X-Men #23 - Review/Spoilers

[Del torro]

The scott and jean stuff is bad.
The scott and emma scene is cringe worthy. Duggan should just put the man in a hole at this point.
Duggans mother Righteous... is certainly something else. Feels completely different from Gillen and Spurriers version. The dialogue between Mother Righteous and Dr Stasis is... weird and very... yikes.
Mother Righteous being Rebecxa Essex clone.... uhm. Wasn't it made clear befor that the 4 sinisters were all Nathaniel clones? Geez. MR was so much cooler when i thought she was a sinister clone that decided she wasn't playing the Who is Real game, and decided to change herself. People were already hyped about MR as a trans character smh.

Anyway
Atleast Jean and Magik did something cool.

[Braxxer]

I am not saying this all wouldn't have been great to have happened, but that was basically the way House of X worked. Everything was just a big time jump with no explanation of why anyone was doing anything. It is not like it came out of nowhere, as the end of Rosenberg's run showed they were going to hook back up.

Right. Hickman’s idea of starting Krakoa was that everyone talked with each other and everyone forgave each other etc during that 6 (I think it was 6) months between uncanny X-men finale and hox/pox. I mean magento wanted to kill Emma before Krakoa.

We just have to assume that characters who had any kind of conflicts, disagreements etc they were fixed during that 6 months.

I mean Scott easily agreed with Xavier’s Krakoa plans

[Celestialbodies]

The Scott/Jean drama is one of the most forced/lazy attempts I have ever seen. I can’t even take it seriously.

Same! And I would LOVE to see Jean being single. But this entire storyline is so weirdly forced...

Agreed, the story itself did not, and does not reflect this massive shift it's especially egregious as I'm certain this is the first and only disagreement they've had since the dawn of this era.

[Alex_Of_X]

Kind of a soft, middle-chapterish set-up issue :/ didn't love it

The fight with the sentinel is like 10 pages long, and imho Cassara's art here is good not great. I think it's the deadlines? Many panels without backgrounds here, which also points to that. Also wonky anatomy in the first pages.

The Ms. Marvel bit is good, but oddly placed.

Best bit for me was, Cyke's 90-s Jim Lee attire is now his canonical "Me and the missus aren't talking" get-up lmao

[davetvs]

The turmoil between Scott and Jean feels so ham-fisted and abrupt. The scene with Emma was also just strange.

[staptik777]

Poor Polaris

[sunofdarkchild]

This was an improvement for me over the previous few arcs. The threat actually seemed like a real threat given it's stolen from Tony Stark and it wasn't treated as a joke or ridiculously nerfed to make 1 character look good. Nor was anyone acting out of character for the purpose of making bad jokes in the middle of a crisis. More of this and less of the crap of the previous 6 months please.

[Jackraow21]

The turmoil between Scott and Jean feels so ham-fisted and abrupt. The scene with Emma was also just strange.

I actually thought it was hilarious. Shows Scott knows he’s a good looking dude and has some self confidence, to just assume she’d heard about he and Jean being on ice and was calling him up for a booty call. Ha.

[Nightwing96]

As much as I dislike this drama between Scott and Jean, I found her response both sweet and snarky. No one is allowed to stomp on Scott except for her. And I found Scott hilarious and kinda cocky when he suggested Emma called him just to make a move on him. Emma calling Scott gorgeous is just stating facts. The dialogue at the end suggests perhaps they will be working on reviving Kamala (prolly by the time The marvels releases in theaters).

[Mercury]

Also, glad Scott and Jean are officially taking a break. It’s felt forced for awhile now IMO. As for Kamal Khan, don’t really care, but glad that won’t be a long running subplot and they’re just going to bring her back quickly and get it over with.

I don't think their relationship has felt forced. If anything—and this is something most fans have either overlooked or framed in different, suggestive ways—I believe their relationship has simply constituted Scott giving Jean the freedom she's never requested or been afforded, a freedom he always had and took for granted. As depicted, she has been the one using hall passes to be with Logan and perhaps, as implied in last year's Hellfire Gala, others. In a sense, their romantic partnership during this era has symbolized a role reversal, with the only difference being that Jean has engaged in affairs and flirtations with Scott's full cognizance.

On the other hand, Scott hasn't exhibited any romantic interest in Emma—if anything, he seemed wary and suspicious of her prior to last year's HG—or anyone else, for that matter. Even in his scene with Emma in this issue, rather than assume there was a chance to rekindle a dalliance with her, he presumed she heard about his and Jean's estrangement—something he refers to as a "tragedy" in the scene—and simply wanted to talk to him about it. Also, Emma's final consolation to him—"I'm sorry you and Jean are skidding. There is not enough love in this world."—indicates that she has grown to respect and even admire their relationship.

While some might feel tempted to refer to Scott as a cuck because of his decision to let Jean do what she wants, I find this dynamic refreshing and totally understandable, especially considering Jean's past sacrifices for him. I interpret his decision to be in an open relationship with her as granting her the space and freedom to figure herself out. And I deeply appreciate that.

