One Perfect Moment: Colossus Returns
Jul. 26th, 2010 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyWarning: This is going to be a long post. First, I've got a few things to say. Then I've got five pages of set-up. Then I've got three pages of the first thing that came to mind when I tried to think of one perfect comic book moment. All in all, the scans come to about 8 megs.
So, with my last post to the comm, I discovered that, sometimes, even here, it is just you. Ah well. I'm used to that. And it's not like there haven't been things posted by others that did nothing for me. (I personally am not much for manga, for one thing.) But that's not the point.
Scans Daily is a beautiful thing. It's a place for us to come together and share the things we love (and hate) with the people who (usually) get it. And...
I'm not really saying this well. It's rapidly heading down the slope into trite and vacuous territory.
I don't post much here. I get my comics mail order, so by the time I have them in hand to read, most of you have had them for a week or more. Stuff's already been posted and discussed and people have moved on. So I don't have much to scan and it's too late to comment on other scans.
In other cases, I read and enjoy but find I don't have much of substance to add. Even though I know from the other end how nice it can be just to have one more voice saying something positive, even though I know that's what should drive the comm... I have a hard time motivating myself to do it. Had the same problem as a writer - loved getting comments, was awful at leaving them.
So I want to take this chance to say "Thank you, S_D." Thanks for the fun and entertainment. For sharing the love. Keeping me abreast of interesting developments. Showing me the glories of treasures from the past. And just... posting so much in such variety. Because, even if, every once in a while, you swing and miss... by and large, it isn't just you, and sometimes it can mean a lot to remember that.
Furthermore - Because of you, I've gone out and bought more comics. Went and bought trades of old stories. Gave a new chance to ongoing titles I'd given up on before. Found new titles I wouldn't have considered or might not have heard of.
In short, like I said...
Thank you.
Moving on to the business at hand... Five scans from the end of Astonishing X-Men #5, setting up for one beautiful moment in AXM #6. It took an hour of digging through my poorly organized comic book collection to find those two issues. (Probably silly because I'm sure I could have found scans online with less time and effort. Probably from some archive of S_D v1.) But I think it's worth it, and I hope you do, too.
(Previously in S_D OPM: AXM, Cyclops demonstrated why he's leader of the X-men, and Colossus ran into Shadowcat.)
The X-men are in a secret lab which is even more secretly backed by Ord, the big bad of the first part of the series. Ord is a powerful alien who has so far thwarted the X-men at every turn through a combination of physical strength, careful tactics, and abundant knowledge of his foes. Shadowcat has gone by herself into the lowest levels of the lab, where she made a startling discovery - Colossus, her old love, long thought dead (for a decade or so of our time - at least a couple of years of Marvel Time), has been revived by Ord. Kept captive. Experimented on. Tortured. But very much alive.
Meanwhile, on the ground floor of the lab, Ord has come crashing in to the room to confront the other team members. Previously, a similar showdown ended with the X-men saved from the brink of defeat by the timely intervention of Kitty's dragon, Lockheed, who snuck up behind Ord and hit him at point blank range with an intense blast of dragon fire.
What happens next... speaks for itself.
(Quick image note: All images can be found on my flickr stream, tagged with scansdail or, in particular, tagged with axm. Flickr now apparently wants me to link each individual pic back to its photo page, but I think that will do. Should also help if any pics fail to load properly here - either my connection or flickr's server is being unusually fussy today.)
What can I say? The art. The faces. The set-up. The follow-through. ... What's not to love? All of it comes together to wash away that taste of "Oh, great. One more character who heroically sacrificed himself to save countless lives, left dead for years, and suddenly retconned back to life." It's just too beautiful to be marred by that.
That speech bubble at the end of the last scan was SHIELD showing up late to the party. Everyone stands around talking for a while, the existence of SWORD is revealed, and Ord uses the chance to escape to a spaceship he had hidden.
You know what's coming. You can feel it. You hold your breath. And then you turn the page. And those two words... they don't even have to be said.
And, with that, with the pure savage glee on Logan's face as he goes flying, as he revels in the return of an old companion, as he just lives this one perfect moment... Colossus was truly back.
So, with my last post to the comm, I discovered that, sometimes, even here, it is just you. Ah well. I'm used to that. And it's not like there haven't been things posted by others that did nothing for me. (I personally am not much for manga, for one thing.) But that's not the point.
Scans Daily is a beautiful thing. It's a place for us to come together and share the things we love (and hate) with the people who (usually) get it. And...
I'm not really saying this well. It's rapidly heading down the slope into trite and vacuous territory.
I don't post much here. I get my comics mail order, so by the time I have them in hand to read, most of you have had them for a week or more. Stuff's already been posted and discussed and people have moved on. So I don't have much to scan and it's too late to comment on other scans.
In other cases, I read and enjoy but find I don't have much of substance to add. Even though I know from the other end how nice it can be just to have one more voice saying something positive, even though I know that's what should drive the comm... I have a hard time motivating myself to do it. Had the same problem as a writer - loved getting comments, was awful at leaving them.
