tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post6161959908044479950..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining X-Men Annual #6Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-26434655549005541072018-12-14T11:16:42.908-06:002018-12-14T11:16:42.908-06:00For what it's worth, the Stones were coming of...For what it's worth, the Stones were coming off a huge album and tour in '82 (the album with "Start Me Up" so ... it's conceivable she'd have that poster. The Stones were on MTV a bunch at the beginning...back when that was a "music channel."Jeff Cnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-16788710814760540902012-08-20T16:06:45.273-05:002012-08-20T16:06:45.273-05:00@Blam: I'm not so sure that a 13/14-year-old g...@Blam: <i>I'm not so sure that a 13/14-year-old girl in 1982 — or Kitty, anyway — would have a Rolling Stones poster in her room.</i><br /><br />I wondered about that too. Probably Seinkiewicz or Wiacek is a fan. <br /><br /><i>Scott doesn't sleep with a ruby-quartz nightmask or anything?</i><br /><br />I'm pretty sure when we see him sleeping it's via Storm's dream, so the absence can be excused that way. <br /><br /><i>Me: "... and her arrival will be broadcast later tonight on NBC."</i><br /><br />Ha!<br /><br /><i>And he shows two separate beams coming from Cyclops' visor.</i><br /><br />Yeah, I almost posted that panel. He doesn't even do it consistently. <br /><br /><i>I still don't get how Storm can instantly change into her costume.</i><br /><br />So long as you asked exactly zero follow-up questions, unstable molecules. <br /><br />(This is a corollary to the "he does it <i>magnetically</i> rule that applies to similar questions about Magneto). <br /><br /><i>Apparently Black Canary and The Scarlet Witch share a storage locker and that Lilith stole their clothes.</i><br /><br />Double ha! <br /><br /><i>I'm not halfway as enamored of the story or the art in this annual, honestly, as I was of the tighter, moodier story in #159.</i><br /><br />#159 was a much, much better issue. Honestly, I think my recollection of this issue tainted my recollection of #159, because I remember not liking it much until re-reading it for this series. Now I think I was just remembering this one...<br /><br /><i>Peter's writing left-handed. Is that a mistake, a revelation, or a reinforcement of a known fact that I forgot?</i><br /><br />Hmm...as far I know, either option B or C (including myself in C). <br /><br /><i>Yeah, I call frumious bandersnatch on that.</i><br /><br />Indeed. Also, "Frumious Bandersnatch" is my new band name. <br /><br />@Dr. Bitz: <i>I'd like to point out we got two Pieta covers in a row!</i><br /><br />Hey, good catch! I totally missed that. <br /><br /><i>I'm not sure what it says about me, but when I first saw the cover I saw Kitty's legs and arms as Storm's legs...pretty much meaning Storm was spread eagle. </i><br /><br />I'm pretty sure whatever that is saying isn't saying anything we didn't already know. :) <br /><br />@Matt: <i>My first thought would be "different inker", but Wiacek did both issues, so I'm not sure what the difference could be other than Sienkiewicz's evolving style. </i><br /><br />I too thought "different inker" as well at first. I even went back and double checked that Wiacek did issue #159. >shrug<Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-27288853420175646992012-08-20T13:58:39.633-05:002012-08-20T13:58:39.633-05:00Blam -- "Sienkiewicz not only draws Wolverine...Blam -- "<b>Sienkiewicz not only draws Wolverine too tall, he gives his mask wildly large flaps. And he shows two separate beams coming from Cyclops' visor.</b>"<br /><br />Yes, he seems more off-model here than he was in issue #159. My first thought would be "different inker", but Wiacek did both issues, so I'm not sure what the difference could be other than Sienkiewicz's evolving style.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-80283648240478516702012-08-20T11:09:35.123-05:002012-08-20T11:09:35.123-05:00I'd like to point out we got two Pieta covers ...I'd like to point out we got two Pieta covers in a row!<br /><br />I'm not sure what it says about me, but when I first saw the cover I saw Kitty's legs and arms as Storm's legs...pretty much meaning Storm was spread eagle.Dr. Bitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13568570859981368717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-18539431594729367872012-08-17T22:51:16.174-05:002012-08-17T22:51:16.174-05:00it's also kind of cute that Colossus is doing ...