Historically, this is a day I’d skip posting. Ya see, research has shown I’m a good “workplace distraction”, but you’re not reading this when you’ve got better stuff to do. When you want to avoid Bob from Accounting? I’m here for ya. But when you wanna blow off one of your fingers while eating hot dogs? Well, I can’t compete with that. Still, I’m on a streak, so I’m doing this for me. The real “meat”, however, will be next week. I know some of y’all were waiting for Ironheart to drop those last 3 episodes so you could binge it at once. So, I’ll hold my thoughts on those til next week.
Trailer Park
The Running Man (Theaters, November 7)
I still don’t see whatever it is that Hollywood sees in Glen Powell, but this is a great trailer. I’ll also admit I never saw the original (I know, I know…), so I don’t have anything to compare it to. I already see why certain folks are gonna hate this, though. Sure, they’ll wrap it in “Why did they have to remake this?” and “Go woke, go broke”, but it’s right there. Those folks would be just fine if Powell’s character’s kid dies. Anyway, I get that they went to Powell for his “everyman” aspect, but I would probably be more energized by, say, John Cena in the role. I’m not talking present-day Cena, but The Marine era Cena. He was built, but dumb. Current Cena characters are a little too clever for their own good, likely to keep up with his rising profile. And while Steve Harvey would have been a great choice as the host, I’m increasingly impressed by Colman Domingo, and think he seems fantastic here.
Sovereign (Theaters and VOD, July 11)
If you ask me, Nick Offerman is one of the best actors out there today, and I’m glad he’s finally getting roles that show that. He’s one of the most liberal people in Hollywood, yet has become the Go-To Guy for Libertarian/Conservative nut job roles. Whether it was Ron Swanson, the president in Civil War, or his character here, he makes you believe he’s That Guy, then he peppers in roles like The Last of Us, which are closer to who he is, and show his range. This looks really good, and it’s a shame it’s only getting a limited release. Then again, we live in a world where only Shark Tale 2 gets a theatrical release, and that’s if they can get Will Smith back. Otherwise, it’s going right to Netflix.
Eyes of Wakanda (Disney+, August 27)
That “Ryan Coogler” credit is doing a LOT of heavy lifting here. This looks like an Afrocentric crowdfunding project. You know the kind: It’s run by a large black guy, who pressures you into donating by saying “You support all these white projects, so why can’t you support you own people?!” And the project either never comes out at all, or it comes out late, and looks like this. This is about 2 steps up from Reboot, which is basically a 30-year old cartoon at this point. I’m not impressed by the tech at play, nor the character designs. It’s giving “faith-based adjacent”, and I am NOT a fan.
Run The Numbers
As you can see from the count, I spent most of the week focused on single issue comics. In fact, they were all from the same series, X-Men Forever. Actually the second volume of a comic with that name, X-Men Forever was an ongoing given to legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont in 2009. You see, Claremont wrote Uncanny X-Men for 16 (!) years, since you could do things like that back then. Then, in the early 90s, comics were becoming an artist-driven medium, and Claremont’s artist on Uncanny, Jim Lee, was gaining quite the following. So, in 1991, Marvel launched “adjectiveless” X-Men, which would be Claremont & Lee’s book, as somewhat equal partners. While the book gave us the 90s character designs used in the Fox Kids cartoon, the collaboration was short-lived, as Claremont resigned after issue #3. Then Lee jumped ship to help form Image Comics not long afterward. Claremont would come back to the books, almost a decade later, just before the X-Men film was released. And it was TERRIBLE. The characters he had created were no longer those characters, and he struggled with the new status quo. It also didn’t help that he didn’t provide an entry point for any potential new readers that may have been brought in from the movie. At that point, Marvel removed him from main continuity books, and started throwing him stuff he could do in his own little sandbox that didn’t mess with overall corporate interests. And one of these projects was X-Men Forever.
Originally marketed as “Claremont’s original plans, had he not quit the book”, X-Men Forever picks up almost immediately after X-Men #3, setting up a new status quo for the team. With Magneto dead from the destruction of Asteroid M, his former Acolyte Fabian Cortez is on the run, and has to be brought in by the X-Men. During that battle, something happens to Kitty Pryde, which I’ll come back to later. Once the team is back home, however, they discover that Wolverine has been murdered…by STORM! I mean, she electrocutes him so badly that all they find is his metal skeleton in Central Park. It turns out that Storm has been a secret operative of a shadowy organization called The Consortium, who have their hands in every aspect of the Marvel Universe. They’ve also taken over S.H.I.E.L.D., which is bad news to Nick Fury, who has been appointed the S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to the X-Men. In fact, he and a small group of agents now live at the Xavier School.
This being an X-Men book, though, means the Bad just gets WORSE. We discover that mutants are falling victim to a fate called “Burnout”, as their powers are essentially draining their life energy. At some point future, every mutant will basically overload and die. To make matters worse, Xavier has apparently known this, and has been searching for a cure in secret. But when the team learns of this, they feel a betrayal that they never really overcome. Xavier sticks around, but he’s basically lost control of his school at that point.
So, the X-Men are trying to bring Storm to justice, bring down The Consortium, and find a cure for Burnout. That’s the main thrust of this series. You see glimmers of what Claremont had intended to do with some well established characters. Remember that thing I said about Kitty? Well, it turns out that she somehow ended up with one of Wolverine’s claws. I mean, it’s actually embedded in her, and she can use it as a weapon, just as he did. I’ve gotta hand it to Claremont, in that he’s not worried about “the science”. I mean, Wolverine’s whole claw thing works because he has an indestructible skeleton in which the claws are housed. An unbreakable claw, in a normal girl, would just end up with said claw being ripped out of said girl. So, Claremont decides to “fix on fail”. Over the course of the series, we learn Kitty also got “a fraction of Wolverine’s healing factor”, and she’s got Sabretooth’s claw nails on her other hand. Speaking of Sabretooth, in this story, he was Wolverine’s father, and he joins the team to bring his boy’s killer to justice. They actually do some really interesting stuff with that character that I enjoyed. He basically becomes that team’s Wolverine, but without the code of honor. He’s basically there to fulfill his goal, and it’s “something to do”.
