The issues in this iteration are New Warriors #31, X-Factor #88-91, Avengers v1 #350-351, X-Force #19, and Uncanny X-Men #298-300.

Usually the unnamed folders tend to be a collection of one offs and that’s about right. A New Warriors issue closing the matter of Nova Roma, X-Factor closing up some Genosha plot threads and introducing the Legacy Virus, a really, really dry multi-issue story of Avengers where some dumb space stuff happens and Carol Danvers quits the Starjammers, X-Force heading out on their own with no ‘adults’ watching them, and the genocidal return of the Acolytes, and more importantly Fabian Cortez, in Uncanny.

There is a pretty great letter in Uncanny #298 where a guy goes off on Marvel for comparing the mutant rights struggle to the gay rights struggle. If you’re as big a fan of homophobia as i am, its definitely worth a read.

The next issue has the introduction of Graydon Creed, leader of the Friends of Humanity, a Ku Klux Klan-esque human supremacist organization, and the introduction of Gamesmaster, the uh gamemaster of the Upstarts Game. Fabian Cortez is winning that because HE MURDERED MAGNETO !!!

There’s a friggin awesome ad for the X-Men game for the Sega Genesis in X-Factor #91. Really neat art. Shades of Sienkiewicz. The art in these issues is pretty neat too. The current (as in 2009) editor-in-chief of Marvel, Joe Quesada, drew ‘em. #89 also marks the apparent departure of Peter David from the writing staff of X-Force. David was awesome, with a great blend of stupid superhero drama, off-beat humor, and ‘modern’ cultural references, he really brought X-Factor to life and made it stand out from the other X-books. Here’s to hoping the book continues on its streak of awesome even without its guiding light.

Uncanny X-Men #300 is a huge number. 300 issues of Uncanny, that’s just nuts. This issue is something special. Moira, kidnapped by the acolytes between the last issue of X-Factor and this issue of Uncanny, is hella tortured. Amelia Voight finds out what Fabian Cortez did to Magneto (murdered him). But the best part is the Epilogue. It has basically everything i like about the Upstarts: Fabian Cortez really angry, Fabian Cortez shouting about how he killed Magneto, Gamesmaster, and a huge out-of-the-blue swerve. Cortez loses all his points to date, and the reason why? Well, as Gamesmaster says, Figure it out yourself. Following that is a dissection of the Legacy Virus. Always fatal. Poor Illyana. also Bamf sighting on the last page.

Well that about does it for 135 Unnamed. Next time is 136 – “Heirs of Tomorrow,” a 6 issue X-Force arc that i assume is dealing with Sam trying to fill Cable’s tiny little Liefeld shoes. i am v.open to suggestions re: improving this ‘feature’ fyi

Basically i am reading every issue of every X-Book from X-Men #1 til i am caught up. I didn’t think of blogging until now, when i am on story arc #135. its numbered by the dude who put the torrent together i forget his name, but i think its neron. mad props neron. anyway im not gonna link@ the thing but its findable in 18 ~2gig parts on yr favorite tracker.

things that are happening in 616 as of what looks like January 1993:

• The teams are the X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, and Excaliber. Each of these have their own book, except the X-Men who have two. Uncanny X-Men follows the adventures of X-Men Gold Team (lead by Storm) and X-Men Vol. 2 follows the X-Men Blue Team (lead by Cyclops). Wolverine is a member of the Blue Team but he is also on his own a lot doing “Cool Things.”
• X-Factor is the government run mutant crime fighting organization, taking the reigns from Freedom Force after the disaster that was the Dallas Incident. Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Quicksilver, Val Cooper, Wolfsbane.
• X-Force was Cable’s mutant terrorist cell. X-Force was made up of former New Mutants, Hellions, Morlocks, and X-Factor kids. They blew up government buildings and fought the X-Men as part of Cable’s war for the future. As of right now: Cannonball, Warpath, Boom-Boom, ??????????
• I don’t know what Excaliber’s deal is and im not exactly riveted by it. Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, Meggan, Phoenix II, Shadowcat.
• A while back, Jean Grey dies, comes back to life, dies again, Cyclops is a blubbering, moody mess. All of a sudden this woman who looks Exactly like Jean Grey in every way comes out of nowhere. Scott thinks she is Jean, turns out she’s not. She and Scott get married, have a son: Nathan Christopher Summers.

Scott quits the X-Men and moves to Alaska to live with Maddy and Nate. One day, Scott (a huge dick) gets a phone call saying Jean Grey is miraculously alive. Scott abandons his family and goes after his wife’s doppleganger, the real Jean Grey, and X-Factor is born.

