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selenakAnd finally a new issue of my favorite comic. I shall try to form more coherent thoughts than OMG EMMA OMG SCOTT (in a good way).
But seriously, they rocked in this issue, separately and together. I so love the way Joss writes them, have done since the first issue of Gifted, and while Warren Ellis is good enough a writer to keep me reading AXM once Joss is done, I’m vaguely nervous regarding the characterisations. (Not just Emma & Scott, but primarily them.)
Anyway. Emma figuring out Danger can’t kill them personally (as opposed to trying to make others kill them) was incredibly cool, and made complete sense with what we’ve seen before. Mind you, it could also be an inspired retcon to fix the, as Emma puts it, B-movie villain thing where Danger left them all alive after defeating them to go after Xavier (because surely, telling Charles she killed all of them would have served her purpose of humiliating, hurting and finally killing Daddy via the Sentinel even more?), but who cares? It works. It also is an appropriate gamble for Emma to take. At the end of Torn, she was suicidal enough to welcome death, and she still has a bit of that in her, but her will to live has returned as well, and seems to be growing ever stronger. Now of course I’m very curious what she offered Danger in return for cooperation, and what the plan with Brand’s men is, but I’m willing to wait.
Speaking of plans: I think it’s kind of obvious Scott told Emma something in his mind which we readers weren’t made privy to yet. But never mind that, Scott going to do that distraction thing, leaving Emma in charge: I love it. As I do his brief exchange with Brand, who challenges him with “I thought you were a leader” – and he tells her that’s what a leader does. Look at the tactics and offers his own life if he’s the most expendable. It’s a very different thing from seeking martyrdom, btw, and I think the whole sequence demonstrates that. Also, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
likeadeuce noted, since their conversation in the last issue, Emma and Scott have changed positions. Ever since Torn, he has been standing behind her, supporting her; now she’s standing behind him, supporting him. And the complete trust in her he shows by giving her command – “they’re yours now” - it’s arguably an even more shippy moment than “I am in love with you now”. I venture those two have indeed been to hell and are on their way back and have become a stronger couple as a result of it.
(Current speculation as to why Emma says “I’m so close now” while Scott is having his flashbacks at the moment of impact – what she’s doing is reversing his lack of access to his powers. In #14, said blocking was achieved by confronting him with the traumas of his past, including Jean and the leadership question, and those are the two images we see Scott have, but here they are positive ones: teenage Jean welcoming him when first they meet, an affirmation of leadership.)
The trust question is relevant for other couples here as well. Peter asks why, and Kitty essentially says because life is short, happiness is rare, and what he makes her feel, what they share is happiness. Which is enough to make her overcome the distrust and trauma caused by the artificial memories in her. Except, of course, that Kitty by the end of the issue finds out that someone she arguably loves as much as she does Peter has been lying to her for real, not in an illusion, and for years. Trust Joss to make Lockheed into a character instead of a cute pet. (Loved Brand’s terse remark on the subject.) I’m looking forward to the pay-off there.
One of the reasons why I love AXM: Joss’ attention to details and to people not our heroes having a life of their own. When the Danger arc kicked off with a big standard action sequence, one part of this sequence was Kitty and Emma saving the civilian bystanders and taking care they weren’t hurt in the X-Men versus Monster of the Day fight. In the Unstoppable arc, we saw the S.W.O.R.D agents getting their own moments of characterisation, and of course the differentiation of the Breakworlders is majorly plot relevant. In this particular issue, you have Hank and Agent Brand, after having survived the snow storm attack, standing among the corpses of their pursuers before taking off to reunite with the rest of the gang, and Hank remembers Genosha. The Breakworlders lived. They existed. They’re not treated, to make a very apropos comparison given Joss’ numerous SW tributes in this arc, like the Stormtroopers on the Death Star, whose blown up corpses as the result of Our Heroes’ actions of course we never see. The visual of their frozen corpses is a, no pun intended, chilling, terrific element that contributes to the emotional reality of this story.
(On a less serious note: I was fully expecting that there would be some reference to Brand having had a technical warming device as an explanation for last issues’ teasing visual of her pulling off her gloves and Hank going “oh, my!” , but there wasn’t. Does that mean J.W. leaves me my shippery delusions about a certain fanfic cliché having come true a while longer? )
Speaking of my favourite green-haired woman, in a neat irony we open with Krun & sidekick talking about how she doesn’t understand them and patronizes them by assuming said sidekick would betray Krun, applying human standards to their species, and close with Brand pointing out to Kitty and the X-Men that they did patronize Lockheed and treated him like “a starlet’s chichuaha” when he’s an alien lifeform with more languages at his command than Charles Xavier has and his own world to be concerned about. Neither scene is wrong in its implications. Krun, of course, is also kidding himself, as the continuation of his scene shows; his sidekick might share his values, but that doesn’t mean the rest of his world does, and he’s not prepared to accept dissent in the form of Aghanne and her friends. Aghanne isn’t human, she’s not influenced or paid by Brand & Co.; she is as Breakworld as they come, having started as a champion just the same way Ord or for that matter Krun did, and yet she’s developed a new philosophy, she has changed, and so have others.
