X-MEN #5 Review *spoilers*

[ExodusCloak]

"How do we know...?" "if this can happen..."
I just love how you are rewriting the story in your head to support your position...despite the actual election gala issue categorically saying that the process was in fact transparent, fair and just.

Jean saw what her friend truly wanted/needed and telepathically nudged her in that direction...but somehow she committed the most egregious of sins eventhough Lorna herself admitted after that it was in fact what she wanted.

Tragical indeed.

Its clearly not categorically transparent, fair or just from what we just witnessed in the issue. Even by Lornas own admission to Northstar she felt it was dubious at first. At this point that line is basically rhetoric because we have just witnessed something that even at its best interpretation is the arbitrator actually showing bias

[Devaishwarya]

Okies.....

I wonder when we'll get Laura's conversation with Ev? I'm already imagining all the ways it can go.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Alright, I'll give it to Duggan. I thought this issue would be about Lorna rather than Jean cheating and getting away with it. Mind freakin' blown, lol.

Anyway. Was expecting some sort of midlife-crisis/going-back-to-basics/chewing-bubblegum-and-kicking-ass rationale to justify Duggan's writing of Polaris as Rogue 2.0 basically, but I suppose we'll just have to chalk it up to Duggan characterization/speech. Oh well. The thing with the unconscious Laura was pretty much unnecessary and came off as kinda phony/OOC. Laura's life still pretty much revolves around her romantic subplot, lol. Kinda disappointed at how slowly the Dr. Stasis plot is unfolding. Thought the X-Men would be dealing with an angry mob at the Treehouse by now. I suppose on-panel confirmation of Cyclops being psychically stalked 24/7 was funny.

[davetvs]

Exactly. I liked what she did in this issue.

Jean doesnt always do the right thing. I personally feel what she did with Polaris not a wrong thing though.

But some fans are so against it. So disappointing…

See this is why we cant have a well rounded Jean Grey, people flip their lids if she does something that could be interpreted as wrong. Jean’s not a saint and I don’t want her to be one. Those putting her on a pedestal is a huge disservice to her character and is severely limiting her.

Right, I loved the moment because it fits with Jean's characterization. I like when the telepaths get a little "loose" with their powers, Betsy used to do it regularly iirc. But god forbid Saint Jean do anything even the slightest bit untoward, or have an actual personality.

[Rnap22]

Right, I loved the moment because it fits with Jean's characterization. I like when the telepaths get a little "loose" with their powers, Betsy used to do it regularly iirc. But god forbid Saint Jean do anything even the slightest bit untoward, or have an actual personality.

Betsy telepathically persuaded the remaining X-men to go through the Siege Perilous so they wouldn’t be killed by the Reavers (the actual awesome Reavers, not these no name losers). I love that Betsy would use her telepathy however she wanted and was unapologetic for it. I like when Jean does it as well, but she tries her best not to go crazy about it.

[Wolverine12]

“But she rigged the vote!! It’s a bad look for Krakoa and the Xmen!!”- Emma fans despite Emma actually rigging the vote for Krakoa to be a nation in the first place.

The bias is real.

Nobody has ever accused me of being an Emma fan and I think it's a terrible look for Jean. For the record I like Jean and Emma.

"How do we know...?" "if this can happen..."
I just love how you are rewriting the story in your head to support your position...despite the actual election gala issue categorically saying that the process was in fact transparent, fair and just.

Jean saw what her friend truly wanted/needed and telepathically nudged her in that direction...but somehow she committed the most egregious of sins eventhough Lorna herself admitted after that it was in fact what she wanted.

Tragical indeed.

I don't think Jean did anything wrong. It's the equivalent to knowing your friend wants to run for student council president, but is too scared to write their name in, so you submit it for them. Maybe she overstepped some boundaries, but as Lorna's friend and someone who believes in her skill, Jean was sure it was the right thing to do. Jean knew this is what Lorna wanted, she knew joining the team could help her, and she knew Lorna was a viable, popular candidate. Besides, if Lorna didn't want the spot, she could have turned it down at any point.

In the end, the voters are happy, Lorna is happy, the X-Men are happy. Lorna flat-out said that Jean was right.

I don't think it's an egregious sin but usually situations like this are preceded by a conversation of some sort. Jean just made the choice for Lorna without giving her an option, or rather she took the option away so to speak. I think the scene would've benefited if Lorna and Jean had a side bar conversation during the vote and Jean convinced her she was worthy to be on the team.

My issue is how the situation was presented by Duggan. I'm not mad at Jean for having confidence in Laura, I'm not mad a Jean for hearing Laura's thoughts (she can't help it) I just think it was shown on the page poorly which in turn made Jean look manipulative. Obviously it worked out fine and all parties are happy but it could've been done better.

[Kingdom X]

It was Lorna's problem, with Jean as co-star, the others were just there, the previous Issue is one was Jean's problem, and the previous issues Jean was the one who had the most to say about it and has the most extensive dialogues.


If this is not an undercover Jean solo, neither was XML for Rogue lol, please, things have to be called what they are, this is jean and guests' book, the rest are unfortunately there to inflate sales ( Rogue / Laura / Scott).

Co-star? She was knocked out for more than half of it…

[pkingdom]

As someone only interested because they like Laura, all I can do is sigh.

But Jean! But Emma! There's no such thing as an ethical telepath and they're all varying degrees of terrible people and writers are unwilling to handle how horrifically unethical they are with their powers all the time. They should all be nerfed.

Ben Ulric out here practicing ethical journalism by contacting the people he's about to write a damaging report on and giving them time to comment. Huh.

