X-Men #8

X-Men #8

The eighth issue of “Brian Wood’s X-Men”/”The All-Girl X-Men” keeps it low on the Y chromosomes with All-Girl enemies! Post- BoTA the in-fighting hits a low for this team as they unite to stop Lady Deathstrike!

(My HBD tweet from Brian Wood, so huge.)

An intruder alert goes off at the Jean Grey School, the first to respond is Psylocke. It’s Typhoid Mary. She’s grabbed all the medical info on Karima, Shogo and Arkea. 

Mary escapes but Psylocke is on her trail (after getting dressed in the yard, much to Quentin Quire’s pervy amusement). Rachel (who sleeps in her full X-Men uniform) calls John Sublime to tell him the bad news. Except he’s already at the Cortes Compound, home of the new incarnation of Lady Deathstrike. 

Ms. Cortes, ahem… Yuriko is excited about the prospect of injecting Arkea. Treating alien bacteria hellbent on taking over the world/his sister as a body modification just not amuse John Sublime. 

But he believes that the X-Men will stop her (after all, they have stopped him and Arkea before).

Typhoid Mary shows up, believing she’s lost her tail. She’s psyched to learn that the Arkea live sample is a contagion. Lady Deathstrike cracks open the biohazard bag. John Sublime struggles to get the sample from her. When he does, he finds that the sample is inert. He shows off his big brain, telling the villainesses how he would find other samples that could potentially be alive. But he says he won’t. And they can’t kill him because they need the information! Ha ha ha, John Sublime will have the last laugh.

Or not. Typhoid Mary scrambles his brains and gets the info. She takes off with Lady Deathstrike and leaves John drooling on the carpet. Betsy steps in, scoops John up off the floor and they head back to the Jean Grey School. 

The bad girls land in Norway. Enchantress fights them with a stick and gives Typhoid Mary a thrashing. Enchantress has been stuck there 2 months. Thor exiled her and stripped her of her powers. Enchantress saw the meteorite strike nearby, Lady Deathstrike says that if she shows her the meteor that she can make Enchantress more powerful than Odin himself. 

Bling! and Jubilee are having their Degrassi Junior High moment. Bling! points out the hypocrisy of the “inclusive” X-Men before planting a kiss on a somehow surprised Jubilee. 

But Monet struts by and tells Jubilee that they’ve got a mission.

 

…That’s not from this issue, it’s a #throwbackthursday to their Generation X days. 

The THREE villainesses find the meteorite and make a pact, a sisterhood, to stand against the X-Men!

This issue was really enjoyable. A ton going on. Jubes is getting all the afterschool special plotlines… isn’t she a vampire?! Jubes, do vampire stuff! On the art front: I’m enjoying Terry Dodson’s take on the girls and since he and Wood go back with Monet, Jubilee and the crew to Generation X I have high hopes for the rest of this story arc!

+ You know we’ve discussed KP Vampire Slayer before- Including how the now Professor K was the inspiration for Buffy Summers. But did you know:

Circa 2000- Monet St. Croix faces off against Vampire DeLaCorte …completely unrelated to Jubilee being covered in vampire blood in a terrorist attack/being bitten by Xarus, son of Dracula in 2010.

interestingly enough Dodson drew this comic up to this issue and Wood started writing the one right after. 

Forever Evil #1

The first week of the DC Villains take over was super interesting… I missed the collectors cover for Reverse Flash the second week and there were none I wanted this week. So I figured I’d get back to the “What is going on here anyway?’ with Forever Evil #1

Lex Luthor starts off in one of his helicopters, Lex-Soar 6, (reminiscing about how he drowned a cat… gross) having a business meeting with Thomas of kord Industries. Then he threatens to throw the guy out of a helicopter. Then he threatens the man’s entire family. The plan is to kill him, dissolve the company, dissolve employee pensions, ruin his professional reputation, get his son addicted to drugs, introduce his wife to a lovely man and then have him leave her on the day the son overdoses and dies. Then she’ll kill herself. (Well this is convoluted as all hell.)

