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Pound the Table | An X-Men Self-Insert

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One of the premises I remember is that the Nullifier can't be destroyed, so rather then allow it to be floating around the universe to be use whenever, Galactus holds onto it, presumably to keep if from being used on himself. Basic idea seen in lots of stories when good guys get a hold of indestructible evil artifacts, just flipped around. Not that the Nullifier is a 'good' artifact, but you get my point. Though this premise might be from a newer version of things.

Edit: I do wonder about the point of the chapter. Not objecting, but she wasn't involved in the fight, it didn't happen in the middle of anything else. So unless this event is some kind of personal driver for her, what purpose does showing us this directly have, as opposed to a comment or recollection in the future. Since we did get a very good depiction of her trauma, I'm now expecting a personality change in response to this.
 
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Vysirez said:
One of the premises I remember is that the Nullifier can't be destroyed, so rather then allow it to be floating around the universe to be use whenever, Galactus holds onto it, presumably to keep if from being used on himself. Basic idea seen in lots of stories when good guys get a hold of indestructible evil artifacts, just flipped around. Not that the Nullifier is a 'good' artifact, but you get my point. Though this premise might be from a newer version of things.

Edit: I do wonder about the point of the chapter. Not objecting, but she wasn't involved in the fight, it didn't happen in the middle of anything else. So unless this event is some kind of personal driver for her, what purpose does showing us this directly have, as opposed to a comment or recollection in the future. Since we did get a very good depiction of her trauma, I'm now expecting a personality change in response to this.
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What's the point of showing anything, really, when you get down to it?

I think it's a good reminder that, even with powerful friends like Erik, Noa can't just breeze past things like this. Not everything wraps up with a neat bow like the last arc did. It's nice to see this sort of thing tying into happenings in the wider world. One of the things I really like about this fic is that it feels very grounded and real. This is one of the things that makes the come through imo.

Plus, it's neat to see text size and color being played with on the screen, as is seeing half a conversation. It looks like it was fun to write which makes it worthwhile on its own.
 
Vysirez said:
One of the premises I remember is that the Nullifier can't be destroyed, so rather then allow it to be floating around the universe to be use whenever, Galactus holds onto it, presumably to keep if from being used on himself. Basic idea seen in lots of stories when good guys get a hold of indestructible evil artifacts, just flipped around. Not that the Nullifier is a 'good' artifact, but you get my point. Though this premise might be from a newer version of things.

Edit: I do wonder about the point of the chapter. Not objecting, but she wasn't involved in the fight, it didn't happen in the middle of anything else. So unless this event is some kind of personal driver for her, what purpose does showing us this directly have, as opposed to a comment or recollection in the future. Since we did get a very good depiction of her trauma, I'm now expecting a personality change in response to this.
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Pretty sure the point of it is there in the first few lines.

Galactus descending on the Earth is a world shaking event. The kind that marvel loves, but refuses to really look at from the level of ordinary people. This is something Noa couldn't ignore. Couldn't just sum up in a single sentence of, oh and by the by the fantastic four stopped a God from eating the planet.
 
I read somewhere (so take it with a pinch of salt) that the rol of Galactus is to consume planets with sapience life because it's on those planet that the egg(?) of a unborn celestial resides. Also Galactus carries inside of him the next universe and if he dies some horrible entities which were banished can come back.
 
October Daye said:
And then Cate had the gall to go and cook up forbidden fruit for breakfast.

"Hey, you've said it to me yourself. You're not at home, you don't need to keep kosher."

The greasy, perfectly-crispy piece of forbidden fruit just sat there on the plate of toast, eggs, and breakfast meat she handed me, tempting me, taunting me until I finally gave in.

"No telling my dad," I told her, pointing with the tref treat in my hand.
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I love that even in her internal narration, Noa refuses to say exactly what it is she ate. She knows. We know. Everyone who read this and knows even the barest basics of keeping kosher would know. And yet. It's a genuine delight.
October Daye said:
"I shouldn't have asked that." He stood up, looking down towards the streets below. "You're a good judge of character, Noa. Answer me this, honestly," he said, turning towards me. "No clever semantics, no lawyering. Is Spider-Man on the up and up?"

"I believe so," I said. But I did not elaborate further.

Jonah took that answer, turning it over in his head. He reached down and picked up a paper from his desk, an older one with Spider-Man plastered on the front page; I remembered that issue from back in April, when Spider-Man slingshotted the Rhino straight into the Hudson.

"Vouch for him all you like," Jonah said, tossing the paper back down onto his desk. "I'm not going to stop giving him shit. Somebody needs to give these masked menaces a reason to stay on the straight and narrow, and damn if I let that be somebody else!" He pointed at me with his cigar. "You tell him I said that, next time you see him. If he goes up the waterspout, down comes the rain. Understood?"
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Glad that Noa got to tell Jonah, but also that one conversation didn't have him just flip things entirely. He'll probably be more sympathetic in a bunch of small, unintentional ways, but it's an ideological issue he has with masked superheroes and he's not bowing out on that just because this one might be decent.

Does get him to maybe keep off Peter's back about it, which is probably good for the kid's stress levels.



And now, