SPEAKER_00: 0:09

Hello and welcome to Uncanny Book Club. I'm Isaac Peter Bill and joining me as always is the prestigious Adam Ward. Whoa! That's uh I appreciate the title. I feel like you need a little bit more pizzazz in some of your intros.

SPEAKER_01: 0:28

I mean, I feel like you're really worthy of it, you know? I appreciate that. I mean I've been going on about how I haven't watched Dark Phoenix, but I keep bringing it up.

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

That's like a good decision though. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 0:41

But Merry Christmas. I think you celebrate Christmas.

SPEAKER_00: 0:45

We do. Everyone does. Well, America, baby. I mean, do they though? I think a lot of people celebrate it as a cultural fun thing and not so much a religious thing. It it it is pretty ingrained in society, I would I would agree. They make movies about it and everything. And sometimes they even make comic books about it. Yeah, that's what we have.

SPEAKER_01: 1:13

And not just some boring tale about Santa. Not that Santa's boring, but I mean he does have a pretty important job going around the world in one night delivering all those toys that he makes all year round. See Sue's naughty and nice? Well, he doesn't make those toys. I mean, look, for all we know, every Christmas movie is just elf propaganda. We don't know what's happening in the North Pole. Did you know? Fun fact fun fact about Santa. He pays taxes in Canada.

SPEAKER_00: 1:41

As a true fact, you can look it up. Even more of a fun fact. You've already delivered that fun fact in this podcast in an earlier episode. Yes. I don't know when or why. And I'm only 70% sure that it made it into the cut, but yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:59

Other fun fact about Santa. Um, I don't know if they do this in America, but at least here, every child can send a letter in the mail to Santa Claus, and his postal code is H-O-H-O-H-O. It's amazing. And you will get a letter back from Santa every year for free.

SPEAKER_00: 2:22

I don't know of anything like that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's entirely possible. I've never done it. Well, that's a real shame. You're missing out, man.

SPEAKER_01: 2:31

You could have had countless letters from the Santa Claus.

SPEAKER_00: 2:36

I guess my parents just didn't love me the way Canadian parents love their children. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 2:42

Well, Santa is a Canadian citizen, so you know, there you go. Yeah, it makes sense. He's taking care of us. We get the privilege of just mailing him whatever we want. Anyways, we have an awesome issue here that I really, really, really liked. And I am saying that because I am a kitty pride stand, and I am saying this because the art in this issue is super metal.

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

I feel like one thing that we do have to call out is one, extra metal art. Two, this is the final John Byrne issue. So this is his kind of finale. So it does make sense that in a lot of these panels he really went all out. It makes a ton of sense now that you've said it. Did you not did you were you wondering why like the art on the next two issues was like a little bit like, ugh, look like they rushed it in some spots. They're fine. It is a downgrade, and I feel like most people would agree with that.

SPEAKER_01: 3:44

I didn't mind the art in the next issue too much. I f I felt like there were some panels that I really enjoyed, but I was not super jazzed about the third issue for for a lot of reasons. But interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 3:58

I I think the art is a little off. I agree. This one is John Byrne. The next issue is an interim artist whose name I don't recall. And then after that, I think it's gonna switch to Dave Cochrane for a bit, who is has been the artist on a lot of the covers and was the artist or penciller, um, I guess to be more specific, for uh the giant-size X-Men that kicked all this off. The guest penciler is Brent Anderson.

SPEAKER_01: 4:33

Mmm. Uh, in the Inker, I don't know if that's different. Brenty. Uh, but the Inker was Joseph Rubenstein. Ru Rubinstein? One of those. Joey Rubes.

SPEAKER_00: 4:48

Yep. Joey Rubes. Inker. All right. Well, let's let's kick this bad boy off. Give it to me. It's Christmas slash Hanukkah time in issue 143. But first, we get a recap on something that happened way back in X-Men issue 96, showing Storm destroying the Cairn and defeating the demons. Uh, so we see that over the season, seasons, I suppose, though, uh, the gateway to the demon realm was not sealed after they destroyed the cairn, and a legally distinct from a xenomorph creature emerges and kills the young couple who are experiencing naughty thoughts, and uh it kills them horror movie style. Kitty is learning the ins and outs of operating the blackbird from Professor X when Warren informs Xavier that the car is ready. Wolverine shows up to the mansion with Mariko and attacks Nightcrawler after he teleports in for a quick mistletoe kiss on the cheek. Colossus and Xavier are able to calm him down, but he leaves upset that his killer instinct took over. Kitty pulls the same trick on Peter, kissing his cheek and calling him sexy. He is extremely embarrassed. One by one, all the X-Men leave the mansion until Kitty is left all alone. Scott attempts to call to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and we see him meeting Lee Forrester, captain of the Arcadia, who is looking to hire on crew. Kitty decides to practice gymnastics, but is interrupted by an intruder alert. She investigates Storm's attic and is attacked by the previously seen demon. She dives through the floor, the demon follows her. What follows is a game of cat and mouse that sees Kitty running throughout the entire mansion, with the demon always finding her. Even when she phased through a swipe, it caused her entire arm to go numb. She decides to try and kill it, with a danger room cranked up to 11, but to no avail. She's exhausted when she makes her way to the hangar and tries something that she's seen in the movies. When the demon gets too close, she turns on the thrusters full blast and hopes that the flame and heat of the engine exhaust will defeat it. Unfortunately, she also crashes the blackbird into the wall. In a dramatic panel, we see the creature reaching out of the flames, accompanied by the text. She has time to scream. We cut to the returning X-Men to find the mansion quiet and dark. Thankfully, we see that Kitty is falling asleep by the fireplace. We see that the X-Men have brought her mom and dad to the mansion as a little surprise. Storm asks her about the damage to her attic, and Kitty replies that she also destroyed the danger room, blackbird, hangar, and a lot of the house in her attempts to escape from a big ugly monster.

SPEAKER_01: 7:45

Can we first start by talking about this cover? Because it really sets such an awesome tone for the rest of the issue.

SPEAKER_00: 7:53

It's so good. It's very good. I think the the page that comes right after the recap of issue 96 is even better, though. Yes, you're talking about the panel with the super metal one. The red sun as he uh as this demon. No, no, no. The one right after that that just says demon, and it's got like the Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. This the not xenomorph like stretching down from the ceiling or the you know, the top of the issue.

