sheliak: Storm from the X-Men comics, drinking tea with her cape wrapped around her. (storm: tea)
[personal profile] sheliak
Hi again!

Home are the Heroes! )
Classic Edits )
Thoughts )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3


Favorite Scene(s)

View Answers

Welcome Home
1 (33.3%)

Flashback with Jean, Ororo and Corsair
1 (33.3%)

Jean talks to her parents and Scott broods
1 (33.3%)

Kurt and Piotr
0 (0.0%)

Kurt and Scott
1 (33.3%)

Wolverine plans to sneak up on deer
0 (0.0%)

Wolverine vs Vindicator
0 (0.0%)

The Picnic
2 (66.7%)

Everybody vs. Vindicator
0 (0.0%)

New Scene: Vindicator is Nervous
0 (0.0%)

New Scene: Lilandra/Xavier
1 (33.3%)

New Scene: the Hudsons after the fight
1 (33.3%)

sheliak: Jean Grey silhouetted against the Phoenix Force. (jean: bold)
[personal profile] sheliak
With this issue, Dave Cockrum is off the book (although he'll be back) and John Byrne is replacing him as the regular artist. I have mixed feelings about that--I actually started with Byrne's stuff (and his uncolored inks are gorgeous; in the Essential collections), but as time goes on I've gotten more and more fond of Cockrum. I'll miss him.

(As a random side note, because I keep forgetting to mention it: the editor on this one is Archie Goodwin. A past editor was named Marv Wolfman. I just want to mention that I really appreciate those names.)

Armageddon Now! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4


Favorite Scene

View Answers

Corbeau and the Superheroes
0 (0.0%)

Jahf fight + Wolverine's orbital adventure
1 (25.0%)

Modt + Raza throws the Emperor
1 (25.0%)

The nightmares
1 (25.0%)

Ororo's offer
3 (75.0%)

Jean saves the universe
4 (100.0%)

Added Dark Phoenix foreshadowing
1 (25.0%)

Something else, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)

Do you like the Dark Phoenix foreshadowing here?

View Answers

Yes
0 (0.0%)

No
4 (100.0%)

Favorite artist so far?

View Answers

Cockrum
2 (50.0%)

Byrne
2 (50.0%)

I like both equally
0 (0.0%)

I would like to stand up for someone else
0 (0.0%)



Next: Starjammer origin story!
After that: Vindicator interrupts a picnic.
sheliak: Handwoven tapestry of the planet Jupiter. (Default)
[personal profile] sheliak
Sorry in advance for the lack of images and poll this time around.

Hope )

Next Thursday: The X-Men face off against an angry purveyor of rented hovercraft, and also Magneto.
Next Sunday: Magneto's backstory.
sheliak: Kurt during the Age Undreamed Of. (nightcrawler: fantasy)
[personal profile] sheliak
First, a bit of art, because the Classic fronstispiece for this story was great:

Frontispiece by Mike Mignola, feat. Black Tom & the Juggernaut )

Onward to the story (and the promised leprechaun rescue)...

The Fall of the Tower )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5


Favorite Scene

View Answers

Leprechauns to the rescue!
0 (0.0%)

Kurt saves the day with his image inducer
2 (40.0%)

Ororo frees everybody
1 (20.0%)

Kurt stands up for Ororo (and invents the Fastball Special)
1 (20.0%)

Banshee vs. Black Tom
0 (0.0%)

Juggernaut throws himself into the sea to save Black Tom
2 (40.0%)

Something else, as I will explain in the comments.
1 (20.0%)


...for "Kurt stands up for Ororo" obviously read Piotr; I can't fix that because I only noticed it after I clicked post. Sorry!

Any other thoughts on this issue, or Black Tom and the Juggernaut as characters (since we won't be seeing them for a bit)?

And, in honor of the leprechauns of Cassidy Keep: are there any creatures from mythology or folklore that you'd like to see in the X-Men? Favorite canonical examples?
sheliak: Storm during the Lifedeath story arc. (storm: sandstorm)
[personal profile] sheliak
Who Will Stop the Juggernaut? )

As well as adding new pages and dialogue, Classic X-Men had new front and back covers (usually, the front cover was related to the reprint Uncanny story, while the back cover was related to the new backup), and even illustrated tables of contents. So far I've ignored these (aside from the Erik the Red one), but some of them are pretty.

