X-Men: Blue #8-9

[flint_marko]

The interior art is by Cory Smith.

#8






#9

Comments

[informationgeek]

Thanks again writers for ruining Emma, reducing her to just a woman who can't get over her dead boyfriend and is crazy & hysterical because her man is gone. Thanks Marvel!

[nyadnar17]

"Something is bolstering her powers".....its a slim hope, buts its my only hope that Onslaught or Shadowking or whoever is actually behind this

[flint_marko]

She's working with Bastion and Miss Sinister.

[thehood]

None of the above, it's the cosmic cube fragment that is boosting her powers.

[jlbarnett]

Emma totally transformed as a character when the Hwllions were killed. GenX Emma wasn't in evidence when she joined the X-men after Genosha. And when you look at her back story that was added later, younger Emma wasn't likely for the Hellfire Club before whatever trauma's are currently in canon, that's fairly clear.

Emma changes after trauma

[icon_uk]

Does it have to be because she can't stand to be without her boyfreind through?

[jlbarnett]

so you object to her loving her boyfriend? Because she loved the Hellions even if some of that seems retconned in and she apparently cared a lot about her students in Genosha. Which makes her grief and personality changes then at least partially maternal

[icon_uk]

I object to yet another powerful female character being derailed because of her inability to handle emotional stress.

And I especially object to it coming from Emma as an excuse for a heel turn back into supervillainy, after a twenty year redemption arc.

(I will note in passing that her caring for the Hellions was entirely a retcon, originally she viewed them as tools to be shaped and used as required, but she would just as easily sacrifice them if it suited her ends better, see her tutelage and treatment of Firestar)

[nyadnar17]

Look in theory I hear you. Nothing you are saying is wrong.

But in context of comics its yet another female who's entire motivation can be boiled down to "boy crazy". It just gets old after awhile.

[balbanes]

Yeah. I get the impression someone wanted Emma to swing evil again, and decided that Scott's death was the vehicle to do it. But that decision is disrespectful to the fans and to the character. Because even when she was a baddie, Emma was never ever ever defined by her relationship to a man.

[zachbeacon]

I know this is presented as a bad thing but I'd rather have modern Scott than O5 Scott

[lordultimus]

Yeah, but from what I can tell this was less Kieron Gillen modern Scott and more Jason Aaron modern Scott.

[zachbeacon]

What horrible thing did he do under Aaron?

Killing Chuck under the control of the Cosmic Fire Chicken doesn't count.

[bj_l]

Aaron really, really hates Cyclops. Like stunningly so. And that comes through so much in his writing.

[chalicother]

I just want the 05 to go away...

[zachbeacon]

I don't have any objection to young Hank but the others are all as bad or worse than their older counterparts

[icon_uk]

This would be the young Hank that's messing with black magic?

[zachbeacon]

Yes, somehow that's still better than adult Hank.

[bruinsfan]

I *really* dislike the idea that someone with no spiritual training or previously demonstrated natural aptitude for magic can suddenly travel through time or open big gateways to other dimensions by reading a few words from a book. As I recall, the former was pretty much Sorcerer Supreme-level magic; Baron Mordo wasn't able to manage it for a good chunk of his career despite often giving Dr. Strange a run for his money.

[icon_uk]

Though aren't spellbooks supposed to make it spellcasting bit easier, like macro shortcuts on a keyboard?

That being said, we've seen Cypher translate books of Asgaridan magic for Illyana, and perform a spell following her directions (which he managed to screw up because the language required actually changes whilst you're speaking it), but I would be nervous leaving him anywhere near something like the Darkhold.

[bruinsfan]

I always understood it to be that sorcerers could learn spells from books according to their abilities, and it might be useful to have one on hand to jog one's memory for a complicated ritual, but Joe the Plumber off the street couldn't do anything with one. It took Kerwin Havelock (a charlatan with no real mystic training or power) repeating invocations to Pohldak he'd overheard for a solid decade before they had effect and opened a gateway, after all.

Of course, the Darkhold is a special case, as the original scroll Morgan Le Fay bound into book form is mystically alive and capable of casting spells on its own or adding its power (demonstrated to be a near match for that of a Sorcerer Supreme) to that of the person using it. And the spells inside are major bad juju, the first time Dr. Strange used some learned from Marie Laveau it nearly resulted in his eternal damnation. Safe to say if anyone less skilled uses it things won't turn out well for them.

[icon_uk]

There was an entire Marvel Annual event (Hulk, Dr Strange, Silver Surfer and Namor... a deliberate Defenders sort-of-reunion) which starts with a demonic entity releasing a supermarket paperback book about magic, which is designed to make anyone using it source of energy fot the demon, and probably turn them into some sort of demonic minion (It was a long time ago, during the PAD Hulk era with the Pantheon) so I forget the details.

Not sure that that quite counts though, since it was a self triggering spell.

[crabby_lioness]

Good to see Magneto standing up to HydraCap.

[ovaltinepatrol]

Is Emma obliquely referencing Jean rewriting Bobby Drake's personality?

[long_silence]

No. It's a reference to her brainwashing Angel into staying in the present.

by the way I'm really sick of people saying she turned Bobby gay.

[thehood]

Agreed. The way Bobby came out as gay was done poorly, but Jean didn't make him gay.

[icon_uk]

Jean did not rewrite Bobby Drake's personality.

[q99]

At least they're finally acknowledging oldScott was good and didn't go bad... if only if it didn't come at the cost of Emma...

[shadur]

... For some reason I'm expecting the next scene involving Xorn's hold over Emma snapping like a dry twig, after which she finishes her phrase with "... Especially when you're right. Now let's get started on fixing this mess, shall we?"

[icon_uk]

From what I can see it's Emma who has a hold over Xorn, not the other way round.