sheliak: Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor: profoundly doomed, but happy right now. (scott/maddy: good for now)
[personal profile] sheliak
A return to the readthrough and to Classic X-Men! This time, a story from Banshee's past.

Dearest Friend )

Thoughts )

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


Does Black Tom's characterization here work for you?

View Answers

Yes
4 (100.0%)

No
0 (0.0%)

Would you have liked a sequel/follow-up to this story?

View Answers

Yes
2 (50.0%)

No; this is a good place to leave off.
2 (50.0%)

No; I'm not invested enough in these characters
0 (0.0%)

Should the leprechauns have shown up?

View Answers

The leprechauns should always show up.
3 (75.0%)

No, but they should have met Maeve in a later story.
0 (0.0%)

No, it wouldn't have worked.
1 (25.0%)



I made icons of this one!
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: Jean Grey silhouetted against the Phoenix Force. (jean: bold)
[personal profile] sheliak
Frontispiece art )
What Stuff our Dreams are Made Of... )
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5


Intergalactic telepathy: instantaneous or not?

View Answers

Yes
4 (80.0%)

No
1 (20.0%)



Next: Universe-saving shenanigans.
After that: Starjammers!
sheliak: Jean Grey wants Firelord out of her house. (jean: mighty)
[personal profile] sheliak
Since 106 was left out of the Classic reprints (entirely fairly), this is two Uncanny posts in a row. Next up is Classic again (Lilandra!) and then we're back to Uncanny with John Byrne's first issue.

Speaking of, this is Dave Cockrum's last for a while, and it has some great pages...
Where No X-Man Has Gone Before! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7


Favorite scene(s)

View Answers

Those establishing splashpages
4 (57.1%)

Kurt outwits the shapeshifter
4 (57.1%)

Kurt rescues Lilandra
1 (14.3%)

Wolverine loses his clothes and steals a replacement
0 (0.0%)

Lilandra Explains
0 (0.0%)

Starjammers!
2 (28.6%)

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

sheliak: Jean Grey wants Firelord out of her house. (jean: mighty)
[personal profile] sheliak
Phoenix Unleashed! )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7


Favorite Scene(s)

View Answers

Firelord makes an entrance
1 (14.3%)

Eric the Red is manipulative
0 (0.0%)

The Shi'ar do Star Trek
3 (42.9%)

Lilandra meets Xavier face-to-face
1 (14.3%)

Phoenix kicks Firelord out of her house
5 (71.4%)

The creator cameo
0 (0.0%)

Jean is surprisingly good with alien tech
0 (0.0%)

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

Now that Eric the Red has been revealed... who else should take on the mantle of Eric the Red?

sheliak: Scott Summers in disguise as Erik the Red. (erik the red)
[personal profile] sheliak
The Gentleman's Name is Magneto )

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


Your favorite scene(s) in this issue were...

View Answers

The Doomed Hovercraft of Doom
1 (20.0%)

Trouble on the Beach
0 (0.0%)

Magneto Revealed!
1 (20.0%)

Moira & Scott Find Out What’s Going On
0 (0.0%)

The X-Men (Fail To) Fight Magneto
0 (0.0%)

Cyclops to the Rescue (And Retreat)
0 (0.0%)

Bonus Scene: Magneto, Art & Backstory
4 (80.0%)

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

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: Callisto from the X-Men comics (Callisto)
[personal profile] sheliak
I remembered this as a story about Logan's terrible birthday. I am not sure where I got the part about it being his birthday, in retrospect; on reading the story, it doesn't seem to be mentioned. (Although in my defense, Logan probably doesn't know what day his birthday is. It could be today! He wouldn't know to mention it!)

Tag, Sucker! )

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


Sabretooth as Wolverine's father

View Answers

... was a good idea and should've happened
2 (22.2%)

... was a bad idea.
7 (77.8%)

Wolverine stories should be set in...

View Answers

... the city, so he can monologue grumpily at it.
7 (77.8%)

... the countryside.
1 (11.1%)

.... the wilderness.
0 (0.0%)

.... space.
0 (0.0%)

.... somewhere else, as I will specify in the comments.
1 (11.1%)



Any thoughts on this issue? Favorite depictions of Wolverine's powers? Favorite uses of Sabretooth?

Alternately, want to talk about your favorite Wolverine solo stories? I generally say I'm not a fan, but in all honesty, I haven't read many. Maybe I just haven't read the good ones?