<br><i>it's also kind of cute that Colossus is doing homework</i><br /><br />On tiny sheets of paper...! <br /><br />Peter's writing left-handed. Is that a mistake, a revelation, or a reinforcement of a known fact that I forgot?<br /><br /><i>Though Rachel has been transformed into a vampire and seeking death, Storm is unable to kill her.</i><br /><br />Yeah, I call frumious bandersnatch on that.<br /><br /><i>Kitty has Rolling Stones posters in her bedroom..</i><br /><br />Ditto (see my earlier comment).<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-80518475568287213002012-08-17T22:49:36.350-05:002012-08-17T22:49:36.350-05:00I get that red = blood, but I'd have liked thi...<br>I get that red = blood, but I'd have liked this cover better with a moodier background color — maybe a purple, with the block relief of the logo in red instead.<br /><br />WTF is up with Kitty's hair in the opening pages?<br /><br />I'm not so sure that a 13/14-year-old girl in 1982 — or Kitty, anyway — would have a Rolling Stones poster in her room.<br /><br />Scott doesn't sleep with a ruby-quartz nightmask or anything?<br /><br />Caption: <i>"Roughly 3,000 miles separate the shores of the United States from those of England. Storm flies it in a day..."</i><br /><br />Me: "... and her arrival will be broadcast later tonight on NBC."<br /><br />Sienkiewicz not only draws Wolverine too tall, he gives his mask wildly large flaps. And he shows two separate beams coming from Cyclops' visor.<br /><br />Cyclops: <i>"I don't believe it -- she transformed into mist!"</i><br /><br />Me: "You're a frakking mutant superhero, Cyclops. You've seen this kind of thing before."<br /><br />Cyclops: <i>"The passage might be booby-trapped!"</i><br /><br />Me: "Well, Kitty's safe then. Up high! So when does <i>How I Met Your Mother</i> start up again?"<br /><br />I <i>still</i> don't get how Storm can instantly change into her costume.<br /><br />What language is Kitty/Lilith chanting? It doesn't appear to be entirely Latin.<br /><br />Apparently Black Canary and The Scarlet Witch share a storage locker and that Lilith stole their clothes.<br /><br />On the scale of abrupt epiloguey things, the last page isn't quite "Lykos! You're cured!" but it's close. <br /><br />I'm not halfway as enamored of the story <i>or</i> the art in this annual, honestly, as I was of the tighter, moodier story in #159.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-57293435947499278802012-08-16T13:25:03.481-05:002012-08-16T13:25:03.481-05:00@Matt: As an anal kid, it bugged me that this annu...@Matt: <i>As an anal kid, it bugged me that this annual really didn't fit neatly anywhere in continuity. </i><br /><br />That's okay, it bugs me now. I do think this is the best place for it, but it still doesn't really fit. In addition to the Cyclops issue you mention, Kitty makes no mention of being demoted which, given her reaction in #168, seems odd (granted, this is a problem shared by <i>Special Edition X-Men</i> #1) and, in general, it doesn't feel right that the X-Men are just back at the mansion, doing homework while Xavier is apparently on Muir Isle, following everything that happened in #167. <br /><br />But, this issue has to follow issue #159 but can't occur immediately thereafter (which is where some chronologies place it) because it opens at the mansion. So it has to occur after the X-Men return from space (and the mansion has been rebuilt). I suppose you could maybe put it in between #173 and #174 (which is where I'm placing the unintentionally hilarious <i>X-Men at the Dallas State Fair</i> issue for lack of a better place), but that's moving it out pretty far from its original on-sale date.<br /><br />(Now that I think about it, isn't it kinda odd that we never get a reaction from any of the X-Men to the mansion being rebuilt and the Bermuda Island base being abandoned?) <br /><br />As you said, the annuals definitely seem to be an afterthought to Claremont, at least until Art Adams comes aboard, in terms of story and continuity (though the Longshot one <i>is</i> the most egregious example of the continuity problem). I wonder if maybe it's because he doesn't know, when writing them, exactly when they'll be published, and thus, can't slot them as easily into the regular series? But then, you'd think he'd just write a spot in for them later in the series, like with Wolverine and his LS. <br /><br /><i>For some reason I feel like Kitty learned this a lot.