It doesn’t have to be great to be enjoyable. If that was the case, we’d both be crucified upside down for liking Hulk. Actually, I wouldn’t rule crucifixion out if Desiato ever finds out where we live. I enjoyed this issue, it wasn’t great but I had fun with it like I have fun with your mom. See that’s what you get for dragging mothers into this.

So how long are we going to drag this out? Let’s just hope both Astonishing and Uncanny get better.

also, your mom.

and also, it doesn’t have to be great to be enjoyable.

Astonishing and Uncanny, more so than any other two X-Books, are related in tone, characterization and direction. this too, seems obvious. Astonishing isn’t the separate book it was during the Whedon era, not because Ellis is hewing more closely to continuity, but because Frac-baker have chosen to follow his lead.

i’m positive that this will become more apparent over time.

Thankfully, I’m not that sensitive. It just it seemed like from that stuff about Thor that you were in one of your FUCK YOU modes. You seem to get into one of those once a month so I just tried to avoid poking the bear. On a side note, you really can’t be too sensitive on the internet or you’ll be eaten alive. Either that, or go nuts. Did anyone hear about that girl who got beaten up because she was talking shit on MySpace? Or does anyone remember Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back? I digress.

As I said Billy, I do agree with some of the stuff you’re saying and kudos to you for seeing it. I think I was too high on Comic Con when I read this issue. Yes, Fraction and Brubaker are big boys that need to be told when they suck (not Fraction ). I said this was the start of the run because of Fraction starting, but go ahead and give Brubaker some shit. As I try to tell everyone, outside of Captain America and maybe Criminal he’s not that great of a writer.

C’mon Billy you know I loved Morrison’s run. I have the gargantuan Omnibus resting proudly on my shelves. But isn’t it a bit much to even breathe this silly first issue and Morrison’s legendary run in the same sentence? Did I at any time say that this was on that level?

I did read one of Fraction’s interviews and I don’t remember hearing anything about the green thing. But what I did read is that San Francisco will actually love the X-Men. Don’t get too mad yet because he did say something about soon the rest of the world will hate them. So is it ok if everyone else hates them except San Francisco?

Oh and again, I liked Astonishing too. I’ve read the second one as well and again I enjoyed it. Ha Ha! I read one review of Astonishing X-Men #26 and that guy did compare it to Morrison’s run. So I guess he is lucky you don’t know him.

So we’ll see how it plays out. Oh could you do me a favor Billy and explain a little more why Uncanny and Astonishing go together as being horrible. I mean I know they’re both San Francisco X-Men and you think they’re both awful, but it seems like you were saying something about them being related and how that was terrible. They aren’t building a story together or something are they? Anyway, I thought you said something about them being related.

HAHAHAHAH.

i hope Spence (Bruce Castle) doesn’t hate me now…

The X-Men are rarely (if ever) accepted by a larger community, whether it be the city of San Francisco or even other superheroes. I saw all of the ‘Green’ nonsense as the X-Men simply trying too hard to fit in. As history has shown countless times, it’s the self-righteous and hypocritical actions of the group that alienates them more than their genetics. Magneto’s little speech was right on the mark, and also proven right by Cyclop’s invitation to all mutants at the end of the issue.

I haven’t read an X-title outside of UXM since 2000, but still found everything pretty accessible and entertaining. Most of the sub-plots introduced caught my attention, especially the promise of a High Evolutionary/Magneto pairing. If the two characters are genuinely working towards a higher purpose (as opposed to just pissing on the X-Men) it should be a good opportunity to expose our heroes as the useless and self-obsessed babies that they are.

It’s not that I don’t like the X-Men, I’m just sick of the masturbatory nature of most of their storylines. If nothing else, I find the change of setting and tone welcome.

Plus it promises to have Dazzler. I don’t see a downside.

(although i don’t think i mind that as much, as long as it’s fun. see the end of Wanted. Millar, you bastard. hah.)

Ellis is appropriating the X-Men to tell wacky sci-fi stories. he doesn’t actually give a fuck about the characters, their fans, or their history… which is the difference between Ellis and Morrison. you can tell that Morrison gives a shit. he does the research and he loves the characters, meaning, his stories resonate. Ellis work-for-hire stories just don’t, because he’s too busy trying to be clever and push his own writing agenda, everything ends up ringing false. but, i digress…

i hate the coloring on Astonishing. too dark. like Sean said, you have to turn on every light in the house to read it! at least on Uncanny you can see what’s going on, even if it sucks.

does that answer your question, or did i rant too much?

who cares if it’s an anniversary issue? it’s not even the start of a run, as Brubaker has been on for almost 2 years, it’s more like the start of a new direction. well, that direction blows. it’s not just this issue, it’s Astonishing as well.

so, maybe they are building to something, but to me, right from the get-go, their foundation is questionable, and judging by that, i’m not sure i want to read what they’re building to. and i’m not the only one. there’s been plenty of backlash on this issue and the new direction.

sure, you can like the corny stuff… hell, i like corny stuff too. but this… this is not tongue-in-cheek writing, these guys have an agenda. that “going green” garbage? they’re not poking fun at it, they are pushing it.

a big problem i have with this “new direction”, that i didn’t mention here, is that it’s just a bastardization of the Morrison/Casey era. i know some of you weren’t around for that, and hardly anyone remembers Joe Casey’s forgettable run on Uncanny, but this is just a lame update of that. It’s “Poptopia” all over again, but this time on a grander scale. but, it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. the X-Men don’t work as celebrities, no matter how much Ellis wants them too. they work as outlaws, hated and feared, much like Spider-Man. hell, imagine how boring Spidey books would be if everyone loved him? sure, One More Day sucked, but i’m damn glad we have Brand New Day. i’m glad the writers are back to kicking Parker’s ass, regardless of how regressive it is. yes, hypocrisy, i know thee well.

did Morrison’s run make them into celebrities and therefore less hated? in a way yes, but also no. he managed to raise their profile yet still maintain the public’s hate for them. and, he ended his run with a BANG that firmly put them back in the “hated and feared” camp. will Fraction and Brubaker do the same? hard to say for sure, but all signs currently point to “not talented enough to pull this off.”

i mean, have you read their interviews? these guys are more interested in fucking around with their favorite X-Men than they are with telling compelling stories. there was absolutely nothing compelling or groundbreaking about this first issue. you can’t say the same about the first issue in Morrison’s run, can you? does Magneto and a couple of decommissioned Sentinels really compare to Casandra Nova building an army of Wild Sentinels to kill every mutant in Genosha? i don’t think so. let’s not even talk about the second issue, where Nova programed them for genocide. what have they got in store for us in issue 501? the murder of Pixie? OH! time for more “CSI: X-Men”!

so, lesson: if you’re going to bite a more accomplished writer’s work, please, at least improve on it.

and don’t take it so personal when someone on here disagrees with you, it’s just part of the game, dude. you put your opinions out there and you better damn well expect that not everyone is going to agree with you. hell, that’s where the fun comes in!