Frontispieces )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Favorite Scene

View Answers

Ororo's backstory flashback
4 (66.7%)

The X-Men's fight against the Juggernaut and Black Tom (part 1)
0 (0.0%)

That same fight, part 2
0 (0.0%)

Jean and Misty
0 (0.0%)

Professor X and his doooooooom (well, that's what he thinks it is right now!)
1 (16.7%)

Professor X and Cyclops
1 (16.7%)

Leprechaun rescue!
3 (50.0%)

Streamlining Nightcrawler's powers: yea or nay?

View Answers

I prefer the original: Nightcrawler has the power to disappear into shadows.
2 (33.3%)

I prefer the revised version, in which he is only as hard to see as one would expect a dark-furred person in shadow to be.
4 (66.7%)



How do you like Black Tom and the Juggernaut as antagonists? And what did you think of Ororo's backstory as presented here?

Next Sunday: Wolverine has a terrible birthday, courtesy of Sabertooth.
Next Thursday: Leprechauns! (I mean it this time!)
sheliak: Jean Grey wants Firelord out of her house. (jean: mighty)
[personal profile] sheliak
Like a Phoenix, From the Ashes! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Favorite Scene

View Answers

Jean's resurrection
4 (66.7%)

Wolverine buys flowers
3 (50.0%)

Scott in the hospital
0 (0.0%)

The X-Men learn Jean is okay
0 (0.0%)

The "four-wheeled torture chamber"
0 (0.0%)

Kurt and Ororo flirt
2 (33.3%)

Kurt, Ororo and Piotr on their way to dinner
2 (33.3%)

Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut make their entrance
1 (16.7%)

Something else, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)



Sunday: While waiting for news of Jean, Kurt makes a friend.
Next Thursday: Nightcrawler must save his teammates from Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut!
sheliak: Jean Grey, looking down, mournful. (jean: sorrowful)
[personal profile] sheliak
Greater Love Hath No X-Man... )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Favorite Scenes (Battle)

View Answers

Steven Lang's villainous rants (of which he must be very proud)
1 (16.7%)

Nightcrawler vs. Beast
0 (0.0%)

Havok vs. Colossus
0 (0.0%)

"Jean" vs. Storm
3 (50.0%)

"Xavier" vs. Wolverine
3 (50.0%)

"Jean" vs. Wolverine
3 (50.0%)

Scott breaks out
1 (16.7%)

Last fight with Lang
0 (0.0%)

Something else, as I will explain in the comments
0 (0.0%)

Favorite Scene(s): Jean's Plan

View Answers

Corbeau explains the situation
0 (0.0%)

Jean makes her plan
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Scott
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Logan
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Ororo
4 (66.7%)

Jean in the shuttle
6 (100.0%)



Any other thoughts about this issue?


As a head's up, this is the last Uncanny X-Men issue I've got collected in a color hardcover, so later posts may be rather less image-heavy--I don't want to wreck my poor Essentials, and I don't think they'd scan well anyway.

Next Sunday: Retcon damage control. Alternately, a dance with the devil within.
Next Thursday: The X-Men return to Earth.
sheliak: Colossus from the X-Men, in stark red and yellow. (colossus: stark)
[personal profile] sheliak
Deathstar, Rising! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5


Favorite Scene(s)

View Answers

The News
1 (20.0%)

Colossus mourns his brother
0 (0.0%)

Liftoff!
1 (20.0%)

Poor doomed Lawyer Flaherty
1 (20.0%)

Ned Buckman out-sinistering Sebastian Shaw
0 (0.0%)

Storm vs. a Sentinel (again)
1 (20.0%)

The big fight (including the Cyclops+Nightcrawler tiff and Colossus's defense of Olga Korbut)
3 (60.0%)

Storm is reunited with the rest of the team
0 (0.0%)

The rescue of Banshee and Wolverine
0 (0.0%)

Scott, Jean, and Lang
0 (0.0%)

That cliffhanger!
1 (20.0%)

Something else.
0 (0.0%)



Any thoughts on this issue?

Next Sunday: Betrayal at the Hellfire Club!
Next Thursday: X-Man vs. X-Man... sort of.
sheliak: Storm from the X-Men comics, drinking tea with her cape wrapped around her. (storm: tea)
[personal profile] sheliak
This issue opens with the X-Men celebrating Christmas! They’ve gone out in a group to the city, and are about to split up, largely along romantic lines: Jean and Scott together, Sean with Moira, and Piotr and Kurt off with some ladies they just met. (Or in Kurt’s case, “just met”. But we’ll get into that later.)

Wolverine is not onboard with the festive spirit of the day. Before going off to be grumpy alone, he responds to Jean's polite inquiry about his plans with, “What about me, Miss Grey--? I got no use for Christmas.” That line amuses me way more than it has a right to.

