tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post8948967159135879053..comments2024-03-16T14:43:09.430-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Uncanny X-Men #247Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-50975868420050541192015-03-23T03:21:12.301-05:002015-03-23T03:21:12.301-05:00Despite appearances in Uncanny X-Men #247, Chris C...Despite appearances in Uncanny X-Men #247, Chris Claremont revealed on the old racmx site that he had never intended for the Master Mold configuration to get sucked through the Siege Perilous with Rogue after it had merged with Nimrod.<br /><br />During the scene where Master Mold is holding Rogue and anchoring itself to the ground, Dazzler shoots them just as the Nimrod Memory Core convinces the Master Mold Memory Core that their merger is akin to being a mutant and that he "fulfil his Primary Directive" by not only killing Rogue but itself. Just as Nimrod says this, Dazzler fires her laser.<br /><br />The next panel shows the laser hitting Nimrod/Master Mold in the head. It doesn't appear to be doing any harm. Then, in the next panel, there is a HUGE explosion. Then, in the next panel, we can see Rogue being blasted through the Siege Perilous from a massive shockwave.<br /><br />Key Points:<br />1) Dazzler, even at her best - which she wasn't at this point because of fatigue - couldn't have disintegrated the Nimrod/Master Mold Construct. Especially after Rogue had just done a sub-orbital dive bomb onto Nimrod/Master Mold while having absorbed Colossus' steel form and Nimrod/Master Mold recovered quickly.<br />2)The panel with Rogue being blasted through the Siege Perilous via shockwave shows no hint of Nimrod/Master Mold being blasted through.<br />3) Nimrod/Master Mold never reconstructed itself after it's destruction.<br />This hints STRONGLY that Nimrod/Master Mold self-destructed as Alison hit it with her laser. That would also explain the massive shockwave that flung Rogue through the Siege Perilous.<br /><br />Master Mold anchors itself to the ground to prevent itself from going through the Siege Perilous, and restrains Rogue - after being convinced by the Nimrod Memory Core that their merger is akin to being a mutant - with the intention of fulfilling its "Primary Directive", and killing itself, since it now considers itself to be a mutant.<br /><br />Further, it would be totally intent on ensuring it does not go through the Siege if it suspects it has become a mutant, since it would fully realise that it may be reborn as a mutant, anathema to its "Primary Directive".<br /><br />In the meantime, Dazzler fires her laser at its head, which has no effect. It then self-destructs, and Rogue gets blasted into the Siege by the shockwave. <br /><br />The merged Master Mold/Nimrod does not attempt to reconstruct itself, since it would realise that doing so would continue its mutant existence, thus it ensured its own destruction was permanent.Nathan Adlerhttp://fanfix.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-29022594982827412542014-11-07T16:44:15.960-06:002014-11-07T16:44:15.960-06:00I wonder if what saved Dazzler had to do with her ...I wonder if what saved Dazzler had to do with her specific creative history and those connected to the creation and/or perceived importance/commerciality as once-holder of her own on-going series.<br /><br />Could have even looked bad if a rare female titular character would have yet again been cruesomely killed sometime after the cancellation of her own book. There was Spider-Woman completely offed in her last issue, can't remember how it went with the Cat (she became Tigra, right, and wasn't Hellcat who died, right?), Ms. Marvel is a story of her own... She-Hulk seem to be the only one to fare relatively well, though not not-cancelled well.<br /><br />Claremont at least obviously didn't have anything to do with her anymore barring the one story riffing an 80's movie.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-51973224059319334032014-11-06T20:39:57.916-06:002014-11-06T20:39:57.916-06:00People DID believe Rogue was dead- apparently ther...People DID believe Rogue was dead- apparently there were a lot of people that wrote in to Marvel to complain. The reason was Marvel promoted X-Men 247 heavily as the death of an X-Men- because the plan was to kill off Dazzler permanently. So when Rogue went through the Siege, people believed this must be the death they were promoting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-38885742137515430272014-11-06T05:17:56.329-06:002014-11-06T05:17:56.329-06:00I don't think anyone believed Rogue was "...I don't think anyone believed Rogue was "dead". <br /><br />Storm, on the other hand, I think was sold a bit better and I'm sure more people did (I know I did). Of course, her resurrection does happen rather quickly, but there was at least a definite "WTF is happening here?!?!" during that era.wwk5dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-49353789083235110912014-11-05T17:32:31.998-06:002014-11-05T17:32:31.998-06:00@Jonathan: Also I didn't read this set of issu...