Thursday: Wolverine does not believe in leprechauns, and the leprechauns do not believe in talking wolverines.
Sunday: Storm and a writer.
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: Nightcrawler, jumping around in a giant jungle gym with a huge grin on his face. (nightcrawler: jump)
[personal profile] sheliak
The Gift )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10


On X-Men ghost stories...

View Answers

Yes, it's a bit startling for the X-Men to meet ghosts.
2 (20.0%)

No, that's the kind of world they live in.
8 (80.0%)

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: The Phoenix raptor. (phoenix: raptor)
[personal profile] sheliak
Twenty-seven minutes to Earth's atmosphere.

Not long at all.

Just the rest of my life.

Nothing like going out in a blaze of glory.

So long as I don't take the X-Men with me.

Keep it up with the jokes, girl. Anything to keep from screaming.


Phoenix )

Poll #21445 That Retcon
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12


What do you think of the Phoenix retcon?

View Answers

I’m glad it happened and that Jean wasn’t responsible for killing a planet anymore.
1 (8.3%)

I hate it, and I think she should have stayed dead.
1 (8.3%)

I think it weakens an era of stories, but I’m glad we got Jean back anyway.
1 (8.3%)

I’m glad to have Jean back, but I wish she’d been allowed to come back without being absolved of her guilt.
1 (8.3%)

Well, it’s been retconned enough times that I’m happy to just take the pieces I like and ignore the rest.
8 (66.7%)



Next Thursday: Another view of the Phoenix. Also, Cassidy family drama.
Next Sunday: A ghost story.
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: The Phoenix raptor. (phoenix: raptor)
[personal profile] sheliak
For me, Classic X-Men's quiet stories were always its strong point; this one is quieter than most. Chris Claremont called it a story without words; it's not quite that, but it's a story told primarily through the art, without dialogue or narrative captions.

A Love Story )

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10


Does this count as a story without words?

View Answers

Yes, the lack of dialogue, thought balloons and captions is enough.
5 (50.0%)

No, the notes and poster disqualify it.
0 (0.0%)

No, but for Claremont it's close enough.
5 (50.0%)



What did you think of this issue? Would you like to see other X-Men stories told without dialogue? Is there an artist you'd like to see draw one?

(Also, how much do you think Jean and Misty know about each other at this point?)

Next Thursday: The X-Men mount a rescue mission in space!
Next Sunday: Skullduggery at the Hellfire Club.
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: Phone calls are hard. (colossus: communicate)
[personal profile] sheliak
Today: Colossus's complicated feelings about leaving his homeland, and a doomed romance.

Prison of the Heart )

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


How do you feel about retconned-in relationships with new characters?

View Answers
Mean: 2.71 Median: 3 Std. Dev 0.88
Nay 1
1 (14.3%)
2
1 (14.3%)
3
4 (57.1%)
4
1 (14.3%)
Yay 5
0 (0.0%)

How much do you like the public to know about mutants in an X-Men story?

View Answers

Hardly anyone knows about mutants.
0 (0.0%)

Most people are aware of mutants, but don't think about them that much.
7 (77.8%)

Everyone knows about mutants, and has an opinion.
2 (22.2%)



What did you think about this story?

Alternately, any thoughts on Colossus in this era?
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: Nightcrawler, jumping around in a giant jungle gym with a huge grin on his face. (nightcrawler: jump)
[personal profile] sheliak
In this issue, Kurt and Logan begin to make friends, and Kurt's complicated relationship with the image inducer is introduced as well.

The story opens with them sparring via a rather dramatic game of tag. Kurt is being theatrical; Logan doesn’t approve.

Nightcrawler: But I was raised in a circus, remember?

Nightcrawler: I learned acrobatics as soon as I began to walk!

Wolverine: Fancy footwork’s fine for a show, elf.

Wolverine: Not for combat.


The Big Dare )

So, what did you think of this issue--the game of tag, the bet, and its outcome?

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


What would you use an image inducer for?

View Answers

Like Kurt, I'd make myself look like a favorite movie star.
2 (33.3%)

Also like Kurt, I'd use it to imitate my friends' appearences.
1 (16.7%)

I would use it to confound my enemies!
2 (33.3%)

I'd use it to create the illusion of a different set of clothes than I'm wearing.
5 (83.3%)

Something else.
1 (16.7%)



Alternately, talk about your favorite Wolverine & Nightcrawler moments, our your favorite uses of the image inducer!

(And since Kurt brought up the subject, feel free to speculate about the other X-Men's favorite Star Wars characters if you like!)

Profile

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

June 2019

S M T W T F S
      1
234 5678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 2 Jul 2025 01:35 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios