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Underground > Comic Books >

X-Statix #1

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Matthew Fluxington

15:08 / 13.07.02

It's coming out next week! Here's a preview.

16:12 / 13.07.02

Juicy. Allred gets better and better. Very much loving the guy with the sideways face.

And we finally get Venus Dee Milo. Juicy.

19:14 / 15.07.02

Um, anyone else notice that Phat isn't busting out of the cover? Did I miss something?

19:26 / 15.07.02

Basically Allred produced various versions of the cover for x-statix 1 to furth fuel the rumours about just which member was going to die- you've probably seen one of the dummy covers

12:03 / 16.07.02

yeah, each of the three versions of that cover had different people blasting out, including at least one unknown on each cover, and missing at least two standbys.

21:10 / 17.07.02

Hey wasn't this suppose to hit the stands today?

when's it out then!?!?!

Murray Hamhandler

23:12 / 17.07.02

I think Flux meant next week as opposed to the implicit "next new comics day", PATricky. But don't quote me on that...

Matthew Fluxington

23:32 / 17.07.02

Well, when I wrote that, I thought it was coming out today. The X-Fan site had the promo pages up with the comics coming out this week, but it's actually the week AFTER next week. I was pretty disappointed today.

00:09 / 18.07.02

Yeah... I was SOOOO ready for an X-overload!!!

Sigh . . .

The Natural Way

07:18 / 18.07.02

Aaaah, but the Leagues next week, so I'm not complaining.

The Natural Way

11:18 / 25.07.02

Wake up, Barbelith! Loads of comix fun today:

check here

The Natural Way

14:46 / 25.07.02

Cheers, moderator kunss.

17:49 / 31.07.02

Anyone have a Doopspeak translator? Cause mine's busted.

Murray Hamhandler

22:30 / 31.07.02

Look here, invix, and your Doopspeak shall be translated...

Murray Hamhandler

22:35 / 31.07.02

...except that, glancing through X-Statix #1 (out today, kiddies!), Doop is apparently speaking a new language made up of entirely different characters. Drat. I really wanted to know what he/she was saying on that last page...

14:20 / 01.08.02

What did everyone think of this? Thought 'Code X' was a chilling little fucking tale. 'Blair Witch', an interesting take on how mutankind deals w/ its own mentally unstable, and Doop's smile at the end...

The Natural Way

15:00 / 01.08.02

"an interesting take on how mutankind deals w/ its own mentally unstable..."

Yeah, umm, "interesting"....

Actually, how the fuck are we supposed to take that 'Code X' business? A sillr little spoof on Blair Witch..... Or something more sinister? Is it there for a gas, to remind us that what we're 'watching' is a fictional construct, or....IS DOOP REALLY AN EVIL BASTARD?

15:13 / 01.08.02

haven't been to the comic shop yet but i thinkl the latter is quite possibly true - doop is supposed to be the mystery element with his own agenda. Take nothing for granted when it comes to the small green one.

15:20 / 01.08.02

'Actually, how the fuck are we supposed to take that 'Code X' business? A sillr little spoof on Blair Witch..... Or something more sinister? Is it there for a gas, to remind us that what we're 'watching' is a fictional construct, or....IS DOOP REALLY AN EVIL BASTARD?' - Puppyrunce

All of the above?

And of course by 'interesting' I mean savage and horrifying.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:55 / 01.08.02

Two things to ponder in conjunction, re: Doop...

1) It was implied at the end of the first storyline that he had "plans" for Guy and the rest of X-Force, that he was pulling the strings in some way...

2) Edie just died.

19:30 / 01.08.02

Was anyone else disappointed by this issue? I mean, it didn't suck, but I felt like there was very little about it that was actually good. I didn't really care about Guy and Venus's little scene, because there was no effective build-up to it. It was just kind of... there....

Murray Hamhandler

23:30 / 01.08.02

I guess the Doop language is still the same after all. It just looks a little different from what's shown on the link above (and from panel to panel, apparently). I, of course, realized this after I went through and translated what I thought was the new Doop language on my own. So here's the translation for this issue, anyway:

p. 16, panel 4: "As long as he don't corkscrew me."
p. 17, panel 6: "That sounds like an ice cream."
p. 17, panel 9: "Do you really want to know?"
p. 24, panel 5: "Cheese."
p. 30, panel 3: "Hoo-boy. I need a raise."
letters page: "Got a problem with me?"

So. Guy seems to know what went on w/Doop and Corkscrew, or he at least has a pretty good idea. And Doop doesn't seem quite so evil now, but I'm less sure of how to take the whole Code X thing. And, uh...Doopspeak doesn't seem nearly as profound when you actually translate it...

