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Post by rberman on Mar 29, 2019 10:35:18 GMT -5
X-Men #49Back at the ranch, Beast finishes his mutant detector, and it pings Lorna right away, who has showered and, thanks to using the worst hair dye ever, reveals green hair. Huh. "Black hair gets washed, revealing green hair" was also used in Lorna Dane's debut appearance on the TV show "The Gifted." I didn't realize it was a callback to her first comic book appearance.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 29, 2019 10:42:30 GMT -5
Nice to see they at least do a little research for these shows!
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Post by rberman on Mar 29, 2019 10:45:22 GMT -5
Nice to see they at least do a little research for these shows! Yes, Lorna is the standout character on the show. I never would have expected that 20 years into the "live action X-Men" phenomenon, Lorna Dane and the Stepford Cuckoos would be more memorable characters than Ororo, Kitty Pryde, or Emma Frost.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 29, 2019 11:40:25 GMT -5
Nice to see they at least do a little research for these shows! Yes, Lorna is the standout character on the show. I never would have expected that 20 years into the "live action X-Men" phenomenon, Lorna Dane and the Stepford Cuckoos would be more memorable characters than Ororo, Kitty Pryde, or Emma Frost. Yeah, that's true, especially since they've used both so little in the comics... I guess the Cuckoos outlived Morrison a bit, but Lorna has barely even been wallpaper other than PAD's X-Factor revival a couple years ago.
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Post by Duragizer on Mar 29, 2019 19:13:30 GMT -5
Iceman is clearly smitten with Lorna, when just 2 issues ago he was dating Zelda, and nary a stray thought or mention of her. I guess we can assume they broke up off panel when the boys went west (also off panel). This makes me remember how illogical it seemed when they recently decided Bobby was gay... not that you can't change your mind about such things, but the story is that he was just 'in the closet' as a teen, which doesn't jive to me at all. Nor me.
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Post by Farrar on Mar 30, 2019 8:52:53 GMT -5
This was one of my favorite issues back in the day; I loved the introduction of the new character Lorna Dane. I remember I was tickled by her name; of course, it reminded the very young me of the delicious Lorna Doone cookie (I didn't know about the novel yet). Trivia: there's a character named Lorna Dane in the Batman story in 1940's Detective #40. X-Men #49'Who dares defy.. the demi-men?' Drake/Heck/Roth/Tartaglione -Jean seems to have a MAJOR power up.. she's able to contact Beast and Iceman from across the country, and talk to everyone at one like the Professor used to. She also tosses armored henchman around with telekinesis with ease. I read these when they were published and I really loved how Jean's powers were being showcased in this issue and the preceding one (#48); and in subsequent issues. She began using her powers in different and interesting ways. And I loved how she just took charge and flew (via telekinesis-levitation) Scott out of danger at the end of the previous issue. Always liked Marvel Girl in the Silver Age book so I was glad to see her finally getting the spotlight!
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Post by Farrar on Mar 30, 2019 9:02:11 GMT -5
X-Men #49- Iceman is clearly smitten with Lorna, when just 2 issues ago he was dating Zelda, and nary a stray thought or mention of her. I guess we can assume they broke up off panel when the boys went west (also off panel). Byrne tried to explain it in his X-Men:The Hidden Years #2 (1999). I only read his Hidden Years a few years ago but from what I understand, XTHY is considered to be in continuity (though IMHO it shouldn't be; a lot of it struck as superfluous, unnecessary connecting-the-dots)
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 30, 2019 12:07:18 GMT -5
I think what's clear is that if there was a plan for the team and the characters around this time, they were constantly changing it and scrapping it for something else.
