Secret Empire X-Men Blue #9 Review (Spoilers)

[Firemane]

They can use thi to retcon everything Cyclops/Emma related since the start of their relationship if they want. I mean really, she got to replace the woman she hated in every which way possible

[Narasinha]

All Bunn did was oh she's evil now. Let's just drop the plot in IvX and use her as a villain for the story.

Evil? Most of the time she is more or less her usual self. Perhaps a little more extreme/borderline. It's only where Scott is concerned that she is totaly neurotic. Yeah, some people here are fond to say that she is writen as a twisting mustache villain. That's not the case. They don't understand the story and motivation or want to reduce it to a caricature because that's not what they want to read.

[ExodusCloak]

Evil? Most of the time she is more or less her usual self. Perhaps a little more extreme/borderline. It's only where Scott is concerned that she is totaly neurotic. Yeah, some people here are fond to say that she is writen as a twisting mustache villain. That's not the case. They don't understand the story and motivation or want to reduce it to a caricature because that's not what they want to read.

She was a moustache twirling villain in IvX #6 she was a caricature. They got rid of the bondage costume cause it made it more apparent. Soule went full retard in IvX 6 because he had to some how make the inhumans look some what humane after their 8 months genocide trip.

[ExodusCloak]

You are free to believe that Bunn introduced those characters, leaving unresolved plots, without having something planned for them. Maybe that's the case but I hope not. He left enough hints that it was part of a bigger story and not just random. You just don't have the patience to wait for his story to unfold.



Little problem with that: IvX was a one time crossover. This is a X-Men book, not an Inhumans one and Emma isn't even a main character. So, no, this book isn't going be about Emma vendetta against Inhumans.

For that matter, are the Inhumans who had some responsibility in IvX even still around on Earth (I don't read Inhumans books)? Or should Emma just get her nerves on random Inhumans because that's what you think would be good writing?

Generally writers will have a thread between storys that link. The Bastion story and Miss Sinister story and even the Emma story but they are isolated events. So regardless of what he planned there is no connection apart from the encounter with the O5. It's a clumsy, half hazard link.

Well considering Emma's entire motivation in IvX was that the inhumans killed Scott and should be punished. You are now being selective considering this plot was a massive one. And vital to her shift to a villain. She blew up two airships with random inhumans. Not only does that plot make sense from the place she's at. It's the only route forward for the character. If you're trying to be logical and not dismiss where Emma is at the moment since IvX. If you don't include it you're being selective and the argument falls apart.

There is no nuance to Bunns writing here. She's full on Enchantress from snow white here with a hint of Trunchbull from Matilda

[TitanMax]

Nice to see how selective people are about continuity, if it's something they like they want it brought to end of days and if it's they don't it should be ignored no matter how big or small it is.

[Havok83]

Generally writers will have a thread between storys that link. The Bastion story and Miss Sinister story and even the Emma story but they are isolated events. So regardless of what he planned there is no connection apart from the encounter with the O5. It's a clumsy, half hazard link.

Well considering Emma's entire motivation in IvX was that the inhumans killed Scott and should be punished. You are now being selective considering this plot was a massive one. And vital to her shift to a villain. She blew up two airships with random inhumans. Not only does that plot make sense from the place she's at. It's the only route forward for the character. If you're trying to be logical and not dismiss where Emma is at the moment since IvX. If you don't include it you're being selective and the argument falls apart.

There is no nuance to Bunns writing here. She's full on Enchantress from snow white here with a hint of Trunchbull from Matilda

The story hasnt been told yet! We saw them for the first time in exactly one panel in the latest issue. I think its too presumptuous and soon to write this off as if there Bunn doesnt have more to reveal about this unexpected alliance

[spirit2011]

Evil? Most of the time she is more or less her usual self. Perhaps a little more extreme/borderline. It's only where Scott is concerned that she is totaly neurotic. Yeah, some people here are fond to say that she is writen as a twisting mustache villain. That's not the case. They don't understand the story and motivation or want to reduce it to a caricature because that's not what they want to read.

Yes, her role changed on books. She is a villain now, ay best a very flawed anti-hero.

[ExodusCloak]

The story hasnt been told yet! We saw them for the first time in exactly one panel in the latest issue. I think its too presumptuous and soon to write this off as if there Bunn doesnt have more to reveal about this unexpected alliance

It's not about what hasn't been revealed it's about what has. It's a lazy half hazard build up to this alliance. And it's like he woke up one day and decided to dump the villians he used j this group. Given that he dedicated stories to each one without an overarching thread. I wouldn't be surprised if Mojo joins. It's clumsy story telling at best.

[Havok83]

It's not about what hasn't been revealed it's about what has. It's a lazy half hazard build up to this alliance. And it's like he woke up one day and decided to dump the villians he used j this group. Given that he dedicated stories to each one without an overarching thread. I wouldn't be surprised if Mojo joins. It's clumsy story telling at best.

thats why its a plot twist and unexpected alliance that no one would have guessed. The final frame was intended to be shocking to lure us in to want to see more about how and why these 3 got together. I cant tell you what to do as a passionate Emma fan, but personally Im going to be patient and wait to see how this unfolds bc there is definitely more to the story

[AZPolaris]

As a fellow fanatic (Lorna, not Emma) I can certainly empathize. When Polaris was written as a love sick simp after Havok disappeared into the Mutant X universe I was a bit...perturbed. The difference is I was used to it. That's part of being a Polaris fan is taking the bad with the good. We're just happy to see Lorna. Emma has been in the spotlight and written mostly well for so long that her fans aren't used to missing her and then not getting what they hope for when she returns. This is NOT a jab, just an observation. I have no idea where Polaris has been for two years now and I am just happy to see her. Granted I was very happy with how she was written, but I was hoping to see more of her since she was the focus of the cover. I do think that this was not just hodgepodged together at Bunn's whim and he does have a plan. I also think after having a couple books end fairly abruptly he may have to write the long term a bit differently. I'm gonna give him some time to find the voices of the characters he hasn't written yet.

