snap judgments

from the X-Axis:

NEW AVENGERS #20 - Worth mentioning because it actually attempts to
explain away the Xorn mess. Unfortunately, it doesn’t explain it in a remotely comprehensible fashion, and Joe Quesada’s attempt to explain the story over at Newsarama just makes matters worse, because his explanation certainly doesn’t seem to match the story Brian Bendis appears to think he’s writing. It’s at this point that I put the comic down, switch off the computer, and head to a quiet room to bang my head against the wall. Really, is it that hard to explain basic plot points? I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’m a reasonably intelligent and passably attentive reader. If I don’t understand the plot, even after you’ve explained it, then it’s your fault, not mine, because it means
you don’t know how to communicate your ideas in a remotely effective way. This is neither meaningful nor comprehensible - frankly, it’s downright impenetrable - and that’s really inexcusable in a mainstream superhero book. D+

It’s these kind of posts that make me feel good about fandom. We’re not talking about ‘Oh, Spider-Man’s new costume is so weak’, no. This is ‘You’re not communicating your ideas effectively, Marvel’. One is fanboy based and can be debated from both sides, the other is just basic writing fact.

Now, I’m not sure what Quesada said about New Avengers #20, but I’m certainly going to find out now. Because if even he and Bendis aren’t seeing eye to eye, it really is time to do something.  Hey, look what I found on the New Joe Fridays…

NRAMA: Gotcha. Moving to other topics - this week saw Brian Bendis (hopefully) explain or close the book on Xorn in New Avengers #20. Okay – honestly now – can you explain to us what he was/is? And Magneto has powers again? Depowered isn’t depowered, is it?

JQ: Kuan-Yen Xorn and Shen Xorn were twin brothers from China, both mutants, one with the power of a star in his head, one the power of a black hole. Kuan-Yen Xorn came under the influence of as-yet-to-be-revealed entity that forced him to assume the identity of Magneto, battle the X-Men and destroy Manhattan. He was subsequently killed by Wolverine near the end of that battle, in the Planet X storyline.

Soon thereafter, his twin brother Shen surfaced and briefly joined the X-Men. This Xorn brother was de-powered during M-Day.

Because Xorn’s powers were psychokinetic, and his personality was so strong, it basically remained an almost disembodied sentient thing among the big ball of mutant energy. When that energy got sucked down to Earth by Michael and all absorbed by him, Xorn was the dominant personality in the mix, and that’s what drove him towards Genosha and Magneto.

That’s a lot of information that wasn’t well told and, idea of having a star/black hole in your head aside, leaves me with a very important question:  So the Xorn that went and got Magneto was Kwan-Yen Xorn (now called Star Xorn for context), not Shen Xorn (Black Hole Xorn).  So that means his ‘mutant energy’ was just floating around all that time since Morrison’s run?  It didn’t disspate, try and contact his brother, wasn’t detectable on Cerebro, wasn’t mentioned, wasn’t heard of until Decimation when it was … I guess, collected into all the mutant-less powers and … floated around in space when Michael somehow absorbed it from there and brought it to him … in Antartica, when he laid a swath of destruction that took out Alpha Flight, fought the New Avengers and then went and got Magneto up and running?

Though by the way Quesada says it, there’s a lot of similarities between Magneto in Quicksilver in that one was given their powers back by a bunch of mutant energy and the other was given his powers back by what could be considered a bunch of mutant energy as well.  Does this mean both might be able to give powers back?  I digress.

But all of that, all of that New Avengers nonesense was the result of a character who died ages ago, pre-HoM?  Or was Black Hole Xorn just as influenced by Something We’ll Get To Later, No Really?  There’s withholding information from you in order to create suspence and interest, and then there is near lying and dragging you along for an incomprehensible ride.

I’m going to go read Nextwave.