tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post7506229043059423620..comments2024-03-22T04:20:11.870-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Uncanny X-Men #304Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-6449465842698877522017-11-01T21:31:34.880-05:002017-11-01T21:31:34.880-05:00This is one of the earliest X-Men comics I remembe...This is one of the earliest X-Men comics I remember owning, I'm pretty sure I got it right when it came out. I must've liked it, because I re-read it over and over and over again, even drawing my own comics with a huge roster of characters like those featured in the battle. There was plenty of action to keep me satisfied, too. <br /><br />The last page is also where I realized you're supposed to add a comma in front of a person's name when using it at the end of a sentence (Xavier says something like "Thank you, Warren" and not "Thank you Warren."). To say comics helped me learn to read is an understatement.<br /><br />But I just re-read this issue for the first time in possibly 20 years, and.....Let's just say I liked it better as a kid. The entire thing feels rushed and sloppy in both writing and art. As a kid I don't think I realized multiple artists were drawing this issue, but now I can clearly see the different styles in each part. One thing I did notice as a kid, though, were the lack of backgrounds like you mentioned. I thought it was cool - Magneto was so powerful that he made the air crackle with energy wherever he was as soon as he showed up. <br /><br />I have a fondness for this era of X-Men due to the nostalgia of it being the period where I discovered them, but these reviews are making me realize this era was a mess in a lot of places. X-Men #25 was my favorite issue of this crossover, though, so I'm hoping to see if it stands up.Ian Millerhttp://ianjmiller.deviantart.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-64330500256278849732017-10-30T13:52:12.508-05:002017-10-30T13:52:12.508-05:00The first issue of Uncanny I ever owned. As a chil...The first issue of Uncanny I ever owned. As a child, I thought it was perfect.<br /><br />Now...well, now I'm a lot more ambiguous. I grew to love the Claremontian Magneto, a flawed, tragic, person at heart who really wanted the best for the world and his people. #304 goes out of its way to put the kibosh on that perspective -- in their efforts to re-establish Magneto as the X-Men's #1 villain, it was like they wanted to make him the most evil. Which is hard to do when the Shadow King, Mr. Sinister, Stryfe, and Apocalypse are all things. So Magneto ends up just feeling wrong...wrong in what he's doing, written wrong, handled wrong. "Mad old terrorist twat" Magneto just isn't interesting to me, and I don't understand why he keeps cropping up. Can't Magneto be a complex, nuanced, tragic villain and still get in regular scraps with the X-Men over their conflicting ideologies? Marvel apparently thinks not.<br /><br />Otherwise I still really enjoy this issue. It featured a truly touching send-off for Magik, with a eulogy delivered by Storm that I loved. Ororo and Magik weren't close, and yet they were at the same time -- it was the Limbo version of Storm that gave Illyana a moral compass even in Hell, after all. And tiny touches, like Sam hugging Kitty and talking about how it never gets easier, and Xavier's musings about his feelings of abject failure only to be interrupted by Lilandra's hologram, really work to make this issue achingly sad. Storm and Kitty's conversation about "the shadow passes" was one of the more poignant moments between them not written by Claremont, and even though his mental processes didn't make a lot of logical sense, the pain and rage Colossus felt towards the X-Men made his actions make emotional sense. Kind of like the reverse of a Disney movie.<br /><br />People without much emotional connection to Illyana, like Banshee, Beast, and Bishop taking center stage seemed an odd fit, but I kind of like it. Even though I'd much rather have seen more from Roberto, Rahne, or Sam, Kitty was the focal point of the issue for the first part of it, and I really appreciated that.<br /><br />And even the teams all dressed in their colors is touched upon in Storm's eulogy -- that Illyana would have been happy to see everyone show up at her funeral decked out in their bright, flashy world-saving gear. It fits what Magik was like before Inferno -- conflicted, snarky, and sarcastic, but also a fan of levity, parties, and festivity, and at the end of the day, a dyed-in-the-wool heroine despite her dark side.