November 12, 2025 • 48 mins
Join us for another episode of Uncanny Book Club and explore one of the most influential storytelling sagas in comic book history.
Episode 16 concludes the story of the Phoenix, which stretches all the way back to X-Men issue 100. The X-Men fight the Shi'ar Imperial Guard in the Blue Area of the Moon, Phoenix once again breaks free, and Jean makes the ultimate sacrifice. We also get a quick summary of everything the X-Men have gone through from issues 1 to now -- and see that Scott Summers is taking time away from the team.
Have feedback or questions for the show? Email uncannybookclub@gmail.com.
Uncanny Book Club is a biweekly read-along through Chris Claremont’s 16-year long X-Men run, which includes some of the most iconic X-Men stories.
Whether you’re revisiting these stories, are reading it for the first time like us, or just want to ride along for the discussion — we hope you’ll join us every other Wednesday.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to Uncanny Book Club.
I'm Michael Petersfield, andjoining me today is my co-host
Adam Ward.
Hey, I still haven't watched theX-Men next movie.
Maybe next time.
I gave you a little bit of anextra dramatic pause between
Adam and Ward.
How do you feel about it?
SPEAKER_02 (00:28):
I like to really feed my whole persona that I
have going on.
Especially with this voice,which I have to preface is the
result of sickness.
So there you go.
Well, feel better.
I yeah, I'm trying.
I got my green tea ready to talkabout comics.
I will say, if my note-takingwas poor this week, it was
(00:51):
because I was in a state of sickdelirium.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
If mine is poor this week, it's because I did it on a
laptop that maybe ran throughits entire battery in like 25
minutes.
I'm not clear on what exactlyhappened.
Well, yeah.
In this episode, we'll bepicking things up where we left
off with issues 137 and 138.
(01:16):
Issue 137 opens with a monologueby the Watcher.
A pretty big hint that we'relooking at a monumental issue.
The X-Men find themselvestransported onto a Shiar
dreadnought and are confrontedby Lilandra.
The Shiar informed the X-Men ofthe atrocities committed by Dark
Phoenix.
Right before they apprehendGene, Xavier uses his knowledge
(01:39):
of the Shiar to invoke a duel ofhonor to settle her guiltiness.
The duel is likewise approved bythe Cree and Skrull Empires.
We spend time with each of theX-Men who are experiencing a
little bit of conflict over somerecent events.
Gene reunites with Scott thenext morning, donning her Marvel
(01:59):
Girl outfit.
Each member of the currentX-Men, as well as Beast and
Angel, agree to stick with Gene,and everyone is transported to
the blue area of the moon, whichis a section of the moon with
Earth normal environment.
The Imperial Guard is likewisetransported to the Moon, and
Scott splits the team up,ordering them to whittle the
(02:20):
guard down with hit and runtactics.
Different teams engage in theirown little mini battles.
Unfortunately, Storm is thefirst to fall, and Wolverine
ends up accidentally stumblinginto the Watcher's home.
He comes out feeling evenshakier than when he encountered
Proteus, and Storm greets him.
(02:41):
His instincts warn him though,and he throws her, and she turns
out to be a Skrull in disguise.
A Cree Warrior also shows upsaving the Skrull from
Wolverine, but that's too big ofan insult, and those two then
begin fighting each other.
It's not long before most of theteam has been knocked out and
eliminated from the contest.
(03:02):
Clausus puts up a prettyimpressive fight against
Gladiator, but when the buildingcollapses on top of the two of
them, it puts an end to theirbattle.
Good guy Gladiator does dragPeter out of the wreckage,
though.
Professor X watches in horror asit's down to just Gene and
Scott.
When Scott is cut down, thePhoenix breaks free of the
psychic bonds, and the ImperialGuard are quickly taken out.
(03:26):
Xavier psychically awakens theX-Men and orders all of them to
attack Gene.
Even Scott agrees with this, andeach member begins to whittle
away at Gene's Stannima.
Wolverine decides to takeadvantage of the moon's reduced
gravity and throws Peter for hisown version of the Fastball
special.
He hopes that Peter will be ableto do what he fears he can't and
(03:47):
kill Gene.
Peter says that he's neverkilled before.
Apparently, energy beings don'tcount, RAP Proteus.
And he pulls his punch.
Gene says that she understandswhat must be done, and that
while she's alive, the Phoenixwill always emerge, and its
emergence will always lead toDark Phoenix.
Just a few panels later, this isproved true as we see Gene
(04:11):
switch over to the red and goldof Dark Phoenix.
Scott chases after, but isfrozen in place and has to watch
in horror as Gene says hergoodbyes, explains why, and uses
a weapon among the ruins of theblue area to eliminate herself.
Scott realizes that Gene hadplanned this from the start, if
(04:31):
the royal guard weren't able tofinish her off.
In the final page, we cut to thewatcher who explains to the
recorder robot the momentousscene they've witnessed.
He calls out humanity'sextraordinary capacity for
self-sacrifice, and in closingsays, The X-Men do not realize
it, they may never realize oraccept it, but this day they
(04:53):
have won perhaps the greatestvictory of their young lives.
Jean Grey could have lived tobecome a god, but it was more
important to her that she die ahuman.
Long summary.
I mean, there's a lot to goover, man.
It was a double-sized issue.
SPEAKER_02 (05:11):
So what did uh were what were your overall thoughts
here on this book?
There's a lot that happens, butI also feel like a lot doesn't
happen at the same time.
SPEAKER_03 (05:19):
Sure.
Yeah, there's a lot of thoseslow moments, and this book
really can't be separated fromthe two that came before it in
my mind.
Like it's all kind of oneflowing story.
Yeah.
I mean, in general, I would saythat it's it was a very good
comic, but maybe doesn't live upto some of what we saw with like
(05:42):
Proteus and maybe even the lastcouple of issues.
Unsure.
It was very good though.
I think there's a lot ofinteresting things going on.
SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
I was gonna ask, do you remember if Proteus was a
double-size issue or if that wasjust you know four issues?
So with that in my mind, itmakes me think because of how
and what this book is filledwith, I think they had this c
this idea like, hey, we're gonnamake this a double-size issue,
(06:12):
so pack it in, you know?
Instead of we're Proteus,Proteus played over four arcs
and like really I think had thespace to tell the story that
needed to be told.
I don't know that this needed tobe a double-sized issue.
We do see some nice charactermoments in some of the
reflection that the variousX-Men have at various points in
(06:35):
this book.
And while I think some of thatis great, it also just felt like
filler to fill out the pages ofthe book.
SPEAKER_03 (06:43):
It would have been better if one of them like
didn't want to do it.
Like there wasn't any part of methat was wondering, oh man, is
Angel and Beast going to standwith Gene?
Like, who knows?
But I mean, I that that wasnever really like a a doubt to
me.
I do have other notes thoughthat really echo what you just
said about I just wrote downsome elements of this book do
(07:06):
feel unnecessary.
Yeah, and that they just had tofill some pages.
Like everything with the Creeand the scroll.
Yeah, that seemed totallymeaningless, really.
Like in the their involvement inany part of it can be easily cut
out.
SPEAKER_02 (07:21):
I agree.
I do think that seeing Lilandrain this issue or in this big
issue, it was such a differentversion of the character that
we've really have seen to thispoint, right?
Because when we're firstintroduced to her, she's, you
know, uh runaway, she's not theempress sitting on the throne,
really kind of being therepresentation of her people in
(07:45):
like an official capacity.
And then when we kind of see herafter that initial story wraps
up, where her and Charles arenow like lapping it up on Earth,
and then they go into space, andwe don't really see her in this
like position of power that wesee her here.
And I think having the Kree andSkrull kind of have this
(08:08):
appearance kind of gives someweight, number one, to the
situation, and I think numbertwo, to just the authority that
she has as an empress.
You know, like they're reallytrying to establish.
I think at this point,especially in like Marvel Comics
universal lore, I'm not veryfamiliar with what would have
(08:29):
been happening at this time, butobviously, you know, the Kree
and the Skrull are very wellestablished alien races and have
their fingers in like variousdifferent books and with various
different characters.
SPEAKER_03 (08:42):
Mm-hmm.
So this is a way to just sort ofput it into the audience mind of
like, hey, like these threedifferent factions, these
groups, these these empires,these you know, political
powers, they are all like kindof peers to each other.
SPEAKER_02 (08:56):
I think it's that and also just it really
establishes the like the thegravity of the situation.
Like Phoenix has killed, I thinkthe number was like 15 billion
people or beings, aliens.
Five billion, something likethat.
Something along those lines.
(09:17):
Asparagus people.
A lot is what it is.
And you know, I made a note youyou I as since we're kind of
talking about this, you know,scene that plays out over
several panels of the X-Men kindof reflecting, as you said,
about whether they would helpGene in this, you know, dire
situation and be like a uhgladiator type team to fight the
(09:42):
uh like what what's the teamname?
They're not the is it it's notthe Shiar.
Is it the Shear?
Yeah, it's like the Royal Guard.
The Royal Guard thing, or yeah,yeah, yeah.
Whatever it is.
So like an ironic givenGladiator is leading this, and
I'm using this as the analogy,but to see them kind of come
together like this, I wish itcould have just been super
(10:03):
short.
Because as you said, like we'renot really seeing them weigh in
in a negative way or reallyquestioning their support for
Gene, but they do questionXavier just like tossing out
this ultimatum.
SPEAKER_03 (10:19):
It's like, oh, I wish you wouldn't have spoken
for me.
Yeah.
But that just went along withit.
Maybe not a ton of alternatives.
SPEAKER_02 (10:27):
But like seeing them all kind of like have this
moment, and then you haveLalandra and the the Kree and
the Skrull, they're all there.
Like, it's hard to not agreewith their stance, right?
Like, they basically want toeliminate the Phoenix, Jean's
too powerful, she killedbillions of lives, and is a
(10:49):
danger to life across theuniverse.
And they feel like this is thishas happened in our backyard
here, so we gotta take care ofthis.
And here are the Kree and theSkrull coming back into the fold
to like ensure that this goeswell.
The only thing I think theycould have done without is like
(11:09):
this weird observationalsituation they end up having to
like verify that the team loses.
SPEAKER_03 (11:16):
Well, I think that was just them like putting their
finger on the scale to be like,yeah, we can't trust them.
We need to we need to ensure theX-Men lose.
SPEAKER_02 (11:26):
I wasn't expecting them to well, at least the
scroll to get involved.