Claremont does a lot of interesting stuff with “family’, too. While the X-Men are a found family, there are several biological families forming a Venn Diagram throughout the whole thing. You’ve got the Summers family, the Mystique/Rogue/Nightcrawler family, and another family that we haven’t seen before, yet makes so much sense: Stark/Trask. In this story, Tony Stark is the cousin of Siggy Trask, who has taken on her family’s Sentinel business. When WWII ended, the Trasks went to South America to hide, while the Starks were captains of industry in the war effort. The letters were right there, yet no one had descrambled them to make that connection!
Pretty soon, however, it becomes pretty clear that Claremont has abandoned the initial mission statement of the series, and was now just doing his own thing. It was no longer about “Here’s what I would have done in 1991”, but instead became “Here’s me doing away with stuff I never cared for.” For example, Nathan Summers isn’t Cable here. He’s still a kid, so I don’t know if the techno-organic virus never got to him, or if he was cured in the future and sent back? This gets more confusing near the end of the line, as Claremont retcons certain aspects of the Xtinction Agenda event, with Cable shown prominently.
I’d say the biggest problem with X-Men Forever is also its biggest strength: Claremont, and his approach to storytelling. This was a guy who had a job for 16 years on the same book. the industry doesn’t work like that anymore, but he’s still writing the same way. 80s Claremont really seemed to love world building, and he would drop a hint that might not pay off for 5 years. He didn’t have that luxury here. X-Men Forever lasted 24 issues, as well as an annual and a Giant Size issue. It was followed up with X-Men Forever 2, in 2010 (both series were biweekly), which ran for 16 issues before being canceled. So, I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you that there’s a TON of stuff that’s left unresolved. Marvel used to let him tell larger stories across several linked miniseries, like how X-Men: The End is comprised of 3 miniseries. So, I’d imagine that he probably thought he’d get to do X-Men Forever 3, but it’s been 15 years, so I don’t think it’s coming. Which is a shame, as I did enjoy what he was doing there.
The art sort of came and went. The main art was done by Tom Grummett, who falls into that Mark Bagley camp, where he’s a consistent journeyman, but his art isn’t going to win any Eisners. Sometimes, Mike Grell would tag in on art duty, and those issues are horrible. I know his work on Warlord was beloved, but he was just phoning it in here. Nobody really puts their stamp on these new iterations of the characters, as the designs are either uninspired or just make no sense. For example, almost immediately, Gambit gives up that kickass costume we’re used to seeing, and he just starts wearing formal wear? My favorite thing about Gambit here, though, is how Claremont reimagines the whole Rogue love story as a passing fancy. In fact, at no point does Gambit even make a pass at Rogue, as he’s busy taking care of ‘Ro (teenage Storm) and making eyes at Kitty. So, to Claremont, Gambit basically went after Rogue because he was bored and there was nothing better to do.
Unless you really love 80s/90s X-Men, there’s probably no reason for you to check this out. That said, it’s now considered an official universe (Earth-161), so maybe it’ll come into play again at some point. I’ve been reading these issues, between other stuff, for the past month, and I definitely enjoyed the vibe of the series. I just hate how it never really deals with its *many* dangling threads.
Links I Loved
Over on This Nostalgic Life, Mick and Eric talk about what Independence Day means to them (hint: it’s fireworks). Anyway, I loved these slice-of-life memories, and figured you might, too!
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- Two last remnants of the 2024-2025 TV season got their walking papers, as Doctor Odyssey was canceled at ABC, while Gross Pointe Garden Society was canceled at NBC. Meanwhile, Netflix canceled The Residence and Pulse.
- Given that I’m pretty sure all the execs at FX would kill themselves were it to end anytime soon, it should come as a surprise to no one that The Bear has been renewed for a fifth season.
- Jennifer Aniston as has been cast as the mom in the Apple TV+ adaptation of former Nickelodeon star Jennette McCurdy’s autobiography, I’m Glad My Mom Died. This is a huge get for the show, but something of a step down for Aniston…
- I’m not sure if this is a publicity stunt or an actual thing, but it seems that It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia/Welcome To Wrexham star Rob McElhenney has legally changed his name to Rob Mac.
- If your Meemaw was sad this week, it’s probably because she learned that controversial televangelist Jimmy Swaggart died. And just after she had ordered that Bible autographed by Jesus from him!
- Speaking of Bad People, Dr. Phil’s media company, Merit Street Media, has filed for bankruptcy less than 2 years after launch. GOOD.
- Chuck E. Cheese is coming for Dave & Buster’s, with the announcement of Chuck’s Arcade – an adult version of the Chuck E. Cheese experience, with alcohol and arcade games that wouldn’t “fit” in the regular Chuck E. Cheese (think Mortal Kombat). There are currently 9 locations in malls across the country.
- The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann is stepping back from the show to focus on his responsibilities as Head of Creative at game studio Naughty Dog. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a show go from “beloved” to “panned” as quickly as The Last of Us, so I understand his decision.
- I guess the UK was playing the long game, in getting us back for throwing all their tea into that harbor. One of the last reliable news outlets, BBC News, is now behind a paywall for US-based visitors to the site. A subscription service, at $49.99/year or $8.99/month, is now required if you truly want to know how the world is falling apart. Or you can look out your window for free.
A West Week Ever? In THIS economy? Yeah, you’d better just check back next week.
