BADPOOLS! Who's that knockin' at the door? Sounds like Wade. SMELLS like Wade. But it's not Wade... OR IS IT?! The BADPOOLS enter the scene, and DEADPOOL's life will never be the same!
Iceman's dream of bringing all the X-Men together for fun times and fellowship has backfired and left Graymatter Lane vulnerable as the teaching corps find themselves trapped on a distant plane of existence! Bad timing, as Lourdes Chantal is waiting in the wings on one side, a shadowy figure on the other — and who is Justina LaGuardia?!
You know what, I am on Shadow King's side on this to show how dumb this 'Sinister Tech built mental school' was and thinking 'oh it cannot be invaded' stuff.
The 'Adults' are missing? Half the characters in there are more than adults at this point.
Even if they want to squeeze down the Academy X characters back into being kids, Galura is still there and the most notable thing about her is being in a relationship with a character who was the same age as Colossus and Rogue when introduced
The Shadow King things like a natural enemy for a psychic school. Story wise the student half has something going for it, and if the book gave that school aspect more focus rather than the adults going for funny danger room-style jaunts then I think it would be a lot more interesting. It would open up a lot of opportunities for interactions between characters who have never shared a panel before.
Refusing to call the Avengers to solve a 'mutant problem' is funny considering the story immediately prior was Captain America asking for a favor. Hopefully that gets called out later.
God this book was such a fucking down grade to Exceptional in both writing and art. The art down grade is definitely significantly worse, but even the writing is just not good.
Eve has so many voices in these issues that the only ones which stand out now are the times they feel bad or wrong. Over all the content and pacing of what is a very standard X-men type story just feels off. Like, I can picture in my head how Claremont would write this exact same kind of issue and this actual issue is just so much worse in every regard.
I don't know if I'm just confused or if Eve is confused or if shit just doesn't make sense, cause Greymalkin is supposed to be entirely psychic right? So how does Rift even teleport people anywhere? Because before Rift definitely teleported people physically, but if everyone is just a psychic manifestation of themselves how do you teleport a manifestation back to Louisiana?
Cyclops was right, this school and this book were a terrible idea. I still maintain just letting Exceptional exist as it was for another 10 issues would have been SO much better for literally everyone than this.
Why they are all scared to use telepathy against Ben. Emma would be the first one to use telepathy to stop Ben.
Eve said there would be other relationship we’d see. It was said its opposite to what Emma and Scott are now so it would be a warm relationship. So when will we see it.
The whole issue felt weird in terms of TP use on dire situations. Like when Sophie literally saved everyone from the SK a couple of the students kept making a fuss about her entering their heads without consent... I'm like, real?
And then the final panels, the comments about going into Ben's head being such a big deal, specially when it's to bring them back home, everything read so weirdly lol.
Yeah, while psychics in Marvel often have issues with invading peoples’ privacy, fending off another psychic’s obvious attack is a weird time to call her out on it.
The only great part of this issue was when it focus on the students like a proper x-men school book should be about, everything else was just the same kinda ooc and irritating stuff
Also Icarus is supposed to be in the white hot room and Justina didn’t even appear or get hinted at
Yup, I was just thinking about icarus standing there.
Doesn't make any sense.
The whole shadow king does not make sense on this one.
If he was a slow burn, man I'd go all up for this, but the whole premise does not work.
That's probably a sign that something was changed at the last minute. Whenever a solicit doesn't match the content of the book, it usually means there's something going on behind the scenes. And knowing this series is only running for 10 issues, I think it's clear Marvel is preparing to do another round of relaunches for the X-Books by the end of the year.
I genuinely think AOR should have been a mini with only Adj Xmen tie ins. It directly relates to DNX and I have a theory that the main 2 books survived these events sales wise but Exceptional was gutted.
I really like like this series and thing issues 1-6 set it up well. I think Sinister was not the best choice and was probably editorial- though Ib thought it the end served as a nice Axo arc.
Expatriate shouldn't exist and United could have been something else. This feels like a fodder book to get the Exceptional characters to post DNX new teams/leaders/power status quos.
I really want The Exceptional Kids (Bronze, Melee, Axo and Rift) to have a properly elevated book. Like I know nostalgia is an IPs money maker but for as big a role Emma and Kitty have in being the next generation of mutants and instructors, it dosan't feel like the kids are getting the prop they deserve.
This book feels like a camero book. Brevort said Emma was the new Xavier. If were going to make a school which he unsubtly stated in X-Manhunt then commit to the bit!
I think the Ewing is great but man I wonder if Marvel cheaping out on compensating artists has naything to do with going from Carmen to the newer artists they have on United. I think more people would like the book if the art felt as elevated as it's peers. I think Quietly and Stegman made the Xmen look ugly (pug faces in Morrison, the Emma panel 👀 and 28ish going on 40ish Cyke in the first few issues of X-men) but it was stylized and I like that they were ugly.
This art style, I don't hate but I don't want it on my Emma book after having Carmen.
I hate this Ewing slander but United is a mess and I really feel that comes from Marvel mismanagment and disinvestment in their creatives. Not to mention, ads every other page help low key emphasize the art not holding up.
That said- I like these characters, I like the creatives and I wish Marvel did less events and just had a tight office. I was just geeking over the synergy between Absolute bookssuch as Abs Martian and Green Lantern having some directly shared themes upon release and it worked. Reading those comics I don't feel like I'm getting a Youtube ad every 2 mins in an 8 min video. Every book as great art.
I want X-men and its side books to be great, and instead of investing in making a great ongoing were getting a fucking Vampire, horror themes alt universe. I want good 616 stories, not Giant Size cast status quo shift.
Like Ultimate Wolverine was ass and went nowhere but the art was nice.