While Scott is galavanting with his old bimbo and his hooligan friends, Maddy is suffering alone with Nathan when she is attacked by Mr. Sinister and his Marauders. Sinister takes the kid, hospitalizes Maddy. Scott feels bad about ditching them, goes home, finds his house leveled. Also i think he fights Master-mold again around this time.

Maddy is attacked again and running from the Marauders, she goes to the X-Men. At this point it gets a little confusing. See, the X-Men didn’t know Jean Grey was alive, Maddy didn’t know Jean Grey was alive. The X-Men thought X-Factor were mutant exterminators, as was their public image, and X-Factor thought the X-Men were genetic terrorists, as was their public reputation.

The X-Men “die” during the Incident at Dallas, along with Madelyne Pryor. They are resurrected, brought to Lady Deathstrike and Donald Pierce’s Reaver’s base. There they had access to superadvanced surveillance equipment and computers and also access to Gateway, an Aborigine mutant who could teleport others. The X-Men were effectively everywhere at all times, fighting for equality etc, and Maddy was in charge of Tech Support. She finds out Jean Grey is alive, and she and Scott are X-Factor. This totally friggin’ tilts her. She ends up hooking up Scott’s brother, Havok.

Some dumb stuff happens, Maddy ends up making a couple of deals with devils and becomes a monster who’s only want in life is to make Scott Summers suffer the way he made her suffer.  One of the Demons, N’astirh, takes her to Scott’s old orphanage, turns out its actually one of Mister Sinister’s genetic dicking labs where he dicks around with genetic crap. Turns out that this woman, an exact physical double of Jean Grey, is actually a clone made with the express intent to breed with Scott Summers and spawn a baby for Sinister to dick around with, but when the Phoenix killed herself on the moon, part of it combined with Madelyne, making her a really weird clone. Sinister tells her all this stuff and then orders her killed. Well, you don’t just tell a demon-possessed woman, who is also able to tap into the phoenix force, to die. Maddy, now the Goblyn Queen. goes crazy.

Meanwhile, back in NYC, the Gates of Limbo, Illyana Rasputin’s realm, are opening and demons are pouring in. X-Factor, X-Men, New Mutants, and the X-Cutioners are all fighting these demons and eventually get up the Empire State Building to fight N’astirh and the Goblyn Queen. She loses, commits suicide, and tries to take Jean with her. The Phoenix offers to save Jean under one condition: she absorbs the Phoenix’s and Maddy’s memories. Jean accepts of course and survives. The portal closes, Illyana turns into a little kid, and everything is back to “normal.”

Before Inferno, X-Factor encountered Apocalypse. Apocalypse keeps friggin’ trying to bring to pass judgment on the weak, but X-Factor beats him. Warren Worthington III, the Angel, loses is wings, is suicidal, tries to blow himself up in a plane. Apocalypse rescues him, gives him metal wings, turns him blue and evil.

After the events of Inferno, Apocalypse realized what Sinister was doing by dicking around with a Summers kid. He was trying to make someone that could theoretically beat him once and for all. Apocalypse conquers the moon, kidnaps lil Nathan, takes him to the moon. The combined might of the Inhuman Royal Family and X-Factor rescue Nathan but not before Apocalypse infects him with his own personal blend of the techno-organic virus. Some chick appears, calls herself Askani, tells Scott and Jean that the boy can be saved from the T-O virus if she can be allowed to take him to the future with her. Scott and Jean say sure and Nathan disappears with Askani. X-Factor ends.

Shortly after this, a character named Cable appears. He’s an old dude, infected with a dormant form of the T-O virus, and pissed at pretty much everything. At the same time, a guy named Stryfe shows up. Stryfe is a terrorist, blowing stuff up to disrupt society. Cable is a terrorist of a different kind. He blows stuff up to save society. The X-Men hate Cable. Magneto, who is currently the headmaster at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, and hence the leader of the New Mutants, hates Cable. He hates Cable’s “bring the fight to them by any means necessary” tactics. The New Mutants however, tired of Magneto’s power-free environment, join up with Cable. He molds them into a squad of elite terrorists known as X-Force. At roughly the same time, X-Factor is reformed, this time as a governmental team.

One day, Cable up and tries to assassinate Professor X. But its not Cable, its a dude who looks exactly like Cable but acts a lot like Stryfe. Scott and Jean are kidnapped. Its assumed that Stryfe and Cable are working in cahoots, shot Xavier, and then Apocalypse kidnapped Jean and Scott.

