tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post1210629486503262026..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Generation X #1Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-23635188905081901092018-12-27T12:35:37.572-06:002018-12-27T12:35:37.572-06:00I believe issue 4 is the Christmas issue and that ...I believe issue 4 is the Christmas issue and that was my favorite with all of Chris's cool elfs and things all around on the issue. It must have really screwed up the flow and what they wanted to do to have this giant crossover only give you 4 issues before the world was changed. <br /><br />I believe it's around this time that AOA was announced either in the X-Corner in one of the books or in the ads for someothing like Entertainment Monthly or whatever those were called. It said the X-Men books were all going to cease being made and the world would change with all new books. I sat on the front porch of my house reading it over and over and just shaking my head that my favorite books would all be ending. I didn't realize it would go right back to it when they were done. I was around 14 at this time and it really was earth shattering to me. Scott Churchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16795112175606617848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-39521158788023078022018-12-21T15:40:27.931-06:002018-12-21T15:40:27.931-06:00Is every lighthouse in the Marvel Universe extradi...<br>Is <i>every</i> lighthouse in the Marvel Universe extradimensional?<br /><br /><i>// Banshee confronts the mysterious Gateway, who speaks a single word //</i><br /><br />Emma says, “I don’t think he meant [‘penance’] as a <i>verb</i>, Sean,” which is odd since it’s never a verb. Maybe he used it as a proper (rather than common) noun, unexpectedly, but that’s different.<br /><br /><i>// The title of the story in this issue follows on from </i>Giant Size X-Men<i> #1’s “Second Genesis”. //</i><br /><br />As Teemu pointed out, “Third Genesis” had already been used, but really to me it would’ve been most appropriate for <i>New Mutants</i>. There, Xavier himself drew up a new international class/team at a time when, as in <i>Giant-Size</i> #1, the X-Men were feared or believed dead. Generation X is more adjunct than redo.<br /><br /><i>// an extended chromium-enhanced cover //</i><br /><br />It was interesting to see the colors on the “cover” of the digital version in contrast to the chromium cover on the original print edition.<br /><br /><i>// Chris Bachalo … is the inaugural regular artist of the series //</i><br /><br />The art is definitely what intrigued me most about the series when it launched, although the whole package is what led me to pick it up for a while. I’m not familiar with anything Bachalo has done since <i>The Witching Hour</i>, and even that was almost 20 years ago.<br /><br />Speaking of the whole package, though, rereading this issue reminded me that it’s where I felt Comicraft was an integral part of the creative team for the first time. While mostly just being real’ purty here, apart from the distractingly ornate rune-like font used for some captions, in fairly short order the lettering becomes quite integrated into Bachalo’s playful design. I’m unsure whether that happens before, during, or after the <i>Age of Apocalypse</i> detour as <i>Generation Next</i>, a couple of decades after having read the issues, but I keep picturing banners with a circus theme.<br /><br /><i>// she apparently thinks phonetically as well //</i><br /><br />Yeah, I’m not sure a thought bubble was the most appropriate place to show her to correcting herself.<br /><br /><i>// Paige’s power continues to be inexplicable, as she sheds her skin in lieu of taking a shower //</i><br /><br />I’m so glad you called that out. Her abilities are definitely magic, full stop, if tearing off her skin reveals a perfectly intact, healthy body underneath when Emplate had just sliced into her innards.<br /><br /><i>// totally believable as something Jubilee would do //</i><br /><br />She refers to Paige’s discarded skin as “tacky cubed” in that panel, after (or I guess, in-universe, before) calling Monet “Forge cubed” smart in her letter to Wolverine in the Collector’s Preview. I don’t know if that’s an unintentional habit of Lobdell’s or even an intentional one that he gave to Jubilee but there you go.<br /><br />Danger Grotto is my new band name.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79138448274162497042018-12-21T08:43:01.895-06:002018-12-21T08:43:01.895-06:00I've been looking forward to this X-amination ...I've been looking forward to this X-amination milestone for a long time now. As I've said before, this was about the time my fandom was rocketing to peak geekdom and -- as others have said -- the hype for this was INTENSE. Those things combined have always set Generation X #1 apart from all other #1s in my mind.