As much as I love Laura, and did love Psylocke once, Fallen Angels is ... meh, and confusing. Looking forward to getting to the parts where she's a real character again. And the Psylocke I loved was Betsy, which basically brings me to

Excalibur is my entire jam it is so good why was I sleeping on this?

Rogue and Gambit, my old OTP! Jubilee, from my old favorite team Gen X! Betsy being a frickin badass with pants and also purple hair because of course, and that costume. That costume! I want to make it. I want to wear it. This is a problem! And the art is So Cool and the story is So Good and the characters!! are in character!!

And there is so, so much stuff that is so close to the dnd campaign I'm running?? like it's weird how close it is. I swear I didn't read this already.

what is betsy wearing these days? I only remember the hellfire gala outfit, and those... don't count

antipositional: Her original body, for starters!

always a plus! XD

yeah, I feel like I knew she was back to being, y'know. herself

So she's Captain Britain now because A Thing happened to Brian, and it's sort of like if you mashed up Captains Carter and Marvel. There's a sash. And a cape. And armor. Hang on!

ahhhhh well. sounds cool already!

oh, that is neat!

(lol gambit what are you doing with the selkies and why am I not surprised)

Yeah ... I feel like it wouldn't be SUPER complicated compared to, say, trying to make movie accurate Carol

nah, most of that isn't even actually armor-y

It's just the breastplate and pauldrons, really. There's patterns for those! and flat boots. hooray for superheroes in flat boots

yes~

So, idk! Maybe next year! I do not think I have the budget (energetically or financially) to do it for c2. but it would be for cons and shoots, not charity stuff, obvs.

Marauders is also really, really good, but in a different way. It is so cool to see Kate Pryde coming into her own and really claiming her power even in the face of shit going down. I don't know how much of this development was prior to this (like I think she was a headmaster at the school?) but this? this is cool

her relationship with Emma is so. Something. It's something. And Emma is well written too, I just keep cackling at how Emma she is and how she's screwing over Sebastian Shaw basically just because he's an ass and she can. she's a delight and teenage me is appalled and idc.

... I'm also, like, only on issue 5 of each series but because I'm so behind the stuff I didn't actually buy is on Unlimited, so I'm actually using that for once. I have no idea why I skipped buying XForce, there's a lot of like, Main Story in it.

overall i am just waiting for the shit to hit the fan because it always does, and from what I understand it's Inferno again, as of today (it's always Inferno), so I suspect stuff is, yknow, on fire.

it's kind of nice actually that it's not at a school. idk. maybe it will always return to that but there's so much to be said about how this particular version of the mutant story fits in with the real world stuff happening, too. not the pandemic stuff but like - the increased visibility, the awareness of systemic inequities, progress made since the 90s

... although we could probably use a Krakoan Cures Everything Drug right about now. curious, that.

..... I am SO confused.

I'm reading these in order, right? The order outlined in the back of the books. because theoretically they're a whole story. or at least happening in some semblance of an order, with a continuity. but I'm starting xmen 5 and I feel like I'm missing issues, this is starting in the middle of a story

there's a bit of recap, like a "last time on" but that's not what happened last time. and also, like ... certain characters are not where they should be? I gotta wonder if they just, like ... brought back multiple copies of Logan or something to explain him being everywhere at once. also other people are currently dead. but here at dinner.

.... is it mystique?? it's probably mystique, isn't it.

but that still doesn't explain why the story is jumping around like this. are they published out of order? new mutants also did this briefly, with a cliffhanger in space, then 2 random issues back at the proverbial ranch, then back in space. I gotta wonder if it's intentional.

fuckin Hickman.

eh. maybe I'm supposed to be confused. I don't get why this is suddenly "the single greatest threat to mutantkind," but it's not like they told the team going in what the deal is either.