[Jackraow21]

I don’t see him as a cuck, or Jean as a cuckqueen for that matter (as it seemed like Scott was also stepping out with Emma during all of this polyamory stuff). That doesn’t bother me at all. I just think ever since Jean came back and they went right back into trying to be together it hasn’t seemed real. Even before House of X/Powers of X. Seems like they went back to what was familiar, I suppose, but kind of forced it. That’s what I meant, and it’s just how their relationship reads to me. But I haven’t found them interesting together since the 90s honestly. I find Jean’s relationships with other characters (non-romantic) much more interesting, so I prefer her on her own. Or with Logan, as their chemistry seems real to me. At this stage, though, that’s well trod ground so probably best to just have her be single for a bit.

Love seeing her interact with Storm, Cable, Beast (when he’s not crazy), etc. Just my opinion.

[Mercury]

I don’t see him as a cuck, or Jean as a cuckqueen for that matter (as it seemed like Scott was also stepping out with Emma during all of this polyamory stuff).

At one point, I assumed Scott and Emma were having an affair, too, but then he revealed to Jean that he suspected her and the QC of working against their team, noting that they might have to "go to war" with them. And later, in the Hellfire Gala issue, Emma herself noted that Scott wasn't [expletive] her.

That doesn’t bother me at all. I just think ever since Jean came back and they went right back into trying to be together it hasn’t seemed real. Even before House of X/Powers of X. Seems like they went back to what was familiar, I suppose, but kind of forced it. That’s what I meant, and it’s just how their relationship reads to me.

I think reading the time displacement era and their arcs in it, particularly the trajectory of their relationship throughout it, is essential to understanding where they stand as a couple now. They faced and dealt with a lot of their problems as a couple through that run, the majority of which Jean spent refusing to be with him. It was only toward the end of that are, right before they returned to the past, that they became romantically linked. And when adult Jean had her time displacement memories unlocked, everything, including her relationship with Scott, was put into sharper perspective.

But I haven’t found them interesting together since the 90s honestly. I find Jean’s relationships with other characters (non-romantic) much more interesting, so I prefer her on her own. Or with Logan, as their chemistry seems real to me. At this stage, though, that’s well trod ground so probably best to just have her be single for a bit.

I've yearned for her to be single, too. (To be clear, I'm not really a "Jott" shipper or defender, although I've grown fond of their relationship this era.)

Love seeing her interact with Storm, Cable, Beast (when he’s not crazy), etc. Just my opinion.

Yes! I need more of these interactions. I long for her to have a solo story with Ororo.

[Omega Alpha]

Getting Scott and Jean back together for the soft-reboot was already forced (it was just like suddenly putting Xavier back in a wheelchair for the launch of adjectiveless X-Men), and it didn't help that there's been vanishingly little visible love or chemistry between them since they got back together for the Krakoa soft-reboot. Duggan wants us to be agog at the possibility of them splitting up, but the better question is: why are they together to begin with? It's like they met up on Krakoa and felt mutually obligated to get back to it since their marriage was never annulled.

I can't remember now, but was there ever a sequence where we see Jean and Scott together in the bedroom, and Scott tells her what he's been up to since she died? Like, "okay, read my mind, I've been through a lot and I might not be the same person you remember, and there's a lot you need to know about before this goes any farther."

Exactly. It wasn't really believable they just got back together in the first place.

The scott and emma scene is cringe worthy. Duggan should just put the man in a hole at this point.
l.

He's working on it. His Scott at this point is as bad as Rosenberg's, but in the opposite direction- Rosenberg's was too dramatic, this one too light and dumb.

[RAWRlrus]

The issue was fine. Honestly most books kinda just feel like set up at this point for Fall of X. Curious to see some parts of it (more what happens with certain characters) and where we end up afterwards.

The prison will be interesting in how it's used. I wonder if they'll be rounding up mutants in NYC in addition to locking up Krakoans.

I dunno, killing a character like Kamala Khan seems like it comes from the top. Maybe Wells presented the idea but such a popular character in both the comics and MCU is handled by a lot of people.

Orchis has stated that they are going after more than just mutants but superheroes as well. There are lots in NY, makes sense to have a prison there if you're building one.
And for Kamala, yeah you don't kill a major character that's about to be in a movie in a few months without lots of approval. I always figured it came from up top and Wells either offered to do it or it was given to him. Regardless the landing didn't stick, but yeah this isn't cleaning up anyone's mess its just the next stage in the story that hopefully goes better.

Right. Hickman’s idea of starting Krakoa was that everyone talked with each other and everyone forgave each other etc during that 6 (I think it was 6) months between uncanny X-men finale and hox/pox. I mean magento wanted to kill Emma before Krakoa.

NGL I was hoping most of that stuff was just retconned out. Where was it said that everyone forgave each other?

[Frontier]

The stuff with Scott and Jean feels like contrived stuff after contrived stuff, especially just for the added drama that will ensue because they were separated at the time of what happens during the next gala leading into FoX.

They are going to have to work their butts off to make all the stuff they're doing with Kamala seem worth it and with all the gears turning in the X-Books at the moment I kind of doubt it.