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Underground > Comic Books >

New X-Men #133

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Matthew Fluxington

12:50 / 09.07.02

Here's the cover for 133, drawn by Frank Quitely. According to Newsarama, the new Afghani mutant Dust will make her first appearance. The issue will be illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver.

According to the Newsarama article, this is the updated artist schedule for New X-Men. Note that Igor's final issue will be July's #129, and he will not be on for #130, as originally planned.

129 Igor Kordey
130 John Paul Leon
131 Phil Jiminez
132 Phil Jiminez
133 Ethan Van Sciver
134 Ethan Van Sciver
135 Frank Quitely
136 Frank Quitely
137 Frank Quitely
138 Frank Quitely
139 Frank Quitely

It is really nice to see Frank's name so many times in a row, eh?

13:02 / 09.07.02

Anyone want to comment on the rumors that the current Marvel universe will end with NEW X MEN 150, with everything rebooted as an Ultimate book?

The Natural Way

14:39 / 09.07.02

I've heard stuff along those lines, but never tied into NXM. I like.

Seem's I was wrong about Fantomex being the "Human Bomb"-style mutie. Well, you can't blame me....he does have that whole bomb thing goin' on and he did appear round about the same time Grant said....etc.

The Natural Way

14:55 / 09.07.02

Oh, and re one more ish of Kordey Filth: Yippee.

16:05 / 09.07.02

I too have heard about the rumors, and yes, even the rumors that NXM #150 could possibly be the last issue of the title, with the story leading into the Ultimatization of the MU. A move which I am vehemently AGAINST!!!!

03:12 / 10.07.02

I don't see that happening. Unless I'm mistaken, New X-Men continuously outsells Ultimate X-Men and as we all know, Marvel wants the $$$$ more than anything else. Besides, I think it would be foolish to destroy the line of comics in favor of a comic sprung from them.

03:32 / 10.07.02

Remember a little comics line Marvel had called 2099?

Me either.

The Natural Way

07:45 / 10.07.02

Yes. That's a good comparison.

Not.

11:50 / 10.07.02

The 2099 line had about three interesting titles just like the Ultimate line. It had big sales and even toys and shit. It died as soon as its writers and editors lost interest. It remains to be seen if this is the way it will go with the Ultimate line but just because Bendis and Millar have written a handfull of good comics over the past two years does not make this shit a permanent sure fire classic. It could just as easily be a bump in the road of comic's history. The biggest thing the Ultimates line has going for it right now is that Spider-Man movie making it easier for the Spidey TPB's to get attention.

Matthew Fluxington

12:37 / 10.07.02

I don't think the Ultimate line is analogous to the 2099 line. But this isn't the thread to discuss this topic - this is the topic for New X-Men 133. There's a whole other thread about Ultimate Marvel for this discussion.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:31 / 10.07.02

Couple of interesting things about that cover:

- I really like the fact that the latest couple of Quitely covers have been really design-based - moving on from the character portraits we've had so far (which worked when Quitely did them, but were *very* hit and miss with Van Schiver at the helm - that last one could have been any old superhero title, and what happened to the far superior Ariel Olivetti version that was previewed?). This one especially doesn't rely on the usual Quitely hallmarks - it's the idea behind the image that's important. Long may the move towards unembarassing comic covers continue...

- Who or what is that reflected in her eyes? Logan?

- I wonder what Edward Said would make of it...

yawn - thing's buddy

18:35 / 10.07.02

that is a very good cover.

that said, in retrospect I now love the hardcore 'wolvie takes it up the jaksi' wrapped mag cover.

worst cover? 'pink titwad emma's an ugly fudgebox' cover - which I liked at the time.

man I'm bored.

Matthew Fluxington

21:54 / 10.07.02

Miscellaneous NXM news:

The entire first year of New X-Men, 114-126 (plus the annual), will be released in a hardcover collection in September. Click for more info. Sounds great. I might get this and give away my single issues...

22:07 / 10.07.02

Beast in the reflection, I think.

With foot-long claws?

00:02 / 04.10.02

Muthafuckaaaaas!

check the following:

1 2 3 4 5

And do not say I am not good to you. Yes, I had to go to REAL comic sites to find this...

DIRTY BIG

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

Oh, look it's Storm Shadow/Fantomex!

And there's Wolverine! He's a mass-murderer! You may have forgotten this!

And the debut of Muslim mutant Dust - whoosh!

Matthew Fluxington

02:34 / 04.10.02

Wow. Ethan has gotten a lot better, really fast. Dropping all the excessive cross-hatching was a very good move. The figures look a lot more natural, and the action looks a lot smoother. Looking good.

yawn - thing's buddy

09:08 / 04.10.02

(PUNCHING FIST INTO AIR) Sciver! Sciver! Sciver! Sciver!

