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ALSO. You can use this space to re-ask me questions you asked me before that I failed to answer because I was too busy (but now might not be). That is often the reason I fail to get back to people, and on a blog, after a few days, the comments thread dies and I just kind of forget about it. Let's use this space to fix that, because it does need to be fixed; I look like a jackass sometimes, leaving people hanging. I will TRY to respond to any questions here.
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The Best of the Blog has gotten bigger, the blogroll has been cleaned up, I have added links for Guest Bloggers, and all my print publications are pictured on the right. This place is lookin nice.
ReplyDeleteI just finished a pretty strange campaign for WB's direct to DVD release of House on Haunted Hill 2. It's out there. Check it out: http://itsallinyourhands.com/charliepolish/
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to hearing what you think.
I've been reading Hine's and Irving's Inhumans, The Silent War, and it has taken me this long to realise that Black Bolt and his evil Brother Maximus both have powers that involve words, but where Maximus is about deception and manipulation, or rather subtlety, Black Bolt's power converts his words in action. To Black Bolt action is the same as words, so being a man of action is completely equal to being a man of his words.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where I'm going with that.
Geoff (and anyone else who read it),
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of the fourth and final Sean McKeever "Mary Jane" digest. Just wondering, 'cause I was surprised at how little I enjoyed it. The change in artist was a huge distraction for one -- plus it just felt like McKeever had started going 'round in circles with the characters' relationships.
I'm definitely done with that series.
Brad: THATS HILARIOUS! That's EXACTLY what youtube it for. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteChristian: and thats exactly what Free Form Comments are for.
But do his words get converted to action -- cause unless he is saying "destroy" or something like it then it is all just sound and fury, as it were.
JP: I still have not read it. I did not realize until later that there is a different artist and I got all annoyed and left it on the shelf for now.
ReplyDeleteIn the "I just realized this" department:
ReplyDeleteThis is a possibly interesting thing that I didn't realize till I read your Morrison reviews. When -- in one of Morrison's earliest "New X-Men" issues -- Professor X reveals to the world that he's a mutant, resulting in a large change in tone and direction for the comic, he does so while under the mental influence of Cassandra, a villain. This is actually a canny use of tradition on Morrison's part. In Giant-Sized X-Men #1, when Professor X recruits all the new X-Men, he does so under the mental influence of the villlain, Krakoa (this is explicitly stated in GSX #1). And when Professor X recruited the New Mutants, the first X-Mens spinoff back circa 1983, he does so because he's got an alien egg growing inside him that is influencing his decisions and making him recruit superhuman hosts for more eggs. So it's like, every major decision in Professor X's life regarding the X-Men has come about because of an external, and malign, factor. I have to give Morrison credit for that one -- it was pretty shrewd.
Jason -- that is a pull quote this week. Revise it if you don't want it to appear basically as is.
ReplyDeleteThe pull quote thing is no longer a one a week thing. If I have lots of great comments that should be posts I will have lots of comment pull quote posts. though I am trying to keep it at no more than two a day.
Jason: That's a fantastic point, but also causes me to wonder - was Krakoa's influence taken into consideration when Xavier was villified for putting together that first team of 'new' X-Men? The one featuring Havok and Cyclops' other brother, the team that was thought dead and prompted Xavier to recruit the 'new' team in GSX #1? Because I think it would be pretty silly for Morrison to earn all of these reprimands from X-Men traditionalists that have since followed when the guys that have taken over seem, in fact, much worse at paying attention to some major continuity points.
ReplyDeleteNeil,
ReplyDeleteKrakoa's influence over Xavier has been tacitly ret-conned over the years. It's not mentioned in Classic X-Men #1, for example, and Scott Lobdell did a scene in X-Men #300, where we learn that Xavier had already found Nightcrawler, Storm, et al even before he founded the first team, and could "foresee them becoming the team's second generation." (Groan.)
But Krakoa's influence over Xavier is explicitly and entirely ret-conned in the story you mention, "Deadly Genesis," in which all of Krakoa's dialogue is ret-conned as having not really happened -- up to and including Krakoa's line about having "planted the suggestion to get more mutants into the mind of the crippled one," or whatever the line is in Giant-Sized #1. According to Deadly Genesis, Krakoa couldn't speak, and Professor X was fooling everybody into thinking he could as part of a cover-up. So all that dialogue of Krakoa's that the X-Men heard and we read was "actually" manufactured by Xavier.
I don't know the details of it beyond that, having only skimmed the trade at Barnes and Noble. I certainly don't mind ret-conning Giant Sized X-Men #1, because that story as originally published makes absolutely no sense. From what I understand, "Deadly Genesis" does cover all its bases as far as "continuity" goes, making sure that all the contradictions are addressed and smoothed over in some way. If it gets a pass from continuity buffs, it's probably earned.
As for whether it's a good story in its own right ... that, I can't really speak to. Seemed like a good example of a certain flavor of "contiuity porn," wherein continuity is trashed, but in a way that makes certain elements of past stories make more sense, rather than less, so continuity buffs really dig it. Ten years ago I probably would've loved it. These days I think it's just a bemusing curiosity.
Geoff,
ReplyDelete"X-Mens spinoff" is a typo of course; should be "X-Men spinoff." Beyond that, feel free to post as is!
I love Brubaker, but I'm pretty sure Deadly Genesis is one of the worst things he's ever written.
ReplyDeleteIt's just terribly dull and not a very good story. And doesn't really feel like it serves to further anything.
And I'm saying that as one of the few people who actually bought Point Blank and Sleeper. Which were both brilliant.
And yeah, my theory doesn't hold up exactly, but I meant action in the purest manner as in either Action or Inaction.
ReplyDeleteBlack Bolt still has one of the best costumes around though.
Playing as Iron Fist in "Spider-Man: Friend or Foe" for the Wii is brilliant fun.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my 6-year old son and I beat the game in less than 5 hours.
But still, Iron Fist's "Dragon Sprit" power is the best.
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ReplyDeletei just wanted to see if my new picture came up when I commented.
ReplyDeleteChristian: I agree that Deadly Genesis is subpar Brubaker. It's also subpar retcon. Sure, it crosses all its t's and dots all its i's, but it's just way to convoluted. By contrast, his Bucky resurrection was elegant in its simplicity.
ReplyDeleteGeoff: Nice new pic.