tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post683213149139901635..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining X-Men Unlimited #10Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-75105222043024627512021-02-07T03:18:33.159-06:002021-02-07T03:18:33.159-06:00// which is a decent enough explanation to the que...<br><i>// which is a decent enough explanation to the question of why Dark Beast doesn't just kill the one person who can most easily expose his ruse //</i><br /><br />It’s still <i>really</i> hard to buy that he could fool the other X-Men merely by talking to people from Hank’s past and hacking his computer. So many details referenced in conversation — be it tactical audibles during battle or just small talk — would expose his lack of knowledge. Even if he’s a genius. Even if he’s a quick-witted, sociopathic genius. And especially if he’s a supposed genius who somehow didn’t know about his doppelganger despite monitoring the mutant scene and, you know, general culture for the past twenty years.<br /><br />Glad (?) to see I’m not alone on this.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-65148276277467544892020-10-16T23:44:02.420-05:002020-10-16T23:44:02.420-05:00At least in the Parent Trap the girls were twins a...<i>At least in the Parent Trap the girls were twins and the same age.</i><br /><br />Ha! <br /><br />And yeah, he is chained to the wall, to keep him from busting down the wall and escaping. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-81572373674983860942020-10-16T23:42:50.380-05:002020-10-16T23:42:50.380-05:00@John: Yeah, I think the dual explanations are &qu...@John: Yeah, I think the dual explanations are "locked in his lab so much he'd lost touch with everyone" and "Onslaught helped cover it up", both of which are doing a LOT of heavy lifting for the story. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-35946785548604784582020-10-03T11:34:36.317-05:002020-10-03T11:34:36.317-05:00Stop ruining The Cask of Amontillado for me!
Hank...Stop ruining The Cask of Amontillado for me!<br /><br />Hank's chained arms and legs with vanadium chains. He can't reach the brick wall.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-43440374254528015622020-10-02T12:01:25.447-05:002020-10-02T12:01:25.447-05:00I'm a construction superintendent and I laughe...I'm a construction superintendent and I laughed at that too. A small child could push that wall down, especially since he seems to have not poured grout into the blocks. Hell, one of the first things I ever did as a construction worker was demolish a cinderblock wall, I weighed 140 pounds soaking wet and I did it with a six pound sledgehammer!<br /><br />Moreover, I am now imagining Dark Beast buying a ton of bricks, mortar, and tools at the local Lowes. Since I don't remember a lot of details of this issue, are the bricks even EXPLAINED? Or are they just there? I get wanting to make a Poe reference, but damn this is silly.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605826105741513741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-38793092719036427012020-09-30T06:32:48.256-05:002020-09-30T06:32:48.256-05:00There's a water dropper bottle placed in there...There's a water dropper bottle placed in there eventually (shown when Hank is rescued) and Beast will be fed to be kept alive. Presumably after forced into physical exhaustion to keep him from attempting escape.This One's For You, Morph!https://www.blogger.com/profile/01536728843421923299noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-38298296982689131632020-09-29T13:38:02.627-05:002020-09-29T13:38:02.627-05:00Mortar on bricks takes 24-48 hours to harden. Beas...Mortar on bricks takes 24-48 hours to harden. Beast's Marvel Card have him able to lift 1 ton....he's not able to break through that wall? I was working for a curbing company when this released, I was beyond stumped when I saw this pannel and still am today. <br /><br />What does he eat/drink if he's locked in there? He's in there for months. <br /><br />When a brick wall stops one of the smartest characters in the MU with super strength, the Shark has been Jumped! <br /><br />AND THIS IS A MARK WAID WRITTEN BOOK! REALLY.....REALLY?! Couldn't think of anything better? <br /><br />This book has so many plot holes in it. The age difference of 20 years, not knowing that there was a counterpart (wasn't it explained later that his memory was lost when he came to this world and a young Emma Frost helped restore some of it so that might explain why he didn't look for this earth's Beast), a brick wall holding him prisoner, being able to act and have relationships as if you came from this world when you know next to nothing about the people your interacting with, etc. <br /><br />At least in the Parent Trap the girls were twins and the same age. Scott Churchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16795112175606617848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-81357894425317165342020-09-28T14:27:28.203-05:002020-09-28T14:27:28.203-05:00In story it was later explained no one noticed bec...In story it was later explained no one noticed because Beast had stayed isolated in his lab so much in the months leading up to the switch. A bit flimsy but still it was sort of addressed I suppose. John Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12600335496622438290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-48874086320728694932020-09-28T13:04:42.277-05:002020-09-28T13:04:42.277-05:00I had genuinely forgotten that Dark Beast actually...I had genuinely forgotten that Dark Beast actually did a Cask of Amontillado riff to get rid of Hank. Which says a lot about how my attention was beginning to waver around then.