<br /><br />So #304 is, to me, a mostly good, if sad issue with the portrayal of Magneto being its one glaring fault.Ingonyamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17767964255684263275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-68521234089448917862017-10-26T13:51:26.458-05:002017-10-26T13:51:26.458-05:00And this would be my last issue of anything X-rela...And this would be my last issue of anything X-related for years--I would only start back in earnest with the TPB's of Morrison's New X-Men run, and the old DVD-ROM of about 40 years of Uncanny issues. By this point, my interest was mostly nostalgic. I'd stopped buying regularly, and was really only sucked in for the anniversary/hologram cover. In truth, I have a hard time not seeing X-Men #3 as the "end" of the story. Everything after that sort of felt like a weird imitation--close to the real thing at times, but always just a little off.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11428939457863204851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-27683382704272232232017-10-25T11:14:08.809-05:002017-10-25T11:14:08.809-05:00I'm sure the "off-model" Paul Smith ...I'm sure the "off-model" Paul Smith art in this issue is due in large part to the inks. When he comes back for X-MEN #42 and 43 a couple years after this, he looks much more like the Smith of yore. I wonder which of the gaggle of inkers handled his pages here? Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-60055488673680211212017-10-25T11:07:48.587-05:002017-10-25T11:07:48.587-05:00I suppose if I was going to come up with formal cr...I suppose if I was going to come up with formal criteria, when I say "X-Men of this era", the era I mean would run from X-MEN #1 up to the 90s' first major team reshuffling circa X-MEN #70 in 1997, and candidates would be anyone who had been an actual, formal member of the X-Men team during that time, but also taking their non-X-Men appearances from that same span into consideration when choosing for the list.<br /><br />(Hence, I have Banshee on my list even though he was only officially an X-Man for a handful of issues in the time covered, but I loved him in GENERATION X. Cannonball and Jubilee would therefore fit for your list too, even though they weren't X-Men for the full period in question.)Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-35863847396178016032017-10-25T08:49:21.152-05:002017-10-25T08:49:21.152-05:00Xavier calling out Shi'ar weaponry suggests he...Xavier calling out Shi'ar weaponry suggests he recognizes the technology, which presumably wouldn't be the same as the weaponry on Graymalkin. The line only exists to sell the notion that Magneto never reformed. Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605826105741513741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-63237672097804067392017-10-25T05:36:13.707-05:002017-10-25T05:36:13.707-05:00Couldn't Xavier just be confusing the Graymalk...Couldn't Xavier just be confusing the Graymalkin part of Avalon and jumped to conclusions?angmc43@hotmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379700547226493861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-79544812254785171672017-10-24T13:21:59.451-05:002017-10-24T13:21:59.451-05:00I wondered that too, but I would imagine that brut...I wondered that too, but I would imagine that brutally ripping out Wolverine's skeleton and killing thousands (millions?) of people makes Magneto sufficiently evil. Check those boxes, and editorial can't really fuss about what Nicieza has Magneto saying or thinking. If anything, trying to walk him back within the script after going to those lengths looks absolutely ludicrous (but we'll get there.)cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-45723350922589023982017-10-24T11:52:59.777-05:002017-10-24T11:52:59.777-05:00You're right - I missed it, but Austin too poi...You're right - I missed it, but Austin too pointed out that line about Magneto/the Shi'ar tech. It's a slight retcon, but another example of this story bending over backwards to vilify Magneto. We've gone from, "He's not a good guy" to, "Not only is he not a good guy, he's a very bad guy" to, "In fact, he's a very bad guy who was never a good guy." All in the span of a few pages. Amazing.<br /><br />You're not kidding about that tale of two Lobdells. The contrast just within two consecutive issues is striking.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-76598760890137954012017-10-24T11:41:06.996-05:002017-10-24T11:41:06.996-05:00Oh jeez, that is Smith mixed up in the fight scene...Oh jeez, that is Smith mixed up in the fight scenes. I totally glossed over those images and figured it was Peterson. Different style for sure, and not necessarily helped by '90s coloring either. Given how late this book was, it seems quite telling of those behind the scenes production problems that the office would draft two artists not on the usual rotation. I guess with the way CABLE is burning through artists and X-Factor lacking a regular penciller, they didn't have anyone on standby.