@Jonathan: <i>Also I didn't read this set of issues in real time, but did people at the time REALLY believe Rogue was " dead?"</i><br /><br />Like you, I didn't read these in real time first, but as Teemu suggested, I'm not even sure we're supposed to think of Rogue as dead - I mean, maybe we're supposed to think she was killed in the explosion, but it seems pretty clear she just got sucked into the Siege Perilous, and it's been established that doesn't kill you. So I think readers at the time were just supposed to be wondering when she'd come back, and in what form. <br /><br />Storms's "death" next issue, now that is clearly meant to be taken as a "Storm's dead" moment, though even there, by the time the larger story ends, we see a pretty obvious (albeit changed) version of Storm pop up again, so once again, I don't think readers were meant to think Storm was DEAD (for very long, at least), but rather, wonder what happened to her between when she "died" and returned as a little kid. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-50457732553559766772014-11-05T01:35:27.823-06:002014-11-05T01:35:27.823-06:00Jonathan, I did read them as they were published (...Jonathan, I did read them as they were published (two years later for me of course but anyway). Can't say "dead" would've been the correct term, because Roma's lecture on how the Siege Perilous was supposed to work was still in fresh memory, but at that point no one had yet returned from there so for gullible, not-quite-understanding-the-intellectual-property-values me, it was to some extent plausible that we would perhaps not see what became of Rogue.<br /><br />Alex crossing off people en masse in couple of issues of course stretches the believability. But, I was 12 and the rules of the superhero comics as commercial medium in pre-internet era were vague to me, and the "illusion of change" and people wanting to read the same characters angles unknown, and Claremont had been quite free-minded in revamping the team roster, and there still were some no-touchie deaths like Bucky's and Jason Todd's back in those times, so...<br /><br />Hilarious in hindsight, Claremont's friend George R. R. "permanently kills everyone you love" Martin had been making it into the book just around now.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-90369337188697441072014-11-04T16:36:29.707-06:002014-11-04T16:36:29.707-06:00I was thinking more along the lines of Jubilee'...<i>I was thinking more along the lines of Jubilee's "oh YUCK!" comment, which could be read as her thinking "men who dress up as women, that's gross!", which is the kind of casual joke that wouldn't be given a second thought back in 1989 but would nowadays (I like to hope) not be used by as conscientious a writer as Claremont usually seems to be, at least not quite so casually and via a newer character who know so little about.</i><br /><br />I dunno about that. Keep in mind that Jubilee is designed with a rather androgynous appearance (to the point where Claremont has her disguised as a boy in a few future issues. And even later on will have Claremont experiment with transgender subplots (Masque inexplicably becoming a woman, for instance.)<br /><br />Also I didn't read this set of issues in real time, but did people at the time REALLY believe Rogue was " dead?" I know it some of the letter pages they did, but even mi us the modern-day cynicism about these things, these "deaths" seem like underwhelming fake-outs to me.<br /><br />Apparently in between menacing mutants, Master Mold was programming the NES X-Men game in his spare time.Jon Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783906806644566810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-91829433728418121592014-11-03T15:19:25.898-06:002014-11-03T15:19:25.898-06:00Oh, of course I noted only afterwards that Storm h...Oh, of course I noted only afterwards that Storm has changed her uniform for now. She returns to the Ms. Marvelesque one after X-Tinction Agenda, at least in Silvestri-drawn <i>Wolverine</i> #38. And she still had it on the <i>Uncanny</i> 244 cover, though, and will again in #248... <br /><br />I'm dropping these piece by piece now, but I also don't want to not mention that Rogue seems to be legally obligated to absorb Colossus' organic steel every time the team fights Nimrod. Whether there is something in the Editorial Reavers thingy or not, Claremont really must like to see metal being punished by the combined X-Men powers. Good thinking too from Rogue to hit the Sentinel with the force of meteor, not unlike Shaw did the last time.