When the X-People find Apocalypse, he is nearly dead, his attempts to recharge being interrupted by Stryfe.  He wants revenge. Wolverine and Bishop find the innocent Cable, who takes them to the future to figure out where Stryfe is.

Turns out he’s on the moon, the same place where Nathan Summers was kidnapped too. Everyone goes there, X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, Apocalypse, everyone. Stryfe reveals to Jean and Scott that he is Nathan Christopher Summers and that Cable is his clone. They all fight, Apocalypse is presumed dead. Cable opens a temporal rift, kills Stryfe, disappears.

Immediately before attacking Apocalypse and kidnapping Scott and Jean, Stryfe gave Mister Sinister a canister claiming it contained genetic material harvested from the Summers. After the battle on the moon, The X-Cutioner’s Song, Sinister opens the canister to find it completely empty.

Somewhere in there, Magneto built a big asteroid/satellite thing, called it Asteroid M and welcomed any mutant wanting to escape from human oppression. Everything goes horribly wrong and his own Acolyte, his second in command, Fabian Cortez murders him. The Asteroid blows up, the Acolytes narrowly escape. Magneto is dead.

I think that just about brings you up to date. I’m planning on going through the 134 stories previous to this next one eventually, but not for a long dang while.

SO LET THE GAME OF UPSTARTS BEGIN.

1:53 – Listening to Magic Trick by M.Ward, giving up on find familiar faces.

1:54 – Our Father by D+.  staring at President Clark, hoping that makes him stand up quicker and begin devotional.

1:54.5 – i think my computer clock is wrong. Either its wrong or the digital clock on the wall is wrong. it is so not 1:57.  checking my ipod.

1:55 – my ipod says its 2:01. no wonder i’m always early to Book of Mormon.  Well, except when i neglect to go at all.  Didn’t even hear the alarm this morning wtdh.

1:56/1:58/2:02 – WHAT TIME IS IT REALLY

1:56.5 – decided to just go by my computer clock.  its better for my sanity i think.

1:57 – Devotional is starting, THREE MINUTES EARLIER.

1:57.5 – not sure who is speaking, still had my headphones on. Ugh we’re singing because I have been given much.

1:58 – whooooooooooooooooooooo haaaaaaaaaaaaaas the need of heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp from meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. the tempo feels off i dont know why.  Feeling self conscious about my jeans and my rock band shirt. Also about my blogging. Maybe i should tweet this? going to get my internet right and then im going to tweet all devotionals. @BYUIBoredomAndUncomfortableSeats imo.

2:00 – short song. Forgot it was tuesday today so i just wore street clothes to science. Then i saw all the ties!!!!! Oh well, its the thought that counts.

2:01 – Brother Richard Smith. That’s his name. He is the liason between BYUI and the City of Rexburg! PoliSci BS, Law Degree, Idaho Bar, church lawyer like Pres. Corbit i think.

2:03 – starting to think i should maybe be editing myself a little but nah screw it stream of consciousness.

2:03.5 – need a haircut or something. hair in my eyes is starting to bug me i think.

2:04 – i dont get this whole “lets show x that we’re ready to be taught so lift up yr scriptures!!!!!” thing.  “TRADITION” i guess. Neat scripture today tho.  Lift up dangly arms, get a mansion.

2:05 – Choir is singing. The more comfortable i try to get my legs, the less comfortable my typing becomes. I think my pants are shrinking re: length and growing re: waist.  Or i’m just losing weight and getting taller. Frustrating really. Need New Pants 4sure. Skin tight, leopard print imo.

2:07 – and we’re off. Brother Smith approaches the stand.

2:08 – only 33 minutes of battery life left. Gosh this is going to be frantic towards the end. here’s hoping we end before 4:41!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2:08 – thats 2:43 Wall Clock Time.

2:09 – Whoa.  The student population of BYUI is half the population of Rexburg. That’s ridiculous. Why am I here again? Oh, right, 2.3.

2:11 – YO SPIRIT OF RICKS WOOOOOO

2:12 – Dude’s got a crazy memory!  Remembering how he met his wife right now, blind date. Love at first sight.

2:13 – HAHA RUMBLED.  Saw her at the door, said he was here to pick up Jill, she said “No Jill left 15 minutes ago.” Then her roommates started laughing and oh gee. Hilarious.

2:14 – Feeling self-conscious about my Pink Spiders sticker on my laptop. Need to get a B&S and a NPSH sticker.

