Fraction's X-Heroes

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Four scans from Uncanny X-Men #512, featuring Beast's adventuring X-Club, and four from Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia.

So the X-Club decides that in order to reverse M-Day, they'll need some blood from the parents of a mutant to get a fresh look at how all the genes work; since Wanda wiped out the X-gene in all living people, they have to go back in time. Since one's as good as another, they opt to travel back to San Francisco in 1906 to examine the parents of team member James Bradley/Dr. Nemesis. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley turn out to be steampunk adventurers, with Nicola working on a wireless electrical machine, bankrolled by the Hellfire Club. After perfecting the machine and delivering it, the Hellfire Club (including, of course, a Shaw) puts the hit out on both of them. Nicola is abducted while showing Shaw and co. his invention; Catherine is at home. Angel saves her, but she's injured, so they call for Dr. Nemesis, who had previously been avoiding any contact with his parents (sensibly). Catherine is actually pregnant at the moment, and Nemesis tells her that she has placenta previa and needs to stay confined to bed as much as possible for the remaining duration.




The Hellfire Club has used Nicola's machine to construct a steampunk Sentinel, which the X-Men defeat. However, Nicola is skewered in the resulting explosion...



The X-Club is out of time, and vanishes.

Also, the X-Men caused the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

At issue's end...



I'm not sure whether his mere existence or the source of his name is the bigger paradox here.

Fraction's a big fan of retro stuff like this (see The Five Fists of Science), and this was probably his best work on the title so far.

Speaking of Utopia, here's a selection of my favourite bits; first, Ares is dispatched to quell a disturbance in front of city hall:



That's a well-written Ares.

Also, on the art here, Silvestri is the primary credited artist, but there are like six inkers and three or four credited "pencil assistants", which makes this a really interesting issue to consider for those looking to see how minor differences in pencilwork and inking can affect the outcome. Thing is, some of those guys end up making the art look considerably better than Silvestri's normal stuff.

Anyway, towards the end, Emma meets with Norman, who tells her about his new plan. He then goes to kick things into high gear:





That right there clears up my biggest concern about this story, namely, Professor X's seemingly working with Norman, which looked like yet another instance of him being set up to look like a chump to burnish Scott's shield.

I'm not worried about Emma; she's way too popular at this point (with both fans and creators; in the case of Fraction, she's almost certainly been the most important character in his run) to have anything permanently damaging happen to her.

Nice outfit, too.

Comments

[sinisterlink.insanejournal.com]

You know, it's weird, I kind of like kitty cat Beast when he's drawn by Silvestri. I usually hate kitty Beast when most other artists do him. Also, I've been thinking this since the covers started coming out, but I really do like Emma better in black.

I haven't been able to pick up the issue yet, but what exactly did the mutants do that is making Norman go after all of them?

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Trask's anti-mutant coalition is pushing "Proposition X" onto California's next referenda vote, which would regulate mutant breeding. He organized a march in SF itself, and riots broke out between mutants/mutant-supporters and mutant-haters.

[demonprawn.insanejournal.com]

I thought going evil meant you wear less clothes?

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

The stylishness increase still holds, though.

[ghosty732.insanejournal.com]

Two questions:

1) Wikipedia doesn't mention anything about Dr. Nemesis being a mutant. When/how does this work?

2) Is there an in-story reason why they wouldn't use the time machine to go to some time that they could have prevented Wanda from doing her "No More Mutants" mojo?

[silverzeo.insanejournal.com]

.... I thought Obama was going to change things... sorry, could not resist... and I thought San Fran, let alone Cali., wanted little to do with Shield or SHR Act, so why deal with Hammer?

[suzene.insanejournal.com]

*sigh*

I know it's not fair, but no matter how this Prop X thing goes down, I'm going to be pissed off.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

and why the hell should Emma agree to this.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

also can't stand that stuff with Cyclops looking at Ares and worrying.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

They don't really have a choice in the matter; given the situation, Osborn is asserting himself.

[colonel_green.insanejournal.com]

Why? He's the God of War. I'd be worried.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

As I said in another post I consider Phoenix, the demons of Limbo, Onlaught, Apocalypse and some others much scarier than him. Gladiator for example. Put Ares against the Juggernaut I'm taking Cain Marko

Ares is slighly more intimidating than Hercules. No one really worries about taking him down.

[ar_feiniel_.insanejournal.com]

Wow that X-Club storyline actually looks GOOD for a change.

[moneyless_jew.insanejournal.com]

So long as Emma isn't thrown under the bus for Queen Jean I'm excited about this crossover. Very excited.

[okkult3000.insanejournal.com]

Emma got thrown under the bus years ago, toward the end of Generation X.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

No one worries about taking Hercules down? Herc's thrown down with Hulk, Thor and damn near every heavy weight out there.

Ares might not have Herc's strength, but he makes up for it in his lack of restaint and sheer experience. Gods have laughed off telepathy in the past and Petey can take on Ares, but he'd be a real under-dog in the fight.

Against the X-Men, I can see Ares being more effective than Gladiator or Juggernaut. He's far less restrained and far more ruthless than Glads and not as vulnerable to telepathy as Cain.

Who on their current roster can match him for power, really?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

The funny thing is that only under Obama do Marvel writers have the courage to write the stories they should have written under Bush.

[kaileighblue.insanejournal.com]

Did anyone ever watch the Back to the Future cartoon. The showed that the kid went back in time to try to keep his parents from naming him Verne. Then he ended up helping his mom give birth to him so she named that kind.. after himself.


I think I just showed my age. :(

[menagerie.insanejournal.com]

Very very few artists seem to get the new look right. Silvestri is definitely one of them.

[okkult3000.insanejournal.com]

While no one has mentioned Nemesis being a mutant, it would be a handy way to explain away his advanced age.

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

No one really likes Nice Emma. Evil Emma is the sexy one. So she needs to be maneuvered into looking like a bad guy, but is really a good guy so that fanboys can vicariously do her through the medium of a geek like Scott. She'll explain it all later when she uses her power as Dark Queen of Mutantkind to break the X-men out of HAMMER camps.

Also, it raises the hopes of Emma/Scott haters like me. That's why I know it's a bait'n'switch. Because Marvel hates me.

[jlbarnett.insanejournal.com]

I like nice Emma

[ashtoreth.insanejournal.com]

Then take heart! She has given no indication that she's involved with Osborn as anything more than an attempt to get on the inside. She's clearly humoring Osborn, just as she used to humor Shaw. Everything will play out as I have suggested, but for maximum effect, she'll pretend to be betraying Cyclops.

[xandertarbert.insanejournal.com]

Uh, what? Did Bush honestly care about comics, or is this just general Bush-bashing?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

No, it's 'these are metaphor stories that should have been written under Bush' comment.