turns out that cable has the baby…

x-men: messiah complex run has been pretty good so far. and x-men #205 is the best issue i’ve read since i resumed collecting comicbooks two years ago.

ooh… can’t wait for the next issue. and can’t wait to find out if my prediction is true - that the first new mutant since m-day is jean grey reincarnated. after all, it’s high time they bring her back.

blue [love]

1. do you like someone?
>> define like.

2. do you believe in love at first sight?
>> first answer, no. but i guess i’ll never know till it happens to me.

3. have you ever loved someone so much and it hurt?
>> yep.

red [anger]

1. are you currently mad at someone?
>> mad, no. frustrated and disappointed, yes.

2. which of your family members has the worst temper?
>> that would be me.

3. have you ever thrown something at anyone?
>> yes, daggers. ahaha. no, an encyclopedia i think.

4. does anyone love you?
>> yes, of course. we are all loved. hekhek.

yellow [self-discovery]

1. name?
>> mak mak

2. who do you want to marry?
>> haven’t really thought of that yet but…

3. do you want to have children?
>> yes. actually, i’m already thinking of having one. ahaha.

orange [excitement]

1. has anyone ever thrown a surprise party for you?
>> yep. hugs to you guys… you know who you are.

2. if you had just won a million dollars what would your thoughts be?
>> i’m damn rich. hah!

3. if you could have anything right now what would it be?
>> somebody’s attention.

purple [q&a]

q: how many beds did you lay in yesterday?
>> uhm, one. should’ve asked me a few days ago. ahaha.

q: what color shirt are you wearing?
>> green.

q: what six things you do everyday?
>> bathe, eat, pray, breathe, surf [the net], talk, listen [to my ipod]

q : what website(s) do you visit the most during the day?
>> mutanthigh.com, wikipedia.org, friendster.com

q: do you have plants in your room?
>> nope.

q: does anything hurt on your body right now?
>> oh yeah… something you can’t see though. ahaha.

pink [last]

1. last movie watched?
>> enchanted.

2. song you listened to?
>> ever ever after [carrie underwood]

3. person you talked/texted on the phone with?
>> aleks. hmpft.

grey [today]

1. what are you doing tonight?
>> sleep.

2. what are you going to eat?
>> nothing. i just had dinner and i’m about to sleep.

3. where are you going to be at 5am?
>> in my bed.

brown [tomorrow]

1. tomorrow is?
>> tuesday

2. are you looking forward to it?
>> slightly.

3. are you going to laugh?
>> i hope so. i plan to have a good time.

4. who are you going to be with?
>> sigh…

* * *

man, i must be so pathetic to have answered this meme. shows how desperate i am to have a new post. i won’t blame my weeks of non-blogging to anything - it’s just pure laziness on my part. =c

***

got this from her.

rock star name [first pet + current car]
[just] tyler

gangsta name [fave ice cream flavor + fave cookie]
double dutch cream-o

fly guy [initial of first name + first three letters of last name]
m pas

detective name [fave color + fave animal]
blue unicorn

soap opera [middle name + city where you were born]
evangelista mandaluyong

star wars [the first 3 letters of last name + first 2 letters of first]
pas ma

superhero name ["the" + 2nd fave color + fave drink]
the red milo

nascar name [the first names of your grandfathers]
eliseo guiller

stripper name [fave perfume + fave candy]
deep red chocette

witness protection name [mother’s + father’s middle names]
tulod legarda

tv weather anchor name [5th grade teacher’s last name + a major city that starts with the same letter]
anselmo angeles

spy name [your fave season/holiday + flowers]
autumn gardenia

cartoon name [fave fruit + article of clothing you’re wearing right now + "ie" or "y"]
grape hoody

hippy name [what you ate for breakfast + your fave tree]
spaghetti cherry blossom

rockstar entourage name ["the" + fave hobby/craft + fave weather element + "tour"]
the singing water tour

porn name [first pet + name of street you grew up on]
tyler mabini

day ten

villain spotlight - sinister

as always, we turn to x-men editor nick lowe for comments on our topics of interest.

nick lowe: “here’s the deal with sinister — he’s been around forever, but the best sinister stories (imo - “mutant massacre” and “x-cutioner’s song”) don’t ever explain or really mention his motivation! what does sinister want? what are his goals? it takes some digging, but here’s what makes sinister cool. he’s the dark side of science. he has an unquenchable desire to understand mutancy. that’s why he’s obsessed with the summers family (every child in that family is an uber-powerful mutant). when we figured that out, it made perfect sense for him to be so concerned about this mutant. he wants to take it apart.

“as far as classic moments, i always think of the sweet silvestri art in “inferno” when sinister is threatening longshot and messing with the newly revived jean grey! i love when sinister comes to the mansion in x-cutioner’s song and gets shot in the head. greg cappullo rocked mr. sinister.”

and, of course, what would be a villain spotlight without some killer art? if you ask us, this is some of the best stuff we’ve presented yet. incidentally, the above page we’re showing you (by chris bachalo) is the first of three that we have. (the one below is by simone bianchi.) expect more from that confrontation next week. hey, we have to keep you coming back!

* * * * *
from ign.

image courtesy of her blog.

* * * * *

“if you truly like someone, you’d tell her how you feel, and you’ll just accept her reaction, even if you’ll be turned down. you’ve professed, and in the end it’s the only thing that matters.”
- ck

* * * * *

a close friend said the same thing. though he did add a [cheesy] line, “…love should be selfless. one shouldn’t expect anything in return…” or something like that.

and i agree with him on both counts…

* * * * *

and there goes my thoughts. it feels like i still have a lot to say on this but words fail me at the moment. so i’ll leave this hanging for the meantime.

day nine

cyclops’s command

if you don’t entirely believe cyclops is going to be a believable, interesting character in the crossover, maybe nick lowe can change your mind. the enthusiastic editor returned to us with some comments about scott summers. we asked lowe three key questions: 1) what makes cyclops such an integral part of the x-men? 2) is there any weight to fans’ opinions that cyclops is a generic, bland leader figure? 3) what makes cyclops an interesting character and what stories prove that? take it away, nick!

nick lowe: “those people aren’t wrong. for a lot of time he became a milk-soppy kind of guy. we saw that too and wanted to change it. there are two big things that have been holding cyclops back, the way i see it: 1) we’ve been playing up the “i don’t know if i’m worthy to lead the x-men thing” for way too long and 2) professor x always takes over (which inevitably makes cyclops look like second fiddle).

“so in messiah complex we wanted to combat that. So 1) this is it. he’s confident. he’s been doing this long enough to have faith in himself and 2) well… we’ll have to see about this. there is certainly conflict here. but they can’t rule together, i’ll tell you that much. it’s cyclops alone, xavier alone, or none of the above, alone, atop the x-men hierarchy.”

we had one other burning question for lowe that just had to be asked. we were actually joking a bit, but the answer we received was… not entirely what we were expecting. the question? “it is a common theory that a subtitle for messiah complex might as well be ‘the return of jean grey‘. any comments for fans expecting to see the phoenix rise yet again?” here is nick’s response, along with a quick reaction from a guest editor:

lowe: “that’s a really interesting question. there are certainly some similarities to historical or religious messiahs and the phoenix, with rising from the dead, etc… and there are also some metaphorical similarities to mutant-kind’s plight. their hope for the future has burned to ashes. if i say any more i might get fired.

axel alonso: “nick, you’re already fired.”

wait, what? what does that mean? phoenix is returning? or should we just take this as a metaphor and let it be… hmmm. damn. now we have more questions than we did when we started this thing! guess we’ll all have to read the series together to find out just what lays in the ashes of the mutant race.

tomorrow we’re going to do something really cool. today we focused on one of the big leaders of the x-men, and tomorrow we do the exact opposite - hit the big villain. since “messiah complex” was announced, fans have been thrilled at the prospect of one particular character making his triumphant return to the pages of “big-concept storytelling.” the character has been around plenty, but his machinations rarely saw the light of day during the many events. perhaps that’s a good thing, as his name isn’t linked to some of the sludge of the ’90s.

of course, we’re talking about sinister. Or mr. sinister, if you’d like… and we have some wicked art in store for you.