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-90975496852266534652017-10-24T10:05:06.909-05:002017-10-24T10:05:06.909-05:00I said about Uncanny #303 that it was the writer L...I said about Uncanny #303 that it was the writer Lobdell could be when he was, pretty much, himself. <br /><br />Uncanny #304 is the writer that, sadly, he's remembered for being, the one clearly writing for editorial fiat and not himself. <br /><br />There's some good stuff in here, and Bishop comes off so amazing here that it's a shame so little was done with the character afterwards, but you have so much awful around it. Everything about Magneto is wrong. Not only is his characterization out of whack for his other appearances in the crossover, the line about Avalon having Shi'ar weaponry taken while Magneto was the mentor of the X-teams goes back and tries to stomp on the Claremont era. Colossus should've turned his back on everyone-the X-Men who he sees failed his family, Magneto who picked his sister's funeral to come start a war-and walked away. Hell, you could've got some mileage out of turning Colossus into the leader of a group of mutants that sought to find a path neither Xavier's or Magneto's, but this is 1993 so we need a big shock event.<br /><br />Which they promptly did nothing with.<br /><br />The issue tries to find a tension between the Big Crossover Moments and the quieter things Lobdell does, and fails miserably. The art is off, though I love the Romita Jr. stuff-this is the height of his channeling Kirby era, especially with Bishop taking on Magneto. But otherwise, this issue really feels like Bob Harras outlining all of the points he wants it to hit and Lobdell just shrugging his shoulders and going along with it. Even in 1993, which was a time where comics often got away with stories working by Being Cool, this was a disappointment. Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00605826105741513741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-27659457841421628702017-10-24T01:07:57.822-05:002017-10-24T01:07:57.822-05:00But goddamnit, to tail-light Cyke68, Illyana as a ...But goddamnit, to tail-light Cyke68, Illyana as a character would have deserved a one or two actual pages' worth of history recap at her funeral.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-929463949645957542017-10-24T00:59:33.732-05:002017-10-24T00:59:33.732-05:00Drat, I meant to point out Exodus' Jewish conn...Drat, I meant to point out Exodus' Jewish connection. But, Mags himself has gone full New Testament at this point, spouting the "I died" like he himself was the biggest believer of it. Maybe they felt they had to do away with his Jewishness because of the otherwise too uncomfortable allusion to that other Jewish guy.<br /><br />Should've named him Brian Lensherr.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-480319733586684202017-10-23T23:12:36.828-05:002017-10-23T23:12:36.828-05:00Are we sure this is all on editorial? Magneto is ...Are we sure this is all on editorial? Magneto is a lot more nuanced in the Nicieza issues. Although the worldwide EMP in X-Men #25 presumably would kill a ton of people.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447265712189987074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-76806178760180919182017-10-23T21:58:03.290-05:002017-10-23T21:58:03.290-05:00I feel like the next time the X-Traitor mystery is...I feel like the next time the X-Traitor mystery is even seriously dealt with was the Bishop limited series right before AoA? Wherein it's sort of implied to be resolved, in a fashion that I remember being more clever than I expected from a throwaway mini that was eclipsed by a gigantic crossover on which it had no bearing. Or at least left ambiguous enough that the regular creative teams could take it or leave it.<br /><br />The notion that Magneto holds more power as a symbol than as a man has been fertile ground for some compelling stories over the years. Claremont first played at these edges as his swansong to the character, then Grant Morrison picked up the idea a decade later when Magneto was presumed dead (and ultimately used it to fuel the big swerve capping off his run). But there's a gap in the middle section that could have been explored while Magneto is alive and well. Consider: a Fatal Attractions where Magneto makes his grand re-entrance, but doesn't plan to actually DO anything all that drastic or destabilizing. Just shepherd some wayward mutants to Avalon, picking up from Claremont's last story like you said. Of course, the X-Men/the world flips out, not over anything he's directly done, but because of who he is/what he represents. It leads to a super-powered arms race of sorts with exponentially escalating conflicts and disproportionate overreactions on the part of both sides. The world "shoots first" (The Magneto Protocols), but this time Magneto doesn't roll over. He retaliates (EM pulse), and it's no turning back from there. With the tragedy being, the whole thing could've been avoided had anyone regarded Magneto as a human being instead of some harbinger of doom. But Magneto can't escape his past, and through his actions has assured that he'll NEVER be trusted or vindicated going forward, and everything is terrible. That's sort of my mental rewrite of this event. Basically, a sequel to X-Men #1-3, but with a more proactive Magneto and higher stakes.