SPEAKER_01: 8:25

Yeah, man. The red sun, also very cool. I really like those two panels at the bottom there of uh of this page. Um, this whole setup of this young couple walking through the woods trying to get a Christmas tree, and then he uh gets yoiked through a tree and tossed up into the sky with this silhouette in front of this big bright red sun. Dude, it is awesome. And then this very brutal second panel with uh the demon on top of uh on top of the woman that was with what's his name? Oh god. Douglas? Craigory. His name is duh.

SPEAKER_00: 9:06

I think it is Douglas.

SPEAKER_01: 9:07

Yeah, Douglas. I'm looking out of here. Really awesome. Like John knowing that this was his final issue doing the art, really like pulled it out, man. It's this is this could have been so lame, right? Because we've already didn't quite quit. No. But this is awesome. I really, really like that through this entire issue, just so so solid. Also, the tag light on the cover. Guess what just came down the chimney? So good, man. Santa. That's actually probably the only thing missing from this issue was like this demon literally ripping a Santa Claus in half or something.

SPEAKER_00: 9:48

Or Santa coming down the chimney and then shooting the demon with a machine gun to save Kitty Pride.

SPEAKER_01: 9:54

I'd prefer a Santa Claus coming down with uh like candy cane nunchucks. That'd be good, you know? It's got all that time up north. You can learn some karate.

SPEAKER_00: 10:06

Santa definitely does karate or some sort of self-defense.

SPEAKER_01: 10:11

Most definitely. I I I really enjoyed this page after the demon metal art that we get here on this kind of opening page. We see like Kitty talking with uh with Xavier and Warren, and then we get this awesome intro of Meriko being back in the fold, and is like officially an item with Wolverine. Um I did get a bit of a chuckle here watching him get so offended by Kurt coming in for a little kiss and then just freaking out and saying in front of her, my instincts are killers.

SPEAKER_00: 10:49

That whole interaction felt like a little too much. Like a few issues ago, we were talking about, oh, you know, they've like matured Logan a little bit, and you know, his his dialogue is really stepped up. And now it kind of feels like we've done like, you know, one step forward, two steps back. He's back to just like trying to claw a nightcrawler and kill him. I don't know. It just feels like a like an overreaction.

SPEAKER_01: 11:20

Yeah, I'm not sure if they're trying to paint Wolverine as being very protective, or I don't even know. That's fair. Like like it that feels right. That's the only thing I can think of from like a justification story point is that we're we're seeing Logan now in a relationship, something we haven't really seen happen here before, or really like hinted to much of his backstory at all at this point. So, like seeing this, it's the only kind of picture I can see being painted, but I agree, like it felt very out of character for this to be the case suddenly. Um, and then it just kind of felt like okay, we're just wrapping this up very quickly and moving on, and it's not brought up again for the remainder of the issue because they're no longer in it. Yeah. It it didn't really feel like it was even necessary.

SPEAKER_00: 12:11

Yeah, I don't know. I think it's you know, it's good to remind people that you know, she's in the picture, and I guess even just to reaffirm like the two of them are still, you know, hanging out, going out on the town, probably kissing sometimes, you know, regular stuff.

SPEAKER_01: 12:29

Not to get ahead of us here, but I was curious if Miracle was going to be involved in this story that starts taking place in issue 145.

SPEAKER_00: 12:41

The third one. She wasn't, right? It didn't look like it. That was surprising. Like, I when I was recapping things and like writing down everyone's name, and we'll get to this later, but I was like, she wasn't I didn't just like miss her, did I? No, she's a weird it's a weird thing not to include.

SPEAKER_01: 13:00

It feels like very obvious, you know? Like maybe obvious more obvious than some of the other choices.

SPEAKER_00: 13:07

Maybe they couldn't justify it because like logically, like they couldn't write that into the book because Logan's reaction to that would be much more extreme and have a much different response than what we end up seeing in that issue.

SPEAKER_01: 13:25

Yeah, I guess. But I mean they could have worked that in, right? I mean, yeah. Like we're kind of getting like this version of Logan here where he's already overreacting to what is something that's incredibly minor. So to kind of see him, you know, like they even call out on this page as abruptly as Wolverine's sudden berserker rage begins, it ends. I feel like you could have played that up in the third issue. I know we're we're getting ahead of ourselves, but like I think it would have been a nice tie-in to kind of make this more relevant than for it just to as of right now seem like a one-off. Um, the other couple that we see kind of here is Kitty and Peter, which is um kind of gross, uncomfortable. Yeah, it's not uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 14:11

I it's very it's very strange. Do we know how old Peter is here? We've discussed his age in the past, and I remember there being a thing where everybody was like referring to him as like the young one when he's like maybe a year younger than Storm or something like that, and she was like referring to him as like so young or something like that. I don't really remember, but you know, it might be an instance too where they're getting kind of like timey whimey with the ages. He's definitely an adult.

SPEAKER_01: 14:47

Yeah, the age that I am seeing here is or the at least I asked Chat GPT in a pinch.

SPEAKER_00: 14:56

That's not gonna answer well. Is 18? Maybe in giant size X-Men, but this is probably a year or two after that, in in comic book time. Oh, yeah, that's very fair, actually. That is super fair. It would be more problematic, though, if he was 18 now, and really in giant size X-Men, it was just Charles going around the world stealing miners from other countries.

SPEAKER_01: 15:21

The Google AI, which we both know is not very reliable from our past X-Men-related searches. It's pretty bad. Sorry to the Google reps I work with. Uh says, quote, Colossus was likely between 18 and 20 when he first appeared, while some sources cite his age is approximately 28 to 30.

SPEAKER_00: 15:43

That geez, what sources? It's just making things up. You know, some people say he could have been 40.

SPEAKER_01: 15:51

Oh, it apparently links to a Reddit post that I'm trying to open. Okay, let's it's literally pulling from a Reddit post.

SPEAKER_00: 15:58

Uh where is this 28 number, though? Uh, I don't know. It's just probably talking about like how old is he currently, from somebody asking like a few years ago.

SPEAKER_01: 16:10

Is it oh yeah. Here's a Korra post about it. Oh my god. Is it true that a 19-year-old Colossus dated a 14-year-old Kitty Pryde in the comics? Short answer, yes.

SPEAKER_00: 16:23

Maybe this isn't dating to be clear. This is her mistletoe kissing him and him being very uncomfortable, which is the appropriate reaction to be very uncomfortable with that, especially since she called him sexy. I think that is probably more the problem, honestly.

SPEAKER_01: 16:41

I think like having the sexy tacked on. Like I it does seem very forward, right? Like, if that wasn't there, I think it would be okay. Like it's uh it's a peck on the cheek, it's still weird, but it would be significantly less weird.