The helicopter starts crashing, Metropolis has gone dark. Gotham is the next to go.

Nightwing is transporting Zsasz to Arkham, chatting with Batgirl on the radio, when someone flies past and rips Arkhams doors open bare handed. He tells Batgirl to alert Batman, even though he (and Batgirl) and Batman aren’t speaking (because of something I missed involving the Joker). Nightwing gets captured!

Luthor is letting Thomas fall to his death when he sees… Superman?

With the Rogues at Iron Heights penitentiary: Cold (dumb name) is trying to …freeze an electrified fence. (That will do what exactly?) Heatwave tries to melt it, Weather Wizard stands around. They are breaking in to get the Trickster out. They see who they think is the Flash… but it’s Reverse Flash.

Manta is being recruited into a task force. Tempted (but not fooled) by potential reduced prison sentence, Manta says the only thing he wants is the death of Aquaman.

Luthor is still following around “Superman” where he starts snorting kryptonite. And then we see… dun dun DUN DUN DUN it’s Ultraman (made stronger by Kryptonite).

Every villain busted out of prison received a communication device. The only ones working. A secret society is being assembled.

Poison Ivy says they should go their own way… because she’s scared of Batman… (what the heck? What did they do to my girl?) Everyone sees the destroyed Justice League headquarters and speculates… and takes credit for it… and then steals the heros’ artifacts.

Then the Crime Syndicate shows up to demand order. They declare: This World is Ours!

If the other villains fall in line with them, the world can be theirs, too.

Superwoman unmasks Nightwing and they vow to hunt down everyone he knows and loves for standing against them (hey wasn’t Lex Luthor just doing that?)

Ultraman declares that this world spends too much time protecting the weak (ummm….) and then some scary fascist stuff about natural selection and the destitute winning.

ANNNNNDDDD…. About the time Ultraman blocks out the sun, Lex Luthor decides he’s in over his head. That’s how you know someone’s really evil, when they are “block out the sun evil.”

The Movement #4

Yeahhh, all caught up now (almost just in time for Ventriloquist!). And with #DiversityInSFF trending all over the twitter this is a great book to review today! 

When we left the Channel M gang, Katharsis had declared that she was a cop (leaving readers to suspect that she had been the rat… errr.. spy) was taken to the station and beaten bloody. Virtue had shown up to demand Katharsis’s release from Captain Meers. 

This book gives the back story and provides insight to the motivations of some of the Movements key players. 

We have Mouse, who was born to a wealthy family but because of circumstances beyond his control, (you know, being a pied piper for rats) he began living on the streets.

 

And Katharsis, an immigrant from Thailand who moved to the US as a child. She became a cop… it’s true! but.. she quit after she discovered that the justice system could be bought and sold. 

 

Tremor… is the spy. It’s very sad. She’s trying to atone for her past. She got her family run out of India (showing off her super powers… don’t judge, you wouldn’t be able to resist).

 

Burden is Amish, raised in horse and buggy country by deeply religious people who convinced him he is possessed. 

 

In the end, they find Katharsis, Tremor decides to align herself with Virtue and the others… for real this time. And everyone tries to get the hell out of there before the choppers come in. 

There’s lotsa skull breaking and badassery on the way to the sub-basement to rescue Katharsis.

 

That’s Captain Meers and Agent Yee

This is calm, cool and organized Virtue

 

(well, actually, I think that’s some fan art. But it’s damn cool.)

I’m looking forward to seeing how Vengeance Moth got her name

 

Look at all these people. They look different, are from different backgrounds, have different values, abilities, cultures, families, religions, ethnicities, races, sexualities. And people claim they can’t write characters this diverse “because it feels forced” let me tell you, this does NOT feel forced. It feels like the population of an actual city, reminiscent of stories people might tell you if you bother to talk to anyone outside of your quiet boring-ass neighborhood. 

