[6.1/10] With everything else going on in this already overstuffed storyline, did we really need to inject Cucops’ space dad into this? Even if you didn't have the strained “I am your father” detail here, adding yet another side in the conflict between the Emperor’s goons and Lilandra’s rebels is an unnecessary complication. Great, Corsair hates the Emperor because he killed his wife. Ii get it. But this storyline could already use more time to actually expand on who these characters are and what they want and why they’re in conflict. Instead, the writers seem to want to tack on more and more pot until the whole arc simply topples over.
The rest of this is fine, if not really satisfying. We get a bunch more space goons who are friends and foes that get essentially no introduction before the X-Men are throwing punches and energy beams at them as usual. The plot to assassinate the Emperor has a bit of juice to it since the X-Men are trying to locate Cyclops at the same time. The ensuing battles, in both space and in hand-to-hand combat, have little to show for them beyond Beast, Wolverine, and Rogue holding a door open for escape.
I can’t even say I’m enticed by the prospect of the Emperor gaining the powers of the encom crystal for a theoretically epic battle against Phoenix. He’s such a non-entity of a bad guy, with no shading beyond the usual cackling goofiness. The idea that Phoenix needs to recharge in order to face him gives her some feet of clay that helps make her a more reasonable character. (And how quickly has Gladiator fallen on the power scale?)
Mostly though, apart from how convoluted this one comes off, everything about this part of the story seems off-brand. I don’t want to slate X-Men for taking big swings, but these characters don’t make a ton of sense in the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe. This continues to feel like off-brand Star Wars with the mutants shoehorned in, and it leaves me disappointed with one of the X-Men’s signature storylines.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2023-05-10T17:14:45Z
[6.1/10] With everything else going on in this already overstuffed storyline, did we really need to inject Cucops’ space dad into this? Even if you didn't have the strained “I am your father” detail here, adding yet another side in the conflict between the Emperor’s goons and Lilandra’s rebels is an unnecessary complication. Great, Corsair hates the Emperor because he killed his wife. Ii get it. But this storyline could already use more time to actually expand on who these characters are and what they want and why they’re in conflict. Instead, the writers seem to want to tack on more and more pot until the whole arc simply topples over.
The rest of this is fine, if not really satisfying. We get a bunch more space goons who are friends and foes that get essentially no introduction before the X-Men are throwing punches and energy beams at them as usual. The plot to assassinate the Emperor has a bit of juice to it since the X-Men are trying to locate Cyclops at the same time. The ensuing battles, in both space and in hand-to-hand combat, have little to show for them beyond Beast, Wolverine, and Rogue holding a door open for escape.
I can’t even say I’m enticed by the prospect of the Emperor gaining the powers of the encom crystal for a theoretically epic battle against Phoenix. He’s such a non-entity of a bad guy, with no shading beyond the usual cackling goofiness. The idea that Phoenix needs to recharge in order to face him gives her some feet of clay that helps make her a more reasonable character. (And how quickly has Gladiator fallen on the power scale?)
Mostly though, apart from how convoluted this one comes off, everything about this part of the story seems off-brand. I don’t want to slate X-Men for taking big swings, but these characters don’t make a ton of sense in the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe. This continues to feel like off-brand Star Wars with the mutants shoehorned in, and it leaves me disappointed with one of the X-Men’s signature storylines.