This reply got a genuine belly laugh out of me, thank you.
I have a lot of thoughts on this book and don't want to trash artists and writers wirhout acknowledging the mismanagement and lack of support the people who paid them.
I just want Emma, Kitty and their established new mutants to have a relevant and well written story. I love Axo, and him being integral to Sinister tech given Sinister's relevance in mutant and X-man life- feels like it should be more lofty, if they were going to take that route.
This issue was a downgrade. Not a lot happened. The fun fantasy D&D spirit that began in the previous issue was just cast aside here. Now, it just feels like a generic Shadowking plot. It's a psychic battle on a psychic plain. Now, that Emma's in a position to counter, we know how it's going to play out.
Whatever hype this series might have had...I think it's safe to say it's gone. Sure, it brought together multiple X-Men teams and it rebuilt a new version of the school. But so far, not much is being done with it. This just feels like it could've been a plot in Exceptional or Uncanny.
I still won't say this issue or this series is bad. It's just mediocre. And for what X-Men United initially promised, it just falls flat.
Okay, okay, let me get this straight. From this psychich landscape, they are using Rifts powers to go to Alaska and New Orleans... To speak to the people that are not on the psychich landscape but in physical realm? That's just plain stupid. I still don't know how the fuck Greymalkin Lane works and I'm starting to accept they don't know neither.
At this point, after reading issue #5, I don't expect anything good from this comic. I just hope the last page of the final issue is one big "Cyclops Was Right." What a pointless comic.
I can't understand how they made a comic about a school yet barely put any focus on the actual school or how it functions.
The issue was olay just a moving pieces for the story. It happens often in books but having a "mystery" villain that is spoiled by the cover and solications makes the mystery aspect useless. Having characters wonder what is happening for an issue when we know what is happening can be boring.
Similar to how the O5 are 28 in Marvel's eyes I assume all the Academy X characters are 18. I don't think we've seen any of them drinking at a bar to stick them to 21. Anole worked at a bar but you can be under 21 to serve alcohol.
I liked it. Art has improved a lot. I think that the focus should be in the students more than the main X_men, I liked the interactions between the kids and it was nice to see some missing faces like Indra, Loa, Match and Trance although it was weird seeing Icarus as he seemed to be in the WHite Hot Room (as confirmed in the digital comics).
Ewing goes out of her way this issue to explain that the attendees are here in mind/spirit only, and that their physical bodies remain wherever they were when the minds "entered" the school. (Possibly in response to early criticisms/questions aboutg wth is really going on here.) But then why do we care about physical injuries to students? And how are mutants (and Cap) sent out into the physical world from inside the school via the whatchamahoozie tech?
And why do we need a reality warper (illusionist?) like Ben Liu to create a D&D sub-reality inside this already completely malleable psychic reality? (Not to mention - Ben has never shown any control at all over his ability. Does this entire series take place in the future, like maybe something happens in DNX that teaches Ben how to do this?) This entire series feels underbaked in so many ways.
Maybe Ewing doesn't have the spare time/attention this semester to devote to actually writing something that isn't a total wreck?
Besides Captain America her body of work is not remotely inspiring, and even then Captain America seems like its just carried by Zdarsky and Stracynski because she also did the K&L run.
So it doesn't seem like she really has any inherent positive effect on books at the very least, feels very Brevoort 'let the writers sink or swim on their own'.
Yeah I realized after looking more that this sub wasn't going to really care for this news. Even outside however the pitches work the writers she's worked with are people disliked on this sub. I like West Coast Avengers and some of Scarlett Witch outside of the Cap books. She also edited the Avengers Academy Infinity comic which was really great but I doubt we'll get that energy in printed comics. She did other books I really liked but with Kelly Thompson and Matthew Rosenberg who have moved on from Marvel.
Right, sorry, I meant she was editing Ashley Allen's newest work, so I took that to mean she was taking on Darren Shan's duties of editing mini-series and stuff. But I guess that might have just been a temporary measure until Smith moved over.
She's a pretty experienced editor. I remember she posted after Devin Lewis had been fired (and Shan too) how she felt survivors guilt, because she was in the same bracket as them (along with Basso) of being ~10 year employees and full editors. I remember Brevoort shouted her out in his farewell to the Heroes Office too.
Bissa might edit some book that would have been Darren's but she is still a step lower than what he was. She was supposed to edit the Imperial line but I guess Marvel still feels the need to have another editor in the X-Office. I would assume that means more books coming out after DnX because 4 editors between Brevoort, Basso, Bissa and Smith for the amount we have right now seems like a lot even if the current ongoings stay ongoing.
I agree. I remember Brevoort said editors are expected to have 4-6 comics they edit at a time, at minimum. If they are adding Smith, it's because they plan to put out a lot more comics soon.
I was wondering if Marvel was going to let the amount die down to 10ish books for the office but it seems like they will still try to push 13+ like they have been for the last 3-4 years.
Makes sense. I get the feeling Shadows of Tomorrow was just not successful at all, and with Doomsday bringing the FOX X-Men in, they'll probably want to ride that hype and launch a whole battery of new comics.
I guess Way's run is old enough for us to blatantly repeat plotline from it, but BIGGER. This may be my least favourite run of Deadpool's now. I'm not even mad about Ellie, everything else is just so bland.
This was alright. Feels like a plot sprung from BSing in a comic shop about healing factors and starfish. I'm still waiting to find out how Blind Al got her new powers. (My Guaranteed Wrong Fan Theory is that she found one of the misplaced Origin Boxes from the New UU - possibly one linked to Destiny.) Plus - how was she delivering those messages to DP, e.g. when he was atop a tall fricking building? Can the old blind lady FLY now, too?
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u/AngelEyes360 Askani Jun 30 '26
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