I think, too, that Holy Terror being relegated as a non-Batman book, published by a much lesser-known publisher than DC, makes a difference. Even for all of Miller's clout, even at the time, DC wasn't going to just let him turn Batman into an anti-Muslim "hero".

That's what made Nightcrawler's death/visit to heaven/siege by demon pirates/return to life all the more stupid. I get that they wanted to bring him back—he never should have been killed in the first place— but returning him with the absolute certainty that the Christian heaven exists kind of destroys any realistic…

Hm. I bought and read it, and noticed the numbers and stuff, but had no idea they were referencing anything. Learning what the ARE referencing is….disconcerting. Why would Colossus even be wearing an X-branded t-shirt with a reference like that?

Oh God, THIS. Just finished the show, but this line stood out for me, even among the dozens of other bad ones.

Hm! I could see that about Oh Mercy, but I love the spookiness of TOoM.

…from their iPhones….whose footage….looks really pretty nice!

I don't disagree with you, but they also had the luxury of having a "happy ending" already there. As long as their mission was successful, the characters themselves could be expendable.

Oh, completely agree. I was relatively young when TOoM came out (though older than you), and really, it was what finally made me a Dylan fan. The fact that Lanois produced it was all the better, since I was already familiar with his work with U2 and Peter Gabriel. And it coincided with me getting into Johnny Cash's…

Weird. Though maybe it would be cool?

Yeah, I'm intrigued by some of the stuff of his I've heard. It's not all terribly melodic, which makes it harder to get into through a cursory listen. I think I just need to buy some and listen awhile to determine what I like.

I wanted to like TD's early stuff, but Phaedra is kind the start for me, up through the early/mid 80's.

Hm, I guess I have a more positive appraisal of Claremont's run. I'm just curious which new characters were the copies of old ones? I don't defend everything he did—the non-team era really stretched things to the breaking point—I just think none of us would be here discussing them if he didn't make them what they…

I guess I'm not expecting Prime to do much of anything but some place-setting for the new campaign of books. In that regard, I may hold off to buy it until next week, when I can pick it up with X-Men Gold #1.

Agreed. And then they killed him. And THEN, they brought him back via the dumbest thing I've ever seen: a pirate attack in heaven.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense—or as much sense as anything does. Of course, if it's an "alternate reality", then that means adult Iceman isn't necessarily gay, and Jean isn't necessarily….whatever she is now, etc., right? I mean, it kinda/sorta negates all of the fears Jean has regarding her "destiny" as Phoenix,…

Yeah, I hopped onto Battle of the Atom just because it was the big anniversary crossover. Once they brought the O5 in, I thought, "well this is kind of stupid", but kept reading. I figured as an anniversary stunt, I could see the point of bringing them in for nostalgia. I had bought the original Marvel Masterworks…

In hindsight, I probably agree with you. Still, for a guy who was basically winging it for 17 years, he came up with an Uncanny (ha!) number of great stories and characters. I mean, credit just for Magneto and Wolverine alone.

Yeah. It seems like maybe they're starting to consolidate the team to shore up the franchise, with Rogue as the exception. For awhile it seemed like they were interested in splitting everyone off into different stuff to spread the readership, but I have to think it's had the inverse effect. At some point, you still…

I've been wondering about this. Don't they eventually HAVE to go back? I keep thinking, "ok, this has run its course, now they'll have to go back and lose all memory of what they did while time-displaced", but it never happens. They just keep going in the present. I mean, do they eventually write around the…

Thanks! I'll look into the John Serri thing.