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Underground > Comic Books >

New X-Men (General Spoiler Alarm)

  
  

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Captain Zoom
12:47 / 19.12.01
A thread so that we don't have to start a new one each time an issue comes out. So, #120 is out today, end of germ free generation. And then the return of Frank in 3 weeks. Cool.

Some things I noticed upon rereading the run so far:

#114 - after the first time Cassandra attacks Charles, he says "Are these voices from the future?". Classic Morrison foreshadowing, or confused psychic fallout? IMHO it's a reference to Grant's 5-D theory as outlined in the invisibles

#115 - "Prepare for vivisection and spare parts classificataion" quoth a Sentinel. Another link to John Sublime, or were they talking about using Wolvie's adamantium?

#116 - Jean has a Doop keychain at the very end.
- after Emma breaks Cassandra's neck, she tries to tell them she's really Charles. (YOu all saw that already, didn't you. I'm so unobservant sometimes.)
- also already noticed I'm sure. Cassandra's armour is reminiscent of Miss Dwyer's armour.

Funnily enough, after that issue the only thing that jumped out at me was that the annual was really poorly put together. I'm sure there is dialogue missing, as some characters seem to respond to questions that are never asked.

Also, in #117, The Beak has a Revolting Cocks shirt on. Fucking funny.

Back later when I've read the new one.

Zoom.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
16:05 / 19.12.01
I think it's better to have a thread for each issue for some reason...

anyway, the new issue is pretty good... the art is a bit clunky, but does its job.

I'm amazed by how little happened in Germ Free Generation, but maybe that's the point...this issue breaks down to a couple key points:

* Scott and Emma escape, Emma sorta kills John Sublime

* the school is attacked, Jean quickly and non-violently stops them, gets all Phoenix-y

* Wolverine brings Angel back to the school

* Beast comes in at the last moment to mention that Xavier is trapped in Cassandra's head.

I think GFG should have been maybe one issue, two issues tops.

It was a bit anticlimactic, but the whole "the X-Men are pacifists" idea seems to be the point of this storyline, so okay, fine.

I'm really excited to get back to Cassandra next issue.

By the way, Zoom, I was very curious about the "are these words from the future?" line from the get-go... Even if it is nothing, I just love that line, the idea of 'words from the future'...
 
 
CameronStewart
19:13 / 19.12.01
Just read the new one.

The delightful electric buzz of excitement I got from reading the first three issues just ain't there any more, without Frank's art. I really, really want him back. And is it me, or could the last three issues have been done in one?

[ 19-12-2001: Message edited by: CameronStewart ]
 
 
Captain Zoom
13:44 / 20.12.01
I wonder if that's a result of the art or the story. I'm trying to imagine this story with FQ's art and whether it would have felt more substantial.
Or perhaps GM was intentionally drawing it out, making us want the Imperial storyline even more. A couple of years ago, Warren Ellis stretched a Transmet story arc over three issues that probably could have been done in one, citing a technique used in Manga that was similar to what he was doing. Maybe Grant was simply flexing his stylistic muscles.

Or maybe not.

Zoom.
 
 
CameronStewart
14:58 / 20.12.01
>>>I'm trying to imagine this story with FQ's art and whether it would have felt more substantial.<<<

If Frank had drawn it I would have loved it, because 66 pages of Quitely art is better than 22.
 
 
Captain Zoom
15:00 / 20.12.01
touche and agreed.

Zoom.
 
 
Tamayyurt
15:46 / 20.12.01
120 -You're surrounded by invisible mutant guards.

It's small but someone had to post it.
 
 
Burning Man
18:21 / 20.12.01
And apparently Michael Jackson is a resident at the School. I thought I saw him in the back of a crowd scene last issue, now hes right next to the beast on the last page. Perhaps that's how Xavier can pay for those damged X-Jets and such.

Wonder what his power is?
 
 
Captain Zoom
18:23 / 20.12.01
He can change the shape and shade of his face without plastic surgery?

Oh, wait.

Nevermind.

Zoom.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:38 / 20.12.01
I reread the whole Germ Free Generation storyline from start to finish in the wee hours this morning....it worked a lot better for me, I enjoyed it more, the pacing seemed a lot better, spread over three issues, it felt odd and choppy, but I get a better sense of what was going on.

I'm embarassed that it took me til it was spelled out on the page that Emma's 'flaw' was that she had a nosejob, making part of her body non-diamond...It's a clever touch, though.

I liked the line with the U-Man saying that "mutants don't feel the pain of existence like you or I"...
 
 
Mr Tricks
09:17 / 21.12.01
Man... I had to read it like 3 times in a row...

I actually enjoyed the art quite alot... much improved from the previous isses...

So is sublime now bottled inside Martha-the-mutant-brain in the same manor that martha is bottled in that glass sphere?

"they left us our own organ locator!"

& the Phoenix done proper...

"last time you lit up like this the universe peed it pants."
That ending with the Beast seemed like SUCH oldschool (circa Roy Thomas) X-men... not sure why or how but it did...

I thought the pacing worked well & still sort of functioned to highlite an individual mutant in each issue... similar to how the covers are done.

what I didn't like:
John Sublime wares a hair piece!!! much to cliched
 
 
Lothar Tuppan
09:17 / 21.12.01
I just reread them all together also and I very much liked it.

I do think it's interesting that Morrison can't win for trying. If he crams a lot of stuff in an issue he's critized for that (Fanboy criticism of JLA 'Rock of Ages' storyline) and if he keeps things simple then his critics say its too drawn out.

Maybe in a few years he'll be given another big title and like Mama Bear's porridge it'll be juuuuusssst right.
 
 
bio k9
09:17 / 21.12.01
"You'll live on in us, transubstantiated as the third species, born ahead of our time. Awaiting a germ free future..."


"Boring."


Emmas girls need their own series.

[ 21-12-2001: Message edited by: Bio K9 ]
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
09:17 / 21.12.01
For me, this issue kind of redeemed the whole storyline.

I'm sure that last page is supposed to be funny: I can't help laughing every time I see it. Just imagine Beast talking in brain-damaged voice: "he's stuck in this old woman's hedd"...

Is it me, or is Cyclops getting less and less likeable? I like the fact that his politics are totally fucked, and the option is basically there for you to reach that conclusion: the whole "we have to show people that some mutants are okay" thing is exactly the kind of misguided tosh that a stucl-up prick like Scottie would come out with... he really needs to shag Logan and Emma like he so clearly wants to... I also liked how happy Jean seems after she cuts loose: "I had all these negative feelings about Scott but they're gone now"... Implies almost that she doesn't need to bother worrying about him anymore.
 
 
The Natural Way
09:17 / 21.12.01
Yeah, I actually think the last ish was pretty bloody good. Very funny and fun, but no, I don't like the art - tres shit. The blazing phoenix Jean panel should've looked really good, really dramatic; and did it? My arse. I can't really see how anyone can say the arts good - it's not atrocious, but it looks rushed, it's rarely very dramatic (I say rarely, cause Kordey does hit the mark sometimes - Emma's bloody, screaming face, the shaggy, post-coma Beast...great).....
Maybe this is why it reads so quickly: the eye just doesn't want to linger on the panels - there's not enough to see and what is there isn't always that great, etc...
 
 
e-n
09:17 / 21.12.01
Art totally sucked but what I wanna know is, is martha joining the team too??
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
09:17 / 21.12.01
I'd quite like Martha to join the school - which is all Angel has done, remember. Although the whole killing John Sublime thing probably means she'll end up in Xorn's remedial class... which is probably where Angel and Beak will be as well, come to think of it... cool.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
14:03 / 21.12.01
I would like to know what qualifications for teaching a man who has been locked away in cage for 90% of his life may have. That seems a little weird to me... the guy needs to be educated and resocialized himself, right?
 
 
bio k9
05:12 / 22.12.01
quote:Originally posted by Flyboy:
I'd quite like Martha to join the school - which is all Angel has done, remember. Although the whole killing John Sublime thing probably means she'll end up in Xorn's remedial class... which is probably where Angel and Beak will be as well, come to think of it... cool.
Mmmm...Morrisons New Mutants...
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
05:12 / 22.12.01
synchronisation betwen art and script was pretty poor in this ish. Some great scenes ruined by very shit art.

despite this, there was a very strange vibe to this arc; dark, british horror spliced with tiger economy philosphies topped off with a light globalisation shower gel.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
10:15 / 22.12.01
The paper quality in this issue was appalling. And the fact that the U-Men at no time seemed in any danger of harming anyone at the school was pretty poor. If they know enough about the school to identify people such as Wolverine or Cyclops then it's unlikely that they don't think Jean Grey is a fighter.

