I've found Claremont's recent run on Exiles to be a dreary mess. From the lack of consistency from story-line to story-line, (or even issue to issue), he's brought this comic down, to it's knees.
Here's a good example: In issue 96, he introduced a holographic version of Heather, in issue 97 he included her in the team roster, with the ineptly named "Computer", then in issue 98 (and 99), she's gone. What kind of continuity is that?
As far as "Raphael-Raven Darkholme", I don't have a huge problem, mainly because of the...10 new characters Claremont has introduced, he's the only one to have a name, or even a bare hint of personality. As opposed to the MJ/Gwen Stacy clones from their perespective worlds, or the old couple, or "Cat Pryde".
I'm also sick of the Fantastic Four (or some version of it) being the catalyst for the series. There's more to Marvel universe, then the FF, and Psylocke.
Hey, love your reviews but never felt the need to comment until today. Could you expand on your statement about Superman and Batman making the transition to modern myth, but Green Lantern has not. It's an interesting thought but I'd like to know how you've come to this conclusion
I don't think the implication is of anything profound; Just that in general, people know who Batman and Superman are, but Green Lantern not so much.
Marvel released their shiping schedule for October last week. It's a huge month with a ton of books shipping each week, many of which had been badly delayed (Mighty Avengers, Powers, etc). Does comic readership tend to go up after the summer months, or is it the usual random chance at work?
That's a great video.
I think the thing about Miguel and Gwen, though I feel just happening to pair them up was stupid, wasn't trying to have it both ways. Sure Claremont could show US(or try to) that there was something fundamentally wrong with the people of that Earth. That doesn't mean all the Exiles would be able to realize it rationally.
Blimey. I'd not seen the original... what rubbish. The gymnastics video is mint.
I'm sure the same thing happened, possibly in reverse, to Dire Straits' "Walk Of Life", which had one video with a busker on the Tube, and another quite inexplicable video showing various touchdowns from an American Football game...
~ Gil
Batman and Superman are household names around the world. They're practically the archetypal superheroes in the public mind. Green Lantern, to the non-comic-reader, is just an old superhero, assuming they've even heard of him at all.
Now, as for why that might be so: Superman and Batman have basic concepts which are very enduring on a myth-like level. Green Lantern is a square-jawed hero who finds a magic space ring. It's really not a very good central idea, and it depends on years of accumulated mythology to make it more than that. (See also the Avengers, whose central concept is nothing more than "There's these heroes. They fight evil.")
> We're evidently heading for a
> reboot. Hopefully that means
> Claremont is at least building
> towards something more interesting.
Can you say X-Treme Exiles?
I'm so glad I decided to abstain on reading Claremont's Exiles run. I love the title, it was one of the first I started reading when I got into comics 5 years ago, so to read about how Claremont has basically stripped it of its interesting points and moulded it into another vehicle for his pet characters and themes is somewhat soul-destroying.
Good call on Vinyl Underground. I thought the premise sounded painfully and superficially hip, but took a look anyway, only to discover that Philip Bond had lost some of his magic. I was pleased to discover that it was just an imposter.
It's been pointed out to me that the same artist drew Andi Watson's PARIS, which looked nothing remotely like VINYL UNDERGROUND, so it's evidently an intentional style choice.
I had no idea Miguel O'Hara was running around in Exiles. I loved the Spider-Man 2099 series (the first 20 issues, anyway). It had Peter David writing, and Miggy, despite having Spider Powers by way of that Fly teleporter, was an interesting character in his own right. And now I hear that Claremont turned him into a Peter Parker clone?
I don't know why I feel emotionally crushed, but I do.
I weeped like a baby at the end of JLA/Hitman.
Does this make me less of a man, or more or one?
"More to the point, it seems to suggest a rare piece of co-ordination between the books as they head into "Messiah Complex." The recent X-Men storyline was all about Mr Sinister trying to wipe out other sources of prophecy, meticulously working his way through all the time travellers and psychics from previous stories."
And I don't think that it is a coincidence that the current X-Factor storyline features an assassination attempt on Layla Miller...
The more I hear about Exiles, I'm glad I stopped bothering as soon as Claremont took over.
I saw the multiple prophecy storylines as Marvel yet again failing to coordinate.
Layla Miller has been a part of X-Factor since she showed up.
One X-book is running a story about a group shutting down all known information about the future, while another introduces a new major source of information about the future that a decent number of people have known about since M-Day. Which itself was the product of an extremely powerful precog, even if Sinister somehow never knew of the book itself.
And in the mix, we've got Endangered Species saying that Wanda has either altered all the known alternate futures to a no-mutant state or shut off access to them. Either of which would likely shut down useful knowledge from anyone from those futures.
It's a point. If the Isolationist going after Layla is part of the story, then that means the Isolationist has some connection with Sinister. Which would kind of go against his gimmick. As near as I can figure out, the Isolationist's schtick is meant to be that he can hear the minds of all the mutants in the world, and now that they're down to tiny numbers, he thinks he has a chance to wipe them all out and get some peace. That doesn't seem to be what Sinister and the Marauders are after at all.
I do agree that Wanda's messing with future/alternate timelines makes killing Cable a little redundant, and maybe Carey who I think wrote both stories technically should have thought it through. But it wouldn't be the X-Men without confounding continuity.
And maybe I just don't really care that much about continuity but I can live with Sinister overlooking the Morlocks book o' future.
Does that make me a bad fan-boy?
Maybe Sinister didn't get to read about Endangered Species or the last uncanny X-Men arc ?
Maybe he doesn't know about Wanda being the one behind M-Day ? How would he, it's not publicly known?
It would seem that Exiles has pretty much run it's course. I thought that since M-Day it hasn't been as interesting. In part because it moved away from the characters that we initially made a connection to. Spiderman 2099, Longshot and even the Proteus/Morph all have seemed rather flat. Maybe it would be better to just let the concept rest until someone has a really compelling idea for starting again. The new central premise is going to have to be really compelling.
And on another note, in Uncanny we do find out that Cyclops knows Corsair is dead. It's interesting that all Cyclops reactions are off camera (even here his conversation is from a disctance and Warpath's POV. I alo thought Nightcrawler was rather chummy with the Professor. He's never called him "freund" before. Could Brubaker have been leaning towards a conflict between Kurt and Scott over Charles' actions?
The most recent time Marvel rested a concept until they had a really compelling new idea for its return was with Thor, and look how innovative that is.
You're right, but the idea of letting concepts/characters rest seems like such a good one. And it does translate into big sales. Imagine if they could actually combine an anticipated return with an interesting new take on things. Maybe those ideas cancelm each other out (those anticipating the return won't want it too different) but it still seems like the right kind of solution for a crowded market.
New Excalibur #24 is still telling the Albion story, believe it or not.
Couldn't a basically identical statement be made about that point in the original Excalibur series? Namely:
"Excalibur #24 is still telling the Cross-Time Caper story, believe it or not."
Also an overblown Claremont story that would've been much better if told in many fewer parts...
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