Onyx Onslaughts
March 1999
This month I'm going to rant about (what else?) the Magneto War...
(Started in February) Okay, I've only read parts 1 and 2 of the Magneto War and I'm already in an outrage! Why, you might ask? All it took was the Prelude in ish #85. For just a bit there, I dared to hope that we were seeing a return of the Magnus I'd grown to love years ago, when Claremont was writing him. The dialogue with the average joe, Bill Jones, was wonderfully done for the first half or so of the issue. Magnus seemed to truly care about his decision, seemed to be taking the facts into consideration, even though the premise of deciding the fate of the human race on the beliefs of one man struck me as rather silly. Still, it was a good a starting place as any I suppose, Magnus had to get some input from somewhere. What really floored me though was the seeming 180 toward the end of the issue, when Magnus reveals his true nature in a most terrifying way, scaring the hell out of this poor, helpless human, who is only reacting in the same way any creature would in the face of such a threat and constant badgering. Bill even goes so far as to explain this to Magnus, that his reaction was a normal, natural one, in an impassioned speech that would have reached the old Magnus immediately and made him rethink his actions. Instead, we see
Magnus ignore the mans response in favor of his own decision and agenda, even going so far as to say "they have forced my hand". What a load of CRAP! Why did he even bother to conduct this little
experiment if he was only going to go with his own assumpitons after all? During the time Magneto was a great character, he would have heard this mans words and heeded them, understood them, taken them
to heart.
Perhaps I see just a flash of the character I remember in the final panel before he flies off, away from Bill: When Bill calls him a monster, he looks back over his shoulder at the man with...what is that? Anger, certainly, but I also see some suprise and maybe some self-loathing. There is more than anger there, at any rate, as if he has a moment of second thought...yet he still goes on with his plan, even seeming to blame Bill for his reasoning. It's incredibly contradictory to me, and horribly out of character...they can't seem to keep Magnus' characterization consistant in even one issue....I fear for the entire coming storyline, which is likely to span more than 5 issues. At least we have seen the return of some thinking and motivation behind Magneto, but it is a far cry from the man I once thought of as a tragic hero.
(March)I have, of course, finished reading the Magneto War by now, and I'm not much happier than I was before. Joseph's death was all too predictable (I mean, what else could they do with him? Even the man who created him had no idea what his origin story was!), and introducing Astra, a brand new character, and trying to pass her off as an original member of the Brotherhood was a pathetic idea and horribly executed. The ONLY thing I saw in this story that gave me any sort of a good feeling were: Gambit's one-liners (good for grins) and the FAINT re-emergence of Magneto as a thinking villain rather than a deranged killer. I only hope the Magneto Rex series follows this lead and returns to us a Magneto of at least "Savage Land" story proportions.
What do the rest of you think? Feedback is welcome (and some may even get posted) and also, if you have something you'd like to rant about, send it all to onyx@itookmyprozac.com.
October 1998
This months onslaught (or rant) will be about Uncanny X-Men #361, which I found to be...well...read on...
Okay, I've been waiting for this issue since #350; the triumphant return
of Gambit to the X-Men. I
have to say that this issue fell far short of my expectations.
Let's start with the plot, shall we? *ahem* Kitty and Storm meet with
Black Tom Cassidy about stealing
back the gem of cytorrak because Juggernaut is dying with the energy
having been stolen from him.