SPEAKER_00: 16:59

Could be seen as a lot more innocent without that. This is a very uh sexually forward book. I mean, we have Douglas and his lady at the start, and he's like, I think very naughty thoughts. Yeah. It's like this is this is more uh sexually charged than a lot of past issues, or just like I guess like the way people are talking is much different and feels more modern.

SPEAKER_01: 17:31

It I think the way that I'm reading it here is that the opening sequence is very much inspired from like a horror movie. Like it's like a classic horror movie, right? Trope. Like an 80s slasher. Exactly, yeah. So I think like that's the clear inspiration to and then the rest of the book is just alien. Yeah, and the rest of the book is alien, 100%. Like from the way it looks to its movements to how brutal it is, just chasing Kitty through the house and into the danger room. Oh, some of these panels, like uh John really deserves every bit of praise that we're giving him. All of these panels are awesome. I'm just scrolling through them right now as I look at it, watching the uh this I keep wanting to call it an alien.

SPEAKER_00: 18:23

Oh, I found a really cool one. The purple background with just like the silhouette of the monster. Yes. That one is sick.

SPEAKER_01: 18:31

It's so good. The entire sequence, I really enjoyed Kitty like coming up with this plan, recognizing that she couldn't beat the demon on her own. I like this idea that they executed where you know Kitty phases through it at just the last second, but even that doesn't make her invulnerable to some sort of pain. Like that was really awesome. Did you know that she could float? That was new to me.

SPEAKER_00: 19:00

I feel like I must have. I know she can like phase upward through things. Oh, here, it's explained on this page.

SPEAKER_01: 19:10

It says She's like phasing through the air. Once more, using her phasing ability to literally walk on individual molecules of air. Katie ascends from the floor to the control booth.

SPEAKER_00: 19:23

Individual molecules is probably not technically correct. I would have to assume it's a larger area. That's being extremely pedantic. Look, man.

SPEAKER_01: 19:34

I'm just reading it verbatim. That is the intention. I'm not upset that I don't know if this has been retcon at this point or we just don't see it, but eh. I I I don't really associate this as a power that could be pride holds.

SPEAKER_00: 19:51

Yeah, I don't remember seeing her go upward through air ever, and it's probably not very fast, which is probably why it's not like I mean she can't fly. Fly, she can just sort of like climb up through air, which is whatever, but I know she can like move upward through, like she could phase like way down into the earth and then phase back up.

SPEAKER_02: 20:12

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00: 20:12

And I've seen her do that.

SPEAKER_01: 20:14

Well, I mean, in any case, it was a surprise for me. Yeah. I really like this. Uh like what did you think of the sequence in the danger room as Kitty's like kind of executing her plan to sick the danger room on this demon? It's a lot going on.

SPEAKER_00: 20:32

Yeah, there is. That there's like one specific panel where it's just like everything is coming, like there's very like there's spiky ball, there's uh a spinning uh saw blade, there's a giant syringe for some reason. Yeah. I'm I'm not sure what the purpose of the giant syringe is, but I am a little worried.

SPEAKER_01: 20:57

I really like the art in the in this panel specifically. Like there's a really cool shot here of this laser kind of blasting through as kitty phases through it. Very cool. I I really like these panels a lot. They're animated very well. Like there's a lot of movement in the art. Really get to see Kitty use her powers for the in this kind of way, which we haven't really seen yet.

SPEAKER_00: 21:25

I think it's nice that, like you said, we explore her, like really stepping up what she can and does do with her powers. But she also has that like mental realization of like, oh, this is why the X-Men have to like work out all the time and practice and yeah, be in great shape because it's not enough just to have powers. Like, this is exhausting. This sucks.

SPEAKER_01: 21:52

Yeah, she definitely, I think, earned her place here, even though the rest of the X-Men are kind of like oblivious to everything that happens. Like the way that it's described after this point on is very ambiguous. Like, if you didn't read this issue, you wouldn't really have a good idea based off of the descriptions that we kind of see after this point, because we do see it brought up again. It's just kind of vague.

SPEAKER_00: 22:19

Yeah, and I think like, I mean, the X-Men don't really, it doesn't seem realize what really went on. Yes. Like they don't know that this is the same type of demon, same like demon dimension. They are just sort of like, okay, a monster. That I mean, this seems like a lot of destruction for it not to be a monster, so she's probably telling the truth.

SPEAKER_01: 22:44

I'm actually surprised that they wouldn't have some sort of security system with like cameras on the inside. Too expensive. Given that the the X-Mansion has experienced multiple break-ins at this point. It would be useful. You would think so. You would think so. One thing I really, really loved, and I don't know about you, but when this issue started and we see Xavier sitting next to Kitty explaining and having her practice operating the Blackbird, I was like, what a waste of her time. Is what I initially thought. How was this being very helpful to her? You gotta know how to work the plane, but it's often the same person flying it.

SPEAKER_00: 23:25

Well, it's good to have backups, redundancy is important.

SPEAKER_01: 23:30

So I agree, and that's why I actually liked how at the end of this issue this demon is ultimately defeated using the very training that she had at the start. It was perfect. It was awesome. It was such a nice way to wrap it up. It made that moment feel very meaningful. Even the way these final pages are drawn, like Kitty frantically flipping the switches as this demon barrels down this hallway, there like this tunnel that she's fled down, and we see her starting to tear up as she tries to calm herself and relax and wait until it's just close enough to have her kind of Ripley moment and hit the ignition and basically turn it into a crisp. Um beyond this, we get an awesome final sequence with the demon reaching out one final time and John giving us one last super metal scene. This this hand, these claws, the way it's drawn, the detail, it is just straight metal. Although I will say Kitty Kitty's face looks a little silly.

SPEAKER_00: 24:47

I do, I do, I do have a a note that specifically says we talked about this a few issues ago, but they are giving kitty some really derpy faces. I agree 100%. Not all the time. The last page is mega derps. It's like what are they doing? It doesn't look like her like that's not the way she looks, like the entire rest of the issue. She looks like like an archie character. Yeah. Just I don't know. It yeah, it's so bizarre. Yeah, I mean, like they're I think they're trying to highlight, like, oh, she's younger than everyone else, but she doesn't look like she's drawn in like the same style as anyone else. Do you think maybe or maybe even by the same person?

