X-Men Blue #23 SPOILERS Summary

[Heroine Addict]

• Starts off with what we saw in the 5 preview pages: Raksha tries sneakin' in, but is literally caught by Polaris, who takes them to Magneto; at a meeting of the minds, it's learned Bloodstorm & Jimmy are elsewhere on a mission, and the Hellfire Club are in town.
• NeXt up, it's revealed Mags & Briar are only there in digital form as well, and that word has it a Mutant "catastrophe" is on the horizon. It's decided things will continue as planned anyway, with Lorna in Madripoor for support if needed, and the rest out & about on separate operations.
• A Prime Sentinel base in Colombia, is infiltrated & laid waste to, by Bastion & Havok. Alex makes a curious remark here, quickly correcting his use of "human", to "flatscan"... hmmm...
• Polaris discusses the younger Summers with a probing & perceptive Nightshade, kinda comin' clean with her concern over him. The inversion is clearly addressed & asserted as still being in play, at this point.
• Best part IMO, follows, with Erik in London to confront Shaw:

• B'storm & Jimbo are in the Mojave Desert spying on the Ult Marauders & a mystery guest, which turns out to be Xorn, who ominously warns they shouldn't have followed him there.
• In closing, it's another meeting of the minds, but from the opposition this time:

• ... and a wholly unsurprising, but MOST unfortuitousness cliffhanger, namely... Polaris POSSESSED!!

Sorry for the lack of detail & sorta rush ending, in a hurry, but will elaborate more later.

[DDM]

Briar <3
Xorn <3 <3
Malice <3 <3 <3

RIP Ferris

Man, dump the O5 and this book just skyrockets. Feels like we’re back to Uncanny again.

That said Bunn’s Emma still feels weak. I hope she calls Alex “Basilisk” when she’s binding and fucking him in her dungeon.

[Vegeta]

This issue was a huge step up from that dull as hell Venom crossover last month.

[wano]

THIS SHOULD BE UNCANNY X-MEN AND the O5 should remain as blue. Set up issues work great when the comic is released twice a month

[DDM]

THIS SHOULD BE UNCANNY X-MEN AND the O5 should remain as blue. Set up issues work great when the comic is released twice a month

Honestly they should just keep Tyke (put him on Kitty’s team for the symbolic inversion) and get rid of the other 4. He’s the only one with any real thematic relevance left except (a little bit) Beast. Jeen, Icetwink and Angel all feel like their stories are over now and the characters resolved, and they all feel redundant with their older selves back.

[Heroine Addict]

IDK Soulsword, on Polaris/Malice, so far it's a wait & see... and the jury's still out, for me.

[Fantasy Free Me]

Good:

- Emma's Whedon's era costume.
- Emma and Alex were indeed planning to betray them from the beginning and just want to use Bastion and Miss Sinister.
- Art.

[Soulsword323]

As a Polaris fan, this was disappointing. Once again a writer devolves Lorna's character to nothing more than the doting girlfriend. That's the only reason why she's ever there. She doesn't get to have a larger agenda, just wants to fix her former man, because she hurts too much. I know that Polaris and Havok were close, and that Bunn can't just ignore that, but the way he portrays it is problematic. All this does is fuel my ever raging hatred for anything that involved "Just call me, Alex." and Lorna. Then to top it all off we have more of the mind controlled Lorna troupe. I had thought that Polaris might have freed herself from this, but with seeing Xorn in that Jimmy and Bloodstorm scene, I wouldn't be shocked if he joins them in fighting Malice, and ends up being the one to free her.

It was hard to stomach a lot of this, especially the whole being worried about Alex because of Lorna's time as Malice. Sure. The man who gave up on Lorna while she was possessed as Malice, and decided it was a better idea to nail his brother's ex-wife, and then realize maybe he loved Maddie more than Lorna.





So gross, and such a double standard. I had hoped that Bunn would rise above this, but he didn't. Did enjoy the Shaw bit though.

