All-New X-Men #10 - Cyclops finally gets to present his side of the argument and it's pretty damn convincing. Frankly, that should end the series. "Oh, you were possessed by a thingie? Maybe you could've exercised some more willpower but you really weren't responsible for your actions? OK, i guess we can go home then." Wolverine should never say "Rrrrrhate him!!" like a petulant 4 year old. And can this be paced any slower? Did we really need such a clunky cliffhanger? Couldn't we have revealed on page 4 who it was that was going to "defect" and let them discuss the implications of it a little more? Regarding the new Brotherhood, i recognize that Lady Mastermind can obviously create illusions. But storywise, wouldn't it be better for her to not use that power to give everyone Mystique's ability? Doesn't that make Mystique redundant? Thanks to min, i'm now completely distracted by young Iceman's "snowman" form. We're 10 issues in and nothing has happened in this book so i'm at the point where as soon as we get to a logical break we can put this on the bargain trade wait list.

Red She-Hulk #64 - I like this book. The Mole Man's son was fun. The stuff with Ancient SHIELD is done in such a way that even if you don't really like the implications of that series, it still works as a cool Indiana Jones/Illuminatus type story. I like RShulk's "always attack, ready for anything" personality, and i of course like Machine Man too. The only thing that is missing from this series, and it's not a problem for any particular issue but it's something the series eventually needs to address, is that there's still no connection back to the "old" Betty Ross. There's nothing that makes this character Betty. As i've said before, Parker did a great job relating the Red Hulk back to General Ross, so i am hoping he'll get to do the same here, and considering how poorly this title sells i hope he does it sooner than later.

Indestructible Hulk #6 - It's funny; i've been reading the howls of outrage over how Hulk lifts Thor's hammer in this book, but this is so clearly a Not What It Seems scenario that you have to assume the people complaining haven't actually read the issue. As for the actual story, i thought it was fun. I do have some problems about Walt Simonson's art nowadays, unfortunately. Not sure how to describe it, but his light sketchy art has become heavy sketchy art, as if he is inking his every stray line very darkly or the process is now going direct from pencils and picking up too much. But there are too many line everywhere and it doesn't work with modern coloring and paper. I still like it. Love the detail, love how much action can be shown in one comic, fight scenes that are actually choreographed, details about what's happening, all wonderful. I think what i really want is for this to be on newsprint and manually colored!

The problem with arguing that Scott wasn't responsible for his actions as the Dark Phoenix is that the Dark Phoenix was as much him as the Goblyn Queen was Maddie and everyone holds Maddie responsible for her actions as the Goblyn Queen. Arguing that the husband wasn't responsible for his actions but the wife was is arguably sexist.
(Of course, the real problem is that Marvel uses the "he wasn't in his right mind" excuse inconsistently.)

ANXM: i don't like that young Jean Grey's taken the telepathic powers in stride so easily and so quickly. shouldn't she have had a breakdown from suddenly getting her telepathic powers like just about every mutant whose powers suddenly manifested? in the most recent issue of X-Force, there's a flashback to when Psylocke's powers first manifest and how she ended up curled up on a bed in her apartment for weeks due to the trauma of hearing everyone's thoughts. but teenaged Jean Grey, ripped from her own time and plopped in this bizarro world she's told is the future, not only seems to have no problems with hearing people's thoughts, she's actively data mining Kitty Pryde's brain and is so confident in herself that she's telling the other members of her team what to do, zapping Angel and not feeling guilty about it. who is this person??

also, i don't know what the point of this whole story is. Beast brought them back to be the voice of present-day Cyclops' conscience, except they won't actually let the kids interact with present-day Cyclops. they're just hanging around training with Kitty. what the hell for? just send them back to the 1960s already since you aren't doing anything useful with them.

RSH: would someone please give her a name that's not stupid. it's prolly too late. ugh.

so, yes, this is a fun book, but there's too much focus on the "fugitives on the lam" aspect of the story and too little on furthering the Tesla/Shield world order conspiracy. a few more bread crumbs wouldn't be amiss here. it feels like the plot's dragging.

IH: i hate Banner's lavendar armor. i really do. mostly, i hate that the Hulk is now in lavendar armor all the time. the Hulk doesn't need no stinkin' armor!

i know you all love Simonsen's art. you have nostalgic love for it. but this is just not good. the storytelling is there, absolutely. but there are just too many lines, and the expressions are wonky, and it's clearly not as good as his earlier stuff. i say get him an inker. taking out some of those extraneous lines could do wonders.

On the question of Scott being responsible, the key for me is that Scott says he wasn't. He's got little reason to lie (he's already broken out of prison), and his "I would hope you all know me well enough to know that i would never do that." rings true. He may still be "responsible" in the sense that the X-Men or Avengers need to bring him to justice. But that's not a problem for the Young X-Men from the past. If Scott was unrepentant about killing Xavier ("I had to do it; he was holding back mutant progress.") then yes, bringing in a version of himself and his friends from a more innocent time might have restored his moral compass. But that's clearly not the case here.