I just figured, like, here's thecameo, we're setting the scene,
and we're going to just leavethem there watching from above
instead of being down on theblue side of the boom getting
(11:47):
involved.
SPEAKER_03 (11:48):
Which amounted enough.
It did.
And the other thing I think theyreally could have cut was
Angel's embarrassing moment ofalmost flying into space and
floating away.
Yeah.
Like, I don't know what thepoint of that really was, just
to establish, like, I it nah,it's just silly.
I don't get it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
It's just awkward.
SPEAKER_02 (12:09):
I don't yeah.
It just makes him look kind ofsilly.
He's probably a little rusty,but I think he was it was he the
one who acknowledges that?
I can't remember.
Yeah, he does with Nightcrawler.
Yeah, okay.
I am remembering it correctly.
I think despite that though, itis just kind of silly.
But I guess it's there to likeset the scene that this is not
(12:30):
Earth, despite it havingEarth-like characteristics.
SPEAKER_03 (12:34):
It still is the moon gravity.
Yeah.
Here is the moon.
And the atmosphere does not goup very high.
SPEAKER_02 (12:41):
Yeah, apparently.
Um, it was in it was fun kind ofseeing that referenced a couple
different times.
The unfortunate way that we seeit with Angel, but we do get
this really awesome sequence ofWolverine throwing Colossus,
which was really cool to see.
Uh that's fun.
We see Storm reference thedifferences in the atmosphere
(13:02):
and how it takes a lot more ofher power to actually like
manifest the wind, which was uha dire circumstance, I guess, in
her fight with uh Earthquake, Ibelieve is what the character's
name was.
Um seems right.
It was I was not expecting theX-Men to just kind of fold the
(13:24):
way they did, but it I think itreally set up the royal guard.
But they really get taken to thecleaners, huh?
Yeah, and like almost every way,shape, and form.
I mean, had Gene Things just goreally bad.
Yeah, had Gene not basicallyturned into the Phoenix, she
like they would have lost likeeasily, I think.
SPEAKER_03 (13:45):
I mean, they essentially did.
It was just her left at the end.
SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
I read something this week actually on I think it
was like in a Reddit post thatwas talking about like Stan
Lee's rules for comic writing,and he wanted characters like
the heroes to always be weakerthan the villains or
antagonists, right?
(14:09):
Like the the cards always haveto be stacked against him, uh,
they always have to be, youknow, more powerful physically
or actually like in their powerset to really kind of make the
odds just so imbalanced thatwhen the hero overcomes it,
however that happens, you feelsatisfied with with that kind of
(14:33):
outcome.
And I can kind of see that herewith the royal guard, right?
Like Xavier's playing this as alast resort.
I've trained the X-Men, Scotthas trained the X-Men, here they
go, they're more than capable atfighting, and then just one by
one they fall.
SPEAKER_03 (14:53):
It's disappointing considering how different things
seem to go the last time theyfought the Royal Guard.
You're 100% right.
I didn't even think about that,but you're absolutely right.
It's just strange to hold thosetwo different situations in
balance.
Question for you.
SPEAKER_02 (15:11):
How often do you think uh, you know, like this
edict gets tossed down, likethis challenge?
Because it could just be a caseof berry.
Well, I was gonna say maybe it'sthe opposite.
Like maybe this is like verycommon space stuff.
So maybe the Royal Guard likehas been on the blue side of the
moon.
SPEAKER_03 (15:29):
That's where they do this kind of uh battle royale.
They're not like native to thesoul system, though.
Like their situation is far, faraway.
Kind of makes it even worse,honestly.
I it does make it worse.
Like, the X-Men have home fieldadvantage.
SPEAKER_02 (15:45):
I have to say, there were a few instances when
Colossus is getting like reallyplayed up, and I have been very
critical of how Colossus hasbeen handled, and I continue to
be, because I was once againdisappointed.
Hey, he was not at leastvictorious in any exceeded
(16:07):
expectations.
You think he did exceedexpectations?
SPEAKER_03 (16:11):
Yeah.
Please explain.
Well, I mean, I think Gladiatoris kind of as long as like isn't
his thing if he believes inhimself, he's basically
invincible.
SPEAKER_02 (16:22):
Let's find out.
SPEAKER_03 (16:23):
Or if he believes in what he's doing, or I feel like
his powers revolve around thatidea.
So at times he's just like areal powerhouse of a character.
SPEAKER_02 (16:34):
Oh yeah, you're right.
Yeah, he's it's tied to hisconfidence and will willpower.
If he's certain he can win, he'spractically unstoppable.
If he doubts himself and losesfaith, his power weakens
dramatically.
SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
So I feel like he like in his mind, he probably
sees this situation as extremelyjust like this is what needs to
be done, we have to stop thePhoenix.
He's probably got like a lot oflike his willpower kind of going
into that.
And I mean, like in that firstpanel, like Colossus cracks like
a big pillar on him, and he'sjust standing there like it's
(17:08):
nothing.
SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (17:09):
And then over the next few panels, you get that
sense of this is like a like akind of a no-brain sort of brawl
with just like both characterslike punching each other,
wailing on each other.
It's like uh Yu Yu Hakasho inthe Dark Tournament with uh use
K and is it Chu, I think.
I'm not sure.
Yu Yu Hakasho's great, butthey're just like beating on
(17:30):
each other, and it's not evenlike that Gladiator beats him in
a fight, it's that you know, abuilding falls on them.
Yeah.
So I feel like he had like agood back and forth, and you
know, he's stuck in there.
SPEAKER_02 (17:46):
Yeah, that's you know what, that's fair.
Um he was able to, I think, holdhis own until yeah.
I just want to see my boy, youknow, succeed here, you know?
Mm-hmm.
That's fair.
I just want him to have thatmoment because a lot of the team
has had that moment and he justhasn't.
(18:07):
And I know, I know he, you know,technically was the one who
finished Proteus off, but yeah,you know, he it's it was like a
big team effort, all right?
It was a big team effort.
He just happened to be a dudemade out of metal.
Even like this this the sequencewith Gene, where it was like,
okay, man, you gotta do this.
(18:29):
You gotta take the shot.
This is big high-end stakes.
Like you cannot pull your punch.
Wolverine gives him the peptop,throws him, don't miss pulls the
shot.
And like I get it, like that'sjust Pete's character, you know?
Like he's yeah, there's nothere's no way he's finishing
that.
(18:50):
He's an art boy.
But let's just then like let'stake him out of that situation,
you know?
Like, let's not make him thatperson who's having to like do
this because at this point weall know he's not going to.
SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
It's not suspension.
Well, I mean, he didn'tvolunteer for that.
He got thrown into it,literally, thrown.
SPEAKER_02 (19:10):
This is more of like a critique of the writer, like
the writing team, as opposed tolike the characters.
Like, you could have easily haveswitched that and made it Logan,
and it would have been even moreimpactful given that through
this issue he's talking abouthow he's the only one who can
relate with what Gene's goingthrough.
Like he's the one that stillloves her.
(19:32):
Not that Scott doesn't, like,he's not comparing it, but like
he is still bringing up thislove that he has for her
repeatedly in decisions.
And you're right, loved.
But he was even in a positionwhere he almost killed her last
time.
(19:53):
And, you know, I get thatthey're going for like he just
knows he can't do it, I think iskind of like what they're
getting at when we goes or whenhe throws Peter.
But I think you could havealtered that and just thrown
Logan and had him make thisvery, like, very big decision.
(20:15):
And it would be it would havebeen a lot more meaningful, I
think.
And then you could have just hadhim maybe, you know, do it like
uh X3, you know?
Just like X3.
Just like X3.
That's what the people who madethat movie read this comic and
they were like, show throughLogan, man.
SPEAKER_03 (20:32):
It is interesting that we are kind of you know,
tying back into those movies.
Like this it is like a wholeaspect of that story that sort
of just gets skipped over everytime.
And yeah, kind of a choice, Iguess.
SPEAKER_02 (20:50):
I mean, it would be a little complicated though,
right?
Like to just like insert thisinto a story with no context of
the aliens or any of the alienswould be even in space or I
meant well, I meant more of likea kind of like a gene sacrifice
sort of a deal.
SPEAKER_03 (21:08):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
And to be fair, I think the newmovie does kind of I you know,
it was honestly, I don'tremember what happened at the
end.
I think she does sacrificeherself, maybe.
SPEAKER_02 (21:20):
This was really, I think, like the culmination of
Scott and Gene's story.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and that really gotplayed up a lot too, as we see
the X-Men kind of fall.
When you look at these issuesaltogether, especially, it's up
there with Proteus, but I stilllike the Proteus story more,
(21:42):
just because I think it was alittle tighter.
Definitely.
But overall, I think like thedynamic of Scott and Gene, you
know, Chris really made me careabout them and made me
appreciate them.
I think in a way that maybe Ihadn't before.
I think it was more like, ohyeah, Scott and Gene are just
like always a couple, and likethat was the idea of.
(22:04):
Yeah, they they're the mutantcouple.
But I think reading this entireseries to this point has really
made me appreciate that dynamica whole lot more, and I think
really appreciate all of thesecharacters a lot more than I
maybe previously did.
You know, aside from thinkingsome of these characters are
really awesome, and you know,we've seen them be awesome in a
(22:27):
many different kinds of ways andin many different types of
medians, but reading it has feltvery good.
Like I love Storm so much morenow than I did before.
Like the character is just somuch more developed in my mind
than I think it was before westarted reading these.
(22:48):
And as I said, like I don't knowthat I really ever cared much
about Gene in a meaningful way.
I leave this feeling like Iunderstand the character a lot
better, that I understand theScott and Gene dynamic a lot
better.
And that really makes me feelthat the stories I've read
already, like the dynamic thatwe kind of see play out in
(23:10):
Krokoa between Gene and Scott,is I think it's more meaningful
given the context that I havenow.
SPEAKER_03 (23:18):
Yeah, it is nice to go back to like the foundations
of where the characters beganand where their story starts.
SPEAKER_02 (23:27):
I'll be curious to see where things go, because
like we're obviously about toget a shift in dynamic.
SPEAKER_03 (23:33):
It feels like these two issues was like a season
finale.
Yeah.
And my excitement for the nextissues is likewise the
excitement that I would feelabout a season premiere.
Alright.
SPEAKER_02 (23:49):
Like, do you know what happens next?
SPEAKER_03 (23:52):
No.
SPEAKER_02 (23:53):
I I only know that.
SPEAKER_03 (23:55):
I mean, I know we know Kitty comes because she's
on the covers.
So, as you know, comic books isa group, you know, process.
A group is telling a story, notjust one person.
You know, sometimes, you know,the artist is making certain
decisions, you know, there'sdifferent people sometimes that
work on the plot versus thedialogue.
(24:18):
How do you feel knowing thatthis ending is not the original
one that Chris Claremont andJohn Byrne turned in?
In their original that theyturned into the editors.
SPEAKER_02 (24:30):
Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Before you tell me what it is,is it similar to what I just
described?
What did you just say?
I was asking if it was similarto like the description that I
just gave.
Like of of Logan like Loganfinishing Gene.
SPEAKER_03 (24:49):
No, no, not at all.
Okay, alright.
You made me you made me think Imissed something way, way
different, but no, it's nothinglike that.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
Okay, all right.
What what is the original plot?
SPEAKER_03 (25:00):
Essentially, in the original that they turned into
the editors, Gene does not die.
Huh.
Her sacrifice results in herlosing all of her powers, not
just her phoenix powers, but allof them.
And I think the general idea wasthat it then transitions into
(25:20):
her and Scott having their kindof happy ending, happily ever
after, go off into the sunsettogether.
And then the editor was like,absolutely not.
She killed like five billionpeople.
There has to be some sort ofconsequence to this.
And in response to that, Chrischanged the story to Gene dying,
(25:42):
thinking that there was no waythat they would publish
something like that.
And then they were all for it.
And I guess that's just how wegot to uh what this issue is.
Like it was all the same exceptfor like the last few panels or
something like that.
Huh.
SPEAKER_02 (26:01):
I think it was the right call to not have Gene and
Scott just walk off into thesunset.
As I said, like it's hard todisagree with the stance of all
of these alien empires when Genecan just fly out to wherever the
hell she wants and kill billionsof people.
(26:23):
So the editor is right that inthat Gene can't just walk away
scot-free.
SPEAKER_03 (26:29):
Well, the Phoenix is gone at that point.
But I definitely agree with you.
And I think this is it's one ofthose interesting things where
like sometimes like an editor'ssuggestion or change can make
something better.
Like, I don't think this storywould be remembered for what it
(26:49):
is if Gene had survived.
I think the reason why it islike, you know, held up so many
years later is because it isthat tragic ending.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
It's also a very selfless ending.
And I actually felt like thewatcher really summed it up well
in that, you know, Gene couldhave been a god.
The Dark Phoenix was strongenough, it essentially had
unlimited power.
And if Gene really wanted to,she could have just gave in and
(27:23):
been unstoppable.
But beat up Galactus for fun.
Instead, she chose to die as ahuman, and that's what makes
humans unique in and in thatthey can either do good or do
bad.
And Gene chose to do good.
And that selfless sacrifice iswhat makes the story as good as
(27:48):
it is.
Now I think you could you couldalter it a couple different
ways, as we've talked about,because there's the selfless
sacrifice that Scott could havemade.
And when Xavier told him to stopPhoenix, he like, you know,
maybe he hesitates and thenrealizes this is what he has to
(28:10):
do, and you know, he's blastingher with his you know, with his
I-beam, and you know, itintensifies and intensifies, and
you can have this, you know,telepathic conversation where
you know he's apologizing andJean's, you know, saying, No,
this is what needs to happen.
Like, I love you, Scott.
You're the greatest man I'veever known.
(28:32):
And Scott makes this massiveself-sacrifice in taking out the
woman that he loves.
SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
Now you're just writing fanfiction.
SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
I yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (28:44):
And then Scott and Logan Keyes.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
And then they all have a dance party, and the
universe is saved.
They did it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:54):
The X-Men did it again.
SPEAKER_02 (28:56):
Yeah.
It's it's also kind of funnytoo, like, in the end, that
there is like no repercussionfor the X-Men in their actions.
Now I know that they like fightPhoenix, but it's still I mean,
I don't know.
I I think if this was a real Itwas a trial.
SPEAKER_03 (29:13):
They were just participating in the trial.
SPEAKER_02 (29:16):
Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
Again, the sickness.
The Shiar affair-ish.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Uh Lalandra is at least.
Probably.
I mean she listened to the youknow, the debt.
I I'm I'll be curious to see ifthey stick around at all.
Or is the Shiar?
Yeah.
Like with that within thisstory.
Like are we like are we gonnacontinue to see like the dynamic
between Lalandra and Charles?
Or is that kind of Well they aremarried?
SPEAKER_03 (29:44):
Well, yeah.
But they do have a childtogether at some point.
But I couldn't tell you when.
And we still have to seeDeathbird.
I don't even know what that is.
That's her sister.
Okay, that's a cool name.
I gotta look at the picture.
This though.
She's a much cooler lookingshiar than most of them.
SPEAKER_02 (30:04):
Dude, what the hell?
That is so much cooler.
You can tell this is a villainbecause they're all dressed in
purple.
Not always a villain.
Name one hero who has purpleattire that isn't Hawkeye, who
also started as a villain.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Well, I'm not I'm not saying she's a villain
currently.
You know, she, you know, dependthings change.
She's a good aunt.
Good aunt.
Alright.
Good aunt.
Are you an aunt or an aunt man?
SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
Um I would say overall an aunt, but I have an
auntie as well.
SPEAKER_03 (30:37):
Hmm.
I end up using them prettyinterchangeably.
I'm not really sure if there's aa good pattern for that.
I think Auntie is like issue138.
SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
Auntie is very British, that's all I'll say.
Alright, yeah.
Next issue.
SPEAKER_03 (30:52):
Auntie, Mum.
Issue 138 puts my time Xposition heavy comics to the
ultimate test.
The entire issue is a retellingof the X-Men from the very
beginning all the way through tothe issue that we just went
through with the Shiar and thebattle.
Um, I don't think it makes senseto go through all of that in a
(31:12):
plot summary, but as someone whois curious as to what came
before all the Claremont stuff,but had also heard that it was
pretty rough reading, I found itto be pretty interesting.
In between the scenes of thepast, we see the X-Men and
others at Gene's funeral.
Lalandra gifts a weirdholographic matrix crystal thing
(31:34):
to the Greys, which allow themto see their daughter in 3D as
well as feel the sense of herpersonality.
Scott says his goodbyes, and welearn that, at least for now,
he's leaving the X-Men.
Xavier tells Scott that hecouldn't be more proud of him
over the last few days, and inhis narration, Scott says, I
don't know where I'll go, whatI'll do.
(31:56):
Only one thing is certain, thatno matter what happens, I won't
crawl back into my shell again.
With Jean, I became fully alive,a whole human being.
I intend to stay that way.
I owe her that much at least.
In the closing panels, we seeKitty Pride arrive by taxi to an
empty school.
She sits on the front steps,bored.
(32:18):
We close with the words, she'sabout to become the newest and
youngest pupil in CharlesXavier's school.
The X-Men will never be the sameagain.
The beginning.
Bumpa bum, dramatic.
SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
I have to say, um, Kitty kind of looks a little
cursed, and like some of the artis wonky.
I'm scrolling.
What do you mean?
SPEAKER_03 (32:41):
Her face.
Yeah.
That's just how uh 13 and a halfyear olds look.
They have that kind of stretchyface.
Oh, is that what I have to lookforward to?
The s weird I assume so.
Stretchy.
I don't know, man.
It looks like she's You didn'tgo through a stretchy face face?
Not yet.
No, it's weird.
(33:02):
It's I feel like they're tryingto highlight that like she's
young and naive and has no ideawhat she's like.
What is her shirt?
Not in a bad way, but like can Ibe honest about the way I read
it?
Yeah.
I I think it just says bitch.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
Yeah, okay, that's what I thought it was as well.
SPEAKER_03 (33:22):
That's exactly what I thought.
Like when I read it, I was like,she's just wearing a shirt that
says bitch.
She's cool as hell.
Maybe behind the famously knownfor having terrible fashion
sense.
Is she actually known for that?
Uh yeah.
I I don't know if it's alwaysbeen a call-out or if that's
(33:43):
just a more recent modern thingthat Emma calls her out for
constantly.
I mean, I see it in this image.
SPEAKER_02 (33:50):
We're in bad bitch to the first day of school.
SPEAKER_03 (33:54):
There's a really good, it's in it's in uh the
Quiet Council on Krikoa, whereSinister is saying something
like extremely flamboyant andtalking down about how terrible
kitty's fashion senses.
And Emma just replies,unfortunately, second and second
and or something like that.
(34:16):
Poor kitty.
I gotta read that at some point.
The Immortal X-Men stuff is allpretty fun.
That's probably where that'sfrom, if it's Quiet Council
stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (34:24):
Yeah, I read a bit of it, um, but not not nearly
enough.
SPEAKER_03 (34:29):
It's just fun seeing how severely dysfunctional they
are and how just extremelyincapable they were of setting
up and leading a nation.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (34:42):
I mean, they had everything stacked against them,
too.
So I mean Yeah.
It still wasn't like the idealcircumstance, but anyways.
I have to say something.
There is this a panel thatreally bothers me, and I'm
curious if you know what I'mabout to say.
SPEAKER_03 (35:01):
Oh boy, let me scroll through.
Off the top of my head.
You referenced it in the recap.
I referenced a lot of things inthe recap.
Like the It's not how terriblethat master mold looks.
No, it's weird.
SPEAKER_02 (35:15):
Okay.
Uh it it is the Grays receivingthis very personal and
futuristic gift from Lalandra.
The person that basicallymurdered their daughter.
I mean, I'm more pissy about theGrays receiving it, given like
they in a lot of ways murderedtheir daughter with that
(35:38):
nonsensical visit that Gene hadat the Grays where he They were
made up at the end of the issue,though.
SPEAKER_03 (35:45):
It doesn't matter.
You don't say it's just weird.
SPEAKER_02 (35:47):
You don't say that thing.
You don't say those things.
You know?
SPEAKER_03 (35:51):
I cast ye out, demon.
SPEAKER_02 (35:53):
I yeah, I mean, it this is I I'll be honest, I kind
of like just glossed through therecap, sick brain.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (36:03):
Was there anything in like that before era that you
were like, oh boy, that was achoice.
I mean, or like beasts never notbeing furry is weird.
Yeah, I mean, that neverhappened in X-Men.
That was like after they stoppedwriting new stories and then
they turned him furry and hadhim join the Avengers or
(36:23):
something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (36:24):
Yeah.
Um, no, I wouldn't say there wasanything that was like, oh,
damn.
Um, yeah, it was like whatever.
It was a recap.
SPEAKER_03 (36:33):
There was weird stuff with like, oh, like
Charles Xavier switched placeswith a different mutant, and it
wasn't him that died, and thenhe comes back.
SPEAKER_02 (36:46):
I'll have to like go back through it again.
Maybe I'll do that before wehave our next episode.
It probably is very good andimportant context to have, as
we've kind of, or at least Ifound myself at times like
questioning like some.
SPEAKER_03 (37:00):
I feel like a lot of the content was not uh
important.
It is more just like a fun orderof things of like, oh, this is
when the juggernaut came andMagneto was kidnapped by an
alien at some point, and BolivarTrask is dead, maybe?
I don't remember where thatgoes.
Maybe he's not dead.
Maybe that was another fake out.
(37:21):
Fake out.
And then all the sentinels flewinto the sun.
Oh, Bolivar Trask, it turnedout, had a sun.
Larry Trask.
And then the Sentinels flew intothe sun, and that's why they
were gone.
And then Sauron came, and thenthey fought Sunfire.
Havoc has a weird outfit, morealien stuff, and then Krikoa
(37:43):
happens.
Boom.
Yeah.
It was a fun recap.
SPEAKER_00 (37:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (37:46):
It's an impressive summary for the limited space
that they had.
Was this also technically partof the double issue?
No, this is a single issue.
It is a single, okay.
I'll be honest, if I if I boughtit, I would have been very
upset.
It's a bummer.
Especially because like thecover is like, oh my god,
(38:08):
Scott's leaving, which is true.
It's not an act, it's not like afake out this time.
Also, I do like the cover, likethat pink background of just
like the collage of other comiccovers.
I don't know.
Something's doing it for me.
It's that in the Toys R Usshopping spree.
Grand prize, minimum value,$3,000.
(38:30):
Damn.
A lot of Toys R Us with that.
Minimum value, holy.
Early 80s.
Is this pre-Nintendo?
Pre-NES?
It's gotta be, right?
Oh yeah.
Damn, then what are you evengonna spend the money on?
Buy a lot of G.I.
Joe's, Hot Wheels.
G.I.
Joe's Army men.
SPEAKER_02 (38:52):
Maybe they had a Big League chew.
I don't know what year thisissue came out.
I'm assuming like 80-81.
Oh, early 80s.
Okay.
I was gonna say you could.
Yeah, it should be early 80s.
Star Wars toys?
There should be some, huh?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (39:07):
I don't think Ghostbusters happened yet, so.
We gotta look that up.
Ghostbusters toys would be agood way to spend that cash.
Yeah.
I would have said 84.
Like Ninja Turtles, but thoseweren't out yet.
So it's on the precipice of alot of really good shit coming
out.
And this is October, is what itsays here in the top left
(39:28):
corner.
SPEAKER_00 (39:29):
So you know, it's right around the corner.
SPEAKER_02 (39:32):
Depending on when you have to get the like do
that.
It's shopping spree.
SPEAKER_03 (39:37):
Well, it might be.
I mean, the the date and likethe actual date that it's
available get all wishy-washy,timey whimey.
Who's to say when it actuallywas on store shelves?
Now that I'm looking at thiscar, you're right, it is pretty
cool.
SPEAKER_02 (39:50):
I like the pink.
Yeah.
Really pops, uh, especially withthe silhouette of the other
X-Men behind.
Who is that in the back line?
SPEAKER_03 (39:58):
Iceman?
Yeah, is that Iceman?
Is that Bobby?
That's what I thought.
He's not at the is he at thefuneral though?
Alright, let's look.
Actually, he might be.
I mean, that one makes sense.
Is that beast at the funeral,but not blue?
The whole thing is confusing.
SPEAKER_02 (40:12):
Oh, like maybe he's using like his I don't know,
like the transmography.
SPEAKER_03 (40:18):
Yeah, an image inducer.
Is Kurt not there?
Or is that Kurt comfortingGene's sister?
I think that's hopefully what itis.
I think that is supposed I thinkthat is Beast.
That's Sly Dog.
And I feel like that is Bobby onthe next page.
SPEAKER_02 (40:38):
Oh, next to Scott with the not so blonde hair.
SPEAKER_03 (40:43):
Yeah.
Like I think if we're looking atthat first page where it just
says eulogy, it's Hank, uh,Angel, Bobby, Scott.
Yeah.
And then on the other side, Ithink that might be Nightcrawler
comforting the sister.
SPEAKER_02 (40:58):
I think it is.
We do see him transform at onepoint.
Um, but he is in his uh blueform.
He kind of emerges from a tree,so I don't know if he was like
in there the whole time or I'vebeen here the whole time.
SPEAKER_03 (41:15):
Great stuff, man.
I feel like what's the point ofhiding their selves?
Oh yeah, that's him in a tree.
SPEAKER_00 (41:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (41:22):
Then who is the other man?
Unless he like teleported thereand like He might just be
playing afterward.
Scott, no.
Gotta monkey about in the tree.
You can't believe it, uh, Scott.
SPEAKER_02 (41:36):
What are you doing?
And then we have Scott stoicallystaring at the graveyard.
Yeah.
As I said, I would have beenvery disappointed if I picked
this book up.
It really does not add a wholelot that couldn't have just been
like tacked onto the bigversion.
SPEAKER_03 (41:52):
It would be a bummer to get this and then be like,
alright, I guess gotta wait likeanother month until because it's
all essentially recap.
Yeah.
Like, there's no story on herethat isn't told by the actual
cover of the issue.
I do like the issue.
I think it's very useful.
It would suck to buy it.
SPEAKER_02 (42:13):
I nah, I mean, I don't think it's all that useful
because I just don't think itshould be an issue at all.
I think it this should have justbeen combined with what we had
already in the past, like thelast issue.
SPEAKER_03 (42:26):
Like if you It does feel like something that would
be tacked on as like the littlefreebie at the end of like big
issues in more modern comics.
SPEAKER_02 (42:34):
Like this could have been an epilogue that you tacked
on to the end of that book,right?
Or to the end of that issuewhere they're all at the
graveyard.
You s basically you could doshot for shot of all the scenes
that weren't a recap, and likeyou would take up maybe like
three pages, four pages likemaybe three, maybe four.
SPEAKER_03 (42:56):
They could have cut the fluff out and added this to
it.
That probably would have been amaybe better issue.
Although, I I mean, it makessense to end on the watcher's
speech though.
SPEAKER_02 (43:09):
Well, that's why I was suggesting it was like an
epilogue, so you could finishthe story that you're telling
and then you know, have the thehanging nail of Scott's leaving
the team.
Uh good heavens.
Which I have to say, I hope hestays away for a bit.
Like I think getting a littleLike how long?
(43:29):
Well, I'm trying to be mindfulbecause there's like comic time
and then issue time.
SPEAKER_00 (43:34):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (43:35):
Like I hope we don't see him for a couple of issues
at least.
SPEAKER_03 (43:39):
Yeah.
Let the current edition of theteam kind of establish
themselves.
I think it sets up a reallyinteresting thing.
Like, this is going to be thefirst time when none of the OG
X-men are part of the team.
You know, Scott's gone, Gene'sgone, the other peeps are gone.
It's just all new people at thispoint, essentially.
(44:01):
I mean, yeah, they've beenrunning for a few year years,
but it's uh it's a pretty bigdeal.
SPEAKER_02 (44:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think like overall this was
good.
I didn't even think like thelittle uh like this could have
been cut from the book, like ifwe were to shrink this down to a
single issue.
But I thought like the wholeinteraction between Logan and
the Watcher was like fun.
Sure.
You know, but really could havejust been passed over.
SPEAKER_03 (44:27):
Like I think you could just I think there's a lot
of stuff like that in thatissue.
Like we, you know, like supernaked, hairy wolverine was kind
of like a fun addition, butdidn't need to be there.
Beast having like a maybe sexymassage was a fun addition, but
didn't need to be there.
SPEAKER_02 (44:46):
Yeah, I think if I had uh like I want to give this
a rating and then a rating forthe arc because we're kind of
reading this without the othertwo attached to it, or the other
three, or whatever it was.
So this supersized issue, Ithink I would give it I'll give
it like an like an eight.
(45:07):
Same.
Like I think it was solidoverall, a little long at times.
I think you know you couldreally go in and cut some stuff,
but like overall, veryenjoyable, and I think it like
really was a nice capstone onthe story that they've been like
really telling over the lastmany years.
Years at this point.
(45:27):
Long time.
I also want to just quickly sayJason Wingard is uh might very
well be one of the baddestvillains that they've ever had,
considering it was hismanipulation that really kind of
kickstarted the events that havenow unfolded.
SPEAKER_03 (45:46):
I think we get there regardless, but things he seemed
to really accelerate theproblem.
SPEAKER_02 (45:53):
Yeah.
And then as for like the arc, Ithink I I said Proteus was
probably as close to perfect asI could give.
I think the arc I would probablygive like an eight and a half.
SPEAKER_03 (46:06):
Yeah, I'm assuming I gave Proteus a nine or a nine
and a half.
I would probably give this likea half a point under or just an
eight and a half.
I'm not really sure.
It seems right.
It's very good.
SPEAKER_02 (46:18):
Yeah, like it was good.
I think it was a very greatstory, and you know, I think you
also have to consider thebuildup to this.
It was has been very long.
Yeah.
Like this is the payoff of avery long story that has
happened even since Proteus.
So, you know, in that context, Ithink it's it the payoff is
(46:40):
good.
SPEAKER_03 (46:40):
I think one of the and I think at times it maybe
feels like I'm not giving itlike a ton of praise and I'm
being very short with just likeit's good, it was great, blah,
blah, blah.
I think one of the mostimpressive things is that it
was, I would say, like asatisfying conclusion to the
story.
And you don't always get a verysatisfying conclusion to
(47:02):
different stories.
Yeah, that's yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02 (47:05):
This felt um it felt complete, you know.
Like we can you could you you Ithink you said it best.
This feels like the end, likethis is the season finale, and
we are about to start the nextseason where it's gonna be all
new and all different and wackynew characters.
Just wait until you see thechanges of the team and their
(47:27):
dynamic, you know.
Like it I think it'll give itkind of a jolt that it probably
needs to shake things up andmake it different and you know,
give Chris and the rest of thecreative team an opportunity to
go in an entirely differentdirection.
SPEAKER_03 (47:44):
That does it for this episode of Uncanny Book
Club.
Thanks for listening, and wehope to see you next episode
where we'll discuss issues 139and 140.
Bye.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of Uncanny Book Club.
If you enjoyed this podcast,don't forget to subscribe, leave
a review, or share with afriend.
Hello and welcome to Uncanny Book Club.
I'm Michael Petersfield, andjoining me today is my co-host
Adam Ward.
Hey, I still haven't watched theX-Men next movie.
Maybe next time.
I gave you a little bit of anextra dramatic pause between
Adam and Ward.
How do you feel about it?
SPEAKER_02 (00:28):
I like to really feed my whole persona that I
have going on.
Especially with this voice,which I have to preface is the
result of sickness.
So there you go.
Well, feel better.
I yeah, I'm trying.
I got my green tea ready to talkabout comics.
I will say, if my note-takingwas poor this week, it was
(00:51):
because I was in a state of sickdelirium.
SPEAKER_03 (00:54):
If mine is poor this week, it's because I did it on a
laptop that maybe ran throughits entire battery in like 25
minutes.
I'm not clear on what exactlyhappened.
Well, yeah.
In this episode, we'll bepicking things up where we left
off with issues 137 and 138.
(01:16):
Issue 137 opens with a monologueby the Watcher.
A pretty big hint that we'relooking at a monumental issue.
The X-Men find themselvestransported onto a Shiar
dreadnought and are confrontedby Lilandra.
The Shiar informed the X-Men ofthe atrocities committed by Dark
Phoenix.
Right before they apprehendGene, Xavier uses his knowledge
(01:39):
of the Shiar to invoke a duel ofhonor to settle her guiltiness.
The duel is likewise approved bythe Cree and Skrull Empires.
We spend time with each of theX-Men who are experiencing a
little bit of conflict over somerecent events.
Gene reunites with Scott thenext morning, donning her Marvel
(01:59):
Girl outfit.
Each member of the currentX-Men, as well as Beast and
Angel, agree to stick with Gene,and everyone is transported to
the blue area of the moon, whichis a section of the moon with
Earth normal environment.
The Imperial Guard is likewisetransported to the Moon, and
Scott splits the team up,ordering them to whittle the
(02:20):
guard down with hit and runtactics.
Different teams engage in theirown little mini battles.
Unfortunately, Storm is thefirst to fall, and Wolverine
ends up accidentally stumblinginto the Watcher's home.
He comes out feeling evenshakier than when he encountered
Proteus, and Storm greets him.
(02:41):
His instincts warn him though,and he throws her, and she turns
out to be a Skrull in disguise.
A Cree Warrior also shows upsaving the Skrull from
Wolverine, but that's too big ofan insult, and those two then
begin fighting each other.
It's not long before most of theteam has been knocked out and
eliminated from the contest.
(03:02):
Clausus puts up a prettyimpressive fight against
Gladiator, but when the buildingcollapses on top of the two of
them, it puts an end to theirbattle.
Good guy Gladiator does dragPeter out of the wreckage,
though.
Professor X watches in horror asit's down to just Gene and
Scott.
When Scott is cut down, thePhoenix breaks free of the
psychic bonds, and the ImperialGuard are quickly taken out.
(03:26):
Xavier psychically awakens theX-Men and orders all of them to
attack Gene.
Even Scott agrees with this, andeach member begins to whittle
away at Gene's Stannima.
Wolverine decides to takeadvantage of the moon's reduced
gravity and throws Peter for hisown version of the Fastball
special.
He hopes that Peter will be ableto do what he fears he can't and
(03:47):
kill Gene.
Peter says that he's neverkilled before.
Apparently, energy beings don'tcount, RAP Proteus.
And he pulls his punch.
Gene says that she understandswhat must be done, and that
while she's alive, the Phoenixwill always emerge, and its
emergence will always lead toDark Phoenix.
Just a few panels later, this isproved true as we see Gene
(04:11):
switch over to the red and goldof Dark Phoenix.
Scott chases after, but isfrozen in place and has to watch
in horror as Gene says hergoodbyes, explains why, and uses
a weapon among the ruins of theblue area to eliminate herself.
Scott realizes that Gene hadplanned this from the start, if
(04:31):
the royal guard weren't able tofinish her off.
In the final page, we cut to thewatcher who explains to the
recorder robot the momentousscene they've witnessed.
He calls out humanity'sextraordinary capacity for
self-sacrifice, and in closingsays, The X-Men do not realize
it, they may never realize oraccept it, but this day they
(04:53):
have won perhaps the greatestvictory of their young lives.
Jean Grey could have lived tobecome a god, but it was more
important to her that she die ahuman.
Long summary.
I mean, there's a lot to goover, man.
It was a double-sized issue.
SPEAKER_02 (05:11):
So what did uh were what were your overall thoughts
here on this book?
There's a lot that happens, butI also feel like a lot doesn't
happen at the same time.
SPEAKER_03 (05:19):
Sure.
Yeah, there's a lot of thoseslow moments, and this book
really can't be separated fromthe two that came before it in
my mind.
Like it's all kind of oneflowing story.
Yeah.
I mean, in general, I would saythat it's it was a very good
comic, but maybe doesn't live upto some of what we saw with like
(05:42):
Proteus and maybe even the lastcouple of issues.
Unsure.
It was very good though.
I think there's a lot ofinteresting things going on.
SPEAKER_02 (05:51):
I was gonna ask, do you remember if Proteus was a
double-size issue or if that wasjust you know four issues?
So with that in my mind, itmakes me think because of how
and what this book is filledwith, I think they had this c
this idea like, hey, we're gonnamake this a double-size issue,
(06:12):
so pack it in, you know?
Instead of we're Proteus,Proteus played over four arcs
and like really I think had thespace to tell the story that
needed to be told.
I don't know that this needed tobe a double-sized issue.
We do see some nice charactermoments in some of the
reflection that the variousX-Men have at various points in
(06:35):
this book.
And while I think some of thatis great, it also just felt like
filler to fill out the pages ofthe book.
SPEAKER_03 (06:43):
It would have been better if one of them like
didn't want to do it.
Like there wasn't any part of methat was wondering, oh man, is
Angel and Beast going to standwith Gene?
Like, who knows?
But I mean, I that that wasnever really like a a doubt to
me.
I do have other notes thoughthat really echo what you just
said about I just wrote downsome elements of this book do
(07:06):
feel unnecessary.
Yeah, and that they just had tofill some pages.
Like everything with the Creeand the scroll.
Yeah, that seemed totallymeaningless, really.
Like in the their involvement inany part of it can be easily cut
out.
SPEAKER_02 (07:21):
I agree.
I do think that seeing Lilandrain this issue or in this big
issue, it was such a differentversion of the character that
we've really have seen to thispoint, right?
Because when we're firstintroduced to her, she's, you
know, uh runaway, she's not theempress sitting on the throne,
really kind of being therepresentation of her people in
(07:45):
like an official capacity.
And then when we kind of see herafter that initial story wraps
up, where her and Charles arenow like lapping it up on Earth,
and then they go into space, andwe don't really see her in this
like position of power that wesee her here.
And I think having the Kree andSkrull kind of have this
(08:08):
appearance kind of gives someweight, number one, to the
situation, and I think numbertwo, to just the authority that
she has as an empress.
You know, like they're reallytrying to establish.
I think at this point,especially in like Marvel Comics
universal lore, I'm not veryfamiliar with what would have
(08:29):
been happening at this time, butobviously, you know, the Kree
and the Skrull are very wellestablished alien races and have
their fingers in like variousdifferent books and with various
different characters.
SPEAKER_03 (08:42):
Mm-hmm.
So this is a way to just sort ofput it into the audience mind of
like, hey, like these threedifferent factions, these
groups, these these empires,these you know, political
powers, they are all like kindof peers to each other.
SPEAKER_02 (08:56):
I think it's that and also just it really
establishes the like the thegravity of the situation.
Like Phoenix has killed, I thinkthe number was like 15 billion
people or beings, aliens.
Five billion, something likethat.
Something along those lines.
(09:17):
Asparagus people.
A lot is what it is.
And you know, I made a note youyou I as since we're kind of
talking about this, you know,scene that plays out over
several panels of the X-Men kindof reflecting, as you said,
about whether they would helpGene in this, you know, dire
situation and be like a uhgladiator type team to fight the
(09:42):
uh like what what's the teamname?
They're not the is it it's notthe Shiar.
Is it the Shear?
Yeah, it's like the Royal Guard.
The Royal Guard thing, or yeah,yeah, yeah.
Whatever it is.
So like an ironic givenGladiator is leading this, and
I'm using this as the analogy,but to see them kind of come
together like this, I wish itcould have just been super
(10:03):
short.
Because as you said, like we'renot really seeing them weigh in
in a negative way or reallyquestioning their support for
Gene, but they do questionXavier just like tossing out
this ultimatum.
SPEAKER_03 (10:19):
It's like, oh, I wish you wouldn't have spoken
for me.
Yeah.
But that just went along withit.
Maybe not a ton of alternatives.
SPEAKER_02 (10:27):
But like seeing them all kind of like have this
moment, and then you haveLalandra and the the Kree and
the Skrull, they're all there.
Like, it's hard to not agreewith their stance, right?
Like, they basically want toeliminate the Phoenix, Jean's
too powerful, she killedbillions of lives, and is a
(10:49):
danger to life across theuniverse.
And they feel like this is thishas happened in our backyard
here, so we gotta take care ofthis.
And here are the Kree and theSkrull coming back into the fold
to like ensure that this goeswell.
The only thing I think theycould have done without is like
(11:09):
this weird observationalsituation they end up having to
like verify that the team loses.
SPEAKER_03 (11:16):
Well, I think that was just them like putting their
finger on the scale to be like,yeah, we can't trust them.
We need to we need to ensure theX-Men lose.
SPEAKER_02 (11:26):
I wasn't expecting them to well, at least the
scroll to get involved.
I just figured, like, here's thecameo, we're setting the scene,
and we're going to just leavethem there watching from above
instead of being down on theblue side of the boom getting
(11:47):
involved.
SPEAKER_03 (11:48):
Which amounted enough.
It did.
And the other thing I think theyreally could have cut was
Angel's embarrassing moment ofalmost flying into space and
floating away.
Yeah.
Like, I don't know what thepoint of that really was, just
to establish, like, I it nah,it's just silly.
I don't get it.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
It's just awkward.
SPEAKER_02 (12:09):
I don't yeah.
It just makes him look kind ofsilly.
