X-men #19 Review/Spoiler - In the Fire of Each Other

[Malachi]

but is that a problem? He's been dead for 20 years and has been back for a year and a half with this being the first issue he's recieved any focus. He needed this to recontextualize and define him in the current era, more so than the other characters. His voice needed to be at the forefront. This issue did not damage Laura or Darwin in anyway and I feel the outrage against how things were presented to be a bit blown out or proportion. They'll be fine.

No outrage from my side. Not sure how others feel. If you talked with me in person you would see that I'm just interested in storytelling. Bad or good. Whatever piques my interest.

[Malachi]

Honestly it seems some of ya'll are just mad that didn't happen so you could go. "well that's not valid because the story was from Synch perspective so any words ascribed to to her is through his lens. I'm glad hickman did it the right way where you all have to reach.

If you honestly feel that way after all my posts on the subject(witch at least for me are plenty) then there isn't much more I can say. Witch is fine by me. I feel I have said enough on this issue anyway.

[Rev9]

Guys ,just a tangent..was the panel of the CoV standing over Synch before killing him, showing us the conquistador 5 at level 4 evolution? Maybe I'm stretching but hear me out.Aguja is there, the four arm guy ,may be Perro coz his power was over gravity and he was always the hulky brawler. Fuego must be the Green fellow with pink vents all over face and chest.Fuego is raw fire/energy , those vents or whatever they were must be for dissipating or discharging his energy.The guy with the mandible like jaws(ninja guy with blades) could be Sangre..he seems a tenuous connection, but if his liquid body is now gaseous or something it would mean he's in some suit, although I admit that it's not a full body suit.Lastly Serafina always had her wires and cords that she interfaced with machine hardware, and the pink alien like creature had tentacles for appendages, which makes me think it's her.Could they already be at level 4? Knowing how the five always stick together, Aguja rolling with a different set of children seems highly unlikely to me..Thoughts?

[Rang10]

But we did see it happening:


Along with seeing:
Everett and Laura working together to save Darwin
Laura letting Everett go ahead because he was weaker

This issue just did a lot more showing with art than telling through dialogue.

This page is just laura helping Sych, they hold hands, Darwin is regenarating tey have some laugh and run. There is nothing deep here, just some basic things being told

[pkingdom]

I assume they gained vital informations on where the weakpoints in the structure of Children's organization might be. Plus weren't they supposed to also bring back DNA samples once they escaped (which of course didn't happen)? So perhaps the intention was to present the outcome as something similar to that of Rogue One.

So while the X-men might soon have a major assault comming their way, in the form of even faster evolved Children of the Vault, thanks to having gained access to Darwin, the X-men also potentialy got the narrative "I-win" button from Synch's information. By knowing who is calling the shots in the Vault and how the children are actualy created.

That's what's confusing me. Didn't they already know all that? The Children being grown by a super AI that they report too unquestionably, and as for their 'organization' there have never really been more than like 5 of them. So its not like a giant group like Hydra that they can play members against each other.

It comes down to the Children never feeling like the kind of threat that the narration has built them up as. They're jobbers, with frankly really basic superpowers. You would think they were an existential threat like Thanos or something by the way the narration treats them. Hell, KNULL feels like more of a threat than them, and Knull sucks! After X of Swords I just have no confidence in the ability of these writers to write good villains and struggles. There have been almost no consequences or actual stakes and struggles this entire relaunch. And even now, I can't feel any kind of emotional response for Laura and Darwin dying because they've made character death matter even less than it usually does in a comic book. The twist with Sync really only works when the reader gets to see the relationships develop and spend time with the current status before hitting the reset button. Like if this had been a 60 hour RPG or a 2 hour movie that really emphasized the romance, then it would work better. But this was delivered with the emotion of a Wikipedia plot recitation.

[Triniking1234]

That's what's confusing me. Didn't they already know all that? The Children being grown by a super AI that they report too unquestionably, and as for their 'organization' there have never really been more than like 5 of them. So its not like a giant group like Hydra that they can play members against each other.