There’s a new page added in Classic, in which Amanda Sefton’s thought bubbles reveal that she knows way more about Kurt than he does about her, and Piotr thinks wistfully of Anya Marakova. Apparently, this issue marks the point when Dave Cockrum was no longer able to draw the add-ons; instead, they’re done by James Fry. (I didn't end up scanning anything from his pages, but still wanted to mention it.)

Merry Christmas, X-Men--The Sentinels Have Returned! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8


Should Professor X be able to mind-blast Sentinels?

View Answers

No, they don't have brains for him to blast!
3 (37.5%)

Yes. Sentinels are jerks and have it coming to them, whether or not it particularly makes sense.
0 (0.0%)

How do we know that they don't have brains? They were built by comic book scientists, who are not logical beings.
5 (62.5%)

In your understanding of (Claremont-era) canon, how does Cerebro work?

View Answers

Only telepaths can use it.
3 (37.5%)

Other psychics can use it.
2 (25.0%)

Any mutant can use it.
0 (0.0%)

Anyone can use it.
0 (0.0%)

It's inconsistent.
3 (37.5%)

I have a different theory and will explain it below.
0 (0.0%)

Did Steven Lang build his sentinels to be sexist jerks?

View Answers

Yes. He built them in his own image.
6 (75.0%)

No. They're still basically Silver Age robots, and would have been that way anyway.
2 (25.0%)

Favorite moment this issue?

View Answers

Stan and Jack disapproving of this kissing nonsense.
4 (50.0%)

Scott and Jean's short-lived date.
2 (25.0%)

Professor X and Peter Corbeau's equally short-lived fishing trip.
0 (0.0%)

Ororo wipes the floor (well, sky) with a Sentinel.
7 (87.5%)

Professor X vs. Sentinels that swim.
1 (12.5%)

Lang's short-lived gloating.
0 (0.0%)

Logan sticking up for Jean.
2 (25.0%)

Something else, which I will detail in the comments.
0 (0.0%)



Next Sunday: Jean was really looking forward to that date, damnit.
Next Thursday: Space adventures! Although alas, not the fun kind.
sheliak: Scott Summers in disguise as Erik the Red. (erik the red)
[personal profile] sheliak
Havok and Polaris really cannot catch a break. At all.

My Brother, My Enemy! )

Poll #21247 Erik the Red
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8


Eric the Red should wear...

View Answers

Shorts, like Scott did originally.
4 (50.0%)

Pants, like this imposter.
1 (12.5%)

A kilt, like... no one in canon, but it should happen.
3 (37.5%)



Besides that: what do you think of Scott and Alex's family drama? Storm's showdown with Polaris? Alex and Lorna's doomed idyllic life, and even more doomed dissertations?

And am I the only one who keeps calling him Erik the Red?

This Sunday, Colossus has an ill-fated romance.

Next week: Scott and Jean attempt to go on a date. Also, Sentinels!
sheliak: Storm from the X-Men comics, drinking tea with her cape wrapped around her. (storm: tea)
[personal profile] sheliak
Welcome to a very special point in X-Men history: the birth of the Angry Claremontian Narrator!

(But first, a correction re: last Uncanny issue—Len Wein was still plotting that one, which I missed the first time through. And this issue, Bill Mantlo is credited with a "plotting assist". After that, Claremont is sole plotter. I think.)

Anyway, back to the story...

Night of the Demon! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9


This is the only time anyone talks back to the narrator. What’s up with that?

View Answers

Cyclops warned the others not to respond to malevolent narration, lest more demons be unleashed.
3 (33.3%)

No one else can actually hear the narrator, and after this Cyclops is doubly careful not to be provoked.
5 (55.6%)

The narrator felt bad about helping to unleash demons, and decided not to push mutants so far in the future.
1 (11.1%)

Something else, as I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)

What's up with the demonic cairn?

View Answers

Professor X knew it existed, but not its true nature. Possibly the first X-Men wrote reports on it.
2 (22.2%)

... ditto, but he knew what it was and just never got around to fencing it off.
1 (11.1%)

It's invisible unless broken.
1 (11.1%)

Demonic cairns are just really common in this universe, so no one really gave it a second thought.
5 (55.6%)

I have a different theory, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)




Any thoughts on Steven Lang, Michael Rossi, or Kierrok the Damned?

And why do you think Professor X and Moira MacTaggert decided to introduce her as the X-Men's "housekeeper?"


This Sunday: Wolverine and Nightcrawler bond in "The Big Dare".

