What's up, Sup Forumsmpeers?
We're getting closer and closer to the return of the Great X-Men Storytime, but I'm still on vacation so, let's once again read something I dug! Not from last year this time tho.
I was originally planning to storytime something else but I didn't like how its first arc finished, so let's read this instead!
It's the millennial X-Men!
1. What were you considering instead?
2. I never read past the first arc of this. There are a few from that generation of books that I dropped all around the same time (Birthright, Nailbiter, etc)
I heard this was good. Looking forward to reading.
>2. I never read past the first arc of this.
Me either, the main characters were so so cringe
Last time someone ran this Sup Forums hated it pretty badly so this should be fun!
Night's Dominion.
It's a slow burn desu, I hated most of the characters at first too, but once it gets going it's pretty good (IMO).
Here's our resident Magneto
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Whelp, comic's over. Pack it up, folks.
Juuuuuust kidding.
Grab a brush and put a little makeup.
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Yowch. Well that was a bit uncalled for. Dick.
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Ow the edge.
>On your feet, soldier
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This better not be in Westchester, motherfucker. Or Massachusetts
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I remember people being ALL ABOUT this when it came out but then hype dissappeared
>ONE OF US, ONE OF US
We don't use the t-word.
It's because of the insane delays. Only like two issues came out last year. Actually not joking.
>THOSE ARE OUR SLAVE NAMES
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>Runt
>short
>Receding red hair
Pat?!
So yeah, these guys aren't very nice at all.
Dun dun DUN!!!
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One criticism I definitely have about this series is that it uses black pages waaaaaay too often.
A hipster, a wannabe gangsta and a pothead. Is anyone really going to complain?
>It's because of the insane delays.
Just like Stephenson'a other book Nowhere Men
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Yeah... being a publisher and a writer for two ongoings really wasn't a bright idea, was it?
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>Usually, we sucker punch people.
>But other times, we say something cryptic and then sucker punch them.
Criminal masterminds.
I think Nowhere Men was on the artist, 7 onward had a different one. Stephenson said he wrote issues 7 and 8 two years ago
Damn.
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Well, at least he didn't call them "normies" I guess.
This is so cringey... Great of you to storytime it, but I don't think I can read anymore.
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Sorry user, it definitely isn't for everyone.
Yeah, it's pretty fucking awful.
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I wouldn't go that far... we're less than two issues in anyway.
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>"Now, as you probably know without me telling you, backpacks can be used to carry all manner of things, from school books to work shoes to drugs."
Can we all just take a second to marvel at how stunningly awful this writing is.
Hey, man. If you like it, you like it, but the writing is pretty fucking awful. This is the worst pitch for a cult I've ever seen, and we're supposed to believe that these preening assholes are telepathic and/or magic.
was this written by a edgy 14 year old...?
lmfao this is not what I was expecting at all.
Damn, what an asshole.
Eh, I disagree. It's a slow burn for sure but once it gets going I enjoy it a lot.
Besides, every series has a clunky line here and there, and it's even more likely to happen in Image, where editors are either very lax or nonexistent.
Mind you, this IS an ongoing series, so for all I know Stephenson is going to shit the bed badly and leave me sour on this whole thing, but after reading the issues released so far I see a lot of potential here.
Disagree with what? The setup is completely wrong, and it's a really simple fix. She's a troubled youth missing purpose and understanding. So you save her, bring her in and offer her meaning and understanding, and then you slowly introduce her to the ugly side of things claiming that some sacrifices must be made for the greater good of the group.
Instead he creeps on her, kidnaps her, assaults some rando, shows her his hipster vinyl collection and then tells her all about this one time that they totally mugged a guy for his cans. It's a gaggle of unnecessary edge that does two things: detaches us as readers from the characters and immediately avoids any mystery or possibility of discovery latter in the story.
We needed to get from here: to here: . All the other stuff is just unnecessary padding. What purpose does it serve? Communicating the premise as quickly and hamhandedly as possible?
I think this would come off as a lot less edgey if it was actually MORE like the X-Men, where normal people actually DO know about them and actively fear and hate them. Otherwise, it comes off as extremely bitchy. No fucking shit people don't get you and think hearing voices in your head is a sign of mental illness when you refuse to explain anything to them.
She's going over to the Dark Side.
But it's completely unearned, because we as readers have never seen her on the good side. The cold open really kills the character because she's completely undeveloped before she's tempted.
It's not that simple. The group IS meant to come out as a bunch of snobby, agressive little shits, as far as I can tell anyway. The point Stephenson is going for is what a bunch of millennials would do if they found out they're objectively better than the rest of the world, especially under a bad influence. You're not meant to like these guys or sympathize with them, at least not yet.
Issue three goes into a bit more detail about that.
She's been questioning their methods this whole time, man. Sure, we don't know how good she is, but we do get the implication she was raised with good morals.
Thanks for the storytime, OP. Hopefully, some people will enjoy it.
