Marvel All New, All Different - Ongoing Discussion (Spoilers)

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

I honestly think that Scott has gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent years. He's been put in a position that no leader of men, mutants or heroes has ever been in before-- protector of a dying and near-dead species against a world that would largely be glad to see them go pre-maturely extinct. With less than 200 mutants left, he could no longer afford to think of himself as the leader of a highly-trained team of super-heroes, but as the leader and protecter of an entire people--civilians and non-combatants alike.

The creation of X-Force is dicey, but what were his options? Bastion's people had already infiltrated SHIELD, so going to the authorities was out. Allowing the bad guys plans to unfold could have cost even more innocent mutant lives. Granted, recruitiing Laura was a bit of a dick move, but Wolfsbane involved herself without Scott or Logan's blessing. When the threat of Bastion was over, Scott dis-banded the team and it was Wolverine that kept the hit-squad going in secret.

I can see both sides of the child-soldier thing. The kids should be allowed to be kids, but they can't hide behind the staff and faculty of the JG school forever. What then? They will always be targets, even at the school. How many times has the JG school been attacted since opening? Utopia hasn't been attacked once since Scott created his Extinction Team.

Some posters at CBR like to call Scott a "nazi" and a "dictator", but after Schism, it was Scott who called for elections. He let Wolverine take anybody who wanted to leave with him. He gave them a freaking Blackbird for crissakes. Hardly the actions of a "dictator". In fact, Wolverine is the only one here who forced someone to go with him against their will (Quenten Quire).

All things being equal, I would probably readily side with Wolverine here, but this is not a situation where all things are equal.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

The problem with the Schism I see in the other books, is that Logan and Scott have been portrayed as hostile towards one another, while in the main two books, that isn't the case at all. This is probably the only real thing that bugs me about the Schism. I would agree that Scott does get a bad rap, he is like the Tony Stark of the mutant community. I don't think the points I made were any less valid. He has closed himself off and buried his humanity in order to be a better leader. That has gotten him into the situation he is now, and thing are kind of going ape shit around him. He took down all the pictures of the past and his friends! That's a big sign to me that Scott is desperately trying to harden himself. In a lot of ways he reminds me of Paul Atriedes. Hope is claimed to be the messiah...but really it is Scott. All that pressure, all that expectation and hope on his shoulders. I do find the whole thing fascinating, I just don't really like Uncanny X-Men much right now.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Emma has told him as much.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Indeed so...but as I stated, he's not really listening to anyone right now. Having someone like Hope around is almost like an escape for Scott.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

And if you take the concept of Scott as saviour/messiah to its logical conclusion? It certainly puts Scott's post-AvX future in doubt.

Anyway, I just realized that I forgot to comment on my Marvel purchases for the week, of which there were only three...

FF 15-- For as much hype that was put into the Power Pack reunion, the guest-Powers really didn't do much except show up. I loved the scene with Bentley and Katie. I want to know what he said to her!

The reveal of the mystery figure training Franklin was exactly who I expected it to be, and I loved the exchange about having a best friend like Leech.

I was surprised that the issue ended at the exact same spot as the latest Fantastic Four, as I thought the arc was over with that issue, and expected resolution here. Oh well, one more issue to go...

Avengers 23/New Avengers 22-- The penultimate chapters of the HAMMER war, and while the story in Avengers really isn't doing it for me, the last two issues of New Avengers have really picked things up. The reveal about Victoria Hand was pretty much what I expected, but was completely surprised by Skaar's change of alliegence. I hope that the concluding chapters can bring a strong finish to an arc that has been quite sluggish at times.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

I was not surprised that the arc caught up to Fantastic Four...this is kind of what Hickman does. I too wasn't surprised that it was Future Franklin talking to Franklin, since we know both Richards children arrived with their grandfather earlier in the story line. Future Val went to go talk with her Mom and told her to be strong, and finally of course, Reed's dad went to Val. Hickman ties things up, pays things off, and sets things up for the next arc better than most writers IMO.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

There's only one issue left in the Hammer storyline?! How the hell are they going to wrap all this up in one (two) issues?!

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Yeah it is only four or five issues I believe. Remember it is also going on in New Avengers as well...big battles I assume will happen and Norman will implode, or someone will betray him.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

They haven't even explained how Norman is flying around yet! He has an entire vast organization under him!

I'm guessing that it isn't actually Norman, but a super powered imposter. That, or he's infected with the Sentry's power.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

The Void? That'd be interesting. I think it is Norman. It is also possible that he is wearing some kind of altered version of his Iron Patriot armour underneath his clothes, or perhaps just the jet boots. He has always had increased strength thanks to the Goblin serum, and remember he has a healing factor...but yeah, I guess he has been augmented at some point since he escaped from the prison. All I want is for him to finally go full blown Green Goblin again. I miss Gobby!

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Maybe his second psychotic snap will finally put him back in the Gobby tights.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

i just want Norman to quit fighting the Avengers and go back to fighting Spider-Man.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

After this second great failure he should lower his sights to Spider-Man and go back to being a Goblin. Nice change of pace.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Wow. I have been so busy that I haven't even read this weeks purchases yet. I'll have my thoughts on Avengers: Children's Crusade, Avengers Academy, Winter Soldier, Uncanny X-Men and Defenders soon, but for now, here are next week's Marvel releases.