Next Thursday: "Erik the Red" steals Cyclops's old alter ego and brainwashes Havok and Polaris into attacking the X-Men.
sheliak: Jean Grey, looking down, mournful. (jean: sorrowful)
[personal profile] sheliak
In this issue, the X-Men return Thunderbird's body to his family, and mourn him. Along the way, both they and the reader learn a little more about John Proudstar, and why he made the choices he did.

This is the story that made me care about John Proudstar. I still think it’s one of the best of the Classic backups.

(Apologies in advance—some of my scans have a blurry edge, on account of being taken from a large and not entirely cooperative hardcover.)

Mourning )

I adored this story as a teenager; it made me care about (and yes, mourn) John Proudstar, when before all I'd felt was that it was a shame he'd died before getting fleshed out at all.

I’m fairly sure that this was published after James Proudstar made his first appearances in New Mutants and X-Men; that surprised me, as this story read like foreshadowing, and as a teenager I assumed it really had been his first appearance. And James’s furious speech in the end is by far the weakest part of the story, for me. I’m afraid it put me off of the character for years; I thought of him as the ‘boring’ brother even though he’s had much more characterization, simply because he’s so much less nuanced in this story.

Poll #21162 Favorite Scene
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3


Which scene(s) are your favorite?

View Answers

Jean and the Professor
2 (66.7%)

Sean's internal monologue
0 (0.0%)

Kurt and Piotr's flashback
0 (0.0%)

Ororo's flashback
1 (33.3%)

Logan putting the pieces together
2 (66.7%)

James at the funeral
0 (0.0%)

Something else, which I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)



What did you think?

Next Thursday: Cyclops mourns, and also quarrels with the narrator, with catastrophic results.

Next Sunday: Wolverine and Nightcrawler bond.
sheliak: Jean Grey, looking down, mournful. (jean: sorrowful)
[personal profile] sheliak
Last week, we left the X-Men hurtling through the air towards certain doom! (More literally than usual, but otherwise, pretty normal for them.)

Warhunt! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Should Thunderbird continue to stay dead, or is it past time for a resurrection?

View Answers

Yes. Someone should stay dead in comics.
2 (33.3%)

No. Everyone else seems to get to come back eventually; why not him?
1 (16.7%)

The 616/main universe version can stay dead, but I'd like to see more alternate versions.
3 (50.0%)



What do you think of this issue, and of Thunderbird’s brief X-career? Relatedly, does the flexible nature of death in comics annoy you or do you like it?

(And finally: if anyone wants to stick up for Count Nefaria and/or the Ani-Men in the comments, please feel free to do so! They will not be appearing in X-Men again, so this post is the place to do so if you so desire.)

Next Sunday, the X-Men and Thunderbird's family mourn in Classic X-Men 3. And next week, in Uncanny X-Men 96, Cyclops angsts so hard about Thunderbird's death that he accidentally unleashes a demon. (Professor X should really put up warning notices around that cairn...)
sheliak: Jean Grey and Ororo Munroe, embracing after a long separation. (jean+ororo: hug)
[personal profile] sheliak
This time the backup story has nothing much to do with the "main" storyline of Uncanny X-Men; rather than involving team-building or Count Nefaria (I for one am glad about the latter), it's about the beginning of Jean and Ororo's friendship.

First Friends )

What did you think of this story?

And also...

Poll #21121 Favorite Friendship
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Which early Claremont-era friendship is your favorite?

View Answers

Jean and Ororo
3 (50.0%)

Kurt and Logan
6 (100.0%)

Scott and Hank
0 (0.0%)

Professor X and Moira MacTaggert
0 (0.0%)

Someone else, as I will explain in the comments.
0 (0.0%)



Next readthrough post will be X-Men 94 on Thursday; next Classic X-Men post will be #3, next Sunday.
sheliak: Scott Summers, wearing the most amazing shirt in the history of comics. (octopus shirt)
[personal profile] sheliak
In this issue, Chris Claremont comes aboard as scripter! Len Wein is still plotting, though, and I assume Wein is the one responsible for splitting the story into chapters (which he also did in Giant-Sized), since later issues don’t use them.

Sunfire storms off on the first page, giving a speech about how he will definitely not be helping the X-Men again, because they’re “a pack of idealistic fools” and his duty is to Japan anyway. Given his absence from last issue’s backup story, I’m going to assume that he spent that evening in his guest room, planning his dramatic exit. Everyone needs a hobby!

The original X-Men—aside from Cyclops, of course—also leave, although more politely. (Given how quickly Claremont brought Jean back, I tend to assume that her departure was Wein’s choice as well, and Claremont was just stuck with it.)

