X-Men #31 - Review/Spoilers

[Hulkout42]

Duggan should have given Nimrod a recurring catchphrase “my one weakness!”. That is, have him say, “Amber! My one weakness!” And then, “Lightning, my one weakness!” Whatever the writer wants to use to slow him down can be his “one weakness”.

Anyone else remember the times when Nimrod was once considered the Ultimate Sentinel? That they could never really beat him but had to banish him like DC sometimes did with Doomsday?

[Hulkout42]

Just read this today. I guess I'm left wondering how Spider-Man looked so pathetic. Not that he could have done much against Nimrod but that he was caught off guard and hit twice. X-office editorial remembers he has a Spider-Sense and spider-agility, right?

I wouldn't go that far since he looks even more pathetic in his own series than with his showings in the X-men, I mean look at Gang War, he supposedly has a team but even they don't give him any respect in comparison to Kamala, Kurt and Wolverine.

[lefthanded]

Enter Gerry Duggan, and everything turned into a Buffy The Vampire Slayer shlockfest. The outdated 90s dialog, the emo and bittersweet "trade offs", it's all a bootleg Whedon. Gerry Duggan is so out of touch but thinks he is so clever.

Duggan has been really bad at making anything pay off.

Brood storyline stirred up a bunch of unearned drama ... just so Lorna is able to stroll to the corner store to pick up some Brood.
Duggan's Vault storyline presumably was for a Forge-Xavier scheme, but so far the only pay off is that Talon was alive, so that Synch can experience her sacrifice and become a leader.

The majority of ideas in his run seem to be jettisoned every time there is a new event. Hopefully whatever Forge and Xavier were supposedly up to will have some form of payoff, but so far, it just seems that the payoff was the CoTV getting released and randomly involving Cable and Bishop instead of Forge.

[Havok83]

Duggan has been really bad at making anything pay off.

Brood storyline stirred up a bunch of unearned drama ... just so Lorna is able to stroll to the corner store to pick up some Brood.
Duggan's Vault storyline presumably was for a Forge-Xavier scheme, but so far the only pay off is that Talon was alive, so that Synch can experience her sacrifice and become a leader.

The majority of ideas in his run seem to be jettisoned every time there is a new event. Hopefully whatever Forge and Xavier were supposedly up to will have some form of payoff, but so far, it just seems that the payoff was the CoTV getting released and randomly involving Cable and Bishop instead of Forge.

IDA. Lorna didnt just stroll in. Duggan set this up back in that Brood art where we saw a mysterious woman in space, whom we now know was Lorna, presumably working on Knowhere and gettin acquainted with Brood. The "unearned drama" that you mention is coming into play here as it dealt with whether to genocide the Brood or spare them. Now Duggan is in a position to answer that as it looks like sparing the Brood was the right calla s this assault may be instrumental for ultimately saving mutantkind. The rift between Scott and Jean was fluff as the real payout to that dilemna was always gonna come later.

His execution may not be the best but one thing Duggan has done throughout hsi run is plant seeds which he has gone back to. He's played a long game with this run and his stuff does pay off. He'll leave this book with less dangling plot threads than other writers bc he's found a way to not only connect his stuff but give the space to let them marinate i the background and come back to them

[lefthanded]

IDA. Lorna didnt just stroll in. Duggan set this up back in that Brood art where we saw a mysterious woman in space, whom we now know was Lorna, presumably working on Knowhere and gettin acquainted with Brood. The "unearned drama" that you mention is coming into play here as it dealt with whether to genocide the Brood or spare them. Now Duggan is in a position to answer that as it looks like sparing the Brood was the right calla s this assault may be instrumental for ultimately saving mutantkind. The rift between Scott and Jean was fluff as the real payout to that dilemna was always gonna come later.

His execution may not be the best but one thing Duggan has done throughout hsi run is plant seeds which he has gone back to. He's played a long game with this run and his stuff does pay off. He'll leave this book with less dangling plot threads than other writers bc he's found a way to not only connect his stuff but give the space to let them marinate i the background and come back to them

You got me there, but it feels more like on technical grounds than actual literary effect.

Duggan is really bad at 'foreshadowing'. A good foreshadow can build up suspense, set up expectations and meet or reverse them, or just be a red herring. Lots of detective stories do this, and good or bad foreshadowing can affect whether "the butler did it" works or not.

In comics, a good foreshadow means that I could theorize what will happen in the future, or in the future when I read what happens, I can look back and see that the clue pointed to this outcome.

In that page you posted, he 'foreshadows' two things - one is a green caped female standing on some type of space rock, and the other picture is Forge holding hands with a woman and looking in the distance. The latter pays off... in an issue or two later where Forge and Monet hold hands before traveling home with Knowhere. The former is clearly Lorna, so there is no excitement/payoff as to who it will be. "Lorna will be flying in on a space rock" means much less than "who could that character be that is flying in on a space rock.... could it be Scarlet Witch .... or Jean.... or Lorna?!!". I guess the foreshadowing/hint could be to ask "why is she flying in on a space rock", but that could always randomly happen.

