The difference in writers
Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men #13 came out the same week as the latest adjectiveless X-Men by Claremont. Claremont is using Apocalypse, a villian entrenched in the X-Men mythos. Whedon is using Cassandra Nova, Charles Xavier's twin sister who is a more powerful telepath than Charles. I would have been happy if Cassandra would have been left in obscurity, because she's an "uber-tech" plot device.
What's an uber-tech plot device? It's where the writer comes up with a concept for the bad guy that is way beyond what the heroes are capable of, and we spend a long time in the movie, book, comic or game watching the heroes chase their tales and get bounced around just because the author is so enamored with his creation. Now, that's not to say heroes shouldn't face opponents more powerful than them... they are heroes after all. It becomes uber-tech when it becomes gratuitous.
Back to Cassandra. She is the most powerful telepath on the planet. It used to be Xavier, and he even tried to maintain his title by strangling his sister with her umbilical cord in the womb (I am not making this shit up). In fact, I think Claremont came up with her. So she's super powerful, no one has a hope, blah blah blah.
The thing is, Whedon's writing is good enough that I can deal with the return of Cassandra. The writing in this issue ranks up there with his best Buffy and Firefly stuff. The best stuff is when the characters are speaking, not getting bounced around. So what's the point?
I dunno. Remember this?
What's an uber-tech plot device? It's where the writer comes up with a concept for the bad guy that is way beyond what the heroes are capable of, and we spend a long time in the movie, book, comic or game watching the heroes chase their tales and get bounced around just because the author is so enamored with his creation. Now, that's not to say heroes shouldn't face opponents more powerful than them... they are heroes after all. It becomes uber-tech when it becomes gratuitous.
Back to Cassandra. She is the most powerful telepath on the planet. It used to be Xavier, and he even tried to maintain his title by strangling his sister with her umbilical cord in the womb (I am not making this shit up). In fact, I think Claremont came up with her. So she's super powerful, no one has a hope, blah blah blah.
The thing is, Whedon's writing is good enough that I can deal with the return of Cassandra. The writing in this issue ranks up there with his best Buffy and Firefly stuff. The best stuff is when the characters are speaking, not getting bounced around. So what's the point?
I dunno. Remember this?
posted by Oz at 12:47 PM
1 Comments:
Which book is running the Colossus is gay storyline? I need to know so that I can travel back in time and submit the writer to a slow and painful death. :)
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