and I know this is two weeks late……

but AXM was a huge letdown…..personally, I for one am tired of the whole “is she/isn’t she?” debate/debaucle regarding Emma. The Emma overexposure has become such a tool….I would like to see something fresh that doesn’t depend on Emma’s supposed guilt-ridden bad(plastic)assness….

fyi—I fell in love with Scott as well for three seconds……he was hot…..I mean ‘up against the wall’ hot…..then, wow….it was amazing to see how quickly he handed over his testicles to Emma.

Touche.

I honestly didn’t intend to sound like an asshole. However, I do think you’ve got a skewed idea about what exactly the resolution of “AXM: Torn” really was/was going to be. For me, Emma speaking in a room of shadows was more outrageous than them being swept away by a transporter-beam. This arc answers: who is the mole, who is the destroyer of Breakworld, what is up with Emma? (As well as pushing readers towards a greater understanding of Emma and covering Chuck Austen’s ass for his hanging “Where’s Cassandra’s body?” line from “Bright New Mourning.”)

Perhaps it was not Whedon’s fault that his story was divided into four parts, but the fact remains that it was. And the previous two “endings” actually felt like endings and had things resolved. Ord was defeated, Danger was defeated. They were left alive, like all villains ultimately are, which means they can come back at any time, which all villains ultimately do. He also left pointers to the next arcs (in this and other books) like Xavier’s treatment of Danger, Lockheed’s status as spy, and Emma’s possible schizoid personality and inclusion in the new Hellfire Club. This arc did not have that. It was rushed, and when we got to the “end,” the big climactic battle was stopped by a transporter and an ancillary character saying, “We’re off to Breakworld.” It’s lame and it’s not an ending by any stretch of the imagination.

Also, i do not “attempt” to be witty. Witticisms flow from me like bad anatomy flows from Rob Liefeld. Neither of us has to try to achieve our calling; we merely do.

And finally, impugn my opinion if you must, but do not impugn my ability to have one, which is what you were originally doing.

I can “impugn” any opinion I see fit if it seems unfounded, much like you can employ your degree to rip “bad” comics. I’d just say don’t get caught up in attempts to be witty. You’d sad some really valid things, but I think you have to take into consideration the specific stylings of a writer and how they apply it to whatever media they are using. You can’t expect Whedon to spell everything out like Claremont would. NONE of his arcs have tied up neatly. “Gifted” left the issue of the Cure and Ord open, but we forget that because “House of M” eliminated the issue for the most part. “Dangerous” ended only to have Danger blasted into space to fight another day and the X-Men having opened a huge can of worm regarding their relationship with Xavier that’s still lacked much exploration (al biet partially because it evolved to bigger issues — “Deadly Genesis”). This issue resolved why Emma was “betraying” the team as well as the long-standing issue of her feelings regarding her past , which so many people bitch about. But it also folded into the next plot with unfinished elements from every other arc Whedon’s written – Danger, Breakworld and Ord, Lockheed as a mole, and now Cassandra Nova.

*shrugs* I guess I can just see it leading towards a larger finale given all the leftovers we already had.

Also, “if you’re to be taken seriously as critics?” What the fuck? Do we not critique? Do we not write up said critiques? Certainly you understand every man, woman, and child has opinions of their own and oftentimes those opinions do not match each other. When i say AXM sucks, it’s because i think it sucks. You may disagree, and that’s fine, but don’t go impugning my ability to critique. I’ll have you know i have a college degree in ripping bad comics apart.

And you know what? I did expect a resolution in this issue. Do you know why? Because it’s part 6 of 6. Being the last part of a multi-part story implies a resolution, a climax, a fucking denouement. I don’t care if you’re Joss Whedon or John Milton writing comics or epic poetry; when you get to the end of a story, there better be a goddamn finale (this is not to say one cannot have something that points to the next arc, but pointing is not what Whedon did). If this is not the end, that’s okay; just tell me so. Instead of having two six-part arcs, have one twelve-parter. Just don’t fucking lie to me.

“Read it again.” Your mom can read it again.

As for Civil War, you do have some valid points that i totally missed. This was billed as “Villains, Villains, Villains” and all i got was Jack O’Lantern and the fucking Jester. That should have raised my ire, but because that billing was such a monumentally long time ago, i forgot and was instead dazzled by the Punisher in his snazzy outfit. This was the equivalent of Mark Millar saying, “What gaping plot hole? Look at the shiny!” to me and me behaving exactly as a cat would, nay, a kitten. Too stupid and inexperienced to understand the relationship between a red dot on the ground and the hand holding a pen with a red beam coming out its end.

Damn you Mark Millar. Damn you and your laser pointer.

This issue was just bad, though. Sorry.

And if read more carefully, I think you can see that Emma feels guilt for the horrible things she’s done and rightfully so. She has done horrible things. But does that make her evil? THAT is Cassandra’s suggestion; THAT is what fed her and allowed her to drive Emma to her breaking point. Nowhere is Emma absolved from her “sins.” … Read it again, maybe?

“Civil War” on the other hand seems to have dropped the ball so incredibly hard with #5. It has gaping wounds where tie-ins fit in and fill in how characters have been driven to their current circumstances. How can you not acknowledge how lame it is that only now, two issues from the finale, that we finally hear the Pro-Registration motives? They are actually far more reasonable than we’ve been led to believe and had we known them earlier, perhaps it would be a true Civil War from the reader’s perspective and not “those Pro-reg jerks beating up on Cap America.”

This issue is spectacularly drawn and has wonderful dialogue. It has a fantastic driving concept. However, it is such a choppy execution and it is sold on the “villains, villains, villains” concept, only to feature two D-listers? This issue doesn’t even push the plot towards a finale. It is just another blip on the grand Civil War radar when this mini-series should be THE stand-out component of this event. It plays second fiddle to all the personalized stories in the tie-ins.

..And the current ass-backward trend of mediocrity, and disrespect toward characters and readers would end forevermore! I still can’t believe Supergirl looks like a crack-whore.

I still don’t buy the scene with Logan and Hank–Joss Whedon can’t write Wolverine to save his life. He does a mean Kitty Pryde, though.

anyhoo, i was happy to see y’all lay off of civil war for a moment, but i gotta say that this was the first civil war issue that flat out didnt do it for me. i can agree that these logistical and continuity problems have been accumulating, but i can still certainly enjoy millar’s punchy dialogue and mcnivens artwork despite these flaws (plus, those kinds of problems are almost standard in a universe-wide crossover event). but, to me it seems this issue is the first where the strain of keeping all the threads together shows. first of all, iron man and spidey’s fight takes all of 3 pages (three pages! come on!). cap’s plan- which should be the crux of the closing arc (what with only 2 issues left)- is barely mentioned, sandwiched in between some half-baked “assignments” that will no doubt be followed up in even MORE tie-in issues. and finally. the jester?? jack-o-lantern?? what about all the badass super villians we saw in the last issue? i hope i’m not ruining this issue for anyone, but i can’t keep quiet about this.

still, i paid for my ticket and i’ve got to ride this crazy train to the end. considering that the wolverine crossover’s ended, i’m only following spider man and captain america from here on out. anyways, love the work- keep it up.

Adan, you crack me up with your whore remarks. And what a weapon Laura has at her disposal when she’s cranky and hating the world. “You know what’s better than a snake? A bullet, asshole.” Had me rolling.

Also, Adan, I agree with your point about Iron Man and feel that this emphasizes my point. I also enjoy the fact that I am mentioned in this week’s reviews and would like to point out that this should happen more often. Just saying. :-P

Me!

That’s a real quote, kids!