tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post6841119911618478540..comments2024-03-16T14:43:09.430-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Wolverine #50Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-2011957578046147442018-08-03T09:27:11.217-05:002018-08-03T09:27:11.217-05:00Wolverine's secret files, which he strong-arms...<i>Wolverine's secret files, which he strong-arms out of Nick Fury, are faxed over.</i><br /><br />After the first hundred pages they switch to using a modem, with Wolverine collecting two shoeboxes full of floppy disks (oh the days when we thought 1.44 MB disks were more than enough). It all comes through in a few hours which I think was well above the capacity of contemporary modems, though I suspect Hama and Marvel editorial probably weren't in the habit of sending such sized documents electronically in 1991.Tim Roll-Pickeringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589024696145675963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-29383384143552336942016-06-22T12:52:02.875-05:002016-06-22T12:52:02.875-05:00Actually this was a great time to go read WOLVERIN...Actually this was a great time to go read WOLVERINE #10 the first time ever, and I wish to rectify a statement made by me in the comments: the whole thing pans out quite beautifully. UNCANNY #213, the first Sabretooth fight had the psychic image in Sabretooth's mind of Wolverine broken and thrown onto snow, which then gets zoomed out in WOLVERINE #10 to pay for the tease and give the context. It's kind of fun that it builds up to this on slow burn.<br /><br />Although I'm a bit lost in the memory implants myself now. "She was uppity squaw, said now" was used by Sabretooth then, in what assumably was Logan's memory implant. But #49 has the Windsor scene, which also is assumably one of Logan's, and it's Sabretooth again using the same phrase about Silver Fox in wholly different role. Did they make the implants excplicitly overlapping and messy, or is Logan himself messing it up in his head while sorting stuff out, or was it really an implant meant for some of the other guys, or gal, and Logan just remembers being part of making it to that someone? I know there's more to come, telepathy-related, but can't remember much anything of it, and it's messy anyway. I fear now I may not get all my answers.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-26835480692767424372016-06-22T05:07:23.207-05:002016-06-22T05:07:23.207-05:00Jason: And ... the Cuba stuff is revealed to be fa...Jason: <i>And ... the Cuba stuff is revealed to be fake? Then why was Logan able to extort a favor from Nick Fury in this issue by saying that he knows all about what was happening in Cuba in the 1960s?</i><br /><br />It's Nick Fury. He let Hulk have his way while knowing that he totally was bluffing with his threat of tactical nuclear strike in his Pantheon leader capacity, and here he obviously has more intel on the whole Weapon X scene than Logan does and knows the Emilio Garra thing to be a phony scenario and may just think that the Ol' Canucklehead deserves/needs to know now, especially as things have starter to brew up around that stuff recently. I don't think he called to the CIA director, he just went to his office for a smoke for a fiver for the looks of things before telling his people to print the files out.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-53206181623267650912016-06-22T01:55:34.518-05:002016-06-22T01:55:34.518-05:00Silver Fox's senior prom btw seems to have tak...Silver Fox's senior prom btw seems to have taken place in Castroville High, so it's sensible her apartment in Frisco has a calendar from there. It may be Wolverine was just imagining the cabin in the calendar pic during his memory trip, it once again seaping through there.<br /><br />But on happy note, the Logan who went to Silver Fox's prom in her memory implant was a greaser, so maybe the fifties' weenie car thing actually did happen.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-85523693501274747862016-06-22T01:45:42.905-05:002016-06-22T01:45:42.905-05:00Austin: I think the idea is that Weapon X created ...Austin: <i>I think the idea is that Weapon X created false memories around the cabin, but elements of it were true (like Wolverine & Silver Fox's relationship). Or something.</i><br /><br />Professor speaks of the "cabin implant", suggesting there would've been such an implant, but then we learn the cabin actually exists. The apartment in Windsor had a calendar with the cabin in the picture in #49 for some reason. Maybe they need, again for the psychological conditioning, some happy memory they can use, but it then acts up because the Professor obviously is bad at happy.<br /><br />Maybe they needed the cabin with all the surroundings and nature and forest smell for the effect, which is why they can't fit it into the studio, but all that realness then seeps through the programming.<br /><br />Except one of the subjects obviously has his happy memory about the World's Largest Artichoke in Castroville, CA instead. My vote is Sabretooth.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-89952815347549023382016-06-22T01:11:47.955-05:002016-06-22T01:11:47.955-05:00D'oh. You're right, Austin, right there on...D'oh. You're right, Austin, right there on the panel he says so. Still, you'd get quite a lot of scenery with the price of one Shiva robot.<br /><br />One so wishes to think Professor is forced just to play "André" in the memory implants because of the same budget constraints (though he has the same air of importance that would prompt a director to also star in his own movie, to the consternation of everyone participating in the production), but remembering how he died also in the WEAPON X scenario in hands of Wolverine, maybe having them kill their own creator is an important bit in the psychological conditioning of their Experiment X subjects.