Comics The '07 X-Event: Endangered Species, Messiah Complex, & Disassembled

[Havok83]

Cast doesn't matter.

I don't mind Brubaker's earlier stories. I enjoyed "Rise and Fall" for what it was, but I know it had some problems - just not as many as most people like to whine about. And I liked his arc with Larroca, which I just can't remember the name of - "The Extremists," was it?

Maybe he didn't like the cast he had, or the pool of characters he had to choose from, but that doesn't really matter. He's a writer. It's his job to write, and if he has characters he doesn't necessarily want, it's his job to give them a good turn regardless. Not whine because he didn't get the characters he wanted.

If he even did that. I'm just saying, it's not an excuse.

He didnt give that excuse, but it was obvious in Shiar arc. All of his X-men were written very generic and failed to impress. You could have taken any of them out, and it wouldnt have changed the story much as he didnt make them necesary components to it. Before writing, he expressed his love for Warren who he wanted but kept out for logical reasons in context to the setting of the arc. I think he also wanted Scott there for the Vulcan/Corsair dynamic, which would have made more sense, but had to settle for Havok bc Whedon had a hold on Scott. Ditto on Emma/Polaris.

The 2nd arc, The Extremists was filler. It was pretty much something to tide us over until MC kicked off. He was able to get Storm though and Marvel is letting him keep her. He can pretty much choose any character he wants now with some exceptions of course, which is why UXM will be filled with A-listers instead of the B and C-listers he had before. And of course we dont even know how he will write his new cast, but it seems as if he's more behind the selection he has now

It's like Scott completely missed the "do the things you do" bit. The X-Men, while mutants (who I know are born with their abilities and can't change that), are still basically vigilantes. It'd be different if they actually all did just hang out at the school and teach. Instead, they're out there fighting threat after threat.

Those who choose to be active super heroes SHOULD register.

Theres also that thing called Days of Future Past to consider. The X-men have already faced attempts at a Mutant Registration Act. The MRA act was one of hte reasons why Scott formed X-factor. He has strong objections to it and for valid reasons. I can understand why none of them would be behind registering now. I dont even get why this is being brought up now, bc I thought it was revealed sometime in CW, that the reason why the X-men didnt have to register for the SRA was bc they were already registered through the MRA. I guess its a matter of principle for Scott bc unlike most of the other superheroes who have had to register, the X-men dont have secret identities and dont hide who they are to the world. Tony should just leave them alone

 

[El Bastardo]

He didnt give that excuse, but it was obvious in Shiar arc. All of his X-men were written very generic and failed to impress. You could have taken any of them out, and it wouldnt have changed the story much as he didnt make them necesary components to it. Before writing, he expressed his love for Warren who he wanted but kept out for logical reasons in context to the setting of the arc. I think he also wanted Scott there for the Vulcan/Corsair dynamic, which would have made more sense, but had to settle for Havok bc Whedon had a hold on Scott. Ditto on Emma/Polaris.

The 2nd arc, The Extremists was filler. It was pretty much something to tide us over until MC kicked off. He was able to get Storm though and Marvel is letting him keep her. He can pretty much choose any character he wants now with some exceptions of course, which is why UXM will be filled with A-listers instead of the B and C-listers he had before. And of course we dont even know how he will write his new cast, but it seems as if he's more behind the selection he has now

Oh goodie. That wonderful world "filler" has hopped back up. That belongs right up there with "overhyped."

I wouldn't call the second arc filler by any means. It probably could have been an issue shorter, and Brubaker could have given us a one-shot, but the arc itself told a meaningful story. If "meaningful story" means "filler," well, then, I suppose that all the writers write a lot of filler. "Blinded by the Light" - oh, no, that must not have been filler, because it was like the prologue to Messiah Complex. Right. Gotcha. Well, then, "The Isolationist" arc in X-Factor must have been filler, because it was just to tide us over until Messiah Complex, regardless of meaningful story content. So too the Magik arc in New X-Men, and the "Children of X-Men" arc. Hmm, lots of filler!

If "The Extremists" is filler when these other arcs, and more, are not, then I think you'll need to give a definition to filler.

