I SO enjoyed that too Matt (you're first comment). Now I'm waiting for an "Of course you know, this means war." from Kitty (which we sorta got).

I'm still trying to figure out if Emma has really gone bad. She doesn't seem terribly happy that everything is going as planned. On the other hand, she also seemed to really enjoy messing with Scott's head. On the other other hand, Cyclops is a dick, so who wouldn't.

I get the feeling that Emma doesn't want to betray everyone, but if it's a choice between betraying them or getting chewed up by Cassandra she's going to look out for #1. Still, Kitty may have been invited as her ace in the hole to mess up the plan.

I was impressed by the fight between Peter and Sebastian Shaw, where the latter was showing some effects from the punches even as he absorbed their force. I don't know if that means Peter's gotten stronger, Shaw's gotten older, or if they're just inserting it as a heretofore unseen indication that his powers don't absorb quite 100% of the energy directed against him. Not sure I liked the droplet of liquid metal trickling down Peter's lip, though.

After posting last night I started wondering if the mysterious hooded figure might turn out to BE Jean. It would be another callback to the original Hellfire Club storyline, which Joss and John seem to be echoing quite consciously in that last panel. And whoa, if we think Scott is messed up now...

Matt, I'm not familiar with the storyline you referenced in the at the end of your post - is there someplace online I can find out about that, or is it brief enough that you can explicate (in white font if need be)?

As to the last part of your first comment, that's almost how I read the end of the issue, but I went back to double-check and thought otherwise - maybe my initial read will be right after all. It probably would be a help if I knew more about these Hellfire Club folks - I'm not sure what everyone's powers are.

I was referring to X-Men issues 129-135, which has a storyline way too convoluted for me to explain. A brief overview can be read here. The final panel of Kitty was a homage to a final panel featuring Wolverine in that run of comics .

Thanks Matt. I'm constantly surprised what Wikipedia has. Damn, that's some SERIOUSLY convoluted backstory.

Thanks Matt. I'm constantly surprised what Wikipedia has. Damn, that's some SERIOUSLY convoluted backstory.

Much about X-men is on wikipedia -- so much that the mind boggles. But for convoluted backstory, try visualising the Summer family tree in the head. It will ache. For hours afterwards. And then you will go mad.

Someone talk me into (or out of) trying to buy a run of the original DC Sandman comics (issues 20-75) for around $100. Of course, if I get these, I'm going to have to also track down issues 1-19. Are those generally significantly more expensive?

I already have all the hardbound collections.

You should definitely buy them, and then send your hardcovers to me, since you won't need them any more.

Two bucks a comic? If they haven't been chewed to tatters by someone's dog, that's a steal.

Don't forget, though, the Ultimate (or whatever) Sandman is coming out with the colouring updated to match printing technology. Despite having the TPBs, from what I've seen I'll need to own those too.