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 9, 2019 8:47:46 GMT -5
X-Men #50 'City of Mutants Drake/Steranko/Tartaglione Plot: Bobby and Lorna are taken away by Mesmero to his 'city of mutants', which is a futuristic castle in the desert. Once there, they strap Polaris up to a machine to unlock her power (and put her in a costume, because reasons) while Iceman continues to be helpless under Mesmero's control. Meanwhile, the rest of the team tracks the henchment to a cool looking gothic building which seems to be bad guy HQ, but is not where we see Iceman and Polaris go. They are mopping up the henchmen nicely when Jean senses that the only way to find their friends to to pretend to lose and get captured, which they do. Mesmero presents them with his mutant messiah... Powered up Polaris! She isn't evil, though, so so she uses her power to wipe out the bad guys. The team turns to finish off Mesmero when he is saved by someone bending the metal floor up as a shield.... Magneto steps out of the shadows! To be continued! Notes: -So much more here than usual! Great issue! But not without problems... - Mesmero is set up as a new arch villain, and it's going great, until the team shows up and Jean just overpowers his 'hypnosis' with her mind powers... then he gets shown up by Magneto, who we thought was dead (again) not that long ago. I'm sure we'll get an explanatory monologue next issue, but did Mesmero know he was around? Didn't seem like it. I think this big reveal would have been better a year or two down the road, after the team battled Mesmero a couple times, but perhaps sales didn't allow such a slow burn. - Lots of Nazi call outs.. from the 'Hail Magneto' stuff to the numbered citizens.. I know Magneto-as-holocaust-survivor was a later creation, but in light of that its just really jarring. - It's tough to blame the public for hating and fearing mutants when the ones that aren't the X-Men constantly refer to themselves as evil and try to take over the world! - Steranko is awesome here.. my favorite art so far of the series. Unfortunately, Drake's dialogue is painful at times (Especially during the action sequences).. I think this could have been a silent issue and been just as good. Also, we get the logo that we all know and love and was used for the next 25+ years for the first time this issue Art: A+ plot: B- History: B (first Polaris) IN the backup: 'This Boy - This Bombshell' Drake/Roth/Verpooten Plot: Origin of the Beast, part 2. We seen little Beast climbing walls and causing trouble. Flash ahead to High School Freshman Hank McCoy.. he gets recruit to play football, and stops some robbers from taking the box office. Because when 3 men who have access to gas grenades decide to pull a heist, the first, best option is a high school football game! Of note, we see that Hank was, well, Beastly, from birth, not having his powers come at puberty as most mutants are described as today... wonder if that was ever retconned?
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Post by Cei-U! on May 9, 2019 9:21:26 GMT -5
I'm glad you liked Steranko's art here but I think it's the only crappy job he's ever done. It's obvious (well, to me anyway) that he took the assignment strictly for the money, phoning it in with sloppy layouts, generic backgrounds, and characters with faulty anatomy in awkward unrealistic poses. It didn't help that he was paired with John Tartaglione, probably my least favorite Silver Age Marvel inker (yes, even over Colletta). When I sold off my X-Men collection last year, I experienced a twinge of regret over giving up the Adams issues but for Steranko's? Nada.
Cei-U! I summon the worst of the best!
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 9, 2019 17:20:49 GMT -5
I'm glad you liked Steranko's art here but I think it's the only crappy job he's ever done. It's obvious (well, to me anyway) that he took the assignment strictly for the money, phoning it in with sloppy layouts, generic backgrounds, and characters with faulty anatomy in awkward unrealistic poses. It didn't help that he was paired with John Tartaglione, probably my least favorite Silver Age Marvel inker (yes, even over Colletta). When I sold off my X-Men collection last year, I experienced a twinge of regret over giving up the Adams issues but for Steranko's? Nada. Cei-U! I summon the worst of the best! I suppose it's all in what you're comparing it too.... it might not be his best, but compared to the previous issues, it's complete gold!
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Post by rberman on May 9, 2019 17:39:15 GMT -5
X-Men #50 Meanwhile, the rest of the team tracks the henchment to a cool looking gothic building which seems to be bad guy HQ, but is not where we see Iceman and Polaris go. They are mopping up the henchmen nicely when Jean senses that the only way to find their friends to to pretend to lose and get captured, which they do. This is a page from early Wonder Woman stories. Letting herself be captured in order to rescue her captured friends was very common.
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Post by MDG on May 10, 2019 8:41:52 GMT -5
X-Men #50 Meanwhile, the rest of the team tracks the henchment to a cool looking gothic building which seems to be bad guy HQ, but is not where we see Iceman and Polaris go. They are mopping up the henchmen nicely when Jean senses that the only way to find their friends to to pretend to lose and get captured, which they do. This is a page from early Wonder Woman stories. Letting herself be captured in order to rescue her captured friends was very common. Also: any excuse to get tied up.
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Post by rberman on May 10, 2019 9:16:44 GMT -5
This is a page from early Wonder Woman stories. Letting herself be captured in order to rescue her captured friends was very common. Also: any excuse to get tied up. A common theme with super-heroines. Wertham was right.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on May 10, 2019 9:42:57 GMT -5
Even if it wasn't Steranko's best en toto, there were some great individual pages.
But, yeah, shame about the writing. I'm trying to think if there was anything I liked about this era of X-men, storywise, but not coming up with much.
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