All new X-men #3: All the perks and none of the responsibility?

[theflames]

Long story short - Scott and Magneto bust out Emma from the cops (on transit) - but it goes pretty badly since their powers are suddenly out of whack. Magneto's magnetism is shoddy and works some, but not all of the time, Scott's optical blast are *too* powerful, to the point were his visor can't contain it.

They try to stop a convoy of moving vehicles with these half working-abilities (unknowingly of course). Anyway, they get what they came for - Emma Frost, and this is where things get a little bad for everyone involved.






I'll cast my opinion on this at the end.

Then we have a little discussion between Magneto and Scott, which starts out friendly enough...



So, in my opinion, a great issue. But every character that isn't Magik, or our newly introduced mutant (not seen here, but they're the other focus of the issue) is doing it wrong.

To Emma - Unless she blames herself in entirety for the man she killed on screen, as well as the other mutants she subdued and forced into servitude, then she's being very unfair to Cyclops. On paper, she committed every crime he did, yet she treats it as though it's something he forced unto her.

Also "my phoenix force"? Very worrying Emma.

To Magneto - Being angry at the world (and rightly so) and acting on it in monstrous ways (like he did), is not the same as being angry at the world, and only lashing out at it while imbued with a cosmic entity that is known and confirmed to push it's hosts into making very wrong actions. Your actions were your own, Scott isn't in the same bag, yet.

To Scott - Stop leading with "It wasn't my fault", since it's not helping anything. He's being awfully meek in all these arguments and debates he finds himself in. And stop talking like you were the only person affected...

Also, why does everyone think he *chose* the Phoenix Force?

But there is more to the issue than what happened here, and it was a very enjoyable read, so I just wanna see where these attitudes and opinions are taken. Also I'm real excited for the power upgrades...

Comments

[bjornwilde]

Nice that Cyclopes reaches for the vision when someone is yelling at him about his failings.

[theflames]

Hehe, in context it's fair - he could have easily blown her head off by accident due to the way his powers have been broken, good thing he turned away. A page earlier, he took out an entire armoured truck, but with none of the precision and skill we're used to.

[drmcninja]

I agree with everything you said, with the added bit that it feels like they're trying to force Emma and Scott apart. None of that interaction feels totally natural to me. I wouldn't be surprised if a new woman enters the scene in a few issues.

[theflames]

Yep, Emma and Scott splitting from this almost seems unreal to me, I just imagine her sticking through this with him, for some reason. Though Bendis clearly doesn't see it that way.

[darkknightjrk]

See, that makes sense to me that their relationship would at least be extremely strained. I mean, in this scene, what she's really angry about is that HE betrayed HER by taking the Phoenix Force away from her, and angry at herself and the others from not considering the consequences with the fact that their powers are wonky. The fact that in that he also murdered one of the most important Mutants on the planet is kind-of icing on the shit-cake.

[greenmask]

Unless she blames herself in entirety for the man she killed on screen, as well as the other mutants she subdued and forced into servitude,

She probably does. She's been fairly consistently characterised as someone who can admit responsibility for vastly bad choices and horrible actions.

Weird that she's dropping gs now though! "Thinkin'"? Really?

Lol Scott. "Read my mind!" COMMUNICATE, jackass!

[theflames]

Very true, since, what? 2001, she's always been able to admit her shortcomings and mistakes, but I also thought that translated into her understanding others on that level aswell.

Though we know how much she cherishes her telepathy. So that getting taken away from her (not by Scott though), explains the raging anger she
has at the moment.

Scott, communicate? Social skills? HA! Poor fella.

[darkknightjrk]

Lol Scott. "Read my mind!" COMMUNICATE, jackass!

Hey, she communicated him needing to step up and get out of Xavier's shadow through psychic torture, and after the Dark Avengers cross-over, they let each other into their minds to admit where they went wrong and all that telepathically. It's kind-of their normal relationship tool.

[icon_uk]

Isn't inviting a telepath to read his mind a very sincere form of communication in this context? He's not asking her to listen to his words, he's asking her to check the very core of his being, where he CAN'T lie, and she'll know that.

[lieut_kettch]

I'm guessing she's so mad, she's lost her faux-BBC accent is reverting back to her native Boston accent.

[bj_l]

I saw the 'thinkin'' just as Emma being tired and angry and just for a second, she dropped all pretense and spoke without her accent and 'class'.

[lencannon]

Emma and Magick just need to not be written by Bendis. Completely fails to capture their very unique voices.

[mrstatham]

Emma's difficult anyway, though. I don't think Fraction, for instance, really captured Emma other than her rattling off some clever line and then tacking 'darling' on the end.

[shadowpsykie]

Also I'm real excited for the power upgrades...

upgrades? what other upgrades?

ithink that Magnus and Emma are partially right. Scott needs to take more responisbility for his actions. though scott is not AS at fault as they are making him to be, he still has more fault than he is accepting...

[theflames]

The new Uncanny x-men is being advertised with Scott's team receiving power upgrades, the way I see it, the powers fail, then return in new ways.

[turtlefu]

I get what you're gripes are about the characters acting illogically, but I feel like the way they are acting is fully in-character.

For example, even though Emma did just as much as Scott, she's placing the blame on Scott because she's too proud to admit she made a mistake.

[theflames]

Yeah, I believe they're more or less in character here, which is why I'm happy with what's going, it's just my favourite characters being stupid.

Your example, however, is a matter of waiting and seeing, I really need to see her acknowledge her part in this.

