The Latest X-Men arcs

[detourne_me]

Hi all,   I've been trying to keep up with the latest arcs in Uncanny and adjectiveless,  and i've got a few issues with popular reaction to these.

How come nearly every major online critic (from newsarama to x-axis and more) say that Brubaker's run on Uncanny X-men was a failed space opera, while Mike Carey's work on X-Men has been refreshing and has been giving direction to the whole X-men franchise???

for the record I love what Bru has done in Uncanny,  and Billy Tan's art is gorgeous.  Bru has taken something as (what i consider to be) failed as deadly genesis and actually made me care more about the characters, and he's been able to entrench the new characters deeper int othe x-men mythos while giving us new stories and resolving past confilcts and story threads.
He's made Nightcrawler and Warpath much cooler characters now (and brought the fun back into Kurt!) and he's been really cleaning up Rachel Grey's role in the x-men and Alex and Lorna's relationship(leave Bobby as the perpetual funboy darnit milligan!).

Now with Carey's run....  what we had a 6 parter introducing new characters and a new mobile headquarters, only to get rid of it all... and these new characters are only a slightly warmed over rehash of what Morrison was doing with The World and Fantomex!
Then what... some incoherent storylines about other Morrison rehashes, as in a diesease controlling guy that wants mutants powers (john sublime anyone?), and an omnipotent and completely random extradimensional thing that poses a major threat to all??   reminds me of the lame 90's stories of Magnus, or that weird egg thing that reverted storm to a child.

Sure he's given definition to some characters, i love what he's done with cannonball and cable, but otherwise... karima shapandur?  who else is he going to bring back, Maggot, Marrow or Thunderbird 3?

sorry to rant even more but... i love bachalo's designs and all,  but he cant tell a story at all, the artwork is uncomprehensible, don't get me wrong, crazy stylized battle scenes can be done well,  look at Quitely or Immonen's work, but the colours used, and the lack of motion in bachalo's art makes dissecting the battle scenes a migraine.

But i have to admit,  i'm still pretty pumped to see x-men 200, and what the endangered species storyline will bring...

anyway,  enough ranting from me,  how would you compare the latest x-men arcs?

[Podmark]

I havent' actually read Bru's Uncanny yet, but I've been picking up X-Men. Wasn't huge on a space story, but I was keeping tabs on things. The art was pretty good, cast was kinda 50/50 to me. Rachel and Kurt are among my favorite X-men, but to be honest I've grown kinda bored of Kurt, I'm more interested in the newer characters, same went for Charlie, Alex and Lorna. I really like how Bru and Tan revitilized Warpath, I never figured he'd become cool anytime soon. The whole Deadly Genesis never really caught me. For some reason I really like Korvus, though I don't think anyone else did. Also I like how the arc ended off.

Now X-Men I love the cast. Cable has become one of my favorite characters since C&D started and I like what Carey has done with him. Sam and Bobby I love, and Carey actually made me like Rogue, something I didn't think was possible, Rogue's always been meh to me. For some reason I love Karima, never cared for her before but now I think she's amazing. I'm impressed with what Carey did with Lady M too. Sabretooth I'm very much meh. The new villains are mostly meh; Children were kinda cool, the whole Mummandari-thingy was just gibberish, Pan was forgetable. I do love how he fixed up Northstar and Aurora and setup the new Acolytes. Now the art has been 50/50; Bachelo I love, Ramos I ugh. Two years ago I couldn't stand Bachelo, but now he's one of my favorite artists. I'm not sure what it was but it just clicked. His design work is fantastic, but somewhat repetitive (ie Lady M is just a recoloured AoA Dazzler, Karima is very similar to her HoM version, Rogue is basically her AoA version - these were all great designs though). Ramos on the other hand, ranges from bearable-to-ugh for the most part. I've just never gotten into his art.  Now the book overall, I think the cast is great, but the stories are really only middling. Carey's past work I've read I mostly found is gibberish, and while I find X-Men to be good, I still see signs of that past observation.

However I'm super psyched for 200 and the return of the Marauders. Not sure about Endangered species yet, need to learn more. Then there's the X-Over this summer, that has me intrigued.

