tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post491970732321977111..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Excalibur #68Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-15645396109850449152017-10-13T13:31:19.297-05:002017-10-13T13:31:19.297-05:00Ah, very cool. JFM reminded me of Claremont in his...Ah, very cool. JFM reminded me of Claremont in his plots, if not his scripts. He was very fond of the Claremontian sprawling narrative - keeping a million plates spinning with subplots that would gradually converge. He was really good at it, too, without losing track or interest in the individual threads. My first exposure to him would've been Factor X; on revisiting, it was easily the densest of the AoA books.<br /><br />I'm encouraged by your praise for X-Men 2099! I'm sort of talking myself into binge reading the early stuff, since I know there are some gems in a few titles.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-60469216997277340502017-10-12T14:13:47.376-05:002017-10-12T14:13:47.376-05:00Hmm, I thought I commented on this last week, but ...Hmm, I thought I commented on this last week, but I guess something went haywire.<br /><br />I really liked J.F. Moore's DOOM 2099, and his departure and replacement by Warren Ellis was an early indicator of my eventual distaste for much of Ellis's work -- he came on and abruptly killed off the entire supporting cast, who had been nicely built up by Moore, in his very first issue.<br /><br />I loved X-MEN 2099 all the way through, though. That was Moore from beginning to end. It's funny; I remember very, very little of the series' content, but I know it was one of my top reads every month. And Moore would seem to have taken a page from "Dissolution and Rebirth" era Chris Claremont, too -- he separated the team into splinter groups pretty early on, and kept them apart for (what felt like at the time) quite a while.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-63748896706955553512017-10-06T17:04:13.732-05:002017-10-06T17:04:13.732-05:00I assumed from context, namely her getting out of ...<br>I assumed from context, namely her getting out of a car in tears as Micromax says “Welcome back, Shadowcat,” that Kitty had just come from the U.S. <i>after</i> Illyana’s death.<br /><br /><i>// Steve Buccellato … draws this issue. I'm not sure if this is his first and/or only pencil work, but it's the first time I've come across it, and it's pretty terrible. //</i><br /><br />Yeah. I don’t recall seeing any non-color work of his contemporarily before (or since) his self-published <i>Armature</i> in 1996, by which point he was a noted digital colorist. The GCD has about a dozen story credits with him penciling before this.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-84125148392442631072017-10-05T22:18:11.062-05:002017-10-05T22:18:11.062-05:00Brian (brother to Steve?) Buccelatto, Brian Murray...Brian (brother to Steve?) Buccelatto, Brian Murray and Nick Napolitano. Guys who have done everything to work in comicsKabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07016249766738327393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-9671862942124597562017-10-03T20:06:13.478-05:002017-10-03T20:06:13.478-05:00Come to think of it, Moore did Doom 2099 as well a...Come to think of it, Moore did Doom 2099 as well and that came first. Prior to either, he had some scattered DC work so the 2099 stuff gave him his first sustained runs on anything.<br /><br />As to its quality, I can't quite say. I'm praising Moore on the basis of his later resume. I have exactly one issue of X-Men 2099 that my dad randomly picked up for me when I was sick. It was solid enough. Didn't make me feel worse. Your enjoyment would probably depend greatly on how invested you are in the 2099 premise. In my case, not very.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-22239377649016687872017-10-03T19:13:03.111-05:002017-10-03T19:13:03.111-05:00Is X-Men 2099 that good? I'm about to read all...Is X-Men 2099 that good? I'm about to read all 2099 issues I could get.Cesar R. Pontualhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06375109987794647615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-12391807270141560912017-10-03T18:52:18.242-05:002017-10-03T18:52:18.242-05:00Yeah, I mean, would it have killed Lobdell to open...Yeah, I mean, would it have killed Lobdell to open the issue with a couple pages of Captain Britain getting lost on the way back to the present, then do a time jump to show the team mourning/trying to move on, to at least get his departure depicted ON-PAGE? <br /><br />Huh. I knew Moore wrote X-MEN 2099, but I didn't know that was his big break; I guess I figured he'd worked on something else before then. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-1394709715209503432017-10-03T18:50:41.993-05:002017-10-03T18:50:41.993-05:00My workaround for Cerise is that she's Shi'...My workaround for Cerise is that she's Shi'ar in a political, but not genetic, sense. That is, she's from a world which is ruled by the Shi'ar Empire, which makes her "Shi'ar" , but she's not of the same species as Lilandra, Deathbird, etc. (in the same way, say, Gladiator is Shi'ar).<br /><br />I think that notion gets openly contradicted here shortly, but that's my fanwank, at least. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-46971855663065565292017-10-03T16:48:51.014-05:002017-10-03T16:48:51.014-05:00Wait, Captain Britain seriously just vanished betw...Wait, Captain Britain seriously just vanished between issues? I never knew that. I realize the cast is gradually going to be whittled down, but it's not like Lobdell is pressed for time here. As you say, the next regular writer some 15 issues out!<br /><br />Speaking of, I made the observation that J.M. DeMatteis seems like a good fit for X-Factor given his experience on JLI. Now I'm wondering if actually Excalibur might've been the better book for him. It has the, well, international flavor in addition to the more lighthearted sensibilities (until Despero shows up and starts killing everyone shit just got real) of his Justice League stuff. But honestly, take your pick: both books badly needed a stabilizing influence and won't get it for some time to come.<br /><br />That Kitty gaffe is bad, considering it's Lobdell overseeing both plots. On the other hand, credit to him for maintaining the illusion that the secondary characters are going on to be prominent fixtures going forward when nothing could be further from the truth.<br /><br />For some reason, I think of Mortal Kombat hitting consoles ages before this. I feel like we should be seeing ads for MK II in 1993.<br /><br />If nothing else, X-Men 2099 is notable for giving criminally underrated writer John Francis Moore his big break.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-85652565174407366832017-10-03T14:56:56.019-05:002017-10-03T14:56:56.019-05:00I liked Cerise quite a bit based on what little sp...I liked Cerise quite a bit based on what little spotlight time she had during Davis's run. Turning in her into a Shi'ar makes no sense, though.<br /><br />I also don't like the dumping of Captain Britain. I read that Comic Book Legends article and while I can appreciate Lobdell wanting to do something unusual with the guy for a while, just having him vanish into thin air between issues to set it up is a horrible idea.<br /><br />I like the Starjammers and I love that Joe Mad cover, though -- even if it kind of makes it appear that the Starjammers have turned on Corsair and are following Nightcrawler into battle against him.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.com