<br /><br />Also, the panel where Rogue turns back to Earth at the edge of atmosphere should oh so much have been done a more obvious homage to the one in #171 after Binary Carol punches her there. There's elements, but... Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-70759300612996333632014-11-03T11:34:09.417-06:002014-11-03T11:34:09.417-06:00Blam: Peter David continuing with his version of L...Blam: <i>Peter David continuing with his version of Linda Danvers as Fallen Angel.</i><br /><br />Oh, rats. We have let it fly past for weeks, but in last issue there was Betsy and Carol berating Carol's classic Cockrum uniform (Teeb threw in the panels and all): "In its day it was considered the height of super-hero <i>haute couture</i>." "So were midi-skirts." The Danvers girls, distaff counterparts, Pun with Peter. Circles, I tell ya!<br /><br />Appropriate and symbolic that Rogue should be wearing the uniform here and now, btw. I don't really know what I should make of the uniform discussion in last issue, seeing that Claremont and Silvestri saw it fit to dress Storm into arms and thighs covering version of it. I wonder if there was any conscious effort to avoid placing Rogue and Storm next to each other on the panels...Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-39758446818490580362014-11-01T15:41:28.385-05:002014-11-01T15:41:28.385-05:00There is also a hidden backstory for #205 implied ...There is also a hidden backstory for #205 implied only in the cover of the book, Wolverine being tied up very Weapon-X-like. Apparently he was supposed to be captured and tortured by Reese, Cole and Macon and Lady Deathstrike until he escaped, all off-panel. That's why he's so out there during the issue. There would probably be an answer at least to how they found each other and if Pierce had anything to do with it then.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-48256891972321837112014-11-01T15:33:30.289-05:002014-11-01T15:33:30.289-05:00Teebore: I was just using his codename. :)
But yo...Teebore: <i>I was just using his codename. :)<br /><br />But your point stands, he definitely is full-on human at the end there. </i><br /><br />Thinking it over, I was almost overdoing it though myself. I was wanting to see Nick Hunter as a somewhat independent persona rising inside and separated from Nimrod against all evidence, for to have him insulated from having anything to do with Bastion, but obviously he is Nimrod and only Nimrod.<br /><br />I just feel that his character development between his two fights with the X-Men is an/the unsung homerun of Claremont's run. May have plenty to do with me personally tagging along the X-world at that very time, but there's just something so... perfect in how Nimrod contemplates how he enjoys teaching young Thomas Rodriguez just before taking off to give a totally other kind of lesson to the Lords Cardinal and the X-Men. And in the contrast between how laid back he is with the Rodriguezes one moment, and the next he's hovering over Central Park not doing really anything except being insanely threatening like he was mocking them and just occasionally blasting someone with an energy beam.<br /><br />About Pierce, the genius behind making him a cyborg was Pierce himself, and circumstantial evidence would point him being behind the original Reavers too, though why they would be robbing banks fits poorly in the picture. Nathan Adler has interesting points about the whole deal in his Magnum Opus of Origin of Gateway on his How Would You Fix... blog.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-57381256906253861212014-11-01T10:23:30.333-05:002014-11-01T10:23:30.333-05:00@Teemu: The joke, if there is one, is more on the ...@Teemu: <i>The joke, if there is one, is more on the X-Men having been for a while consisting mostly of women I think.</i><br /><br />Or, at least, a joke on the inherent sexism built into calling them X-*Men* even though there was a woman on the team even at the very beginning. Either way, that's definitely there. <br /><br />I was thinking more along the lines of Jubilee's "oh YUCK!" comment, which could be read as her thinking "men who dress up as women, that's gross!", which is the kind of casual joke that wouldn't be given a second thought back in 1989 but would nowadays (I like to hope) not be used by as conscientious a writer as Claremont usually seems to be, at least not quite so casually and via a newer character who know so little about. <br /><br /><i>Also, "Nimrod consciousness" my ass, the one who saves the day and our heroes, with a full serving of irony attached, is none other than Nicholas Hunter, the Nimrod-gone-self-aware persona that owes its existence to the benevolent influence of Jaime Rodriguez.