To be quite honest, I read the trade a few months back and I didn't really like it. Didn't feel interesting or compelling enough for me.
Alright, gotta go walk the dog
brb
>You're not meant to like these guys or sympathize with them,
See, I can understand that, but this comic has given me no reason to care about them either. Why should I care about the main character? All we know about her is that she was suicidal because no one understood her. But we don't know anything about her personal life, who she is, fucking nothing. There's nothing to enjoy about the other characters either. A character doesn't have to be sympathetic to be enjoyable, but there is absolutely nothing compelling about these people. Being assholes for poor reasons is not compelling.
And frankly, if you can't give me enough reason to care about your characters in two whole issues, why should I keep paying for it?
Izzat an euphenism?
>You're not meant to like these guys or sympathize
It's not about liking or sympathizing. It's about understanding. I have no idea why the main character is humoring them because I have no idea who she is and everyone is acting like a violent maniac.
>we do get the implication she was raised with good morals
Her moral fiber is demonstrated by stating that she's not going to murder her parents just because some strangers told her to, and yet she agrees to hang out with them anyway because on a single page we see her suffer through what she's been living with her entire life.
I understand what the author is trying to do, but he's failing. We have the outline, but we don't know the characters or the situation enough to believe that they'd all be acting this way in such a compressed span of time. She isn't going along with them because their pitch is appealing, or because of character flaws we've been shown before, or really any reason we can comprehend. Instead, all we're given is the possibility that she might in fact just be a vapid, violent millennial too for no reason. What are we supposed to take away from that?
Also, this reads like Sup Forums fanfiction.
>this vinyl collection is gonna get me so laid
Blonde girl should've turned them down out of morals, and then main autist should've blown her head off since she was suicidal anyway, which should've been the introduction to the group.
Red herring MC and establishes the evil within.
It'd work so much better than the shitty punches and record-temptations. It'd reinforce the fact that the audience isn't supposed to "relate" to these guys yet, if that's what the writer was going for.
Instead we get
>wow these guys are really creepy
>I'm intrigued because reasons
This is where the series started to pick up for me.
That's fair, user. If we all liked the same things, the world would be an awful boring place.
I really hate the "telepath treated as though they're crazy" cliche. Like it wouldn't easy to figure out what's really going on so they can be put into a government research facility where they belong.
>How else we gonna lose this faggoty fear of getting punched in the face, huh?
That's fair, like I said, this series is a slow burn, so it spends a bit too long on the set-up and not enough on the characters, at least at first. We definitely get a better sense of who these people are later on, but is it worth it if the first issues don't manage to grab you? I don't know man, all I know is that I really liked the premise and kept reading until the series really got going.
Hmm... that is true, but you have to remember that she's not being invited into some random cult just because, she's objectively different from most of the world and this is the first time in her life she has found people like her. That's where the conundrum arises: whether to stick with them and live a self-indulgent, violent existence or reject them and keep being an outcast. As we'll see later, there's also a third option.
What's easier to believe, user? That someone has these amazing telepathic powers never before seen in the history of mankind except in fiction, or that they're just crazy?
Wow, this is awful. Why were people excited for this shit again?
Don't get carried away, Syd.
Well, I dunno about the rest, but I liked the premise, the characters, and where the series went with the second arc.
Oh, and the art is pretty cool too. Got that whole grungy indie feel going.
it's Image.
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What's easiest to believe is what the evidence points to.
Ouch. Not entirely unfair tho.
Can't say I agree. I think Morgan Jeske or Langdon Foxss have a similar style but are much better. Not to mention Grampa.
If people don't want to believe something that makes them uncomfortable, they'll make up their own evidence or only process the evidence that backs them up.
Why are all these mutants so hot?
That's not entirely accurate, people have trouble believing in things out of the ordinary. Telepathy is something out of a sci-fi novel, or a superhero comic. It's not something folks will easily believe is real.
The Voice only picks the hot ones.
That's exactly why those TLC shows about psychic midges are so popular. Because people don't believe it.
I do like those artists a lot too but, what can I say, I like this art too a lot.
>graffiti will attract more attention than a kid beaten half to death next to a message telling people not to graffiti
Is this really how it is in urban America?
>Grampa
New comic never
Well, no, deep down, people absolutely do not buy that shit. The more faithful will believe it from a religious standpoint but that's about it.
> Bellaire
seems like she's on a ton of books lately.
Well... presumably tagging would attract attention to the house while a bloody writhing teen would just attract attention to the area.
I would also assume that they didn't do it right outside their house. Maybe even before he got on the bus to go to the part of town they live in.
Honestly, I'm starting to realize that second issue is pretty bad and mostly pointless, and it's making me a bit worried for the future of this series desu
>tagging would attract attention to the house
Unless it's a slur or great art no one pays any mind to graffiti
Worse case scenario someone from the city comes by to clean it
I love her colors and I cannot lie. Shame about the social media shitshow tho.
Anyway, I guess you could see this as a storytime of pain. I personally don't, but you could.
That dude in the background though.
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