Week of 7/27/2016:
In which another chapter of Apocalypse Wars wraps up; X-Men ’92 takes on time travel; Old Man Logan has lady problems; and we have a lot of feelings about Ghostbusters.
REVIEWED:
*Pick of the Week (19:48)
Filmed at Books With Pictures in Portland, OR.
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. These video reviews–and everything else here–are made possible by the support of our Patreon subscribers. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
Come join us on Imzy!
Buy stuff at the shop!
EXM #12 was just so bland and boring. The whole series is. What was the point of this arc? No, really, what was the point? ANXM and UXM both explored some themes. What theme was being explored in EXM? What was the point of any of this? The Illyana/Sapna subplot is the one that I’m invested in.
X-Men ’92 just doesn’t interest me, because there are no genuinely original ideas in it, and that bores me.
Old Man Logan #9 was good. A set-up issue, but it seems like it’ll be a cool arc.
Empowered is definitely awesome. And Oglaf is hilarious.
Huh. I didn’t get sexy at all from that pose or situation. I just got scary.
I think Sorrentino could have gone with a bit different a pose. I think the problem is that it’s a pretty standard Chained Woman pose, which is pretty much always played for titillation. Whether Sorrentino was going for sexy/sexualized or not, it’s easy to read it that way, just because it’s a common sexualized pose.
I had a similar reaction, but I think my brain reset to the actual conversation when J&M started using “sexualized” as distinct from “sexy”.
Considering what happened in New Avengers this week it might actually be my favorite x-men related book.
Ewing is just too good. We don’t deserve him <3
OMG yes. Recently New Avengers has had multiple moments when i wanted to contact you two and make sure you’re reading it. So much New mutant Goodness.
Did you see the issue in which Roberto’s ringtone was said to be the Magnum PI theme song. Ewing is the best writer in terms of respecting the history of character’s he using.
Actually, ‘Berto hacked Wiccan’s phone in order to set the Magnum, PI theme as ringtone right before he called Wiccan. That is so much more ridiculous a thing to do, and so very, very Roberto.
Meanwhile, I have thoughts.
1. Dammit Miles, now I’m trying to figure out what compiler/interpreter/thing-that-would-run-a-program would run on a beard. This will bother me.
2. Forget it Miles. It’s a joke you do.
3. The discussion of this as an ending/non-ending of what’s going on in Extraordinary reminds me of something older Doctor Who viewers have mentioned from time to time (feel free to blame my modern drama professor for my tendency to compare different pieces of art). For the first two and a half years of Doctor Who, there were only episode titles on screen, no full story titles (which has led to some question of what those story titles are, but I digress…). As a result, viewers were never really sure when a story was going to end, which older viewers have said made for a very different viewing experience than we have today.
Yeah, I’m not sure how that’s actually relevant to anything, but I thought it was kind of interesting, and maybe it’ll be another way to look at EXM as it goes on? This is my brain on media.
A couple comments:
First: X-men 2099!!!!! I got very excited to see those guys (2099 was some of the first comics I collected).
Second: I’ve been thinking of this for a while, and this may be a weird venue for the discussion but it was sort of brought up in the review of EXM. What exactly is the X-men’s ethos on killing?
Jay brought up the bloodthirsty Nightcrawler in EXM as being out of character, and in some ways that’s true, but even during his Excalibur years he seemed to sometimes be okay with killing (as long as it was thematic). I’m particularly thinking of some of the worlds in the Cross-time Crisis where his swashbuckler nature took over and he started killing “scenery.”
Then there’s the Brood and the Badoon, both of them being aliens that the X-men have had no issues killing in the past (Kitty killed N’Gari, Brood and I believe at least one Badoon before she was 15). Admittedly they’re all monstrous aliens…but they’re still sentients.
On Earth the X-men usually preach a non-killing ethos, but as soon as they leave the atmosphere/dimension killing goes fully on the table. The Shi’ar are usually an exception, but they’re really the only ones.
Am I totally off base…or does Xavier’s dream seem to specifically exclude non-earthlings?
EXM is mostly enjoyable for the art, and that one issue where they let the kids be the focal point of the story.
Lemire needs to give Jean Gray to Hopeless and Old Man Logan needs to go home or to another universe soon. This leaves Magik, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Iceman, who I would like to see basically “reboot” the X-Men and take over Uncanny X-Men again.
Extraordinary X-Men could then be the character-driven school book, with Quire, Glob, Anole, Martha, Ernst, Sapna, and Hellion too (please). Focusing on newer/younger characters at the limbo academy with the 1975 X-Men serving as their teachers and counselors in the background. I think this direction would serve Lemire better too, he seems encumbered with these huge characters, however he did wonders with Animal Man during New 52.
Uncanny X-Men should be the traditional mainline X book again, with Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Magik, Iceman, Cerebra, Teen Angel and X23. They will easily carry a book with those characters, even if Lemire isn’t the right fit.
ANXM would lose 2 characters but regain Teen Jean, who would be fascinating if written by Hopeless alongside Teen Clops, with Teen Beast, Evan, Oya, Pickles, and Teen Iceman. I view this title as the strongest currently, with excellent writing and the fact that I think most people current with the X-Men are curious as to where the teen X-Men will end up timeline-wise, when all is said and done.
I still need to catch up on Old Man Logan, but overall his presence does the 616 a disservice, IMO. Add him to the Deadpool cast or something, but get him out of the X books, because my mind just defaults and I totally forget he isn’t really the Wolverine I grew up reading, and that bugs me.
I didn’t find the art in ’92 to be bad at all. In fact, I like it a lot more than the original AoC&P artwork