* * * * *
from ign.

day eight

the advance review of x-men: messiah complex #1

as we’ve been saying for the past few weeks, ign comics has switched over to a numerical scoring system. like our gaming and entertainment counterparts, we’ll be ranking books with a full 100-point scale. for trades, arcs and manga, we’ll comment on art and writing along with a final score. weekly books get a faster treatment due to their shorter length.one thing that we are doing slightly different is providing you with multiple reviews and multiple scores. to keep things simple (for you and for us), we’re limiting this to one additional take. the additional take reviewer will have his or her score listed directly after their opinion. the final score is not affected by this and is directly determined by the main reviewer (who is listed in the article’s byline.

ign rating scale
0.0 = wtf?
0.1 - 0.9 = worthless
1.0 - 1.9 = abysmal
2.0 - 2.9 = terrible
3.0 - 3.9 = awful
4.0 - 4.9 = poor
5.0 = meh
5.1 - 5.9 = mediocre
6.0 - 6.9 = passable
7.0 - 7.4 = decent
7.5 - 7.9 = good
8.0 - 8.4 = impressive
8.5 - 8.9 = great
9.0 - 9.4 = outstanding
9.5 - 9.9 = incredible
10.0 = masterful

review #1
by bryan joel

x-men: messiah complex is the first chapter of the biggest x-men crossover of, well, the decade really. things like this were commonplace fifteen or twenty years ago, and i have to say that from the beginning there’s something delightfully old school about this one-shot. whether it’s the impending crossover, silvestri’s pencils, xavier in a suit and tie using cerebra, the team of a-list characters, or that fact that the hand-wringing over the state of the mutant world is kept to a minimum, this issue feels very unlike the gloom and doom of post-house of m x-men even though there are burning people and dead children strewn about. it’s a hard thing to explain, but x-men: messiah complex almost reads like a gem from 1989.

presumably this will be a jumping-on point for some readers who’ve strayed from the x-fold, and the issue does do a great job setting up the basic facts for the four ongoing titles that will house “messiah complex.” no mutants. baby. fire. but don’t be fooled, it’s not a reader-friendly, continuity-light version of the team that’ll have fans pulling their hair out. actually, if you’re not at least relatively familiar with recent x-men continuity, the relatively stuffed second half of the issue may be a little overwhelming. predator x and the purifiers from recent arcs of new x-men cameo, and the same goes for mike carey’s marauders from x-men. little to no special attention is paid to introducing them or mentioning why they’re around. i’m not complaining, mind you - over the years the x-titles have seen both interdependence and separate universe syndrome, and i’ll take a version of the former any day of the week. new readers should just be prepared to visit wikipedia once or twice.

brubaker’s script isn’t likely to wow you with its handle on each character’s nuance, but that clearly isn’t the point of this exercise. coupled with “endangered species” and the last few storylines in the core books, x-men: messiah complex succeeds in building the scope of the event rather than just insisting it’s deeply important. marc silvestri’s work here is as crisp and beautiful as you’d predict, and by now any casual comic fan knows whether he’s a fan of silvestri’s often polarizing style. with the exception of his struggle with beast’s face, i don’t think i’ve ever seen work this clean from him.

an impressive start to what’s shaping up to be a satisfying story. the one-shot does cram a lot of information into its twenty-four pages and can sometimes seem a little spastic because of it, but it gets slack for being charged with springboarding four titles’ worth of concepts. despite its flaws, i’ll pay it this compliment: this issue managed to hook me on another crossover with mr. sinister at the center.

bryan’s score: 8.4 - impressive

review #2
by jesse schedeen

could it be said that the x-men have fallen out of favor slightly with today’s comic readership? the merry mutants used to be marvel’s biggest money makers, justifying the release of countless spinoff titles and endless convoluted crossover epics. while there are still plenty of x-men spinoffs to be had today, the throne has been usurped by the avengers , be they new, mighty, or taking part in some sort of initiative. while the x-men will always resonate with a more mainstream audience, the kind that knows them mostly from the old ’90s cartoon and the movies, comics readers need something to make them fall in love with cyclops, beast, and the rest of the gang all over again. marvel’s hope is that this something will be messiah complex, the first major x-men crossover in roughly 10 years. needless to say, expectations are high.

