tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post2252637305683414186..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining X-Men (vol. 2) #40Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-19627947588468048862019-02-22T14:50:21.485-06:002019-02-22T14:50:21.485-06:00To whom it may concern:
Not sure what accounts fo...<br>To whom it may concern:<br /><br />Not sure what accounts for me mixing this up but I’m aware that Cable’s known Cyclops was his father for a while now; I was thinking of how he didn’t know that Slym and Redd were his actual parents yet and somehow that lever got pulled when the “Hi, Pop” line sounded odd to me.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-8098306830809444122019-02-22T13:40:20.776-06:002019-02-22T13:40:20.776-06:00Ah, the sliding timescale...
Yeah, that's why...<b>Ah, the sliding timescale...</b><br /><br />Yeah, that's why I mentioned the subtle failings of Kubert's art in my comment further up. It would've beem really cool to see someone more detailed oriented go to town with a 70s-based backspace.<br /><br /><b>It would have made more sense had we never gotten the Kwannon ret-con.</b><br /><br />The adult version of me recognizes that storyline is needlessly convoluted. But the teenage version of me that read it when it debuted loved it for that reason. Plus, it had all the hallmarks I enjoyed: doomed relationship, a 'whose conning whom?' aspect, and kickass female characters. It was Claremontian - but not fully successful.Notorious J.O.E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16981069985099562942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-34195656894016815422019-02-22T13:26:13.869-06:002019-02-22T13:26:13.869-06:00Professor Xavier is a jerk.
LoL. Kitty has always...<b>Professor Xavier is a jerk.</b><br /><br />LoL. Kitty has always been a source of reason.<br /><br /><b>Technically, it's a recall, not a reveal (which makes it no less jerky).</b><br /><br />Nyah, nyah, Austin. ;-)<br /><br /><b>To be fair, Anonymous, this here is pretty much the worst case scenario.</b><br /><br />Considering, the end result was him impregnating her with a child (!) who ends up with severe PTSD (!!) who ends up travelling backwards in time to rewrite history (!!!) but instead introduces a hellish dystopia (!!!!), even your completely accurate & reasonable answer feels like an understatement. ;-)Notorious J.O.E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16981069985099562942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-65372011672462022532019-02-22T13:24:02.682-06:002019-02-22T13:24:02.682-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Notorious J.O.E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16981069985099562942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-16557880573131650022019-02-21T23:51:19.891-06:002019-02-21T23:51:19.891-06:00"but aren’t sure what they’re doing in Israel..."but aren’t sure what they’re doing in Israel"<br /><br />Bishop's comment about them being 20 years in the past is also interesting, which would place them in Israel in the mid-1970s, as opposed to the 1960s. Ah, the sliding timescale...<br /><br />"It's a little odd that Sabretooth is trying to escape, considering he technically turned himself over to the X-Men voluntarily for treatment"<br /><br />Also odd that he seems to have the technical know-how to try to escape his cell in that particular way.<br /><br />"It’s said that Asian Psylocke has a British accent, and I can’t decide if that makes sense or not"<br /><br />It would have made more sense had we never gotten the Kwannon ret-con.<br /><br />"When the amnesiac Legion reads Magnus’ mind, one of the Nazis is depicted as the same kind of monster as in Gabrielle Haller’s mind in X-Men #161."<br /><br />A nice call back, though it doesn't really make sense for him to have that same exact memory.<br /><br />While I still have my issues with Kubert's artwork, the production values of the deluxe issues go a long way to making it look better than it should. And the storyline does pick up nicely, giving things as you pointed out a nice sense of the epicness of what is going on with Legion in the past, and how it affects things in the present. A nice last hurrah for the pre-AOA X-men titles. <br /><br />wwk5d<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-91018544561988874712019-02-21T21:36:44.756-06:002019-02-21T21:36:44.756-06:00Jean needed to stay back for the drama, and Psyloc...Jean needed to stay back for the drama, and Psylocke has a very elemental role in the happenings.<br /><br />Unless we want Scott be kissing Betsy when things go down.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-40414209051188207292019-02-21T21:33:13.240-06:002019-02-21T21:33:13.240-06:00To be fair, Anonymous, this here is pretty much th...To be fair, Anonymous, this here is pretty much the worst case scenario.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-89086530358769507902019-02-21T19:10:16.531-06:002019-02-21T19:10:16.531-06:00I don’t think that the X-Men pulled into the past ...<br>I don’t think that the X-Men pulled into the past <i>did</i> entirely remember “their names, relationships with one another, and their powers”. Bobby’s dialogue in the panel you posted suggests that they had to learn each other's names, and when Bobby ices up on the next page his form hearkens back to his old “snowman” look albeit with more definition that it had in the very beginning.<br /><br />Cable says “Hi, Pop” on arrival, so apparently he (and everyone else) knows that Cyclops is his father now.<br /><br />I’m with Matt on Psylocke’s British accent; I’ve been assuming that Psylocke retained it and never wondered otherwise, although the tone of her voice sounding like Kwannon's makes sense.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-35563488202574361062019-02-21T18:25:50.877-06:002019-02-21T18:25:50.877-06:00I think I said, back when X-Aminiations looked at ...I think I said, back when X-Aminiations looked at "Bloodties" or thereabouts, that I seriously wanted to just keep plowing ahead and re-read all the Lobdell/Nicieza stuff right then and there.<br /><br />As an adult, I totally see the cracks in this stuff, but the kid in me just doesn't care. I was 16 when this stuff came out, and when I read it I become 16 again. I get thoroughly invested, I get goosebumps at all the right moments, and I can't wait to read the next issue!<br /><br />(It's actually kind of nice to shut down that critical side of my brain -- without even needing to try, mind you; it's an automatic switch that just turns off when I open one of these comics -- and enjoy this stuff with the same enthusiasm as I had for it twenty-plus years ago.)Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-27685266569212384632019-02-21T18:19:34.399-06:002019-02-21T18:19:34.399-06:00Yeah, that makes sense -- Kwannon's voice with...Yeah, that makes sense -- Kwannon's voice with a British accent is what I'd assume this version of Psylocke sounds like.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-36002687004581937962019-02-21T17:55:35.523-06:002019-02-21T17:55:35.523-06:00I recognize that Legion Quest is a thrilling cross...<i>I recognize that Legion Quest is a thrilling crossover with my nostalgia goggles off, but lemme tell ya -- this shit is just FUN to read when you let yourself be a kid again.</i><br /><br />Definitely. I read this with a big ol' smile on my face, to an extent I haven't with other recently reviewed issues. Some of that, I'm sure, is nostalgia, remember how much this felt like an EPIC BIG DEAL at the time, how pumped I was for Age of Apocalypse, but I really do think that epic energy is objectively there, to some extent, independent of nostalgia, and that carries through. <br /><br /><i>But just swapping out a single member for no reason -- neither character does anything important in either of their storylines -- that just distracts me.</i><br /><br />I *think* Psylocke ends up being pivotal in some way to how things go down in the past, at least to the extent that the plot requires there to be a telepath both in the past, and one left behind in the present (one to tell Xavier in part 2 how Legion's mind was whole without a clunky "the telepath on our squad said Legion's mind was whole before being sucked back in time" line, the other to perform telepathic services for the time-lost characters in the past). So both Jean & Psylocke needed to be on the team in UNCANNY #321. It was probably a coin flip as to which one went back in time, and which stayed in the present (Lobdell suggests some business with Psylocke's psychic knife being part of the process that allows the X-Men to follow Legion through time in UNCANNY #321, but it's not like he couldn't have revised his made-up telepathy science to have Jean be the link if he needed to). <br /><br />All that said, an explanation for why Psylocke came along - "we're going to need all the telepathic power we can get against Legion!" - at some point would have been nice. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-7720462319500800592019-02-21T17:54:33.869-06:002019-02-21T17:54:33.869-06:00As a (soon to be) clinical psychologist, I can att...As a (soon to be) clinical psychologist, I can attest that dating a patient is EXTREMELY problematic, for a variety of reasons including the one you mentioned.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-20663466463370648842019-02-21T17:48:35.799-06:002019-02-21T17:48:35.799-06:00I'm really excited for us to get to that Jean ...<i>I'm really excited for us to get to that Jean Grey reveal during one of Mark Waid's 'road to Onslaught' issue.</i><br /><br />Technically, it's a recall, not a reveal (which makes it no less jerky). Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-40167566533563479942019-02-21T17:47:52.629-06:002019-02-21T17:47:52.629-06:00My only other complaint is that when we first see ...<i>My only other complaint is that when we first see Legion, thanks to the lack of his trademark hair, he looks like any other random Kubert dude.</i><br /><br />Along those lines, I probably should have pointed out that even Kubert's young Magneto is *shredded*. <br /><br /><i>Her brain was raised in England, so she should have the accent in whatever body she occupies, unless he's actively trying to hide it for some reason, right?</i><br /><br />Yeah, I guess I was just doubting if there was a physical component to accents - presumably her voice now sounds like Kwannon's, not Betsy's, albeit a British version of Kwannon's voice. <br /><br /><i>Unless Nicieza was looking to set up some sort of new status quo which got scuttled by the "Age of Apocalypse" hiatus.</i><br /><br />That could be. In my head, I was thinking of it in terms of Cyclops having been elevated to some kind of larger, overall leadership role across both teams while Storm & Beast remain field leaders, but that's all entirely in my head and not supported by any text I can recall, so I'm not sure where I got that from. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-55912357346687161472019-02-21T17:45:23.032-06:002019-02-21T17:45:23.032-06:00Matt: Cyclops is back! [...] so what's the poi...Matt: <b>Cyclops is back! [...] so what's the point of Beast retaining his leadership role three issues after Cyclops returned to the team? Unless Nicieza was looking to set up some sort of new status quo which got scuttled by the "Age of Apocalypse" hiatus.</b><br /><br />I kind of wish we got to see that.<br /><br />I was aware that Nicieza's departure led to threads being dropped after AoA, but I never stopped to think how many or how big (and interesting!) some of them were until reading Teebore's recent reviews. I really enjoyed Jeph Loeb's X-Force at the time and have been looking forward to these reviews reaching that point, but now I really just want to know where post-AoA X-Force would have gone if Nicieza stuck around and how different this title would have been with Beast leading the team into battle instead of holed up in a lab working on the Legacy Virus (or a prisoner of the Dark Beast) ...Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03665503542091489778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-54150388888673980052019-02-21T17:37:35.702-06:002019-02-21T17:37:35.702-06:00Andy Kubert. Jahf. The Watchers. The Wolverine v. ...Andy Kubert. Jahf. The Watchers. The Wolverine v. Sabertooth tease. Constant callbacks to continuity that I had read before (and others to issues that I hadn't read before but strongly hinted at a large and complicated history for me to unpack). The 11 year old in me is FREAKING OUT right now.<br /><br />I recognize that Legion Quest is a thrilling crossover with my nostalgia goggles off, but lemme tell ya -- this shit is just FUN to read when you let yourself be a kid again. It is taking ALL of my self-control not to read through parts three, four and five ... and then stay up all night reading the entire AoA too!<br /><br />I have to wonder why they bothered to swap out Archangel for Psylocke in these issues. Both Lobdell and Nicieza are acknowledging the Blue/Gold divide, with an Uncanny caption box introducing Storm as leader of the Gold team and Beast asserting himself as leader of the Blue team here. But no explanation is given at all to this minor roster change-up. It would actually be less noticeable if the Legion squad was just a mishmash of characters -- the reader could assume then that Xavier assembled a very special team that he thought would be most capable against Legion, as he did in Adjectiveless 25 to take down Magneto. (Even if the actual membership of that team was nonsense.) But just swapping out a single member for no reason -- neither character does anything important in either of their storylines -- that just distracts me.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03665503542091489778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79100640980923216492019-02-21T17:34:06.868-06:002019-02-21T17:34:06.868-06:00This is the best issue of the crossover for me. I...This is the best issue of the crossover for me. I'm a sucker for young Charles and Magneto stories and Nicieza nails that dynamic from the Claremont flashback issues. The art's great, the stakes are as high as they get. Honestly, there's not much more I want from an X-Men comic. Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447265712189987074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-66158127004963434302019-02-21T16:55:09.487-06:002019-02-21T16:55:09.487-06:00Professor Xavier is a jerk.Professor Xavier is a jerk.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-22956593670740859492019-02-21T15:06:34.690-06:002019-02-21T15:06:34.690-06:00I was in high school when this arc originally ran,...I was in high school when this arc originally ran, and remember getting goose bumps at that last page with Lilandra and the multiple Watchers.<br /><br />I remember wondering: if only one Watcher was present for the death of Phoenix...what did *seven* portend?<br /><br />The following is a minor quibble...and as much as I (also) like Kubert's work in this issue...I also wish an artist whose good at civilian clothes & detailed backgrounds had drawn it. Especially since a good portion of this story took place in the past. Only if to see the clothes look era appropriate and how the outfits contrasted to each time-lost character. As it is, if the characters hadn't repeatedly stressed they were in the past, a reader could be hard pressed to realize it.<br /><br />Someone like 1980s era George Perez/John Byrne or even (that era's) Jim Lee could've made those visuals really fun.<br /><br />In rereading these issues, it never stops amazing me how inappropriate Charles Xavier has behaved with people. Particularly women*. As a teen/kid, it didn't sink in how f'ed up it is for him to start a romance with *a patient*. Particularly, as she's a therapy patient and one could argue even more vulnerable. Its pretty messed up.<br /><br />*(I'm really excited for us to get to that Jean Grey reveal during one of Mark Waid's 'road to Onslaught' issue.)Notorious J.O.E.https://www.blogger.com/profile/16981069985099562942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-27448859963709748892019-02-21T12:58:21.761-06:002019-02-21T12:58:21.761-06:00I would agree with your assessment of this one. It...I would agree with your assessment of this one. It feels more momentious than "Legion Quest" part 1. Though it makes my head hurt to see the characters talking about things "happening" in the past at the same time as the goings-on in the present. As the old lady said, "That's now his this works! That's now any of this works!" I get that from a dramatic standpoint, we need to see these narratives as if they're going on side-by-side, but in truth they aren't -- what happened in the past is long done by this point in the present.<br /><br />My only other complaint is that when we first see Legion, thanks to the lack of his trademark hair, he looks like any other random Kubert dude. You figure out pretty quickly who he is, but it's not as evident from the artwork as I think Nicieza and Kubert wanted it to be.<br /><br /><br />"...<b>it ultimately comes down to needing an excuse for Wolverine's dramatic entry.</b>"<br /><br />Also the answer to the question of why Sabretooth didn't smell Wolverine from a mile away in this scene! (I do love that two page splash, though.)<br /><br />"<b>It’s said that Asian Psylocke has a British accent, and I can’t decide if that makes sense or not (accents arent caused by anything physical - I could have a British accent if I wanted - but voices are, somewhat, since not every person sounds the same).</b>"<br /><br />Why wouldn't she have one? Her brain was raised in England, so she should have the accent in whatever body she occupies, unless he's actively trying to hide it for some reason, right?<br /><br />Odder to me about this scene is Bobby's "That's not noooormal" line -- does he think there are no people of Asian descent in Great Britain? Certainly they would be a minority, but they do exist! (I feel like her purple hair would've been a better thing to comment on, as he does with Storm's hair -- this was some years before it became more common to see hair dyed every color of the rainbow, after all.)<br /><br />"<b>This will be his default look pretty much until Claremont’s return to the series</b>..."<br /><br />I'll complain about it when we get there, but I found so many of those "Revolution" costumes ugly as heck. I get that Marvel wanted to make a big splash for Claremont's return, but they should've put more work into the designs. (Though if I had my druthers, they would've just kept everyone as they were -- the outfits most of the X-Men were wearing at that point -- many still in either their Jim Lee togs or classic looks like Archangel and Phoenix -- were just fine.)<br /><br />"<b>Beast reminds everyone that he’s still technically the field leader of the X-Men, and I can’t really blame Gambit for forgetting that, since I did too.</b>"<br /><br />But... why? Cyclops is back! This isn't something like the early 80s when Storm was leader and he'd come back to guest-star or whatever. He hasn't left the X-Men, so what's the point of Beast retaining his leadership role three issues after Cyclops returned to the team? Unless Nicieza was looking to set up some sort of new status quo which got scuttled by the "Age of Apocalypse" hiatus.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.com