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Underground > Comic Books >

New X-Men #136

  
  

Page: 123(4)567

 
 
BrianFitzgerald
10:29 / 18.01.03
There's just not conclusive evidence one way or the other. Maybe Xorn killed all of those U-Men. Maybe Beak killed that one. Maybe not.

Xorn has killed before. Unintentionally, in China, he killed two kids when Ao Jun removed his helmet. Intentionally, on the Shi'ar ship, when he turned G-Type into vapory goop.

He can also give life back to the dead, as he did with the bird in the monastary. I'm not sure the standard morality applies to this guy.

But I do love all of this debate/philosophizing about it. We need, I think, to expand the death discussion, maybe to its own topic. Morrison is doing some interesting work here: from Cyclops euthanazing Ugly John to Martha convincing John Sublime to throw himself off of a very tall building to Fantomex shooting Darkstar (and several dozen others), right on up to this issue, New X Men has done a great job of examining how heroes relate to, deal with, and utilize death...

Anyway, on a campier level, loved the twist on the whole "Friday the 13th" genre: usually the hippy-drippy teacher is the first to fall victim to The Scary Thing in The Woods, leaving the kids to be picked off one by one. Here, the teacher IS The Scary Thing in The Woods, and the kids are doing the picking off.

Even Wolverine couldn't intimidate or shut up Angel. That stunned "Yes, sir" was priceless.

And now, for this week's installment of "Hermit's Speculative Rant":

(Don't know if this can rightfully be termed a SPOILER, but you have been warned)

Tatoo's line about smelling Kick in the secret labs really bugged me. The smart money says she's probably referring to samples that Beast is performing tests on, but still...what a weird time to throw that into the tale. So I'm wondering if something else could be going on in the secret labs, and I ask Missus Hermit for her thoughts.

"Oh," my wife says, "maybe Emma's manufacturing the Kick right there at the institute."

"Emma?"

"She's admitted to trying the drug. She pooh-poohs all of the Cuckoos' warnings/fears about Quire and Xavier. She's turning Scott into her bitch. As the lone survivor of the Genosha massacre, she is the single most-likely character in this world to have a desire to wipe humanity out. She certainly hasn't shown a very favorable attitude towards humans, and definitely wouldn't want any in her classroom. She has a history of using kids (the hellions, Generation X) to do her dirty work. I think Emma's been setting all of this up from the start."

So, at first I'm thinking, 'Interesting, but no way.' Then I go back through a few issues. 'Maybe, but not likely.' Then I re-read the entire run. 'Oh, shit.'

Emma is as Emma always has: trying to take control. Of the whole show. The diamond-hard White Queen of the World. La belle dame sans merci. That epiphany she had in the cab at the gates of the institute way back in issue 116? "Like St. Paul," says. Paul took the message/dream/teachings of Christ and turned them into a tool for Roman domination of the (western)(...so far) world. Emma realizes in the cab that she can utilize Xavier's set-up in a similar fashion. The only one who she's worried about is Jean, so she gradually "recruits" the one person that Jean is truly scared of: Scott.

I can go on and on...she blames Martha for Sublime's fall, but how do we know?...once a villian always a villian, Beast warns...she uses Cerebra to "keep tabs on everyone"...and more?

Agree with me...
 
 
A
10:34 / 18.01.03
I kind of took Xorn and Angel's exchange to mean that more happened than what the reader saw, and that they were the only ones who witnessed it, and that whatever actually did take place will have ramifications further on down the line. But maybe that's just me.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
10:57 / 18.01.03
Check out Angel's body language when she and Xorn emerge from the forest - that tiny piture of her, walking slightly behind him, with her arms warpped up around her. That tells you a lot, I think, about what she's just seen and how she feels about it - there is *something* wrong about Xorn's little secret. Quitely is a master of the old body language, the subtle touch.

There were worrying things about Xorn even in his stand-alone issue, and I remember this being discussed - "If I could save every life, I would" - but you can't. And how do you deal with that realisation - how do you handle death? Morrison did actually say in an interview early on that NXM would be about death, and he wasn't kidding. Xorn's already got so depressed he nearly destroyed the world once - what if the senselessness of it all pushes him that close as well? (Nice circle of influence here - I reckon Grant has definitely been watching Buffy which itself was riffing on Claremont: Dark Phoenix begat Dark Willow who in turn gives us Dark Xorn? Wildly speculating here...)

The Emma thing had occurred to me - or at least the idea that she's never said anywhere that she's changed her mind about killing, that she once capped her own sister in cold blood, that she was willing to kill Sublime just cos he broke her nose, essentially... and the Kick thing... Maybe she's not manufacturing it, maybe she hasn't been setting an evil masterplan up, but I wonder if she'll be susceptible. Oh, and Quentin is definitely going to let the little secret she & Scott are sharing out of the bag...

Secrets and lies!
 
 
Quireboy
11:13 / 18.01.03
Yes, maybe Emma has been setting all this up - but Quentin has taken action before she's anticipated, and now it's all going to backfire on her - badly.

Remember how Xavier refers to Emma as "once a sworn enemy, now a trusted ally" and Jean goes "Hmph". OK, she's got more reason than anyone else on the team not to trust Emma, but she's also been shown to be more intuitive than Xavier during Morrison's run. Remember how she warned Xavier about going to Cerebra in NXM116 before Cassandra possessed him, suspected there was something wrong with him afterwards, and seemed on the brink of uncovering Cassandra before Beast revealed what had happened. This all links in to the vision of the Phoenix - she's the last hope.

What did her company make - it was called Frost Industries wasn't it? Was it a pharmaceutical company?
 
 
A
11:44 / 18.01.03
I don't think Xorn actually killed G-type back in Imperial, did he? I figure a guy made of living solar plasma, or whatever, can probably handle getting stretched out a bit anyway.

As for Tattoo's "I smell Kick" line, the first time I read it, I just took it to mean that she thought something like "Ooh, a lab, I bet there's some Kick in here", or suchlike, rather than her actually physically smelling it. This would seem to indicate that the Omega Gang are rather preoccupied with Kick at this point. Chances are that she can just smell some Kick, though.

I presume that the Omega Gang are constantly munching on cookies because their bodies burn a hell of a lot more energy on Kick.

Way-Out, Almost-Certainly-Wrong Theory Alert-

It wasn't Xorn that nailed the U-Men, it was Angel. What Angel needed was a cathartic outpouring of violence, what with her having an abusive dad, and having been abducted by U-Men in the past, and she let loose in a terrifying orgy of violence that left her stunned and shaken by what she was capable of. Xorn was on hand to witness it, but decided to keep it secret, being the nice guy he is.

Okay, it's a pretty lame theory, and I don't even buy it myself, but it could be kinda neat if it was true.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
12:46 / 18.01.03
Wow. The Emma stuff never occurred to me, yet it all works out so well. One thing to consider that makes this scenario so much more viable is that the whole Riot At Xavier's storyline has been sold with one of the taglines "who will betray whom?". I think there is a good possibility of Emma being in on Kick, and playing Scott against Jean, and she could very well end up being the main cast fatality.

We'll see.

As for Xorn and the U-Men, I think that the strong implication from the scene is that Xorn killed them all, which is why the page is so deliberately creepy and Angel is so terrified. If it turns out that Xorn just knocked them unconcious, the weight and power of that scene is greatly diminished.

As for Beak, he definitely did not kill a U-Man. He just broke open his helmet with a rock, which 'stuns' the U-Man with the tainted air of the fallen world, or whatever. It's a psychological thing, not so much a life support system.
 
 
glassonion
13:12 / 18.01.03
are you all blind of course she's on kick - look at her face in this issue. from the way the kids have been acting its clearly highly addictive. munchies as a side effect also, chocolate, all western supplies contaminated by the fact human slaves were used in its production.
 
 
sleazenation
13:33 / 18.01.03
Damn - but i wanted to continue reading when i finished this issue.

The white queen stuff makes a lot of sense, but it doesn't sit easy with me - does morrison really want to make the white queen another once a villan always a villan parable?
 
 
Quireboy
13:37 / 18.01.03
Hmm, I'm beginning to see another plotline emerging from under the Quentin wants to be Xavier theme.

Consider, Quentin's created his own 'half-baked agenda", his own team of X-Men and decided to usurp the professor - classic Oedipal stuff.

