Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Rachel and Miles Review the X-Men, Episode 32

Week of April 8, 2015 (and one from last week)

In which we are weirdly on-theme fashion-wise; Cyclops ends on a high note; we are pretty done with the Black Vortex; and you probably shouldn’t invoke Generation Hope without at least a footnote.

NOTE: Cyclops and Captain Marvel reviews contain spoilers.

REVIEWED:

  • *Cyclops #12 (0:41)
  • Captain Marvel #14 (5:30)
  • Storm #10 (9:07)

*Pick of the week (12:29)


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13 comments

  1. A while back I read Generation Hope on Marvel Unlimited, and I’m still pretty let down that Hope hasn’t been as prominent since AvX. I get the impression that she was supposed to be really important, and maybe even Jean reincarnated, but then Generation Hope didn’t sell well enough and she got relegated to where she is now (which is I guess a spoiler) and then Bendis came up with All-New X-men. But I really liked her team!

    1. FWIW: Hope is awesome in Si Spurrier’s X-Force run. Really hoping to see her emerge from that as more of a main player in her own right, not just a MacGuffin.

  2. What I loved about the Cyclops issue was that when Cyclops’ mind represents his own inner supportiveness and belief in himself, it shows him his father, and to have that at the end of a run that’s all about Cyclops really bonding with his father – that, to me was a very important point that works fantastically for the end of the series. That when Cyclops thinks of people who believe in him and are the best to inspire confidence in himself, his mind immediately goes to his space dad.
    Also I kinda raved about this Storm issue and did a rather exulting review of it – would it be okay to post a link here?

  3. Thank you Miles for bringing up the Psyche-Magntron! The technicalities matter, as I’m sure anyone who follows this site knows all too well.

  4. Hey here’s a qustion (and lets put the whole secret wars thing on the side for this) now that both Cyclops and Storm are ending which x-men do you want to see heading a solo title?

  5. What threw me off about the fingerprint trick wasn’t the heat issue (a very clever catch, that!) but the fact that it seemed to rely not only on such pinpoint precision, but also enough speed that the sensor would read the entire tracing as one print. I don’t know – it seems like a trick that would work with Superman (heat vision + super speed), but felt like too much for Cyclops, for whom control is always a struggle on multiple levels. Especially given that this is teenage Scott, even with all his extra practice with his dad.

    I feel like a killjoy even typing this! I love heist hijinx. I love ‘Leverage,’ and the fact that you guys do too. But even so. I read the scene, and just felt like I had to be missing something about the actual mechanics of the trick.

    1. Nope. I agree on every point. It’s cool, but it doesn’t stand up to even the most superficial scrutiny.

      1. It’s a space fingerprint scanner, designed by the Brood or the Spartax or somebody. Why do we assume it works like an Earth fingerprint scanner?

  6. Fingerprint detectors tend to be optical, rather than heat or pressure based. As a visual species/society we’ve just gotten a lot better at making tiny light sensors rather than tiny pressure or heat sensors.

    As I was reading through Cyclops this week, I was struck by how similar the art and storytelling feel to the Slott/Ramos run of Spider-Man. And then I turn the page, and Scott is literally saying, “With great power comes great responsibility.” I not sure I want my Cyclops book and my Spider-Man book to feel all that similar…

    I feel like (in this series, at least) Pak has had trouble telling stories that aren’t continuations of other writer’s stories. I liked Kenji as much as the next guy, but that’s a DEEP pull. I loved issue #1 of Storm, but the rest never really clicked for me.

    That’s a lot of critical comments, so I guess I should add Captain Marvel yes hooray good times forever and ever! Just a wonderful, insightful issue.

    It TOTALLY is Quentin Trembley’s solid block of peanut brittle. That is 100% the Black Vortex second wind I needed. Thanks guys!

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