SPEAKER_01: 25:32

Yeah, it's it's it's weird, man. If you look at that at those panels on that final page, and then if you flick back over to the final, like the right before she's about to hit the ignition on the engines, she looks like an entirely different drawn character here. Like of her in the cockpit, like that looks like an entirely different character. And like the art here is like very good. Like the way Kitty's drawn, like the detail in her face. Okay, yeah, she looks like how I would imagine Kitty looking at this time. But then, yeah, and then it goes back to just Dirtville USA. My favorite place to visit. Yeah. Even the last panel on this page, super awesome, dude. This outstretched ash hand on the floor. And I'm just thinking about this now, but couldn't Sy uh, sorry, couldn't Xavier scan her mind? Couldn't she share what happened with him?

SPEAKER_00: 26:26

Yeah, and maybe he did. I mean, like, nobody it doesn't say like like it doesn't have anybody like being like, oh yeah, sure, whatever. So, I mean, they probably know that there is some sort of monster and she escaped from it. It does feel weird that they all decided to just leave her alone. Yes. In the mansion. And I get like, you know, that's that's just to set up like this specific story, but like, weird choice. For uh for a school, they make a lot of questionable choices. There's a reason there's only one student.

SPEAKER_01: 27:03

Yeah, everybody's gonna handle any more than that right now. Yeah, exactly. But we got a really nice tease at the end of this issue, the return of Cyclops. Should we get into that? I think so. I think it's time. Uh I've I really like this issue. It sounds like you really did as well.

SPEAKER_02: 27:19

Eh.

SPEAKER_01: 27:20

Eh?

SPEAKER_00: 27:21

Not as much as you. It was a little it was a little too much like text heavy and like a lot of like it was just like very dense with like the the kind of like thought bubbles throughout while she was playing cat and mouse. Like the art was so good, but I felt like there was just a lot of text and it didn't like it didn't add much.

SPEAKER_01: 27:45

Yeah, that's yeah. I I feel that's a very fair critique.

SPEAKER_00: 27:51

But anyway, issue 144 introduces us to Jock Forrester, father of Lee, who we met last issue, who has come to the swamp to figure out if he should fight his bleak cancer diagnosis or end things, quote, his own way, his own time. The man thing is drawn to his emotions, and we see black tendrils egging Jock on, who then puts a revolver to his head and pulls the trigger. Despair, a demon, forms from the tendrils, and the man thing attacks it. Despair calls him a fool and reminds him of their last confrontation. He causes Man Thing to feel absolute terror, and whatever knows fear, burns at Manthing's touch. So Manthing erupts in flames. Despair takes on the form of Jock and says that he will be the first of many. We cut to Scott Summers working on a boat, pulling in a nut with fish. His fellow crewman attempts to get his glasses off, which almost causes a fight, but is tactfully broken up by Lee Forrester. We see the X-Men working hard to clean up Kitty's danger room mess when Professor X summons Angel to him to bum some cash off him for repairs. Kurt and Logan hurt Kitty's feelings over the damage, and we're back to Scott, who discreetly uses his mutant powers to clear a pool table. Lee asks Scott if she'll accompany her to see her dad, and we learn that she kinda has a thing for Scott. The two arrive and are confronted by despair. Scott ends up reliving a forgotten memory of his mother pushing him and his brother out of a plane, with the plane exploding soon after. Unfortunately, fiery debris wrecks their parachute and the two fall. He then sees other events from his past, with the new X-Men inserted into them, but with different endings where he sees his brother Alex die instead of live. His next memory sees him back with Gene at their wedding that never happened. She removes his visor and his optic blasts ends up killing her. Despair appears before him again, saying that he will destroy his mind, and Scott falls out a window, somehow surviving. I I don't understand what really happened there. But he meets up with Man Thing and the two enter the building to confront Despair. Scott feels fear, but he doesn't let fear rule him and says he doesn't despair. Man Thing clutches despair and the two burst into flames. Scott is able to carry Lee out of the burning building, and we see the Man Thing is resurrected by the swamp. Kind of a weird issue.

SPEAKER_01: 30:31

Yeah, you know what? Like I think we're kind of in this period where we're setting things up, you know? And if you remember back when we started these, kind of felt like we had a lot of issues like this that weren't really part of like a I don't know, like a proper arc. Yeah. This is just like uh we don't really have anything yet, so we're just spinning our wheels until we can uh establish some sort of overarching story. I thought it was fine, like overall. Uh I liked Man Thing, it kind of fit with this supernatural theme that we have going on from last issue. I was not very familiar with Despair, so that made me want to go and look him up. And I have to say his art from more recent comics is much better than what we get here. It's just kind of like a red-eyed pale man in a cloak. Yeah. It's you know, but if you look at him now, it's pretty uh pretty good, man. He's got like crazy teeth. Like he looks more demon-like, I would say. Like a spawn character. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 31:40

Like almost exactly like spawn in some of these. It is a much cooler costume. Even the ones that are like this one is really cool. Let me just copy that image and send it in here. Because that's really good for podcasts. Oh, that looks dope. But yeah, I didn't know, I don't think I'd read anything with despair in it before, and very rarely seen man thing come up in anything. So it was kind of a not super familiar territory for me for uh both characters.

SPEAKER_01: 32:18

Yeah, kind of an odd happenstance sort of issue. I I thought the opening sequence again was kind of brutal, man. Like, I mean, it's depicting suicide. Very bleak.

SPEAKER_00: 32:30

Well, does he pick it? Kind of seems like he's the the Oh, I yeah, I see yeah. He's pushed into it. He is, yeah, he is.

SPEAKER_01: 32:39

Yeah, it doesn't feel like he gets to make the choice. He's definitely under the influence of despair. And then Man Thing gets got pretty quick. And I learned a lot about Man Thing in this issue. I think they did a pretty good job explaining that he's an empath, what his deal is, you know. I I don't know that I've ever seen Transformed by a freak accident. Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen his human name used so much as I have in this issue. Ted. And even when Lee and Scott go to the house and he hugs her and immediately kind of reveals Pop killed himself this morning was pretty like brutal.

SPEAKER_00: 33:18

That was so weird. How's by you, Pop? Pop killed himself this morning. I helped him do it. Yeah. Very I thought that that part was well done from like uh this guy sucks sort of standpoint. Uh I wrote down that despair is a real piece of shit. Yeah. I didn't write that down, but I wrote Weird Villain, Man Thing is kind of weird. So that's a pretty good note. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 33:48

Yeah, Man Thing is kind of weird. Uh very uh swamp thing kind of vibe, but more, I don't know, like monster-like, I would say.

