NYX # 1 Review
*Spoilers!*
After weeks of waiting, spoilers, comic leaks , and “The Krakoan’s” identity being very brutally obvious…it’s FINALLY HERE guys! The CLOSEST we will probably EVER get the a NXM book!! JK!!😆
The issue starts with Kamala monologuing about her recent acceptance to an after school program in NY to Bruno, who is currently in Amsterdam. (I’ll fully forewarn everyone and be transparent that I only read Kamala when G Willow Wilson was writing the book 😬…so Kamala fans MAY need to help me out a bit, lol)
Kamala literally runs into Sophie and they go to Prodigy’s lecture…(no offense to Prodigy…but Sofia’s a bit right…the lecture COULD use a little more finessing, lol…)
Sophie gives him shit and Kamala realizes she’s friends with the “cool kids” now, who pointedly go out of their way to embarrass and humiliate their teachers (not that Bruno or Miles isn’t cool, Kamala…)
It’s interesting that in some ways DAVID is going the academic, “through proper channels” route…but it also makes sense considering some of his characterization during NXM: AX…(and why a certain character is the PERFECT FOIL for him, in this storyline!…)
David- who, while calling out characters like Josh…was also a bit of a “rule follower” in a way that certain OTHER characters DEFINITELY weren’t…
Any, Sophie convinces Kamala to go clubbing with her and they run into Anole bartending. Anole gets accosted by some patrons screaming about a mutant “terrorist”. (Also…I really LOVE Sophie swearing all the time 😂🤣…I guess her polite way of sassing has changed after “Riot at Xavier’s” and being dead lol)
Kamala and Sophie get kicked out of the club while defending Anole (I guess they’re not having a “brat” summer….☹️). Kamala then dons her Ms Marvel suit and calls David…sorry… Professor Alleyne… to help unlock a phone (the interaction IS super adorable!) and we learn that the guys at the club are committing crimes and pinning it on mutants. (Or so it would SEEM! Foreshadowing!!)
While on the phone, Laura attacks and brakes Kamala’s phone, because Laura is kind of a dick, telling her she’s chasing “ghosts”. (This is why Laura doesn’t have consistent friends guys 😒🤣)
Laura’s characterization…isn’t great… (Laura you were LITERALLY ON a teen X-Men group…you LOST the right to call anyone “kids”!)
Kamala then tells Laura she needs to get a life (which is kind of TRUE…).
FINALLY…after all the filler…we get to the STAR!…who people have been desperately WAITING FOR…
KRAKELLION! (Sorry @ thestomping-ground …but I’m stealing the name because “the Krakoan” sounds terrible lol)
In one of the COOLEST, MOST AWESOME panels ever (I am really NOT biased)…Krakellion ARISES…ready to enact revenge on the FLATSCANS!!
In HANDS DOWN, ONE OF THE BEST SCENERY CHEWING MONOLOGUES EVER WRITTEN (told you, I’m not biased!), Hellion more or less just calls into question Kamala’s movie to comic book mandated retcon… (Feel like he should have leaned more into the “Emma/Ms Marvel call out of 2006”…but I am not judging, Hellion…)
Kamala then saves the helpless flatscans on the subway- but is then forced to reckon with the fact that humans will ONLY support her because they don’t know she’s a mutant. The minute she’s outed- that hero worship will ultimately go away. ☹️
Kamala then meets up with Sophie and they talk and have coffee (Wait a minute… Kamala is an inhuman too? I thought that couldn’t happen and that’s why Quicksilver had such an identity crisis while married to Crystal??…I told you guys I’m kind of out of the loop on Schrödinger's newest mutant/inhuman…🐈⬛😬😂🤣); Kamala also having a mutant friend is adorable…
We transition to the Krakellion walking in some shadowy penthouse, giving Empath shit on the telecom (Brownoses shouldn’t throw stones, Empath! Also Hellion did LOTS of COOL stuff in NXM, OkAy Empath?!) and we see the new….Hellfire Club?…Hellions?…Council??…. Hopefully that gets cleared up in the next issue….
