Wednesday, October 12, 2011

X-Men: Regenesis #1

The first book I review this week isn't my Pick of the Litter, which is a bit different from how I usually operate. But you see, how could I resist reading the comic that is supposed to reshape the X-Men universe before reading anything else? So let's get Regenesis out of the way before anything else.

X-Men: Regenesis #1:

Summary: Okay, this issue is exactly what you'd probably expect it to be... Wolverine and Lord Summers wander around talking to various X-characters to try to coax/convince/beg them to join up with their side. Wolvie's first pick is Iceman(?!?), who is happy to leave Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia). Next Wolvie tries to convince Psylocke to go with him, but she balks at returning to a school since she saw that as moving backwards. She does tell Wolvie that she'd continue serving on X-Force, and after Wolvie leaves hints that she may serve as a spy for Wolvie as well. Jugger-Colossus decides to stay on Crazy Mutie Island since he was crazy himself now(and bald) and didn't want to be around children(except for the kids staying on Crazy Mutie Island I guess...). Shadowcat on the other hand is going to go with Wolverine, since she had fond memories of the school. Surprisingly Jugger-Colossus and Shadowcat split amicably. Wolvie e-mails an ecstatic Beast about the reopening of the school, who is glad to see that other mutants were finally seeing Lord Summers as the power hungry nutjob Beast had seen months back. Rogue decides to go with Wolvie, while Magneto laughs at the prospect of Wolvie allowing him to go to the school. Next up Wolverine meets with Havok and Polaris and pretty much offers them a slot on X-Factor... Um, how the hell does THAT work?! Our Lord and Savior Hope, after some arm twisting, allows Idie to go with Wolverine, while she(and the rest of her brainwashed cronies) stay with Lord Summers. Cannonball and Husk decide to go with Wolverine and Moonstar and the rest of the New Mutants(including Nate Grey) stay on Crazy Mutie Island. Lord Summers manages to convince Dazzler to stay in San Fransisco to teach some of the younger X-Men how to “be stars” whatever the hell THAT means. The students split up with most of them, led by Hellion, going with Wolvie, but a few of them, led by Prodigy, decide to stay on the Island. Namor, Danger, Doctor Nemesis, Magik, the Stepford Cuckoos and Avalanche all all staying either on Crazy Mutie Island or on the West Coast while Rachel Summers, Quentin Quire(not by choice), X-23, Frenzy, Gambit and Toad are going with Wolvie. Storm is prepared to leave since she doesn't like the direction Lord Summers had been taking the X-Men, but Lord Summers literally begs her to stay. After some more groveling, Storm takes pity on Lord Summers and decides to stay. Finally Lord Summers is surprised to find Emma Frost contemplating leaving, since her true passion was teaching. In the end she reveals that she was just messing with him and informs him she was staying. With that the lines have been formed and the Schism is complete.

Thoughts: With the exception of the stupid caveman junk(don't ask) I really liked this issue. Yeah, some of the choices were weird, why the hell wouldn't Rachel Summers be staying on Crazy Mutie Island? How can Wolverine place people on Jamie Madrox's team? Why is Jugger-Colossus STILL bald?! But for the most part this was an enjoyable read... I am still seriously undecided on whether or not I'm picking up Uncanny X-Men come the renumbering, but right now I'm leaning towards yes, especially since it looks like we're finally getting vintage Mr. Sinister back. Both sides have characters I detest, and Lord Summers side is practically full of villains, but I think I'll give all of the X-titles a try come this November... Well except for X-Men Legacy... I won't be picking that series up until Mike Carey is FINALLY off of it, which is in another couple of months. Overall though, Schism has gotten me the most excited in the X-books as I've been since before M-Day, so Marvel is doing something right here.

Score: 9 out of 10.Damn, why not get on your knees and sob while you're at it, Scott?

11 comments:

  1. Mwahahahah! I will be reviewing this later this week. I will easily be giving my first "mainstream Universe" X-Men comic a 9 at least. I really loved it, even if I didn't know who some of the characters. It made me care for them and I can't wait. I'M TORN!

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  2. funny how in that panel at the bottom the chicks with who dont have hair long enough to cover there breast have bras on but the rest are topless
    ok i want to understand one thing WHERE THE HELL HAS RACHEL SUMMERS BEEN cept for a cover of a coming issue of x-men legacy i havent seen her sense....... (nota qlue)
    she wasnt in any part of second coming or any other of the recent x-men events
    and this rachel summers is from another reality or future right?

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  3. The real Rachel would have made Douchelops eat his fucking over what happened to Cable & Jean...She's been through 2 fucking dystopias so THIS happens? I think Nate's words have never been more appropriated " WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE!" ( I'm sorry but X-man would still kill Douchelops. He has the artificial creation for his defens...)

    I'll never say it enough But FUCK DOUCHELOPS & WHOREVERINE. Sinister , I'm with you, you awesome pasty mad geneticist or with your rival the ancient egyptian with sexy sexy lips & epic epic voice!

