Weeks of 11/4 and 11/11/2017:
In which Jay & Miles get snowed in; Old Man Logan embraces genre; Inhumans vs. X-Men suffers from a distressing lack of Emma Frost; All-New Wolverine suffers from a distressing lack of Jonathan; and Uncanny X-Men undersells Limbo.
REVIEWED:
- *Old Man Logan #16 (00:55)
- Inhumans vs. X-Men #2 (04:49)
- All-New Wolverine #16 (10:49)
- Uncanny X-Men #17 (17:08)
*Pick of the Fortnight (23:52)
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I’d really like to see someone address how similar Laura and Kimura actually are.
Both were abused and neglected from an early age, both were targets of bullying, and both had one person who could have helped them heal but died before they could do so. The difference is that while Laura was eventually able to rebuild her life, Kimura used it as an excuse to bully and abuse others. It was briefly touched on when Emma Frost brainwashed her into attacking the Facility, but has never been examined in detail.
It would be interesting to find out that part of why Kimura has such a single-minded drive to torture Laura is because she sees how similar they were, and is secretly envious that she managed to heal, while Kimura herself could not.
I just sent this in to the tumblr, but it occurred to me the comments section might have been a better forum for my query. I held off on reading Uncanny X-Men #17 this week, as I’ve been treating the list included in each IvX issue and tie-in as a reading order. What do you all think about reading the series and tie-ins in the order they’re released/published vs. the order they’re listed in on the checklist?
Obviously, I haven’t read IvX 3, etc. That being said, it seems like Uncanny X-Men would be fine to read now. Read it after IvX 2, but I don’t know why you would have to wait for after IvX 3 unless they’re going to start spinning their wheels in the mud, story-wise.
OML was OK, but it didn’t really capture me. I’m willing to see how it goes, but I’m very on the fence, based on this issue.
IvX was necessary, but also a distraction from more interesting stuff.
All-New Wolverine was my pick of the fortnight. I thought it was great stuff. A lot heavier and more dramatic. Still some humour, of course, but less than usual, and it makes a nice change. And it advances the story way more than the previous issues.
UXM was pretty decent. I loved how Monet looked. And this is probably the most interesting I’ve ever seen Sabretooth be.
Great points about a specific artist and their “style” suiting certain types of storytelling. As much as I dislike the term “cinematic”, it’s true, and to expect an artist like (for example) Brittany Williams (who does Hellcat right now) to tell the same kinds of stories in the same kinds of ways as (again, for example) Jamie McKelvie (Wicked and the Divine) is ridiculous. I always like hearing you two discuss the technical side of art in comics. It’s always the best parts of your reviews and x-plains (not saying other parts are bad, but that tends to be the bits you are most excited about and where your expertise really shines through).
I veer wildly, day-to-day, on my excitement levels for ResurreXion. Some of these books, I think, deserve more time to grow/room to breathe, but on the other I don’t really *like* any of them, so getting a relaunch with an X-book that actually has Rachel and Kitty front and centre will be excellent. I’d be interested to know which of the current crop of x-books you guys feel deserves more time to get to where they need/want to go.
The other thing about the relaunch I’m skittish about is the classic “Big Two” Tradition of it being dudes virtually as far as the eye can see on the creative teams. Using the example above of the Kitty/Rachel lead “X-Men Gold”, I guess Marc Guggenheim is a fine choice, but I’m pretty sure we could do with some more female or POC voices going on in the X-Men line. Part of my wish for X-Factor and X-Force (and a bunch of other X-brands) to come back is having that variety to be able to chuck to someone less… well… cis white hetero male, to be honest. Any suggestions as to other writers you enjoy getting to handle an X-book who might fill out the diversity of voices?
(Long winded comment, go!)
I agree with you on the disappointing number of dudes in Resurrxion, and more, with the biggest titles going to straight white dudes. I would disagree on Guggenheim being a “fine” choice. I find him to be a very mediocre writer. His Young X-Men sucked, his Secret Wars X-Tinction Agenda was strictly OK, and his recent Agents of SHIELD series, from what I’ve seen, has been lame. Guggenheim is not a great writer. He’s certainly not flagship title material. And I really do have to wonder what a woman would do with a main X-title.
For writers I’d personally love to see get a shot at writing the X-Men: Marguerite Bennett, Magdalene Visaggio, Nilah Magruder (give her a teen title, she’d slay), Mariko Tamaki, Faith Erin Hicks (she’d probably use Marrow and that would be wonderful). I tried to keep it semi-realistic, and brief.
I’ve never read anything Guggenheim’s written so this is NOT the best news I’ve had today, sadly. Gold is the book I was leaning towards getting (finances being the way they are I’m not going to be able to afford much more) since I’m not buying a book Land is drawing, even if Pak’s writing it (who is a bright star of diversity amidst the white guys).
Tamaki’s Hulk book is only one issue in, but I really like it so far. I’d be keen on her taking a crack.
kinda wish marjorie liu could be lured back into the fold. sara kuhn (who jay and miles had on as a guest for the psylocke episode) seems interesting too. but y’know ta-nehisi coates is doing panther, and roxane gay will be writing some of that too, so the sky’s the limit. why not think outside the box?
I have no idea how to write the common pronunciation of Attilan. It doesn’t sound like Attila (although that was my first guess too). At-il-ahn if that helps (accent on the first syllable). The second one you were saying if that helps. I was writing this and zoned out for a second and then hear “Mummies sucking people’s souls out through their butts.” I think it’s better with no context 😉
Fun fight scenes and that’s it is exactly the description of IvX 2. I definitely have concern that it’ll repeat Death of X. I don’t want it to start strong and then kind of sputter for awhile. On the narrative balance, I don’t think it’s at all possible to make the Inhumans right on this particular issue so they end up with being wrong but kind of nice about it (except Medusa and her death blade hair, which was kind of cool, but she came off as crazy), while the mutants are tending to be “you’re not wrong, Walter, you’re just an asshole.” Like, they’re clearly in the right position (by this point), but they’re doing things in a fairly aggressive way.
I realized that AXIS changed things, but I don’t think I’ve truly seen this Sabretooth since Mutant Massacre and loved how he appeared here. He was a terrifying force of nature that was a wonder to behold. Honestly, I thought it was weird how Uncanny X-Men seemed to make the X-side seem even less favorable by having deaths occur in Limbo. You’d expect Soule to try to even things out since the Inhumans are his babies, but I didn’t expect Bunn to take that story approach.
Did you spend the last 20 seconds of this installment fixing Contact? I think you did, but there’s always a chance I’m delirious due to the perceptual wackiness that occurs from working a 16 hour shift the first day back from a mini-vacation.
Indeed – good catch!
I loved that movie a lot when it came out, flaws and all. Haven’t seen it in many years – I wonder if it holds up?