Monday, June 23, 2008

It Came From the Gamma Quadrant

So the previews for X-Factor #33 are looking pretty awesome. Peter David throws a real curveball into the Skrull invasion storyline--turns out the Skrulls aren't the only shapeshifters in town! Yep, X-Factor and the greater Detroit metro area (or wherever) have been infiltrated by blunt-faced changelings from DS9. A time-displaced Odo has taken over as Jamie's changeling replacement but, given his inability to replicate a human face, he isn't fooling anyone; still, looks like Guido and Val will play along for now.

What happens next in the epic clash between Skrulls, changelings, and mutants? Why did Val Cooper spend the past five months eating steroids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Stay tuned to find out!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Finally, a comic for people who failed Basic Cultural Sensitivity 101

So the next X-Men story arc is, er, X-Men: Manifest Destiny, which suggests the title was conceived by people who have no idea what, exactly, Manifest Destiny entailed. Now, if the underlying theme was that Cyclops' fisty, fisty concept of "leadership" ("let's send people to beat the crap out of everyone until we are all perfectly safe--do we still have any disposable teenagers left?") is moronic and should be humored by no-one, then hey, you might manage to justify the title with a strained analogy. But that could be asking a lot from the folks who thought X-Force: Needs More Clawz, Rawr!! was a good idea.

Speaking of people who have no idea what Manifest Destiny actually involved, Newsarama poses a question to Axel Alonso:

Newsarama: The term Manifest Destiny beares a significant amount of weight in the history of the U.S. and the expansion of civilization to the Western shores of North America--how does this metaphor apply to the X-Men beyond the obvious move to San Francisco?

Axel Alonso: The X-Men’s move to San Francisco is more than just a change in scenery – it’s a change in strategy. It’s a large part of Cyclops' vision for what the X-Men should be – and one thing they should not be is sitting ducks in a hostile world.


The expansion of civilization, eh? Well, gee. Thanks for the blankets, white man.