X-Men: Die By The Sword #1

[nathalia]

Read-along comment to "X-Men: Die By The Sword #1" written by Chris Claremont, godfather of the X-Men. Don't read it if you plan to read it and / or liked it and are easily offended.

While I have been a huge fan of what Claremont did with the X-Men in the past, he has proven over and over again that you just can’t go home since he came back to the X-titles in 2000 with the huge Revolution X revamp. I just didn’t like the new romance angles he suggested: Kurt and Rachel, Ororo and Kurt, Logan and Ororo. It was all wrong somehow. His stories weren’t interesting anymore and didn’t really fit in with what had been done with the X-Men since he had left. He just did everything the way he wanted it to be done with no respect to the other creators, changing many characters on a whim and worst of all, he introduced X-23 into the regular X-Men continuity while she only had been in NYX before.

Anyway, I picked the first issue of this series up expecting it to be another of those Claremont Excalibur mini-series using his favorites, mostly his own creations (Dazzler, Psylocke, Sage) or characters he made his own (Captain Britain). The one who doesn’t fit into his New Excalibur team in my opinion is Pete Wisdom who I never wanted Claremont to write. For me, Wisdom should have stayed in Limbo forever. And I hate the new Psylocke. I liked her as a telepath with shadow teleportation and the Crimson Dawn mark.

Now, this is a crossover between New Excalibur and the Exiles, probably because Claremont is writing both titles. But I don’t like Claremont over-hyping his stuff. So, the team saved the world. There’s nothing to celebrate about it. And why is TJ walking around in underwear? Is that what people do after having strokes when attending parties? (And why did Nocturne get herself these stupid white bangs anyway? She’s not Rogue. Ali already looks stupid with the pink hairdo). And even though it seems fairly reasonable that Wisdom and Sage would grow fond of each other, I don’t like it. I admit that it is a very probable situation, but Wisdom is Kitty’s guy.

And Brian as a bachelor … damn it, why did Claremont kill Meggan off? To make Brian more attractive to young readers like Quesada wants to do it with Peter Parker?

Back to complaining about Nocturne. Didn’t she express interest in Cain just a few issues back? It seems that John Proudstar’s arrival made her forget about that – and the fact that she had a stroke which I think is stupid anyway and I don’t like that Claremont wrote it in just because he himself had just had one and wanted to “show that it can happen to anyone” as he said in an interview.

And another Claremont creation – James Jaspers. Doesn’t that guy ever die? Claremont just used the Fury two years or so ago in Uncanny X-Men, now he brings its master back. Awesome. I’m stunned at how this guy does never run out of ideas or has to go back to using villains he has created himself over and over again. (Feel the sarcasm, Claremont, I still think the Fury storyline sucked and the “God Loves, Man Kills II” was totally stupid).

Oh, bloody fantastic. I just mentioned that I hated the Fury storyline and what happens? It is revealed that a part of the Fury is trapped in this version of Mad Jim Jaspers. I wanna cry or toss this thing away or … something. Now all I’m missing is an appearance by Jamie Braddock as the Captain Britain Corps have already made their appearance as have Roma and Merlyn, two darlings of Claremont’s. What about Sat-Yr-9 (was that her name?), the Hellfire Club and maybe a nice reunion between Ali and Longshot? Yeah, I know the last event is bound to happen, there’s no way to escape it. But there are also these other things Claremont had introduced in his UK-based series. Alistair Steward and WHO maybe. Not likely.  What I would love, though, would be a nice guest-appearance by Mojo.

And if Claremont is trying to make Jaspers funny … well, Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMateis could certainly give him many tips on how to write funny, because he just can’t do it. And turning all Captain Britains into Furies is just great. Now how about turning Claremont into a Fury? He’d make less damage that way.

Opal Luna Saturnyne. I have no idea, who she is, exactly, but I think she is the good counterpart of Sat-yr-9. And I predicted that she would show up.

Wisdom and Alison? NOOOO!! Please, I take back everything I ever said about Sage and Wisdom. Wisdom and Sage are perfect, just get Alison away from Pete, please. NOW!!

And angsty Nocturne. How could this issue pass without her stroke being mentioned? God, I hate these mini-series already. I mean, I was just bashing Claremont, but he offended me severely. Pete and Alison?! Come on, that’s as likely as … well, many of Claremont’s recent pairings.

Ha, I feel so happy about Mojo being mentioned. Is there a possibility of him showing up? Please … I want him to show up. I mean, Mojo is the most awesome character ever.

And wow, the cliffhanger is so awesome. Brian couldn’t possibly be dead, could he? Killed by this frightening-looking villain Rouge-Mort (some editor should have told Claremont that there is already a quite well-known character named Voldemort out there and “death” is written “morte” in French).

I can’t wait for the next issue of this awesome mini!