Astonishing X-Men 39: spoilers and review (Proper thread)

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

Didn't see one, so what the hell.

Spoilers:

spoilers:

Armor punks Fin Fang Foom while the X-Men look on and worry about her state of mind The X-Men head off to Monster Island. Emma can't do jack to Mentalo with her psychic mojo. Mentalo sends a welcoming committee to take out the x-jet. Armor shields up and projects the X-Jet from a full-blown crash against a mountain-sized monster. Cyke is hurt and Armor is knocked out during the crash. Due to the feedback from Mentalo's enhancing device, Emma must remain in diamond form. The X-Men talk some more about the brat. Cyke has a one-on-one talk with Logan during which he worries about Armor being suicidal. Elsewhere, the exchange between Mentalo's courrier and Brewer takes place. Mentalo basically laughs out loud at Brewer's plan to bring in the X-Men. Back on Monster Island, Wolvie and Emma trek through the jungle. Unsurprisingly, Emma asks about their one-on-one talk and Wolvie opts for being uninformative. Wolvie and Emma end up running away from the first monster they encounter (LOL) and walk straight into an ambush set up by Mentalo.

end of spoilers

Overall, folks who aren't Armor don't get to do much but stand around, talk, worry or run away from monsters. The issue did set up a showdown and I can only assume Armor will wake up, size up and carry Cyke around in her palm or something.

Review:

Narrative-wise, the issue moves along rather nicely and the overall dialogue is adequate.

Art-wise, I'd to say I prefer Bradshaw's pencils to what we got in the previous two issues. For some reason, Bradshaw *really* enjoys drawing a bloodied Cyclops, lol.

Character-wise, it was an odd if somewhat predictable read. Despite Armor doing all the ass-kicking, this somehow became about Wolverine being the heart and soul of the team and Cyclops angsting over some kid trying to pull a sacrifice a la Jean. I kid you not. Seriously, the armored brat gets like four lines. Cyke and Emma are mostly there for voicing out loud the narrative and being foils to Wolvie's wisdom and sensitivity (LOL), but they sound like themselves and their dialogue is solid. Could've been worse. On the bright side, Wolvie is once again amusingly and utterly useless in the field, so Way *does* make an effort to balance out the Wolverine worship.

Okay issue. Arguably a bit of a step up due to less of Mentalo's side of the plot, lol.

6.5/10 sounds about fair.

[Perfection/Emma 2]

And here I thought I missed out on STORM'S Astonishing team. Let me know when that one is on the shelves for I could care less about Scott's Astonishing X-Men.

[Filip]

That's more like it. Shiny and new. With correct numeral.

Now that I read your review properly, I'm mostly looking forward to bloodied Cyclops. It gives me a certain pleasure. Cyclops was bloody in UXM annual 3, wasn't he? Someone might think it's a pattern. I sure do.

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

He looks exactly the same as he did in the annual. No joke.

Just do remember it's from a crash landing. No pwnage or him being smacked around.

[Filip]

The important thing here is that he bleeds. How did that happen is insignificant.

[Skaddix]

Scott caring about a student not named Hope? U see this is why we know Astonishing does not count.

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

Scott caring about a student not named Hope? U see this is why we know Astonishing does not count.

I'll assume the last moments of X-Men #6 didn't happen?

The irony of you sporting a Jubilee avatar while typing these slanderous accusations is nothing short of astonishing.

[BBeeryan]

Armor is starting to sound really fun.

[Skaddix]

I'll assume the last moments of X-Men #6 didn't happen?

The irony of you sporting a Jubilee avatar while typing these slanderous accusations is nothing short of astonishing.

Jubilee not a student therefore no contradiction.

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

Jubilee not a student therefore no contradiction.

Fair enough. Jubes' is technically an ex-student.

Seriously, though, just because he doesn't sexually harasses them doesn't mean he doesn't care.

He did torture some guy over beating up Pixie, didn't he? Okay, terrible example.

[Skaddix]

Fair enough. Jubes' is technically an ex-student.

Seriously, though, just because he doesn't sexually harasses them doesn't mean he doesn't care.

He did torture some guy over beating up Pixie, didn't he? Okay, terrible example.

Of course not him shutting down the Academy and letting the students wander off when he knows full well that most have no place to go proves he does not care. Some of whom I should note got recruited by a villian who used them to try and kill the new mutants. Surely he can at least provide a cell phone number.

That and not providing proper x-men defense against stryker and his mansion killing spree. Seriously three x-men in total if u want to count frost.

Still sounds like armor is getting a lot of power boosts and feats this arc.

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

Fair enough. Funny how the haters forget how they used to claim that Emma had all the decision-making power back then, but whatever. This is Original X-Factor all over again.

Still sounds like armor is getting a lot of power boosts and feats this arc.

My guess is they'll nerf her - at least partly - next issue. Emma's hinted at her body only being able to take so much.

Otherwise, how the hell would she even be usable? I mean, she could literally swat Namor *miles* away with a flick of a finger.

[Skaddix]

Well can she fly yet? And Namor has superspeed plus small fast targets are hard to hit.

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

Well can she fly yet? And Namor has superspeed plus small fast targets are hard to hit.

Right. Because Namor's all about running away.

He'd have to throw, like, *buildings* at her and hope it puts a dent in her armor. Which it won't.

She'd eventually land a hit.

[BrotherUnitNo_4]

Otherwise, how the hell would she even be usable? I mean, she could literally swat Namor *miles* away with a flick of a finger.

VERY questionable. Remember, Namor goes toe-to-toe with the Hulk.