BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Comic Books >

Morrison on X Men

  
  

Page: 1(2)

 
 
quinine92001
19:51 / 12.01.03
When will we see Wolverine do something with his healing factor that we have never seen him do before?
 
 
Sebastian
23:42 / 12.01.03
Uhm, maybe this was discussed elsewhere, but I went this week throught that gorgeous-looking NXM HC. I really can't find how does it work beyond its fourth issue. The year-long story still reads terribly for me, considering I have already found it that way through the individual issues and the painful waits.

Definitely not a piece for first starters on X-Men literature, as I think it was intended to be in the first place. A century ago I had passed the first TPB from GM's run (E for Extinction) to a couple of non-comic book readers and they were simply delighted, motivated, captivated, intrigued... I doubt the whole HC can make anything for them.

Whadda ya think anyway??
 
 
Simplist
01:46 / 13.01.03
I recently bought the hardcover too. I agree it's not a good jumping on point for new readers, despite Grant's run having been billed that way; the inclusion of the Shi'ar alone mandated quite of bit of backstory filling-in for people not up to speed on X-history. Still, if you had some familiarity with all that it read fairly well, though the second half of the book was a little uneven. Part of that was the writing (Grant seemed to lose track of the pacing at times), but what really threw it off was the visual inconsistency. Quitely's and van Sciver's chapters were very well-executed, and worked reasonably well together. Kordey's stuff, though...I don't suppose I could really add much to what's been said in the past on that score. Suffice it to say that Kordey's chapters really broke the momentum for me personally, making the second half of the book a less than satisfying read.

But that's ok, actually. Based on Grant's work in the past I fully expected him to take twenty issues or so to really hit his stride, after which the payoff for staying with it was likely to be pretty damned good. I think with the current storyline he's just starting to get there, and I expect things to really come together from here out.

As an aside, the book itself as a physical object is gorgeous. Hopefully it sold well enough that they'll keep putting them out.
 
 
Axel Lambert
18:06 / 13.01.03
Beak does resemble me a little...
Is that why he's wearing an "Ethan" T-shirt on the (Quitely) #126 cover?
 
 
Quireboy
18:17 / 13.01.03
I must be stupid because it's only just struck me how much of a homage to the Dark Phoenix saga Imperial is. In the former story you have a powerful telepath/telekinetic - Jean Grey - possessed by a cosmic force/their dark side; in the later you have a powerful telepath possessed by an alien force/their evil twin. In the Claremont story, Xavier helps Jean to contain the Phoenix force. While in the Morrison story we have Jean helping the Professor purge the mumundrai from his body. In both stories, the White Queen enters the affected telepath's mind - using a mechanical device in the first story and teaming up with Jean in the second. And of course both stories feature the Sh'iar, fights with the Imperial Guard and the destruction of a Shiar battleship and the devastation of planents in the Empire. I'd realised most of this but hadn't considered the parallels between Jean/Phoenix and Xavier/Cassandra before. Doh!
 
 
The Falcon
19:36 / 13.01.03
And we're introduced to Angel and Beak, where Kitty appeared on the scene there.
 
 
Jack Fear
19:42 / 13.01.03
And Dazzler as well! Don't forget her!
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
20:10 / 13.01.03
any relation to boaby dazzler?
 
 
Quireboy
21:36 / 13.01.03
Yes and in Dark Phoenix we have the X-Men captured by the White Queen and the Hellfire Club while just before Imperial, the U-Men capture Scott and (somewhat ironically) Emma.
 
 
The Falcon
21:43 / 13.01.03
And Dazzler as well! Don't forget her!

I was going to respond seriously, by saying "Really?", but then I saw who'd posted this.

You're being silly aren't you, Jack?

Mortifying fact: I own Dazzler #1, wherein she has a duel with Enchantress to become a club's resident disco diva. I'm not making this up.

Actually, looking at that, it sounds pretty kitsch and, thus, cool. No?

Perhaps I shouldn't mention this - I can feel my kudos draining.
 
 
Quireboy
22:03 / 13.01.03
At the risk of raising the tone, returning to the Dark Phoenix/Imperial comparison...

Jean and Xavier have effectively switched roles in the two stories and following this analysis would suggest that Xavier is becoming his terrible opposite, Cassandra. After all, one of Morrison's themes in the Invisibles was the convergence of opposites.

It looks as if Xavier's last resort in the Riot arc is to use Cerebra to take hold of the Omega Gang's minds, much like Cassandra wanted to do to the entire world. Maybe he is also going to "snuff them out."