I even checked to make sure this was the right volume #5, too, and apparently it is, so... buckle in and keep reading I guess? but tomorrow, maybe. or another day. now it is bedtime.

yay, now I'm less than 2 full years behind

/fistbump!

are you on x of swords because x of swords is

a lot

like goddamn did you need that many issues a lot

THAT SAID we did get some v good issues of excalibur out of the fallout, including one with kwannon that was better than whatever the hell fallen angels was

the main X-Men title did feel very jumpy to me too tbh like I feel like it had less of a through plotline and more just Hickman Hickmanning all around

also did you read the X-Tremists in Age of X-Man?? It had some HELLA GOOD Betsy

and Kate Pryde is SO GOOD

shobogan: not yet! I'm right around Jan/Feb 2020, I think, so there's some time to go yet. But I have heard that it sorta dragged. I'm at the "let's send 3 kids into the Vault" and I'm like ... where was any set up for this

which also, I thought was later? Another reason i am confused.

Ah, YEAH, they just. spring that on ya

and then it's just not spoken of for a while until they're suddenly back

oh cool. neat. love forgetting about characters like that.

i don't think it was forgotten so much as hickman is just trying to cram all this goddamn lore in at once

plot beat a, done! plot beat b, done! plot beat c, d, oh we should touch back on a again probaly

... that's a fair point. there is a LOT of happening

i was legit wondering where laura was during the x of swords thing and then i remembered she was still in vault world

antivillain: I did not, is that an earlier or a later thing?

thousands of years, apparently

do you, uh, want spoilers about that

earlier! it was Age of X-Man which was.... a whole thing. It was what happened right before Hickman took over so a LOT of the x-stuff in those books ended up ignored which is too bad cause there was some really good stuff

but it's an interesting alternate universe at least

(and featured Seanan McGuire writing Nightcrawler's series so you know. I WAS EXTREMELY THERE FOR THAT ONE.)

leah does carry on with the aftermath in x-factor, at least, which i do reccomend

even though it was cut brutally short for stupid reasons and the last issue really shows it

(yeah x-office I WILL REMAIN MAD)

YES Leah is great

(and also is now the only person I trust to write Blob)

(same)

(i'm so glad she showed us he and betsy are still frands)

(Leah: What if we made him a character with more personality than "is fat"???? WHAT IF????)

(or, actually, that might have been excalibur? SO SOMEONE ELSE IS TRYING)

(probably excalibur who can keep track. but that'd one of the other chaotic gay x-writers so it tracks)

okay i've been skimming x-men and this panel is after x of swords but

i feel it kind of sums up the whole krakoa era experience,

I feel like I heard some good things about what happened with Blob but I do not remember where, if it was here or YouTube or a podcast or what. ... or possibly a panel at the past c2? or if I actually did read it? time is strange and not real and stories exist everywhere

the thing that bugs me most about Hickman, like ... he has these Big Ideas, and he's good at the ideas, and the execution is even interesting and effective and epic, but XMen is and has always been about the characters as people, to me. and he doesn't really ... do that.

I really ought to go back and read Morrison, when I'm caught up, because for all that he is Fucking Weird, his brand of weird kinda jives with what I like, and I've heard it was really very very good, and he does seem to understand character in addition to being a Concept Guy.

(I tried, briefly, to "get back into comics" when he started writing - I even actually have his 1st issue - but could not consistently get to a comics shop because I was in college, without a car or much time)

Also, just a random thing I'm noticing ... ponytails

kate, storm, and bishop all have their hair tied back. So does Betsy, earlier- and it still looks good and is practical. and like I'm not asking all superheroes with long hair to have their hair tied back but? it makes sense?

(I noticed something similar in Black Widow, that when Nat and Yelena are doing their own op they have their hair braided and out of the way.)

... I also love the ways they're getting around the "kill no human" rule. just mess them up or toss them out. or do like Illyana and ask first before kicking their entire asses with a swift dispatch

I do earnestly reccomend Morrison's run, it was the first mainstream x-book I read and it's how I fell in love with Jean in the first place

it does have its issues, not everything works - the Magneto stuff is SO BAD - but overall, yeah, the characterisation has a lot of thought put into it

(Also, Morrison is using they now!)

Oh, thank you! I didn't know! Will remember that for future

<3 it's relatively recent, happened late last year

Oooh I had forgotten about that but now I remember again and am happy for them all over

(I don’t always like their writing and their Wonder Woman made me incandescent with rage but I think I remember enjoying their X-men)

god yeah wonder woman earth one had......some Choices

but i'd say MOST of their x-men run was really good

also they put oracle on the jla

(look.....i have my priorities)

GOOD