SPEAKER_00: 33:59

I think a highlight of this issue is the just a little bit more of a look into Scott's past. Like they've been really kind of teasing this out for a while now, dropping little bits here and there. We met Corsair for a short time, and now we get to see like his uh his famous accident, the cause of all of his trauma, and why he can't control his powers good. Though that's not necessarily explained in this issue.

SPEAKER_01: 34:28

No, but it does give us some insight into this, right? More at least more than we've received in Chris's run. I am admittedly unfamiliar with the X-Men stories that happened before this, like intimately. So I wouldn't feel comfortable or confident saying that this is like the first time it's explained. I'm gonna say it. You're that confident? Did you look it up?

SPEAKER_02: 34:52

Nope.

SPEAKER_00: 34:54

Alright. You hear no one's gonna call me on it. No, I mean, it's it's hard to say. I think that this is probably new information since he's like, I remember, mom, dad, Alex, all of it. I remember.

SPEAKER_01: 35:11

I will admit I was kind of over this sequence pretty quick, though.

SPEAKER_00: 35:17

Like I just felt like well, it's you know, it's kind of like whatever, like, okay, despair, we get it. When we get to him and Gene, it picks up like a little bit. Like it's a little bit more interesting what they're doing there versus just like revisiting like memories and being like, oh, look, it's it's zombie Alex now.

SPEAKER_01: 35:40

Yeah, that's I I did make a note about the art on this page. I thought it was actually pretty good. Um, I liked kind of how they drew and the green cyclops screaming is really nice. Yeah, that's a really awesome panel. I I do like the sequence of the X-Men at the top there and how Havoc looks, especially like kind of just skin and bones.

SPEAKER_00: 36:05

The major difference that I feel like I'm seeing between this and what we've been getting with John's art is that so I think John's was a little cleaner and maybe it was just the way that he framed things, but like there was more detail also. Like, I feel like we're seeing when there's a lot of people in like a panel and it's zoomed out, things are very just not like detail-packed. Like it's very, you know, view from afar.

SPEAKER_01: 36:35

I was just scrolling through the last issue because I was just curious to compare kind of John's framing since you brought it up, and even like some of the backgrounds. So in this issue, there's a lot of just plain white. There's like scenes where, especially with like the gene sequence where it's just like there's no background, it's just Scott and Jean, white background, Scott and Gene, white background. Even on the pages, the next page, uh, there's a couple panels with Man Thing where Man Thing's walking to him, and he's clearly walking to him outside in a field because we see the you know a bit in the back. I may have been pressed on time.

SPEAKER_00: 37:16

I know, but like, come on, we gotta call we have to call it out. Sure. It is an interim artist for just one issue, so but yeah, it's there is a lot of white backgrounds now that you're pointing that out. But there are also certain panels where he does kill it. Yeah, I agree. There's some weird panels where it's like, what's going on here? If you go back to when they're teasing Kitty, the pose that Wolverine is doing is the least Wolverine looking pose that has maybe ever existed. It's just like a very like, I guess effeminate, like twisting his body, like flaring out his fingers. It's just like, this doesn't feel right. Which is, I mean, like, it's just not very Wolverine.

SPEAKER_01: 38:02

It just looks very like silly. I think Logan, like in both of those bottom panels, is yeah, it's weird. Now that you pointed it out, like it just looks I thought that was so funny when I read it. Like, maybe he's trying to, in his mind, jokingly mock her. Yeah. I don't know, it's unfortunate. Whatever. Little things. Yeah, it's little things. I mean, like, overall, I I thought it was fine. Um, I do feel like we're just kind of like spinning our wheels a little bit, and we're just kind of getting these one-off stories, which I think is fine. And we've actually talked a lot about how we've seen this pattern after large story arcs where we kind of get smaller one-offs or very intimate stories, and it's such a nice change of pace coming off of a big arc, uh, which obviously we are coming off of Days of Future Past. I can I I dig it. Like, I like the change of pace, I like the supernatural elements. I thought despair was kind of interesting, albeit it just kind of felt like, okay, we just have like uh a demon that can't die, and he even in the end, just kind of like chose to leave, kind of. Anywho, this is all to say. I I think a fun little side off mission for Cyclops who we haven't seen for a little bit. Honestly, I kind of would have liked to have spent a little bit more time away from Scott or allowed him to just kind of live his boat life a little bit longer before we pulled him back into the fold.

SPEAKER_00: 39:36

Yeah, it didn't feel like we needed to have like a Scott issue yet. I've liked, you know, I liked seeing him call for Christmas because one, it makes a lot of sense, and we get like a little check in of like, oh, he's meeting Lee Forrester and he's gonna work on a boat. Like just getting little like bits here and there to show like his little journey along the way. I think the only other thing for me is that it was really nice to get an interaction between Kurt and Kitty where she's not just afraid of him. Yes. Like she's finally become accustomed to his appearance.

SPEAKER_01: 40:15

Were you uh what did you think of this pool sequence? Uh what a weird use of your powers.

SPEAKER_00: 40:22

I mean, as we've discussed, Scott has the powers of trigonometry. So I know he's an expert pool person. It didn't feel like he needed to use his optic blasts, but I'm glad that he's, you know, finding chances to exercise his mutant powers so that he doesn't get out of practice. It does seem like an extremely weird risk to take, but you know, good for him.

SPEAKER_01: 40:48

Exceedingly, because we also see him I think it's in the next issue where he's like, I can't, I have to like bandage my eyes because he can't control it, you know, all the time.

SPEAKER_00: 41:00

Which doesn't make sense. Because like, what are they doing? Yes. Right? Yeah. Like, what is the bandage for? They make such a point of being like the only thing that can stop it is the Ruby quartz lenses. And then he's like, this piece of cloth that I tore off of my shirt will do the trick.

SPEAKER_01: 41:24

I'm trying to find it in the in the next issue. Maybe you can uh if you don't have anything else for this one, maybe just you can give us a recap and I'll go see in case he explains it.