The other thing I've been thinking about is the symbolism of Xavier emerging from Cerebra on the final page of the Imperial arc, like a child emerging from the womb. It's also an interesting reversal of Greek mythology. Zeus, king of the gods - i.e. the father figure - swallowed the Titaness Metis after it is predicted her second child, a son, would usurp him. But Zeus then suffered terrible headaches and the goddess of wisdom (and war) eventually sprang fully formed from his broken skull.

In New X-Men, we have both Cassandra taking over her twin's mind only for him to later push her out of it, and Jean effectively giving birth (or rebirth) to Xavier via Cerebra. With Morrison having stated that Jean is becoming more intuitive and intelligent it doesn't seem unreasonable to consider her the Athena of the X-Men, particularly as the Shi'ar have warned she will sit in judgement on mutantkind.

From Greek mythology.com: Athena's birth

Zeus came to lust after Metis [Titaness of all wisdom and knowledge] and chased her in his direct way. Metis tried to escape, going so far as to change her form many times. Turning into various creatures such as hawks, fish, and serpents. However, Zeus was both determined and equally proficient at changing form. He continued his persuit until she relented.

An Oracle of Gaea then prophesied that Metis first child would be a girl but, her second child would be a boy that would overthrow Zeus as had happened to his father and grandfather. Zeus took this warning to heart. When he next saw Metis he flattered her and put her at her ease. Then with Metis off guard Zeus suddenly opened his mouth and swallowed her. This was the end of Metis but, possibly the beginning of Zeus's wisdom.

After a time Zeus developed the mother of all headaches. He howled so loudly it could be heard throughout the earth. The other gods came to see what the problem was. Hermes realized what needed to be done and directed Hephaestus to take a wedge and split open Zeus's skull. Out of the skull sprang Athena, full grown and in a full set of armour. Due to her manor of birth she has dominion over all things of the intellect.

Now what if you consider Quentin Quire as the second child of Metis who threatens to usurp his father - or father-figure Xavier...
 
 
Jack Fear
22:27 / 13.01.03
No, really, it's all true: Dazzler was introduced in the lead-up to the Dark Phoenix story--the issue after Kitty's first appearance, I think...

Yup. UNCANNY X-MEN 130.

  
 
The Falcon
22:40 / 13.01.03
Whufff.

That's some cover, actually. Pretty effective.

I've not read Dark Phoenix for years, 'cos I lent the trade to a schoolfriend and... Never. Got. It. Back.

I wasn't doubting the facts, just the interest quotient. The exclamation marks seemed to point to mockery.

Which is fair enough.

Quireboy: yeah, that's really interesting stuff. Cassandra obviously does reiterate all this self/not-self integration, and I thought the conclusion to year one was brilliant. Yeah, we're gonna educate you!

Education and integration -> evolution is basically the m.o. of NXM, as I see it.

The whole womb/placenta motif that Barbelith encapsulated there is reworked here.

Like the Greek mythology stuff, too, and we know how much GM likes to utilise that: Kill Yr. Boyfriend and JLA being the prime examples.
 
 
Sebastian
10:38 / 15.01.03
As much as I like the way "telepathy" was handled by GM in Invisibles and in the opening of his NXM run, I definitely found a bit odd all the last minute explanations and acrobacies of Jean when retrieving Xavier's mind from Cassandra's corpse, after making "space" in her mind as she says, then sending it in fragments to every mutant mind in the world, and then bringing it back. Odd. Too much explanatory verbosity.
 
 
The Natural Way
11:16 / 15.01.03
There's a little aside that clears some of the psychic acrobatics up in the Weapon X storyline... Basically, Jean's interfacing with the Phoenix again. She can do the impossible.
 
 
deja_vroom
11:19 / 15.01.03
That cover...

Please. Tell me more about Dazzler. I'll be right here, waiting. But please, tell me more about Dazzler.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:51 / 15.01.03
Dazzler was a disco diva with the mutant power to transform sound into light, and thus supplied her own lightshow on stage. She was always a reluctant superhero, and only joined the X-Men full time in the late 80s under duress. She was part of the group of X-Men who were "killed" and resurrected by Roma, and chose to living in hiding in Australia. She was a love interest for a few different characters - Beast, Longshot, and Havok.

When she was with the X-Men, I quite liked Dazzler. But I was a kid at the time, so...
 
 
The Natural Way
12:07 / 15.01.03
I think I fancied her, but I'd have never been unfaithful to Felicia Hardy.
 
 
A
12:36 / 15.01.03
Dazzler was Marvel's attempt to cash in on the disco craze, but, by the time of her first appearance, disco was already pretty much dead (yes, yes, i'm aware that disco is alive in the hearts of children everywhere). Steven Grant likes to use Dazzler as an example of the comics industry consistently missing the boat when it comes to new trends in his Permanent Damage (and formerly Master of the Obvious) column at CBR.
 
  

Page: 1(2)

 
  
Add Your Reply