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 >

New X-Men #123

  
  

Page: (1)2

 
 
Burning Man
00:58 / 22.02.02
I got to check out an advance copy in the Comic Store this evening. It was excellent, and the story blasts forward with much as revelation and surprise as character development. To the point Emma's Girls.

Did someone here give them the name Stepford Cukoos? Thats their "mutant name" Too funny! It seems they are a collective supergenius, but one of them falls in love and it subtracts from the rest of the them rendering them to the mere status of "highly intellegent blondes."

We also discover what the mystery flu is, but to be honest, I don't want to blow it for you...yeah I do

With apologies, this is my first super-fan boy spoiler first on the scene thingy.

They are Nano-Sentinels attacking Mutant Bodies! Not the first time I'd seen such things (Kurt Vonnegut's "Slapstick" wherein a superflu that wipes out most of the world is really billions of microscopic Chinese), but to give Grant credit-I still find it super cool, and much more sinister than gigantic Godzilla Sentinels. Apparently they are also sweeping the Galaxy.

Jean gives a nifty psychic press conference, and again begins to flame up.

Lots of words this issue, I really didn't catch them all as I had other things to do that night. It's a shame I wont actually get my copy for 3 weeks as I'm going on an international vacation. I hope you guys get more out of your first viewing than I did.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
01:32 / 22.02.02
Wow, it's coming out next week? That's fabulous.

s
p
o
i
l
e
r
s
I'm actually pretty glad that I read those spoilers, I'm even more excited for it, and that's a brilliant idea that I feel as though I should have thought of...

Re: the Stepford Cuckoos - I seem to remember Grant calling them that in an interview. But I can't remember which one...
 
 
The Natural Way
06:39 / 22.02.02
Happy Runssssssss.
 
 
bio k9
06:43 / 22.02.02
Didn't read your post cus I hate spoilers but I just wanted you to know that I hate you.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
06:54 / 22.02.02
About the tinybots fogging the bloodstream:

Yawn posted this yonks ago in the 1234 thread:

Final Point – Morrison has been using very large robots recently – (xmen, 1234) – could they be seen as a symbols of old centralised power structures lumbering violently to the end of their lisfespans? The small units of cell-like teams – Invisies, Xmen, the FF as symbols of a mercurial, eccentric, organisations, also known as the future?

Yawn wants to feel smug this morning and feels that the above 'qwo-tih' has some relevance.

yawn goes now.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
07:03 / 22.02.02
There's now previews of the cover and first three pages online...
 
 
The Natural Way
07:10 / 22.02.02
Just trying to work out if I think the cover's rubbish....
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
08:03 / 22.02.02
It's a bit "Russell Crowe".

Anyway, there are some more pages at PopCultureShock.com...

SPOILERS, obviously.

"I can see I shall have to take you in hand." (ahem)

"Monster? She practically has a beard!"

"How 'bout mutant bartenders?"

Cyclops really is a bit shit, isn't he?
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
08:22 / 22.02.02
that cover - oh god oh man o god oh man oh god o man!

real bad. reaaaaaallllllll bad.

I'd like the xmen covers to be separate entities in a positive way. Not necessarily like the invissy stuff, but at least imbued with their own structure, narrative, mysteries etc. rather than the centre page pull out poster guff they've been so far.

the infrastructure round this title is appaling. The surface mechanics should be re-engineered (woah, slow down yawn, you ****) - you know what I mean? I feel you've got to dive through an ocean of shit to get yer mitts on these morrison pearls. It simply is not bloody good enuff.

I like this title but its wrapped in so much wank.

Arghhhhhhh!!!!!!!
 
 
The Natural Way
08:22 / 22.02.02
I'd like the xmen covers to be separate entities in a positive way. Not necessarily like the invissy stuff, but at least imbued with their own structure, narrative, mysteries etc. rather than the centre page pull out poster guff they've been so far.

Word.

But, as for the other stuff...I'm not sure what you mean. That preview's got me all excited in the notsex way.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
08:22 / 22.02.02
spose what I'm saying is that I don't feel its product management is up to scratch. yknow, confusion over artists, missed deadlines, lack of graphic continuity, missed opportunities concerning advertising, paper stock etc. Grant has done the biz as far as revamping the xmen concept is concerned but marvel don't seem to be matching that in their management. It still feels like a lazy marvel to me: 'xmen will sell anyway, so we'll not bother to re-invent our sales techniques.'

I could go on (I'm sure flux equals has offered up some good advice on these matters) - would it really prove fatal to Marvel if they dumped al the terrible ads at the back of the as in ABC titles?

blah moan fidget puke.

