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Underground > Comic Books >

NXM 121 (SPOILERS)

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The Natural Way

07:45 / 02.01.02

For those who haven't already viddied this stuff.....

http://www.popcultureshock.com/reviews/previews/951_2.jpg

And, hardly the kinky despoilment peeps were getting in a lather about, the "spunk sequence":
http://www.popcultureshock.com/reviews/previews/951_3.jpg

I want it today, God damn it! Sodding americans!

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Guns 'n' Runces ]

Our Lady of The Two Towers

08:15 / 02.01.02

Waaah, pics broken!

The Natural Way

08:28 / 02.01.02

They worked a minute ago....

The Natural Way

08:29 / 02.01.02

They don't seem to be working at the popcultureshock, either.

Oh bugger.

Well, read it....post....y'know, stuff...

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Guns 'n' Runces ]

08:29 / 02.01.02

Worked when I copy/pasted the link instead.

Matthew Fluxington

10:50 / 02.01.02

Yes, these people apparently exist - cut and pasted from the responses on that page:

Lemme get this straight: Jean Grey becomes the Phoenix in the last issue?!? Wow, talk about your share of illogicalities! Obviously, Morrison forgot to do his homework, poor fellow. For pete's sake, wasn't it Madelyne Pryor who took the role of the more authentic Phoenix before? I looked at that in the store the other week, and no explanation is given for how little Jean gets this current power. Please, spare us the destruction of this once great franchise and give us maybe a woman like Gail Simone to write this instead. I'm already dreading this issue.
-----------------------------------------

You're dreading this issue? I'm not even going to touch it, ugh! How DARE that disgraceful Morrison humiliate our darling Jean Grey, she of the brains, the beauty, and the sexy red hairdo! Rule number one: NEVER EVER insult a nice Jewish girl! And that's pretty much what he's doing here, the pervert. And oh, look at the cover, yuck! That is the most terrible artwork I've seen in quite awhile. No way am I going to spend money on this dud. I want Jean and Scott back together again, as the lovely couple they were up until now. Now!

In related news: I don't believe that there is any word in the English language geekier than 'retcon'.

The Natural Way

10:59 / 02.01.02

I know, I've read them too.

I also thought about cutting and pasting them.

The horror.

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Guns 'n' Runces ]

Our Lady of The Two Towers

14:24 / 02.01.02

Aaaaaah, that really has cheered me up immensely. And is the fatbeard that's whining about Maddie Pryor being the Phoenix referring to that 'X-Man' series? Cos, if he isn't then he's a double arse and an idiot...

Matthew Fluxington

14:36 / 02.01.02

and since when was Jean Grey a Jewish girl? It always seemed to me that she was from a uber-WASP family from Westchester...

Matthew Fluxington

20:38 / 02.01.02

Tt!

Comics come out on Friday this week.

The Natural Way

06:30 / 03.01.02

NO!

I'm really ill and wouldn't of bothered coming into work if I'd have known...

Aaargh! Fuck!

Why?

Matthew Fluxington

14:40 / 03.01.02

Because New Years Eve/New Years Day. The unions that ship and deliver comics had those days off, hence they are on sale Friday this week.

What does that mean for Europeans? Fuck if I know. If the import process does not depend on any unions that had these days off, I imagine you might have your comics today, as per usual. Or it may be any time between Saturday and Monday... call up your shop, ask them what's up.

14:43 / 03.01.02

Gosh of London claims it will have em on friday too (on its weekly info sheet)

Our Lady of The Two Towers

08:38 / 04.01.02

Going shopping tomorrow...

10:53 / 04.01.02

hmmm strange little issue - including the script at the back is a nice easter egg, but it does tend to suggest that the editorial powers that be didn't really have faith that the story could stand on its own without dialogue...

Robot Man Reformed

11:33 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Lozt Cause:
Aaaaaah, that really has cheered me up immensely. And is the fatbeard that's whining about Maddie Pryor being the Phoenix referring to that 'X-Man' series? Cos, if he isn't then he's a double arse and an idiot...

Exactly. Every selfrespecting comic reader knows that the Pryor Phoenix was nothing but a hoax made by the Mastermind in those nicely illustrated issues ca. Unc. X-men 176. Since I stopped reading Excalibur with issue 67, I can't figure out how these later attempts at integrating the sentient Phoenix force can fit with what Alan Davis has established, considering that I once saw a cover with the greensuited Phoenix/Grey during Joe Kellys tenure at said title.

12:38 / 04.01.02

Jean Grey's hair is in the shape of a Phoenix on page 10. Nice touch.

14:14 / 04.01.02

Okay, bought it, read it, loved it, but wanted more. Somehow, the lack of verbal dialogue made it flash by faster, leaving me unsatisfied.

Some random thoughts:

Xavier Institute sign now cleaned up (wonder who had to scrub off all the 'Mutants Out' stuff?)

Jean and Emma with their hair up - nice. Wolverine going 'casual' - even nicer.

The extraordinary 'going in' sequence with its six concentric circles - anyone else appreciate the veiled reference to King Mob's 'Barbelith' experience beneath Uluru, in the form of the enormous hollow fish buried deep? Good to see it's in the deepest chambers of Xavier's mind...

I loved the dreamlike vistas thereafter, everything loaded with significance, iconic, archetypal. Everything charged: the Tower, Jean's bridge, those strikingly eerie Cassandra-faced doors.

Nice emoticons: give the feel of being in a video simulation. Initially mistook Emma's crucufix/death symbol (presumably meaning "will be both die?") for a plus sign, but I think the death meaning is the correct one.

Jean building a bridge from what lies behind her. Wow.

The green 'alphabet gob' extruded by the Cassandra-door... is this another version of the 'liquid language' stuff Morrison explored in The Invisibles? In a later panel, when Emma's face is mired in the stuff, it mischievously spells 'P E N I S' - or, alternatively 'S P I N E'...

