Marvel Comics: Bring Back The New X-Men

Enjoyable first episode, manages to both set up this version of Hal Jordan and John Stewart, how the Green Lanterns work in the DCU, and what the actual stakes are in an organic way that had the risk of feeling over-stuffed but worked out really well.

Does the impossible by making me engaged with a Hal Jordan Green Lantern story that isn't New Frontier, and while my speculation for what the show would be about are largely WAY off, I'm curious where this all goes. Definitely looking forward to seeing Aaron Pierre's John Stewart in Man of Tomorrow and other expanded DCU stuff.

Notes and Spoilers

Yeah… it’s weird because Liu wrote some of the best moments between them in “the killing dream” to boot!

I don’t really get fan hate or screaming he was abusive before Liu- if anything I would say KYOST wrote a really lovely complex relationship that subverted gender stereotypes and explored a connection where both parties struggled to fully understand how deep it went, while also showcasing autonomy and connection?

Yeah… it’s weird because Liu wrote some of the best moments between them in “the killing dream” to boot!

I don’t really get fan hate or screaming he was abusive before Liu- if anything I would say KYOST wrote a really lovely complex relationship that subverted gender stereotypes and explored a connection where both parties struggled to fully understand how deep it went, while also showcasing autonomy and connection?

Yeah… it’s weird because Liu wrote some of the best moments between them in “the killing dream” to boot!

I don’t really get fan hate or screaming he was abusive before Liu- if anything I would say KYOST wrote a really lovely complex relationship that subverted gender stereotypes and explored a connection where both parties struggled to fully understand how deep it went, while also showcasing autonomy and connection?

“Fastball Special”

It’s all just…

The classic what if that came closest to clicking with me is the one where Steve Rogets was unfrozen decades later and in the meantime the fifties Cap pushed America further into authoritarianism. It’s well done and very relevant, but it’s a struggle to read because of how dark and “real” it is. It’s just “oof.”

It’s just funny that I like the genre and the concept of what if, but don’t actually like any of the specific ones. The recent mini series were particularly unappealing to me, the first was just “what if some decades old marvel arcs went in a darker direction,” so it’s not exactly relevant to me as a reader who started in the 2010s, and based on the issue I read the scenarios are just overwhelmingly grim. Meanwhile the second most recent mini was just “what if *popular marvel superhero* became Venom instead of Brock,” and the third is coming out now and my suspicions is it’s just “what if Galactus made *popular marvel superhero* his Herald.” Those last two minis feel especially lacking in depth. Their premise is just “what if big IP was a different IP.” And maybe I am unfair, I didn’t read either mini, but the core concept utterly failed to grab me.

Again, I think what ifs are interested, but like no canon ones interest me. Maybe it’s because I started out reading Avengers Academy, I now get drawn to “unimportant” characters, and they aren’t the ones who get to star in what ifs.

And then you get the Spiderverse and Venomverse anthologies which sometimes have actually compelling premises (makes sense, anthologies are always going to have some hits) but they only are setups to big events where the multiverses is threatened and those new versions of characters are almost guaranteed to get murdered. It’s like, I just want a fun little what if anthology where the fate of reality is not at stake, and instead the books discuss “what if this character’s life went differently?”

Like “what if Finesse, Mettle, and Haxmat did sacrifice themselves to take out two of the Worthy,” or “what if Laura and Jeanne’s falling out got more violent?” Again with the Avengers Academy

Anyway it’s just funny that I allegedly like what ifs, but I only like them in theory not in practice.

My problem (I forget if I just said this in dms to friends or in posts) is it needed to be a mini series. The story starts strong and ends strong, but we barely get to see the 2099 heroes in action or experience their dynamics, Cap’s first speech is reduced to “and then he said a great speech” in captions, and the revolution is a montage. We needed to live in this what if longer. We needed to see the revolution, the fallen heroes return from the shadows, and maybe reference some of their original stories from the nineties. It has a lot of potential, but because it’s limited to a single issue, it comes across as a hybrid of a one-shot and an issue of History of the Marvel Universe, listing off historic events.

Maybe I am being unfair. I wanted to like it, and for the first chunk I did. But as it got closer to the end it became “why do I care about these characters other than Cap?” Because you do care about Cap, but I wanted more. I wanted this to itch my brain for years to come. But instead, it is too short to reach its ambitions. As the kids might say, it had the sauce, but it needed to simmer.

Honestly just adding a second issue might have been enough. Have the first issue end with Cap beginning a revolution, that way we get to see more of the heroes and learn their vibes, foreshadow the two heroes from the montage. Then have issue two be part of the revolution, and keep the ending the same. That could have been enough. Even having a two issue gap would leave space for future stories. But it’s one and done in a rushed way.

Are you kidding me?

After being absent since the fall of Krakoa, Wither reappears, working with Blade on some unknown emergency.

Could this be it? Could it be the first time Kevin has had any plot relevance in a comic since 2010 (never mind that Gwenpool one-off)?

Could it be related to Selene? Is this the start of Wither's career as a vampire hunter?

;-;