tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post150861979650166412..comments2024-03-26T20:11:01.933-04:00Comments on NOT BLOG X: X-MEN FOREVER 2 #16 - March 2011G. Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279461069684403792noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-66808114316218790972015-06-22T16:00:52.301-04:002015-06-22T16:00:52.301-04:00I said it before at length, so I'll repeat her...I said it before at length, so I'll repeat here briefly: This series was a big disappointment, especially after all that beautiful pre-release artwork. Tom Grummett + Jim Lee costumes = Brilliant. I could've lived with a lot of the terrible story directions if the characters had stayed looking like they did in the first three issues the entire time, and if the artwork wasn't so inconsistent whenever Grummett was away.<br /><br />My biggest gripe with this series, though, is the bait-and-switch. If it hadn't been advertised as "Chris Claremont <b>continues</b> his classic run", I wouldn't have felt so betrayed by it. (Though "Betrayed" is a strong word for a series I really didn't care all that much about, but you know what I mean.)Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-45792998207717332172015-06-06T01:55:45.740-04:002015-06-06T01:55:45.740-04:00If this was the "continuation" of CC'...If this was the "continuation" of CC's X-men, the series ended at around the time of Age of Apocalypse in real life...wwk5dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-3655322952395847572015-06-06T01:08:43.665-04:002015-06-06T01:08:43.665-04:00I kept reading the book until the end, even though...I kept reading the book until the end, even though I was disappointed fairly quickly with concepts like Burnout and the use of SHIELD and the Avengers. I was hoping it would get better, but outside of a few flashes, this wasn't the book I wanted to read. It wasn't the book which Marvel and Claremont promised us.<br />I wonder if later writers cannibalized so many of Claremont's plans leading up to issue #300, that he felt there was no purpose in sticking to the original intent of this book. I don't care if Gambit was revealed as a traitour by Lobdell. I still would have liked to see Claremont's original take on it, which surely wouldn't have been the same as we saw.<br />Besides, seeing actual X-Men stories done differently would have been more appealing than seeing Claremont's take on evil Tony Stark or Storm and Black Panther's marriage!<br />I wanted to finally get to see The Mutant Wars! Maybe Claremont was planning to get around more towards his original plots, but he took far too long, and wasted so much time with drawn-out Consortium and Perfect Storm stories that just bored me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-84678067192678375572015-06-05T21:12:07.790-04:002015-06-05T21:12:07.790-04:00Mela - You're right. Looking at the cover date...Mela - You're right. Looking at the cover dates, the repeating titles only ran one month apart.<br /><br />"I think the concept of the book was flawed because it was, ultimately, just a what-if story, and doesn't impose the discipline of working within the limitations set by other writers. Big two comic writers often chafe at these limitations, and Claremont in the '00s was one of them given all the interference he got on his 616 runs, but it's what makes a Big Two book interesting, the interplay between the writer's interests and the limitations imposed on him."<br /><br />That's a solid point. There's no way to pretend while reading the book that it could've been an actual run on UNCANNY. The freedom to go off into crazy tangents doesn't automatically make it a better series, it just emphasizes what the reader isn't getting. If Claremont had to space out his zaniness and flesh out the cast in a more deliberate fashion, many of the series' problems would've been solved.G. Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12279461069684403792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-22774797552720105072015-06-05T21:02:04.731-04:002015-06-05T21:02:04.731-04:00"How is the fact that Cyclops and Lorna would..."How is the fact that Cyclops and Lorna would have also sacrificed their lives for Alex supposed to ironic? "<br /><br />I guess the idea is that Havok sacrificed himself for people who would rather he stayed alive, even if it meant their death. It's not worded particularly well, but I think that's what Claremont's saying.G. Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12279461069684403792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-33415466402098068112015-06-05T15:57:58.684-04:002015-06-05T15:57:58.684-04:00I think the concept of the book was flawed because...I think the concept of the book was flawed because it was, ultimately, just a what-if story, and doesn't impose the discipline of working within the limitations set by other writers. Big two comic writers often chafe at these limitations, and Claremont in the '00s was one of them given all the interference he got on his 616 runs, but it's what makes a Big Two book interesting, the interplay between the writer's interests and the limitations imposed on him.<br /><br />Something like "Untold Tales of Spider-Man" or even "X-Men First Class" (which was not strictly set within 616 continuity but tried not to contradict it too heavily) holds up better because the writer is trying to tell his stories without invalidating the other stories. I don't know if X-Men Forever would have been better as some kind of untold tales book (it's not like it worked for X-Men: The Hidden Years) but there needed to be some kind of sense that Claremont wasn't free to do whatever he wanted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-81686389878417339292015-06-05T14:08:03.275-04:002015-06-05T14:08:03.275-04:00I love that Grummett cover.I love that Grummett cover.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14447265712189987074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-14241713012716131852015-06-05T12:30:26.594-04:002015-06-05T12:30:26.594-04:00How is the fact that Cyclops and Lorna would have ...How is the fact that Cyclops and Lorna would have also sacrificed their lives for Alex supposed to ironic?wwk5dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734283773701136760.post-31917476056755686282015-06-05T12:14:57.514-04:002015-06-05T12:14:57.514-04:00Didn't we just see this title in New Mutants F...Didn't we just see this title in New Mutants Forever?<br /><br />I was tempted to go back & read this series out of morbid curiosity, but thank you for taking the proverbial bullet. This whole series is just baffling.Melahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05539894845356203447noreply@blogger.com