[ 22-02-2002: Message edited by: yawn ]
 
 
The Natural Way
10:08 / 22.02.02
No, no yr right - not whingeing at all. They are big prats. I mean, it's not as though we're demanding much here. Re the artists thing: I wouldn't mind if each artist did a story arc, but all this mucking about mid-continuity is really annoying.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:31 / 22.02.02
Well, I don't think the cover is all that awful, but I must say: wow, that really looks like Wolverine is being brutally sodomized, doesn't it?

Anyway, Ethan's art has improved greatly.

What's with Emma's nose bandage? She didn't have one in the last two issues...

[ 22-02-2002: Message edited by: Flux = Triangle Body Mode ]
 
 
The Natural Way
11:41 / 22.02.02
Personally, I really don't dislike Ethan's stuff. It's not amazing or anything, but it pees on Kordey's nonsense.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:52 / 22.02.02
Well, from the start I thought Ethan had a lot of potential, but was making too many unnecessary lines on his pages, and had too many awkward drawings mixed up with good ones. I think that in a few years, he'll be really great, because he's got a lot going for him.

I was looking at some recent issues of Cable that Igor Kordey did, and I liked his art in that comic a lot more than his two NXM issues, I would like to think that those issues looked that way because they were rushed, and not because that was the best that he could do. Some of the Cable stuff is actually pretty good.
 
 
The Natural Way
13:08 / 22.02.02
Yeah, I know. I don't hate all Kordey's stuff, either.

Just his X stuff.

Shame.
 
 
Ganesh
13:53 / 22.02.02
Van Sciver (and I don't know if that's the proper spelling but can't be arsed to check) has definitely improved. Quite like the cover too, in an overtly homoerotic sort of way.
 
 
H3ct0r L1m4
14:04 / 22.02.02
-- "How 'bout mutant bartenders?" --

That was Morrison at he bar, wasn't it?

Sciver is indeed improving a lot (still has a problem with facial expressions and some anatomy). Kordey is doing NXM in a rush, that's my problem with it. Found the cover ugly too, as far as I enjoy the artists' work.

I don't get one thing: Quitely was able to put Authority art (with an inker) almost for a year with just one fill-in issue. It was erratically put out because of his irregular schedule, but can't he keep it up now?

Okay, he does amazingly impressive visuals; I'm a huge fan. But Hell, the guy starts a 'dream gig' with a very fine pay only to screw it up?

Just clearing: I don't think comic creators own me something as a lot of fanboys do. This is just work-schedule commentary. Replace 'Quitely' for any name you want from your office.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
14:19 / 22.02.02
Well, in all fairness those first four issues of The Authority that Frank did were very below-par, very rushed and not nearly the calibre of work that he did before that on Flex Mentallo, or now on New X-Men. I would much prefer Frank to work at his own pace and produce the quality of work that we see in 121 and 122, and get it every few months than settle for him doing hackwork.

Quality takes time, usually - I don't know if you have any experience drawing, but it's not as easy as you (and other people) may think it is - and people's speed with production is not always a reflection of a poor work ethic and discipline. I would wager that Frank Quitely spends as much time working at the drawing board as a guy who is twice as fast and just as good as him, like Mike Allred or John Romita Jr., but the techniques may be radically different.

I think that if anything is clear about Frank's art, he is very detail-oriented and thinks the pages out very carefully and thoughtfully. I would bet that he does a few drafts of each page before proceeding to the final products.

[ 22-02-2002: Message edited by: Flux = Triangle Body Mode ]
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
06:14 / 23.02.02
Eeek, not keen on that cover in a
"but I've never even read the X-Men!"
"It's alright, I'll describe what he looks like down the phone and you draw from that okay?"
kind of way.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
09:59 / 28.02.02
Nano-sentinels, indeed. Now that's what I'm talking about.

And from the little known series, The Invisibles: "We are the Stepford Wives. We are the Midwitch Cuckoos." Just in case it sounded familiar.
Arthur Sudnam
 
 
bio k9
09:59 / 28.02.02
Man, that cover is crap. Anyone at Marvel ever see a book cover, record cover, movie poster or concert flyer? They sell books full of that kind of stuff, you can buy one and crib from that if youre too lazy to go to design school. Fucking horrid.

Is it time to take The Towers off of the covers yet?

I wonder how much say GM has over who does the art.