At the same time, Emma wants to be Jean - at least to take her place as the Queen Bee of the X-Men. She waited until the one person who would know if she was up to something, Jean, was far away to make her move on Scott, undermining the X-Men's leader and the marraige of the two core members of the team. With Jean and Xavier gone she became acting headmistress. And she's been teaching her students to use their telepathic powers unethically - peering into other people's fantasies, uncovering their dark secrets, etc - completely at odds with how the Prof has previously taught students to use telepathy.

So her next step is to create a drug that enhances mutant powers, making the students difficult to control and turning the Institute into a hotbed of anti-human fanaticism that rejects Xavier. And who'll be waiting to take his place - and enslave humanity - she will.

This would set up another comparison to the Dark Phoenix saga. In that story the White Queen's telepathic device helped Mastermind to corrupt Xavier's star pupil - Jean; in Riot she creates a drug that corrupts Xavier's star pupil - Quentin. But I don't think she was expecting Quentin to go this far so soon - and this masterplan backfires on her - badly - as in the Dark Phoenix saga when Jean took her down. ... Maybe Quentin kills her? or the (surviving) Cuckoos feeling she's betrayed them.

And yes, it's quite possible that on Kick Emma would be more than a match for Jean - maybe it enables her to use her diamond and telepathic powers together and in yet unseen ways.

Jean and Hank are set to make a shocking discovery in 138 or 139, maybe it's Emma's involvement in the Kick epidemic.
 
 
Simplist
17:20 / 18.01.03
I took the "I smell kick" line more in the sense of, "ooh, well-equipped secret X-labs, let's cook some up!" Didn't even occur to me that there might be some already cooking... I've been wondering about Emma too (though the possible kick angle is a new twist), but I'm hoping it's just a case of subtle misdirection on Morrison's part, Emma having become a favorite character of mine at this point.

As for Xorn and the U-Men, it did seem likely that he killed them. Not that that entirely explains Angel's reaction; after all, she watched Wolverine kill approximately the same number of U-Men only a short while ago (in comic time). Nor did I get the idea that something additional happened off-panel between Xorn and Angel; it seemed pretty apparent that she got there about when we did. It was probably just the shock of seeing Mr. Gentle standing there having flexed previously unsuspected muscle to the extreme (although most of the other interpretations I've read here seem plausible enough as well).
 
 
Simplist
18:07 / 18.01.03
Say, it just occurred to me: Maybe the Emma stuff really is skillful misdirection, and Xavier is the one manufacturing and/or doing kick. The lab in question was attached to his personal quarters, after all. Surely he'd have noticed if Emma was regularly in there cooking up unusual chemical compounds. Xavier being behind the kick epidemic would somewhat recapitulate the climax of Morrison's Doom Patrol run (ie. the revelation of Niles Caulder's less than noble behind the scenes role in the team's history), albeit on a less catastrophic level; unless, that is, kick is only the tip of the iceberg of Xavier's manipulations. Assuming this isn't revealed right away, the eventual Phoenix story could play out opposite from what seems to be generally expected, ie. the Phoenix going up against a rogue Xavier rather than the other way around. Xorn will obviously play a huge role, but will he side with Jean, or the rogue Xavier?

That said, aside from the lab being attached to Xavier's quarters I have zero textual evidence for this. Maybe I'll find some on a second reading.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:42 / 18.01.03
It was probably just the shock of seeing Mr. Gentle standing there having flexed previously unsuspected muscle to the extreme (although most of the other interpretations I've read here seem plausible enough as well).

Yeah, I think it is exactly that - everyone expects Wolverine to go on murderous rampages, so it doesn't shock anyone. Xorn is all zen calm, and to see him murder all of them in such a clinical way (props to whoever it was who first used that word in description of this event), that's scary. He also has a scary robot head and is on the power level of a god, which just adds to it all.

I don't think Emma or any of the X-Men are involved with making Kick, certainly not in the secret x labsssss. I think Tattoo was just meant that they could make their own Kick there. Or that she figured that the X-teachers were all on Kick themselves, which is kind of a variation on the pothead fantasy "ah, all the people in charge all smoke up and all of the laws are so that they can keep all the good stuff for themselves". Something like that.

Thinking on it a bit, I'm starting to really doubt the Emma/Kick scenario. I think she will betray the rest of the X-Men, but not in such an obvious and villainous way. I don't think she's going to be reverting back to being a villain at all, I don't think that's in the spirit of what Grant is going for.
 
