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    • Feb 27
    • 6 min read

225: UXM # 435 - 441 (She Lies with Angels)

What’s Covered?

UXM # 435 - 441, Mystique # 7 - 13, X-Men Unlimited vol. 2 # 1




Roster Watch




Synopsis

UXM # 435 - 436: The Trial of Juggernaut

Writer - Chuck Austen

Pencils - Ron Garney


Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #435    12/10/2003    Chuck Austen    Ron Garney


I always feel surprised when non X-men characters show up


  • She-Hulk sleeps with Juggs

  • Not gay?


Making out, making out! I was today years old when I learned that Juggernaut slept with She-Hulk. Interesting. I had always assumed (and I think everyone did) that Juggernaut and Black Tom were gay. I still don't think that's ever been confirmed. Even She-Hulk makes a comment about it. But like with Iceman, this could just be one writer not getting the message. Juggs could also be Bi. It could also just be a comic book and it doesn't matter.


Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #436    12/24/2003    Chuck Austen    Ron Garney

  • Juggs and She Hulk fight someone else in Juggernaut armor

  • It was a young boy. Xavier’s neighbor (I'm confused about this)

  • Sammy Fish Face’s mom (who is apparently not dead) said that Juggs saved her from her husband

  • Charges were dropped


UXM # 437 - 441: She Lies with Angels

Writer - Chuck Austen

Pencils - Salvador Larocca


Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #437    1/7/2004    Chuck Austen    Salvador Larroca

  • Jebediah Guthrie attacks a hick with mutant electricity powers

  • Josh Guthrie has red wings

  • Warren tells Paige he isn’t interested

  • The Guthries are kicked out of town

Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #438    1/21/2004    Chuck Austen    Salvador Larroca

  • Warren and Paige help a feud between the Guthries and Cabots 

  • Josh G loves a Cabot girl


So this is like a straight up Romeo and Juliet story. While that's kind of lame, I also kind of dig it. You see that everywhere, but I've never seen it in comics. So I'm here for it, Mr. Austen.


  • The Cabots are trying to systematically kill the Guthries and Pete the cop is in on it. 


This was surprising. You think you're dealing with a small town rivalry and then it turns out the cop is colluding to murder an entire family. Yeesh.


Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #439    2/4/2004    Chuck Austen    Salvador Larroca

  • Josh and Julia are in love

  • XM come to help 

  • Warren

  • NC

  • Husk

  • Havok

  • Polaris

  • W

  • NS

  • Julia and Josh are still in love

  • Cabot Senior has Iron Man armor somehow, plans to kill the Guthries


This random guy in Kentucky has Iron Man Armor. Perfectly acceptable plot point.


Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #440    2/18/2004    Chuck Austen    Salvador Larroca

  • Warren talks to Mrs Guthrie

  • Warren admits that he loves Paige but he’s just scared that she might get hurt

  • Paige and Warren fly off of the sky and have sex in front of her mom

  • Pete, the cop, almost shoots Lucinda Guthrie (the mom), who he was in love with, but Nightcrawler saves the day


Comments on this one below


Uncanny X-Men vol. 1 #441    3/3/2004    Chuck Austen    Salvador Larroca

  • Josh gets shot, but heals. But Julia killed herself first by drowning

  • Cabot tried to kill the kids, but NC saves them. The neighbor dad died though. 

  • Pete the Cop kills Cabbot senior


This got dark.


Mystique # 7 - 13

Writer - Brian K Vaughan

Pencils - Michael Ryan

Mystique #7    10/15/2003    Brian K. Vaughan    Michael Ryan

Mystique #8    11/26/2003    Brian K. Vaughan    Michael Ryan

Mystique #9    1/7/2004    Brian K. Vaughan    Michael Ryan

Mystique #10    1/28/2004    Brian K. Vaughan    Michael Ryan

  • M beats the Host and protects the virus

  • Short pack works for Shepard and his employer


I was pretty happy with this reveal as it woke me up a little from my boredom. For some reason I can't explain, I like Shortpack. So to find out he's corrupt was pretty interesting.


Mystique #11    2/25/2004    Brian K. Vaughan    Manuel Garcia

Mystique #12    3/24/2004    Brian K. Vaughan    Manuel Garcia

Mystique #13    4/28/2004    Brian K. Vaughan    Michael Ryan

X-Men Unlimited Vol 2 # 1

Writer - Tony Lee, J.T. Krul

Pencils - Ben Lai, Tom Mandrake


  • Sage Story

  • Sage reflects on her life and computer mind as she steals a photo of her and Charles Xavier

  • Student story

  • A rat boy named Andy saves a little girl from kidnappers on Halloween. 


My Connections and Creators

I'll work backwards. So I had soured on X-Men Unlimited vol. 1, but I'm going to give Volume 2 a shot. While the quality wasn't incredibly improved, I'm going to stick with it for two reasons. First, it's easier to stick with an average series when each issue isn't 52 pages! This first one was back to the standard 32 pages. It's like when you don't feel like starting a new show, but then you learn that it's only 30 minutes and that seems more manageable. The second reason for me sticking with it is that there are only 14 of them total.


This Mystique series, on the other hand, may have just lost me. It's not bad, it's just not terribly interesting either.


Alright, let's not waste any more time. Angel has sex with Paige in the sky, in front of her mom. Is this great? No, it is not. Is this the worst thing ever? Maybe not. Let me explain. I've seen seen this panel numerous times in various "worst things ever" X-Men articles. While this is pretty bad, it's missing some context. Angel spends the entire night talking to Lucinda (Paige's mom) about his feelings for Paige. While Lucinda probably didn't want him to go sleep with her in the air, she actually encouraged him to pursue her. The other part of this that's described as her being terrible is that she's underage. After hearing about this, I assumed she must be a young teenager, however they have gone out of their way (in New X-Men too) to clarify that she's 19. That's young, but it's a year past legal age. It's less messed up than Kitty being 13 dating a 19 year old. And just as messed up as Kitty being "18" and dating mid thirties Pete Wisdom.


Characters

Archangel

Warren is still the leader. I can't tell you how many times I'm reading about a story with a character and I'm just thinking "Isn't this resolved already?" or "didn't this happen once before?" That's how I feel about his arc with Paige. I'm fairly certain he had a period of questioning himself earlier, came to grips with it, and then decided to embrace it. Oh well, that's what he's doing again.


I'll say this, Chuck Austen is the first writer to make me give two shits about Archangel. Will other authors continue to feature him or will he disappear again?


Juggernaut

Juggernaut continues to be the best character in this series. I was expecting his trial to be a rip off of the Trial of Magneto. Instead he just bangs his lawyer, fights a random doppleganger of himself, and then charges are dropped. But that works for me.


Husk

I've always liked Husk and I continue to like her even more in this comic than I did in Generation X. She's a true member of the X-Men, which was always her dream. She does spend a decent amount of time in relationship drama, but she also does some great Husking!


Wolverine

To make a point about how Wolverine is being used, let me compare some of the images I used for him from the Jim Lee era to the last 3 images I used for him here:

1990's:


2000's:



Notice the difference?


Havok

I don't believe he talks in this arc.


Polaris

I don't believe she talks in this arc.


Northstar

Let's get Northstar into the X-Men and then completely under-utilize him!


Nightcrawler

I don't believe he talks in this arc.


Iceman

Once again, this is pretty much a Juggernaut, Archangel, and Husk story. Very little to no Iceman.


My Rating- 6/10




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