[jmc247]

As a Polaris fan, this was disappointing. Once again a writer devolves Lorna's character to nothing more than the doting girlfriend. That's the only reason why she's ever there. She doesn't get to have a larger agenda, just wants to fix her former man, because she hurts too much. I know that Polaris and Havok were close, and that Bunn can't just ignore that, but the way he portrays it is problematic. All this does is fuel my ever raging hatred for anything that involved "Just call me, Alex." and Lorna. Then to top it all off we have more of the mind controlled Lorna troupe. I had thought that Polaris might have freed herself from this, but with seeing Xorn in that Jimmy and Bloodstorm scene, I wouldn't be shocked if he joins them in fighting Malice, and ends up being the one to free her.

It was hard to stomach a lot of this, especially the whole being worried about Alex because of Lorna's time as Malice. Sure. The man who gave up on Lorna while she was possessed as Malice, and decided it was a better idea to nail his brother's ex-wife, and then realize maybe he loved Maddie more than Lorna.

Agreed completely she was back to being the one dimensional worried girlfriend character. I said before back last Summer I didn't care if Lorna wants to help save Havok and completely understand its in character for her to want to do that and am ok with it. But, and its pretty simple she also shouldn't be simply the girlfriend who wants to save her true love... the only man she ever loved while he had woman after woman (like his brother's exes). The character needs depth and something else she is for.

So far it smells alot like 1980s Lorna and that was her worst decade in the comics by far. Maybe she can break free from this Malice, maybe not in the end I just hope the character is more multifaceted and complex then what was given to us to date going forward in Blue even if Bunn does restore a one sided romantic relationship I loath. I just hope the next few issues can manage to turn things around in this area.

[AbnormallyNormal]

Already posted some thoughts in Polaris thread but

GREAT art

Like Briar's portrayal she is scheming half insane etc, I like that character

Bloodstorm looked really cool in this, her hair seems shorter or more cropped in some panels

Overall I don't think Emma fans have a LOT to whine about she was portrayed clearly as a struggling antihero not a full blown villain

The scenes with Bastion and Havok in a buddy duo fighting Sentinels was weird but I sorta dug it

The end "twist" obviously pisses off anyone who is a fan of Polaris but hopefully it will prove overall beneficial if she is able to free herself eventually and become a deeper character as a result

Oh yeah and it was interesting they made Gazing Nightshade look so similar to Jubilee too lol. Even though you could say she looks similar to Blindfold already

[jmc247]

The end "twist" obviously pisses off anyone who is a fan of Polaris but hopefully it will prove overall beneficial if she is able to free herself eventually and become a deeper character as a result

The twist I can deal with. I can even deal with Havolaris and you know how I feel about that 'relationship'. Lorna having no depth and being generic and in the end mono dimensional is a step above the other two.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Maddy was like 30 years ago, and done mostly to whitewash Scott's abandoning Maddy and their son...and what if say by chance Bunn were to write a two sided romance for the pair...not that I expect that to happen but I just wonder how many would like that...

[Soulsword323]

Agreed completely she was back to being the one dimensional worried girlfriend character. I said before back last Summer I didn't care if Lorna wants to help save Havok and completely understand its in character for her to want to do that and am ok with it. But, and its pretty simple she also shouldn't be simply the girlfriend who wants to save her true love... the only man she ever loved while he had woman after woman (like his brother's exes). The character needs depth and something else she is for.

So far it smells alot like 1980s Lorna and that was her worst decade in the comics by far. Maybe she can break free from this Malice, maybe not in the end I just hope the character is more multifaceted and complex then what was given to us to date going forward in Blue even if Bunn does restore a one sided romantic relationship I loath. I just hope the next few issues can manage to turn things around in this area.

Exactly. I don't see why people don't see this. I mean, really? Her character is there for Havok. She's just the supporting act to his story.

[jmc247]

Oh, I forgot to compliment the artist, amazing job, absolutely stellar.

The writing for Magneto was stellar as well and I felt it was quite strong for inverted Havok and good for Emma as well. Jimmy and Bloodstorm had some nice scenes. Lorna? I said my piece on that.

Exactly. I don't see why people don't see this. I mean, really? Her character is there for Havok. She's just the supporting act to his story.

Right now I would agree.

But, I have said this before and even though I am not sure it deserves it at this point I am still giving it to at least Blue 25 to see if Blue finds some kind of depth or agenda for Lorna besides saving her ex.