SPEAKER_00: 41:35

Yeah, we can go for it. I do have uh I did I am able to um explain it away now in my head, but I'll wait till I get there. Issue 145's cover show the X-Men all defeated with Dr. Doom holding up Storm and raising a goblet. We kick things off seeing Storm out on the town with Stevie Hunter, Kitty's dance instructor, to see Britain's royal ballet. Doom is watching though, and says that all he needs to do is spring his trap and the X-Men are his. While watching the show, Arcade's assistant, Miss Locke, confronts them in their booth and quickly poisons them. She isn't here to kidnap Storm this time though, and instead says she needs their help to rescue Arcade, who is taken by doom. To ensure their compliance, Miss Locke has, however, kidnapped Jean Grey's parents, Moira McTaggart, Candy Southern, Warren's ladyfriend, Amanda Sefton, Nightcrawler's ladyfriend, and Ileana Resputin, Colossus's sister. When she awakens, Storm quickly flies to Amanda's apartment but finds Arcade's calling card. Likewise, the Grey's house is empty, but there's a note left detailing where Arcade is being held. The X-Men discuss the situation with Beast, but he doesn't have much new info and warns them that Doom is very dangerous and offers the help of the Avengers. The X-Men prefer to handle it themselves, and Logan warns Charles that they can't give in to blackmail and that they need to send a strong message so stuff like this doesn't occur again. Storm agrees with Wolverine's assessment and says that she has a plan. Professor X uses his powers to astro project himself and recruits Polaris, Havoc, Iceman, and Banshee, who is already en route to rescue Mora. He attempts to call Cyclops but spent himself summoning the others and says that he lacks the strength to reach him. Professor X says that there is a subtle shift in the Earth's magnetic field that is inhibiting his telepathic communication by creating psychic static, and that it can only be the work of one man. Magneto. Why this? And why now? Meanwhile, we see Scott awaken, washed ashore, short, shirt torn and glasses missing. He rips what is left of his shirt to serve as a blindfold for reasons we don't understand, and we see Lee Forester find him. It seems she was tossed overboard in a storm, and Scott dove in after her. The two proceed to look for civilization. Meanwhile, the X-Men split into two groups and depart on their mission, and Storm says goodbye to a sick kitty pride who is staying in bed. Havoc, Polaris, Iceman, and Banshee will locate Murder World and rescue the hostages while everyone else deals with Doom. Storm makes an entrance, where Doom has set up shop, at Toad World, an amusement park run by former X-Men villain and apparently reformed Toad. Because why not? She demands an audience with Doom and he invites her to dine with him. Meanwhile, Angel, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Colossus break in and begin their search. Arcade cell is empty, and the four are confronted by goons in power suits that were designed to trash the Fantastic Four. It's rough going for a bit, but they get the upper hand and win through the power of teamwork. Meanwhile, Storm is having a great meal and finds Doom to be fascinating. After Doom watches the X-Men beat up the power suit goons, he announces to Storm that she isn't his only guest and welcomes Arcade to the table, realizing that he's a guest, not a prisoner. Storm throws a lightning bolt at Doom, but he's only momentarily staggered by her attack. He replies with a magical attack that turns her into a chrome statue. Moments later, the X-Men break in but are quickly defeated by an energy weapon, apart from Colossus, who promises to rip Doom's armor off piece by piece. The response is Doom does not engage in fisticuffs, youth. And he takes down Peter with a neural disruptor. The issue ends with Doom saying, You have entered the Lion's Den, X-Men. You will not leave it alive. Next issue. So we had some differing opinions over these three books. Where I think this one was my favorite of the three. Really? Yes. Okay, I'm gonna need to hear your reason why. Well, so one, it's great to see Doom. Great character and a villain. Yep, love Doom. It's nice to see, it's nice to go back all the way to the early 80s and see that he's still like he's a nuanced character. He's not just like a dumb, mustache, twirling villain. Like he's a pleasure to be around. You know, Storm has a great time dining with him. It's like Doom is cool. And Doom is cool. I think this is a more interesting use of arcade than the last time, versus him just being a weird kidnapped dude with a fake garbage truck. It's more fun to see a villain team up, even if it is like an A lister with a D lister. That does feel weird. I acknowledge that. Like I'm on the same page as you. But I mean, it's just like it's just like a smarter plan. You know, there's just a lot, there's more highlights in here for me, and it feels like it's moving things forward in a more into a more interesting place than the last two issues did. I guess would be my like quick summary of things.

SPEAKER_01: 47:34

Uh, I agree with some of the things you said. I I thought Doom was a highlight. I say that as somebody who loves the character a lot. I just I don't know, man. It just feels like this is just gonna be two issues of a one-off story that yeah is just gonna amount to not a whole lot. Like that's and maybe I'm maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe I'll be surprised, and I hope I am. Um, I it is not a surprise. I didn't really like arcade in the first story that we had with him. I thought it was I thought it was goofy, I thought it didn't really give us much. We're on the same page there. Uh and this time too, like maybe I missed it, but it's never explained, right? Why arcade and doom are working together. No, we're not there yet. I assume that's a next issue thing. Yeah, I think that's like maybe that explanation would have helped a little bit to make me buy in, like, I thought the reveal was fine. Mm-hmm. Like, I I liked the idea of Doom and Arcade working together, but it feels like it's so below Doom.

SPEAKER_00: 48:42

Yeah. Well, he's having he's had a rough patch in life. Yeah, they're not gonna be a good thing. You know, he's been deposed as the leader because he was what was he, momentarily insane or um, what do they say? He's lost his diplomatic immunity, so he's gotta, you know, be careful about the law. I don't know where they say like what his deal is. Um I mean, you know going back here. You know, things are going rough for you when you gotta kick Toad out of his house and live in it. Yeah. Why does Toad have a castle?

SPEAKER_01: 49:14

He probably bought it on the cheap or to or just took it. I think he I think it's said it was abandoned. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 49:22

Despite its remoteness, Toad World was a great success. Yeah, poor Toad.

SPEAKER_01: 49:26

I mean, it looks sick. Poor guy. Like uh you reform your life, get kicked out by uh by Doctor Doom, and have to go back to being uh a villain, I'm assuming. So Scott just shipwrecks off screen, I guess. Uh which was also weird.

SPEAKER_00: 49:47

I don't mind that. You you didn't bother you? No, I mean they do stuff like that. I it happens, like they just like kick things off in like the middle of things sometimes. I don't really feel like I need to see the shipwreck. I think it's interesting to be like cut to Scott, he's washed up on shore, and to be like, what is going on here? I don't think they get into it enough. Like it's not interesting yet, but I feel like it has the potential to be interesting.

SPEAKER_01: 50:19

I felt like I needed more explanation, honestly. Like, even if you didn't want to depict the storm itself, whatever, I think it would have been more interesting if we received like is this literally right afterwards? Like, is this right after? Are they like trying to return to the boat that they were on? Is this is this the larger vessel that they were all on that we saw in the last issue? Like these are good questions. Um, yeah, it feels like we're missing info. Yeah, some context. Like, maybe we'll get it. Like, I I don't know. I mean, we do get a Magneto reference here. For all I know, that has something to do with like I don't know. Only one man could have done this. It's it has to be Magneto.