And I agree, gridley. Easily my least favorite issue of the saga thus far, and I'm not sure why. It seemed...angry or something.

yawn - thing's buddy

07:21 / 02.08.02

I'm just so pleased with milligan's 'ensemble' skillset.

the anarchist is a brilliant creation. he so seems so familiar....

and the new dynamic betwen phat and the professor is jus rye and a cool skew on the latest obsession within the genre for superhomo's.

the opening sequence with meltface was suitably twisted, sad and weird and I'm still not tired with the critique built into the text. I mis Edie too grodummit!

the trials? - nasty

the superheros beginning with 'O' - hillarous man, a cream, hoot etc. luvved it - and some of those sad fuckers were veering into Eightball territory.

The rescue mission in foreignstan was pointlessly cynical - just like the real thing.

And i want to see more of the irish-jew: very excited about that.

dissapointed?

no

oh yeah - the cover - yessss

08:26 / 02.08.02

Gridley - what do you mean there was no build up for the venus guy scene - their meeting has been building up for a while especially last issue where tike points out there are other teleporters. Guy knows and has known all along that they are all expendible- he just doesn't like admitting it.

Was interesting to see the first O-force mission was exactly the same as the first mission milligan and allred's x-force faced - truely the new team is a copy of the x-statix...

oh and could the name O-force be a reference to Martin Eden's UK indie comic the O-men - a B&W superhero soap opera that has a suspiciously similar set up to another certain x-title...

12:19 / 02.08.02

I hear you about the expendability thing, Sleaze, but he didn't have to rush things with Venus in particular. There could have been som good tension there for a few issues. Let us see some animosity develop between them for a couple issues before deflating the tension with a touching moment clutching a doll. The way it worked out, I just found it kind of pat, like an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 where someone tries drugs for the first time, gets addicted, and then kicks the adiction all in one episode.

12:43 / 02.08.02

Gridley- I'm not sure you have seen everything resolved between guy and venus just yet - guy expressed a his desire, clouded as it was in his own greif and and guilt for what happened to his lover edie, to keep venus 'pure' of the corrupting influence of being in a high risk media goldfish bowl like the x-statix . Venus replies to this misguided quasi-altruism by pointing out, in as stark a way as she knows how that she isn't pure.

If anything there is more scope for tension between her and guy now - there is still the expectation from the media and possibly from other team members that guy and venus will become lovers. and the fact that venus and edie have very similar characters, (flawed, self obsessed star wannabies who will do almost anything to enhance their own media appeal) just adds to the tension.

For what its worth i see the next few issues cranking up the tension between guy and venus even further. With guy increasingly seeing bits of edie in venus while missing the things about venus that makes her unique. Venus has her own agenda...

13:05 / 02.08.02

Has anyone seen the cover for issue #3? It's got Venus holding Guy's heart in her hand and I think she's laughing maniacally. Can't find the link right now...

13:10 / 02.08.02

duh. marvel.com has it:

cover to issue 3 here.

Also, looks like Quitely's doing the cover to #4. Poor Guy:

Mister Six, whom all the girls

13:40 / 02.08.02

Hi all. Very disappointed in this issue, but I'll give it another read. I think my problem is thjat it is essentially a re-introduction to the series for new readers... and I'm not a new reader, so it felt to me like a hammering over the head of what the comic is about. Like why is Tike suddenly doing exposition about how Guy performs Russian Roulette all the time?? I dunno, maybe it's just me.

And while the points everyone has brought up about the Code X backup are interesting (and I like Cooke's work), it struck me as very throw-away and for laughs.

And is it just me or does the link to issue 4 not work (thanks for the links, btw)?

Love Solomon O'Sullivan (is that his name?).

18:13 / 02.08.02

Thanks for the translation (and thanks moderators for the link fixage). Maybe it's better if we don't understand what doop is saying.

Vivisector and his bit about 'the role of fiction in a fictive world'. 2nd time Umberto Eco's been name checked in this book.

Solomon O'Sullivan. Do you think he knows Riley O'Malley-O'Showenberg, the drunken Irish Jew immortalized by Jon Lovitz on 'saturday night live'?

Arnie the Fanboy. What's the deal there? His Mom sure seemed scared of him. Anyone remember that 'Simpsons Halloween Special' where an omnipotent Bart terrorized Springfield? And I figured Edie was just haunting Guy, but now it looks like this Arnie character may be involved in some way?

I din't find anything funny about the 'code x' story though.

19:52 / 02.08.02

yeah even with the translation the backup strip still left some scary questions open.

Murray Hamhandler

20:15 / 02.08.02

Arnie=kid from Twilight Zone: The Movie who can alter reality on a whim (but can't keep from getting hit by a car in the most hilarious scene in movie history).

The Natural Way

13:44 / 03.08.02

The back-up strip does have a throwaway quality, but, at the same time, it poses a question that requires answering: what/who the fuck is CODE X?

Another, EVIL, Doop?

17:45 / 03.08.02

Only in so much as it threw up and conflated a number of pop-narratives/themes. The Lynchean, potentially solipsistic ques - being the horses and the forest - however, were another thing entirely.

17:50 / 03.08.02

Realised last post made no sense.

Should have started with this quote:

The back-up strip does have a throwaway quality

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