23:11 / 05.10.02

Ethan's work is also, and I seem to be saying this a lot recently - I think, improved by better colouring. McCaig improved Kordey immeasurably, and Chris Chuckry (currently the man in the hotseat) seems pretty adept in adjusting his styles.

01:08 / 17.10.02

Yeah, so I got it. Woo-wee!

As you say, Ethan's work is showing dramatic improvement.

It's a real roller-coaster with terrorist slavers! lycanthropic scottswomen! doomed planes about to explode being saved by phoenix! the sh'i'ar empire! mass murdering teenage girls with low self esteem! mutant finding machines! heartbreak! betrayal! poor continuity! and some guy name wolverine who gets antsy.

Yet another amazing X-Men comic from the mind of Chris Clarem--

I mean, Grant Morrison.

-Jesse

01:49 / 17.10.02

Heh.

Annnd... no more Ethan. He told posters at 'Van Sciver's Vault' on X-Fan that he, quote, "loved them all." Which is about the sweetest thing ever. Gives me misty eyes, pet.

Ahem.

Is there more Claremontiness to be found, eh? For all his blethers about getting Claremont out of his system in year one, Grant seems to have discovered the 'I am Claremont in the 80's' voice for his last two issues at least.

Ethan Van Sciver

01:59 / 17.10.02

I didn't say that I loved them all, I said "I love you guys" which excludes some people. They know who they are. Some people I loathe, but I didn't want to say, "I love a portion of you, the rest of you can die." I got some nice messages from fans and stuff. It makes things a little better.
Just to clarify.

Ethan Van Sciver

04:41 / 17.10.02

Sorry, Ethan, didn't mean to misquote; it was still a very nice thing to do.

Matthew Fluxington

05:23 / 17.10.02

Odd issue, I think. I can't help but feel that this and the past few issues have been intentionally treading water til Frank comes back in December, biding time planting some important things that will become more significant later on. Surely I'm not alone in finding the whole Fantomex/Weapon Plus thing not compelling in the slightest?

I'm really tired of seeing the bargain basement 90s reject characters trotted out as part of the X-Corporation, it seems like a blatant concession to the fanboy element, and they are little more than those guys in the red shirts on Star Trek. Make them all go away, please? Wasn't part of the idea behind pushing the franchise foward getting rid of all the dead weight characters? I feel sort of cheated, cos we haven't seen most of the cast since May, with the exception of #131. I miss Henry and Xorn. I miss Scott and Emma. I am bored with Jean and Charles.

At least Wolverine fans got some action, this is the first time since the first two issues of Grant's run in which Logan has done much of anything. Ethan's art was pretty good, he's improving pretty quickly. There were some pages/panels that didn't work for me (Wolverine on the top of the page where he enters the tent and sees Fantomex, and the page with Feral, Warpath, and Thornn leaping up or plummeting or whatever might be happening there), but overall it's a big leap foward from the last issue he drew. It's good to see less superfluous cross-hatching and extreme angles. The airplane scene was very well illustrated, in particular.

Oh, almost forgot - I thought the whole Lilandra-tries-to-assassinate-Charles scene to be a bit much, and it just kind of came from nowhere. I know Grant wanted to shoehorn the Shi'ar into the issue for that last page, but surely it could've been handled a bit better than that.

Since the letter column says next issue is the "prelude" to Riot At Xavier's, maybe we can look foward to having the plot move foward a bit more next month. This is getting really tedious.

05:56 / 17.10.02

Actually, I think I can sum up your three rather large posts with one word: crap!

This isn't going to make sense when the moderators fix your triple posting, damn!

The Natural Way

11:05 / 17.10.02

Thing is, Flux, I think the last storyline deals w/ the storming of the Weapon Plus program and The World (whatever that is - the jury's still out), so you'd better get into that stuff. It'll hot up closer to the time.

Funny ish. On the one hand, I dug it (don't I always); on the other, I think the artist shuffling is really taking its toll on the book. Yeah, yeah it's constantly MUTATING...groovy, but there's no core, no centre and, dagnabbit, I want one! The Shi'ar are a bunch of stupid cocks fr an enlightened space race (which just doesn't sit too well with me) and why introduce the "rescue mission" idea only to trash it a couple of issues later (just occurs to me: that ish was set almost entirely in the sky! Wonder what made Grant go all airy? Really like that ish....)? Seems like Grant's head is dancing all over the place sometimes. Settle down, lad! And Cassandra as mad, guru-killing, gunman.. Hmmm... "Hands" again: On the one hand it's a great, funny idea; on the other....surely she can't have just upped and disappeared from the Xavier institute without anyone - Shi'ar or X Man - noticing? Can she? It's the kind of continuity stuff that, in the grand scheme of things, I couldn't give a fuck about, but right now...rgghgh..don't like it.