Honestly. Pay attention to your surroundings. Talk to people… better yet LISTEN.

I can tell Gail Simone does.

#ThisIsHowYouWriteGood

PS- I said something similar about Dicey Grenor and her awesome and profoundly diverse characters after I read Zeek’s Loving Thorn. (I’m impatiently waiting for her next one.)

PS2- This is a really kick ass interview where Freddie Williams talks about the art/costume design in this book and how they were careful not to hamfist “look Rainmaker is Native American” and actually be subtle and use realistic things that people might actually have if they’re living in an abandoned sweatshop starting a hacktivism movement.

The Movement #1

I picked the first 2 issues of The Movement up last week along with Red Sonja in some sort of Gail Simone extravaganza. I hadn’t heard much about The Movement, and what I’d heard wasn’t great. However, by the first page, I’d decided that I loved it. 

The scene: Coral City.

#1 opens with officers Pena and Whitt hassling some kids, a teenage boy and girl and searching them for drugs. They “find some” on one and offer to let them go, IF the girl gives them a “little peek.” 

However, masked hacktivists record the incident and confront the officers sending them out.

The group, Channel M/the Movement, spreads the footage themselves and to the media. Police chief orders the officers out but bureaucracy has other plans (a scenario that reeks of Gotham City). Then they get a call about another victim of a serial killer they’ve been after that leads them to a church in “the ‘tweens”: the area between 10th and 20th street that the Movement, and vigilantes with interesting superpowers, have taken over. 

A guy who can control rats, a girl who can ride emotions, a girl who can cause earthquakes, a girl with metal wings.

Inside the church a homeless boy is looking demonic, spouting warnings from hell and levitating. The cops have decided he is the serial killer (with no investigation, on the hunch that he’s crazy and in the general area). A masked vigilante sets him straight.

Captain: “There’s a killer in there.”

Virtue: “no, there isn’t. There’s a poor tortured kid with a mental illness who’s been told his whole life he’s possessed. And sadly, he had the superhuman powers to make it happen. We’ll look after them.”

OMG the social commentary: the disenfranchised fighting back, the stigma of mental illness, the corruption of those in perceived power, communities taking care of themselves and their own, creating your own news. I think I’m in love.

Where as some of the set up is very Gotham, the main characters only have themselves and their community for resources, no money, no infrastructure, no more gadgets than your average underemployed twentysomething. They have superpowers, of course, although some are more useful than others, after all, you can’t make earthquakes just anywhere and riding a wave of rats is pretty weird and gross.

I recommend it. It’s not traditional superhero fare by any means, take that however you like. And I like the whole “I see you…” gimmick. The group’s go-to isn’t violence. What they are out for isn’t about power or revenge, it’s truth, it’s transparency.

Top 10 Movies About Aliens

Today is the 66th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident reporting! (Thanks, Google!)

There are SO many movies about alien foes, alien friends and intergalactic travelers. It was hard to choose!

10. Lilo and Stitch

9. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The movie could never live up to the book.

8. Barbarella

Freaky children! Creepy dolls! Hot babes! In outer space! Campy fun.

7. Titan AE

Sidenote- I have a total crush on Matt Damon. I met him once.

6. Starship Troopers

It’s sort of a rip off of Armor. Whatever. It’s still cool.

5. It Came From Outer Space

Which is less about aliens than it is about the Cold War

4. Superman: Doomsday

The most popular alien of all time unearths intergalactic serial killer Doomsday and ends up in the fight of his life in this PG-13 goodie.

3. Astro-Zombies

The best/worst movie of all time!

2. Repo Man

In this 1984 CLASSIC Otto, Leila, a secret government agent, and rival Mexican repo men, the Rodriguez Brothers, all compete with each other to find the Malibu containing 4 dead but dangerous aliens. The Malibu is being driven around Los Angeles by a scientist, who originally stole the aliens from and drove to California, slowly losing his sanity on the way due to the radiation omitted by the aliens.