(Also…I bet you 100 bucks Empath FORCED Hellion to drop the name “Hellion” because he couldn’t stand being “Hellion and the Hellions” to Julian lol- Not Julian’s fault he picked the superior name! 😂🤣🤣)
(Also- can anyone tell me what the QR code is- it won’t scan on Kindle and I am waiting on my paper copies ☹️)
Review:
Obviously… I am biased; but this has been one of the few X-books I have been excited about in a while!
I know people LOVED “Krakoa era” X-Men… but I am personally happy to see return to a more “Astonishing/Mutant Town/Morrison X-Men” type of story.
I am also happy to see a return to a more “Tom Taylor/Tamaki” street level Laura; as much as I whined about Taylor’s representation in the past… Laura really does work better when she’s more low key…
After years of sitting through “Wolverine and the X-Men” style books…it’s nice to see characters like Prodigy or Hellion being treated AS ADULTS and with narrative care.
The writing is fine; there are moments where I think it could be tighter, but I do think it definitely has its moments and will definitely get better as the writing team goes on and gets more used to the characters voices.
I KNOW people are going to complain that this seems more like a stealth Kamala solo…and while I DO think there’s some validity to that argument (it’s focus is DEFINITELY on Kamala and getting stubborn “Inhuman fans” like me to accept her as a mutant….); I am mostly fine with it, since that seems to be what it takes for fans to get a “New X-Men: Academy X” book.
The biggest complaint I have is unsurprisingly Laura- we’re still sadly in the “Talon-esque”/ “Laura written as Wolverine” representation. Hopefully this gets better the more they feature her…but I do fear this era
will be very disappointing for Laura fans (I haven’t heard much about the Gabby/Laura mini either!)….
Question/Theories:
More and more I am thinking Laura and Julian are in cahoots- possibly Laura didn’t want Kamala involved because of her emotional connection with Julian…. It may just be that she wants to try and reform him; to give him the same chance he gave her…but I think more than likely she’s using Julian to spy on Empath. (Also because I can’t envision Manuel and Julian standing each other for more than five minutes lol)
Is Tag helping Hellion? I feel like Tag SHOULD be helping him, since they’re bros and Tag literally got blown up in a school bus… (Also his powers are cool…)
The BIGGEST question is- Is Hellion blasting “brat” through AirPods under that helmet? Is he having a “brat summer”? Is “Mean Girls” his favorite song? …(someone needs to make a “Hellion/brat YouTube fan vid” like they used to in the 2000’s 😂🤣… @romulanslutempire …?)
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NYX #2 Review
Spoilers!
Sadly this is a week late- life has been getting hectic and my subscriptions on Kindle never seem to work lol (I had originally meant to write up commentary on the podcast episode before issue two dropped and still haven’t finished it 😔)… but let’s dive in!
The issue starts with Laura monologuing as she takes down some random thug.
You’ve probably ALREADY saw the sample pages of this issue (especially if you follow my tumblr lol) but the girl Laura is trying to save doesn’t want to leave with her, saying they’re “friends” and that if Laura needs help too, she just needs to go “local” (Foreshadowing….Laura’s bad taste in men possibly strikes AGAIN 😂🤣)
We see Laura hanging out at some dilapidated place in East Harlem…(what happened to Logan’s old apartment that she shared with Gabby? Did they sell it during the Krakoa era…because Logan PROBABLY had locked in rent from like the 70’s…that was a horrible decision Laura…like do you know HOW hard it is to find non-brokered housing in NY anymore??!)
Laura is thinking about Kiden (and in goth clothes again!) as she tracks down some mysterious figure (sadly not a green telekinetic!) in Bushwick (also shout out to one of my favorite spots in NY!)…
At an underground club, we’re introduced to Local. Local is…interesting (people weren’t wrong about the Gambit comparisons lol). Laura convinces him to get her a call with Local’s boss, Mr. Smiley…but Kamala randomly pops up with Anole and Sophie in tow!
Laura gets pissed as Kamala tried to talk about the “mysterious telekinetic” (Laura doesn’t want to talk about her previous secret EX Kamala!) and calls them “Kamala’s little friends” (DON’T be MEAN to ANOLE, Laura!); telling Kamala to stay out of it and not blow her cover….
Laura has fun committing crimes with Local; obviously reminded of her time with Kiden. (If Laura had a crush on any girl…it was PROBABLY Kiden guys lol)
Local’s last challenge before she can meet “Mr. Smiley” is stealing whatever is in Orchis’s Essex building; Laura challenges him that for everything she breaks, he has to tell her some truth.