Meanwhile, Our Heroes aren’t presented uniformly well-meaning or morally superior, either. Last issue even good natured Peter Rasputin had a moment of seeing the entire species as uniform and deserving of destruction, this issue it’s Logan rooting for the “wipe them out” as opposed to “save them” solution, and he might or might not be kidding. (At the same time, he gets to make a moral swipe at Brand with the “aren’t your men expendable? In my memory, you said that” when she’s shocked that Emma would put Danger in charge of her men.) As opposed to this, you have Aghanne and her people, rooting for change and reinterpreting the prophecy that way, and Scott and Emma, working to save (which world? Both?) instead of destroy. And Hank, continuing to quote Star Wars. I’ll never get tired of that (and I suspect neither will Joss).
The revelation that Kurn can’t stop the missile even if he wanted to, that it will go off in two days no matter what: I thought that this is where Danger could come in handy, given she can access and to a degree control anything machine, but then I remembered this doesn’t necessarily apply to alien tech, Sentinels accepted. Still, might be important. Only then the prophecy wouldn’t be about Colossus playing a crucial role, would it? Hm. And I still want to know what Emma offered to Danger, because it can hardly have been the removal of her “parental programming”.
Next issue in September, eh? Let’s hope so. I want my fix!
But seriously, they rocked in this issue, separately and together. I so love the way Joss writes them, have done since the first issue of Gifted, and while Warren Ellis is good enough a writer to keep me reading AXM once Joss is done, I’m vaguely nervous regarding the characterisations. (Not just Emma & Scott, but primarily them.)
Anyway. Emma figuring out Danger can’t kill them personally (as opposed to trying to make others kill them) was incredibly cool, and made complete sense with what we’ve seen before. Mind you, it could also be an inspired retcon to fix the, as Emma puts it, B-movie villain thing where Danger left them all alive after defeating them to go after Xavier (because surely, telling Charles she killed all of them would have served her purpose of humiliating, hurting and finally killing Daddy via the Sentinel even more?), but who cares? It works. It also is an appropriate gamble for Emma to take. At the end of Torn, she was suicidal enough to welcome death, and she still has a bit of that in her, but her will to live has returned as well, and seems to be growing ever stronger. Now of course I’m very curious what she offered Danger in return for cooperation, and what the plan with Brand’s men is, but I’m willing to wait.
Speaking of plans: I think it’s kind of obvious Scott told Emma something in his mind which we readers weren’t made privy to yet. But never mind that, Scott going to do that distraction thing, leaving Emma in charge: I love it. As I do his brief exchange with Brand, who challenges him with “I thought you were a leader” – and he tells her that’s what a leader does. Look at the tactics and offers his own life if he’s the most expendable. It’s a very different thing from seeking martyrdom, btw, and I think the whole sequence demonstrates that. Also, as
likeadeuce noted, since their conversation in the last issue, Emma and Scott have changed positions. Ever since Torn, he has been standing behind her, supporting her; now she’s standing behind him, supporting him. And the complete trust in her he shows by giving her command – “they’re yours now” - it’s arguably an even more shippy moment than “I am in love with you now”. I venture those two have indeed been to hell and are on their way back and have become a stronger couple as a result of it. (Current speculation as to why Emma says “I’m so close now” while Scott is having his flashbacks at the moment of impact – what she’s doing is reversing his lack of access to his powers. In #14, said blocking was achieved by confronting him with the traumas of his past, including Jean and the leadership question, and those are the two images we see Scott have, but here they are positive ones: teenage Jean welcoming him when first they meet, an affirmation of leadership.)
The trust question is relevant for other couples here as well. Peter asks why, and Kitty essentially says because life is short, happiness is rare, and what he makes her feel, what they share is happiness. Which is enough to make her overcome the distrust and trauma caused by the artificial memories in her. Except, of course, that Kitty by the end of the issue finds out that someone she arguably loves as much as she does Peter has been lying to her for real, not in an illusion, and for years. Trust Joss to make Lockheed into a character instead of a cute pet. (Loved Brand’s terse remark on the subject.) I’m looking forward to the pay-off there.
One of the reasons why I love AXM: Joss’ attention to details and to people not our heroes having a life of their own. When the Danger arc kicked off with a big standard action sequence, one part of this sequence was Kitty and Emma saving the civilian bystanders and taking care they weren’t hurt in the X-Men versus Monster of the Day fight. In the Unstoppable arc, we saw the S.W.O.R.D agents getting their own moments of characterisation, and of course the differentiation of the Breakworlders is majorly plot relevant. In this particular issue, you have Hank and Agent Brand, after having survived the snow storm attack, standing among the corpses of their pursuers before taking off to reunite with the rest of the gang, and Hank remembers Genosha. The Breakworlders lived. They existed. They’re not treated, to make a very apropos comparison given Joss’ numerous SW tributes in this arc, like the Stormtroopers on the Death Star, whose blown up corpses as the result of Our Heroes’ actions of course we never see. The visual of their frozen corpses is a, no pun intended, chilling, terrific element that contributes to the emotional reality of this story.