And I'm a bit bored of Telepathic therapy - surely mutants can affect the stupidity and violence of the human world in other ways?

But I've only read it once: I'll love it by tomorrow.

Still, X-Statix is rockin' harder for me, right now.

Matthew Fluxington

12:40 / 17.10.02

The Weapon Plus story is the one that directly follows Riot At Xavier's, based on what Grant says on his website. It's Jiminez's first storyline.

The Natural Way

15:05 / 17.10.02

Aaah, so it's the 2nd to last story arc. Personally, I'm looking forward to it. Should be weird.

Matthew Fluxington

15:42 / 17.10.02

Um, it's not the second-to-last either. Grant's not stopping at 150. That was just a rumor.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

16:08 / 17.10.02

as is the rumor of the 'Umtimization' I thiunk it was Steven Grant or someone who had a convincing argument that it was rumor put out to get people talking about Marvel and how much they like the regular Marvel Universe.

But where did you hear the issue 150 thing was a false rumor (which I'm very happy to hear if it's true and he''l be going past it!). The story I heard was that after 150 GM was going to Avatar or sommat and reprinting Big Dave.

Matthew Fluxington

16:20 / 17.10.02

Well, mostly cos Grant's mentioned in a few interviews that he's got over three years worth of stories, and 150 is roughly only the end of the third year. It seems more likely that Grant will leave somewhere in the 160s, but I don't know that for sure. People only got the "150 is the last issue" thing in their heads because of that rumor that Bill Jemas planted to get fanboys paranoid about "Ultimate-ization", which is never going to happen.

17:45 / 17.10.02

I just want to say that, for all I prefer Quitely, I did still feel a stupid flutter of fanboy-ish privilege to have Ethan posting here on our li'l ol' board.

'It's him! He draws the X-men! He's talking to us!'

vv2.0=Brody from Mallrats. FACT.

20:47 / 17.10.02

I liked the issue... Sort of all over the place.

I liked seeing all those second string X-rejects finding a place in the world... Their Bollywood style costumes and all... it makes for an amuzing contrast with Jean & Charles.

Loved her Phoenix shirt as well!!!

also dug the fact that they used India Air & Kasmeir... as oppossed to say... Bliraniqstan or whatever.

Liked Wolverine's "huh" to being called James, as well as the lopping off of the gun hand bit... especially with that 007 ad on the opposite page almost the same gun even

Lilindra's assassination attempt was a bit "sh(l)ock" especially since this is the first time we've seen her since Imperial. The Phoenix has hatxhed was pleasingly curious but the sudden "we don't want your relief workers anymore" bit was awkward.

ETHAN... GREAT ART!!!

and Wolverine speaks Farci (or Afgani language) as well...

Ethan Van Sciver

20:58 / 17.10.02

I just got and read the book. I dunno. S'alright, but not my best artwork, like I thought it was. Grant is great with dialogue, especially when he makes a joke out of something I did that he didn't like. (This time, I think he didn't like Thornn and Feral wearing spandex under the X-men jackets they wore, so he made it a gag; Bollywood spangles, etc.) What I did like though was the advertisement for 'ecko unltd' that featured the guy from Linkin Park, who I used as a model for the kid at the beginning of Germ Free Gen. I liked him better with an entry wound in his forehead.

That's all.
-Ethan V.

21:45 / 17.10.02

This issue, like a lot of the issues since the end of the Imperial arc, felt like a bit of a filler issue to me. I'd have to agree with Flux in that I sometimes feel like the whole comic has been on pause until Frank Quitely comes back (only one issue to go- YAY!).

That said, I am really looking forward to the next few issues, cos I think that this book works really well when Morrison goes for the full-on soapy character interaction between Emma/Scott/Xorn/Beast and I really like the school as a setting for X-Men stories... there's just something so perfect about it.

I thought the art looked much improved and very shiny this issue, so well done Ethan.

Matthew Fluxington

22:26 / 17.10.02

Ethan, who's idea was it to use those particular X-Corporation characters? Feral seems like an odd choice to pull out, and I don't even think I've ever seen Thornn before. I thought she was Wolfsbane from the New Mutants til it said otherwise.

How much hair gel do you reckon Feral goes through in a week?

Your Jean Grey looks a lot better with straight hair, by the way.

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