 
LDones
18:43 / 18.01.03
Man, it would break my heart if Emma turned on the team and tried to conquer the world - I've grown so attached to her character through Morrisson's run.

Bear in mind that we have seen this kind of misdirection before in #126, before Emma saves the day, but that may just be a McGuffin - And that St. Paul quote is really suspicious all of a sudden.

But then again, if she's truly still miffed about the Genosha thing, wouldn't she have taken the chance to more permanently eradicate the woman/Mummudrai responsible? It's clear in #116 that she blames Cassandra for it - "There are some things you just shouldn't be allowed to get away with." - But maybe she still means that - for humans.

I don't know - I don't see it playing out that way - but if it's been building toward that bombshell all along, it's masterful storytelling and Terrible in an Old Testament way.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:50 / 18.01.03
Another little detail - Scott always seems to be flying when Emma is fooling around with him in his mind. Obviously, this is very dangerous - but is it because Scott likes it to be dangerous, or because Emma might want something unfortunate to happen?
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
19:05 / 18.01.03
Heh. This is totally Buffy, isn't it Flyboy? Drugs = Excess Power, the brightest kids go rogue, et al. I remember thinking that the last Imperial cover actually included some cast members, although the Giles looking dude was probably Quentin. (P.S. I think that green fellow in the first Imperial ish with the yellow hair was QQ's first appearance [in the audience during Emma's speech]. If only Frank had time to color his books too. You can also see the rest of the O Gang scattered around the rest of Quitely two issues.)

All this Emma speculation is really starting to make sense, although I don't buy the Kick angle. I'm sure there was some confiscated Kick in there and maybe even the tools, if found by those in the know, to make them. But I think it was more like the moments when your teacher left class in elementary school and you snuck into her stash of the paper airplanes and comic books she took away from you.

Let's take a moment to hear it for Basilisk, if we may. The more I go ever the first two issues of Riot, the more he becomes my favorite character. His laugh, naturally, is classic, but his sort of lumbering nonchalance was a key aspect of adolescence that was kind of missing from the book thus far. Everyone was so active and dramatic about their angst, but Bas is just, "Eh, whatever." (As opposed to, say, Angel's attention seeking "EH! WHATEVER!!! FREAK!") I like him a whole lot. I swear, anyone who dies in the next issue or so is going to be so severely missed. I don't want to see anyone go. The O Gang are so totally the fucking bullies who are going to end up decimating a bunch of relatively innocent kids (read: Special Class) just because they're temporarily stronger. Oooooh, it makes me so fuckin' mad. Those poor kids are going to have no clue what they're up against. Martha will be all "Master of Puppets time! I can handle this, I'm a stronger telepath than this --" *KRSH!* and her little glass ball explodes in the wake of Kick enhanced power.

Flyboy, it's kinda like wanting to punch Warren in the face if you ever saw him on the street, the fuckin' dick.

*Sigh* Fictional characters, Ben. They're only fictional characters.
 
 
Eskay Uno
19:18 / 18.01.03
Yeah, Emma is a sneaky one, isn't she? She's a first class manipulator and a total control freak, but does she really have it in her to be a despot (along the lines of Magneto, let's say)? I think she's pulling some strings so that things play out the way she wants them to, for her own pleasure and peace of mind. If she really wanted to take charge, she's cunning and ruthless enough that she wouldn't be caught off guard - and I do believe whatever she is up to will most certainly blow up in her face. She really seems to dig Scot, too, I don't think she's using him as a defense against Jean, I think she really wants him. That must have been quite the kiss - look at how dazed she was! Or maybe she's just strung out on kick?

I love how it's hard to tell what Emma's real motives are. Hero and villain lines mixing and mingling. Hey, that's true of most of Morrison's X-Men, isn't it? I mean, there's Xorn who may or may not be a killer and certainly seems beyond standard morality. Logan regularly lets loose, becoming a bloodthirsty killing machine. Jean wiped out entire planets as Dark Phoenix. Scott was taken over by Apocalypse, and is now having a psychic affair. Charles faces his dark side on a regular basis (Legion, Onslaught, Cassandra), and his behaviour has always been rather questionable. It seems like Henry is the angel of the lot. He's either going to get another massive ass-kicking (possibly to the death this time), or he's going to have to face and absorb his own dark side. I've never loved these characters as much as I do now. Very compelling, and oh so human.