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  4. That's great to hear Caz. If nothing else it shows that Kieron Gillen did a great job with this one, because for once I wasn't completely standing on Wolvie's side. When Scott was begging Storm to stay, I actually felt bad for him for the first time in forever. Kudos to Gillen for writing a comic that was able to get somebody who isn't a huge X-Fan like yourself that deeply invested in the characters. Hopefully he can keep that up leading into the new Uncanny X-Men book.

    I honestly don't know, Movieartman... Last I knew, Rachel, Polaris AND Havok were out in space serving as the new Starjammers... I read all of the X-books except for Legacy and Astonishing so maybe they returned in one of those? It was weird that those three characters were hanging around like they hadn't been missing for like years! And yep, Rachel is Scott and Jean's daughter from an alternate(futuristic) dimension.

    HA! Saidi, sometimes you leave me speechless my friend!

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  5. Rachel, Havok, and Polaris are in Legacy right now. They are still in space as of last issue, so I guess it is safe to assume they make it home (like it is safe to assume Archangel isn't).

    I liked the caveman images. We have two men fighting for leadership and others choosing sides. They claim it is just a difference of beliefs but with every decision you see one popping the other. And in the end you see Cyclops more messed up than Wolverine.

    I do have a few responses to the decisions:

    Glad Hellion is going with Wolverine. Maybe he will get some more time in the comics.

    It makes since Rachel Summers would be leaving. Why would she want to live on a rock now she is back on Earth?

    I think Wolverine was just suggesting for Havok and Polaris to check in with their old X-factor buddies. If they are both in the same town they may want to work together somewhat.

    I thought X-23 wasn't even around. Wasn't she doing their own thing.

    It is nice to see no-brainers like Emma Frost considering leaving.

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  6. And too bad you aren't reading this week's issue of Generation Hope. You pretty much have a scene with Kitty telling Cyclops that Hope's group are a bit cultish and are going nuclear.

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  7. Ah, okay. Thanks for the info on Havok, Rachel and Polaris, Jermox. That would explain why I knew nothing about what they were up to.

    Eh. The caveman stuff didn't really add anything to the story for me. I mean if you would have cut it out you probably could have added a few more conversations in this issue. It felt like weird filler to me.

    "Glad Hellion is going with Wolverine. Maybe he will get some more time in the comics." AGREED. I've been following Hellion from his early New Mutant days and have been so depressed by the way he's(and pretty much everybody else from the New Mutants/Academy X series) been treated. I get the feeling he's going to be one of those characters who's perpetually screwed over, like Cannonball, who's almost always written as not-quite-ready for primetime... Unless they just kill Hellion off, which wouldn't shock me...

    I actually LOVE the idea of Havok and Polaris heading back to X-Factor(and Peter David), I just would have preferred it if Madrox was SOMEWHERE in this issue... It would have made more sense if he was with Wolvie talking to Havok/Polaris.

    I think I'm going to be picking Gen Hope up again pretty soon with the writer change... I'd love if Marvel just went all out and turned Our Lord and Savior Hope into an evil cult-like figure. I mean in some ways that's the perfect direction for her character to go... I doubt they'll ever go that way, but that would make for an awesome X-Men x-over event...

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  8. I am sure if Hope goes all evil then Bishop can come back and say "What did I tell you?" She is pretty much destined to screw mutantkind.

    What I did notice about Generation Hope is that the same five pages or so from Regenesis are in Generation Hope. Somebody was lazy there, and I hope I don't see that pattern in other X-men titles.

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  9. I've got to say, it sure would be nice if Bishop had been justified in his actions. It sucks what they did to him(and to a lesser extent) Forge lately...

    Maybe Gillen just didn't have the time to do a full script for Gen Hope? I think this issue was his last, and with Journey, Regenesis, Uncanny and Gen Hope, maybe that was too many books, so Gen Hope got the short end of the stick.

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  10. "I've got to say, it sure would be nice if Bishop had been justified in his actions. It sucks what they did to him(and to a lesser extent) Forge lately..."

    THIS! So much truth. 2 of my favorite characters from the early 90's have been dragged through so much crap. My dream scenario (LOL) is that alternate future forge sends bishop back again, so he can off Hope just as she goes dark phoenix and say "I told you so." That's the only way I see to make Messiah War NOT have sucked as bad as it seemed ;)

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  11. TRobb, I LOVE that scenario! And hell, they could STILL do that down the road! Have Our Lord and Savior Hope continue to amass her cult and grow in power and then just have her snap and start tearing up Utopia/San Fransisco with her lackeys. Then like you said, boom, future Forge sends Bishop back in time, Bishop halts her deadly rampage(hell, you could have older, wiser, future Forge come back in time too), and everybody realizes, "Hey, Bishop was right all along!" I mean it PAINS me to think back to District X and then remember what Bishop became... He was fantastic in that series... Such a waste.

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