It’s a kind of sweet and interesting moment, where readers get to see how easy it would be for Laura to slide into the old ways of “X-Force” or “NYX”…
Yet Prodigy drops reality on Laura- that this isn’t who she is anymore. You can’t live in the past.
Laura meets Mr. Smiley…who is really….you guessed it! (I totally didn’t lol!)…Mojo!
Laura gets beaten…BADLY…and retreats.
(Also we get one of the LOVELIEST panels EVER!)
The issue ends with Laura realizing that she can’t do it alone- contacting Kamala and Sophie.
Review:
I for one…kind of wish we had gotten a Laura solo issue this time around; I think it was needed and could have been akin to “Zuko Alone”, Logan’s “Patch” era, or X-Men # 182, where Rogue breaks into Shield…it’s been a while since writers really explored Laura’s psyche…
In some ways the weird pop up of Kamala drags the story a bit- this should have just been written as happening weeks before issue #1, in my opinion.
While I liked the ending…it somehow felt too soon a realization for Laura…I kind of wish they had played with the “loner” bit, dragged it on a little bit longer…
Another tiny critique- I really can’t stand Laura swearing. So many writers try to make it work…but it just doesn’t work. It just doesn’t really suit her, in my opinion. (Stop trying to make “fetch” happen lol)
Still, I think this issue is really solid. Laura is really nicely written and it’s probably the closest we’ve come to Kyle levels in a while.
Laura realizing “you can’t go back”….is something that’s really great to play with. It’s something everyone struggles with, when the “good times” pass. Laura can’t move on from her past…yet she can’t go back to it either. She can’t be the person she was.
Local also definitely plays into Laura’s nostalgia of Liu era adventuring with Gambit as well as Kiden… it makes sense why she would gravitate to him.
I actually like the addition of Local and hope he ends up being a regular (much better than Catwoman’s recent terrible love interest!)
The Prodigy ending was a sucker punch and REALLY wonderfully done! Using David, an old NYM connection as a source of guilt (and David ALWAYS was the voice of reason!) was really excellent; even if there wasn’t much interaction between the two in the original NXM. The only thing that COULD have made it better…was if it had been Dust, Mercury, or Elixir…but that’s a nit pick.
NXM was the turning point for Laura, so it makes sense that someone from THAT time would “wake her up” a bit….
Overall, I would say it’s definitely a solid issue…I think there’s minor things they could have changed, but it’s still a better “Laura” than we have seen in a while.
Theories:
Mojo is totally going to use Local to get to Laura…
Krakellion’s mission is deeper than making NYC the next Krakoa; they’re actively fighting against Mojo…
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I find it unfathomable and astounding that Tumblr isn't more obsessed with Sam Reich. You're telling me there exists out there a man who was born into the aristocracy of our country—with every privilege of modern society at his fingertips—who didn't complete high school (due to his mental health) and instead chose to devote his life to making strangers laugh and raising awareness on mental health. A full-bearded short king who is so committed to being the change he wants to see in the world that he decided to take the company he worked for into his own hands so that he could make sure all the people who worked under him could keep their livelihoods.
How many other CEOs are out here being as honest and transparent with their target audience/market as Sam Reich is? How many of them acknowledge when they fumble and continuously strive to be better than they were? How many of them actually seem like they respect their talent, both in the cast and crew? Sam Reich is the standard we should be holding other CEOs to.
But forget about all that (I could talk for a long time about the respect I have for Sam Reich)—ignore just how respectable he is as a businessman and a person. Ignore all the wholesome reasons for obsessing over Sam Dalton Reich.
The man is a stone-cold fox.
He's a little chaos gremlin and an absolute evil mastermind all rolled into one classy suit and well-groomed beard. Whenever Sam is on the set, you can guarantee he is going to make you crack a smile. And for someone with such natural authority, he's never afraid to be the butt of a joke and show himself being embarrassed. Go ahead, watch any clip of him trying to improvise in No Laugh Newsroom and just try to resist that blush.
You're sleeping on a goldmine of a man, here, damnit! And I will NOT let this go ignored any longer!
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