Tag Archives: X-Men

Nov 22 2015

Uncanny Inhumans 2

uncanny inhumans 2Today, Patrick and Michael are discussing Uncanny Inhumans 2, originally released November 18th, 2015.

un·can·ny
ˌənˈkanē/
adjective
 1. strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.

 

Patrick: In light of the recent nuking and un-nuking (or possibly re-nuking) of the Marvel Universe, readers are reasonably expecting some straightforward adventure storytelling. What better way to get back to the basics of these characters than by comfortably setting them in a familiar world? But writer Charles Soule seems to be after anything but “comfortable” — only two issues in and it looks like he just wiped most of the Inhumans out of existence. The series is possessed by this insane confidence, with little regard to how strange, mysterious or even unsettling it becomes. They’re not joking around when they call this thing “uncanny.” Continue reading →

Oct 27 2015

Uncanny Inhumans 1

uncanny inhumans 1Today, Mark and Spencer are discussing Uncanny Inhumans 1, originally released October 21st, 2015.

Mark: Black Bolt is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He, Triton, and Reader travel back 13,000 years to Attilan in hopes of retrieving Black Bolt’s son and heir Ahura. But in doing so Black Bolt breaks his word to Kang the Conqueror, and Kang doesn’t take very kindly to the betrayal. He transports the Inhumans to an island where a hydrogen bomb is about to be dropped, and then beams in some dinosaurs and WWI troops for good measure. You do not want to cross Kang the Conqueror. And if that weren’t bad enough, moments after Reader is able to get them back to their time by the skin of his teeth, Black Bolt walks in on Medusa making out with the Human Torch. Today is just not Black Bolt’s day. Continue reading →

Sep 10 2015

The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows 5

Alternating Currents: The Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows 5, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows 5, originally released September 2nd, 2015. This issue is a Secret Wars tie-in. For more Secret Wars coverage from the week, check back Tuesday for our Secret Wars Round-Up!

secret wars div

Drew: It’s rare that we ever put a spoiler warning up on the site. It’s been suggested more than once, but we usually come to the conclusion that it would be redundant — it would be impossible to have the kind of in-depth discussions we have about comics without acknowledging what happened within them. That’s always been enough to end the conversation, but I also tend to think that superhero comics are impossible to spoil — or maybe that it’s they’re impossible not to spoil. That is to say, we don’t come to superhero stories to be surprised at the outcome, but to be inspired by them. I mean, “Spider-Man saves the day” isn’t exactly revelatory, but it describes the majority of Spider-Man stories (though not necessarily each individual issue), and doesn’t make them any less enjoyable. Indeed, that we know Spider-Man will get back up to fight again is exactly what makes him such an enduring character in the first place. So when The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows inevitably lives up to its name, its predictability is a strength, not a weakness. Continue reading →

Feb 18 2015

Cyclops 10

cyclops 10

Today, Spencer and Mark are discussing Cyclops 10, originally released February 11th, 2015.

Spencer: When we first started covering Cyclops, Patrick and Suzanne speculated about the kind of influence Scott’s space-pirate father would have on him. Corsair isn’t a “bad guy,” but he is a morally ambiguous figure whose decisions are often based more on pulling off a score or simply staying alive than any of the more traditionally heroic values of Scott’s previous mentors. In the issues since then Scott’s been put through the wringer, but no matter what he’s faced, his humanity and morality have come out on top — in fact, Scott’s influence even seems to be making Corsair a better person, not the other way around. John Layman and Javier Garrόn’s Cyclops 10 makes that fact explicit, but questions whether Scott’s example is enough to end the years of hatred between Corsair and Valesh Malafect. Even though he’s become his own man, is Scott still doomed to repeat the mistakes of his father? Continue reading →

Jun 10 2014

Cyclops 2

cyclops 2Today, Patrick and Suzanne are discussing Cyclops 2, originally released June 4th, 2014.

Patrick: When we were in third grade, by buddy Jeff was severely burned by hot coffee. He had accompanied his father to a meeting of some kind, and a giant carafe with boiling hot liquid spilled all over him, giving him second degree burns on his chest and stomach and third degree burns on his arm. Earlier that same evening, I was hoping to have Jeff come over to play video games, but I didn’t get around to calling until he and his dad were just out the door. It’s one of those bizarre “what if”s: what if I had called five minutes earlier? Would Jeff have been spared those burns? How would his life be different if he never experienced that? Obviously, we’ll never know, and this formative experience will always have formed his identity in some way. Greg Rucka and Russel Dauterman’s Cyclops is perfectly positioned to ask those questions of Scott Summers, exploring what forms when one’s formative experiences are entirely different. Scott Summers has always been a principled kid — how could he not be with a mentor like Charles Xavier? — but how does that change when the guiding figure in his life is a drug addicted gentleman pirate? Continue reading →

May 8 2014

Cyclops 1

Alternating Currents: Cyclops 1, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Cyclops 1, originally released May 7th, 2014.