I remember another thread on the Hellfire Gala where someone had mentioned that Duggan was great to foreshadow how Magik's teleportation was disrupted. At the time I was perplexed how people were impressed, as Duggan showed Orchis getting a sample of Magik's blood in X-men 23, and Hellfire Gala happens prior to X-men 25. That is only two issues earlier, and not something that he had shown a year earlier happening.

If the writer is just showing something that will happen two issues later, that is not good foreshadowing, it is just basic plotting.
The Lorna reveal could be good foreshadowing, but the artwork makes it too obvious that the payoff is neutered. It is more like a preview/leaked artwork for future issue, as opposed to foreshadowing.

[GoingGreen]

I'd like it stated that the Brood chess piece started getting set up prior to X-Men 19, where Havok83's screenshot came from (thank you, Havok83!). It started in Captain Marvel, where Rogue (and Binary) got caught up in a Brood infestation. Polaris, Gambit, Psylocke, and X-23/Wolverine (or was it Talon? I don't remember being clear on this) joined Captain Marvel, Hazmat, and Spider Woman to go rescue Rogue (and Binary, when they learned she was there as well).

If you can't tell, I love a parenthetical.

[Kingdom X]

I'd like it stated that the Brood chess piece started getting set up prior to X-Men 19, where Havok83's screenshot came from (thank you, Havok83!). It started in Captain Marvel, where Rogue (and Binary) got caught up in a Brood infestation. Polaris, Gambit, Psylocke, and X-23/Wolverine (or was it Talon? I don't remember being clear on this) joined Captain Marvel, Hazmat, and Spider Woman to go rescue Rogue (and Binary, when they learned she was there as well).

If you can't tell, I love a parenthetical.

It was the younger Laura/ Wolverine! And wow do I miss Kelly Thompson writing our merry mutants.

[Ilargi]

It was the younger Laura/ Wolverine! And wow do I miss Kelly Thompson writing our merry mutants.

I miss her too, I hope Brevoort brings her back.

[Triniking1234]

Anyone else remember the times when Nimrod was once considered the Ultimate Sentinel? That they could never really beat him but had to banish him like DC sometimes did with Doomsday?

Duggan jobbed the Children of the Vault too but honestly that situation needed a solution after Hickman and Carey(?) hyped the hell out of them.

It wasn't really the best on Hickman's interpretation. Duggan did more to the character honestly. The only problem is bringing back his relationship with Vault Laura and Synch's new(Hard nerf) aging weakness

So in the end it's quality vs quantity.

[ARkadelphia]

It was an involuntary exposure to a highly mutagenic substance which can trigger random super powers in inhumans and regular humans with inhuman heritage. These powers in turn can drastically affect the life of a person and their living quality in highly negative ways.

The Mist was released onto Earth without the consent of any human or their governmental representatives, therefor anyone who involuntary get exposed to it, could be considered a victim.

Kamala and many other named characters might have lucked out, because they were ging to be super heros or villains. But undergoing terrigenesis is just as likely to turn people into Globs, Beaks or Dean Boswell as does the X-gene.

So if she had turned into a jellyfish like creature and died on the spot from drying out on the street, would she not have been a "victim" of the uncontrolled released Terrigan Mist cloud?

But that’s not what happened

[ARkadelphia]

I would say Equal.

I mean both the Lightning and the Amber attack seemed to put Nimrod down or immobilized him.

Do you know what happens to amber when it's struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.

[ARkadelphia]

Just read this today. I guess I'm left wondering how Spider-Man looked so pathetic. Not that he could have done much against Nimrod but that he was caught off guard and hit twice. X-office editorial remembers he has a Spider-Sense and spider-agility, right?

If amber could take out Nimrod, then I’m sure some webbing in various choice places could also be detrimental

[ARkadelphia]

I'd like it stated that the Brood chess piece started getting set up prior to X-Men 19, where Havok83's screenshot came from (thank you, Havok83!). It started in Captain Marvel, where Rogue (and Binary) got caught up in a Brood infestation. Polaris, Gambit, Psylocke, and X-23/Wolverine (or was it Talon? I don't remember being clear on this) joined Captain Marvel, Hazmat, and Spider Woman to go rescue Rogue (and Binary, when they learned she was there as well).

If you can't tell, I love a parenthetical.

Not everybody knows what the word “parenthetical” means (and I’m not sure why you’d expect them to)

[Nazrel]

Not everybody knows what the word “parenthetical” means (and I’m not sure why you’d expect them to)

Parenthetical
par·en·thet·i·cal
/ˌperənˈTHedək(ə)l/

adjective

relating to or inserted as a parenthesis.


You're on the internet, it literally takes 5 seconds to look up a word you don't understand.
It would take less time to look up a word, then it does to make a single sentence post complaining about the usage of a word.

[JB]

Parenthetical
par·en·thet·i·cal
/ˌperənˈTHedək(ə)l/

adjective

relating to or inserted as a parenthesis.


You're on the internet, it literally takes 5 seconds to look up a word you don't understand.
It would take less time to look up a word, then it does to make a single sentence post complaining about the usage of a word.

I think ARkadelphia's post may have been in jest.