tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post937817750504226290..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining The Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1-4Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-89025983873443734902021-04-01T12:38:06.703-05:002021-04-01T12:38:06.703-05:00I absolutely love the art by John Paul Leon (et al...<br>I absolutely love the art by John Paul Leon (<i>et al.</i>) — great use of black and very nice coloring from Kevin Somers that reminds me of Mark Chiarello and Kevin Nowlan.<br /><br />The first half of this was a lot more enjoyable for me than the second. At some point it just gets all modern with action largely replacing atmosphere. One major peeve: Darwin’s book is <i>On the Origin of Species</i> and not, as it’s called in these issues, <i>The Origin of the Species</i> — a common mistake that changes its fundamental meaning.<br /><br />I’d like to see a chart mapping out in linear, chronological fashion when Apocalypse, Scott and Jean, and Cable all met one another <i>vis-à-vis</i> their own personal timelines. I’m pretty sure that — with the possible exception of Scott first meeting Nathan Christopher when he was born and Jean meeting the baby not long after — they all encountered one another skipping through the eras such that one party (Scott and Jean being a single unit) had previously met the other but the other had not yet met them. I don’t claim this is any huge insight on my part, mind you.<br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-34290640848177247982021-02-28T23:16:02.343-06:002021-02-28T23:16:02.343-06:00Tangentially, this got me thinking. There was anot...Tangentially, this got me thinking. There was another rather egregious use of <i>in medias res</i> opening around this time in UXM #205 "Wounded Wolf", where Lady Deathstrike and her Hellfire commando cyborg associates apparently had hijacked and captured Wolverine while the rest of the X-Men stayed on the West Coast. (Apparently Wolverine had left West Coast for reasons and his editorially mandated appearance in CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #8, and as WOLVERINE and KITTY PRYDE AND WOLVERINE miniseries show, these appearances were made plausible by his absence in the main book).<br /><br />Could it be that the use of Hellfire commando Richard Salmons in #210 is another example of Claremont telegraphing his displeasure at the editorial interference? It's well known he didn't get to use Fury and Mad James Jaspers for the Morlock bloodbath. It's almost like someone had once told Claremont to "pull the Hellfire goons there from anywhere, what does it matter" or something, and then they were there for the editorially mandated Marvel Graphic Novel #4 and whatelse.<br /><br />So technically, it was probably particularly the Hellfire goon section of the Reavers who were the stand-ins for the editorial interference.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-51857421981600942932021-02-28T00:38:44.250-06:002021-02-28T00:38:44.250-06:00I loved that series as a teen. Jean and especially...I loved that series as a teen. Jean and especially Scott have always been among my favs X-men, I really loved the art, which was a bit unusual and gave a more "serious" vibe about the whole plot and of course the name-choosing twist ending blew my brains out. Probably the reason Sinister is my favorite X-Villain (although I recall being totally flabbergasted years earlier by his opening splash page appearance "why does Colossus have a dark cape and a red diamond on his forehead ?")Frenchienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-33571511255124931872021-02-27T16:24:39.473-06:002021-02-27T16:24:39.473-06:00Actually... in #1, Darwin addresses him as Mr. Ess...Actually... in #1, Darwin addresses him as Mr. Essex. He does not have the title of doctor. Moreover, Wikipedia seems to suggest neither was Darwin himself a doctor, but a Fellow of the Royal Society, as I assume so was Essex seeing that he was facing the threat of expulsion from the Society in #1.<br /><br />Wikipedia on "Doctor" has it that the title of doctor seem to have been all sort of hassle in the 19th century England. I assume Essex is a natural scientist, not a physician or any other kind of medical professional.<br /><br />What with all the later era academics, not to talk of pretense doctors like Doctor Doom, underlining them being a doctor (and Xavier going over the top with it), if I was a brilliant scientist from the time before doctors, I too would probably make a point of it in my moniker.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-68749667799292495042021-02-27T15:40:44.550-06:002021-02-27T15:40:44.550-06:00"... oh, Richard, you were so kind, you saved..."... oh, Richard, you were so kind, you saved me when those butchers murdered my friends", Tommy says. <i>Maybe</i> she's not talking of the Marauders after all, but maybe she had been in a group of Morlocks captured by the Hellfire Club for their Essex factor research, and Richard had saved her from sharing her friends' fate and <i>maybe</i> this is why UXM #210 starts in media res with this very odd pairing of a Hellfire commando and a Morlock girl.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-38833213575753792872021-02-27T15:23:16.789-06:002021-02-27T15:23:16.789-06:00The fun thing about the Hellfire Club... at their ...The fun thing about the Hellfire Club... at their introduction during the Dark Phoenix Saga, Sebastian Shaw's stated agenda was to have their scientists study (dissect?) the X-Men, to isolate the "Essex factor" so they could genetically engineer their own mutants and rule the world. <br /><br />Kind of looks like this encounter with Nathaniel Essex and Apocalypse was where the idea was gotten (and imported to the American branch) and what led to them recruiting mutants to their Inner Circle.<br /><br />... and, as we know it was Gambit who led the Marauders to the Morlock sewers, and they didn't really need to follow Tommy there, maybe them claiming they had used her to lead them there was just to further taunt and torture her, and maybe them whacking his boyfriend the Hellfire commando Richard Salmon was an actual hit job ordered to them by Mr. Sinister against the Hellfire Club whom he felt were in some way trespassing on his plans.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-49446572574996354592021-02-24T10:44:07.177-06:002021-02-24T10:44:07.177-06:00Teemu, this seems reasonable to me!Teemu, this seems reasonable to me!Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-78063191725790356972021-02-23T19:13:32.271-06:002021-02-23T19:13:32.271-06:00He abandons the scientific community that with the...He abandons the scientific community that with their small-minded pitiful morals only seek to hold his research back, and thusly has no longer use for their title of respect.<br /><br />But he is <i>still</i> a Victorian gentleman, and has to separate himself from the rubble somehow.Teemunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-27769053535365610642021-02-23T13:34:46.893-06:002021-02-23T13:34:46.893-06:00Yeah, I loved this one at the time and I think it ...Yeah, I loved this one at the time and I think it still holds up really well today. Though I agree that Milligan gets way too wordy sometimes. But nonetheless, I remember when Milligan took over writing X-MEN in the mid-00s after Grant Morrison left, I hoped for something along the lines of this series (not necessarily in terms of plot, but more in terms of writing style). Unfortunately, to my recollection, that didn't really happen. I think that was when I finally realized that Marvel iteslf, rather than the various writers on their books, had completely abandoned copious third-person narration.<br /><br />The artwork is great and fits the story perfectly too. I remember being especially excited for this after X-MEN '95 and Leon's depiction of Sinister's early 20th century past there. Though in reading this story last night in trade paperback, I looked at Leon's pencil sketches in the back and found them much more attractive than the finished work. I'm not sure if his penciled pages looked different from his character designs, but I feel like the extremely heavy inking here did him a disservice if the pages had originally looked anything like the sketches.<br /><br />I agree on the time loop. Much as I'm not a fan of alternate dimension stories, I love time travel stories, and especially time travel stories with loops like this one. My personal favorite bit is something I think you missed mentioning above -- Apocalypse's equipment adapts to Cyclops's optic blasts by <b>creating</b> ruby quartz! I've always thought that was really cool.<br /><br />I also must respectfully disagree with Licinio on Sinister's origin. I think tying him in with Apocalypse was a really cool move. He's still an awesome villain on his own, and the idea that he was once Apcalypse's servant but now they hate each other adds an interesting dimension to both. In any case, making him a Victorian-era creation of Apocalypse is, in my own personal opinion, millions of light years better than Chris Claremont's original plan for the character.<br /><br />That said, the ret-con that he was an honest-to-goodness doctor in the 19th century makes one wonder why he goes by "Mister" Sinister. He spent all that time in medical school only to dump his title??Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-88203774887648134822021-02-21T16:40:00.439-06:002021-02-21T16:40:00.439-06:00I really liked this miniseries:
1) I loved the ar...I really liked this miniseries:<br /><br />1) I loved the art, which still holds great today, unlike the Manga style and the Image style that predominated at the time.<br />2) I don’t believe that every super villain needs an origin. You don’t need to know that Apocalypse once had a dad or had to study Algebra. Some characters are better without any background.<br />3) Although I liked the story behind Sinister, I don’t understand why he has to be a product of Apocalypse. It lessened him as a character. I come from a time in which both were seen as equally powerful, one opposing the X-Men and other the X-Factor (Simonson era and Claremont/Silvestri era). By making Sinister a direct creation of Apocalypse it actually made him weaker and less meaningful as a villain. No wonder he is now a caricature.<br />3) I don’t like time loops. I think it was a mistake to have Cyclops influence the birth of his own family. I tend to dislike ideas that lead to people wondering: “but how could have it existed in the first place if he didn’t exist yet?”<br />4) I couldn’t and I still can’t stand the countless miniseries. This story would have been easily shown in the main books during the 80s, with brief appearances by other characters in the present for the sake of moving other plots ahead. Miniseries should be special.<br />5) Pity that Cyclopes and Marvel Girl became thar kind of characters that they can no longer have separate adventures. They can’t even be in different teams or stories. You know one will be with the other when they appear. They resolved this issues by taking an extreme and misleading measure, which was killing Jean and turning Cyclops into a terrorist.<br />6) I don’t believe that we need to know the origin of everything. Why Sinister wanted to create a clone of Jean Grey? Why did he want a child from hers and Cyclops’ Union? Somethings are better not told. He’s just evil. That’s it. Or better: don’t make the mistake of resurrecting Jean Grey and making Madeline Pryor a clone. It’s dumb.Licínio Mirandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12545823888354348526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-17149672091042726732021-02-21T16:26:36.461-06:002021-02-21T16:26:36.461-06:00HehHehLicínio Mirandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12545823888354348526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-28425562861718312902021-02-21T12:29:13.705-06:002021-02-21T12:29:13.705-06:00on the point of conflicting apocalypse origins (so...on the point of conflicting apocalypse origins (so close in publication order) it's probably easy to lie in summary, even to himself vs the long form. or maybe the opposite was true for the writers. really only taking up the issue cause i have tiered confidants - who know a bit of the truth or have scribes a bunch of intricate lore that's perhaps true.Whil5tImDhttps://www.timetravails.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-8101777427795658072021-02-19T18:04:17.401-06:002021-02-19T18:04:17.401-06:00"Essex takes control of a group of sewer-dwel..."Essex takes control of a group of sewer-dwellings hooligans called the Marauders, pressing them into his service"<br /><br />It's all a bit on-the-nose.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com