</i><br /><br />I was just using his codename. :) <br /><br />But your point stands, he definitely is full-on human at the end there. <br /><br /> @wwk5d: <i>The X-factor one was original artwork, this one is just a few characters from the cover of the Evolutionary War annual. I still like it though.</i><br /><br />Good point. I do like it as well. <br /><br /><i>Also, gotta love the 8-bit look of Master Mold's POV.</i><br /><br />Yeah, it wasn't the most descriptive panel of the X-Men being invisible to Master Mold, but I had to post it, just cuz it's so fun. <br /><br /><i>Funny enough, since it's about to be featured around this era, here is a summary about the Siege Perilious for those interested...</i><br /><br />Heh. I tweeted out a link to that page about a week or two ago (whenever Uncanny X-Men.net tweeted their link), basically saying the same thing. Great minds! <br /><br />@Ben: <i> It didn't last very long I don't think-- maybe 10 or 12 issues?</i><br /><br />I think it sticks around into the early 260s, but that includes some bi-weekly issues, so a year is about right. <br /><br />@Blam: <i>I blame Sally Pashkow.</i><br /><br />Heh. :) <br /><br /><i>Wasn't this also how Master Mold's "Conscience" got him to destroy himself in that Cyclops serial? </i><br /><br />Pretty much, yeah. And, of course, as Jason pointed out in his post on this issue (or one of his commenters? I can't remember), the whole "Sentinel defeated by logic" thing is a callback to the Thomas/Adams Sentinel story, in which Claremont provided the "defeated by logic" idea. <br /><br /><i> That aside, I think his work looks strongly influenced by Mignola in certain spots</i><br /><br />I can see, particularly in some of the depictions of Master Mold. <br /><br /><i>I'm confused about whether the cyborged Hellfire Club mercs Wolverine had torn up and the Reavers headquartered in the Outback and this group convened by Pierce are supposed to always have been part of the same overall thing</i><br /><br />Me too. We know that the three Hellfire Club mercs were made into cyborgs circa issue #151, then pumped up further when Lady Deathstrike got cyborgized by Spiral and her Body Shoppe in #205, but we don't know who made Pierce a cyborg or who made all the Reavers in the first place. <br /><br />As Anonymous pointed out, Pierce at one point will imply *he* created the Reavers, at least originally (in #229, Pretty Boy was trying to make Jessan Hoan evil, so presumably they were capable of adding new members to their ranks themselves), but that's never elevated beyond the level of implication. <br /><br /><i> The comments there also have a neat discussion of the Reavers as possible stand-in for Marvel Editorial's interference with Claremont.</i><br /><br />I really like that idea, and may touch on it myself in a future post. <br /><br /><br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-52604648032265384912014-10-31T20:22:24.837-05:002014-10-31T20:22:24.837-05:00"I'm confused about whether the cyborged ..."I'm confused about whether the cyborged Hellfire Club mercs Wolverine had torn up and the Reavers headquartered in the Outback and this group convened by Pierce are supposed to always have been part of the same overall thing, not even necessarily all along as published but at this point in retrospect."<br />In X-Men 251, Pierce refers to Bonebreaker, Pretty Boy and Skullbuster as the "last of my original Reavers". I'm not sure if that's supposed to mean Pierce created the original Reavers. Further complicating this is that Claremont has said in interviews that Pierce was supposed to be controlled by the Shadow King.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-65201355792185851842014-10-31T15:09:00.009-05:002014-10-31T15:09:00.009-05:00Nope, she was Mary. The scene was in #133, the one...Nope, she was Mary. The scene was in #133, the one were Wolverine alone has a go at a part of the Marvel editoriate of '89. Nice that they too got a cameo here. (totally should have been Sharon)<br /><br />The Reavers-as-editor-stand-ins thingy opens up a lot of fun-or-not-so notions. The Hellfire commandos were mandated to have been survived by Shooter, which they did through cyborgization. Loosing organic for mechanical could be seen as a metaphor for the lack of control Claremont is more and more dealing with at this point, and threat of cyborgization makes it exceedingly to the text towards the end, with Storm and Forge eagles, Betsy's upcoming premonition, Nathan Christopher's techno-organic infection... and then one day there will be Cable.