not too high, hopefully, because while this introductory issue has some great moments, it is, in the end, an introductory issue. much like endangered species #1 was meant to merely set the stage for something greater, so is this one-shot meant to arrange the pieces on the board. anyone who has paid the least amount of attention to the hype probably knows exactly what happens in here. the first mutant baby since m-day is born, and various factions come to blows in a desperate attempt to claim the child. let’s get one thing out of the way right now, though. while certain comparisons to endangered species #1 can be made, i’m confident the upcoming installments of messiah complex won’t turn out to be major disappointments.

i’m sure a major question on everyone’s minds is how ed brubaker handles this issue. despite his absolutely brilliant work on books like captain america and criminal, brubaker has struggled to churn out anything above a decent x-men tale since taking over uncanny last year. luckily, this is definitely his best work yet on the mutants. ironically, the events within pick up more from recent issues of x-men than of uncanny or the other x-books. it’s enough to make one wonder if brubaker would be better off writing less obscure mutant characters. at any rate, brubaker hits all the necessary beats in this issue, setting up the conflict and delving ever so slightly into what this mysterious birth may hold in store for our heroes. like i said, there’s nothing particularly mind-blowing or shocking inside, but nothing terribly disappointing either.

rarely do the X-Men look more shiny and pretty than when marc silvestri draws them. if these don’t sound like direct complements, that’s because they aren’t. for me, silvestri can be quite a tough pill to swallow on anything but the most outlandish of books. i liked his art quite a bit in grant morrison’s “here comes tomorrow” arc of new x-men, but morrison gave silvestri plenty of craziness to work with. this x-men story is much more straightforward, and as such the impossibly sleek bodies and razor-sharp facial features stick out too much for my tastes. who needs wolverine’s adamantium claws when cyclops can hack people to death with his chin?

chins aside, messiah complex is off to a decent start. the real test will come when the story is bounced between four different creative teams over the next two months. neither the quality of endangered species nor the past examples of major x-men crossovers give me cause to feel optimistic, but damned if i’m not excited about this story anyway.

jesse’s score: 8.0 - impressive

* * * * *
from ign.

day seven

villain spotlight - the reavers

nick lowe: “to talk about the reavers, i think you need to start with lady deathstrike. first, uncanny x-men #205 with lady d, wolverine and katie power (i think?). so cool! just general badassery on every level. great story. great art. barry windsor-smith is in his own category. from there to the claremont/silvestri issues in austrailia where wolverine gets crucified (omg!). donald pierce and the reavers freaked me out. we’ve all seen the 6-million dollar man and bionic woman and other things where someone gets body-parts replaced with robotics. but the reavers scared me.

“say you’re a mutant. well, there are these people. who are half-robot. they’re the pinnacle of technology and all they are meant to do is hunt you. that’s not cool. well, actually it is cool. at least we hope you think it’s cool and read the story.”

isn’t that last image cool? the wonder that is simone bianchi. stay tuned tomorrow when we roll out with our advance review of the messiah complex one-shot! we’ll likely have one take on it early in the day with at least one more reviewer joining in later on! stay tuned!

* * * * *
from ign.

day six

villain spotlight - the purifiers

axel alonso, man of few words, kept his analysis of the purifiers brief. “the purifers? three words: kill the baby,” said alonso. “this is their mission: make sure the baby is terminated, no matter the cost.”

nick lowe chimed in with his thoughts as well. “the purifiers were a surprise. if you aren’t reading new x-men, you don’t know who they are. once you read messiah complex, you’ll definitely know who they are. they come into the crossover mean and fast. and come out of the crossover a major player.

“who are they? the purifiers started as the military arm of rev. william stryker’s ministry. he had his churches and then he had the purifiers. they massacred a bus full of xavier institute kids. they’ve sniped new x-men, stabbed new x-men and terrorized new x-men. they laid siege to the mansion, took down bishop, cannonball, beast and emma frost. they are the real deal.

“now, after william stryker preached of a mutant anti-christ, they must spring into action. and it is going to be a blood-bath. there are secrets about the purifiers that you will learn in messiah complex. and they’re scary.”

* * * * *
from ign.