Astonishing X-Men #27

[selenak]

In which there is much Hank to make up for the last issue in which there was none, the plot thickens and the art still weirds me out a little. Also, Warren Ellis is helpful to fanfic writers.



I shall try to be unpredictable and first state that likeadeuce must have loved the Scott/Logan banter - I don't ship them, and I adored the quote I used for my lj cut, in which Logan tells Scott not to swear in front of him, and Logan mishearing Scott's "I love you" to Emma as being directed to him anyway. It's weird about Wolverine: I really enjoy the character as a member of the X-team in Astonishing X-Men, both in Joss' run and now in Ellis. Yet whenever I catch up on Bendis' pre-Civil War New Avengers - or anyone's post-Civil War Avengers with Logan showing up, for that matter - he stands out like a sore thumb for me. (Contrary to what the German translator thinks in his afterword: Logan, assaulting female superheroes in the shower? Not hot.)

But enough about Wolverine. You all know what my main focus of attention was, right? Using that established Marvelverse concept, parallel universes, is an ingenious way of ensuring that Abigail Brand has a reason to show up in this story other than being Hank's "xenophiliac experimentation partner", which makes me very happy because the one surefire way to reduce a fascinating female character is to stop showing her do her job. I also like that the immediate tension about territory - Scott seeing this as strictly mutant business, Brand arguing that parallel universes definitely are SWORD business - feels right without vilifying my favourite Marvelverse Agent and her ambiguous ways. They're both right from their pov. For a moment I wondered whether Scott's reaction wasn't over the top considering the X-men just worked together with her on the Breakworld, and then I remembered her method of recruiting them for said mission (i.e. kidnapping), as well as the earlier business with letting Ord experiment on Colossus, so, no, not over the top. And really, I don't want coziness in relations between the X-men and SWORD. One of the things that make Hank and Abigail Brand so interesting as a pairing is that they have different loyalties and perspectives, though of course there are areas where they overlap.

After clearing up what name Hank now uses for her in his first issue, i.e. Abigail, Ellis now completes the mission of making this fanfic writer's life easier by letting her call him Hank. (While Scott still calls him "Henry". Am still puzzled by that one, given he certainly didn't before during Joss' tenure, and not in the other X-men titles I recall reading, either. Maybe he did that in ye olde days when they were teenagers?) Not sure the open flirtatiousness feels natural to me, compared with how Joss wrote them, but then again, they're now out and proud, so to speak, which would make a difference.

Regarding this parallel universe business in terms other than providing a reason for Agent Brand to stay a part of the ongoing plot: it would be one way to repopulate the Marvelverse with mutants, that's for sure, but given the deaths going on, there are drawbacks, plus with the luck Marvelverse characters usually have, they're not biologically compatible. Or cause the destabilisation of the regular 'verse by being around. Or are crazy, or all of the above.

The Chinese mutants having a hiding place where no goverment agency, including their own, could find them must have been very useful. Them all being dead and rotting away, probably since M-Day, came across as genuinenly chilling and sad, and I wonder whether investigating all the implications Wanda's "no more mutants" had is one of Ellis' main intentions with this arc?

Comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I really didn't think there was any reason to worry about Brand being vilified or girlified, given that Ellis's usual tendencies with her character type are, if anything, to morally whitewash them and/or make them just too implausibly supercompetent.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I agree with this, but also wanted to say: I found the splash page where the X-Men find Tian, the Lost City of Chinese Mutants, to be utterly amazing. I like how Ellis is bringing his concerns on globalization to this book; if there's any comic that SHOULD address concerns like that in the 21st C, it's probably the X-Men.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes, I enjoyed this aspect, too. (It reminded me a bit of Matt Fraction featuring a Nigerian superhero team in Invincible Iron Man a few issues back, though they, like the Chinese mutants, were killed in the issue in question. Still, bringing up superheroes in other nations and repercussions throughout the globe is for the win.) And Tian is where I wholly admired the art instead of being a bit weirded out. Great concept, excellently executed.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I liked this issue pretty well. As with Ellis' previous issues, I find I don't have a lot to say about it. Scott calling Hank "Henry" is just an Ellis thing as far as I know.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I think the pencils are really good, but the coloring is where the art is failing. People shouldn't try the Michael Zulli 'Sandman: The Wake' style unless they have Daniel Vozzo on the colors.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And here I thought that at least the Logan/Scott interaction would produce comments from you. *g* Is the name thing too trivial a matter to ask Ellis at his blog?

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I dunno, maybe I need to reread it because several people have commented that to me, about the slashiness. I guess I just see it as par for the course for them. And I was distracted by the fact that I'm not really sure Scott doesn't swear. Mostly this just seems like the kind of story I won't have anything to say about until I see how it ends.

It's certainly worth asking, though I don't know if he'd answer it, and if he does he might make fun of you. Because he's a crazy man. But I have a feeling you could handle him, so go for it.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I agree on the coloring. It seems inconsistent from issue to issue, and doesn't do the art any favors. I'm also not wild about the way Bianchi draws faces -- though he still has it over Greg Land who makes everything look like a soft-focus toothpaste commercial.