2:15 – oh he’s talking about friends. No wait he’s talking about strangers. Matt 22, “Love the lord thy god. Love thy neighbor as thy self.”  Matt 25:31, “Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I were hungry, you gave me meat, etc.” “Lord, we don’t remember when you were hungry and we fed thee.” “Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done this unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

2:18 – A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief just popped into my head. Man that song :’] I can see why it was a favorite of The Prophet.

2:19 – Oh gosh, hitting me where it hurts: insecurity.

2:21 – haha he hung around Hard Rock Musicians, oh no!

2:24 – okay i guess i paid attention to this for no reason, re: all my friends are p.great mormons. No hard rock musicians for me.

2:25 – “The best we can be really is who we are.” Goshdang thats profound, not even being sarcastic there.

2:27 – 13 minutes of battery life remaining. Don’t know where those two minutes went. Wait, yes i do. my wireless card was still on D:,’

2:29 – “President Monson, what do you do all day? Do you just go to church all the time?” “A few administrative duties, watching over the church, then, we listen.” Then he told stories about reaching out to those who were in need, those alone, those who were strange.

2:30 – “Parting guidance?” “Always remember, you never know who’s angel you’re supposed to be.”

2:31 – 7 minutes remaining.

3:02 – my computer died at 2:35. In the 4 minutes between 2:31 and 2:35, brother smith talked about picking up chicks.  I’ll type what i can from memory.  i cant time stamp it unfortunately.

“Think back over today.  Think about the people you’ve seen. What have you felt or thought while seeing/meeting them? The warm feeling when you bump into a good friend or roommate, that cute boy you saw, maybe you should talk to him, a member of your study group, that cute boy again, he seems to be in a bunch of your classes maybe you should talk to him. Oh but he’s quiet and reserved, maybe there is something sad about his countenance, maybe you need to speak to him, be his angel.”  The whole time Brother Smith is saying this i am screaming in my head, “YES TALK TO HIM DO IT TALK TO HIM.”

then he says “When I was a youth going to Ricks College, I was terrified when it came to meeting girls. When it came to the moment of truth when I spoke to them, i shrunk back, i ran away, i was afraid. […] My daughter loves it here blah blah blah she gave some advice, ‘No matter what you do or who you are, put yourself out there.’ Put yourself directly in the path of that other person you need to reach.” “OKAY I WILL JUST RUN RIGHT INTO Q. TOMORROW, FULL SPEED AHEAD.”

Seems like a good plan to me.

I was just thinking right now not ten seconds ago, top five favorite bands off the top of my head.

1. Mountain Goats obv
2. Belle and Sebastian also obv
3. Beat Happening
4. David Bowie
5. ?????

Can’t really think of a fifth artist that i like enough to say “Yeah thats my fifth favorite artist.”  I think my facebook says that Harry Chapin has that coveted spot but who knows maybe i made that when i was on a chapin kick.  It could just as easily be Blind Guardian or Eluveitie or Rammstein or All Girl Summer Fun Band or heck even the Decemberists. When it comes down to it though, i can’t make that final cut.  I dont think any of these artists can affect me as emotionally as tMG and B&S do, or as creatively as Beat Hap and Bowie.  Basically all the music I listen to has influenced they way I think, has influenced my paradigm, has formed my opinions towards different things that also affect my life.  I mean, my whole personality could basically be divined from those four artists, my outlook on art itself is in there.  So uh i guess what i’m saying is that the reason i listen to those artists so much is because they make me?

I dont know how to solidly choose that fifth arist. It just seems to me that I should choose an artist that has had a lot of influence on me. I guess thats The Decemberists and Rammstein. Getting into those two bands laid the groundwork for what i was to become. But the problem with using either one of those is that i kind of grew out of them? Pretension and silly vulgarity arent really what i look for anymore. I’d much rather listen to anything really. There are still like five Decemberists songs i love (Grace Cathedrial Hill, Everything I Try To Do Nothing Seems To Turn Out Right, Engine Driver, I Don’t Mind, Angel Won’t You Call) and sometimes i really get in a Rammstein mood, but I wouldn’t put them on the same level as tMG, B&S, Beat Hap, or Bowie as far as I Could Listen To Them Forever And Never Get Bored.

Maybe I need to acknowledge my metal side. Man cannot live on Twee, and Folk, and Glam alone. Then you have the next dilemma. Blind Guardian, the indisputable Power Metal kings, or Eluveitie, pagan folk metal and hurdy gurdies $$$$. While both Nightfall in Middle-Earth by BG and Slania by Eluveitie have influenced me and introduced me to two of my favorite genres (Power Metal and Melodic Death Metal), are they really top five material? I dont like all of Blind Guardian’s catalog in the same way I like all of the Mountain Goats or Belle and Sebastian or Beat Hap, and I haven’t even heard all of Eluveitie’s catalog. They were influential to me and i still love them, but do i love them that much?