I wonder why Emma looks like shes about to put her hand down the front of her pants on the page in the middle of the issue. Breasts popping out of her top, hair flowing in the wind (or fanned out on the bed), eyes half closed, tight leather pants..."Come and get it, fanboy." Yuck.

I wonder what Jae Lee is doing.

I wonder how theyre going to get rid of the nanosentinels. Xorn? Maybe. I just hope its not something stupid like having Beast reprogram them.

And how about that Jack and Jill ad? Jesus.
 
 
The Natural Way
10:35 / 28.02.02
Hey, and all he can do is moan.....

Yeah, the cover is crap.

And stuff about tits, etc.

BUT.

I really enjoyed this ish. Again w/ the totally fresh vibe - he really is approaching this book like a TV series. And the Shi'ar are fucking aliens! Great - the first writer to actually make me feel the "they came from outer space" vibe. Yr right, Shi'ar naysayers, they don't *fit* neatly into the X thing. And they bloody well shouldn't - they're a space empire, for God's sake. Lethal, weird and "what the hell can that guy over there do?!?". I love the way Grant refuses to define "superpowers". That's for anal retentives.

Scuff.... That's it, strange, definitely not human...thing, bend about and make me feel a bit sick.

And Jean's address: fab. Those journalists had a scary, wicked, rollercoaster time. See, for me, this is the best thing about NXM - the way Grant gets me thinking "Wow. Mutants." You could actually feel the presspeople's sense of, err...revelation crackling off the page.

My little brother will love this'n.

[ 28-02-2002: Message edited by: You and Runce ]
 
 
kid coagulant
11:56 / 28.02.02
Yeah, I liked this one too. First time the term 'x-gene positive' has been used, isn't it?

And I'm pretty sure morrison got the whole midwich/stepford cuckoo thing from John Wyndham, who wrote a book called 'the midwich cuckoos':
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/books/n637_1.htm?authorid=3210

Inspired the films 'the village of the damned', and 'the bloodening'...
 
 
Captain Zoom
14:40 / 28.02.02
Nano-sentinels gave me goosebumps.

Zoom.
 
 
Sandfarmer
19:32 / 28.02.02
Spoilers of course...

Good...

The Stepford Cukoos and the mutant teen angst.

Emma Frost. Everything she says is golden.

Bad:

Story- It just feels so out of place. I expected so much more after the cow ending of the last issue and really all we get here is exposition about Charlie's mutant/human utopia.

Art- Van Sciver draws pretty pictures but his layouts are horrible. He draws a lot like Phil Jiminez but could learn a lot from Phil on how to lay a page out. And the backgrounds are just too much. Its a distracting mess. I'd rather this thing only come out six times a year than have another issue without Quitley. Sciver's art would probably work better in a fantasy comic or some other comic I don't read.

The cover- Wretched. I almost did not notice the comic on the rack because it looked so bad. I knew New X-Men came out this week so I kept looking and finally realized that the crappy looking cover was the New X-Men issue. I expected something bold and dynamic in the New X-Men and instead we get something that looks like it was borrowed from any random 90's issue of Wolverine.

Nano-Sentinels. Maybe its just me, but the whole idea just turns my stomach. I'm so fucking tired of nano-everything. Grant already wore out nano-crap on JLA and then Mark Waid and a dozen or so other guys ran it into the ground. Hell, Destro and Cobra Commander are using nano-virus crap in the new GI Joe comic. I'm also sick of crap that looks like it came from the Alien films.

I hate to say it but, for me, the bad outweighs the good in this issue.
 
 
Sandfarmer
19:44 / 28.02.02
quote:I wonder why Emma looks like shes about to put her hand down the front of her pants on the page in the middle of the issue. Breasts popping out of her top, hair flowing in the wind (or fanned out on the bed), eyes half closed, tight leather pants..."Come and get it, fanboy." Yuck.

Yes! I had to read that page three times just to figure out what the fuck is going on. In the page Grant wrote, A woman makes a disparaging remark towards Beast and Emma gets mad and defends him. In the page Sciver drew, Emma has an orgasam for no fucking reason and suddenly is 30 stories tall. Look at the poor guy trapped in her 20 foot tall crotch for fuck's sake! Look at the money shot porn lips on Jean at the bottom of the page. That page is bad 90's Marvel in a nutshell.
 