Now some predictions. 200 supposedly has a death, and Endangered Species has a funeral (possibly for the character in 200 but not necessarily). I've seen speculation that it will be either Sam, Bobby, or (based on an obviously misleading preview pic) Storm, but my suspicion is that it will be either Mystique or Karima. I'm not a big Mystique fan, but I really like how Carey has handled her , a very nice development from the Mystique series and Milligan's work, but I could easily see it be her that bites the bullet. Karima is conjecture at this point, but Carey has said that the new Malice has more invasion possession than in the past and think that might mean that it kills the host personality. There is plenty of clues online that Karima is possessed by Malice when she joins the Marauders. Otherwise it probably is Sam who dies, and I'll be really sad :(

[NeoDarke]

Well, if it is Sam, then they'll have to put Page under lock and key, because as far as I know, she's the last breathing Guthrie who's a mutant. :thumbdown:

[detourne_me]

i definately don't want Sam to die (hes a lot like havok to me, super powerful, but never gets much of a chance to take the lead)...  i thought it was gonna be Rogue,  but I hadn't read #199 yet... it seems like shes all better now or something.

i'm going to take a wild guess and say it's cable that bites it.  in some sort of self-sacrificing hero death, maybe Apocalypse is coming back too.... heh,  i really don't know what to expect.  I can't wait ot see what Magneto's role in all of this is.

Has anybody been keeping up with X-Factor?   isn't Quicksilver trying to do something to save mutantkind as well?

[Podmark]

Yeah Quicksilver is just totally nuts. Guys more evil than his father now.

I really doubt it's Cable, unless he's coming back shortly after. I've heard no news indicating any change in Cable and Deadpool, and I think we would have heard something if it there was. Additionally Cable (this is 199 spoiler btw) did not return with the X-Men, so I'm not actually sure he'll be in 200.

The death is supposedly on of Rogue's team and I'd put the likeness of their deaths in this order:

1) Mystique - I really think it's going to be her
2) Karima
3) Rogue
4) Sam
5) Bobby
6) Cable
7) Lady M - she's going traitor there's no way she counts.

[Podmark]

I'm resurrecting this thread as Endangered Species is out this week and 200 the next week I believe. HUGE potential spoilers follow of course.

I originally thought the Endangered Species death related to X-Men 200 but thats not the case. Actually I've had the death spoiled but I won't reveal it unless someone wants me to.

Considering the death in 200, Mike Carey revealed 10 things that were going to happen in 200, supposedly there is no bleed between these, here's the list:

1. DEATH IN THE FAMILY: A member of Rogue's team falls in the line of duty! CAREY: "A call to arms but arguably too late."
Pod's guess: It's been pretty much narrowed down to Rogue or Cable :(

2. RETURN OF THE HEROES: Two prodigal X-Men burst back onto the scene - but whose side are they on? CAREY: "Ever since I took over I've been getting questions on one of these characters. There will be some cries of joy when they come galloping over the horizon."
Pod's guess: smart money it refers to Gambit and Sunfire.

3. BETRAYAL FROM WITHIN: The X-Men face the deadliest threat of all: from one of their own! CAREY: "There was something nasty going on and that's not obvious at all and will carry on not being obvious even after the big reveal."
Pod's guess: I've got two here, Lady M and Mystique.

4. POWER OUTAGE: One of the X-Men will lose their mutant abilities when they need them most! CAREY: "Such a tragic beat, because of how it is done and who is responsible."
Pod's guess: rumor has it that it's Rogue losing her Sunfire powers, which will leave her de facto powerless thanks to Strain88

5. THE MARAUDERS RETURN: Among the X-Men's deadliest foes, these vilains already caused one "Mutant Massacre" - and the timing of their comeback couldn't be worse. CAREY: "Who's in? Who's out? Don't wait for someone else to buy the issue and tell you!"
Pod's guess: More or less the whole lineup has been revealed by now, I'll list it below.

6. TAKE THE CRAZY TRAIN: By issue's end, an X-Man's mind may be too far gone to salvage. CAREY: "The darkest aspect of the issue - and my run so far".
Pod's guess: No idea, Rogue's already there pretty much.