All Girl Summer Fun Band rules. Everything about them is awesome, i could listen to them forever, just incredible music but………………….. Do i really want All Girl Summer Fun Band in my top 5?

Screw it, number 5 is Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head.

2-Stars:
58 of 58

3-Stars:
58 of 58

4-Stars:
58 of 58

5-Stars:
56 of 58

6-Stars:
30 of 58

100%:
10 of 58

Total Score:
8,014,652

Overall Rank:
800th

Heck. Yes.

Just gotta get that FC count higher.  I’ve got 17 counting DLC tho. 54 DLC 5G*.  How indecipherable is that if you dont scorehero?  FULL COMBO DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT FIVE GOLD STARS.

Anyway 8mil is a nice score I am pretty satisfied with 8,000,000.  Next step is 9mil >:]

There is no way i am getting nine million before school.  I’m pretty sure that entails FCing the setlist with bad pathing.

Although when it comes down to it, Rock Band scoregrinding is an allegory.  Much as I spent several hours yesterday playing Train Kept A Rollin’ and Run to the Hills, do we not, as members of the church, spend several hours grinding our callings?  Maybe we should take time out to reflect back on what needs to be done and think of creative ways to get it done.  I gained 25,000 points playing those two songs and I was still 50,000 away from my target goal. But then I sat down and I gave it a think.  It occurred to me: try an easier song from a different angle.  At first I thought it would be useless. I surely must have milked all the potential points from these low tier tracks.  But sure enough I booted up Seven, and bang quick scored 75,000 points higher than my recorded best.  But wait, how does that apply to my calling? Let’s say that this month you are lagging behind on your home teaching.  You keep calling to make an appointment but you and your family’s schedules always seem to clash.  Remember that your responsibility as a home teacher isn’t that of a lecturer! Maybe you and your companion can bake up a small plate of cookies or lemon bars and leave them at your family’s doorstep with a little note.  Inside the note, leave an inspirational scripture along with a message assuring them that, no matter what, they can always contact you!  Remember to leave your names and phone numbers, lest they forget ;-]

I think the real draw of Turisas is how even though they’re trying to throw this pagan, viking appearance of raping and pillaging etc, they’re really a family friendly band. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its a real boon to me when I find good metal that isn’t Fistfucking God’s Planet with Christraping Black Metal. Sometimes I don’t want to compromise my morals when I listen to music I love.  I just want to sit back and enjoy the riffs. I think its important that a Young Mormon in today’s world have the chance and opportunity to sit back and enjoy a moment immersed in music that, while maybe not as spiritually uplifting as say MoTab, isn’t utterly repulsive to the Spirit. I’d play Rasputin for President Monson if he wanted to hear a cool song.

Okay just read the JC Chasez article on Wikipedia.  Apparently he worked on Unbreakable with the Backstreet Boys and his new album, Kate, is due out in 2008 after being postponed from last year.  I hope the intervening years havent corrupted him, since Unbreakable totally blew.  Listening to Treat Me Right (the JC/AJ team up track off Unbreakable) and really its unmistakably Chasez influenced.  The claps and the goofy synth that are his trademarks are pretty strongly present here. These Backstreet harmonies are really hurting the track though.  The synth melody sounds a lot like With or Without You P:,’

There is one (1) good track on Soviet Kitsch by Regina Spektor.  Sailor Song.  But it is such an amazingly bright gem in the otherwise boring gravel pit that is Soviet Kitsch. Yeah, Regina, you’re right.  Maryanne is a bitch. Why doesnt she just take her dress off, I mean she’s kissing til her lips bleed as is. Americana, Tropicana.

I uh Procured like six gigs of Van Morrison the other day, and let me just say I long just to hold you tight so i can feel you, sweet lady of the night.  I shall reveal you.  Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher, radio.  Turn it up, thats enough, so you know, its got soul. Radio, radio, turn it up, radio.

As hard as i tried, still forgot.  Oh well.  In the mean time, since the last post i have:  Seen Eisley, The Myriad, and Regina Spektor, downloaded like 50 more Rock Band tracks, and very nearly finished high school. I also got a first place on a hard vocals track, broke 100 on an on-disc expert guitar track, and got myself banned from SH.  All in all a good couple of months.

I’m using Windows Live Writer which is v.jizzworthy at this point.  Still figuring out how to use it, and i doubt ill be taking most of its significant features into use but hey its pretty slick.

Bands I Want To See Live

• All of the bands ever