[jlbarnett]

everyone thinks he chose the Phoenix force because of editorial fiat

[ablackraptor]

Yeah, its weird, it feels like the editors are trying to get out of having to admit that it all came down to a combination of the mistakes of Wolverine, Cap, and Iron Man, by trying to pretend it was all on Scott. He's not blameless, but the way they're treating him in-story, he might as well be.

[starwolf_oakley]

I suddenly want a scene between Emma and that shrink from Skyfall. (Because Doc Samson is dead and Emma Frost in the same room with Karla Sofen is terrifying.)

I want to know what happens when that shrink says "Butterrum." (The name of Firestar's horse, in case you forgot.)

[auggie18]

Nobody will ever forget Butterrum.


Butterrum.


Never forget.

[kusonaga]

"Wasn't me."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_f6qFBQD9U

It wasn't me

[rainspirit]

But she caught me on the counter!

[silverhammerman]

Man, if I hadn't read the bit about them maybe getting power upgrades down the line I'd be a little scared that Bendis was getting set to depower our Cyclops and replace him full time with the time travel wackiness version. I'm immensely relieved that that's probably not the plan.
I think Magneto's a little off base with his madness speech though. Sounds like he's talking more about being blinded by rage, which is quite different from insanity, and if he was talking about actual insanity it sounds like Magneto has a pretty messed up view of mental illness. Besides, Cyclops was literally possessed, more certain value of the term, which makes the "it wasn't me" defense pretty strong.
Interesting to see what's going on with Emma. I'm not particularly broken up about her and Cyclops splitting, but the fact that she keeps talking about the Phoenix as though she was totally in control doing no wrong seems to indicate that she has an intriguing and perhaps troubling view of what happened.

[salinea]

Mags is talking about what has actually happened to him. It makes sense that he relates it to him. I'm not sure where Phoenix possession fits in the psychiatric code anyway.

[glprime]

Least Magneto (thru the writer) finally admitted to the horrendous shit he's done over the years. God, those few panels help forgive a lot of poor, grandiose writing.

[lilacsigil]

I agree!

[kusonaga]

Prediction: in five years time, the Fantastic Four find a cocoon at the bottom of a bay. OMG, it's Scott Summers!

[ablackraptor]

Oh, god I hope so.

[espanolbot]

There is nothing so likeable about a character that does horrific things and then whines that it wasn't his fault.

Maybe it's because I'm primarily a DC guy, but when your heroes are made to do something bad, them owning it despite their lack of control and working to make things right is what makes them Heroes.

Cass with her mindcontrol, Hal with Parallax, Jakeem Thunder being possessed by Qwsp, Zatanna and the mindwipes. They were all made to do something they wouldn't do normally due to exceptional circumstances (whether mindcontrolling drugs in Cass' case or being bullied into by senior heroes taking a vote regardless of Zatanna's feelings on the subject), but they still felt sorry about it and tried to make things right.

People who take over the world and then complain that it wasn't them it was someone else, and then stubbornly refuse to acknowledge what they did was wrong aren't heroes. They're meant to be held to a higher standard than everyone else, so even if it ISN'T their fault the fact that they did something by proxy should still effect them.

It's like if someone's driving under the influence. Regardless they're doing something wrong, but if they run over someone with their car people are more inclined to be sympathetic to the guy who is genuinely sorry and tries to make up for it then the one who blows it off by saying "It wasn't me, it was the booze!".

[md84]

The DUI analogy isn't completely accurate, since Scott didn't ask for the Phoenix to bond to him at first. Unlike a drunk driver who chose to drink before driving.

[airdreams]

And not trying to blame anyone, right and wrong aside, I can buy that she's mad at Scott. That’s the huge eruption of her angst, insecurity and anger that accumulated long time; she probably prepared this outburst since she was attacked by Scott.

She understood that Scott was controlled by PF -- she even warned him in AvX that she was about to lose control. She even believed that "may be we do belong in prison" -- she knew what she had done and she knew what the PF's corruption is. She was just angry -- what would you expect to see when a woman first met her ex who attacked her before? IMO that’s more of her emotionally charged responses than rational reactions.

We’d better wait for their conversation when they both cool down, and since Emma and Scott are still in the same team they will definitely have that conversation.

[jlroberson]

Scott, who to me was always an unattractive character because of his whininess, has crossed the line into actually repulsive, IMO. He has absolutely no regret about what he did and finds whatever rationalization shields him from it. His actual selfishness and immaturity has finally revealed itself. He kills without regret.

And he whines now about his fucking powers?

Scott is a villain now. And that's all there is to it. He is irredeemable, and frankly reading every line of his dialogue makes me sick. And he's just leapt from one father figure to another, but this one doesn't want him.

[theflames]

LOL WHAT?!

So he apologises for the fact that he did horrible things while possessed, and that's whininess? You're genuinely saying that if he doesn't blame himself for everything the Phoenix made him do, he's whining?

Where did he ever say he has no regret for happened? He's apologised all over the place while still keeping in line with the fact that - yeah - he was right. If the avenger's listened chances are things would have gone far smoother. Tony turned him into the Phoenix 5, he didn't ask or foresee it.

Emma and Magneto are whining about their powers, making threats and angry comments about it. Scott's keeping it to himself, and if he what's to complain, he has full right to do so - his powers have turned back into a DISABILITY, that's reason enough for him feel bad about his situation.

Scott is at best - Anti hero. Because for all his troubles, he kept the Phoenix at bay long enough to only kill one man.

How many people has Logan killed while under mind control? No one calls him out for his unhealthy whininess about the woman he never got.

[sir_mikael]

Based on these scans, this seems quite good. I'll probably get this in tpb. I just wish Emma's voice wasn't off cus that makes me worried about... well basically most characters.