New Mutants #40:
Summary: Warlock and Cypher discuss how they should defeat the Ani-Mator virus in their head, since they combined into Douglok last issue. While the two are (literally) putting their heads together in their combined mind, they are also fighting the Ani-Mator virus in the real world. Douglok manages to get the Ani-Mator virus away from the two remaining New Mutants who weren't absorbed by the virus(Dani and Nate) before enacting their plan, which was to inject a small amount of Warlock's transmode virus into the Ani-Mator virus, rewriting the Ani-Mator virus and erasing the Ani-Mator's personality from the virus, rendering it harmless and ending the threat. From there, Cypher feels better having faced down the site of his death, as well as the man responsible(in a way...), which ends this issue.
Thoughts: Meh. Too much Cypher and Warlock, not enough Nate, says I! But then I've never really been a big fan of Warlock OR Cypher, so a storyline revolving around them saving the rest of the team isn't going to be my cup of tea. For fans of those two characters though? This is definitely the issue for you!
Score: 6 out of 10.
Nate does always seem to be hanging back observing things, doesn't he?
Finally got my copy! Better late than never, I guess!
ReplyDeleteI didn't much care about Cypher in his first life, but I've warmed to him since his return mainly as the writers are putting some imagination into how his power could be used beyond the obvious ability to read any language. Warlock is a bit less depp, but he works fine for me as the team's comic relief and occasional heavy-hitter. (I'd love to see him meet up with Morph of the Exiles, thinknig about that...)
I find it interesting how the team has kind of split into three pairs of similar characters. Cypher and Warlock are of course BFFs while both straddling the line between person and machine, Magma and Sunspot seem to be the human faces and heart of the team, along with both wielding flame-like transmutation abilities. And then there's the leader Dani and Nate her advisor, two formerly powerful psionics who have had their powers devestated. Interesting parallels.
I like that Nate is the one in the background, there but on the outside. While it wasn't to everyone's tastes, my favourite part of the X-Man series was the Shaman Nate arc at the end, partly because I liked the idea, but mainly because I thought it worked very well for the character thematically - Nate's two ongoing drives were to make a life for himself and work out how best to apply his great power, and when he finally got to the end of that journey, he found he had to choose between his two goals - and unusually for this sort of story in comics, he chose to sacrifice his place in the world in order to help it rather than sacrifice his power and the good he could do in exchange for continuing to be able to interact with the world. I think that is what makes him a true and unconventional hero, and a tragic one too - he has seen and experienced more incredible things than virtually any other Marvel hero (and I really wish that along with visions of the AOA he gave out during Fear Itself we had seen a few other things, like the glimpse of true reality he gained at the Golden City), but he can never truly be a part of the world, only watching from outside, and he accepts that. I hope that he adapts that role for the New Mutants over time, it'd be nice to see them come to be the tribe that he watches over!
Oh yeah, definitely better late than never, Crystarr! Before I got a local comic shop in my area, I used to have to wait at least a full week to get my new books, and for things like Captain America getting killed(which was spoiled for me on the news!!), and the end of Final Crisis #6, it was SO hard to avoid getting spoiled! That wait can be torture sometimes!
ReplyDeleteI really need to read the Shaman issues of X-Man again desperately... See, for me, I first became a fan of Nate a few years ago due to picking up the AOA event in back issues. From there I managed to snag the entire X-Man series off of eBay, and became a huge fan. Not necessarily of the writing(which was terrible at times...) but of Nate the character. And then we had the Shaman thing, which totally changed Nate's character like 180 degrees! Having read like 60 issues of Nate in a row, it was so jarring for him to be such a drastically different character. I'd think that now, having not read Nate's series for a few years, and not having that same close attachment to Nate's character since I haven't been reading about Nate every day for several days in a row, I'd probably have a greater appreciation of Shaman Nate. I can take a step back and read those last few issues of X-Man without being annoyed by Nate's change in persona. Hell, if I do that, maybe I'll review those issues as well, because to be honest, I don't remember ANYTHING about the Shaman Nate issues except for some bits and pieces concerning the Red Queen and the final issue.
Well, I've been introduced to Comizology lately, which I may start using. Maybe that will end my lateness woes (as well as letting me read comics on my Netbook when travelling - yay for convinient technology!)
ReplyDeleteThe introduction to Shaman Nate was the one thing I didn't like. Being suddenly dropped in without any explanation of what had happened to him was really jarring, and the flashback story arc that eventually explained it didn't really seem to capture Nate as he was before reality opened up to him, it did feel like we missed a chapter or two. But it still remains my favourite part of Nate's story, and I really did love the Gauntlet story arc. :)
Cool. I've never been a big fan of reading comics digitally(half the fun or me is collecting them!), but it kind of makes sense, especially if there's a major issue you want to read and don't want to wait a week(or more!) to read it. If I was still without a local comic shop, I very well may have done the same thing...
ReplyDeleteI actually pulled all of the Shaman books out last night, once I finish my new stuff, I plan on giving them a read. That way I'll finally have a better grasp on Nate's shaman days. When I first read those it was like once I first got back into comics after taking a few years off, so yeah, those issues are WAY past due for a reread!