What? Does this sound contrived? Wait! It gets better! Then, Gambit just
HAPPENS to show up in the
same place because HE heard that someone needed the services of a master
thief, also. So, in all the
world, the only two thieves to show up there are Storm and Gambit? What
are the odds? Then, shortly
after formally meeting Kitty for the first time, he seems to take an
instant liking to her, as if he'd
always had emotional ties to her, calling her "Katie" (KATIE for Gods
sake! YUCK!) and going on and on
about her safety. I think he must have called her name in fear for her
at least 3 times in this issue. What
the hell is that all about? Gambit has ever been a freelance type
character, never showing his true
emotions about anyone unless backed against the wall. It's a defense
mechanism, the best one in the world
for not getting hurt; don't let anyone get too close. So he meets Kitty
and suddenly starts acting as if he
has this great emotional bond with her? What? I remember back in the old
days, he would put off his
actions of helping in a fight very suavely, saying something more flip
and smooth rather than freaking out
with wide-eyed, openmouthed shock when helping save someone. In fact, I
rarely remember ever seeing
Gambit in shock at all. So how is it that he can be this upset over a
girl he barely knows and who has
EVERY reason to hate him? Which brings me to my next point:
Kitty shakes this mans hand and tells him she's heard a lot about him
with RESPECT in this issue.
Um..hello? Haven't you heard the latest news? This is the man who's
being held responsible by all the
other X-Men for causing the Mutant Massacre. You remember that, don't
you? The fight where you got
hurt so bad you began to phase apart uncontrollably and needed Dr. Doom
and Reed Richards to save
your life? I know you do. Not to say that I agree with the X-Mens
assessment of the situation, but since
the writers chose to stick Gambit with this utter crock, then they
should at least play it out correctly
and according to character. Kitty would NOT be so ready to just forgive.
Not without tearing into him at
least a LITTLE, first. Maybe Storm is ready to make amends, but Kitty
never had any ties to this man in
the first place.
THEN, there's Rogue, who suddenly starts showing concern for Gambit this
issue, going out and looking
for him, referring back to how she's looked for him 4 or 5 times since
the trial. What? Um...okay,
MAYBE I can buy off on this, but why haven't we seen it up til now?
What's with all the off panel stuff
going on? If you're going to try and convince me that Rogue cares, you
should have shown SOMETHING
in the previous 10 issues. The only thing I ever saw her do was go on
about how as far as she's concerned
"he's dead". So NOW suddenly she decides to care? A little consistency
here would be nice.
And then the characterizing of Storm. She's gotten a lot more uppity and
formal sounding than ever
before. She's not tough anymore, it's like she just preaches endlessly
while she's fighting, to the point of
being ridiculous. And in this issue, her reaction toward seeing Gambit
again left a lot to be desired. It
was as if she couldn't even decide how she felt when she first saw him,
yet by the end of the issue, she
presents, what to me, is one of the weakest excuses I've ever heard for
him coming back to the team...and
he accepts?! Just like that? After everything that's happened, and
without even any time out for
explanations about anything? After Storms many amibiguous comments, I'd
think he'd be a bit more
hesitant. And now Wolverine even shows tones of forgiveness, somewhat
perplexing after his comment
about "How many more Gambit's is it gonna take?" several issues ago.
AUGH!!!
No consistency here folks, none at ALL. I only hope that Kelly does a
better job with issue 81, but I have
my doubts, considering how everything has been handled so far. Also, I
usually like Seagles writing (not
as much as Kelly's, but I like it) and this issue came off to me as
poorly written and very contrived. Flat.
Like he pulled it out of his...uh...well, you get the idea. There wasn't
a lot of thought put into it all, and
the emotions that should have been present during such a reunion were
conspicuously absent.
And to top it all off, when asked how he got back from Antarctica,
Gambit answers "I walked, let's just
leave it at that, shall we?" and they show a panel of an arctic shelf
several months ago with TWO sets of
footprints across it. So who helped him? Hmm...can't be anyone GOOD or
else he would have said who,
right? It's like they're determined to make him the bad guy, no matter
what. I'm betting the help was
from Sinister...I'm almost sure of it. So where does that leave Gambit?
In bed with the bad guys, once
again. GRRRR....
Anyway, there're my complaints. In fact, I have NOTHING good to say
about this issue. It almost
struck me as a filler story (which, I guess it is, considering the
editors plans for the fall).
Nuff said! Til next time, True Believers!
You are flatscan ?????? to listen to Onyx complain.
