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Sorry about that, y'all. For some reason, updating the indices has caused the feed to spazz.

So, I have a copy of the GenX Underground Special in my hot little hands, and it's all I can do to keep from licking the cover, it's so sexy. Jim Mahfood's black and white art is sixty three different kinds of amazing, and the very concept of Bishop with an afro blows my mind from here to Tijuana.

I've now got hard copies of GenX 1-4, 7-8, 17, 19-22, 27-32, 35, 41, and 71, plus the Underground Special, Flashback #1, and the collector's preview. I found a comic shop near the Joann Fabrics down Rt 1, which is where I picked up 7, 41, and 71; the rest came from Ebay. I like having the actual books to read; there's something nicely satisfying about holding a piece of art in your hands. Sadly, somewhere after issue 16, Marvel decided to cut printing costs by using cheaper paper, so some of the color and ink integrity gets lost. The scans provide better image quality than the actual books, which is too bad. The earlier issues are beautiful, though, all glossy and bright.

I miss the way Jono called everyone "Sunshine" in the early issues, and I wish the writers could have at least attempted some sort of internal consistency. Angelo is at times Puerto Rican, at times Mexican; sometimes he's from East LA, sometimes he's from South Central. M could see in the dark in the Lobdell run- it was explicitly stated in the first few issues, in fact- but during Zero Tolerance, it was explicitly stated that she couldn't. None of the artists really ever knew what colors Artie and Leech were. It's frustrating- the characters all had such amazing potential, and they were consistently sold short by the creative teams.

Lobdell and Bachalo had a good thing going with the creation of the book, but I feel that Lobdell could have worked better to make an actual team of the group. After they left, it took a good twenty issues for Faerber to pick up the ball and put together a properly cohesive team and family unit out of Generation X. Warren Ellis, for all that I adore him, has a tendency to ignore what his predecessors have done in favor of his own creative vision; the last thirteen issues of the series tell a completely different kind of story. I like what he did with the characters (the butchering of Emma's speech patterns aside), but I'm not sure I approve of the way he twisted the setting.

I am, by the way, still sulking after Holy War, and still furious over the way they handled the funeral in UXM 427. If Austen was going to fuck up the details that badly, the least they could have done was gotten a decent artist for the issue, but no. Too much to ask.

Marvel needs to stop hiring manga artists for the X-Men. Seriously. I buy American comics, I want to see American-style art. Fuck your big-eyes-small-mouth shite, if I wanted that, I'd read Sailor Moon. This is the sort of style I dislike even in my manga, never mind my X-Men.

When I start reading the Liefield/Nicieza X-Force limited series and find myself actually enjoying the art, you know something is wrong. Of course, old school Liefield makes me inexplicably happy- comics back then were simpler, and involved larger guns and more explosions.

But Liefield is still a crazy hack. Much as I feel nostalgic for the good ol' days, there's something to be said for plots that make sense. I forgive him for all things, though, because Domino wearing Stryfe's armor, and being like, a foot taller than Nathan? Hawt. ("You're taller than me." "Does that bother you?" "Actually...I kind of like it.") Alas, I am so shallow. And I vaguely want to find fic for Cable and alterna-Dom.

Liefield was also in charge of the Shatterstar limited series; it makes very little sense and looks kind of weird, and only serves to further drive home the fact that Shatterstar has gotten shafted repeatedly in terms of representation. I can only hope that someday someone will see fit to properly explain his backstory, and that project will be given a decent artist who knows what color his hair is. (Let's not talk about his last appearance in X-Force, where the artist evidently got him confused with Adam-X. Chrisy.)

I need to obtain the TPB of the Madrox limited series, and the first volume of X-Factor Investigations; Jamie has always been one of my favorite characters, and it pleases me to see him finally getting his chance in the spotlight. And Rictor is in X-Factor now, which is cool. I can only hope Peter David will remember that Ric and Shatterstar are actually hetero-lifemates, and will be having the latter make an appearance in the book at some point.

In the meantime, since I've chewed through most of my Marvel stuff, I've picked up the Ellis runs of Stormwatch. And...I adore Warren Ellis. Because some lines and instances are just so purely him, they made me giggle madly. Like every time Fuji speaks. It's good stuff, and I'm sad not all of the Stormwatch characters survived the transition into The Authority.

Now that I've run out of comics-related things to talk about, I'll have to babble about sewing. Excitement for everyone! ...or, y'know, not.

(It's funny how I've been waiting all summer for school to start back up, but here I am with less than a week left, completely and totally unprepared. Go, me.)