He's probably a little rusty,but I think he was it was he the
one who acknowledges that?
I can't remember.
Yeah, he does with Nightcrawler.
Yeah, okay.
I am remembering it correctly.
I think despite that though, itis just kind of silly.
But I guess it's there to likeset the scene that this is not
(12:30):
Earth, despite it havingEarth-like characteristics.
SPEAKER_03 (12:34):
It still is the moon gravity.
Yeah.
Here is the moon.
And the atmosphere does not goup very high.
SPEAKER_02 (12:41):
Yeah, apparently.
Um, it was in it was fun kind ofseeing that referenced a couple
different times.
The unfortunate way that we seeit with Angel, but we do get
this really awesome sequence ofWolverine throwing Colossus,
which was really cool to see.
Uh that's fun.
We see Storm reference thedifferences in the atmosphere
(13:02):
and how it takes a lot more ofher power to actually like
manifest the wind, which was uha dire circumstance, I guess, in
her fight with uh Earthquake, Ibelieve is what the character's
name was.
Um seems right.
It was I was not expecting theX-Men to just kind of fold the
(13:24):
way they did, but it I think itreally set up the royal guard.
But they really get taken to thecleaners, huh?
Yeah, and like almost every way,shape, and form.
I mean, had Gene Things just goreally bad.
Yeah, had Gene not basicallyturned into the Phoenix, she
like they would have lost likeeasily, I think.
SPEAKER_03 (13:45):
I mean, they essentially did.
It was just her left at the end.
SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
I read something this week actually on I think it
was like in a Reddit post thatwas talking about like Stan
Lee's rules for comic writing,and he wanted characters like
the heroes to always be weakerthan the villains or
antagonists, right?
(14:09):
Like the the cards always haveto be stacked against him, uh,
they always have to be, youknow, more powerful physically
or actually like in their powerset to really kind of make the
odds just so imbalanced thatwhen the hero overcomes it,
however that happens, you feelsatisfied with with that kind of
(14:33):
outcome.
And I can kind of see that herewith the royal guard, right?
Like Xavier's playing this as alast resort.
I've trained the X-Men, Scotthas trained the X-Men, here they
go, they're more than capable atfighting, and then just one by
one they fall.
SPEAKER_03 (14:53):
It's disappointing considering how different things
seem to go the last time theyfought the Royal Guard.
You're 100% right.
I didn't even think about that,but you're absolutely right.
It's just strange to hold thosetwo different situations in
balance.
Question for you.
SPEAKER_02 (15:11):
How often do you think uh, you know, like this
edict gets tossed down, likethis challenge?
Because it could just be a caseof berry.
Well, I was gonna say maybe it'sthe opposite.
Like maybe this is like verycommon space stuff.
So maybe the Royal Guard likehas been on the blue side of the
moon.
SPEAKER_03 (15:29):
That's where they do this kind of uh battle royale.
They're not like native to thesoul system, though.
Like their situation is far, faraway.
Kind of makes it even worse,honestly.
I it does make it worse.
Like, the X-Men have home fieldadvantage.
SPEAKER_02 (15:45):
I have to say, there were a few instances when
Colossus is getting like reallyplayed up, and I have been very
critical of how Colossus hasbeen handled, and I continue to
be, because I was once againdisappointed.
Hey, he was not at leastvictorious in any exceeded
(16:07):
expectations.
You think he did exceedexpectations?
SPEAKER_03 (16:11):
Yeah.
Please explain.
Well, I mean, I think Gladiatoris kind of as long as like isn't
his thing if he believes inhimself, he's basically
invincible.
SPEAKER_02 (16:22):
Let's find out.
SPEAKER_03 (16:23):
Or if he believes in what he's doing, or I feel like
his powers revolve around thatidea.
So at times he's just like areal powerhouse of a character.
SPEAKER_02 (16:34):
Oh yeah, you're right.
Yeah, he's it's tied to hisconfidence and will willpower.
If he's certain he can win, he'spractically unstoppable.
If he doubts himself and losesfaith, his power weakens
dramatically.
SPEAKER_03 (16:47):
So I feel like he like in his mind, he probably
sees this situation as extremelyjust like this is what needs to
be done, we have to stop thePhoenix.
He's probably got like a lot oflike his willpower kind of going
into that.
And I mean, like in that firstpanel, like Colossus cracks like
a big pillar on him, and he'sjust standing there like it's
(17:08):
nothing.
SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (17:09):
And then over the next few panels, you get that
sense of this is like a like akind of a no-brain sort of brawl
with just like both characterslike punching each other,
wailing on each other.
It's like uh Yu Yu Hakasho inthe Dark Tournament with uh use
K and is it Chu, I think.
I'm not sure.
Yu Yu Hakasho's great, butthey're just like beating on
(17:30):
each other, and it's not evenlike that Gladiator beats him in
a fight, it's that you know, abuilding falls on them.
Yeah.
So I feel like he had like agood back and forth, and you
know, he's stuck in there.
SPEAKER_02 (17:46):
Yeah, that's you know what, that's fair.
Um he was able to, I think, holdhis own until yeah.
I just want to see my boy, youknow, succeed here, you know?
Mm-hmm.
That's fair.
I just want him to have thatmoment because a lot of the team
has had that moment and he justhasn't.
(18:07):
And I know, I know he, you know,technically was the one who
finished Proteus off, but yeah,you know, he it's it was like a
big team effort, all right?
It was a big team effort.
He just happened to be a dudemade out of metal.
Even like this this the sequencewith Gene, where it was like,
okay, man, you gotta do this.
(18:29):
You gotta take the shot.
This is big high-end stakes.
Like you cannot pull your punch.
Wolverine gives him the peptop,throws him, don't miss pulls the
shot.
And like I get it, like that'sjust Pete's character, you know?
Like he's yeah, there's nothere's no way he's finishing
that.
(18:50):
He's an art boy.
But let's just then like let'stake him out of that situation,
you know?
Like, let's not make him thatperson who's having to like do
this because at this point weall know he's not going to.
SPEAKER_03 (19:03):
It's not suspension.
Well, I mean, he didn'tvolunteer for that.
He got thrown into it,literally, thrown.
SPEAKER_02 (19:10):
This is more of like a critique of the writer, like
the writing team, as opposed tolike the characters.
Like, you could have easily haveswitched that and made it Logan,
and it would have been even moreimpactful given that through
this issue he's talking abouthow he's the only one who can
relate with what Gene's goingthrough.
Like he's the one that stillloves her.
(19:32):
Not that Scott doesn't, like,he's not comparing it, but like
he is still bringing up thislove that he has for her
repeatedly in decisions.
And you're right, loved.
But he was even in a positionwhere he almost killed her last
time.
(19:53):
And, you know, I get thatthey're going for like he just
knows he can't do it, I think iskind of like what they're
getting at when we goes or whenhe throws Peter.
But I think you could havealtered that and just thrown
Logan and had him make thisvery, like, very big decision.
(20:15):
And it would be it would havebeen a lot more meaningful, I
think.
And then you could have just hadhim maybe, you know, do it like
uh X3, you know?
Just like X3.
Just like X3.
That's what the people who madethat movie read this comic and
they were like, show throughLogan, man.
SPEAKER_03 (20:32):
It is interesting that we are kind of you know,
tying back into those movies.
Like this it is like a wholeaspect of that story that sort
of just gets skipped over everytime.
And yeah, kind of a choice, Iguess.
SPEAKER_02 (20:50):
I mean, it would be a little complicated though,
right?
Like to just like insert thisinto a story with no context of
the aliens or any of the alienswould be even in space or I
meant well, I meant more of likea kind of like a gene sacrifice
sort of a deal.
SPEAKER_03 (21:08):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
And to be fair, I think the newmovie does kind of I you know,
it was honestly, I don'tremember what happened at the
end.
I think she does sacrificeherself, maybe.
SPEAKER_02 (21:20):
This was really, I think, like the culmination of
Scott and Gene's story.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and that really gotplayed up a lot too, as we see
the X-Men kind of fall.
When you look at these issuesaltogether, especially, it's up
there with Proteus, but I stilllike the Proteus story more,
(21:42):
just because I think it was alittle tighter.
Definitely.
But overall, I think like thedynamic of Scott and Gene, you
know, Chris really made me careabout them and made me
appreciate them.
I think in a way that maybe Ihadn't before.
I think it was more like, ohyeah, Scott and Gene are just
like always a couple, and likethat was the idea of.
(22:04):
Yeah, they they're the mutantcouple.
But I think reading this entireseries to this point has really
made me appreciate that dynamica whole lot more, and I think
really appreciate all of thesecharacters a lot more than I
maybe previously did.
You know, aside from thinkingsome of these characters are
really awesome, and you know,we've seen them be awesome in a
(22:27):
many different kinds of ways andin many different types of
medians, but reading it has feltvery good.
Like I love Storm so much morenow than I did before.
Like the character is just somuch more developed in my mind
than I think it was before westarted reading these.
(22:48):
And as I said, like I don't knowthat I really ever cared much
about Gene in a meaningful way.
I leave this feeling like Iunderstand the character a lot
better, that I understand theScott and Gene dynamic a lot
better.
And that really makes me feelthat the stories I've read
already, like the dynamic thatwe kind of see play out in
(23:10):
Krokoa between Gene and Scott,is I think it's more meaningful
given the context that I havenow.
SPEAKER_03 (23:18):
Yeah, it is nice to go back to like the foundations
of where the characters beganand where their story starts.
SPEAKER_02 (23:27):
I'll be curious to see where things go, because
like we're obviously about toget a shift in dynamic.
SPEAKER_03 (23:33):
It feels like these two issues was like a season
finale.
Yeah.
And my excitement for the nextissues is likewise the
excitement that I would feelabout a season premiere.
Alright.
SPEAKER_02 (23:49):
Like, do you know what happens next?
SPEAKER_03 (23:52):
No.
SPEAKER_02 (23:53):
I I only know that.
SPEAKER_03 (23:55):
I mean, I know we know Kitty comes because she's
on the covers.
So, as you know, comic books isa group, you know, process.
A group is telling a story, notjust one person.
You know, sometimes, you know,the artist is making certain
decisions, you know, there'sdifferent people sometimes that
work on the plot versus thedialogue.
(24:18):
How do you feel knowing thatthis ending is not the original
one that Chris Claremont andJohn Byrne turned in?
In their original that theyturned into the editors.
SPEAKER_02 (24:30):
Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Before you tell me what it is,is it similar to what I just
described?