Something incredibly creepy about the image of Xavier/Atlas bowed, foetal, beneath the weight of his own cranium, particularly when the Tower's crumbled and he's left lying on the beach.

Bet the Marvel site's beseiged right now...

Matthew Fluxington

14:20 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by sleazenation:
hmmm strange little issue - including the script at the back is a nice easter egg, but it does tend to suggest that the editorial powers that be didn't really have faith that the story could stand on its own without dialogue...

Well, that may be true, but every single 'silent' issue has some of the plot in the back...

I really liked having it there, there's a lot of things I may not have thought about were they not pointed out to me. I also like that Grant makes so many references to other artists etc, because it will get a lot of x-fan kids to look that shit up if they don't already know it... it's a nice challenge.

It seems like for all the other Marvel silent comics, the challenge was for the people who made them, but this one seems like the challenge was for the people who read them... this is probably the single most complex issue of any superhero comic I've ever seen. I've got to read the comic a bit closer later on today... I feel like I've only scratched the surface.

I love that rule-breaking final page:
"Prffr X trd t kll hs twn sstr whl thy wr bth stll n th wmb. w ght t tlk."

Imperial is going to be a lot of fun, I think.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

14:35 / 04.01.02

I think this is actually going to be the first ish.... hang on no, actually the first comic, I've bought in ages...

Matthew Fluxington

14:37 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh v4.2:

Xavier Institute sign now cleaned up (wonder who had to scrub off all the 'Mutants Out' stuff?)
.

Probably the same guy who fixed up Emma's nose from last issue. She healed FAST. Maybe she's got a 'healing factor' too.

14:37 / 04.01.02

did you write your quote that way to preven spoilers or is that how it appears in your copy - cos mine's in standard english...

Matthew Fluxington

14:40 / 04.01.02

It was to be something of a spoiler.

I like that Ragged Robin/Primal Scream non-vowel writing, I must say...

[ 04-01-2002: Message edited by: Flux = A Brain In Psychic Peril ]

15:57 / 04.01.02

originally by Ganesh:

Initially mistook Emma's crucufix/death symbol (presumably meaning "will be both die?") for a plus sign, but I think the death meaning is the correct one.

I took it to mean "how to cross?" (? 2 t ?) to the tower.

Zoom.

[ 04-01-2002: Message edited by: Captain Zoom ]

17:38 / 04.01.02

Hadn't thought of that one, Zoom. Good point.

19:28 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by sleazenation:
hmmm strange little issue - including the script at the back is a nice easter egg, but it does tend to suggest that the editorial powers that be didn't really have faith that the story could stand on its own without dialogue...

Yeah it does seem that way. Although its fun reading where the artist and the writer diverged from each other, and where last minute changes were made (a-la Uncanny X-Men 401).

Also the full scripts are posted to:
http://www.marvel.com/comics/nuffsaid/

(The X-Men 121 script isn't up there yet ...)

[ 04-01-2002: Message edited by: rexpop ]

19:35 / 04.01.02

I found some parts of this issue ambiguous like:

In the scipt it says Emma can go no further- does that mean she can't get through the door shaped like Cassandra, or follow Jean onto the beach?

What happens to Emma when she is fighting with Cassandra's head/ door? Is she beaten or what?

And the art seemed... off on some pages, like where Emma drinks her whiskey, that entire page looks blurred. And i really don't like the way Quitely draws Cyclops, it's his face, it just don't look right.

Matthew Fluxington

20:41 / 04.01.02

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ellis Hates You All:

In the scipt it says Emma can go no further- does that mean she can't get through the door shaped like Cassandra, or follow Jean onto the beach?

I think it maybe meant that Emma was not skilled enough as a psychic to go further into the mind... or something.

And i really don't like the way Quitely draws Cyclops, it's his face, it just don't look right.

Really? Because I think that he draws the best Cyclops I've ever seen.

Still, it is odd how some folks have such trouble drawing him, he's rather easy to draw (I know from experience). Kordey and Van Sciver both draw TERRIBLE Cyclops...

22:38 / 04.01.02

yeah, no one draws murderous foetuses like Quitely.

Kordey is the worst art I've seen in a GM production, ever! don't come back igor.

23:09 / 04.01.02

quote:Originally posted by Big Talk:

Kordey is the worst art I've seen in a GM production, ever! don't come back igor.

I think with the right inker his stuff would look half decent. However by itself its too rough and scratchy.

Matthew Fluxington

00:33 / 05.01.02

For those interested in what my 13 year old brother thinks of New X-Men 121, he was quite fixated on the symbols of Charles' impotence, and actually interpreted that Jean was taking away his power in some way. In his own words "it's like the whole story is about weakness". Hm. He also noted that it was likely the first fetal battle scene ever....

04:28 / 05.01.02

I rather liked the way Frank's (or rather Vincent's) frequently misspelled last name was used in the credits. Nice touch!

11:03 / 05.01.02

quote:

In the scipt it says Emma can go no further- does that mean she can't get through the door shaped like Cassandra, or follow Jean onto the beach?

I think it maybe meant that Emma was not skilled enough as a psychic to go further into the mind... or something.

If you look at the script and the art Emma's foot is trapped in the mouth of the face, which as probably means (as you suggest) that she wasn't skilled enough to get past the defences

[ 05-01-2002: Message edited by: rexpop ]

12:34 / 05.01.02

Maybe Emma is frightened of what she will find in Xavier's psyche. Anyone notice the use of "l"'s in the script instead of apostrophes?

12:59 / 05.01.02

When first reading the comic i took the foetal sequence as charles using his power on his agressive sister in self defence. Foetuses all look alike though...

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