So I want to take this chance to say "Thank you, S_D." Thanks for the fun and entertainment. For sharing the love. Keeping me abreast of interesting developments. Showing me the glories of treasures from the past. And just... posting so much in such variety. Because, even if, every once in a while, you swing and miss... by and large, it isn't just you, and sometimes it can mean a lot to remember that.
Furthermore - Because of you, I've gone out and bought more comics. Went and bought trades of old stories. Gave a new chance to ongoing titles I'd given up on before. Found new titles I wouldn't have considered or might not have heard of.
In short, like I said...
Thank you.
Moving on to the business at hand... Five scans from the end of Astonishing X-Men #5, setting up for one beautiful moment in AXM #6. It took an hour of digging through my poorly organized comic book collection to find those two issues. (Probably silly because I'm sure I could have found scans online with less time and effort. Probably from some archive of S_D v1.) But I think it's worth it, and I hope you do, too.
(Previously in S_D OPM: AXM, Cyclops demonstrated why he's leader of the X-men, and Colossus ran into Shadowcat.)
The X-men are in a secret lab which is even more secretly backed by Ord, the big bad of the first part of the series. Ord is a powerful alien who has so far thwarted the X-men at every turn through a combination of physical strength, careful tactics, and abundant knowledge of his foes. Shadowcat has gone by herself into the lowest levels of the lab, where she made a startling discovery - Colossus, her old love, long thought dead (for a decade or so of our time - at least a couple of years of Marvel Time), has been revived by Ord. Kept captive. Experimented on. Tortured. But very much alive.
Meanwhile, on the ground floor of the lab, Ord has come crashing in to the room to confront the other team members. Previously, a similar showdown ended with the X-men saved from the brink of defeat by the timely intervention of Kitty's dragon, Lockheed, who snuck up behind Ord and hit him at point blank range with an intense blast of dragon fire.
What happens next... speaks for itself.
(Quick image note: All images can be found on my flickr stream, tagged with scansdail or, in particular, tagged with axm. Flickr now apparently wants me to link each individual pic back to its photo page, but I think that will do. Should also help if any pics fail to load properly here - either my connection or flickr's server is being unusually fussy today.)
What can I say? The art. The faces. The set-up. The follow-through. ... What's not to love? All of it comes together to wash away that taste of "Oh, great. One more character who heroically sacrificed himself to save countless lives, left dead for years, and suddenly retconned back to life." It's just too beautiful to be marred by that.
That speech bubble at the end of the last scan was SHIELD showing up late to the party. Everyone stands around talking for a while, the existence of SWORD is revealed, and Ord uses the chance to escape to a spaceship he had hidden.
You know what's coming. You can feel it. You hold your breath. And then you turn the page. And those two words... they don't even have to be said.
And, with that, with the pure savage glee on Logan's face as he goes flying, as he revels in the return of an old companion, as he just lives this one perfect moment... Colossus was truly back.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 02:49 pm (UTC)Wolverine's always secretly <3ed flying.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 03:34 pm (UTC)"You're on a tight schedule so you have to do it quickly."
"How quickly?"
"Put it like this: you don't get parachutes."
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 03:41 pm (UTC)In other cases, I read and enjoy but find I don't have much of substance to add. Even though I know from the other end how nice it can be just to have one more voice saying something positive, even though I know that's what should drive the comm... I have a hard time motivating myself to do it. Had the same problem as a writer - loved getting comments, was awful at leaving them.
Motto, if that doesn't seem too inappropriate a response.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 04:41 pm (UTC)I guess he's really a pack animal, not a lone wolf.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 05:58 pm (UTC)Woo! Scans Daily!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 09:51 pm (UTC)But this, and the earlier scene where Kitty first finds him, are just X-Men Awesomeness distilled. And I'm not even a particular fan of the character.
I've got to give it to Cassaday, too. The facial expressions in both scenes really sold the moment as something special.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-30 01:37 am (UTC)I also love how the introduction to Colossus' return is just the sound effect of projectiles hitting his armor. Kitty turns, looks shocked, and then he runs right through her. He's wordless and awesome.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 10:55 pm (UTC)"OK." Pause. "Yeah." Pause. "Why don't we do that."
Hee hee hee.
I loved these issues. They're basically for people who already love the X-Men (the fastball special thing actually really confused a non-X-Men-reading friend of mine), but hot /damn/ they are good if you know what's going on.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 10:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-26 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 12:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 07:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-28 04:25 am (UTC)Whether or not his reconciliation with Kitty was good or bad is another matter(I like them together personally), although my main concern now is, now that they got him back(and her back from her better-plotted noble sacrifice), they're not doing anything with them. Any X-Men who's not one of Fraction's favorites becomes wallpaper.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-28 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-27 02:19 pm (UTC)The one good thing to come out of it was the wordless two pages where Kitty first saw Piotr, which is probably the finest sequence of art work I've seen in comics.
But apart from that? It was a step backwards to the comics when Whedon was reading them, reestablishing a relationship that both parties were so over, sticking both Piotr and Kitty back into a rut of tired storylines and relationships and the actual explanation for the return was simply lazy.