X-Men #8 Review (Spoilers)

[Jackraow21]

Decent issue. Laura not being able to swim with the adamantium skeleton was annoying, since in the past Logan has always been able to swim quite well. His newfound “fear of water” is a Jason Aaron invention and a bad one, but the dude has never had a problem swimming in the past. I guess one could explain it by saying that Logan has had decades to adapt his body’s musculature to account for the adamantium skeleton, while it’s still pretty new for Laura. And hence her having trouble adjusting to the added weight in water. Something like that.

But other than that little nitpick, this was a solid issue overall.

[jwatson]

I enjoy their relationship so much. And again the art just blew me away.

Ev borrowing that Jean power too much. I swear Cyclops is like the last drink of water to people with telepathy. lol

[Jackraow21]

Is he? Seems to me that Ev’s in love with Laura, a biological clone/daughter of Wolverine. So who exactly is catnip to a telepath here… hmmm… or at least to Jean.

Just stirring things up.

[jwatson]

Is he? Seems to me that Ev’s in love with Laura, a biological clone/daughter of Wolverine. So who exactly is catnip to a telepath here… hmmm… or at least to Jean.

Just stirring things up.

Lmao me too. ^_^ Cyclops reading them singles, bout to be Cyclops/JEan/Ev/Wolverine. lol. On a soap opera they would call this the hovering moment. lol

[Gray Lensman]

Is he? Seems to me that Ev’s in love with Laura, a biological clone/daughter of Wolverine. So who exactly is catnip to a telepath here… hmmm… or at least to Jean.

Just stirring things up.

His attraction predates his access to Jean's telepathy by a few hundred years.

[Rift]

Did it? I mean maybe I'm just not remembering it and I don't feel like searching through all of New X-men to see if it happened, but the only time I recall them kissing was right before she made it clear they were not in a relationship, at the end of "misadventures of babysitting" arc in Marjorie Liu's X-23 series. (and that was him kissing her.)

Still counts, my dude. Laura also destroyed a sink out of jealousy for him.

[ericng]

From the review, it seems that Gerry Duggan is putting a lot of spotlight on Synch and x23 instead of Jean and Polaris.

The art was fantastic though.

[Nazrel]

Still counts, my dude. Laura also destroyed a sink out of jealousy for him.

What still counts? The kissing I mentioned, which happened long after they met and was immediately followed by being shoved away and her making clear in no uncertain terms that they were not in a relationship?

I never said she didn't have a crush on him, but their entire 'relationship' was characterized by her having difficulty understanding, acting on or expressing her feelings.

[Ambaryerno]

Which was horribly out of character; you've gotten less then discerning in your criticism.

I would argue that we can't actually make the conclusion that it was OOC, since it was the first time we've both seen Laura actively pursuing a relationship, while actually being capable of expressing and processing her feelings about someone. It doesn't mean the relationship wasn't poorly conceived, rushed, and problematic in myriad other ways, (IE Warren was an emotionally abusive shit. A case could also be made about ignoring the baggage that victims of long-term emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse carry IRL that interferes with their ability to engage in a normal intimate relationship, but that's a wide-ranging failure by many different writers, that can't just be ascribed to Bendis Gonna Bendis) but we have no real precedent that Laura post-character development would actually be "hard to get" or a "slow burn" like Duggan implied. The POINT that you're ignoring is it's another example of him not bothering to research any of her history prior to the Vault which could, and should, affect how he writers her.

[danielsan52]

IDK why you all are talking abut Synch and Laura when the real newsworthy story was Forge eating Soft Serve's soft serve.

asoft.jpg

[Rift]

What still counts? The kissing I mentioned, which happened long after they met and was immediately followed by being shoved away and her making clear in no uncertain terms that they were not in a relationship?

I never said she didn't have a crush on him, but their entire 'relationship' was characterized by her having difficulty understanding, acting on or expressing her feelings.

I never said their relationship was solid, I was just making a joke that he got a kiss from Laura in a less amount of time. Making joke comments about Hellion is something I've been doing for almost a year now.