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-3360247039316811912016-06-21T10:21:31.429-05:002016-06-21T10:21:31.429-05:00he Professor (the bad one) says that the cabin mem...<i>he Professor (the bad one) says that the cabin memories are implants, but issue 65 is meant to confirm that Logan and Silver Fox's time in the cabin was real. </i><br /><br />I've still about 20 odd issues before we catch up to the point in this series I've read before, so I only know what I've read ABOUT the upcoming issues, and not their specific content, but I think the idea is that Weapon X created false memories around the cabin, but elements of it were true (like Wolverine & Silver Fox's relationship). Or something. <br /><br /><i>And ... the Cuba stuff is revealed to be fake? Then why was Logan able to extort a favor from Nick Fury in this issue by saying that he knows all about what was happening in Cuba in the 1960s?</i><br /><br />Suggested to be fake (it was one of the sets). And Wolverine was still a CIA agent. SO even if the specific scenes we saw last issue were fakes, he was still presumably in the know about the Cuba in the 60s, enough so to freak out Fury's bosses. <br /><br /><i> the end result was that fans who were expecting eventual answers to all of these questions were disappointed over and over, with these abrupt endings that didn't resolve anything. It's like Hama's "Wolverine" was the "Lost" of its day.</i><br /><br />That's probably an apt analogy. I wasn't reading this particular series at the time, but even with the teases of Wolverine backstory over in X-MEN, I assumed someone had a grand plan all worked, and was doling at this info in dribs and drabs as part of that plan. Obviously, not so much. <br /><br />Of course, even to this day, I can't fathom the idea of sitting down to write a story without having some idea of the story beats along the way and how it will end, but I've learned that, apparently, very few professional writers do it that way, and that, as in the case of LOST, even if they SAY they're doing it that way, they're actually not. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-490759695871906442016-06-21T09:55:36.946-05:002016-06-21T09:55:36.946-05:00In general, I'm probably glad this didn't ...In general, I'm probably glad this didn't take (I prefer my characters to grow/move forward, however incrementally, rather than revert to previous iterations), but I do wish it had been consistent. If Hama wanted to do this, it should have been applied over in X-MEN; if Lee wasn't on board, that Harras should have nixed the idea here. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-67625454897524749382016-06-21T09:54:16.837-05:002016-06-21T09:54:16.837-05:00The bit with Wolverine pushing the bike up the sta...The bit with Wolverine pushing the bike up the stairs is pretty good. I don't mention it very often, but Hama has a tendency to effectively sneak in little comedy bits like that under the radar, amongst all the other more traditionally-comic book-y stuff he does. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-89485407572139566292016-06-21T09:52:44.443-05:002016-06-21T09:52:44.443-05:00I found the ending kind-of (?) abrupt.
Indeed. I ...<i>I found the ending kind-of (?) abrupt.</i><br /><br />Indeed. I probably should have made more of a point about that. It definitely contributes to the feeling that this story is, overall, less of a story than a vehicle for setting up these new elements of Wolverine's backstory and new avenues for future stories to explore. <br /><br />@Teemu: <i>I still get chuckles out of that they apparently can afford an endless supply of super hi-tech Shiva robots, but when it comes to the plywool and cardboard memory implant sets, they're suddenly operating under heavy budget constraints.</i><br /><br />Professor Thornton actually does mention their supply of Shiva robots is finite, due to, again, budget constraints. It seems like a bit of a running gag/commentary on Hama's part: even the super-secret clandestine government projects designed to create superhuman weapons operate under the same kind of budgetary limitations as other government departments. <br /><br />@Matt: <i>Somewhere around UNCANNY 300, yellow becomes the official color for her costume. It's a change I somehow never noticed as a kid</i><br /><br />Ditto. Though it makes more sense for her to be in yellow, since yellow & blue are kind of the teams colors. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-71682610717866332982016-06-21T03:00:52.321-05:002016-06-21T03:00:52.321-05:00" anything inconsistent can thus be written o..." anything inconsistent can thus be written off as a false memory."<br /><br />I don't know that it worked out this way in practice. Plus, am I reading it wrong or is some stuff inconsistent right here? The Professor (the bad one) says that the cabin memories are implants, but issue 65 is meant to confirm that Logan and Silver Fox's time in the cabin was real. <br /><br />And ... the Cuba stuff is revealed to be fake? Then why was Logan able to extort a favor from Nick Fury in this issue by saying that he knows all about what was happening in Cuba in the 1960s?<br /><br />Man, I think Hama is a good writer but boy did he and the X-office lose me fast with this stuff? They were so obviously winging it, and the end result was that fans who were expecting eventual answers to all of these questions were disappointed over and over, with these abrupt endings that didn't resolve anything. It's like Hama's "Wolverine" was the "Lost" of its day.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13298753675007196538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-20409264004240780572016-06-20T11:24:19.917-05:002016-06-20T11:24:19.917-05:00Blam -- "...Jean’s in her new Jim Lee outfit ...Blam -- "...