X-Men: Schism

[Rae]

(09-07-2011 02:18 AM)bigredrobot Wrote:  

(09-06-2011 11:47 PM)deebeemonster Wrote:  

(09-06-2011 11:39 PM)rae Wrote:  Waitasec. I just googled this, and--did Land not draw any of it? I might actually be able to buy an X-book again!

No, they're having 1 fantastic artist draw 1 each issue individually.

And also Adam Kubert.

[thechrishaley]

(09-06-2011 02:06 PM)deebeemonster Wrote:  See that's the really interesting thing about Wolverine. He's a man who's the best at what he does, and he doesn't particular enjoy it. If he was just about bloodshed and revenge and violence he'd be a supervillain.

That's an interesting point, and I think you're absolutely right, but the problem with Wolverine as a fictional character is that, sadly, he is so very rarely handled by writers who seem to understand that.

[themonkeybar]

I've realised I can't actually name everyone in the two previews of each side. Are there new characters in there or is it just a new look for a couple of them?

[Steve!]

(09-06-2011 02:06 PM)deebeemonster Wrote:  

(09-03-2011 10:07 AM)Steve! Wrote:  I think it's a little premature to really say what the split is, because it's really only been hinted at so far. If the issue presented was the actual rift, Wolverine (at least to me) comes off as fairly naive.

I disagree. Wolverine has always had a bloodthirsty edge but he fights it. It's not something that he jumps into as he feels it's more of character flaw than a benefit. One that he obviously uses from time to time, but he doesn't ever seem to enjoy it. It's just that he can't fight it and sometimes it's the only thing that will keep him alive.

Now if you read any issue where Wolverine ever has to deal with children (kids, teens, come the demon Etrigan) either following him or being around him when he has to be bloodthirsty it is always something that he has hated and fought against.

One major example is (yes I'm pulling up continuity here, but proving a point - mainly that Wolverine has always felt and acted this way or rather been written this way) back in X-Men 205. It was a stand alone solo issue featuring Wolverine (and written by Chris Claremont). Wolverine is messed up after a fight with Lady Deathstrike where he runs into Katie Power from Power Pack. She helps him by hiding him and giving him time to heal, during which he is still having to fight off and run away from Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers. He has an extremely heart felt moment with the child where he tells her to run. She wants to protect him, but he tells her that the best way to do that will have to have her do the hardest thing, and the bravest thing... to run away.

Now, this is just one example, but with Wolverine it's common for writers to pair him with kids like Kitty Pride and Jubilee. It's not naive for Wolverine to be adamant against children committing bloodshed. He's always been that way.

Scott Summers, a man who isn't a killer, suddenly thinks that children spilling blood to protect their species is ok, would never sit right with Wolverine. Wolverine knows that yes, you just saw a bus full of your friends blow up, but to seek violent revenge for that only lies the darkest of paths. And that isn't something that we've seen Wolverine fight against just with kids, he does it with himself all the time.

Hell he does it in Uncanny X-Force where the whole goal is to kill.

See that's the really interesting thing about Wolverine. He's a man who's the best at what he does, and he doesn't particular enjoy it. If he was just about bloodshed and revenge and violence he'd be a supervillain. Which is why he would never side with children murdering people.

Actually the point with the New X-Men kids wasn't about them taking revenge, it's that their innocence has been lost entirely just by being a mutant. And I'm not even arguing about the kids becoming killers or being forced to kill, but more that at this point in the game when there are enough groups of people in their world who don't look at them as individuals or even people but rather as viruses or parasites who have no value and should be wiped from the earth that any chance of normalcy has been wiped from the table.

The situation with Idie was an extreme one, but then again Cyclops never asked her to kill anyone (it's also likely to assume she hadn't been trained well enough in her powers to be as effective as she could be, but that falls as much on Wolverine's shoulders as Cyclops), but that's what happened. And considering she had stayed long enough to talk to communicate with Cyclops and Wolverine that if she had run at that point, it would've resulted in her dying. I think it's important to point out though that neither of them really know Idie at this point or the depths of her self loathing (nor do they fully appreciate what's happening with the lights and Hope, and within the context of the current story Wolverine has made an active attempt to distance himself from Hope anyway).

It's all well and good that Wolverine wants to the dirty work, so the kids don't have to go down that road, but he also can't be everywhere. I interpret Cyclops side in this as showing/teaching the kids how operate in a world where they're an endangered species and be able to survive in that world,and not about turning them into "killers" (which seems a little simple minded in this case), and it's a side that Wolverine has taken with his various underaged sidekicks in the past. They should recognize that their not going to have any sort of normalcy in their childhoods and prepare them for what their eventually going to face.

---

(09-11-2011 03:45 AM)themonkeybar Wrote:  I've realised I can't actually name everyone in the two previews of each side. Are there new characters in there or is it just a new look for a couple of them?

There aren't any new characters. There are some relatively recent characters like the Generation Hope cast and Danger in Uncanny over on the blue side and a few like Idie and Quinten Quire on the cover of Wolverine and the X-Men. Plus Frenzy is in a relatively new costume and the clearly Bachalo designed Rachel Summers costume is new.

[themonkeybar]

So is it Rachel with the kind of ribbons coming out of her costume on the Legacy team? And Idie in the kind of school uniform behind Wolverine?

If I'm honest Nick Bradshaw's art is the major problem everyone seems to have the same face :\

[Steve!]

Yeah, Rachel has the ribbons coming out of her jacket(?), which was obviously designed by Bachalo and will look good when Bachalo draws and kind of crappy when everyone else does (although Bradshaw figures fit closer to Bachalo's). Case in point:

vs

Yeah, and Idie's in the school uniform, which signifies a problem I have with Bradshaw's drawing style here as she's supposed to be a 14 year old girl. Also, I have a problem with his Dark Beast there, as it looks a lot like Beast's cat face (unless that's really supposed to be Beast, in which case, I have a problem with giving Beast 4 fingers and a thumb as opposed to Beast's current paw). Also, I'm slightly annoyed with cast of Wolverine and the X-Men not being fleshed out yet, as there are anywhere from 3 to 7 members not accounted for.

[themonkeybar]

That Clayton Henry issue of X-men was truly awful.

There seems to be a few missing characters. Cannonball is missing isn't he? It also seems like Rogue's/the Legacy team will probably change as soon as Carey is finished his last arc.

I just couldn't figure out who those two were meant to be, at one stage I was wondering if Idie was the kid from the Hellfire Club. :\

[BIGREDROBOT]

Next week! Issue 4! Alan Davis! Preview pages here.

[Steve!]

Miniseries has ended, lines have been drawn, what are everyone's thoughts?

[thechrishaley]

(10-08-2011 10:58 AM)Steve! Wrote:  Miniseries has ended, lines have been drawn, what are everyone's thoughts?

I enjoyed this mini-series more than any X-Men comic in recent memory that I can think of, but I'm still not sure exactly what Cyclops and Wolverine are arguing about.