<br /><br />Keep the Wolverine and Xavier bits though. Those are great, "cinematic" moments.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-52894674370236246292017-10-23T21:14:23.713-05:002017-10-23T21:14:23.713-05:00Oh, I nearly forgot about Bishop stealing the show...Oh, I nearly forgot about Bishop stealing the show here. He definitely had Magneto on the ropes, and with JR Jr's fondness for drawing gigantic, crackling energy blasts, it looks tremendous. He could be the butt of the joke at times, but overall, Bishop's creation and development throughout the '90s is a real highlight of the era. Despite starting out as a collection of cliches, Nicieza and Lobdell took care to find a proper character in there FAST.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-51978060453397724602017-10-23T19:22:56.486-05:002017-10-23T19:22:56.486-05:00Today on Poor Timing Theater…
“Let’s call this guy...<br>Today on <i>Poor Timing Theater</i>…<br />“Let’s call this guy Exodus for his role in guiding mutants to a promised land from under the yoke of oppression!”<br />“Let’s establish that Magneto isn’t actually Jewish!”<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-23281173497790200102017-10-23T19:13:25.120-05:002017-10-23T19:13:25.120-05:00Your rewrite of the story, Teebore, is excellent a...<i>Your rewrite of the story, Teebore, is excellent and gets all the objectives accomplished in a much more organic and less offensive fashion.</i><br /><br />Thanks. I usually try to avoid fan fiction-y rewrites like that, but it just seems *so easy* to have made this issue a lot better with just a couple-three changes of dialogue. <br /><br />Stand by - I have some pro-Bishop thoughts coming up in a future review inspired by his showing in this issue. <br /><br /><i>I was just thinking -- who are my favorite X-Men from this era, anyway?</i><br /><br />Depending on how we're defining "era" and "X-Men", offhand, I'd probably say Cyclops, Cable, Cannonball, Jubilee and, much as it pains me to admit it, Gambit (this was kind of peak era for Gambit, in turns of being a big mysterious 90s figure). <br /><br /><br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-13547598116120608112017-10-23T19:02:24.388-05:002017-10-23T19:02:24.388-05:00Good point on the obvious balldrop re: the X-Trait...Good point on the obvious balldrop re: the X-Traitor and Colossus. That whole traitor thing really gets dropped until "Onslaught" comes along and resolves it more or less out of nowhere. <br /><br /><i>I get that marketing dictates he needs to be positioned as their principal antagonist, but he can comfortably fill that role without becoming a mass-murdering psychopath. </i><br /><br />Yeah, I have no issue with Magneto being a villain, but that doesn't mean he has to be one-dimensional. The Magneto of Claremont's final story was a villain, but still nuanced, and a logical continuation of Claremont's development of the character. He can be an out-and-out bad guy AND be complex. Thankfully, for the most part, outside of this issue, he is moving forward. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-55078417881724890242017-10-23T18:59:41.312-05:002017-10-23T18:59:41.312-05:00How would Magneto know or reasonably expect Cortez...<i>How would Magneto know or reasonably expect Cortez contracts/dies of the Legacy Virus, as implied?</i><br /><br />Presumably, he'd already be infected at this point, and Magneto knows somehow (because this Magneto is nearly all-knowing at times, I guess). But it's all moot cuz that never really happens. <br /><br /><i>Conversely, the Banshee/Bishop exchange holds up quite nicely. Neat to see that groundwork being laid so early.</i><br /><br />I'm always amazed at how well that setup works - by the time GEN X launches, it seems like an obvious fit for Banshee to be the teacher, when in hindsight, that really just starts getting laid out here. It's groundwork that manages to be laid over both a remarkably short and long period of time. <br /><br /><i> Jae Lee on the stylistic flashbacks, Smith handling the chatty character bits, then Romita and Peterson alternating for the big slugfest.