X-men #33: Review & Spoilers

[Malachi]

Cassara is back and he seems in many ways a better fit for the title. If not that Duggans styles suits Cassara better then Noto, but at least we get some gorgeous action art to droole on. The art masks the cringe factor Duggan often brings with his "Big swing"-philosophy to writing, that means that when he misses it's hard for us to miss it.

From the Preview pages we get Shaw sending in Shinobi. Then between those pages we get the reavers dropping down(from a hellicopter) on Madripoor to bust a bar were Callisto is hiding out. Last time I saw her was in Dark and then she was on a boat with Maggot outside of Madripoor. Seems she went back to dry land, no clue about him. The Reavers beat her down and crucify her, which if my memory serves me right, is a callback to them crucifying Logan in the outback era. We also get that preview page with Emma putting on silver lipstick. Logan and his ambush on the Orchis goons ends in a viloent dismemberment for them, like we all guessed it would. Cassara is killing it here, pun intended.

Kitty takes on the Reavers and she somehow manages to slice through two people's torsos with one katana... She got superstrength now?

She frees Callisto and then Shinob enters the fray. He says Shaw has a boat coming in. A boat full of Devo.

Devo has had better days. He looks as menacing as a man propped up on bionetics would do. When the X-men port in he simply opens up his own wort to the negative zone to get rid of them. It's all Richard tech he consificated when Richards went missing. I'm sure it's a big plot in FF comics but it really makes no sense why Richards, after all these years, would let Damage Control tkae his tech and then let Orchis take it from them.



It's only Synch and his borrowed TK from Jean that is keeping the X-men from being sucked into the NZ. Jean might be dead but her powers aren't. Kamala has an idea. Time to call Unca Doom. Emma manages to convince him and he deploys his X-men. Which in this case means: Slag, Volta and Nerium. At least two of those have their powers linked with Latveria. I thought Nerium was like Meggan that her powers only worked on her home soil. I was wrong.

Volta throws her javelin through Devo and that's the end of that fight. Easy solution.

Slag gets to highfive with Kamala(see he isn't that bad and Kamala is so friendly and great...).

Logan fawns over Volta and wants her to jon them and she declines, which he takes as just the first step to her joining. There are some problematic undertones here...

Nimord has killed Alia and is pinning Scott to a wall, on the moon. But he chooses to spare Scott's life so Scott can tremble before their masterplan. Like other villians through the X-men history he will regret it. There should really be a support group for these losers.


The masterplan is that Sentinel City is rising. Machines played humans against mutants and now they are making their play. To be "Part of god" as Nimrod says. So Dominion is my thought aobut that quote. The reveal is beatifully drawn but it falls a bit flat, this isn't new information. It's like ending the issue with a cliffhanger that is actually the recap page.

Review: Good enough issue. There is a sense of energy as we move along, finally, and that works for it. It's still a little bit humdrum and patchwork feeling over it as we move from scene to scene as not much of it feels that important, a factor that only is heightened by the lack of time devoted to each of these scenes. Devo is a prime example, he is taken down with one throw. Still the beatiful art elevates it. Great lines, great ink, great color.

7/10.

[NewMutant]

The DOOM Mutants are beyond unnecessary, especially at this point. I hate that such a good era is whimpering out.

[Doom'nGloom]

Why didn't Nimrod kill Scott? Is he stupid?

Logan fawns over Volta and wants her to jon them and she declines, which he takes as just the first step to her joining. There are some problematic undertones here...

As someone who can be blind to this sort of thing, what's wrong with it?

[JB]

The art was excellent and the best thing about the issue for me. I struggled to care about the story though. The death of Devo should feel somewhat of a big deal but we haven't seen much of him so it doesn't feel important. I've always been interested in Sentinel City so that's the element I'm most curious about going forward.

[Gray Lensman]

Cassara is back and he seems in many ways a better fit for the title. If not that Duggans styles suits Cassara better then Noto, but at least we get some gorgeous action art to droole on. To mask the cringe factor Duggan often brings with his "Big swing" Philosophy to writing that means that when he misses it's hard for us to miss it.

From the Preview pages we get Shaw sending in Shinobi. Then between those pages we get the reavers dropping down(froma hellicopter) on Madripoor to bust a bar were Callisto is hiding out. Last time I saw her was in Dark and then she was on a boat with Maggot outside of Madripoor. Seems she went back to dry land, no clue about him. The Reavers beat her down and crucify her, which if my memory serves me right, is a callback to them crucifying Logan in the outback era. We also get that preview page with Emma putting on silver lipstick. Logan and his ambush on the Orchis goons ends in a viloent dismemberment, like we all guess it would. Cassara is killing it here, Pun intended.

Kitty takes on the Reavers and she somehow manages to slice through two people's torsos with one katana... She got superstrength now? [IMG][/IMG]

She frees Callisto and then Shinob enters the fray. He says Shaw has a boat coming in. A boat full of Devo.

Devo has had better days. He looks as menacing as a man propped up on bionetics would do. When the X-men port in he simply opens up his own wort to the negative zone to get rid of them. It's all Richard tech he consificated when Richards went missing. I'm sure it's a big plot in FF comics but it really makes no sense why Richards, after all these years, would let Damage Control tkae his tech and then let Orchis take it from them.