And is having a psychic affair worse than a physical liaison? I mean, what can be more intimate than exposing and exploring each others thoughts?
 
 
Quireboy
10:17 / 19.01.03
Quite a few people have noticed how Emma looks a wreck in the panels where she's psionically shagging Scott. Maybe that's meant to represent sexual extasy but perhaps she is on Kick.

Perhaps her little experiment with Kick has become a habit - rather than the theory that she's created Kick to undermine the school. Maybe what the Omega Gang find is Emma's private stash. (Remember her comments about being off her head on drugs during her "lost years" - it's an excuse for bad behaviour, but maybe she still dabbles in drugs.) But I definitely think, however much she's enjoying it, her psychic affair with Scott is part of a plan to undermine Jean.

If Emma has a Kick habit I wonder how Xavier would handle it? Would he tell her to leave when he hasn't dealt with drug misuse by the students - maybe she'll use the trauma of having survived Genosha as an excuse - though admitedly it would be a reasonable explanation in anyone who wasn't such a manipulative bitch half the time.

I can't help thinking that Morrison's making a comparison between the way Emma and Scott deal with their emotions. Emma's secondary mutation cuts off her emotions and empathy - making her cold and cruel. In the NXM annual she goes into diamond form after being upset by what she psionically sensed about Xorn's childhood. Like Scott she represses her feelings, and deals with trauma like Genosha or the death of her students by being a bitch - consider what she says to the rescuers in Genosha, she's really upset but highly aggressive with it. Maybe she enjoys Kick because it makes her feelings so violent and intense - it's a way of balancing out the emotion she loses when she's in diamond form.

Another point to make is if Emma is on Kick is whether this explains why she's being so reckless with Scott - it does seem rather stupid to be conducting her psychic affair now that Xavier is back at the school - and right under his nose - and around the Cuckoos, who may well be more powerful than she is.
 
 
Quireboy
11:13 / 19.01.03
I've just thought - Xavier's on the front of NXM138 inside Cerebra. Now I'd assumed this was because this is the only way for him to take down Quentin empowered with Kick.

But what if ... he's having to stop Xorn? Maybe the Omega Gang attacks the Special Class and Xorn goes supernova on them, forcing Xavier to try and stop him... It'll probably still comes down to Xavier vs. Quentin but the Xorn scenario seems possible after this issue. Remember how Xavier mentions to Xorn about the upgrade to Cerebra that will allow him to remote control mutants?
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
11:18 / 19.01.03
Actually, it's funny you mention that line, Quireboy, because when I reread it, I was definitely thinking that "one of the students" who reccomended it was Quentin. All part of his plan.

Es posible.
 
 
ciarconn
17:06 / 19.01.03
What if Emma really likes Scott and is testing Kinck to see if she can stand up to the level of Phoenix? (a telepathic catfight for the heart of Cyclops?)
 
 
primaeval soup
18:33 / 19.01.03
Don't have the issue to hand right now, but doesn't Xorn say to Angel "This can be our secret"? With the "our" emphasised? Suggesting that Angel's got at least one other secret?

The way I remember those early issues, Angel's dad was physically violent towards her, and there was an unpleasant "lust/disgust" element in his attitude towards her -- but I don't remember it being explicit that he had been sexually abusing her. Xorn's line, however, suggests to me that Angel's dad was sexually abusing her -- and that the "lesson" she had to learn was...a possible way of relating to adult male "authority" figures -- a way that implies (as others on the board have already said) respect for her -- so that she's able to return the respect. Angel being treated like a grown-up in a healthy way, by a grown-up man who's not a sickfuck.

Beak -- I don't think Beak meant to kill that U-Man -- but I think the U-man got killed anyway. Coz it's funny! Like "Home Alone" would have been funny if the violence had been real instead of slapstick!

(And Beast's hairstyle comment -- check out the background of that panel and you'll clock a guy with the Omega Gang haircut -- the object of Beast's remark.)

I really liked the "Here's what you need to know" stuff on the double-splash page -- it was exciting! Like running into a battle with someone shouting info at you through an earpiece -- Or like a calming history documentary you're watching on TV is suddenly interrupted by an emergency live news broadcast with a manic voiceover bringing you up to date on what's going on. Dump the page one thing, I say, and somehow integrate the roll-call stuff into the comic proper too.
(Oh. Didn't like the way the U-men were let out of the bag as the predators on the shool trip, though.)

