X-Men #32 - Review/Spoilers

[lefthanded]

Also, what did Emma actually do to those soldiers? I couldn't tell, I know she left them dead in pools of blood but do I need to be reading Iron Man to understand what those rings were?

You're not missing much. Over in Iron Man, he gave her those rings as a gift, and then later in the issue, they both fire at a Stark Sentinel and destroy it using the same blue-white colored energy. So presumably, it is the same as Iron Man's repulsor blast.


I don't know why I keep hoping Duggan will do something different, but all his issues seem rushed, have action scenes that don't make sense, and reading his previous issues makes me more confused as opposed to feeling rewarded.

This issue shows Emma stopping some mutants from being detained by two Orchis troopers. Of course these Orchis troopers of psi-blockers, but she canonically has Tony's repulsor rings to destroy them. A little blood thirsty, but okay, the two Orchis troopers are dead and on the ground. But then the very next panel, as Emma is leaving in her car, those three former mutant victims are attacking an Orchis trooper detaining another mutant victim. The spacing makes no sense - everything is happening within earshot of each other (as evidenced by Emma' 'fabulous' quote being heard by the three mutants), so that meant that the third Orchis trooper totally ignored the other Orchis troopers getting killed by Emma, and that Emma was unconcerned with freeing that one mutant victim.

I also have a big problem with the Stark Sentinels. Supposedly they are a huge threat that the mutants can't quite face, but yet how they are handled is all over the place.
One can be easily taken out by three X-men here (despite having Magnetic countermeasures), yet the entire X-men team in issue #23 fared poorly against a Sentinel until Magik decided to do her teleportation thing to dismantle it. In the Fall of House of X, the X-men and Avengers don't fare well against Stark Sentinel until Synch shows up with Iceman's powers.
Clearly, Duggan is 'paying off' Magik getting poisoned in #23 in issue #32, but he seems to forget how powerful Stark Sentinels are supposed to be.

Magik is attacking a base, and of course Kitty happens to be attacking the base around the same time. Everyone is in telepathic communication, and yet Emma only tells Magik to wait for backup (Lorna), not that Kitty is already on site so she doesn't have to wait.

[Tank]

It just keeps getting progressively worse. There was no tension, no stakes when you should absolutely feel that given the situation. But somehow it falls oddly flat.

The callback dialogues are getting cringey/overused. The “to me my blank lines” and Emma’s “nothing less than fabulous”. They’re fun if they are used sparingly, and are cool if they feel earned. But these just feel thrown in just because. Emma just had a similar line in Fall of X, and Polaris keeps using it in cringey joke moments.

I’m tired of Starbucks Barista, I mean Polaris and her coffee.

[Proxy]

This issue was pretty cringy for me, the dialogue especially.

[Project Initiative Cascada]

“To me my power lines” has got to be one of the worst piece of dialogue ever written

Lorna was serving absolute peak drag queen cringe content this whole issue and I for one think it was absolutely spectacular.

[HomoSuperior]

This issue was pretty cringy for me, the dialogue especially.

Dumping water inside a robot to kill it was the French kiss (of terrible).
Wasn't over a decade ago, Marvel acknowledged its core audience was older fans who hadn't moved on?
And yet, we get the Saturday morning cartoon version of Orchis payback.

Next issue: Iceman saves the day by making someone slip and fall; the stakes get even higher when Ms. Lion is diagnosed with hip dysplasia.

Don't like it? It's Duggan being ironic!

[NewMutant]

Krakoa's end is too overly chaotic for people not reading every book - at this point I don't get why FotHoX is separate book from X-Men. Duggan is working too many titles and things like Doom X-Men seem like an unnecessary addition on the way out. This issue was an improvement. The intro at the lighthouse was great (Marauders was Duggan's strongest IMO) and Noto's art was much more fitting for that scene compared to the Magik fight scene later. This was a great issue for the X-Women - everyone shined here.

I prefer Polaris dress/jacket outfit. I really like Shadowkat's new look as well its a shame to see it go so quickly.

No idea what Emma did to those guys with brace knuckles. Stuff like that is what makes my eyes roll. No explanation.

The Firestar issue was the best of Duggans, with help by JC art, he definitely needs to follow up this more.

[sunofdarkchild]

You're not missing much. Over in Iron Man, he gave her those rings as a gift, and then later in the issue, they both fire at a Stark Sentinel and destroy it using the same blue-white colored energy. So presumably, it is the same as Iron Man's repulsor blast.


I don't know why I keep hoping Duggan will do something different, but all his issues seem rushed, have action scenes that don't make sense, and reading his previous issues makes me more confused as opposed to feeling rewarded.