The Doomsday Scenario! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Which character would you have liked to see remain on the team longer?

View Answers

Sunfire
1 (16.7%)

Jean Grey
2 (33.3%)

Iceman
0 (0.0%)

Angel
1 (16.7%)

Havok
1 (16.7%)

Polaris
3 (50.0%)

Thunderbird
4 (66.7%)



Also, on the subject of Classic X-Men and the new material it added: in that situation, what would you add? Which characters would you like to spend more time with, or introduce early?
sheliak: Colossus from the X-Men, in stark red and yellow. (colossus: stark)
[personal profile] sheliak
Classic X-Men reprinted the early Claremont run a few years after the fact—but with a lot of edits and new material. Ads were removed and replaced with new pages and panels of story; dialogue was edited to bring it into line with later continuity or characterization (e.g. Ororo would not say ‘Good Lord’ in a moment of stress, so in the reprints she says “Goddess!” instead; Kurt can’t teleport blind). There was new cover art, fancy frontispieces (some of those are pretty cool) and most importantly, a new short story in each issue.

Most of the new stories were character-focused standalones. The best of them are some of my favorite X-Men stories ever.

The first issue was a bit of an odd case. Giant-Size X-Men #1 was huge; there wasn’t room to stick in a backup story. So, they cut a lot out to make room. Classic X-Men #1 kept the character introduction scenes from Giant-Size, and nothing else. It opens with a new version of Cyclops staggering home from Krakoa (costume in tatters, of course) and Professor X deciding to recruit a new team. (Remember when I said that I always misremember the order of events in Giant-Size? I'm pretty sure that this story is why.) Cyclops gets to angst a bit about the return of his powers, which he’d briefly hoped were gone for good; the Professor advises against self-pity, but sympathizes more with Scott’s worries about losing his friends. Then it segues to the original intros, and then quickly summarizes the actual fight against Krakoa before settling in to tell a new story about the combined team at the mansion, the evening before half of them decide to leave. That's the bulk of the story, and my favorite part of the issue.

It’s a bit of a mission statement for what Classic would be at its best: character studies and slice of life.

First Night )

Poll #21078 Favorite Scene
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6


Which interaction did you like the best?

View Answers

Scott and the Professor
0 (0.0%)

Alex and Lorna
2 (33.3%)

Scott and Jean
0 (0.0%)

Sean, Piotr and Kurt
3 (50.0%)

Sean, Kurt, and Bobby
2 (33.3%)

John and Bobby
1 (16.7%)

Jean and Logan
1 (16.7%)

Jean and the Professor
3 (50.0%)

Something else, as I will explain in the comments
0 (0.0%)

sheliak: Storm from the X-Men comics, drinking tea with her cape wrapped around her. (storm: tea)
[personal profile] sheliak
Okay, this one isn't actually Claremont—the writer is Len Wein, working with artist Dave Cockrum—but it seemed like a good place to start! This issue relaunched the series after the Silver Age, and introduces the All-New All-Different team.

This post is a bit image-heavy; future installments will probably be less so.

Second Genesis! )

Poll #21061 Who has the best intro?
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14


Who gets the best introduction?

View Answers

Nightcrawler (and pursuing mob).
7 (50.0%)

Professor X (to the rescue).
0 (0.0%)

Wolverine, aka Weapon X.
1 (7.1%)

Banshee, thwarted concertgoer.
0 (0.0%)

Storm, weather goddess.
8 (57.1%)

Sunfire, who owes you nothing.
1 (7.1%)

Colossus, foe of tractors.
7 (50.0%)

Thunderbird, wrestler of bison.
1 (7.1%)

Krakoa, the Island That Walks Like A Man.
1 (7.1%)

Actually, I prefer Cyclops's flashback of woe.
1 (7.1%)

Someone else, as I will explain in the comments
0 (0.0%)



The next readthrough post will be Classic X-Men #1 on Sunday; next Uncanny X-Men post will be in a week.
sheliak: Colossus from the X-Men, in stark red and yellow. (colossus: stark)
[personal profile] sheliak
In my efforts to make a comm icon, I got.... carried away. The results (below) are free to anyone who happens to want one.

Icons )

If you'd like an icon of an X-character or characters, let me know and I'll see what I can do! (Just specify if you want one without or without text, or with a particular background color, or if you have a particular issue in mind. And if you want a different series logo it may take a bit longer.)

Banners )

Profile

x_men_classic: Jean Grey as Phoenix. (Default)
X-Men Classic

June 2019

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