And apparently No-Girl's dad is Number None. (He was pretty much an absent father, which is why No-Girl got placed in Xavier's.)

Sorry.
 
 
The Natural Way
07:42 / 20.01.03
God, all this rampant speculation about Emma here.... I don't buy any of this conspiracy stuff. And there's a much simpler solution to the "I smell kick...." thing than "Emma's secret stash". The labs have fuck all to do with The White Queen - they're Beast's territory, and he's simply analysing the drug. It's the obvious place to store the stuff they've found.

And Xorn definitely killed the U-Men.
 
 
Chill
20:28 / 20.01.03
Uh Oh. Say it ain't so.

If I fucked up the HTML (does this thing even support it?) - there's supposed to be a link to Rich Johnston's rumour column (http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/?column=13) where he reports Quietly quit. Anyone got any more confirmation (or even better a denial) ?
 
 
Sunny
20:51 / 20.01.03
just gonna put myself out there. I really don't think: that xorn killed the u-men(I would like it more if he didn't-no its not as powerful if he didn't kill but, still it is powerful), and that theory about angel being the one that incapacitated all those u-men is funny, all she can do is fly, and I don't think beak killed that u-men either(it'd be lame if he did, he'd lose his innocence), and the theory about emma being on kick and being the real threat seems like over-overspeculating and more of a story that an old x-men writer would've done-not exactly what morrison would do, I think. and man, you got lust/disgust out of that one page? I took that line about her suing him for molestation as a threat(angel and her fake dad), like in American Beauty where the main character threatens the guy with accusing him of sexual harrassment.
I don't know what morrison has planned-he's always a surprise and brilliant-but doesn't speculating kind of ruin the story(whether you're right or wrong)? but the deep analyzing of that you guys do is really cool.
 
 
Quireboy
21:10 / 20.01.03
Am I the only one who's beginning to see the Riot arc as Morrison's "Bowling for Columbine", only with telepathy instead of guns.

And I really hope that Quitely rumour isn't true. If it is then Morrison's definitely gone after 150.
 
 
penitentvandal
21:20 / 20.01.03
It may interest readers to hear that a new graffitto has been observed around the velvetvandal's part of the world. It consists of a picture of a beaked face with a spiky haircut, and the nearby tag-line 'beak'.

This may well have nothing to do with the Beak character. But if it is - and even if it isn't, because it sure reminded me of him - then I approve.
 
 
SphinxBunny
23:07 / 20.01.03
where did xavier and company go that evening, before he was attacked?
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
23:29 / 20.01.03
1) Frank Quitely is no longer the 'regular' NXM artist. Phil Jiminez is. But that DOESN'T mean that Frank isn't going to draw another storyarc, probably the final storyline.

2) Emma, Charles et al just went out to a nice little pre-Open Day party, that's all.

3) Velvetvandel really ought to photograph that Beak graffiti and find a way to show the rest of us.
 
 
Jack Denfeld
02:54 / 21.01.03
I've been putting the Omega Gang sign on stuff. In red, just like the comic. I want a "Magneto was right" shirt.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
07:35 / 21.01.03
Angel being treated like a grown-up in a healthy way

You think "I'm really scary - don't tell anyone!" is *healthy*? Er...

And can we just get it clear - Xorn killed those guys, because if he hadn't, why would he want it kept a secret? Read the body language - there is something *not right* about what Angel sees, and their is something very threatening about that "ssshhh".
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
09:28 / 21.01.03
So:

I thought the art on this one was total Rupert the Bear – did someone already say that?
I liked it a lot, art-wise, but it WAS significantly different from his inked work. That’s pretty interesting what Cameron was saying - straight from the pencils, eh? That’s make sense, because last ish, we saw a beautiful rendered rucksack which was simply an incidental graphic while this ish, an incidental laptop looked quite crappy in it’s lack of incidental detail. (incidentally!)

That said, the ‘remedial class in the woods’ tale was extremely powerful and comes across as the perfect modern fairytale; a lesson in responsibility for today’s x-cluded ‘losers’. It should be added to some children’s fairytale compendium in time for next Christmas.

Anyone read, Under the Skin by Michael Faber? Beak looks like the lead character in that book doncha think? This version of Beak was my favourite so far. Quitely IS the puppet master.

