X-Lapsed, Episode 084 – Empyre: X-Men #3 (2020)
X-Lapsed, Episode Eighty-Four
Empyre: X-Men #3 (October, 2020)
“Staff Infection”
Writers – Vita Ayala, Zeb Wells, Ed Brisson
Art – Andrea Broccardo
Colors – Nolan Woodard
Letters – VC’s Clayton Cowles
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: August 12, 2020
The Empyre-sploitation rolls on… and Jamie Madrox is a-okay with his dupes being eaten by zombies! Oh yeah, we’re gonna talk about that. It’s not ALL bad though… this issue might feature the best portrayal of Beast in many, many years! Sure, it’s only like two-pages… but, it’s something!
All that and some great and thought-provoking letters in our mailbag!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
I didn't mind this issue. I know I'm damning with faint praise but it was a perfectly fine action adventure. I might feel differently if I'd spent $5 on it.
I particularly loved the Beast scene. Whoever wrote that part of the story is clearly not reading X-Force. I am slightly worried that when Ben Percy reads this issue he'll feel the need to write a scene where Beast has stolen some piece of science from Hordeculture during this issue.
By the way it's HOXPOXDOXROX as the new era is Reign of X. Following from X of Tens there is a possibility that might actually be Reign of 10 but I completely refuse to entertain that notion. I swear Hickman is going to try to convince us that we've been reading the 10-Men for decades.
Your talk about the rest of the Marvel Universe and crossovers in general really brings up a lot of my issues with comics. I love comics and I'm not adverse to crossovers. I discovered US Marvel with the Mutant Massacre and DC with Millennium and I bought every issue I could get my hands on. But back then comics were 40 pence each. I could buy the entire Mutant Massacre for £4.80 which is less than you spent on one issue of Empyre X-Men. Millennium which was much bigger cost £18 for 45 issues. This 4 part series is more expensive. Expecting readers to buy all the crossovers is ultimately going to contract your readership because many people would not be able to spend the £200+ necessary to follow a line wide crossover. Numerous times over the years I have dropped books because they are in perpetual crossover and I was getting an incomplete story. At present I am only buying X-books from Marvel and I'm not getting all of them (although I did buy all of X of Tens). I buy nothing from DC. I am more likely to drop a book or skip an issue if it has a tie-in to a crossover I don't like. I loved X of Tens but I imagine there were people who hated it. During X of Tens Marauders published 3 issues which only included 1 character from the Marauders cast (Storm). I imagine the people who weren't into X of Tens will have dropped Marauders in anger and I'd understand why.