SPEAKER_00: 51:10

Somebody in the X-Men is out at sea. I gotta get those guys. I'm gonna mess with Scott. I'm just sitting in my asteroid.

SPEAKER_01: 51:18

There is a theme here of former X-Men being just tormented and having to come back into the fold as we see like poor Polaris and Havoc just wanting and trying to have a normal life after a rock slide nearly like took out their house. They're trying to get their doctorates, they're moving on. Yeah, they're trying to move on, and Lorna is very much against doing anything that Charles is like asking them to do, and then we see Havoc just is like we'll do it, yeah. We'll do it. I'll decide for you. Which he gets called out on, which I liked. And we see Bobby also in college doing whatever he's like. I like that.

SPEAKER_00: 52:04

Like, that's fine. He's drinking beer because the food hall isn't open. Yeah, it is. I'll finish off my last beer. That's this is how college students study.

SPEAKER_01: 52:14

And then we get him doing an astral projection onto the plane. I said that very weird, but I'm gonna keep it. Astral projection. I'm gonna keep it too onto the blade. It's just like all these people are just trying to move on with their lives. The only one that I will say was warranted is probably uh Sean Cassidy. Because Moyer's feeling is something he'd want to be interested in. Which also seems really out of left field. As we talked about in the beginning, we had Muriko being reintroduced into this story with Logan.

SPEAKER_00: 52:52

Plenty of local people to steal. Like you don't have to go to Scotland and Russia. Yeah, and Iliana was captured too. That's kind of exciting to bring to, you know, to start to bring Ileana into things just a little bit, even though it's probably gonna be like a the most brief of one-offs.

SPEAKER_01: 53:12

Yeah, but I mean it at least shows that she's still on their minds, even though it is a bit weird that they're pulling her into the mix for this specifically. Uh, as we see even Storm make mention that it would be very difficult for her to fly all the way to Russia just to verify that she was taken. Who is the time? Maybe she hasn't been taken.

SPEAKER_00: 53:35

I I mean, isn't she on the cover? I thought she was like somewhere. Well, I mean, maybe it's like a fake. They do show her Iliana. They show her I see it here. What on over like Miss Locke when she's like, these are all the people I took. Gary Gray, Moira, Gary Gray's wife, Ileana, Amanda, who you definitely know. Oh, they don't even picture all the people. Because it's Candy and Amanda, and there's only one other person. They couldn't find an old issue to look up, whatever Amanda looked like. Assuming she's been pictured before. I I assume she's been like one of the people that there's been like double dates with Pete with. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. So the panel that introduces Bobby, when he's clutching the beer and turning it ice cold, he kind of looks a lot like Jack Quaid. And now I kind of want to see Jack Quaid play Iceman. Oh, yeah, he does kind of look like Jack Quaid. You're right. I see it. I think like specifically that panel, more so there than the other ones. I think it's the uh the facial hair and the regular hair, and but I think Jack Quaid would be a good Iceman. What happens to Bobby's facial hair if he turns into Iceman? These are the important questions. That's probably why he hasn't, you know, he hasn't had to Iceman for a while. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01: 55:01

I isn't there a version of him from like the future? I feel like that's a thing. Iceman. He's like the ice wizard.

SPEAKER_00: 55:09

Like it looks like a wizard. Yeah. I love the wizard design. He's so wise. And he has a big ice beard. Okay, so we've already ruined the whole what happens to his facial hair. He can grow a giant ice beard. So yeah. Well, that's why I was looking it up, because I was like, is it?

SPEAKER_01: 55:28

Am I remembering this correctly? And the answer is yes. He just needs to be old and it full glorious.

SPEAKER_00: 55:36

It does look pretty awesome. There's another connection, another reason why, you know, I a little piece of enjoyment that I found with this issue. So there's a future comic book where Storm dines with Doom again, and you know, they're dining, they're having a good time. He asks her if it would be rude to kidnap her chef because of how much he likes the Boolean base. And Storm replies, an act of war, but an understandable one, and less rude than turning your dinner guest into a chrome statue. So it's nice to know where that, you know, chrome statue thing originates from. Hmm. The more you know.

SPEAKER_01: 56:19

The more you know. I like the monologue that was kind of happening with the with between Doom and like I'm calling it a monologue because it was literally their thoughts. Um just the the the two like things sitting there being like, oh, this is actually pretty, pretty, uh, pretty quaint. And this is nice. D Doom sees saying, She seems drawn to me as I am to her. Lioness to lion, queen to king. I hope that comes up again. Like I I I hope we see some sort of brainwashing. It would also piss off T'Challa in the future, of course. Anything to do that. And then we close on our favorite X-Men getting owned again. Or Peter. At least it's to Doom this time.

SPEAKER_00: 57:12

This was this was kind of nice though. You know, this was uh this was a nice menacing side to Peter that we don't get to always see.

SPEAKER_01: 57:19

Yeah, that panel right before he's kind of zapped by Doom is really nice. I do like that. It's uh sharply drawn, he's very angry.

SPEAKER_00: 57:29

Like it is pathetic that he that he gets one shot, but I do like the whole I'm going to rip your armor from you piece by piece, Doom. And then he just like ew, he's down.

SPEAKER_01: 57:42

It's too bad the last panel is what it is. Because Doom's face looks a bit uh a bit goofy. Yeah, a bit goofy.

SPEAKER_00: 57:50

Yeah. Sometimes it's hard to I mean, I feel like that's just part some somewhat part of his just design back then. I think. He looks pretty goofy on the page before, too. Kind of looks like he's wearing like really nerdy glasses, maybe. Like just the way that the light is reflecting off of his little eyes um outlines. Well, was there anything else that uh that you liked about this? I mean, I'm I'm hopeful. I mean, Jack Quaid was like the main thing. That was the main thing in Doom, I guess. I'm going through my notes now. I like that Wolverine and Storm are in agreement that they can't let this stuff slide. I like that they brought in the past X-Men. Yeah, I you know, I think it's just really good that, you know, Storm and Wolverine were on the same page about like this is unacceptable. Like, we need to go. This is like first day of prison. You hit somebody with the the prison trace, start a fight. They can accept this kind of behavior, even though they've already accepted it before when Arcade kidnapped them and their lady friends, and then they shrugged their shoulders and were like, I guess that's that. That was under Scott's leadership, though.