<br /><br />Its promotion was so huge that -- along the lines of Teebore's note in Uncanny 318 that Banshee is named co-headmaster of the new Xavier's School <em>off panel</em> (something I'd never really thought of before, but just seemed to always <em>know</em> because of the promotional materials) -- I recall knowing and recognizing a lot about this book even the first time I read it.<br /><br />In rereading it now, it's hard not to get excited all over again for it. It hits me hard in the nostalgia and Lobdell is near the peak of his powers here, but Matt touches on something that's occurred to me in the weeks leading up to this review: For all the hype, for all the nostalgia, for all the classic Lobdell soap operatics ... I've rarely revisited this book since my teenage years. I think I know why that is, and Teebore gets to part of my thinking here:<br /><br /><b>Whereas it was made explicit at the launch of New Mutants that Professor X wasn't training those students to become new X-Men (even though he still gave them codenames and they all eventually came to operate more or less like superheroes), the goal of heads-of-school Banshee & Emma Frost with these kids is less clear.</b><br /><br />The book lacks both a clear mission, and that comes through in all sorts of ways. Maybe most importantly, it doesn't allow for a strong antagonist to emerge. Emplate manages to somehow be both too generic and too weird at the same time, and -- other than the M connection -- there's nothing about him that sets him up as a Generation X villain and not an X-Force or X-Men villain.<br /><br />This is what sets New Mutants apart from other X-school books. The mission -- they're students, not superheroes -- is clear from day one, and that allows for an interesting and unique set of antagonists to emerge in the Hellions. Superhero villains that are school rivals. It's kind of brilliant.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03665503542091489778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-91732735417015792382018-12-21T07:24:52.144-06:002018-12-21T07:24:52.144-06:00"Penance is rescued by Gateway, the Aborigina..."Penance is rescued by Gateway, the Aboriginal teleporter who worked with the X-Men during their days operating out of the Australian outback, appearing for the first time since Uncanny X-Men #281. He speaks his first on-panel word in this issue (penance), after delivering Penance to the school (with the group taking the word to be her name)."<br /><br />Actually, that's not Gateway's first on-panel dialogue. You forgot about the back-up story from the 1989 annual, which took place after issue #244, detailing Jubilee's arrival in Australia. After Jubilee follows the X-Women through Gateway's gate, he greets her with the words "Welcome, child".Cerebronoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-7108001277860693912018-12-21T06:38:57.070-06:002018-12-21T06:38:57.070-06:00Ugh, I forgot about his "chibi" phase. I...Ugh, I forgot about his "chibi" phase. I think I couldn't afford the subscription by that point & my local newsstand had dropped all but the 2 main X-titles. That look has its place, but it wasn't in a main-line X-book.Melahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539894845356203447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-30481707642841755262018-12-20T21:26:28.161-06:002018-12-20T21:26:28.161-06:00Been waiting for you to get to this!
This became...Been waiting for you to get to this! <br /><br />This became my new favorite X-book the instant it came out. I liked the "jumping-on point" of it, spiced with just a dash of history. It wasn't hidebound to the Canon, which was reinforced by Bachalo's unique art style. The character dynamics and feelings really shine in the way the best X-Men books did, though. Michael Posthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02541582566112899911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-12223747028350282772018-12-20T14:33:11.919-06:002018-12-20T14:33:11.919-06:00I'm sorry but the Third Genesis was in X-FACTO...I'm sorry but the Third Genesis was in X-FACTOR #1. You do not retcon Geneseis.<br /><br /><i>Did she pull her skin off from under her clothes (this appears to happen later in the issue, when Jubilee husks her whole body after she's injured fighting Emplate, but her uniform remains in place)?</i><br /><br />Unstable molecules. <br /><br />I got to read this back in the day from our X-publication (and the Phalanx prelude to it), but that's pretty much what I ever got of the Generation X. There was one more story I guess.