It comes down to the Children never feeling like the kind of threat that the narration has built them up as. They're jobbers, with frankly really basic superpowers. You would think they were an existential threat like Thanos or something by the way the narration treats them. Hell, KNULL feels like more of a threat than them, and Knull sucks! After X of Swords I just have no confidence in the ability of these writers to write good villains and struggles. There have been almost no consequences or actual stakes and struggles this entire relaunch. And even now, I can't feel any kind of emotional response for Laura and Darwin dying because they've made character death matter even less than it usually does in a comic book. The twist with Sync really only works when the reader gets to see the relationships develop and spend time with the current status before hitting the reset button. Like if this had been a 60 hour RPG or a 2 hour movie that really emphasized the romance, then it would work better. But this was delivered with the emotion of a Wikipedia plot recitation.

So far we know the homo novissma have the potential of taking over Earth and killing the mutants as seen in Moira's 6th life however Moira never mentioned the Vault Children in her memories so Xavier had Cyclops send a team to measure their threat level.

[jwatson]

Guys ,just a tangent..was the panel of the CoV standing over Synch before killing him, showing us the conquistador 5 at level 4 evolution? Maybe I'm stretching but hear me out.Aguja is there, the four arm guy ,may be Perro coz his power was over gravity and he was always the hulky brawler. Fuego must be the Green fellow with pink vents all over face and chest.Fuego is raw fire/energy , those vents or whatever they were must be for dissipating or discharging his energy.The guy with the mandible like jaws(ninja guy with blades) could be Sangre..he seems a tenuous connection, but if his liquid body is now gaseous or something it would mean he's in some suit, although I admit that it's not a full body suit.Lastly Serafina always had her wires and cords that she interfaced with machine hardware, and the pink alien like creature had tentacles for appendages, which makes me think it's her.Could they already be at level 4? Knowing how the five always stick together, Aguja rolling with a different set of children seems highly unlikely to me..Thoughts?

I thought the same thing and looked at the image several times but still can't come to a conclusion because thugh most looked different the one with the braid was consistent from version 2 to 3 so I couldn't say definitively that version 4 killed synch but I had the same thought as you.

[Rev9]

So far we know the homo novissma have the potential of taking over Earth and killing the mutants as seen in Moira's 6th life however Moira never mentioned the Vault Children in her memories so Xavier had Cyclops send a team to measure their threat level.

I think CoV are homo novossima, and always have been.So Moira trying to prevent humanity from getting there is a lost cause.My thinking in life 6 they are all blue coz maybe CoV defeated Apocalypse in the life and also atomised him and infused his being into their evolution cycle machine and perhaps all turned blue.Now that I've read this issue my suspicions seem reinforced.I always had that feeling, just couldn't get why they were all blue.Maybe they pulled of a Magneto move in the first X men film turning Apocalypse into some sort of 'mothervine' but that made all humanity novissima uniformly with only the hue of the skin being the give away

[Rev9]

That's what's confusing me. Didn't they already know all that? The Children being grown by a super AI that they report too unquestionably, and as for their 'organization' there have never really been more than like 5 of them. So its not like a giant group like Hydra that they can play members against each other.

It comes down to the Children never feeling like the kind of threat that the narration has built them up as. They're jobbers, with frankly really basic superpowers. You would think they were an existential threat like Thanos or something by the way the narration treats them. Hell, KNULL feels like more of a threat than them, and Knull sucks! After X of Swords I just have no confidence in the ability of these writers to write good villains and struggles. There have been almost no consequences or actual stakes and struggles this entire relaunch. And even now, I can't feel any kind of emotional response for Laura and Darwin dying because they've made character death matter even less than it usually does in a comic book. The twist with Sync really only works when the reader gets to see the relationships develop and spend time with the current status before hitting the reset button. Like if this had been a 60 hour RPG or a 2 hour movie that really emphasized the romance, then it would work better. But this was delivered with the emotion of a Wikipedia plot recitation.