That said, their relationship, such as it was, wasn't as slow to develop as Synch's relationship with Laura. I thought it was funny because it was so extreme, though it's clearly meant to be humorous. Laura can be slow to open up, but not that slow.

[ChronoRogue]

I think it makes some sense that Laura feels weirded out about this romance she doesn't remember. It's one thing to take the initiative in a relationship, it's another for you to feel pressured to live up to something you don't remember experiencing.

It's a bit similar to what Cyclops and Frenzy went through during AoX. Frenzy wanted him and felt that connection strongly, but for obvious reasons Scott wasn't able to reciprocate. though I did get the feeling he felt... something

But in general, I do agree with Ambaryerno that Laura hasn't had the best history with relationships. She deserves one that develops organically and isn't involved with time shenanigans.

also, i really hope monet gets added because so monet x synch is still a much better ship

[RamaBird]

I would argue that we can't actually make the conclusion that it was OOC, since it was the first time we've both seen Laura actively pursuing a relationship, while actually being capable of expressing and processing her feelings about someone. It doesn't mean the relationship wasn't poorly conceived, rushed, and problematic in myriad other ways, (IE Warren was an emotionally abusive shit. A case could also be made about ignoring the baggage that victims of long-term emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse carry IRL that interferes with their ability to engage in a normal intimate relationship, but that's a wide-ranging failure by many different writers, that can't just be ascribed to Bendis Gonna Bendis) but we have no real precedent that Laura post-character development would actually be "hard to get" or a "slow burn" like Duggan implied. The POINT that you're ignoring is it's another example of him not bothering to research any of her history prior to the Vault which could, and should, affect how he writers her.

Really? You're taking that's storyline seriously? Even though it's hated and Laura fans never liked her involvement in that book because it had her acting OOC? That's like someone taking Inhumans Vs XMEN seriously instead of ignoring it for the horrible story it was.

I don't like EV/Laura either and I agree that Duggan doesn't writer her well, but trashing EV while comparing him to a story that no Laura fan liked is weird...

I'm willing to bet Duggan came up with 212 years to counter the fact that people were complaining about this romance being rushed and coming out of nowhere. It's not a forced romance! It took 212 years, so it's serious! LMAO.

[Ambaryerno]

Really? You're taking that's storyline seriously? Even though it's hated and Laura fans never liked her involvement in that book because it had her acting OOC? That's like someone taking Inhumans Vs XMEN seriously instead of ignoring it for the horrible story it was.

I don't like EV/Laura either and I agree that Duggan doesn't writer her well, but trashing EV while comparing him to a story that no Laura fan liked is weird...

I'm willing to bet Duggan came up with 212 years to counter the fact that people were complaining about this romance being rushed and coming out of nowhere. It's not a forced romance! It took 212 years, so it's serious! LMAO.

Don't put words in my mouth. Especially since the very post you're quoting outright acknowledges Laura and Warren had conceptual issues, making what you're doing even more blatantly obvious.

[Anthony Shaw]

Decent issue. Laura not being able to swim with the adamantium skeleton was annoying, since in the past Logan has always been able to swim quite well. His newfound “fear of water” is a Jason Aaron invention and a bad one, but the dude has never had a problem swimming in the past. I guess one could explain it by saying that Logan has had decades to adapt his body’s musculature to account for the adamantium skeleton, while it’s still pretty new for Laura. And hence her having trouble adjusting to the added weight in water. Something like that.

But other than that little nitpick, this was a solid issue overall.

I recall a back up story in Classic X-Men written by Claremont where Logan (and maybe Sean) interrupted Jean, as Pheonix, during a solo camping trip. I think Jean lifted a large body of water in the air to show her control. However, Kurt surprised her, causing a flood. Logan was shown struggling to keep head above water due to the Adamantium.

However, during their first fight with Magneto, Logan had no trouble saving Storm from drowning, and sharing air via mouth to mouth.

Folks in that family have better swimming days than others, I suppose.