Uncanny XMEN #16 Discussion + SPOILERS

[Calaigah]

Bit confused with this issue as I'm not that familiar with Fantomex and "The World" so I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this issue.

-We open up with Sabretooth massacring the Inhumans until Karnak stops him. Karnak meets with Medusa and they converse. We then realize that Jean and The Cuckoos are secluded with Karnak and are keeping him mentally incapacitated.
-Jean scolds whoever used Sabretooth to piss Karnak off and it turns out to be Irma. Jean doesn't want Karnak to be out for blood once their game is over and The Cuckoos don't think it'll matter.
-Cut to Fantomex inside "The World". He's supposed to be aiding the girls but has ulterior motives.
-As Fantomex fights robots in "The World", Karnak fights the main XMEN teams including Banshee and Armor.
-Irma slips again and shows Karnak where The Cuckoos were created. The other sisters are mad about this.
-Fantomex seems to have found an old "Someday Corporation" facility and is revealed to be looking for the virus Someday used to weaponize mutants.
-Irma loses her connections with Fantomex and it's revealed she knew he was doing other "work". The rest discuss how this jeopardizes their mission. Meanwhile, Karnak finds the "flaw" in the girls plan.
-Fantomex plans to use the virus to take over "The World."

[Master of Sound]

So is Irma bad? No.

[Ambaryerno]

Bit confused with this issue as I'm not that familiar with Fantomex and "The World" so I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this issue.

-We open up with Sabretooth massacring the Inhumans until Karnak stops him. Karnak meets with Medusa and they converse. We then realize that Jean and The Cuckoos are secluded with Karnak and are keeping him mentally incapacitated.
-Jean scolds whoever used Sabretooth to piss Karnak off and it turns out to be Irma. Jean doesn't want Karnak to be out for blood once their game is over and The Cuckoos don't think it'll matter.
-Cut to Fantomex inside "The World". He's supposed to be aiding the girls but has ulterior motives.
-As Fantomex fights robots in "The World", Karnak fights the main XMEN teams including Banshee and Armor.
-Irma slips again and shows Karnak where The Cuckoos were created. The other sisters are mad about this.
-Fantomex seems to have found an old "Someday Corporation" facility and is revealed to be looking for the virus Someday used to weaponize mutants.
-Irma loses her connections with Fantomex and it's revealed she knew he was doing other "work". The rest discuss how this jeopardizes their mission. Meanwhile, Karnak finds the "flaw" in the girls plan.
-Fantomex plans to use the virus to take over "The World."

Yeah, I was having trouble following what exactly was going on, as well.

[Calaigah]

So Irma was helping Fantomex take over "The World" and couldn't stop thinking about The Cuckoo nest... Interested in where this might be going but also confused haha.

[Alex.]

God bless you, Bunn. This was probably my favorite issue you ever wrote.

I really enjoyed reading this (those three times I read it)

[Grey]

Yea I haven't been keeping up with uncanny so I really had no clue what was going on with the fantomex stuff.

[SeanBansheeCassidy]

Also not an expert on "The World" - Is this where Fanto raised Evan?

I guess we know that Irma being distracted will be the "flaw" Karnak uses to escape....still considering Tean, Phoebe and Celeste are still present he shouldnt escape all of them but editorial.

[WhySoFuriousGeorge]

I haven't read the issue yet, but I'd suggest reading Phoenix: Warsong (and a few other stories, though this one seems most relevant) to anyone who is unfamiliar with The World.

And yes, the World is where Fantomex raised Evan. I believe he stole the World during Dark Reign, and made it portable via shrinking ray (also stolen, natch).

[SeanBansheeCassidy]

I haven't read the issue yet, but I'd suggest reading Phoenix: Warsong (and a few other stories, though this one seems most relevant) to anyone who is unfamiliar with The World.

And yes, the World is where Fantomex raised Evan. I believe he stole the World during Dark Reign, and made it portable via shrinking ray (also stolen, natch).

I was fairly sure this was the place when I saw the Cuckoo pods. I know more than I thought I did haha.

[Calaigah]

Does Fantomex have a history with The Cuckoos?

Also, I guess Magneto is in on this plan? Maybe this is part of his plan of having a "sleeper" army? Are there still Cuckoo clones down there? And that's why Psylocke fights Magneto later on?

[WhySoFuriousGeorge]

Does Fantomex have a history with The Cuckoos?

Not really, although they are both products of Weapon Plus.

Also, I guess Magneto is in on this plan? Maybe this is part of his plan of having a "sleeper" army? Are there still Cuckoo clones down there? And that's why Psylocke fights Magneto later on?

No idea, no idea, I'm pretty sure all the other Cuckoo clones were destroyed during Warsong, and no idea. LOL.

[Jean Grey]

Fantomex is such a weirdly written character, I still have his interactions with Jean from New X-Men in my mind and can't shake it whenever I see him in recent stories

[WhySoFuriousGeorge]

Well, looks like that's a wrap for Fantomex. I know a lot of people here will be pleased. I just wish he'd gotten more page time in the book first. He's only really been in 3 issues of the 16, and only had a major role in 2 of them. Same problem that Mystique had, come to think of it. That's my biggest regret with this book: as much as I adore Bunn's writing, I feel like this series was written for trade/decompressed, and thus not as much happened as I would've liked. But I still enjoyed the hell out of it, and I will definitely miss this team, my personal favorite line-up of X-Men in years. Although I'd have liked it more if Magik and Sunfire were on the roster. EXM doesn't need 2 teleporters.

[akiresu_]

It feels redundant to say I loved it, but the cover made me nervous and I felt the shroud of IvX was going to weigh the tie-in issues down seriously. However, my fears were clearly unnecessary, if the rest of the tie-ins follow this model I'll be very happy with Bunn's entire run.

A real strength I found was the issue's ability to both give more depth to what we had seen in IvX, whilst also tell a story that is more in tune with the rest of the series.

Very continuity heavy, but I like that. I can see why it'd be off-putting to other people though.

One thing I do think is a miss with the series is clarity. I recently struggled to realise Magneto's powers being cured and here I struggle to understand the state of the Someday corporation. Hopefully the Someday stuff will be clarified and is setting up for later issues, but if not then I think there's been a definite misstep. Similarly the conflict in The World seemed, more or less, out of nowhere. Very sudden, quite jarring, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Gotta agree with WSFG, such a great line-up and I miss it already. I hope it gets the send-off it deserves.


(Also, I'm going to need confirmation of if #19 is the finale or na, because this series deserves at least one more issue to make 20)

[WhySoFuriousGeorge]

One thing I do think is a miss with the series is clarity. I recently struggled to realise Magneto's powers being cured and here I struggle to understand the state of the Someday corporation. Hopefully the Someday stuff will be clarified and is setting up for later issues, but if not then I think there's been a definite misstep. Similarly the conflict in The World seemed, more or less, out of nowhere. Very sudden, quite jarring, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I feel exactly the same way. I would've liked to have seen, for instance, what brought Monet to join the Hellfire Club. I would've liked to have seen more with Briar, establishing who she's supposed to be (I'm sure I'm not the only reader of this series who hasn't read Magneto's solo book), same with Xorn (given the contradictory nature of this character, some clarity would've been fantastic here). And Someday just strikes me as a plot that, unless Bunn picks it up in XMB, will fall by the wayside. Usually I can just roll with it, and I've enjoyed the hell out of this book, but I do like to know these things.