Whereas I thought the Fantastic Four mini could have done with being 5 parts really I think this was a two parter spread out. I just hope that Grant doesn't get carried way as he was in the middle of Invisible series 2 and take on too much work so the overall quality or amount goes down.
 
 
Ganesh
10:53 / 22.12.01
I really don't think the art was shit at all; it was nowhere near Quitely's, obviously, but certainly better than Van Sciver's stuff.
 
 
CameronStewart
11:40 / 22.12.01
I have little complaint with Kordey as an artist, aside from that I don't think he's appropriate for New X-Men.
 
 
bio k9
18:46 / 22.12.01
I like his style but I think its too dark and loose for New X Men. But only if New X Men is a pop comic accessable to the ravening hordes of new readers that are supposedly out there. Which may be the plan but whats being done to implement it? Anyway, he obviously works fast and draws in ink or inks his own work as there was no inker credited this issue. Im assuming hes young and his faces and panel layouts will get better and Im hoping that as the book gets back on schedule he slows down and puts more time into the composition of the individual pages.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
19:08 / 22.12.01
Actually, Igor Kordey is in his mid-40s and has been drawing European comics and other non-comics illustration assignments for quite a while now.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
18:27 / 23.12.01
The art was very poor. Has anyone explained to this man what the Phoenix is supposed to be, wrt red-headed telepaths? (although on that point I'd just like to say; why are we going through this 'is someone the Phoenix' storyline again?)
 
 
Analogues On
21:35 / 23.12.01
#120 was fine – not to the extent that it was reeeaaaally great, but there were some good scenes (cutting off Cyke’s head? Right on!), some great one-liners (“Only reason I ain’t kicked your butt this far’s cause it wobbles too much to keep track of.” ) and some nice background characterisation (Irina and Emma’s girls again).

As a story arc, I enjoyed Germ Free Generation, which, as PATricky has said;"sort of functioned to highlite an individual mutant in each issue... similar to how the covers are done."
To me Grant is re-aligning his resources and giving each character a little space to develop to his motives and tastes before they head into the Shiar story. I would say that things are going to have to shift up a few gears very quickly - and Hank, Wolvie, Jean and Emma (as well as Angel, Beak and The Cuckoos) are really coming together in prepartaion for it. I also like the fact that Cyke is almost a secondary character – he hasn’t done anything worthwhile in a number of issues and I get the feeling that Grant may be planning to dispose of him (or at least continue to make a fool of him)

For me, this issue kind of drew these threads together, but kept the humour and humanity to the fore.


On the down-side I felt that some of the pacing this issue was a little stilted and that the art was somewhat inconsistent – some good details in certain panels but a little too busy at other times. It also felt like I was missing something central at key points in the action:

The Phoenix scene was definitely flat when it should have been rockin’, and the U-Men came across as more Ant Hill Mob than The Reavers (I loved Jean’s peristaltic TK attack though.)

Emma versus Sublime was a complete shambles, badly written, poorly executed and a tad confusing. This key scene was decidedly un-dramatic and unsatisfying (though I still love Emma’s whole X-thang goin’ on).

quote: what I didn't like:
John Sublime wares a hair piece!!! much to cliched

I actually liked the toupee detail as it fits into Sublime’s Augmented Human mindset, although I can’t understand how someone whose private army have mutant eye implants and blood transfusions can’t get a decent hair graft. Maybe he was waiting for the Beast to re-cover for a nice blue rinse. It might also explain why he referred to Wolvie as “the hairy one”.

[ 24-12-2001: Message edited by: RedRunningLord ]
 
 
The Natural Way
11:37 / 24.12.01
I don't agree with the whole "the U-Men should have been haaarder" thing. They're only there to make Jean look hardcore....to reintroduce the Phoenix. I don't know anyone that expected them to be any real threat.

And what on earth was confusing about the Emma and Sublime scene?

Didn't get the flaw=nose job thing initially. Thanks Flux.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
16:36 / 25.12.01
I am hoping the U-men do become a real threat.

I've always been taken with mankind's survival instincts.

other stuff:

gotta say grants always been a bit scooby doo in his escape sequences. Where it worked in the Invisibles for various reasons, in the x-men it all seems rather run of the mill. Captured superheores, who are left unattended for just enough time to make a gettaway escape. Yeah Baby! Groovy.