<br /><br />No wonder they made them get hastily rid of the Reavers the minute they got Claremont out. Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-12206995688241498982014-10-31T01:43:56.213-05:002014-10-31T01:43:56.213-05:00Can this amount of symmetry and closing of full ci...Can this amount of symmetry and closing of full circles even be intentional, or is there just so much stuff from Claremont around at this point that everything just looks like it? There's the first/last Sentinel, the Nimrod arc, and most of all the Shaw/Kelly arc: Kelly was there to approve the Sentinel programme in DPS after the perceived assault of the X-Men on the Hellfire Club, and now he's greenlighting Project Nimrod. It's almost hilarious to remember him in his first (?) appearance being sorry for Harry Leland to Shaw, who's quick to use the short-lived death of his "friend" to promote Shaw Industries' Sentinel line of business, and then see Leland return, only for to... you really <i>should</i> be sorry, Kelly.<br /><br />I also just got a recollection from DPS of a Hellfire Club's servants' foreman mentioning senator Kelly being there in the house to a blonde waitress, who prompts "The presidential candidate?"... Sharon's first appearance, could it be?Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-86838323202173286242014-10-30T20:45:13.859-05:002014-10-30T20:45:13.859-05:00@Teemu: // Nimrod's first action after enterin...<br>@Teemu: <i>// Nimrod's first action after entering the X-world was to save Jaime from a backstabbing while he was watching a Watchman, and by that action ended up saving also himself //</i><br /><br />I was aware of how his adopted human identity was clearly becoming dominant, if somewhat baffled by it since I don't recall Nimrod speaking to himself with that reg'lar-Joe dialect in our last brief glimpse of him, but I hadn't explicitly put together the way that saving Jaime led to his becoming Nick Hunter and thus to his own salvation, be that body or just soul. Well done. Also, I have only the vaguest recollection of the Huntsman from his debut during that period in the '90s when companies were letting creator-owned property into their established universes, but I like the idea of Claremont getting to continue Nimrod's story somehow just as, much earlier, Steve Englehart did in a way turning his Madame Xanadu stuff into Scorpio Rose or, later and more similarly, Peter David continuing with his version of Linda Danvers as Fallen Angel.<br /><br />Jason Powell's insights into this issue included the neat symmetry of Nimrod, the ultimate Sentinel (certainly the "latest" that we've seen so far, as he's from Rachel Summers' era or beyond), merging with Master Mold, the first Sentinel. The comments there also have a neat discussion of the Reavers as possible stand-in for Marvel Editorial's interference with Claremont.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-53667762788253889592014-10-30T20:28:20.274-05:002014-10-30T20:28:20.274-05:00// you have to squint a bit to make it all work //...<br><i>// you have to squint a bit to make it all work //</i><br /><br />I blame Sally Pashkow.<br /><br /><i>// which also, Nimrod points out, makes them a mutant //</i><br /><br />Wasn't this also how Master Mold's "Conscience" got him to destroy himself in that Cyclops serial? <br /><br />Silvestri was really Liefelding the feet in this issue. That aside, I think his work looks strongly influenced by Mignola in certain spots (while utterly different in others) — or maybe <i>not</i> that aside, since the whole deal of feet disappearing into mist or smoke or debris cloud represented by scratchy lines is something Mignola used to do too. In particular I'm looking at some of the figures in the top tier of the opening DPS of the X-Men against Master Mold, then again the first panel on the next page, and the closeup of the grieving Senator Kelly talking to Shaw that you posted.<br /><br />I'm confused about whether the cyborged Hellfire Club mercs Wolverine had torn up and the Reavers headquartered in the Outback and this group convened by Pierce are supposed to always have been part of the same overall thing, not even necessarily all along as published but at this point in retrospect.