Oh wow, that Wolverine issue seems completely insane. It sounds like the most ill-advised retcon since they turned the Punisher into the Angel of Vengeance or whatever he was when he had the glowing tattoos. Fighting Azrael for his soul every time he's killed? Oh dear.
Out of interest, how much do you think your review of X-Factor was affected by the issues a couple of years back of X-Factor and FNSM which also had the mentally ill being yelled at for being insane?
I personally thought the issue was fair enough, although much poorer compared to earlier issues of the arc. The wrap-up for the Prussian Blue kids was a bit bizarre, and the "Rictor has crystals in his back" subplot seems to have just fizzled out. I can't help thinking that that's something to do with the crossover round the corner, though.
I remember that FNSM issue, and the woman wasn't being yelled at for being mentally ill. In the context of the story, it was an alternate future where Peter had just died and MJ was venting on the woman who had been stalking/slandering him for years. The idea that a grieving widow should show any degree of sympathy or compassion in that situatuion is pretty ludicrous.
Meh. That criticism of the issue seemed absurd then, and it still annoys me now.
Isn't that Stormwatch PHD that's ending, while the main title is turning into a pub quiz question? "Who is the only write to have simulataneously written Stormwatch, WildCATS, Batman and Superman comics?"
Hi Paul,
I agree with your comments about Huber's power.
The other thing that interests me is what path Peter intended to initially take with having the character behind-the-scenes in Genosha back in his first run on X-Factor #89.
If his powers were the same, why would he be assisting a nation-state whose objective would be to retain as many mutants as possible for its economy.
I actually would have preferred the idea of him being revealed as the guy from the original mutant story by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee.
I had convinced myself that Wolverine healing from his fight with Nitro was because he had just taken a shitload of Kick, or MGH, or whatever the power-boosting drug was called. But no, he fights Azrael for his soul Every Time he's mortally wounded...
I think I'll convince myself that Wolverine is addicted to Kick.
Soooooooo... what happens if Wolverine's soul loses a fight? Or does his soul have a healing factor too?
My head hurts.
Did anyone else find the latest issue of New Avengers to be incredibly misogynistic? Tigra getting horrendously beat while videotaped for enjoyment I thought was awful. I am a comic fan, but why is there a set of readers who enjoys seeing women characters beat? Chalk one up to another "Women in Refridgerators" entry. Frankly I'm embarassed to be associated with that crowd.
The idea is that if Wolverine's soul loses against Azrael, then it stays dead. His body heals, but the mind doesn't come back.
In fairness, I *think* Guggenheim is heading towards a "But this can never happen again now that Wolverine has lost" routine, in which case the story will probably do no harm and, if anything, at least stop people writing such stupidly excessive healing scenes.
Re: X-Men:Die by the Sword. Who is the blonde woman on the far left of the cover? Is she a member of either team? The cover is the best thing about the issue, but I have no idea who she is.
I think it's meant to be Blink.
My best guess was either Magik (not on either team as far as I know) or the dead Gwen Stacy from "Dr Doom World" in the last Exiles story...
Blink is as likely as anyone else though.
The Tigra thing was pretty horrific. I'm a bit bemused by this whole plot, but that was nasty, and not in an "Ouch! What great plot twists and savage storytelling!" way. Maybe Bendis is trying to say "Look at how the heroes have been sidetracked, that there is room for some thug to believe he can do this to a heroine who was once an Avenger." But why didn't he just write the scene with a male hero, of whom there are a damn sight more, even if he wanted one with an Avengers connection? There didn't seem like any reason to choose Tigra other than that we'd all get to see a hot cat-lady with her tits half-out getting pistol-whipped to what looks like death (although Wikipedia insists she's alive). Now *obviously* this is my personal fetish, but you'd've thought someone along the line would have realised that people's tastes vary.
~ Gil
re: Tigra. My thoughts exactly. Very cheap and nasty stuff from Bendis. Plus the story was filler too. Rubbish.
That looks a lot like the randomly self-indulgent "Cat Pryde" who appeared recently in Exiles.
Hey, what's with the links to Newt Gingrich and Anne Coulters sites below? comedy value?
Regarding X-Factor, it seems to me that PD had to wrap the story up very quickly to make way for the crossover. Having a character explain the entire plot to you through an inner monologue is a bad, bad idea. It felt a bit like reading a wikipedia summary.
Regarding the Wolverine issue (which I haven't gotten around to reading yet), there was an article about the current arc in a recent Comic Shop News (a little give-away weekly newspaper that at least shops here in the Atlanta area get).
I don't have it in front of me, but in the article, either Guggenheim or the writer of the article call out that old Claremont/Davis story from an X-Men annual where Wolverine regenerated from a single drop of blood. They fail to mention that there was magic involved, though, so that's not exactly a fair precedent for Wolverine's ridiculously amplified healing factor.
In any case, if the story gets us back to a point where Wolverine isn't effectively invulnerable, I'll take it, but it does seem ill-conceived.
"Isolationist" is a four-part story, and the crossover has been scheduled for ages. I'd be very surprised if David had been required to do any last-minute rewrites, at least in terms of the length of his arc.
Well, it looks like New Exiles is actually going to be called New Exiles *sigh*
"with a new team, and a new mandate, to safeguard the fate and future of the Omniverse"
Erm, okay so I haven't read Exiles for a while but isn't that the exact same mandate?
...
Seriously, I'm confused. I know they can't just come out and say this is a completely arbitrary re-numbering but they could at least try.
And WTF is up with the Hulk books coming out in January?
A new retelling of the Hulk's origin by Loeb. How is this a good idea? Is this going to be a new ongoing series? What's up with Incredible XXXX #113?
Well, I guess Ed McGuinness will at least make it look pretty.
Also: Ultimate Human??? (is that an old 616 series I'm just not familiar with or did they just pick stupidest title ever??)
P.S.
No, I don't know why I come here to rant about Marvel's solicit's. Feel free to tell me to stop.
Oh and over at The Savage Critic(s) Diana Kingston-Gabai recently posted a thing on the state of the X-Books that I found quite interesting. Although I'm not a confident as she appears to be that Messiah Complex will be any good, much less "The Crossover That Got It Right", I certainly agree with her that the X-Books are finally heading in the right direction. Anyway, if you want to check it out, here it is:
http://savagecritic.com/2007/10/...ks-about-
x.html
And I have no idea why i thought Hulk was an origin story. My passionate hatred for all things Loeb perhaps. Ahh what the hell I guess it could be good.
Yes, I believe Loeb has already done a revisionist take on the Hulk origin in Grey. His new attempt is likely to be shite, as most Loeb work is.
As for the Crossover That Got It Right, that would be Operation: Galactic Storm, crap title aside.
The Long Halloween ain't bad.
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