X-Men #28 (2023)
-
tirepanted3
- Posts: 2300
- Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:40 am
X-Men #28 (2023)
Firestar sneaks into a lab facility and steals a security uniform.
-
simon4242
- Posts: 749
- Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:35 pm
Re: X-Men #28 (2023)
was it a fatal steal
-
rufusluciusivan
- Posts: 1556
- Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2017 5:08 pm
Re: X-Men #28 (2023)
The set-up of the steal is wonderful - with the guard having already stripped of her casual clothes, and starting to put on her uniform, unaware the intruder is right behind her and about to strike. Love the detail the girl still has her beanie on. Personally, I much prefer the "Modern Age" art styles of comic books compared to the classic "Golden Age" ones. Though it has the side-effect of making some of these scenes a bit frustrating, when the victim is a good-looking girl, but who only has one panel / one page worth of screen time before the plot forgets she even existed. (I'm still not over that cute blonde from the Doctor Aphra issue, who didn't even get an aftermath scene... 
Or that goth girl dressed as an Alice henchwoman in that issue of Spider-Man.) Authors come up with cute/good designs that we barely see... And it's a bit true with this guard as well.
It's a shame most of the scene is left ambiguous (and offscreen). (The full issue can be found on some websites, but doesn't give more clues.) Though, given the general mood of the story, I take it the ambiguity and violence are deliberate.
I guess it's up to interpretation whether it's fatal or not. Still, I believe it's non-lethal. Sure, the character pulls no punches, and the knock-out blow is a bit violent. However, she's also a mole working for the X-Men, who are clear-cut "good guys". Plus, she uses a blunt object to hit the guard, and in fiction it's usually a code to indicate a non-lethal knock-out. (To the point there's even a trope - Tap on the Head - that discusses this narrative convention.) Same with the sound effect. WHUDD doesn't scream neck broken to me - and I've already read issues in which a 'KRAK!' was used to indicate a non-lethal KO (since the girl is bound and gagged afterwards...), so...
All in all, this scene is a great source of inspiration. I must find a way to feature this guard somehow. She'll find out things are a bit gentler in Earth-USB... Though she'll still lose her uniform and dignity, that's non negotiable! Thanks for sharing, tirepanted.
Or that goth girl dressed as an Alice henchwoman in that issue of Spider-Man.) Authors come up with cute/good designs that we barely see... And it's a bit true with this guard as well.It's a shame most of the scene is left ambiguous (and offscreen). (The full issue can be found on some websites, but doesn't give more clues.) Though, given the general mood of the story, I take it the ambiguity and violence are deliberate.
I guess it's up to interpretation whether it's fatal or not. Still, I believe it's non-lethal. Sure, the character pulls no punches, and the knock-out blow is a bit violent. However, she's also a mole working for the X-Men, who are clear-cut "good guys". Plus, she uses a blunt object to hit the guard, and in fiction it's usually a code to indicate a non-lethal knock-out. (To the point there's even a trope - Tap on the Head - that discusses this narrative convention.) Same with the sound effect. WHUDD doesn't scream neck broken to me - and I've already read issues in which a 'KRAK!' was used to indicate a non-lethal KO (since the girl is bound and gagged afterwards...), so...
All in all, this scene is a great source of inspiration. I must find a way to feature this guard somehow. She'll find out things are a bit gentler in Earth-USB... Though she'll still lose her uniform and dignity, that's non negotiable!
Thanks for sharing, tirepanted.-
tirepanted3
- Posts: 2300
- Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:40 am
Re: X-Men #28 (2023)
You're welcome. 
I love Golden Age comic art - there's something charming about its simplicity - but of course there is a lot of gorgeous art in modern comics. However, a lot of modern comics have a lot of stories to juggle - especially X-Men series, which deals with dozens of different characters - so there isn't much time to linger on USB scenes.
As for the scene itself, there's no way it was lethal. Firestar is one of the heroines, even though in this storyline she is working undercover with the villains. The knockout itself is a bit brutal, a sign that she's pulling no punches, but she's also not a killer. She probably left the real guard tied up in one of the lockers.
I love Golden Age comic art - there's something charming about its simplicity - but of course there is a lot of gorgeous art in modern comics. However, a lot of modern comics have a lot of stories to juggle - especially X-Men series, which deals with dozens of different characters - so there isn't much time to linger on USB scenes.As for the scene itself, there's no way it was lethal. Firestar is one of the heroines, even though in this storyline she is working undercover with the villains. The knockout itself is a bit brutal, a sign that she's pulling no punches, but she's also not a killer. She probably left the real guard tied up in one of the lockers.