I'll be getting Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Journey Into Mystery and X-Men: Legacy.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

The problem with Norman is that he has always been power hungry and ambitious...Spider-Man has become nothing to him, except just a pain in the neck that he wants gone. Also thanks to Doc Strange's spell, there is no personal obsession with Peter Parker any more since he doesn't know who Spider-Man is. Although since the spell is weakening thanks to Peter's actions in Spider-Island...this could change. Norman has all these ambitious and delusions of grandeur, but they always fail, because he is never satisfied with what he wants and his psychotic condition always sabotages him. I'm actually hoping Harry returns from Europe soon.

Winter Solider continues to be very good. I'll be hanging on to Uncanny X-Men, at least for one more issue, as this week's was pretty fun. Namor actually was written as having some fun. I really am a big Hope fan. It is going to be interesting to see what is done with her in AVX.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

I really loved Avengers Children's Crusade, and I'm not a huge Young Avengers fan. It's a very important story with a ton of characters in it, and the Jim Cheung art was absolutely amazing. He's one of my favorite artists and I wish he could get on a monthly book! It was very annoying having this be a bi-monthly book.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

i still say Uncanny X-Men is superior to Wolverine and the X-Men. i enjoy Uncanny way more. Rachel Summers or Kitty being called Professor is fine...but Professor Logan or Professor Wolverine...that kinda stubs my toe.

Defenders is still a fun book. this recent issue was really good. a nice focus on Dr. Strange and his relationships.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Avengers Academy 27- "War With The Runaways part 1 of 2". Even if I weren't already a huge fan of Avengers Academy I would be picking up this and the next issue for the return of The Runaways. I know that they recently appeared in Daken: Dark Wolverine, but their voices seemed off somehow and they didn't really play a huge part in the story. In AA 27, Christos Gage nails the kids voices perfectly and give them as equal a role in the story as the main characters. The return of Old Lace was touching and I liked all of the interactions between the characters, especially Julie and Karolina. The ending was a little predictable, after all, they couldn't call this arc "War With the Runaways" if they spent the whole time being friends. I expected more to be made of Victor being Pym's "grandson", but perhaps that will be dealt with next issue.

Avengers: Children's Crusade 9-- Really? Maybe it was the release schedule and the delays, but this book just really lost a lot of steam for me in the last couple of issues. The first Young Avengers series was waaay better. The timeline issues are still rather confusing. OK, even though the series started like a year before Fear Itself, the timeline seems to place it just after FI and just before Spider-Island. All right, then what about Simon Williams? He played a significant role in this series and yet did his "Revengers" thing BEFORE Fear Itself, as evidenced by the continued existence of Avengers Tower in that story. The timeline with Doom is confusing as ever. Between his appearances in Avengers: Children's Crusade, X-Factor, FF, Winter Soldier and elsewhere with no real cohesion or connection between them, it makes one appriciate the Doombot theory a lot more. The art by Jim Cheung was amazing as always, but I think that if he were to ever draw a third YA series, that I would wait for trade rather than suffer through the delays.

Winter Soldier 3-- This book continues to entertain. I just love the chemistry between Bucky and Natasha and the inclusion of Fury as a supporting character brings things to another level. This is possibly the first time that I haven't considered Ivan Kragoff and his super-apes to be anything but cheesy. Bucky's first face-to-face with Dr. Doom went just as it should have--with Bucky getting schooled. Next issue's team-up with the Doctor should be interesting to say the least.

Uncanny X-Men 8-- The conclusion of the Tabula Rasa arc contained some really good moments and the pacing issues I mentioned with the previous issues are gone. I loved the interaction between Namor and Hope ("You didn't 'Imperious Sex' her, did you? Ick! Ick! Ick!"), although I know Namor was teasing Hope about not liking Redheads, because, you know, Dorma? Remember her? Blue skin, red hair? Oh well...

The scenes with Illyana and Peter trying to deal with what Pete has become were good. I've always liked Peter and Illyana, and their current status quo is a nice contrast to their usual places, with Illyana now being the one to help Peter hold onto his humanity, rather than the other way around.

The next two issues have "The Last Team-Up" between X-Men and Avengers before the shit hits the fan in AvX. Should be fun.

Defenders 4-- I'm glad that I stuck with this book after last issue's rather dis-jointed and slightly confusing tale. I kept losing track of who was narrating each scene. This issue's focus on Dr. Strange was better and gave the reader a better idea of what "The Engine" that they discovered (stole) is really capable of. After that, the cliffhanger with Namor's discovery was almost chilling.

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

I really liked Karl Moline's art in AvAcad. He was great on Buffy but he's even better with multi-colored spandex!

Was I supposed to know the bad guy in Defenders 4, or was he just some random bad guy?

 

Re: Heroic Age/Avengers Ongoing Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

i didn't recognize him either so don't feel bad.