Drew: Leaders are often defined by their circumstances than any personal characteristics. Abraham Lincoln may be remembered as a persuasive orator, but that reputation takes a back seat to his role in the Civil War. That tendency can flatten out historical leaders, but absolutely steamrolls fictional ones, turning “leadership” into a character trait at the expense of any others. Raphael may be “cool, but rude,” and Michelangelo may be “a party dude,” but “Leonardo leads.” I’ve long had this association with Scott Summers, who I know is the de facto leader of the X-Men, but that’s kind of it. Oh, and he shoots lasers from his eyes. Complicating his circumstances (transporting him in time, taking him to outer space) have multiplied the potential for elucidating his personality, but I was still unconvinced that there was enough to him to support his own title. Fortunately, writer Greg Rucka manages to find an incredibly relatable handhold — Scott’s relationship to his father — delivering a confident statement of purpose in Cyclops 1.

Continue reading →

Nov 27 2013

Weekly Round-Up: Marvel Comics Released 11/20/13

round upLook, there are a lot of comics out there. Too many. We can never hope to have in-depth conversations about all of them. But, we sure can round up some of the more noteworthy titles we didn’t get around to from the week. Today, Drew and Ethan discuss Thunderbolts 18, A+X 14, Superior Spider-Man Annual 1, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe 2, Young Avengers 12, Uncanny X-Men 14, X-Men 7, and X-Men: Legacy 20.

slim-banner4Drew: Our Infinity-fatigue is pretty well catalogued at this point, but Charles Soule continues to find a fresh angle in Thunderbolts 18. Where other series are preoccupied with piecing together a monolithic narrative by retracing the same steps, Soule has stayed very street-level, keeping his team focused on the mission at hand, even as New York crumbles around them. They manage to succeed in that mission in spite of each of them being focused on their own problems. Indeed, with a significant portion of the resolution arriving via the coincidental overlap of those problems, this series feels all the world like the superhero version of Seinfeld. Continue reading →

Oct 21 2013

Indestructible Hulk Special 1

hulk special 1Today, Greg and Taylor are discussing Indestructible Hulk Special 1, originally released October 16th, 2013. This issue is part of the three-part Arms of the Octopus story.

Greg: A friend of mine asked me the other night, “If a guy teleported in front of you, told you he was a time traveler, and asked what year it was, how would you respond?” We’re both comedy folks, so I imagine he was looking to start riffing. Yet rather than fire off any number of instinctual punchlines (“What year is it? Why, it’s Christmas Year, sir!” is one of the many perfect ideas I had), I decided to pause, think, and mull over what I, Greg Smith, human being, would actually do if that actually happened.

“I would probably try to ask him who he was, stammer out panicked words, and then fall over.” And that truth, over any dumb joke I could’ve invented, made him laugh.
Continue reading →

Sep 4 2013

Uncanny X-Men 11

Alternating Currents: Uncanny X-Men 11, Drew and PatrickToday, Drew and Patrick are discussing Uncanny X-Men 11, originally released August 28th, 2013.

Drew: Does bravery matter in war? Society has long honored the soldiers most willing to ride out and face their enemies, but modern technology renders that way of thinking almost obsolete. Why risk your life in hand-to-hand combat when you can shoot your enemy from a quarter mile away? Or drop a bomb on him? Or better yet, have a drone drop a bomb on him while you sit comfortably in a control room on the other side of the planet? The danger for yourself stops being physical, and starts being spiritual — under what circumstances is it moral to kill someone who poses no immediate threat to you? America has become a bit desensitized to these drone strikes, but in Uncanny X-Men 11, Brian Michael Bendis examines how would-be-victims react to murder-by-proxy. Continue reading →

Aug 20 2013

Uncanny X-Men 10

uncanny x-men 10Today, Ethan and Drew are discussing Uncanny X-Men 10, originally released August 14th, 2013.

Ethan: When moderately intelligent villains start going about business of realizing their aims, one of the early practical considerations is that of personnel. If you want to take over the world, or bend its orbit into the sun, or just make a whole lot of money, you’re gonna need some other people to help you get there. You can solve this problem in a few different ways: one common one is to just shell out the cash, but you tend to get an army of dim thugs that way. Another way is to come up with an idea that has the twin benefits of both supporting your own aims while striking a chord in the hearts and minds of your potential followers/muscle. In Uncanny X-Men #10, we start to receive signals that Scott is in danger of following in the footsteps of the bad guys he used to square off against, and I don’t even think he knows he’s doing it. Continue reading →