It has been an interesting storyline regarding Siryn's possession by the death goddess Morrigan in X-Factor. Because Siryn has been acting weird, I like how the team were interrogating Siryn's family and friends (showing her dad Banshee, Dazzler, Madrox, and even Havok with Feral near him) but was very disappointed that 2 other characters with emotional ties to Siryn wasn't shown in this issue: her uncle Black Tom Cassidy and best friend/possible love interest Warpath James Proudstar from X-Force. I agree with LoganAlpha30X33 that Siryn and Warpath had a great friendship and could have a romantic relationship with their unresolved feelings for each other that they never got to express more. As long as the Morrigan is in Siryn's body by possession, the X-Factor team will need help from Siryn's family and friends in trying to exorcise the Morrigan. I hope Warpath and Black Tom Cassidy can be there to help Siryn.
The series has been getting better and better. I was totally ready to write off this series when they had that Mojoverse detour.
Although Daken hasn't been 'in character' to how he has been in the past (murderous villain; fixation on Iceman, etc), this is a good take and development for the character. Changing, but being tortured with 'no one cares about you' is something anyone can relate to (more than just being a villainous wolverine).
The major problem I have been having with the series is that a good sense of time is not there. They way things are portrayed makes it seem like it is all happening over one afternoon/day. But then there are the random bits of dialogue about people being gone for days. I feel like this has happened in past issues, where there is a weird sense of compression and decompression.
Once again, Leah (like Vita) is bringing the A game for a team book. Every character has a part of the main plot or their own subplot. We get more questions and answers around resurrection protocols and connections to the other books.
Bonus points for giving me all that glorious soap opera with burgeoning relationships interwoven through the plot itself. And making Daken both likeable and sympathetic! Never would have expected that! She punches up with her whole cast! More points for all these cameos.
I'm still in the middle on the art, but it's solid and expressive.
I honestly don't care that it's this wordy. Give me ALL the words! At least it takes more than 5 minutes to read. I also like how her data pages have been utilized here.
That ending kind of threw me off, but it did leave me curious and that's not nothing.
Oops, my bad lol.
I’ve been on these boards long enough to know that a book like this is going to appeal to a very large amount of posters that frequent here. The posters who really enjoy the relationship aspect of x-men are extremely passionate about it and I completely understand that passion even if mine is different. I would never want to talk down to someone because they enjoyed a comic I didn’t and I’ve always tried to criticize the book not the writer and definitely not the fans. I can also appreciate a vigorous and even some what heated debate as long as things stay respectful. I appreciate you taking a moment to recognize that not all criticism has to be a “me vs you” mentality.
After a weaker last issue I find that Leah has found her stride again here. It's become clear to me that she excels at character work, making skillful use of continuity and developing relationships. She's also very good at writing a team book as an actual team book and giving every member of her cast their due while also bringing in supporting characters.
What I've seen from her in terms of story development is a lot weaker unfortunately, but if she keeps the book's focus mainly on the characters it will still make for an enjoyable read.
I also started to get intrigued by the mystery surrounding David's death - interviews previously hinted at the story potential of mutants getting resurrected despite not being actually dead, and this issue seems to hint there might possibly be 2 Prodigies walking around, so I'm definitely curious to see where this is headed.
Legit asking because I want to know if I missed something but when did Speed come out?
To my knowledge he was straight and in more or less a steady on-and-off-again relationship with Kate Bishop. The only interaction he had with Prodigy was after Children's Crusade and that was for like a few pages before he became one with the Force or whatever happened.
He never formally came out. The EMPEROR HULKLING one-shot was the first on-panel confirmation that his friendship with Prodigy had become more than platonic. There had been speculation about it though since the way Tommy reacted when the two of them accidentally kissed in the final issue of YOUNG AVENGERS volume 2. Tommy didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that he was kissing a guy, but just that Prodigy was "moving too fast".
The relationship between them developed off-panel since then.
He and Kate had a flirtation and went a casual date or two, but never got into a relationship. He also had an off-panel relationship with Coat Of Arms at some point prior to becoming a Young Avenger. But Tommy had never actually defined his sexuality at any point--its just that until Prodigy we'd only ever seen him flirt with (two) girls.
Apparently not Leah and the writer of the Empyre issue Anthony Olivera, were planning Thinkfast together before Empyre issue cameout so they both wanted this to happen she just talked about it on Twitter how the ship was their mutual brainchild.
https://mobile.twitter.com/mymonster...55257199452160
Technically David and Tommy met back in 2013's Young Avengers: Style > Substance.
David was working at a superhuman call center and Tommy was speed-assembling-products for the same organization. They combined their efforts to catch a thief dressed like Tommy's former teammate Patriot, but Tommy was unfortunately "disappeared" by the culprit who then fled, leading to David seeking out the aid of the Young Avengers to rescue Tommy.
Prodigy's appearances among the Young Avenger characters carried on through the years and into the Empyre event, starting with the Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling one-shot (depicted early in the scan of their clubbing) and again in the Empyre finale at the Emperor's wedding reception in space.
So the relationship has been slowly simmering to the now rolling sexy bubble it is, thanks to the long-game-fostering by Kieron Gillen, Anthony Oliveira, Al Ewing & Leah Williams.
Respectfully, 4 separate authors, 4 separate titles, and 1 event only feels "out of nowhere" if you've not been avidly following like some of we super fans. Understandable really. I personally have zero clue what's going on in Carol Danver's love life or Steve Rogers for that matter because I'm less invested.
This also feels closer to me to a lot of the best runs on the character (Dark Wolverine, The Logan Legacy, his appearances in All-New Wolverine and X-Men Blue). His Uncanny X-Force/Uncanny Avengers appearances as well as his Iceman appearances always felt like character regression to me (especially Iceman, that just came out of nowhere and was completely inconsistent with recent appearances).
As a fan of how Daken was portrayed in Dark Wolverine, I'm not particularly loving how he's currently being written by Williams, however I do appreciate her acknowledging the change in this issue as him trying to make an effort and be happy.
I'm also not that invested in the Jeanne-Marie romance for now but hope it will grow on me I guess.
After re-reading this comic multiple times, I have to say that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first time.
I still don't like Morrigan.
The relationship between Daken and Aurora just doesn't work for me.
As others have said, it does seem odd that characters like Banshee and Black Tom weren't contacted as soon as Siryn began constantly dying. I mean the Banshee is Terry's father. You'd think that he would be told the first time that she died.
I think that the biggest problem for me is that I don't feel that the art matches the story. Actually, I don't think that the art doesn't really match the series as a whole.
So maybe the problem is me.
The biggest problem that I have is with the art
Last edited by Thievery; 02-05-2021 at 01:02 PM.