This did not happen in Zenith. Where shit really did happen to the good guys. yesss.

I have had a premonition that Grants run on the X-men will leave him very unhappy.


  
 
Matthew Fluxington
16:44 / 25.12.01
I'm wondering what makes you think it will end up making him unhappy? He has had no editorial interference, and it seems unlikely that he will by the time his run is up...he's planned out three years, it's doubtful he'll stick around much longer than that.

If anything, he may end up disillusioned about what ACTUALLY happens after you make the X-Men 'cool' rather than the best-case-scenario he's always talking about.
 
 
bio k9
05:18 / 26.12.01
I think its the fans that will be unhappy due to inflated expectations. The stories have been pretty good so far but the artistic changes and blown ship dates have got everyone here bitching (I don't frequent any other comic boards or know anyone IRL that reads comics so this is the limit of my experince on the subject.) It seems to me that the X fans will bitch if the book changes too much (and fuck'em, it needed to change) and the Morrison fans will bitch because its the X Men and not the Invisibles or Doom Patrol. Even Moores run on Wildcats caught flack because its not Watchmen. Grant can't win. Especially since the art troubles aren't his fault.

[ 26-12-2001: Message edited by: Bio K to the Nizzine ]
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
08:54 / 26.12.01
moore's run on Wildcats was pretty damn good before it got caught up in that crossover shite.


flux: just stirring shit with the 'unhappy' comment but I get strange vibes off the title.

Sometimes I think, yeah, this is cool, fun, light and layered, deep and daft, sexy and violent, trash and polished chrome....other times I think, why I am still slavishly buying crap by this chap?

I wonder if grant's intimidated by the fluidity of x-force. (yes, I was once one of Ho Garden's puppetmasters) It's branding is soooo much stronger and grant is big on brands, sigils etc. There's more soap in force, more sex in force, more space oddities (doop!) in force, better art in force, better dialogue too.

I think I'm too aware of Morrison in this title, whereas Milligan is Invisible.

And it's not over-familiarity with Morrison cos I wank across Milligan's splash pages too.

Morrison is loosing it. He needs a new flesh eating bug up his jaw or to split with his chick or something.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
17:39 / 26.12.01
I don't know. I'm enjoying New X-Men a LOT. And I think a lot of it is precisely because I've known the X-Men for sooooooooo long, and I love seeing the comic done really well, made exciting and interesting for the first time (outside of Joe Kelly's brief run around 1997) in a long, long time. I think Grant is doing a great job, and there's enough Grantiness in it to get my fill of that sort of thing. I think that New X-Men is superior to The Invisibles, if just because it has better characters, I really enjoy his Henry McCoy, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, and Scott Summers. I did not like any of those characters prior to him writing The X-Men, so it's not to do with me having any attachment to those characters beforehand. The Invisibles is more interesting, but less engaging.

Neither Invisibles or New X-Men (or anything else the man has done besides Kill Your Boyfriend) meets the level of quality of Doom Patrol. I got over the fact that there will never be another Doom Patrol a long time ago. At least Invisibles fans can be happy that everything Grant has done SINCE The Invisibles sorta feels the same way, and rehashes a lot of the same ideas. Grant hasn't even attempted to anything remotely like DP since...actually, NXM is probably the closest we'll get.

One thing, though: Is it just me, or is the presence of Wolverine in New X-Men almost entirely irrelevant? His presence in the storylines is mostly to be the guy who does the physical action stuff, but that's about it.
 
 
bio k9
18:31 / 26.12.01
I think Grant's Wolverine is one of the best things about the book. Hes a complete bad ass and he doesn't have to show it because, well, he's a complete bad ass. None of that "I'm the best at what I do" shit. He doesn't give himself shoutouts because he knows hes the motherfucking man. L to the izzo, G to the izzan? Fuck all that. And hopefully the blind rage, kill everything shit will stay off panel as well. Wolverines much cooler when hes in control of his killing, gutting enemies because hes decided they're evil and deserve to die rather than killing them because hes angry and can't control himself.

[ 26-12-2001: Message edited by: B i o K - 9 ]
 
 
bio k9
18:45 / 26.12.01
And what kind of role would a person like Wolverine have at a school anyway? Campus security? His entire existance is to be the guy who does the physical action stuff. And keep an eye on the lolitas.
 
  

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