<br /><br />And I'm with Matt here. If I tried to replace my 20 years younger self right now, people would catch on fast. For one thing, they'd wonder why I occasionally favored one leg because I have arthritis now in my left knee! Sometimes I wonder if one of the reasons they went with Professor X is Onslaught was just so he could say "yeah, I knew you were an impostor, I just covered it up" because, really, what was his plan for faking out all the telepaths in the X-Men's orbit otherwise. (If he actually HAD one, I forgot it.) Never mind the little things, like interpersonal interactions and body language, twenty years difference in age is a LOT.<br /><br />You could really tell, in hindsight, that the X-Office was running without a real plan. When you start asking questions, it falls apart fast.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605826105741513741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-82520335160716314642020-09-27T23:47:40.790-05:002020-09-27T23:47:40.790-05:00Forgot to mention that I appreciate Waid giving at...Forgot to mention that I appreciate Waid giving at least a flimsy rationale here for why Dark Beast never thought about Beast since arriving twenty years ago. Rather than go with the bizarre implication that McCoy didn’t realize he <b>had</b> a counterpart, Waid has him state that he always assumed he had one but never bothered to dwell on it since he had more important things to worry about. Like I said, it’s flimsy — Beast was an Avenger, for Pete’s sake, something mentioned more than once in this very story — plus it feels incredibly unlikely that such a self-proclaimed inquisitive mind as Dark Beast wouldn’t have researched his alternate self over the decades — but at least it’s something!<br /><br />Honestly, why <b>didn’t</b> they just say that he knew about his counterpart? A bit of the narrative would need to be tweaked, but simply revealing that McCoy had been well aware of Beast and was keeping tabs on him for twenty years before finally deciding the time was right to replace him would’ve been a lot easier to swallow.<br /><br />Also, does Beast not age (or age slowly) or something? He came over from the AoA and spent twenty years lurking underground! Look, I’m 41. I feel like if my 61-year-old alternate universe doppelgänger tried to take my place and live among my closest friends and family, they <b>might</b> notice, even if he did make himself look exactly like me.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-85195086335020487152020-09-27T23:36:16.086-05:002020-09-27T23:36:16.086-05:00I think this issue was my first exposure to a lot ...I think this issue was my first exposure to a lot of Beast’s backstory, so I liked it for that reason — but at the same time, I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable, even when I first read it, with Dark Beast being depicted as a mass murderer/serial killer here. I mean, I get that he’s a bad guy and is willing to kill in the course of his experiments, but seeing him go around and off the entire staff of the nursing home and all the people in the restaurant is creepy.<br /><br />I noticed that Dark Beast refers to Mindy as being 30 years old, which means Waid is abiding by the fact that Fabian Nicieza established Beast as 30 a few years back. So why Waid thinks he can say that Cyclops is “only twenty-five” in an upcoming issue mystifies me. Hank isn’t five years older than Scott! He’s like one year older, or maybe two at the absolute most.<br /><br />“...<b> the throwaway notion of Beast having a family priest despite religion never really being part of his character</b>...”<br /><br />It’s established (as far as I know) by Jim Starlin in INFINITY CRUSADE, of all places, that Beast is somewhat religious. His faith is strong enough that he’s recruited to the Goddess’s team in that story. Knowing Mark Ward’s undying fidelity to continuity, I’d bet the priest here is a reference to that. But yeah, you’re right — “devout” isn’t exactly a word anyone would associate with the super-sciency Doctor McCoy.<br /><br />Lastly, there any reason why this issue <b>has</b> to take place before X-MEN 50? I mean, I know it officially does — it immediately precedes that issue in the ROAD TO ONSLAUGHT vol. 3 trade paperback — but the last page of this one says that it will be continued in UNCANNY #331. And Beast’s characterization in X-MEN 50 really feels like the authentic article rather than his doppelgänger. I think I kept this issue filed after X-MEN 50 in my long boxes, and I still feel that’s where it should slot in terms of continuity.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.com