[RAWRlrus]

thats why its a plot twist and unexpected alliance that no one would have guessed. The final frame was intended to be shocking to lure us in to want to see more about how and why these 3 got together. I cant tell you what to do as a passionate Emma fan, but personally Im going to be patient and wait to see how this unfolds bc there is definitely more to the story

There's no reason for the alliance to exist. Its just shitty writing that's par for the course for most of the X-books now.

[ExodusCloak]

thats why its a plot twist and unexpected alliance that no one would have guessed. The final frame was intended to be shocking to lure us in to want to see more about how and why these 3 got together. I cant tell you what to do as a passionate Emma fan, but personally Im going to be patient and wait to see how this unfolds bc there is definitely more to the story

You still need an overarching thread in the book. Even if we wanted to be so subtle that no one picked up on a link between Bastion and Claudine. The only link there is time travel. But then you come to Emma's story and the time travel link isn't apparent.
Claremont made a excellent point and I believe Kieron Gillen was superb at doing this. Your heroes are only as good as your villains. You have to give them equal development. The criticism is about the quality of writing not even about character portrays but the way he organised his story.

[pamp]

thats why its a plot twist and unexpected alliance that no one would have guessed. The final frame was intended to be shocking to lure us in to want to see more about how and why these 3 got together. I cant tell you what to do as a passionate Emma fan, but personally Im going to be patient and wait to see how this unfolds bc there is definitely more to the story

Bunn already showed some of bad examples of describing Emma so I do not expect anything better would come from him. and portraying a female character, strong independent female character as a lovesick psychopath has always been a bad writing. it was bad in 80s, 90s, and yes it is still bad.

[salarta]

As a fellow fanatic (Lorna, not Emma) I can certainly empathize. When Polaris was written as a love sick simp after Havok disappeared into the Mutant X universe I was a bit...perturbed. The difference is I was used to it. That's part of being a Polaris fan is taking the bad with the good. We're just happy to see Lorna. Emma has been in the spotlight and written mostly well for so long that her fans aren't used to missing her and then not getting what they hope for when she returns. This is NOT a jab, just an observation. I have no idea where Polaris has been for two years now and I am just happy to see her. Granted I was very happy with how she was written, but I was hoping to see more of her since she was the focus of the cover. I do think that this was not just hodgepodged together at Bunn's whim and he does have a plan. I also think after having a couple books end fairly abruptly he may have to write the long term a bit differently. I'm gonna give him some time to find the voices of the characters he hasn't written yet.

Just want to add my two cents from this.

Polaris fans may be used to her getting treated this way, but how they react differs from person to person.

In this case, I'm not just happy to see her after a long absence. I'm already sour toward Marvel for forcing her into limbo when she could've been in so many storylines. I need more than "here she is" to make up for her absence. If that's all Marvel does, then it betrays an attitude that Marvel doesn't care about Lorna or her fans at all and just wants them to stop asking where she is. As such, personally, I see just being happy to see her as sending a message to Marvel that it's okay to treat her poorly so long as she makes token appearances every 2-3 years. It's even more important to say something if comics are your favorite character's only venue.

With all this in mind, I see Lorna historically getting treated poorly as a sign that I need to be more alert, more concerned with how she's treated. She's already had more than enough bad breaks that have snowballed across decades. Repairing the damage is going to take a lot of work and a keen eye. The sooner a potential problem is caught, the better. It's the difference between having one issue with a minor problem or six issues with increasingly abysmal depictions.

I do agree with AZPolaris on giving some time for the writer to fully understand the character, though. Nobody comes into writing a character knowing how to write them with absolute perfection. That doesn't mean not to say something if there's a concern, but it does mean early steps are not representative of intent or future writing. Treat it as a case where the writer needs constructive feedback (except in extreme circumstances). For example, I don't like the ambiguity of Lorna's text to Bobby in Iceman #3. Reader responses show why: some saw it as a playful joke, others saw it as callous and cruel. But, Sina's never written Lorna before. He can't be expected to show a perfect understanding of Lorna when it's his first time writing her and he has to distill her personality into the length of a text message.

[Narasinha]

Generally writers will have a thread between storys that link. The Bastion story and Miss Sinister story and even the Emma story but they are isolated events. So regardless of what he planned there is no connection apart from the encounter with the O5. It's a clumsy, half hazard link.

That's what you think. You aren't the writer so you don't know what he is planing.

Those stories with Bastion and Miss Sinister were obviously not finished. So I think there is good chance that they will have a follow-up. You seem to want the follow-up to happen right after, in the following issues, but that doesn't have to be the case. Some authors plan things more in advance.

The issue with Miss Sinister especially felt like the introduction to Something bigger. What is she doing here? What does she want with Jean? What was the collar she gave her? Do you think there won't be any follow-up on that?