They are 3000, in the vault as per their first appearance (the last issue of Supernovas tells us their population) and also Xmen#5

As for them being a threat, they are a threat of a different kind, that frankly I find more interesting-they are my fave X-Men villains despite not taking up much space in X-Men lore.I always found threats like Knull/Galactus/Thanos boring af.They are just there to obliterate, the 'why' doesn't matter even if it exists because the scope of their reach is so vast that the motivation is drowned out by their threat level.CoV are basically evil X-Men.If the X-Men were super racist,( better word is 'speciest' because they see themselves as superior species to humanity and all others that are not their own gene pool) then they would be text book CoV. So who would mind an evil X-Men 'off-shoot'? I know people will say the Brotherhood already exists(well Krakoa has probably snuffed out its relevance anyway) but the CoV are not only more unique because they have completely different history, culture and ethos but to me they come across as more powerful especially because each individual can evolve into a different iteration with different power(that is even without presuming they have a handful of omegas in their ranks) With them you can always be surprised because they have different powers piecemeal not just combined into one Omega threat that can do it all.The only single powerful villain that fascinates me is Apocalypse or Nimrod ,I prefer planetary threats ,once you go galactic , I feel the soul of the villain is lost as ironic as that sounds.

The bit about no stakes with Darwin,Laura coming back is interesting because of all the stories about protocols having a repercussion, this and maybe the deaths of Hellions in Amenth have the best pay-off.Where else would we get Synch's predicament of old mind in young body (and the odd misfortune of being the only one to resurrect that way) but with the protocols? When done right the protocols offer a different kind of stakes than mere death, but it's a lottery on that one I admit

[silvercover]

what bothers me a bit is how darwin gets hurt and damaged in the first place, maybe ive just missed some issues where he did, but from what I can remember during the deadly genesis, shiar stuff, darwin would just adapt right away such that he doesn't get wounded in the first place. maybe the explosion was way too strong for him to normally do that, but at the very least I dont see how they could have cut off his arm.

[Hulkout42]

No build up...????!!!?? My bro they were together for at least over 100 hundred years! I'm sorry Hickman didn't write you into the story as a plus one for them so you can chronicle their time together. Your argument is janky if its based on them not spending enough time together when the writer stated it and showed it.

This is what i get for having a different opinion.

[ospfwildcard]

I wouldn't say all that I just feel after months of suspense it wasn't all that don't get why everyone seems to think it was just so spectacular it was aight.

it was spectacular due to the mediocrity that has plagued the book for a while. i guarantee you had hox/pox not proceeded this run people would be complaining a lot more. i cant wait to see the comichron numbers if and when diamond releases them. im bored of all of it and probably going to drop the book. i wouldnt pirate this drivel.

[Hulkout42]

what bothers me a bit is how darwin gets hurt and damaged in the first place, maybe ive just missed some issues where he did, but from what I can remember during the deadly genesis, shiar stuff, darwin would just adapt right away such that he doesn't get wounded in the first place. maybe the explosion was way too strong for him to normally do that, but at the very least I dont see how they could have cut off his arm.

Perhaps he forces his power not to register the attack and thus lets it go through? Though that was clearly the start of his doom because they kept it, studied it and planned accordingly to capture him and at that point they could experiment with him at their hearts content.

[9th.]

it was spectacular due to the mediocrity that has plagued the book for a while. i guarantee you had hox/pox not proceeded this run people would be complaining a lot more. i cant wait to see the comichron numbers if and when diamond releases them. im bored of all of it and probably going to drop the book. i wouldnt pirate this drivel.

I think you should drop the comic ASAP if you feel that way. Also I believe Marvel just signed a deal with Penguin Random House so they aren't going to use Diamond anymore.

[Rev9]

what bothers me a bit is how darwin gets hurt and damaged in the first place, maybe ive just missed some issues where he did, but from what I can remember during the deadly genesis, shiar stuff, darwin would just adapt right away such that he doesn't get wounded in the first place. maybe the explosion was way too strong for him to normally do that, but at the very least I dont see how they could have cut off his arm.

Actually it is not impossible, the vault is sentient and adapts also or changes to either hasten or impede evolution.So since Darwin lost his arm years after they entered the vault, it means the vault calibrated their drones to strike ,knowing that there were mutants that are hard to dispose of and already survived the previous blast it thought sufficient.It is probably the reason why he was captured and nuked at all.My logical conclusion is that the vault kept adapting its weaponry to nullify their abilities, and it eventually succeeded.