 
The Natural Way
06:47 / 01.03.02
....It just feels so out of place. I expected so much more after the cow ending of the last issue and really all we get here is exposition about Charlie's mutant/human utopia....blah

Worked for me: I'd been waiting for that press conference for ages.... and it suits the "every issue will be different" vibe. I really don't know what everyone's moaning about. Yeah, Emma and tits, but that shouldn't mar the whole fucking reading experience. This ish was absolutely full of good ideas and imagination, and it was so....full - I just don't get the moaning.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
07:02 / 01.03.02
this was the perfect 'channel 5' episode - right down to wolvie pulling up on his motorbike and spouting corn.

and the van driver did all right.

Ho Garden told me he reckons WIldcats by Alan Moore has somehow worked its way into Grants consciousness.

I told Ho Garden to keep his thoughts to himself.
 
 
The Natural Way
07:02 / 01.03.02
Flux, or someone, get down here and be nice about this ish, please.....
 
 
sleazenation
07:02 / 01.03.02
I thought it was fun. read it on the tube on my way home last night.
 
 
Mikaël
07:02 / 01.03.02
quote:Originally posted by You and Runce:
Flux, or someone, get down here and be nice about this ish, please.....

I'm sure this issue is great!! I'll read it the next year!

Really!!
 
 
The Natural Way
10:00 / 01.03.02
That's the spirit.

[ 01-03-2002: Message edited by: You and Runce ]
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
10:49 / 01.03.02
I really enjoyed it. Thought it seemed quite 'new' for grant. His soap opera style is really beginning to develop. I'm interested to see how he can hone this style of scripting.

I love the coss pollination with the matrix, not to mention the huge anvil of popular culture on to which grant bashes some new metal into existence.

When HoGarden mentioned Wildcats I took it to meen the large cast of superfreaks involved in pop/space/soap opera situations.

There's a truly brilliant and ultimately utterly cheesy moment in this ish that I really dug - it was the cut to the weird tiger mutant thing spinning in the air - this synched with ragged robin (sic) describing the mutant wonderland to the visiting journo's.

It was pure pop trash class and a good example of grant's new hyper-chime rhythms.

See also: this weeks two thousand ad for possibly the last zenith ever.

Ghafflebette!
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
11:52 / 01.03.02
Well, the thing I noticed about the mainstream superhero comics that I bought this week (The Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men, New X-Men) is that nothing really happens except for chatting - I'm not sure how they expect kids to like this stuff. My little brother, he's 14, he usually looks at my superhero comics - he got all excited looking at the new Mega Man/manga style Iron Man on the cover of the Ultimates and was pissed that Iron Man was only on three pages and the rest was people chatting about how things will eventually happen in the comic. Now, I understand and appreciate what Mark Millar is doing, but it just so happens that my little brother is exactly the demographic that they are going after with the Ultimate line, and they've already put him off. What are they thinking? Sames goes for Ultimate X-Men...

Anyway, my brother made a good point about why this issue of New X-Men was different from those two comics: the whole issue had that nervous intensity about it, they all knew that the Shi'Ar were coming, they all knew everything was going wrong, but they didn't know when and how, and neither did the reader. Usually in comics when the villains suddenly appear at the end, it's no big deal, but Grant managed to make the Imperial Guard a spectacle by contrast. Good job, I think.

The issue really felt like an individual episode rather than IMPERIAL PART TWO. I think this is great, it's better for people just trying the comic out, and it's just a nice way of saying "see? this isn't much different from ER/Buffy/Gilmore Girls/Boston Public etc". The huge cliffhanger at the ends of the past few issues have been very, very effective too... Contrast this approach with Germ Free Generation - already a vast improvement.

I also quite enjoy that with the Shi'Ar, the nano-sentinels, Xavier nearly senile and dead, and Cassandra on her way; I have no clue how they will get out of this. I can't even come up with a theory, other than that maybe they'll have another reverse switcheroo and Cassie will get stuck in the dying body - and maybe Xorn will fix the nano problem.

The art wasn't so great, but wasn't so bad, either. The things I didn't care for are things none of you are mentioning - the way Ethan's facial upshots always looks so wrong, the way how on that one page the entire left hand side of the page is taken up by an unnecessary large picture of Logan's motorcycle, or on the page when Henry discovers the nanos, there is an awkward panel where Jean suddenly has a finger under her nose. I know that she's wiping her nose cos she has a cold, but that's just so poorly drawn --- Ethan really needs to learn basic composition. I like the way that he is able to draw backgrounds, but he must be the very first comic artist I've ever encountered who draws better backgrounds and vehicles than humans. That's just weird - he really needs to get a better grasp of it. I am quite sure that in a few years, Ethan Van Sciver could be among the best in the mainstream comics biz, but he's just not there yet.
 
  

Page: (1)2

 
  
Add Your Reply