This issue shows Emma stopping some mutants from being detained by two Orchis troopers. Of course these Orchis troopers of psi-blockers, but she canonically has Tony's repulsor rings to destroy them. A little blood thirsty, but okay, the two Orchis troopers are dead and on the ground. But then the very next panel, as Emma is leaving in her car, those three former mutant victims are attacking an Orchis trooper detaining another mutant victim. The spacing makes no sense - everything is happening within earshot of each other (as evidenced by Emma' 'fabulous' quote being heard by the three mutants), so that meant that the third Orchis trooper totally ignored the other Orchis troopers getting killed by Emma, and that Emma was unconcerned with freeing that one mutant victim.

I also have a big problem with the Stark Sentinels. Supposedly they are a huge threat that the mutants can't quite face, but yet how they are handled is all over the place.
One can be easily taken out by three X-men here (despite having Magnetic countermeasures), yet the entire X-men team in issue #23 fared poorly against a Sentinel until Magik decided to do her teleportation thing to dismantle it. In the Fall of House of X, the X-men and Avengers don't fare well against Stark Sentinel until Synch shows up with Iceman's powers.
Clearly, Duggan is 'paying off' Magik getting poisoned in #23 in issue #32, but he seems to forget how powerful Stark Sentinels are supposed to be.

Magik is attacking a base, and of course Kitty happens to be attacking the base around the same time. Everyone is in telepathic communication, and yet Emma only tells Magik to wait for backup (Lorna), not that Kitty is already on site so she doesn't have to wait.

The expected thing to do when Magik gets her strength and powers back is to have her go ham on the Sentinel to show she's back, but Duggan decided she was fine with poking a small hole in its head and teleporting some water because ... teamwork I guess? It both undermines these Sentinels as a threat and the idea the issue is going for that having her back is in any way meaningful. Even the teamwork could have been done much better if the issue wasn't so rushed.

[Nicoclaws]

Polaris is SHINING. Duggan is having a lot of fun with her it seems. "I assume it's not Stiltman".

He doesn't seem to know how to write a gay man who isn't over-flirty though, it seems.

[danielsan52]

I have to imagine that Firestar is next! I can't think of anything else outstanding aside from the final battles with Orchis.

Wait, I just remembered Doom's X-Men come back next issue. Sigh.

I'm excited for Doom's mutants tbh. I think they are wicked cool and I'm wondering who the two secret mutants are. Hoping one is Alexander Flynn but that's a stretch.

Firestar though! She should at least be on an upcoming cover and have her storyline finished. But we already know she may have been taken by Stasis, when and where does/did that happen?? I have a sinking suspicion that her role/story has been sidelined to a behind the scenes scenario.

While I agree that it's stupid... I kindof think it's "stupid-fun", given that it's another little quirk they give Polaris. "To me, my fillings!" "To me, my Brood!" "To me, my Power Lines!" ...I'm kinda into it for some reason.

I also take it as tongue-in-cheek whimsical exaggeration. I don't read it as her acting almighty powerful commanding. lol

Polaris is SHINING. Duggan is having a lot of fun with her it seems. "I assume it's not Stiltman".

He doesn't seem to know how to write a gay man who isn't over-flirty though, it seems.

Yes, I would love to see this powerful Mistress of Magnetism more often than when she's portrayed simply as Magnetos daughter.

[HomoSuperior]

I'm excited for Doom's mutants tbh. I think they are wicked cool and I'm wondering who the two secret mutants are. Hoping one is Alexander Flynn but that's a stretch.

Firestar though! She should at least be on an upcoming cover and have her storyline finished. But we already know she may have been taken by Stasis, when and where does/did that happen?? I have a sinking suspicion that her role/story has been sidelined to a behind the scenes scenario.
l

RE: Doom's D-Men. Same -- the could be the perfect counter to the X-Men, in a "so wrong, they're right / hate to love them" kind of way.

RE: Firestar - if Duggan keeps this quality up, nobody should be surprised by the climactic scene where the team discovers Dr. Stasis tied her to a space station transport system's tracks and they must choose between saving her or ending mutant oppression.

[OG Storm]

I'm reading it on autopilot.

Nothing interesting to comment on, not even the bad things.

That part, I am trying to find a reason to care about this. The overall story shows that orchis isn't really a threat.

[davetvs]

Next issue: Iceman saves the day by making someone slip and fall; the stakes get even higher when Ms. Lion is diagnosed with hip dysplasia.

Oh. My. God.

[Winter_fury]

Is it fair to say duggans run is as bad as austen’s and milligans?

[Triniking1234]

Thank God Polaris showed up to save us from this nanomachine BS.

[HomoSuperior]

Is it fair to say duggans run is as bad as austen’s and milligans?

Not really. Duggan doesn't make me dislike characters as much as Austen did. Austen found a way to inhabit characters and make them thoroughly unlikable.

Duggan's recent uninspired use of characters as sock puppets is "acting you can see" (as they say).

I will say, I was intrigued by new villains / concepts like Pneumococcal Jones or whatever that was. But then it all got jobbed.

It all seems to point to an editor that needs to do better.