SPEAKER_01: 59:08

Uh, I I do I did like that sequence because I did agree with Wolverine. I felt like this isn't this literally crossing a line in the sand at this point, like you're literally kidnapping the parents of Gene Gray, who is dead. That's just rude at that point. I think the last thing that we need to talk about, at least from my side, is the sequence of Scott on the beach just putting the shirt over his eyes. I I went back and I read it just again, just to be sure.

SPEAKER_00: 59:40

And yeah, it still makes no sense. Oh, yeah, that's right. I said I have an explanation for it. Hit me. Okay, so and this again does not make sense. This is doing a lot of work for the comic at this point, but he needs to put the blindfold on so that he. Can explain, like, I have an eye injury. No, you can't see it. It's gotta stay on. Just trust me. Because if he didn't have the blindfold, I feel like she would just pester him about it. And he doesn't know that she's there, so it doesn't really work. I can't keep my eyes tight closed every waking second, no matter blah, blah, blah. I have to find a way to keep them closed. I guess he ties them on so tight that he can't open his eyes. Like, is that I I feel like the only way would be if I were to take off my shirt now, rip it, and try to tie it around. Otherwise, I can't picture this. And I'm just not gonna do that.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:41

I think that would almost be okay if it wasn't the for the fact that literally two panels before he's playing up the fact that his Ruby quartz glasses are the only thing that can keep his optic blasts in check.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:54

Well, these are just to keep his eyes closed. It's tied so tight that he physically can't open his eyelids. Like he can't open them because they're just squished down. Man, if you could see my face right now, it would uh probably I'm not saying it. No, it's dumb.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:11

It definitely feels like this is the MacGuffin just to basically to leave Scott um like even more vulnerable. It does leave me again questioning the circumstances of this because even when in the in the last issue, when they go to Lee's father's house and we get this interaction with despair, he at one point just transforms into his outfit, like seemingly out of nowhere, like it like it just phases on top of him somehow.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:48

Oh, like Scott, Scott is suddenly wearing when he suddenly we you know we didn't talk about this, but he also fell like from five stories up and is just fine. I don't understand.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:03

The only uh I I this probably doesn't even make sense, but given that part of another weird one, given that part of it is an illusion, perhaps the tower size isn't accurate. I don't know. Because when the when it burns to the ground later on, it's just the house. So maybe that's the illusion there. I don't know. But even then that could be that's just it's just the whole thing's weird. It is odd, it's super weird. The reason I brought that up is because the the outfit just seemingly came out of nowhere, and here we have them on an island where he can't do that now. What are your overall thoughts? I think you play a good case for this issue, at least making me see the potential for a bigger story to unfold. So we'll see what happens. I I think Doom's involvement makes this much more interesting than if it was just arcade and we were just getting a repeat of murder world, like uh, whatever. Despite that, I think these three issues are all very different. We have three different artists as we've talked about.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:13

I think different artists, three not connected stories. It's just just a few issues. Yeah, just a few issues.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:22

Just a few issues. I I think it won't surprise you. I would I kind of want to grade these individually because they're just different, because they're not it's not a cohesive story, so that feels fair. I will give issue 143 a solid eight. I thought John did a fantastic job, and despite some very questionable writing choices and character choices, specifically between Kitty and Peter, I think otherwise and sorry, and I should say Logan, Logan's reaction. Beyond that, I thought it was very solid eight. Alright, why don't you give me yours for 143? I think we'll go six, six and a half.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04:12

Damn. I don't know. It's fine, not for you. Yeah. Great art.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:20

Uh yeah, I think the art really carried it for me. I think it made for an interesting Christmas issue.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:27

It is nice to have like a holiday-specific Christmas issue. It's been a while since we've done that with the uh with the Sentinel kidnapping.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:35

Yeah, and I don't know about you, but I typically am not a fan of Christmas specific themed episodes because they're generally like, I don't know, they're kind of shoehorned, right, into fitting a specific cheery holiday movie.

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:51

I think it do it it depends so heavily on like the show or the you know issue if it's a comic book situation. It can be done well. It can also be done very not well.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:04

I thought 144 was okay. Like I think I would probably give that like I would like a seven. I I I thought despair was interesting, the supernatural theme was interesting, and that and yeah, that's pretty much pretty much it. We got despair, we got man thing, we got Scott kind of centralized story, but I will stand by the fact that I think we're getting Scott a little too soon. Like maybe if we had waited until after the this whole story with arcade was done, maybe then, but we'll see what happens. Obviously, the wheels are moving, and you know, as I said earlier, we're kind of just moving and setting groundwork right now. So seven. I was gonna do like a six.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:52

I feel like I'm being very like uh more negative, I guess, than you, which is surprising.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:59

Well, I mean, I think for this last one, we're gonna be opposite, so why don't you start us off with the positive number?

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:07

Uh I think 145 gets us back on the right track. It's cool to see doom. You get a villain team up, those are always fun. And I think we're, you know, it kind of puts us back onto the path of like, okay, we're gonna have multiple story threads dangling, intermingling. They're teasing Magneto, there's a weird island situation. They still need to like do this rescue mission and conclude their adventure with the old X-Men. I see a lot of potential for the next several issues. So this one's like a like a six and a half, seven.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:47

You're giving it a six and a half of seven? I thought you were gonna be like pumping out something higher than a six and a half.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:54

Well, maybe it's more seven than six and a half. I think seven. I'm going seven. You can't talk me out of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:02

Uh well, now I feel like I have to give it something lower than a seven. Uh seven is good. Eight is great. I think we're I think we're using two different scales. Yeah. It's alright. It's okay. You stand by it. I respect it. I agree with a lot of what you said. Like, I think the pieces are there for this to continue forward into something more interesting. I love Doom. Give me more of him. This isn't a Doom book, though, and this isn't the Fantastic War, which we're reminded of. So I think Doom is a great like one-off here because I think Doom could work with a lot of different characters, and we know that generally, like he's he's a big deal. So I think I'm always happy to see the the broader Marvel character universe brought into these stories, if in a controlled and proper way, which is why I think I also didn't mind the inclusion of man thing, just because it was like, here's man thing, he's just here. You know, like here we are in a swamp. It makes sense. Here he is. So, that being said, I don't like arcade, I don't like motor world.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:18

We'll see what happened, six and a half. Well, that does it for this episode of Uncanny Book Club. Thanks for listening, and we hope to see you next episode where we'll discuss issues 146 to 148. Have a happy holiday. Merry Krimbus. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Uncanny Book Club. If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share with a friend.