<b>Jean’s in her new Jim Lee outfit too but, as with last issue, the normally orange part is colored yellow here and the dark blue is instead a very pale blue.</b>"<br /><br />Somewhere around UNCANNY 300, yellow becomes the official color for her costume. It's a change I somehow never noticed as a kid; I think it was somewhere around "Onslaught" where I looked at her and said, "Hey, when did they change her costume yellow?" I went back... and back... and back through my issues to find it had happened years earlier!<br /><br />I think I failed to notice because on the cartoon series it stayed orange long after the comics changed it.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-24535277444707012522016-06-20T11:21:29.122-05:002016-06-20T11:21:29.122-05:00"Both Jean and Xavier suggest in this issue t..."<b>Both Jean and Xavier suggest in this issue that Wolverine's exploration of his past is causing him to act more irrationally, reverting to his previous temperment when he first joined the X-Men.</b>"<br /><br />I wish this had taken off, at lest for a while. I love the "unlikeable little dick" Wolverine from his early appearances. We didn't get enough of him before his evolution began.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-56903592648497118722016-06-18T20:06:32.995-05:002016-06-18T20:06:32.995-05:00Nathan A. was at some point telling us that they i...Nathan A. was at some point telling us that they intended "an old X-Men villain" to be behind the Weapon X project and was suggesting that it would've been Baron von Strucker. It would make disturbing amount of sense, with Andrea&Andreas activating in UNCANNY at this time in related business and Silver Fox shown here building a career as Madame Hydra.<br /><br />I love plentily that shameless action sequence of Wolverine pushing his bike up the stairs just to ride it down through the window to the bridge of the Helicarrier.<br /><br />"Pest Control", lol.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-69425715118335404792016-06-18T07:33:39.071-05:002016-06-18T07:33:39.071-05:00// I'm not exactly sure if they somehow telepa...<br><i>// I'm not exactly sure if they somehow telepathically forced the people act out the false memories //</i><br /><br />Marvel Universe <i>résumé</i>s are probably full of credits like “Cuban Soldier #2 — ‘Dreams of Gore’ (experimental short film for US Dept. of Agriculture)”.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-28743930143415052362016-06-18T01:48:10.245-05:002016-06-18T01:48:10.245-05:00The reason for the cabin overflow is heavily hinte...The reason for the cabin overflow is heavily hinted at right there: there is no cabin set to be found within the facility.<br /><br />I still get chuckles out of that they apparently can afford an endless supply of super hi-tech Shiva robots, but when it comes to the plywool and cardboard memory implant sets, they're suddenly operating under heavy budget constraints. I think someone was just being lazy. Anyway, I love the never-explained glimpses shown of other Weapon X subjects' false memory sets. Sabretooth must've had hell of a time in that sawmill. Had they not filmed <i>Adventures of Brisco County jr</i> only at a later date, I would totally claim they've seen that one episode. And based Bishop on Julius Carry's likeness.<br /><br />But, I'm not exactly sure if they somehow telepathically forced the people act out the false memories in the sets or what, and at what point. There was no hint of any of this in WEAPON X and I believe the idea was to tie the false memories into the pain caused by the Weapon X shenanigans.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-55310368287090151612016-06-17T17:24:07.280-05:002016-06-17T17:24:07.280-05:00I found the ending kind-of (?) abrupt.
// Wolveri...<br>I found the ending kind-of (?) abrupt.<br /><br /><i>// Wolverine is wearing his old blue-and-yellow costume //</i><br /><br />And so the X-Men present, by accident or design, all match. Scott’s in his new Jim Lee outfit, like you say; Jubilee <i>and</i> Professor X are wearing strap-enhanced versions of the X-Men training/utility/support uniforms; and Jean’s in her new Jim Lee outfit too but, as with last issue, the normally orange part is colored yellow here and the dark blue is instead a very pale blue.<br /><br /><i>// operatives, including Wolverine and Sabretooth, all of whom are codenamed with some kind of animal //</i><br /><br />Kestrel was also the name of a villain drawn by Rob Liefeld in the 1988 <i>Hawk and Dove</i> miniseries at DC, coincidentally — visually designed by him as well, technically, although the costume’s based largely on Hawk’s. Archie/MLJ has published a Fox character sporadically since 1940, albeit not Silver. The last name sure looks to be Wildcat, but apart from there already being a DC character by that moniker as well it’s hard to imagine anyone would use that codename in relation to a… How would we describe Project X?… say, a covert action team.<br /><br /><i>// This issue concludes with a pair of pinups //</i><br /><br />He makes Wolverine too lanky, but otherwise that Sienkiewicz piece is outstanding.<br /><br /><i>// SHIELD helicarrier, at times, refuels at the top of a skyscraper in Manhattan //</i><br /><br />Which is questionable enough without Forge referring to it as a “covert urban site”.<br /><br /><i>// for whatever reason, everyone's memory of Wolverine's cabin with Silver Fox consistently bleeds through all his other implants //</i><br /><br />That’s an interesting touch; ditto the sets being reused. I don’t love everything about this but I do like a fair bit.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.com