tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post6227059594623592711..comments2024-03-22T04:20:11.870-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Uncanny X-Men #311Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-20629648299663312082018-06-19T12:44:22.930-05:002018-06-19T12:44:22.930-05:00No, I totally get what you're saying, and whil...No, I totally get what you're saying, and while I too find it hard to articulate, it's a style I greatly enjoy as well. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-33936463387351830542018-06-19T12:43:38.068-05:002018-06-19T12:43:38.068-05:00I was into pogs for a minute or two, mostly becaus...I was into pogs for a minute or two, mostly because my comic and trading card habit had me routinely going into the places where pogs were being sold and I was aware they were a thing, but I never really fell in love with them. I mostly remember assembling a set of Simpsons-based pogs, and treating them more or less like round trading cards, rather than as a playable game (which is also more or less how I approached my later, brief, forays into CCGs like Magic, in part because I had no one to play the actual game with). Ultimately, I was still on limited funds, so what little money I could scrap together pre-job was going to go to comics and actual trading cards first, and before long, the pog fad was dead and gone. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-85355139866716840192018-06-11T19:50:31.318-05:002018-06-11T19:50:31.318-05:00Pogs! I remember pogs. While I never had any mysel...<br>Pogs! I remember pogs. While I never had any myself, I was struck by how all of a sudden everyone everywhere had decided that these little chits based on milk caps popular to collect and play with in Hawaii were the new! big! thing!… Sad to say, I greatly prefer the art on the pogs shown here to what’s in the contemporary X-Men comics themselves, although I could see young fans being disappointed by how different that art was from the Jim Lee work adorning the ad or the likes of Kubert and Romita in said comics. Anyhow, I hope you kids liked your pogs.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-47485642670603571922018-06-11T10:39:29.469-05:002018-06-11T10:39:29.469-05:00I seem to have fallen even further behind than you...I seem to have fallen even further behind than you. I just read this one last night. Not a lot to say about it, though. As you said, it's not bad, but it's definitely overshadowed by the goings-on around it.<br /><br />That said, it does spotlight a type of story which I feel was very common during the Lobdell/Nicieza era, and which I really like -- it's almost an "action story within a quiet issue"; i.e. not a lot happens here with regards to any sort of larger adventure storyline (aside from the Phalanx cliffhanger), the action is confined entirely to the mansion, and it just sort of feels like a night in the life of the X-Men, albeit dealing with an escaped Sabretooth.<br /><br />Not sure if that makes sense, but like I said, I have recollections of a lot of this kind of story from this period, whether it's a little skirmish with Revanche followed by a bunch of chit-chat, Archangel and Psylocke visiting the Hellfire Club, Gambit confronting Sabretooth about their past, etc. There's an obligatory fight scene to justify this being an action/adventure comic, but it's tucked away somewhere in the midst of a bunch of talking and soap opera stuff which makes you feel after reading the issue like it was a "quiet" installment even when it really wasn't.<br /><br />Anyway, whether the above is coherent or not, it's a style of comic book writing that I really enjoy. Little, low-stakes fights for most of the year, lots of soap opera, and the major battles are generally all saved for the annual crossover events.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-22001760383483086262018-06-04T09:35:04.225-05:002018-06-04T09:35:04.225-05:00Yeah, I mean even just before the DVD boom, in the...Yeah, I mean even just before the DVD boom, in the early 00s, studios were still releasing big three or four tape collections of TV shows, with a pair of episodes on each. X-Files had a bunch, Buffy, etc. <br /><br />But I was definitely one of those people who taped stuff directly off the TV. I had boxes and boxes of VHS tapes, each with a 3x5 notecard taped on the side listing the episodes in order on each tape, for the Simpsons, the X-Men animated series, etc. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-45808455502447626492018-05-24T19:27:41.819-05:002018-05-24T19:27:41.819-05:00I had the entire first three seasons of the X-Men ...I had the entire first three seasons of the X-Men animated series on VHS I recorded off TV, and I was an adult. It really wasn't until the advent of the DVD that animated programs started being collected in more than 1-3 episodes a tape. I suspect the technical limitations of what could be on a VHS tape was part of it-usually if a movie exceeded 3 hours, it was two tapes-but even still, one episode was absurd.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605826105741513741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-2134318938105132252018-05-24T17:26:00.613-05:002018-05-24T17:26:00.613-05:00My memory is that those videos were like $15 a pop...My memory is that those videos were like $15 a pop (in 90s money!) for a single episode, which even as a kid always felt insane to me because I could just tape them myself off the tv and then have multiple episodes on a blank tape that cost $3 or whatever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-59123442188627063542018-05-24T06:55:27.747-05:002018-05-24T06:55:27.747-05:00This issue did feel like it got lost in the shuffl...This issue did feel like it got lost in the shuffle. It's a solid, tense story in its own right (every plot hits on this), but it's not part of what's clearly now Phalanx Covenant setup, so it kind of just got forgotten.<br /><br />"Bob Harras simply gave the book to him and told Romita he would no longer be needed when he was done with the intercompany crossover."<br /><br />It amazes me that so many of the people Harras burnt bridges with during this period (including the writers, who had some scathing things to say with their exits) would later come back to work with him on DC's New 52. He just seems very unprofessional & capricious. I get that you want to push the guy that's electrified readers, but you could do it with a bit more tact for a long-time artist & favorite.<br /><br />"Videos of the animated series appear for sale in this issue, though they are still limited to just one episode apiece."<br /><br />And no price listed, either...Melahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539894845356203447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-11888497691203122372018-05-24T05:53:14.591-05:002018-05-24T05:53:14.591-05:00I still love JRJR’s first stint as X-Men artist. I...I still love JRJR’s first stint as X-Men artist. If anyone has doubt about his skills, just take a look at that page in which Kitty cries after Peter ends their relationship (after he cheated on her). Not a single artist from the 90s could have shown emotions so realistic as he did back then. <br /><br />Now, his second stint is more problematic. I admit that I was one of the readers who was mesmerized by Madureira and I believe it was probably the same feeling that others before me felt when Liefeld showed up on New Mutants. Madureira is a far better artist than Liefeld, obviously, but now, older and wiser, I prefer JRJR in his bulkier and blockier style. After he left, no one was able to make Bishop imposing as he was, which is probably why the character became less and less important.Licínio Mirandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12545823888354348526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-62179665465344482192018-05-24T04:50:32.460-05:002018-05-24T04:50:32.460-05:00In what is a very Claremontian use of his power, B...<i>In what is a very Claremontian use of his power, Bishop describes a time he used his power to absorb the small amount of energy released by the individual melting of snowflakes during a blizzard to recharge himself.</i><br /><br />We remember Dazzler in #218 when Juggernaut buried her thinking she was dead, and she loaded her powers from crickets and water trickles and such.<br /><br />The bearded Phalanx guy in the pic seems to be the same who left his family in earlier issue and stepped in the car with text Phalanx. Good continuity. Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-58523082138492066842018-05-23T22:44:47.762-05:002018-05-23T22:44:47.762-05:00We are in the heart of the run during which I fell...We are in the heart of the run during which I fell in love with X-Men comics, so it's hard for me not to say that I love each of these issues. This particular story always felt more important to me than was probably warranted because it was also the focus of a (very cool) What If? issue. I also remember being so unsatisfied as a 10- or 11-year-old that I had to wait 4 months to find out if Iceman was going to be okay. Definitely the highlight of Sabretooh's time in the mansion in my opinion. amax13noreply@blogger.com