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-66671199372609340332018-12-20T12:40:08.745-06:002018-12-20T12:40:08.745-06:00There is no better 90s super power that makes no s...There is no better 90s super power that makes no sense, but just seems COOL as Chamber's. None. Even Morrison at his most Morrison would say "hang on a minute" about that power.<br /><br />The only issues of Gen X I ever owned were the Age of Apocalypse ones...where they all died. So this is likely my sole comment on this book. Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605826105741513741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-67649675404199818202018-12-20T11:22:18.989-06:002018-12-20T11:22:18.989-06:00I don't think I've read this issue all tha...I don't think I've read this issue all that many times in my life -- certainly no more than four times tops, and the last time would have been close to twenty years ago. Yet when I read it last night, everything seemed so familiar to me, as if I'd just read it the day before. I guess it made a big impression on me! I don't think I recall the subsequent issues nearly as well as this one, though I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.<br /><br />Anyway, I really like this one. It's a great #1. Nice introductions to the characters for those who didn't already know them (which, realistically as you noted above, seems unlikely thanks to marketing and "Generation Next"). Emplate is super creepy. Jubilee calling him "Snuffleupagus" is a genuine laugh-out-loud moment. Everybody gets a chance to do their thing, even the teachers -- aside from Skin, who's pretty much useless, but that's sort of his point.<br /><br />And Chris Bachalo's artwork is so much better here than it would be by the time he left the series (in his bizarre "draw every character, from teenagers to adults, to look like a five-year-old" phase). As I said with Terry Dodson when you looked at EXCALIBUR last week, there are certain artists who I just find more appealing in their earliest work. Bachalo is another of these, and it's not owed to nostalgia -- Bachalo's work later in his career remained pretty consistently dark, muddled, and hard to follow, even after he moved away from that phase I mentioned above.<br /><br />In a nutshell, I loved GENERATION X when I was a teenager. At least through to the end of Lobdell's run, it was pretty consistently a favorite read every month. I can't wait to re-read it again in its entirety for the first time since... well, forever I guess. Though I reread the earlier issues a few times when I was in high school and college, I've only ever read most of the run one single time.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-80613653193704769672018-12-20T07:05:52.817-06:002018-12-20T07:05:52.817-06:00I was in the same boat as G. Kendall's friends...I was in the same boat as G. Kendall's friends who got into X-Men via the show were: I was PSYCHED for this series, and I had to hunt to find a copy thanks to the cover gimmick (I ultimately found one at a Rite-Aid going out of business).<br /><br />Emplate feels like a melange of all of the traits of 90s villains that we look at now with different degrees of embarrassment. And I don't think he ever gets much more development than being a generic, fully evil monster. Looking back, he feels like a template for the similar "all design, no personality" baddies that keep appearing in Lobdell's recent DC stuff.<br /><br />I like Bachalo's art quite a bit due to its stylization, but upon re-reading it, there were several panels where Paige & Emma looked identical. Heck, you have one posted (the "used my powers to shower" one). He's one of those artists who has a lot of great traits but unique facial design isn't one of them.Melahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539894845356203447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-29976567970666409982018-12-19T20:22:43.921-06:002018-12-19T20:22:43.921-06:00The hype for this was ridiculous. Heck, I first re...The hype for this was ridiculous. Heck, I first recall Marvel hinting at this book's existence during the letter columns of the Nicieza/Kubert Omega Red arc in X-MEN. <br /><br />I've read before Bob Harras delayed this book for nearly a year, waiting for Bachalo to finish his Vertigo commitments. I'm still convinced "Child's Play" was meant to be the intro to this series, but something happened behind the scenes.<br /><br />My friends who got into the X-Men through the show couldn't wait for this one. I guess it was the first #1 comic they could get on the ground floor on. This might be my favorite Bachalo comic. It's crazy to think about how his style will evolve in the next four years.G. Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12279461069684403792noreply@blogger.com