The camping expedition comes across all dreamlike now, in retrospect; the challenge of the U-man being tackled quite literally on the edge of a cliff. Beak’s lazy destruction of the defeated U-Man barely visible in the darkness. The casual tone to the remedial class is oddly comforting. Hyuk.

I was thinking: wouldn’t it be hilarious if the much loved character who ‘dies’ in ish 140 is No-Girl? Expanding on ideas posited by runce and others regarding her meaning: Perhaps, when the ‘losers’ have confronted their own fears and weaknesses through various means including using No-Girl as a placebo, buffer, scapegoat, friend or even enemy, she will ‘die’ – because she is no longer needed. Perhaps she was created by the remedial team: an idea structure which has encountered a level of complexity such that it has become self aware. And doesn’t the wee old guy/girl thing who chills with Martha look exactly like those fucked up kids in Akira?

Quire’s weird. And not really living up to the hype for me. I’m comfortable with Grant’s storytelling methods. Sometimes his comics are downloads, meme-hosts, blah, etc. other times they are pure story: But the synthesis of the current narrative has involved a mixture of trad story developments and techniques (losers bonding in the woods) and downloads (quire’s rushed manifesto, tattoos clockwork argot), which for me, doesn’t quite fit. I want Quire to be more of a maniac instead of the straight bully he appears to be; the problem is his lack of charm – unusual for a Morrison baddie.

Am I the only one thinking that there’s more care been put into the characterisation of the remedial class than in QQ’s gang? On one level that works. QQ and co. are just pure anger and violent energy and they’re dulled by Kick too – this would level out the individual personalities and create ‘bores’. Which they are.

The U-Man are cool. I love the religious fervour and the sheer awkwardness of…..everything about them. Those blade gun things – nasty.

Oh and Ganesh, I must be 1 in 5 cos those cukoos get me going……..

How old are they?
 
 
Analogues On
10:23 / 21.01.03
One thing I’d noticed with the Cuckoos is that they seem to age rapidly from issue to issue.
At first I thought it was down to inconsistencies in the art between Ethan, Kordey and Frank, however Grant seems to be investing a lot of time in plotting their development; from their first appearance as a troupe of precocious Veruca Salts in #119-#120 ( "boring!" ), before going through adolescence in a single issue (Esme and Stuff in #123) and finally their current preppie incarnation as the objects of QQ’s desire.
This might have something to do with the source material Grant used for them: I seem to remember that the kids in The Midwitch Cuckoos/ Village of the Damned were rapid developers, physically as well as mentally.
 
 
Mr Tricks
16:31 / 21.01.03
"And can we just get it clear - Xorn killed those guys, because if he hadn't, why would he want it kept a secret?"

I feel I must point out the implausability in keeping the Death of a handful of U-men a secret. Aside from the school being filled with telepaths, the burning wreakage of an overturned Van will eventually be noticed. Granted Scott may have been occupied with Emma while flying and NOT noticed a rising plume of smoke. Still, the Kids in the special class will surely brag about defeating a gang of U-men and the question of their wareabout will eventually come up. Either they will regain consciousness in time to witness the riot or be "found" eventually.

While I think Xorn asked Angel to keep it as "their little secret" I don't think Xorn would feel the need to hide this occurance from his peers...unless there's an as yet unrevealed factor involved.

Perhaps the real secret he's asking angel to keep was his comments on what the rest of the class needed.
 
 
Aertho
17:09 / 21.01.03
I'm voting no on Emma being the secret manufacturer of Kick, no on Emma being the big baddie of the entire run, yes on Xorn killed the U-Men, no on Angel killed the U-Men, yes on I'm rather bored with Quentin Quire, no on Emma being a Kick addict, yes on the X-labs are Beast's, and yes on approving Quitely's versions of Beak and Angel.

Here's a new vote:
Is Beast the secret developer of Kick?
Is Jean really hosting the cosmic Phoenix Force?
Is Cyclops emotionally attracted to Emma at all?
Is No-Girl a real mutant girl?
Are the Cuckoos really Emma's star pupils?
Are the Cuckoos really Jean's star pupils?
 
 
kid coagulant
17:20 / 21.01.03
Maybe Cassandra Nova developed the Kick while she was puttering about in Xavier's body? How's she doing inside of that learning program/alien shapeshifter thingie, anyway?
 
  

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