1. Fifth Element

Have you watched any of these goodies? What would you put on your list?

Honorable mentions to both ET and the Avengers!

Book Review #13- Deviants (Dust Chronicles Book 1) by Maureen McGowan

I found this book to be pretty unoriginal, most of the time I was reading it, I was thinking “Wow, this author really wishes she had written thee Hunger Games”

In fact, I made a list of the ways that this book was like the Hunger Games (And how Glory from Deviants was similar to Katniss Everdeen):

Cal to Glory: “You really don’t know what you do to me, how you affect me, do you?” Peeta to Katniss: “I think…you still have no idea. The effect you can have.” (Mockingjay)

 (ZOMG WHY)

Cal immediately, despite the fact that he and Glory have never really even spoken before says he will get himself into a position of power to help Glory and her brother and protect them! 

Glory is suspicious and distrustful! (Katniss is Violent. Distrustful. Manipulative. Deadly.)

Someone says something about getting married even though the female is a sophmore and everyone’s eating rodents!

You can really live outside of the dome! (There really is a District 13!)

Stuff about wristbands and having designations printed on your forearms. (This happened in Mockingjay)

Special glasses to see in the dark. (They really have those in the real world but for some reason they are remarkable)

But Glory actually gets to this point first: I’m done with him holding back his plan, not telling me anything. How dare he get angry when I couldn’t have possibly known I was making a mistake? I will not be ignored. Unlike Katniss who lets Haymitch chew her out for “letting Peeta out of her sight” even though she thought they had one plan and Haymitch had his own secret plan that no one could have told Katniss about because they’re manipulative asshats. So the fact that Glory screams at Burn and decides to try to choke the answers out of him makes me amused.

 “Are there parts of the earth that weren’t destroyed? There couldn’t be, or surely they’d have come to help us.” (Nope, just like District 13 didn’t help the rest of Panem)

Glory and Katniss get suicidal over things that are, yeah, super traumatizing and then someone asks them if they’re “done feeling sorry for themselves” (Burn and Haymitch)

Glory is somehow considered super special for seemingly no reason. Katniss was made the symbol of the revolution for seemingly no reason.

Everyone has secret plans that she’s oblivious to and when she has a secret plan everyone sees through that shit.  

That was 12, some broad, some specific similarities. (I also left some out, like the absurd descriptions of food) 

 

Glory lives in Haven. The world ended after a series of catastrophic natural disasters (Holy crap, that’s 14 ways this is like the Hunger Games). The air got clouded by dust. Dust that made you into a monster (called a Shredder), or can heal you/cause dust madness, or will choke and kill you. “Deviants” as they are called in Haven have special powers, Glory can stop your heart with her mind. Drake grows armor on his body. Gage is the Flash. Burn is the Incredible Hulk. Haven is protected by a dome to keep out the dust.

Glory’s a sixteen year old girl who is taking care of her brother, Drake. They are orphaned and Drake is disabled. People in Haven go to the Hospital and never come back, so she’s keeping that a secret. People in Haven live off meager rations and Glory supplements her rations by killing and eating rats. Compliance Officers are Glory’s main concern. If they find out she’s a deviant or Drake is alive/deviant/disabled they risk being expunged; sent out into the dust and eaten by Shredders, such events are televised throughout Haven (yup. televised murder to scare the population into compliance. The exact reason that they have the Hunger Games. That’s #15). 

Glory meets Burn. Burn tells her people can really live outside of Haven. I was talking to a friend who told me about a book he was reading and then it sounded exactly what I was reading. Here, just read the plot of Wool. It’s sort of like that. A bunch of confusing and implausible action sequences take place. Glory falls for Burn. They reach the Settlement, and the powers that be send Glory back in undercover to Haven. There’s also some talking the middle of this that the Compliance Officers “bring in the dust” to make Shredders (does that make them muttations? That’s 16.). I don’t know how you can “bring in dust” to the entire outside world. Whatever.