Generally speaking the entire relaunch has had a villain problem. Namely they're all boring and feel like carbon copies of old anti mutant people with zero personality. At least Cordyceps Jones has an interesting design, even if there's not much else to him.

[Wolverine12]

As someone only interested because they like Laura, all I can do is sigh.

But Jean! But Emma! There's no such thing as an ethical telepath and they're all varying degrees of terrible people and writers are unwilling to handle how horrifically unethical they are with their powers all the time. They should all be nerfed.

Ben Ulric out here practicing ethical journalism by contacting the people he's about to write a damaging report on and giving them time to comment. Huh.

Generally speaking the entire relaunch has had a villain problem. Namely they're all boring and feel like carbon copies of old anti mutant people with zero personality. At least Cordyceps Jones has an interesting design, even if there's not much else to him.

Cordyceps Jones is today's version of Mojo.

[Rift]

I don't think it's an egregious sin but usually situations like this are preceded by a conversation of some sort. Jean just made the choice for Lorna without giving her an option, or rather she took the option away so to speak. I think the scene would've benefited if Lorna and Jean had a side bar conversation during the vote and Jean convinced her she was worthy to be on the team.

My issue is how the situation was presented by Duggan. I'm not mad at Jean for having confidence in Laura, I'm not mad a Jean for hearing Laura's thoughts (she can't help it) I just think it was shown on the page poorly which in turn made Jean look manipulative. Obviously it worked out fine and all parties are happy but it could've been done better.

I get the manipulation feel. But realistically, when could Jean stop and have a conversation with Laura? The implication is clear, too; Jean knows Lorna well enough to know what she really wanted and what would make her happy. She took the decision out of Lorna's hands, but she knew Lorna's real wishes. She gave her friend a push, Lorna got a good response from it, and Lorna made the final decision to join the team.

And it's not like Lorna had anything to lose; she could just not win and she'd be back at square one, or she could turn it down if she changed her mind or wanted something else. Jean's actions wouldn't have had bad consequences for Lorna. All she did was give Lorna a chance she was too afraid to take herself. That's what a supportive friend would do, because the other option would be to ignore your friend's wishes because it's convenient.

[ExodusCloak]

I get the manipulation feel. But realistically, when could Jean stop and have a conversation with Laura? The implication is clear, too; Jean knows Lorna well enough to know what she really wanted and what would make her happy. She took the decision out of Lorna's hands, but she knew Lorna's real wishes. She gave her friend a push, Lorna got a good response from it, and Lorna made the final decision to join the team.

And it's not like Lorna had anything to lose; she could just not win and she'd be back at square one, or she could turn it down if she changed her mind or wanted something else. Jean's actions wouldn't have had bad consequences for Lorna. All she did was give Lorna a chance she was too afraid to take herself. That's what a supportive friend would do, because the other option would be to ignore your friend's wishes because it's convenient.

I don't know why but I read the first paragraph in Joe Goldbergs voice. He knows Beck so well that he steers her in the right direction without her even realising it. And her writing does objectively get better. Cause he knew her so well. But can't you see? I did it all for you. Because I just want to make you happy.

Objectively time on the astral plane is a life time in real time see Blinded by the light. It probably have looked better if Jean even said wait...and talked Lorna into making the decision herself.

[Mercury]

At least she didn't force anyone to vote a certain way or just mindwipe everyone.

In the end, what matters is how Lorna feels about what Jean did.

[salarta]

Queen.



I also enjoyed Jean casually tossing the reaver into a dumpster.

Since the sunglasses were originally black, and they got the green tint after Lorna put them on, I'm head-canoning that she used her powers to change their color.

[Wolverine12]

I get the manipulation feel. But realistically, when could Jean stop and have a conversation with Laura? The implication is clear, too; Jean knows Lorna well enough to know what she really wanted and what would make her happy. She took the decision out of Lorna's hands, but she knew Lorna's real wishes. She gave her friend a push, Lorna got a good response from it, and Lorna made the final decision to join the team.

My only argument here is that since it was telepathic they could've spoken that way. Telepathy has been shown before to have the ability to make seconds feel like hours and Jean being an Omega certainly would have that in her skill set (insert scan from Mercury showing her doing just that )

And it's not like Lorna had anything to lose; she could just not win and she'd be back at square one, or she could turn it down if she changed her mind or wanted something else. Jean's actions wouldn't have had bad consequences for Lorna. All she did was give Lorna a chance she was too afraid to take herself. That's what a supportive friend would do, because the other option would be to ignore your friend's wishes because it's convenient.

I agree with this as well, perhaps I chose my words poorly in my first post. I don't think Jean is bad or a bad person I just think they way she was presented doing this came across poorly.

At least she didn't force anyone to vote a certain way or just mindwipe everyone.

In the end, what matters is how Lorna feels about what Jean did.

I also agree with this sentiment, honestly I think it would've benefited both Jean and Lorna if the letter to Northstar had been omitted, I think that added to the cringe for me.

[JB]

And it's not like Lorna had anything to lose; she could just not win and she'd be back at square one, or she could turn it down if she changed her mind or wanted something else. Jean's actions wouldn't have had bad consequences for Lorna. All she did was give Lorna a chance she was too afraid to take herself. That's what a supportive friend would do, because the other option would be to ignore your friend's wishes because it's convenient.

I agree with this. I've had friends nudge me when I was apprehensive to take a first step, and it was fine because I knew they had my best interests at heart. A little annoying at first but all good in the end, and that seems to be exactly how Lorna felt.

Since the sunglasses were originally black, and they got the green tint after Lorna put them on, I'm head-canoning that she used her powers to change their color.

I literally thought the same thing! She is an icon.