</i><br /><br />I think it's Sprouse doing the pre-funeral chatty stuff, then Smith after Petersen (that's Smith, I think - his style looks a lot different now - in the "Shi'ar tech" and "walk my path" screengrabs), which is just odd. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-62823073953502143662017-10-23T18:54:21.461-05:002017-10-23T18:54:21.461-05:00There's a line of dialogue explaining why ever...There's a line of dialogue explaining why everyone is in costume/uniform (I forget exactly what it is offhand, but it's in the screencap of the funeral above). Not saying I necessarily prefer everyone in costume, but I do appreciate that it was addressed. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-59045343760033810352017-10-23T18:52:54.327-05:002017-10-23T18:52:54.327-05:00I can buy editorial interference as the culprit. C...I can buy editorial interference as the culprit. Certainly, the pseudo-Magneto of issue #309 is better written, but that's really the only other time we see a Lobdell-written Magneto who's not Joseph. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-82191968749598655802017-10-23T17:33:56.549-05:002017-10-23T17:33:56.549-05:00I have my issues with this... issue. The "jam...I have my issues with this... issue. The "jam" style is really jarring, and is especially bizarre for such a momentous milestone. Magneto is totally out of character even by his previous villainous standards. Colossus walking out on the X-Men is totally understandable, but his joining the Acolytes makes no sense. Your rewrite of the story, Teebore, is excellent and gets all the objectives accomplished in a much more organic and less offensive fashion.<br /><br />BUT -- I love Bishop's big moment in this one. All the energy-wielding X-Men charging him up, his assault on Magneto... Heck, if not for Colossus's sudden betrayal, it seems pretty clear that Bishop would've beaten Magneto and saved the day. And, Bishop being one of my favorite X-Men in this era, that's okay by me.<br /><br />(I was just thinking -- who are my favorite X-Men from this era, anyway? If I had to come up with a Top Five 90s X-Men List, I think I'd say Cyclops, Banshee, Bishop, Angel, and... Psylocke?)<br /><br /><br />"<b>Exodus then turns his power on Cortez, and though the art makes it look pretty harmful, Exodus notes that Magneto wants Cortez left alive, the victim of someone else's legacy.</b>"<br /><br />I always thought that was a really cool line, considering how much I enjoy obliquely worded clues. And dying of the Legacy Virus would've been a fine end to Cortez, considering that, as you note, he basically drifts into limbo following "Bloodties".<br /><br />"<b>Banshee, making his first appearance since X-Men #7...is on hand for the funeral</b>."<br /><br />Yessss!<br /><br />I'll save my rant about him being out of the picture for so long when you cover X-MEN 24.<br /><br />"<b>But Senyaka will return shortly, alive and well, over in <i>Cable</i>.</b>"<br /><br />...For some reason. I've never actually read the issue where he returns, so I have no idea how his survival is addressed there, but he sure seems dead here! And I don't really get the reason for bringing him back; it's not like he was an A-list character who just had to remain alive. I've sometimes wondered if it was just done to soften Magneto a bit following his uncharacteristic bloodlust in dispatching the guy.<br /><br />(Though in my opinion, of all the Acolyltes, Senyaka deserved to die after what he did to that nurse in X-FACTOR.)<br /><br />"<b>There's also a double page, Joe Madureira-drawn ad for Pizza Hut, presumably a precursor to the later animated series promotional tie-in.</b>"<br /><br />I love this ad. I had minimal (if any) exposure to Madureira at this time, so this may well have been my first peek at his artwork. It's burned into my brain, possibly more than any of the actual issues in which it appeared, as the definitive image of the X-Men of this era.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-83675046753608225072017-10-23T16:17:12.860-05:002017-10-23T16:17:12.860-05:00(Sorry for the double post)
For all of Bishop'...(Sorry for the double post)<br />For all of Bishop's talk about a supposed traitor to the team, nothing is made of Colossus defecting here. When he, you know, betrays the team, by attacking Bishop. It's as if they stumbled into a resolution for that subplot without meaning to, and thus have to ignore the elephant in the room. In any event, Colossus blowing up at Xavier is understandable, but outright joining the Acolytes is certainly a bridge too far. After all of the trauma he's endured, it doesn't follow that he'd take up with another perceived demagogue; if anything, he's walking away from the war altogether.<br /><br />Nevertheless, if it absolutely has to happen, we have a catalyst RIGHT THERE in the form of Illyana's death. To Austin's point, if any effort had been put into reminding everyone what Illyana meant to Magneto, perhaps a grief-stricken Peter convinces himself that Magneto was a better steward for his sister -- and by extension, all of mutantkind -- which at least gives some dimension to his motivation beyond "I hate the X-Men." It isn't terribly more convincing, but works if you squint hard enough.<br /><br />And on that note, yeah... why aren't we exploiting Illyana's death to its fullest? The way it's handled here, the funeral could be for any random X-Men associate. I get trying not to harp on the deep cuts of franchise continuity too much (outside of the insanely convoluted tapestry the Harras regime is weaving at this juncture, that is). But in an overstuffed issue already laden with Magneto flashbacks, is it really asking too much to throw in a page establishing that Magneto and Illyana once had strong-ish ties and regarded one other as kindred spirits? I feel like Lobdell could write the shit out of something like that and it would be a nifty way of showing how deeply moved he'd be by her death. With tensions already running high on both sides, that leads to the misunderstanding/bitter fight as Austin suggested. Play it up as a conflict that was going to be inevitable anyway, made so much worse by the timing and optics of a child's funeral. Magneto is galvanized in his cause and the X-Men are understandably out for blood. It's trying to write itself!<br /><br />But enough fanfic. At the end of the day, I don't have any fundamental objection to making Magneto the "bad guy" again. They just don't do a very good job of showing their work. I also don't understand Harras' need to make him out to be a Total Monster. The Senyaka bit especially reads as a massive overreach -- Magneto not only kills his follower in gruesome fashion, he goes out of his way to explain that it's for a breach of "etiquette" rather than a condemnation of his savagery? Why the fuck is that in here? What do we gain in making Magneto a less-nuanced character? I get that marketing dictates he needs to be positioned as their principal antagonist, but he can comfortably fill that role without becoming a mass-murdering psychopath. While the latter is certainly more in fashion during this time period, it's not a contest. This is Magneto. No one's going to question his significance to the mythos.<br /><br />Lots of longtime readers are going to hate this character turn for Magneto no matter how it's executed. But wow did they ever take the path of most resistance.cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-4551197916859812032017-10-23T16:15:03.286-05:002017-10-23T16:15:03.286-05:00Oh. Oh my, this issue. Where to start.
Indeed, th...Oh. Oh my, this issue. Where to start.<br /><br />Indeed, there were two Pizza Hut promotions. The one highlighted here produced the infamous "X-Men Pizza Hut Comics" that are kind of a thing in some circles. The second gave us the "Creator's Choice" VHS tapes with episodes from the animated series bookended by a brief roundtable interview of various creators. This is how I learned what Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell look like, and more importantly, that comics are made by actual human beings. (Which, OK, I knew, but those names in the credits were always pretty abstract until I could put faces to them.)<br /><br />That explanation for Magneto surviving the destruction of Asteroid M reads as awfully hand-wavy. It's such a throwaway line that I initially assumed it was a recap of information previously detailed elsewhere, rather than the reveal itself. Ultimately it doesn't matter, but seems like a story they could've gotten a little mileage out of (say, in X-Men Unlimited?).<br /><br />How would Magneto know or reasonably expect Cortez contracts/dies of the Legacy Virus, as implied? It's one of those examples of very obvious foreshadowing that tries to look profound, but makes no logical sense under scrutiny. Glad that gets dropped.<br /><br />Conversely, the Banshee/Bishop exchange holds up quite nicely. Neat to see that groundwork being laid so early.<br /><br />Maybe it's for the best that late shipping swapped the order of this book and Unlimited #2. Kinda makes the "Erik" thing less jarring. Thematically, the story in Unlimited functions well enough as an interlude without requiring any ultra specific placement within this first half of the crossover.<br /><br />The multiple artists mostly work for me in terms of how the issue breaks down structurally. Jae Lee on the stylistic flashbacks, Smith handling the chatty character bits, then Romita and Peterson alternating for the big slugfest. Although I agree that one of the artists is not like the others...cyke68https://www.blogger.com/profile/16863809928504935104noreply@blogger.com