding my interest at all.

Fritz K Driftwood

01:31 / 07.06.05

This has been a little slow out of the gate for me. I do plan on going back and rereading the arc as a whole, but the issues read as individuals didn't have any "oomph".

Are there 4 X-men titles out every month? I see in Newsarama at the Philly convention that people I have never heard of are taking over the creatives for New X-men but the numbering is different. This sent a chill through me, as I don't think that Milligan has being given a proper chance, but perhaps I am confused?! There is also no mention of Milligan or this title, which added to the confusion.

Here's the link to the Newsarama story

rabideyemovement

02:10 / 07.06.05

"Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix" wasn't so much bad, as just very rushed. It's alot of story told in a cramped space with boring artwork and color. It was really a big waste of some really good plotlines. Apocalypse did have a cool look in that one though.

02:46 / 07.06.05

New X-Men is the re-named New Mutants titled, also dubbed "Academy X." It's about the kids.

But there's more like two dozen X-books out in a given month.

17:22 / 07.06.05

But a mere four with the phrase 'X-Men' in the title.