Inane Discussion Seven:

"Half-a-Sentinel, Yummy-Robotics, and Boobs of the Damned"

Peblee: So, Fumanchu, what books you want to talk about this week?

Fumanchu: I don’t care, you?

Peblee: Let’s talk about Astonishing X-Men first. What did you think?

Fumanchu: It was really good! I am a fan of Joss Wheddon, you know.

Peblee: Yeah. My favorite part is when Scott levels the court yard, and pushes that half-a-sentinel back into the woods.

Fumanchu: Yeah. He says, “I want this thing out of my yard, now.”

Peblee: That was way cool, to me. He took off his glasses, and it was like a daisy-cutter.

Fumanchu: Daisy cutter?

Peblee: Yeah, it’s this bomb the US Military has that explodes, and then sends a shockwave out in about a mile, or four mile, radius, just, like, three feet off the ground. It uses everything in its way as shrapnel. So, if you were there, it would cut off your legs or something.

Fumanchu: Awesome. I hate my legs.

Peblee: Yeah. I always wanted to be shorter. You know me with my too-tall problems, and all.

Fumanchu: Yeah, I wonder what life would be like if you were short?

Peblee: Funny. Um…I really like the art in these books. It is really realistic. It is definitely different from most of the art out there. I mean, Wolverine doesn’t look like a sort of sex-appeal kinda guy, but a dirty, stinky guy that you wouldn’t trust to baby-sit your kids, you know?

Fumanchu: Yes. It is different because it is slanted with a lot more realism, but still kind of a Tim Sale kind of art; like, the backgrounds are kind of simple at times, but both John Cassaday and Tim Sale know how to focus on what is important, and may have super- detailed backgrounds when they are important.

Peblee: Yeah I really like both artists. I am actually reading “Dark Victory” right now. It is awesome – by Loeb (who I met at Wondercon) and Tim Sale. Anyway - neither here, nor there. Oh! I really thought the part with the two country guys in the barn who had dug up the sentinel. That was really funny.

Fumanchu: I like how once you read the book, you understand that the cover with Wolverine and the moon behind him is a picture of the last thing the sentinel ever saw.

Peblee: Except the blades might have been pointed down. We’ll never be sure. What we do know is that it’s not IN the Danger Room, it IS the Danger Room!

Fumanchu: We also know that this is no mine. It’s a tomb!

Peblee: When did Emma Frost become Kirsti Alley? That last frame with her was terrible.

Fumanchu: And, who is it that is talking to Emma Frost?

Peblee: In her mind? I don’t know. In which comic? I think that I am starting to get Phoenix: Endsong and Astonishing X-Men confused. I thought that it might be the Phoenix that was talking to her.

Fumanchu: No. It can’t be because of what the voice says about Scott. It says, “Scott Summers…I would never let that freak share my bed.” I doubt that the Phoenix would say that. Anyway, it was cool when that kid stood up, all weird and dead; also, that there was no exit.

Peblee: I don’t like that phone of yours. It is always cutting out on me. KILL IT NOW!

Fumanchu: I smashed it good.

(Later, after many cries of "SONAMBULO!!!!!!")

Peblee: I shall say that Joss Wheddon gets the thumbs-up from me.

Fumanchu: Yeah. He’s doin’ some good work. He’s a clever man.

Peblee: Yeah. I liked the comic, and I got high hopes for the next issue, but I have to say that this comic was….I don’t know…weird. I mean, I liked that they fought the sentinel, but I am not sure why they had to, or why he was there.

Fumanchu: Well….did you read the story?

Peblee: Jerk. Yes I did.

Fumanchu: Well the alien race that fears destruction by the earth’s mutants obviously sent the sentinel a message, or woke it up, or something, so he came to destroy them.

Peblee: So, the psychic aliens did all this, and are even the ones talking to Emma?

Fumanchu: Maybe, but why would the aliens know Scott’s name, and call him a freak? I think that whoever is talking to Emma is someone from her past.

Peblee: Like a past boyfriend?

Fumanchu: Maybe.

Peblee: Well, let’s talk about Livewires. What did you think of that?

Fumanchu: Um, I thought it was pretty cool. The dialogue was amazing. The robots were just so matter of fact.

Peblee: The ‘R’ word?

Fumanchu: Oh, excuse me - The CONSTRUCTS were just so matter of fact in such extreme situations that it made for a funny time.

Peblee: I really enjoyed the focus on humor.

Fumanchu: The art is also really good, except for the lips on the cover.

Peblee: The cover is awful! But, the comic was so cool. The beginning has to be one of my favorite openings, with the guy sitting there talking nonchalant to the girl in the backseat while he peels off and eats the skin of the robot, or construct, next to him.

Fumanchu: Yeah. It is so calm, while the scene is disturbing and bizzar.

Peblee: You know, the dialogue was great, except I really didn’t like that girl “Social.”

Fumanchu: I don’t think you are supposed to. I think she is supposed to be a little annoying. But, she still has that matter of factness that the others do, like when she apologizes to her legs while they are melting off.

Peblee: Have you noticed a sudden burst of overtly sexual dialogue in these teen team-up books?

Fumanchu: Well, like in Runaways, the content as a whole was not overtly sexual, but the dialogue was. But, I don’t think that the girl, Social, in Livewires is a teenybopper, I thought she was pretty full-figured, if you know what I mean.

Peblee: I think they are drawn to look like adults, but they are still little-kidish.

Fumanchu: Well maybe you’re just catching on to this thing, in Menga, this has been going on for a LONG time. It’s just a style.

Peblee: Okay. I understand now. Well, I’ll just say that I think that Livewires had a great setup for the series to come. The story, which dealt with the human emotions mixing with the robot, or construct logic, was done so well, and at least to me, it was very original.

Fumanchu: I liked how you were introduced to what all was going on as the main character was. That made you feel what she felt, so I mean, I felt the bizarrity when I realized what the guy was eating at the beginning of the book.

Peblee: Did you know she was a robot?

Fumanchu: Yes. I told you while I was in the middle of reading it. But, I mostly had the clue because she had the same robot eyes on the cover. That was my first clue.

Peblee: After I saw the cover one time, I hid it forever from my visage because that’s how horrendous it was. Seriously, I think it probably turned sales away. And, it was such a good book! Thing is, it was the same artist, so you know he’s good. He just really jacked up the cover. They went overboard on the lines. It looks like everyone’s made of broom-straw.

Fumanchu: I think that he probably felt excited, kept working on it, and eventually started trying too hard and doing too much. I mean, there’s a point where you just have to let it go.

Peblee: Before we quit we should mention Damn Nation.

Fumanchu: GOOOOOD spooky stuff. It was so good. They can’t scare you quite like a movie, but this one got close in that scene where they hear a single sound, and turn around. You expect to see a single zombie, or whatever, but instead it’s like a room full.

Peblee: Isn’t it weird how the corpses or zombies are all nudy-Tuesday, and therefore scarier?

Fumanchu: Yeah, and why women? Why are they scarier?

Peblee: All will be revealed in due time.