(On a less serious note: I was fully expecting that there would be some reference to Brand having had a technical warming device as an explanation for last issues’ teasing visual of her pulling off her gloves and Hank going “oh, my!” , but there wasn’t. Does that mean J.W. leaves me my shippery delusions about a certain fanfic cliché having come true a while longer? )
Speaking of my favourite green-haired woman, in a neat irony we open with Krun & sidekick talking about how she doesn’t understand them and patronizes them by assuming said sidekick would betray Krun, applying human standards to their species, and close with Brand pointing out to Kitty and the X-Men that they did patronize Lockheed and treated him like “a starlet’s chichuaha” when he’s an alien lifeform with more languages at his command than Charles Xavier has and his own world to be concerned about. Neither scene is wrong in its implications. Krun, of course, is also kidding himself, as the continuation of his scene shows; his sidekick might share his values, but that doesn’t mean the rest of his world does, and he’s not prepared to accept dissent in the form of Aghanne and her friends. Aghanne isn’t human, she’s not influenced or paid by Brand & Co.; she is as Breakworld as they come, having started as a champion just the same way Ord or for that matter Krun did, and yet she’s developed a new philosophy, she has changed, and so have others.
Meanwhile, Our Heroes aren’t presented uniformly well-meaning or morally superior, either. Last issue even good natured Peter Rasputin had a moment of seeing the entire species as uniform and deserving of destruction, this issue it’s Logan rooting for the “wipe them out” as opposed to “save them” solution, and he might or might not be kidding. (At the same time, he gets to make a moral swipe at Brand with the “aren’t your men expendable? In my memory, you said that” when she’s shocked that Emma would put Danger in charge of her men.) As opposed to this, you have Aghanne and her people, rooting for change and reinterpreting the prophecy that way, and Scott and Emma, working to save (which world? Both?) instead of destroy. And Hank, continuing to quote Star Wars. I’ll never get tired of that (and I suspect neither will Joss).
The revelation that Kurn can’t stop the missile even if he wanted to, that it will go off in two days no matter what: I thought that this is where Danger could come in handy, given she can access and to a degree control anything machine, but then I remembered this doesn’t necessarily apply to alien tech, Sentinels accepted. Still, might be important. Only then the prophecy wouldn’t be about Colossus playing a crucial role, would it? Hm. And I still want to know what Emma offered to Danger, because it can hardly have been the removal of her “parental programming”.
Next issue in September, eh? Let’s hope so. I want my fix!
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 10:19 am (UTC)More on Emma and Scott when I've reread the issue.
As you say, it's amusing that Joss neither confirms or denies the possibility of snowstorm!sex. I must admit, I interpreted the scene of Hank and Brand among the dead even more darkloy than you did - that these weren't Hank and Brand's pursuers but that Krun and his followers had actually frozen a civilian town to death in an attempt to get the pair of them (which further highlights the Genosha parallels).
The business about the missile being set to fire regardless makes me worry a little more that Joss might actually kill Peter yet again.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 12:46 pm (UTC)I must admit, I interpreted the scene of Hank and Brand among the dead even more darkloy than you did - that these weren't Hank and Brand's pursuers but that Krun and his followers had actually frozen a civilian town to death in an attempt to get the pair of them (which further highlights the Genosha parallels).
Now that you say it... ouch. Yes. That would entirely fit.
The business about the missile being set to fire regardless makes me worry a little more that Joss might actually kill Peter yet again.
I've been wondering since
no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 10:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 12:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 12:35 pm (UTC)Ohh.
I hadn't thought of Scott and Emma having a mental conversation before this started -- I think, partly because that was my theory about 'Torn' and I was off there. The device makes more sense here --
I'm now thinking the next issue opens sort of like issue 18, with a slightly different angle on the previous conversation. Also, it's not like Joss to leave something hanging, like the end of the cave scene with Brand and Hank -- so I think if there was another meaning to their interaction it could still be revealed.
Okay, I gotta go, but lots and lots of thoughts later. Glad you liked!
no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 12:52 pm (UTC)That's my conclusion on this question as well.*g*
The device makes more sense here -- asitiswhenitwas pointed out the "Emma, help me," another seemingly innocuous line, like "I'm so close" which might have a lot more meaning.
Those two lines made me really sure that there is a part of the conversation we're missing - well, that, or they already had a conversation earlier, after the scene with Danger, which they're now referring to.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-25 11:26 pm (UTC)