Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Miles Reviews the X-Men, Episode 86

Week of May 25, 2016:

In which it’s Miles’s turn to review solo; and Iceman is the heart of the X-Men, as he should be.

REVIEWED:

  • Extraordinary X-Men #10

Filmed at Books With Pictures in Portland, OR.


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10 comments

  1. I still find EXM to be a frustratingly uneven read. This issue didn’t really do much for me, which is pretty usual. The Apocalypse Wars story is just kinda puttering along. Easily the weakest of the three Apocalypse Wars stories.

    I don’t really buy Storm giving into despair. Iceman’s speech was cool, if you like Iceman, but I’m not buying Lemire’s take on Storm.

    The best part of the issue is definitely Illyana and Sapna. I’m loving their bond, because Sapna is kind of a reflection of how Illyana could’ve turned out with a less awful life, so it makes their bond really, really sweet.

    And I want to talk about Glob’s crush on Jean. I don’t like this subplot. Part of it is a dislike for Glob. But it’s more than that. This can go one of two ways. Either they do develop a romance, which I would not like to see. Or it’ll end with Jean rejecting Glob, which would just feel kinda mean.

  2. I don’t buy Storm’s characterization throughout the entire series. She started off seeming weirdly inexperienced with both leadership in general and X-men-y stuff in particular– like Lemire wrote a Storm who had never before encountered telepathy. And that never got better. We just got less of Lemire’s Storm.

    What’s really weird is that Storm is one of the most consistent characters across the entire line, right? So if Lemire has read any comics with her in the past, getting her voice down to, at the very least, a bland Storm, should be pretty simple?

    1. Yeah, the way Lemire has written Storm in this series is probably one of my biggest sources of disappointment with this series. Besides the general feeling of several “false starts” that I get every time things seem to get some steam and then next issue just fall apart or become cluttered again. It’s clear that team books is not exactly where his best qualities as a writer lie, and I would not mind if Marvel decide to change the art and writing team in the next renumbering.

      1. Yeah, the pacing issues are also not great.

        Have we had post-apocalypse wars solicits yet? Do we have any confirmation that Lemire is in this for long haul?

  3. I too loved that panel. But I think there’s quite a bit of reference to Illyana’s past bubbling under the surface. I don’t believe that last shot is a lack of confidence, I read it as Illyana’s guilt showing on her face. It was established in issue 2 that she must be consciously fighting to keep Limbo under control at all times because when Sinister strikes Illyana the defenses she’s built to protect X-Haven from Limbo fall. She’s been struggling with her ties to this plane of existence since she was doomed to be its dark princess in the 80s. I think she is selfishly “training” Sapna with the motivation to replace herself and doom Sapna to be tethered to Limbo so that she can be free. She is taking on the Belasco role in order to find her replacement.

  4. Off topic: after X-Men: Apocalypse has been in theaters for a while do you plan to do a spoiler-filled discussion on it? I saw it last night (it’s kind of a mess, but I adore every minute of it) and I’d love to see you guys do a no holds-barred take on the flick.

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