</i><br /><br />Me too. Part of it, I think, is that she learns they're separated, then that they're trying to work it out, <i>then</i> that they're ultimately getting divorced. But if memory serves, I don't think she "learns" about the divorce again after this, though I'm sure it comes up. <br /><br /><i>And as Rachel's creator, Marv Wolfman, said here, "I resented Chris killing off Rachel Van Helsing for no apparent reason."</i><br /><br />I can't begrudge Wolfman that sentiment one bit. If Claremont had done it as part of significant story or to impart a significant theme or something, it'd be more defensible, but here it reads like the death of a one-off character when she was very much not that. <br /><br /><i>I love that whenever someone/something of European origin is introduced into a story, Nightcrawler is familiar with the subject.</i><br /><br />At this point it's getting <i>dangerously</i> close to being laughable/unrealistic, but I do enjoy it as well. And it helps that most of his European knowledge has pertained to more occult-ish things and not, say, the ins and out of Europe's economic situation. <br /><br /><i> I should check it out before next week. </i><br /><br />It won't take you long: the actual story, aside from the reprint of <i>Giant Size X-Men</i> #1, is only about ten pages. I considered skipping it, but the Marvel index covers it, it's considered part of the series, and it does feature Cockrum drawing the X-Men. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-6464370561603373682012-08-16T12:27:52.648-05:002012-08-16T12:27:52.648-05:00Agreed that this isn't a great sequel to, as I...Agreed that this isn't a great sequel to, as I've said before, one of my personal single favorite X-Men issues of all time, #159. But I always love seeing more Bill S. in Neal Adams mode.<br /><br />As an anal kid, it bugged me that this annual really didn't fit neatly anywhere in continuity. This is probably the best place for it, but wasn't Cyclops just about to leave with his dad to go meet his grandparents? As much as I love Cyclops, it's really his inclusion in the issue that makes it hard to place. If he wasn't here, I would assume he was in Alaska while the X-Men were fighting Dracula.<br /><br />But Claremont never seemed that concerned with where his annuals fit (as seen most painfully with the Longshot/Mojo/X-Babies annual in a few years). Which seems odd because he went out of his way to make limited series fit, as we'll see soon with Wolverine being written out of the main title for his solo series.<br /><br />"<b>This issue opens as Kitty learns her parents are getting divorced.</b>"<br /><br />For some reason I feel like Kitty learned this a lot. I know every issue is someone's first, plus maybe I'm misremembering, but I thought her parents' divorce was mentioned like it was a new development about three or four times.<br /><br />"<b>Oddly enough, it seems her death in this issue, after first being turned into a vampire by Dracula, has stuck</b>..."<br /><br />And as Rachel's creator, Marv Wolfman, said <a href="http://www.titanstower.com/comics-journal-80-marv-wolfman-interview" rel="nofollow">here</a>, "I resented Chris killing off Rachel Van Helsing for no apparent reason."<br /><br />(It's part of a longer diatribe on comic book death in general.)<br /><br />"<b>Nightcrawler is aware of the Darkhold and is able to recognize it by sight</b>."<br /><br />Recognizing it on sight is a bit much (but then again I guess his mom <i>was</i> a witch after all), but I love that whenever someone/something of European origin is introduced into a story, Nightcrawler is familiar with the subject. First there was Dr. Doom, then Dracula himself, and now the Darkhold.<br /><br />"<b>We look at Special Edition X-Men #1, featuring Dave Cockrum's final regular X-Men work, and then the intercompany X-Men/Teen Titans crossover.</b>"<br /><br />Wow, <i>two</i> Claremont X-Men stories I've never read! Though I do own the Special Edition story in a Marvel Masterworks volume. I should check it out before next week.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.com