7. MALICE AFORETHOUGHT!: The body possessing Marauder claims another X-Man! CAREY: "It's a slightly different Malice with a new method of breaking and entering."
Pod's guess: It's all but been said that it's Karima.

8. X-RATED ENCOUNTER: Two members of the team get closer than ever in a decidedly adult fashion! CAREY: "Wait until you see how this plays out."
Pod's guess: Maybe Mystique and Iceman? They got a thing going on right now.

9. THIS BUD'S FOR YOU!: An X-Man - who's NOT named Wolverine - cracks open a cold one! CAREY: I'm allowed to do this, right?"
Pod's guess: There's a rumor going around that this refers to "cracking open" Iceman.

10. UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT: The Maruders get a familiar face as their new leader! CAREY: The most jaw dropping moment of the whole issue!"
Pod's guess: Mystique

So the supposed current rost of Marauders looks like this:

Mystique
Gambit
Sunfire
Exodus
Random
Frenzy
Tempo
Lady Mastermind
Malice (controlling Karima)
Scalphunter
Arclight
Harpoon
Riptide
Prism
Vertigo
Scrambler
(possibly an unidentified blonde)

Thats a lot of bad guys!

[murs47]

All this talk of X-Men and the New X-Men are being left out :(

Pod:

You should check out Bru's run on Uncanny, it was quite good. Especially the second time around. I agree with DM that it was just given bad reviews.....but the way I see it, it's brought back some of that magic it's been missing..........Warpath is just plain awesome now.

Also, any guesses on what happens to the New X-Men during endangered species?

One thing I've noticed....... all the X books seem to be doing very well ever since Marvel decided to keep Wolvy on just one book.

I'm pretty stoked about Endangered Species and The Sinestro Corps, but that's a whole different story.

[Podmark]

Well I know Mercury and X-23 appear in the Endangered Species one-shot at the funeral. I haven't heard anything solid yet about whether any of them will appear in the backups though, but there's speculation Beast might meet with Elixir. Also the kids are supposed to be appearing in X-Men 200 to 203 or 204 as part of the Marauders storyline.
As for the 4 remaining issues between now and the Messiah Complex crossover, we have the last two issues of the Magik storyline, then 42 is a down time issue, I think 43 is too. In the crossover Hellion and X-23 are supposed to have a big role and the Purifers return. Also rumor has it that Mark Brooks is returning as the artist.

[murs47]

Mr. Brooks is a perfect fit for the New X-Men book, he has a more new age vibrancy to his pencils that really fits. I do happen to really like Skottie Young on the book too, though I could see where some people might not....wish he was staying on.

I think the traitor is Emma Frost......I think she's that unidentified blonde girl on the Marauder's side of the X-Men 200 cover.....well, that's my guess but we'll see.

[NeoDarke]

Mr. Brooks is a perfect fit for the New X-Men book, he has a more new age vibrancy to his pencils that really fits. I do happen to really like Skottie Young on the book too, though I could see where some people might not....wish he was staying on.

I think the traitor is Emma Frost......I think she's that unidentified blonde girl on the Marauder's side of the X-Men 200 cover.....well, that's my guess but we'll see.

Yes, but didn't they already do Traitor: Emma Frost?

Doing it again, just seems stupid. Granted we're talking about Marvel here. But still...

[murs47]

Mr. Brooks is a perfect fit for the New X-Men book, he has a more new age vibrancy to his pencils that really fits. I do happen to really like Skottie Young on the book too, though I could see where some people might not....wish he was staying on.

I think the traitor is Emma Frost......I think she's that unidentified blonde girl on the Marauder's side of the X-Men 200 cover.....well, that's my guess but we'll see.

Yes, but didn't they already do Traitor: Emma Frost?

Doing it again, just seems stupid. Granted we're talking about Marvel here. But still...

You're right, repetition doesn't seem to be Marvel's gig right now. They're more like "shake-up the status quo" right now. So, maybe it's someone we totally don't expect.....but hopefully it makes sense and not just some betrayal out from left field.