[IMG][/IMG]

It's only Synch and his borrowed TK from Jean that is keepign the X-men beign sucke dinto the NZ. JEan might be dead but her powers aren't. Kamala has an idea. Time to call Unca Doom. Emma manages to convince him and he deploys his X-men. Which in this case means: Slag, Volta and Nerium. At least two of those have their powers linked with Latveria. I thought Nerium was like Meggan that her powers only worked on her home soil. I was wrong.

Volta throws her javalin through Devo and that's the end of that fight. Easy solution.

Slag gets to highfive with Kamala(see he isn't that bad and Kamala is so friendly and great...).

Logan fawns over Volta and wants her to jon them and she declines, which he takes as just the first step to her joining. There are some problematic undertones here...

Nimord has killed Alia and is pinning Scott to a wall, on the moon. But he chooses to spare Scott's life so Scott can tremble before their masterplan. Like other villians through the X-men history he will regret it. There shoudl really be a support group for these losers.

The masterplan is that Sentinle City is rising. Machines played humans against mutants and now they are makign their play. to be "Part of god" as Nimrod says. So Dominion is my thought aobut that quote. The reveal is beatifully drawn but it falls a bit flat, this isn't new information. It's like ending the issue with a cliffhanger that is actually the recap page.

Review: Good enough issue. It has momentum, finally, and that works for it. It's still a little bit humdrum and patchwork feeling over it as we move form scene to scene. Still the beatiful art elevates it. Great lines, great ink, great color.

7/10.

Rule 1 of fighting the X-Men is to NEVER keep Scott alive to make a plan. He almost always will, and it will almost always suck to be on the opposite end of it.

Rule 2 is never presume you actually killed Logan without spending a few days in a locked room with the corpse. 2A applies this to all characters with a healing factor, 2B applies it to all with enhanced endurance.

Rule 3 is that Storm and Jean are more powerful than you accounted for. No, more than that. Much, much more. Rule 3A is that if neither is available, there are other power players who can step up, like Polaris.

Rule 4, is that Emma Frost is more devious than you are. Even if you are the Devil himself.

That should cover the major ones.

[Malachi]

Why didn't Nimrod kill Scott? Is he stupid?



As someone who can be blind to this sort of thing, what's wrong with it?

No means yes. At least that was the way it read to me. She was very adamant in turning him down.

[Malachi]

Rule 1 of fighting the X-Men is to NEVER keep Scott alive to make a plan. He almost always will, and it will almost always suck to be on the opposite end of it.

Rule 2 is never presume you actually killed Logan without spending a few days in a locked room with the corpse. 2A applies this to all characters with a healing factor, 2B applies it to all with enhanced endurance.

Rule 3 is that Storm and Jean are more powerful than you accounted for. No, more than that. Much, much more. Rule 3A is that if neither is available, there are other power players who can step up, like Polaris.

Rule 4, is that Emma Frost is more devious than you are. Even if you are the Devil himself.

That should cover the major ones.

Totally agree. It should be printed on cards and handed out on villain gatherings. Maybe even laminate it just to be on the safe side.

Then as Jean/Storm/Polaris overpowers the villain a thug can scream to it before it's blasted away. "It's just like the card says! You should have checked the card!"

[sunofdarkchild]

With every issue, Duggan gets me more and more ready for Krakoa to end so that X-Men will be free of his writing. This was somewhat better than previous issues in that things actually seem to be moving a little, but it was far from good.

[cranger]

No means yes. At least that was the way it read to me. She was very adamant in turning him down.

That is a stretch. This was not even telemarketer level of not accepting a rejection.

[Saithor]

Nimrod sparing Scott is moronic but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything else from him all things considered.

I’m ngl, I completely forgot Devo even existed he was that much of a nothing as a character.

[Jackraow21]

The art was excellent and the best thing about the issue for me. I struggled to care about the story though. The death of Devo should feel somewhat of a big deal but we haven't seen much of him so it doesn't feel important. I've always been interested in Sentinel City so that's the element I'm most curious about going forward.

Yeah, the art made this one for me. Didn't care much about Doom's X-men from the jump, so they weren't exactly a highlight, showing up and saving the day. Wolverine's callback sequence to the legendary Uncanny X-men #133 was pretty damn awesome, however, and made this book worth the price of admission. At least for me obviously, as I am the only one I speak for on here.

[HomoSuperior]

That had to be the slowest banishment to the negative zone ever.

Team caught like flies in a portal long enough to talk about what to do next, telepathically negotiate Doom’s help, AND his X-Men’s arrival — in time to NOT be sucked into the negative zone?

And yeah, Sync can use Jean’s powers even though she’s outside time and space (without aging himself beyond belief) and Nimrod kills Gregor but not Cyclops?

TLDR; There was a lot of long slow sucking in this issue.

[Frontier]

I'm going to laugh if in Kitty's new team she ends up having to teach the new Mutant kids to control their powers and practice restraint so they don't kill people.

[Username taken]

This is all getting tedious.

It's like the stories are in a holding pattern while the X-men kill Orchis goons (I honestly thought Orchis was a little more high concept at their creation) in all manner of creative and gruesome ways.

This story and era can't end fast enough IMHO.

[xpyred]

That last page with Sentinel City reminds me of the Death Egg rising at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.