What did you just say?
I was asking if it was similarto like the description that I
just gave.
Like of of Logan like Loganfinishing Gene.
SPEAKER_03 (24:49):
No, no, not at all.
Okay, alright.
You made me you made me think Imissed something way, way
different, but no, it's nothinglike that.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (24:56):
Okay, all right.
What what is the original plot?
SPEAKER_03 (25:00):
Essentially, in the original that they turned into
the editors, Gene does not die.
Huh.
Her sacrifice results in herlosing all of her powers, not
just her phoenix powers, but allof them.
And I think the general idea wasthat it then transitions into
(25:20):
her and Scott having their kindof happy ending, happily ever
after, go off into the sunsettogether.
And then the editor was like,absolutely not.
She killed like five billionpeople.
There has to be some sort ofconsequence to this.
And in response to that, Chrischanged the story to Gene dying,
(25:42):
thinking that there was no waythat they would publish
something like that.
And then they were all for it.
And I guess that's just how wegot to uh what this issue is.
Like it was all the same exceptfor like the last few panels or
something like that.
Huh.
SPEAKER_02 (26:01):
I think it was the right call to not have Gene and
Scott just walk off into thesunset.
As I said, like it's hard todisagree with the stance of all
of these alien empires when Genecan just fly out to wherever the
hell she wants and kill billionsof people.
(26:23):
So the editor is right that inthat Gene can't just walk away
scot-free.
SPEAKER_03 (26:29):
Well, the Phoenix is gone at that point.
But I definitely agree with you.
And I think this is it's one ofthose interesting things where
like sometimes like an editor'ssuggestion or change can make
something better.
Like, I don't think this storywould be remembered for what it
(26:49):
is if Gene had survived.
I think the reason why it islike, you know, held up so many
years later is because it isthat tragic ending.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (27:00):
It's also a very selfless ending.
And I actually felt like thewatcher really summed it up well
in that, you know, Gene couldhave been a god.
The Dark Phoenix was strongenough, it essentially had
unlimited power.
And if Gene really wanted to,she could have just gave in and
(27:23):
been unstoppable.
But beat up Galactus for fun.
Instead, she chose to die as ahuman, and that's what makes
humans unique in and in thatthey can either do good or do
bad.
And Gene chose to do good.
And that selfless sacrifice iswhat makes the story as good as
(27:48):
it is.
Now I think you could you couldalter it a couple different
ways, as we've talked about,because there's the selfless
sacrifice that Scott could havemade.
And when Xavier told him to stopPhoenix, he like, you know,
maybe he hesitates and thenrealizes this is what he has to
(28:10):
do, and you know, he's blastingher with his you know, with his
I-beam, and you know, itintensifies and intensifies, and
you can have this, you know,telepathic conversation where
you know he's apologizing andJean's, you know, saying, No,
this is what needs to happen.
Like, I love you, Scott.
You're the greatest man I'veever known.
(28:32):
And Scott makes this massiveself-sacrifice in taking out the
woman that he loves.
SPEAKER_03 (28:40):
Now you're just writing fanfiction.
SPEAKER_02 (28:42):
I yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (28:44):
And then Scott and Logan Keyes.
SPEAKER_02 (28:48):
And then they all have a dance party, and the
universe is saved.
They did it.
SPEAKER_03 (28:54):
The X-Men did it again.
SPEAKER_02 (28:56):
Yeah.
It's it's also kind of funnytoo, like, in the end, that
there is like no repercussionfor the X-Men in their actions.
Now I know that they like fightPhoenix, but it's still I mean,
I don't know.
I I think if this was a real Itwas a trial.
SPEAKER_03 (29:13):
They were just participating in the trial.
SPEAKER_02 (29:16):
Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
Again, the sickness.
The Shiar affair-ish.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Uh Lalandra is at least.
Probably.
I mean she listened to the youknow, the debt.
I I'm I'll be curious to see ifthey stick around at all.
Or is the Shiar?
Yeah.
Like with that within thisstory.
Like are we like are we gonnacontinue to see like the dynamic
between Lalandra and Charles?
Or is that kind of Well they aremarried?
SPEAKER_03 (29:44):
Well, yeah.
But they do have a childtogether at some point.
But I couldn't tell you when.
And we still have to seeDeathbird.
I don't even know what that is.
That's her sister.
Okay, that's a cool name.
I gotta look at the picture.
This though.
She's a much cooler lookingshiar than most of them.
SPEAKER_02 (30:04):
Dude, what the hell?
That is so much cooler.
You can tell this is a villainbecause they're all dressed in
purple.
Not always a villain.
Name one hero who has purpleattire that isn't Hawkeye, who
also started as a villain.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Well, I'm not I'm not saying she's a villain
currently.
You know, she, you know, dependthings change.
She's a good aunt.
Good aunt.
Alright.
Good aunt.
Are you an aunt or an aunt man?
SPEAKER_02 (30:30):
Um I would say overall an aunt, but I have an
auntie as well.
SPEAKER_03 (30:37):
Hmm.
I end up using them prettyinterchangeably.
I'm not really sure if there's aa good pattern for that.
I think Auntie is like issue138.
SPEAKER_02 (30:48):
Auntie is very British, that's all I'll say.
Alright, yeah.
Next issue.
SPEAKER_03 (30:52):
Auntie, Mum.
Issue 138 puts my time Xposition heavy comics to the
ultimate test.
The entire issue is a retellingof the X-Men from the very
beginning all the way through tothe issue that we just went
through with the Shiar and thebattle.
Um, I don't think it makes senseto go through all of that in a
(31:12):
plot summary, but as someone whois curious as to what came
before all the Claremont stuff,but had also heard that it was
pretty rough reading, I found itto be pretty interesting.
In between the scenes of thepast, we see the X-Men and
others at Gene's funeral.
Lalandra gifts a weirdholographic matrix crystal thing
(31:34):
to the Greys, which allow themto see their daughter in 3D as
well as feel the sense of herpersonality.
Scott says his goodbyes, and welearn that, at least for now,
he's leaving the X-Men.
Xavier tells Scott that hecouldn't be more proud of him
over the last few days, and inhis narration, Scott says, I
don't know where I'll go, whatI'll do.
(31:56):
Only one thing is certain, thatno matter what happens, I won't
crawl back into my shell again.
With Jean, I became fully alive,a whole human being.
I intend to stay that way.
I owe her that much at least.
In the closing panels, we seeKitty Pride arrive by taxi to an
empty school.
She sits on the front steps,bored.
(32:18):
We close with the words, she'sabout to become the newest and
youngest pupil in CharlesXavier's school.
The X-Men will never be the sameagain.
The beginning.
Bumpa bum, dramatic.
SPEAKER_02 (32:32):
I have to say, um, Kitty kind of looks a little
cursed, and like some of the artis wonky.
I'm scrolling.
What do you mean?
SPEAKER_03 (32:41):
Her face.
Yeah.
That's just how uh 13 and a halfyear olds look.
They have that kind of stretchyface.
Oh, is that what I have to lookforward to?
The s weird I assume so.
Stretchy.
I don't know, man.
It looks like she's You didn'tgo through a stretchy face face?
Not yet.
No, it's weird.
(33:02):
It's I feel like they're tryingto highlight that like she's
young and naive and has no ideawhat she's like.
What is her shirt?
Not in a bad way, but like can Ibe honest about the way I read
it?
Yeah.
I I think it just says bitch.
SPEAKER_02 (33:20):
Yeah, okay, that's what I thought it was as well.
SPEAKER_03 (33:22):
That's exactly what I thought.
Like when I read it, I was like,she's just wearing a shirt that
says bitch.
She's cool as hell.
Maybe behind the famously knownfor having terrible fashion
sense.
Is she actually known for that?
Uh yeah.
I I don't know if it's alwaysbeen a call-out or if that's
(33:43):
just a more recent modern thingthat Emma calls her out for
constantly.
I mean, I see it in this image.
SPEAKER_02 (33:50):
We're in bad bitch to the first day of school.
SPEAKER_03 (33:54):
There's a really good, it's in it's in uh the
Quiet Council on Krikoa, whereSinister is saying something
like extremely flamboyant andtalking down about how terrible
kitty's fashion senses.
And Emma just replies,unfortunately, second and second
and or something like that.
(34:16):
Poor kitty.
I gotta read that at some point.
The Immortal X-Men stuff is allpretty fun.
That's probably where that'sfrom, if it's Quiet Council
stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (34:24):
Yeah, I read a bit of it, um, but not not nearly
enough.
SPEAKER_03 (34:29):
It's just fun seeing how severely dysfunctional they
are and how just extremelyincapable they were of setting
up and leading a nation.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (34:42):
I mean, they had everything stacked against them,
too.
So I mean Yeah.
It still wasn't like the idealcircumstance, but anyways.
I have to say something.
There is this a panel thatreally bothers me, and I'm
curious if you know what I'mabout to say.
SPEAKER_03 (35:01):
Oh boy, let me scroll through.
Off the top of my head.
You referenced it in the recap.
I referenced a lot of things inthe recap.
Like the It's not how terriblethat master mold looks.
No, it's weird.
SPEAKER_02 (35:15):
Okay.
Uh it it is the Grays receivingthis very personal and
futuristic gift from Lalandra.
The person that basicallymurdered their daughter.
I mean, I'm more pissy about theGrays receiving it, given like
they in a lot of ways murderedtheir daughter with that
(35:38):
nonsensical visit that Gene hadat the Grays where he They were
made up at the end of the issue,though.
SPEAKER_03 (35:45):
It doesn't matter.
You don't say it's just weird.
SPEAKER_02 (35:47):
You don't say that thing.
You don't say those things.
You know?
SPEAKER_03 (35:51):
I cast ye out, demon.
SPEAKER_02 (35:53):
I yeah, I mean, it this is I I'll be honest, I kind
of like just glossed through therecap, sick brain.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (36:03):
Was there anything in like that before era that you
were like, oh boy, that was achoice.
I mean, or like beasts never notbeing furry is weird.
Yeah, I mean, that neverhappened in X-Men.
That was like after they stoppedwriting new stories and then
they turned him furry and hadhim join the Avengers or
(36:23):
something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (36:24):
Yeah.
Um, no, I wouldn't say there wasanything that was like, oh,
damn.
Um, yeah, it was like whatever.
It was a recap.
SPEAKER_03 (36:33):
There was weird stuff with like, oh, like
Charles Xavier switched placeswith a different mutant, and it
wasn't him that died, and thenhe comes back.