And I wouldn't agree with the first part of your post, at all. Brubaker had his fun with Scott in the Deadly Genesis mini. More wasn't needed. And it wouldn't have made any logical sense for Cyclops, leading the X-Men, to head into space anyway. A more viable reason for how "Rise and Fall" read would be that Brubaker got in a little over his head, as he's admitted himself, with the whole space opera epic story element, and he got a good bit away from what he's better at writing - which is street level. Which is also why "The Extremists" read much better. With "Rise and Fall," he had to dedicate too much time to pushing the plot forward, and didn't have as much time to spend pushing the characters forward.

 

[Havok83]

Oh goodie. That wonderful world "filler" has hopped back up. That belongs right up there with "overhyped."

I wouldn't call the second arc filler by any means. It probably could have been an issue shorter, and Brubaker could have given us a one-shot, but the arc itself told a meaningful story. If "meaningful story" means "filler," well, then, I suppose that all the writers write a lot of filler. "Blinded by the Light" - oh, no, that must not have been filler, because it was like the prologue to Messiah Complex. Right. Gotcha. Well, then, "The Isolationist" arc in X-Factor must have been filler, because it was just to tide us over until Messiah Complex, regardless of meaningful story content. So too the Magik arc in New X-Men, and the "Children of X-Men" arc. Hmm, lots of filler!

If "The Extremists" is filler when these other arcs, and more, are not, then I think you'll need to give a definition to filler.

And I wouldn't agree with the first part of your post, at all. Brubaker had his fun with Scott in the Deadly Genesis mini. More wasn't needed. And it wouldn't have made any logical sense for Cyclops, leading the X-Men, to head into space anyway. A more viable reason for how "Rise and Fall" read would be that Brubaker got in a little over his head, as he's admitted himself, with the whole space opera epic story element, and he got a good bit away from what he's better at writing - which is street level. Which is also why "The Extremists" read much better. With "Rise and Fall," he had to dedicate too much time to pushing the plot forward, and didn't have as much time to spend pushing the characters forward.

Dude slow down. Did I say any of that stuff in teh other books were filler? Those are your words right there, not mine

I enjoyed the Shiar arc and found the Extremists to be boring from beginning to end. Didnt find anything remotely interesting about that arc. IDA about Brubaker not having much time to push the characters forward in the Shiar arc. He had 12 issues! Alot of those issues could have been condensed as one of hte biggest complaints was that it dragged on. The problem there wasnt that he didnt have much time, but that he had too much of it.

 

[El Bastardo]

Dude slow down. Did I say any of that stuff in teh other books were filler? Those are your words right there, not mine

Here, let's try it again. This time, I'll actually try to throw it just over your head.

...No, nevermind. I can't keep doing this.

I enjoyed the Shiar arc and found the Extremists to be boring from beginning to end. Didnt find anything remotely interesting about that arc. IDA about Brubaker not having much time to push the characters forward in the Shiar arc. He had 12 issues! Alot of those issues could have been condensed as one of hte biggest complaints was that it dragged on. The problem there wasnt that he didnt have much time, but that he had too much of it.

Blahblahblah, focus on the bold part - DOES NOT COMPUTE DOES NOT MAKE IT FILLER LALALALALA.

 

[Specter313]

I agree in calling the Extremists arc in Uncanny filler to be ridiculous. Filler arcs are arcs that accomplish pretty much nothing with nothing happening in them that tell rather meaningless little stories just to have a book out between big arcs or events. Extremists was none of those things.

Things the Extremists arc accomplished:
~ Bringing Storm back to the X-Men so she didn't just show up out of the blue in MC.
~ Bringing Caliban into the X-Men. Sure, his death didn't seem like much anyone cared about, but it is something that is leading to a story with Warpath, no matter how much no one is really looking forward to it as a meaningful character arc, but it's still something that is happening because of Caliban even coming in to the X-Men because of this arc.
~ Giving Magneto some kind of leverage back. Obviously, this won't be playing out in Uncanny, but rather in Legacy, but some kind of plan to get Charles out of there because of the diaries, since the Legacy preview shows the Acolytes getting him out of there and them being under orders with Megneto again.

Those right off the top of my head are three rather large things that happened in the story and automatically disqualify it as being "filler". Heck, you could even argue bringing the Morlocks back to the spotlight and starting the relationship between Warpath and Hepzibah as things that don't make the arc filler either. Filler issues are things like the holiday issues or the off day issues where they do nothing but stand around and share presents or play baseball or what not with the special guest star or two popping up. Extremists is not filler.

 

[El Bastardo]

See, I burn the brush and wait for guys like Spec to build something meaningful in my wake.

It's about time, brother!

