Something I flailed over way too much this week

[kingrockwell]

Team Phonogram reunites for this issue, with Hope and crew having a quiet day on Utopia. Towards the end, she gets a letter.





Haaaank ;_;

Comments

[nezchan]

Hank just doesn't do concise, does he?

[kingrockwell]

I would dare posit that he may not entirely understand the purpose of the word!

[nezchan]

The real Hank would have taken at least three paragraphs to say that.

[fifthie]

TBH I don't think this is at all a case where his verbal style reads as gratuitous; it's used to pretty good rhetorical effect.

[mullon]

I haven't paid attention of X-Men in a while. Is Hope a Mary Sue? She's sounds like a Mary Sue.

[salinea]

it's hard to judge whether a character is a Mary Sue when the only thing she say on the scan is "huh".

[kingrockwell]

man if i never hear the phrase "mary sue" again it'll be too soon

[stolisomancer]

No, and it's foolish that you feel the need to ask.

[schala_kid]

No because she's not loved by everyone and she isn't exactly portrayed as perfect either.

[long_silence]

Yeah pretty much everyone should leave the damn island.

BTW I thought the whole point of Utopia was that it was own country, why does that envelope say it's in the USA?

Do they pay taxes?

[warpedhand]

You expect Marvel to actually consider the in story ramifications of their world changing events? Why would they do that when they can simply write the same half-dozen or so X-men stories over and over and over again?

[stolisomancer]

It's off the coast of San Francisco and they routinely have mail/supply runs to the U.S. Most of its administrators are Americans. Its legal status is somewhat murky.

[silverzeo]

Hope is already getting told apart from two seprate people who share the same goals.....

[tsunamiwombat]

So what exactly is Utopia's terrible secret, besides being effectivly a sequestering camp for mutants.

[stolisomancer]

Hank thinks Scott is, in the best-case scenario, headed straight for a nervous breakdown, and in the worst-case scenario, getting ready to go full-blown Magneto-style loony. It was a long-running subplot in Fraction's Uncanny.

[minervasolo.livejournal.com]

I really wish someone at Marvel would pick up on the fact that Utopia means 'no place', not 'good place' (that would be Eutopia). It's like, dare I say it, none of them have ever actually read the original text!

Hank at least ought to know that. Saying a "utopia called 'Utopia'" misses the opportunity for a rather cynical pun.

[jjgalahad]

Fraction actually had somebody - Dr. Nemesis, I think - comment on it the minute the kids arrived, just to be cynical.

[icon_uk]

Hmm, unfortunately, Hank's one word summation is TOO concise to be useful. He could mean "Get the hell out of Dodge before the shit starts flying", "For your own good get out of there and become your own person" or "Just go away"

[fifthie]

I think one and two are both pretty strongly indicated!

And three both wouldn't be in keeping with the tone of the rest of the letter and, also, I'm not sure how it applies since you can't really tell someone to "go away" from a place you, yourself, aren't at!

[rallamajoop]

It's also rather too concise to give her any concrete reason why she should accept the advice of someone she's never met, where she should go that has any chance of being safer (VERY IMPORTANT when you consider that Hope's newly arrived in this century and everyone she has any reason to trust lives on Utopia), or how she can be sure she's not inadvertently bringing this mysterious 'hidden danger' with her when she leaves. It's a very nicely written letter going purely from dramatic effect, but in terms of conveying practical advice it's about on the level of your average mystical prophecy.

[leoboiko]

I don’t like X-men and friends, but I have to admit this was some pretty good visual storytelling. Love the buildup-and-delivery of the “Leave.” shown outside boxes.

[icon_uk]

Another thing is that it suggests that Hank has NO faith in any of his friends or colleagues or even just the "very many good people" to stop the "hidden" dangers (eg Cyclops), which is just plain bloody depressing of him.

[kingrockwell]

well i mean the guy left for a reason after all

[pyynk]

If Jamie McKelvie were somehow able to draw everything forever, I would have absolutely no complaints.

[crabby_lioness]

Thank you Jamie McKelvie, for introducing civilian clothes to Utopia.