SPEAKER_02 (36:46):
I'll have to like go back through it again.
Maybe I'll do that before wehave our next episode.
It probably is very good andimportant context to have, as
we've kind of, or at least Ifound myself at times like
questioning like some.
SPEAKER_03 (37:00):
I feel like a lot of the content was not uh
important.
It is more just like a fun orderof things of like, oh, this is
when the juggernaut came andMagneto was kidnapped by an
alien at some point, and BolivarTrask is dead, maybe?
I don't remember where thatgoes.
Maybe he's not dead.
Maybe that was another fake out.
(37:21):
Fake out.
And then all the sentinels flewinto the sun.
Oh, Bolivar Trask, it turnedout, had a sun.
Larry Trask.
And then the Sentinels flew intothe sun, and that's why they
were gone.
And then Sauron came, and thenthey fought Sunfire.
Havoc has a weird outfit, morealien stuff, and then Krikoa
(37:43):
happens.
Boom.
Yeah.
It was a fun recap.
SPEAKER_00 (37:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (37:46):
It's an impressive summary for the limited space
that they had.
Was this also technically partof the double issue?
No, this is a single issue.
It is a single, okay.
I'll be honest, if I if I boughtit, I would have been very
upset.
It's a bummer.
Especially because like thecover is like, oh my god,
(38:08):
Scott's leaving, which is true.
It's not an act, it's not like afake out this time.
Also, I do like the cover, likethat pink background of just
like the collage of other comiccovers.
I don't know.
Something's doing it for me.
It's that in the Toys R Usshopping spree.
Grand prize, minimum value,$3,000.
(38:30):
Damn.
A lot of Toys R Us with that.
Minimum value, holy.
Early 80s.
Is this pre-Nintendo?
Pre-NES?
It's gotta be, right?
Oh yeah.
Damn, then what are you evengonna spend the money on?
Buy a lot of G.I.
Joe's, Hot Wheels.
G.I.
Joe's Army men.
SPEAKER_02 (38:52):
Maybe they had a Big League chew.
I don't know what year thisissue came out.
I'm assuming like 80-81.
Oh, early 80s.
Okay.
I was gonna say you could.
Yeah, it should be early 80s.
Star Wars toys?
There should be some, huh?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (39:07):
I don't think Ghostbusters happened yet, so.
We gotta look that up.
Ghostbusters toys would be agood way to spend that cash.
Yeah.
I would have said 84.
Like Ninja Turtles, but thoseweren't out yet.
So it's on the precipice of alot of really good shit coming
out.
And this is October, is what itsays here in the top left
(39:28):
corner.
SPEAKER_00 (39:29):
So you know, it's right around the corner.
SPEAKER_02 (39:32):
Depending on when you have to get the like do
that.
It's shopping spree.
SPEAKER_03 (39:37):
Well, it might be.
I mean, the the date and likethe actual date that it's
available get all wishy-washy,timey whimey.
Who's to say when it actuallywas on store shelves?
Now that I'm looking at thiscar, you're right, it is pretty
cool.
SPEAKER_02 (39:50):
I like the pink.
Yeah.
Really pops, uh, especially withthe silhouette of the other
X-Men behind.
Who is that in the back line?
SPEAKER_03 (39:58):
Iceman?
Yeah, is that Iceman?
Is that Bobby?
That's what I thought.
He's not at the is he at thefuneral though?
Alright, let's look.
Actually, he might be.
I mean, that one makes sense.
Is that beast at the funeral,but not blue?
The whole thing is confusing.
SPEAKER_02 (40:12):
Oh, like maybe he's using like his I don't know,
like the transmography.
SPEAKER_03 (40:18):
Yeah, an image inducer.
Is Kurt not there?
Or is that Kurt comfortingGene's sister?
I think that's hopefully what itis.
I think that is supposed I thinkthat is Beast.
That's Sly Dog.
And I feel like that is Bobby onthe next page.
SPEAKER_02 (40:38):
Oh, next to Scott with the not so blonde hair.
SPEAKER_03 (40:43):
Yeah.
Like I think if we're looking atthat first page where it just
says eulogy, it's Hank, uh,Angel, Bobby, Scott.
Yeah.
And then on the other side, Ithink that might be Nightcrawler
comforting the sister.
SPEAKER_02 (40:58):
I think it is.
We do see him transform at onepoint.
Um, but he is in his uh blueform.
He kind of emerges from a tree,so I don't know if he was like
in there the whole time or I'vebeen here the whole time.
SPEAKER_03 (41:15):
Great stuff, man.
I feel like what's the point ofhiding their selves?
Oh yeah, that's him in a tree.
SPEAKER_00 (41:21):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (41:22):
Then who is the other man?
Unless he like teleported thereand like He might just be
playing afterward.
Scott, no.
Gotta monkey about in the tree.
You can't believe it, uh, Scott.
SPEAKER_02 (41:36):
What are you doing?
And then we have Scott stoicallystaring at the graveyard.
Yeah.
As I said, I would have beenvery disappointed if I picked
this book up.
It really does not add a wholelot that couldn't have just been
like tacked onto the bigversion.
SPEAKER_03 (41:52):
It would be a bummer to get this and then be like,
alright, I guess gotta wait likeanother month until because it's
all essentially recap.
Yeah.
Like, there's no story on herethat isn't told by the actual
cover of the issue.
I do like the issue.
I think it's very useful.
It would suck to buy it.
SPEAKER_02 (42:13):
I nah, I mean, I don't think it's all that useful
because I just don't think itshould be an issue at all.
I think it this should have justbeen combined with what we had
already in the past, like thelast issue.
SPEAKER_03 (42:26):
Like if you It does feel like something that would
be tacked on as like the littlefreebie at the end of like big
issues in more modern comics.
SPEAKER_02 (42:34):
Like this could have been an epilogue that you tacked
on to the end of that book,right?
Or to the end of that issuewhere they're all at the
graveyard.
You s basically you could doshot for shot of all the scenes
that weren't a recap, and likeyou would take up maybe like
three pages, four pages likemaybe three, maybe four.
SPEAKER_03 (42:56):
They could have cut the fluff out and added this to
it.
That probably would have been amaybe better issue.
Although, I I mean, it makessense to end on the watcher's
speech though.
SPEAKER_02 (43:09):
Well, that's why I was suggesting it was like an
epilogue, so you could finishthe story that you're telling
and then you know, have the thehanging nail of Scott's leaving
the team.
Uh good heavens.
Which I have to say, I hope hestays away for a bit.
Like I think getting a littleLike how long?
(43:29):
Well, I'm trying to be mindfulbecause there's like comic time
and then issue time.
SPEAKER_00 (43:34):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (43:35):
Like I hope we don't see him for a couple of issues
at least.
SPEAKER_03 (43:39):
Yeah.
Let the current edition of theteam kind of establish
themselves.
I think it sets up a reallyinteresting thing.
Like, this is going to be thefirst time when none of the OG
X-men are part of the team.
You know, Scott's gone, Gene'sgone, the other peeps are gone.
It's just all new people at thispoint, essentially.
(44:01):
I mean, yeah, they've beenrunning for a few year years,
but it's uh it's a pretty bigdeal.
SPEAKER_02 (44:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think like overall this was
good.
I didn't even think like thelittle uh like this could have
been cut from the book, like ifwe were to shrink this down to a
single issue.
But I thought like the wholeinteraction between Logan and
the Watcher was like fun.
Sure.
You know, but really could havejust been passed over.
SPEAKER_03 (44:27):
Like I think you could just I think there's a lot
of stuff like that in thatissue.
Like we, you know, like supernaked, hairy wolverine was kind
of like a fun addition, butdidn't need to be there.
Beast having like a maybe sexymassage was a fun addition, but
didn't need to be there.
SPEAKER_02 (44:46):
Yeah, I think if I had uh like I want to give this
a rating and then a rating forthe arc because we're kind of
reading this without the othertwo attached to it, or the other
three, or whatever it was.
So this supersized issue, Ithink I would give it I'll give
it like an like an eight.
(45:07):
Same.
Like I think it was solidoverall, a little long at times.
I think you know you couldreally go in and cut some stuff,
but like overall, veryenjoyable, and I think it like
really was a nice capstone onthe story that they've been like
really telling over the lastmany years.
Years at this point.
(45:27):
Long time.
I also want to just quickly sayJason Wingard is uh might very
well be one of the baddestvillains that they've ever had,
considering it was hismanipulation that really kind of
kickstarted the events that havenow unfolded.
SPEAKER_03 (45:46):
I think we get there regardless, but things he seemed
to really accelerate theproblem.
SPEAKER_02 (45:53):
Yeah.
And then as for like the arc, Ithink I I said Proteus was
probably as close to perfect asI could give.
I think the arc I would probablygive like an eight and a half.
SPEAKER_03 (46:06):
Yeah, I'm assuming I gave Proteus a nine or a nine
and a half.
I would probably give this likea half a point under or just an
eight and a half.
I'm not really sure.
It seems right.
It's very good.
SPEAKER_02 (46:18):
Yeah, like it was good.
I think it was a very greatstory, and you know, I think you
also have to consider thebuildup to this.
It was has been very long.
Yeah.
Like this is the payoff of avery long story that has
happened even since Proteus.
So, you know, in that context, Ithink it's it the payoff is
(46:40):
good.
SPEAKER_03 (46:40):
I think one of the and I think at times it maybe
feels like I'm not giving itlike a ton of praise and I'm
being very short with just likeit's good, it was great, blah,
blah, blah.
I think one of the mostimpressive things is that it
was, I would say, like asatisfying conclusion to the
story.
And you don't always get a verysatisfying conclusion to
(47:02):
different stories.
Yeah, that's yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02 (47:05):
This felt um it felt complete, you know.
Like we can you could you you Ithink you said it best.
This feels like the end, likethis is the season finale, and
we are about to start the nextseason where it's gonna be all
new and all different and wackynew characters.
Just wait until you see thechanges of the team and their
(47:27):
dynamic, you know.
Like it I think it'll give itkind of a jolt that it probably
needs to shake things up andmake it different and you know,
give Chris and the rest of thecreative team an opportunity to
go in an entirely differentdirection.
SPEAKER_03 (47:44):
That does it for this episode of Uncanny Book
Club.
Thanks for listening, and wehope to see you next episode
where we'll discuss issues 139and 140.
Bye.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of Uncanny Book Club.
If you enjoyed this podcast,don't forget to subscribe, leave
a review, or share with afriend.
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