Okay, so we established that this book was not very original. The last 50 pages or so were really entertaining. I’d be willing to read the second one (warily). Maybe.

But this was my reaction to the first few pages:

Page 1: “Normal girls run screaming when this close to rats, but I can’t afford luxuries like fear.”

Oh jeez. OMG our female protagonist is one of those rare girls who can… cope with normal shit. Rats, really?

 Page 2 ORPHANS! UF HATES PARENTS

 Page 3 She’s killing rats with her mind! She calls her “specialness” a curse!

 Page 4 Glory’s friend Jayma (a girl) comes up with Scout to hunt rats… so uh what were you talking about 3 pages ago?

And that… earns Deviants 2 dead rats. 

Marvel Now! X-MEN #1 & #2

 

 

So I just picked these up today, #1 is about a month old, and #2 just came out today.

The covers!

Look at these lovely ladies. 

 

And everyone’s looking all bad ass. Storm’s looking FIERCE with her mohawk and cleavage and impeccable posture. Psylocke is looking deadly serious. Kitty looks ready to play or pounce. & Rogue and Rachel are calm, composed and ready for anything. Which is good, because Jubilee up there is about to make some questionable decisions.

And then I saw Issue #2 and said…

Freaking Seriously? There’s a baby?! 

Because even though I know that babies are the superheros of tomorrow, they don’t exactly scream “Hey! Mainstream Readership!” 

And the rest of the team is in the background at war with some machines. Which is a very accurate depiction of what is really going on here.

See, I’m not even mad about the baby. Jubilee adopted/stole him. She carries him in a backpack. He’s carrying an alien bacteria that can possess machines and is out for revenge/hellbent on taking over the Earth. 

Maternal instincts turn troublesome when Jubilee tries to bring baby Viggo to The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Along the way she is followed by X-foe John Sublime, and his sibling is inhabiting this baby. 

Jubilee calls her girls, and they come to her:

awww look a baby! (Storm is not as enthused) 

Rogue averts a train crash, Psylocke works some fabulous telekinetic awesomeness on John Sublime. However, Arkea (the sister/alien bacteria) gets loose and inhabits a comatose Karima, sending the whole school into lockdown! Which is where issue #2 picks up. 

The first X-Man Arkea fights is Beast. The second is Rogue, there’s this one point where Arkea says ” You are stronger than the blue one yet your outward physiology presents as inferior.” And then Rogue punches her through the floor. Hooray!

Arkea/Karima gets away, Jubilee, (a now bacteria free) Viggo, Storm, Rachel and Psylocke fly out after her! Kitty Pryde and the X-Kids are left behind to clean up the destruction… however, one of them digs up a cliffhanger!

So pumped on this. Great story so far, action galore, distinct personalities that translate really well. The art is beautiful and intense. Everyone kicks ass in their own unique way. It’s the X-Men you already love just with less hairy chests. Only 2 issues out so far, so there’s still time to get in on the ground floor… I recommend you do!

“SECURE THE INFANT IT’LL KILL US ALL” 

Legit.

5 Mohawks!

In my quest to find the girl power:

 

 

 

LOOKIT!!! There are no men on this X-Men team!

The sheer fact that I have neglected this for almost a full month gives me great embarrassment and disappointment. I will rectifying this by the weekend and report back.

Additionally, the person who reintroduced this to my attention is someone I frequently have interesting sci-fi related conversations with at a pub we frequent

Aaron: If you could have any superpower what would it be?

Me: super strength

Aaron: What? That’s stupid you’re going to be moving furniture, everyone’s going to want you to help the move.

Me: Well, what would you pick?

Aaron: Telekinesis

Me: Telekinesis. Bah, telekinetics are always resetting the universe.

And then last week he tried to tell me the zombie apocalypse wasn’t a real thing that can happen (but how vampires and werewolves have documented cases). And I was all “Who are you and how could you say that to me?” 

But seriously. Storm’s mohawk. I’m in love.