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-55274711305353738632014-10-30T11:56:24.401-05:002014-10-30T11:56:24.401-05:00As a child looking through the long boxes in the c...As a child looking through the long boxes in the comic book store, the corner box on these issues always seemed so mysterious and strange. It didn't last very long I don't think-- maybe 10 or 12 issues? But it still makes me think of this run as kind of spooky and bizarre. Which it kind of is! Bennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-52744488419554330382014-10-30T11:14:25.477-05:002014-10-30T11:14:25.477-05:00Oh yes, the 8-bit view. Could be seen totally '...Oh yes, the 8-bit view. Could be seen totally 'I love the 80's' style of nowadays-obvious faulty prediction of 21th century crude computerics, but to me it always was an Artistic Achievement portraying how the hiccuping merger of Master Mold and Nimrod starts flickeringly and failingly "see" the invisible-to-electronics X-Men. Perhaps it's the "human" Nick Hunter that still is (and ever was) the only thing capable of seeing them within the merged Sentinel.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-3926684990349850362014-10-30T09:01:49.015-05:002014-10-30T09:01:49.015-05:00"a new corner box image appears on the cover,..."a new corner box image appears on the cover, mimicking X-Factor's "characters in action" approach in lieu of the team's headshots"<br /><br />The X-factor one was original artwork, this one is just a few characters from the cover of the Evolutionary War annual. I still like it though.<br /><br />"As the X-Men attack Master Mold, prior to Nimrod's programming asserting itself, they are fully invisible to the robot."<br /><br />Also, gotta love the 8-bit look of Master Mold's POV. I love the 80s!<br /><br />"Longshot is bummed out that he couldn't do much against a giant robot. Dazzler consoles him, telling him that's why they're a team, but he worries he doesn't fit in."<br /><br />And that pep talk really had a lasting impact on him, no? ;)<br /><br />With this issue, you kind of feel like it's the beginning of the end for CC's run...or at least, the end of an era feel. <br /><br />Funny enough, since it's about to be featured around this era, here is a summary about the Siege Perilious for those interested...<br /><br />http://uncannyxmen.net/node/5080wwk5dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-87344811733078834702014-10-29T23:41:54.108-05:002014-10-29T23:41:54.108-05:00Except... I remember reading that Claremont's ...Except... I remember reading that Claremont's fame as a writer of woman characters started to get some backlash at some point in comic book fanzines and the sort of thing, where some people would praise any obscure comic for "having genuine believable woman characters and not men posing as women like Claremont writes them". Should that have been happening around this time, Jubilee's suspicions would serve as a fine example of Claremontian self-irony making it to the comics panels.<br /><br />Also, Bonebreaker is commenting about Sharon Kelly there, "Plenty more where she came from, Shaw'll see to that", right? And, fridging or not, for someone created essentially to die, Sharon gets a plenty of spotlight and characterization.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-4052602606863429032014-10-29T19:11:18.812-05:002014-10-29T19:11:18.812-05:00I think that might be a joke at the expense of cro...<i>I think that might be a joke at the expense of cross-dresser/transgenders in Jubilee's reaction to the women she followed from the mall being called X-Men, but if so, it certainly flew over my head as a kid.</i><br /><br />Not what I would call a joke but perhaps more a genuine bafflement of a youngster. The joke, if there is one, is more on the X-<i>Men</i> having been for a while consisting mostly of women I think.<br /><br />I love these anachronistic jokes though that sometimes appear in the Uncanny before their time, because that one would so totally work after 1994 and <i>The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert</i>. <i>Before Hugo Weaving was Agent Smith, Elrond, V and Red Scull...</i><br /><br />Also, "Nimrod consciousness" my ass, the one who saves the day and our heroes, with a full serving of irony attached, is none other than Nicholas Hunter, the Nimrod-gone-self-aware persona that owes its existence to the benevolent influence of Jaime Rodriguez. You'll notice how in "Nimrod's" last urging to push the Master Mold through Siege Perilous he has gone full human. "Damn straight, hombre. Go for broke, lady. Nail this walking junkpile!"<br /><br />Nimrod's first action after entering the X-world was to save Jaime from a backstabbing while he was watching a Watchman, and by that action ended up saving also himself, by having from then on Jaime watch over himself. Sentinels, watchmen, potato, potato. ;)<br /><br />There's no chance there's one bit of Nicholas in Bastion. He's out there somewhere, totally redeemed.<br /><br />Got me somehow wondering about that elusive "Huntsman" fellow later on by Claremont, last seen in Silvestri-drawn <i>Cyberforce</i>...Teemunoreply@blogger.com