 

[Valechan]

Extremists wasn't a filler, but it was boring

 

[Havok83]

Extremists wasn't a filler, but it was boring

well I can agree with the last part. A complete and utter bore for 5 months. Thank god things are looking up for hte title

 

[TromaFreak64]

i enjoyed the extremists arc to be honest..

 

[DarthCyclopsRLZ]

Extremists wasn't a filler, but it was boring

Amen.

Rise and Fall kicks Extremists' ass without even breaking a sweat. And it took me three times before starting to kinda dig the thing. And keep in mind, I still believe D'Khen trusting Vulcan was an insane premise.

 

[Shockdingo]

I really like how Scott was written in the preview

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Me too, though I think it'd be good if some of the X-Men did register.

 

[mightiest_mortal]

The art on that preview is looking pretty damned good.

 

[UraniaChang]

To quote from someone, please let Scott blast Iron Man out of earth in next page.

 

[El Bastardo]

Why?

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I see no reason for him to be aggressive at all

 

[TromaFreak64]

I don't think Spec was being literal

 

[El Bastardo]

I don't think Spec even said anything that we're responding to.

 

[OutcryX]

yeah. it was Urania. i mean. i could get with Cyclops blasting the **** out of Tony...just for the visual aspect of it. but in terms of what was on panel..his verbal berating did just fine.

 

[DoomRulz]

It's not an irrational Iron Man hate, and it's not crystal clear.

One, if it was irrational Iron Man hate, then Brubaker wouldn't have written Tony as essentially taking Scott's side of things (up til the end) and wouldn't have written Tony as compassionate. He would have written him as a talking head, designed to make the readership hate him. As it is, I don't hate Tony, based on that exchange.

While it's clear, rightfully or wrongfully, that Cyclops is taking the stance, and believes, that the X-Men are heroes - not just heroes, but heroes because they're mutants. Because they're mutants, they have to be heroes, for the other mutants. It's not that far from the original premise of the X-Men, I don't think, but the wording isn't totally coming to my brain right now. But under this belief, registering with the government would be akin to registering because of being mutants.

It's basically asking for special treatment, or demanding it, but I don't really care, because it works and is well-written and makes sense for the characters involved and what not.

What you said. But I think Stark has a lot of nerve sticking his nose in a place it doesn't belong. Besides, the X-Men have bigger problems to worry about than the SHRA.

 

[DoomRulz]

Theres also that thing called Days of Future Past to consider. The X-men have already faced attempts at a Mutant Registration Act. The MRA act was one of hte reasons why Scott formed X-factor. He has strong objections to it and for valid reasons. I can understand why none of them would be behind registering now. I dont even get why this is being brought up now, bc I thought it was revealed sometime in CW, that the reason why the X-men didnt have to register for the SRA was bc they were already registered through the MRA. I guess its a matter of principle for Scott bc unlike most of the other superheroes who have had to register, the X-men dont have secret identities and dont hide who they are to the world. Tony should just leave them alone

The MRA was much harsher than the SHRA though, I think it'd be foolish for the X-Men to compare them to one another. But I can definitely see why they'd do it.

 

[ragingdemon155]

Can't believe I'm going to say this but Cyclops was pretty bad ass in those preview pages.

I've never been a fan of Iron Man but, damn the guy has been a complete ass for the last year or so. He's probably my most hated character as of right now.

 

[Havok83]

The MRA was much harsher than the SHRA though, I think it'd be foolish for the X-Men to compare them to one another. But I can definitely see why they'd do it.

maybe so, but who's to say that if they comply, teh gov't wouldnt want more. They already pretty much put the X-men and other mutants on lockdown after M Day with O.N.E. monitoring them and posting sentinels at the mansion. The govt is getting too involved in their affairs and infringing on their personal space. The SHRA to them probably seems like a bit too much on top of everything else

 

[iamlegend]

Can't believe I'm going to say this but Cyclops was pretty bad ass in those preview pages.

I've never been a fan of Iron Man but, damn the guy has been a complete ass for the last year or so. He's probably my most hated character as of right now.

Cyke didn't look like a bad ass. He looked like an idiot that just continually repeats himself, rather than actually listening to what his contemporaries say.

Iron Man's got a damn good point. His character has been thrown under the bus by ridiculously biased writers since Civil War, and I'm tired of it.

 

[El Bastardo]

Except Brubaker hasn't been one of those writers.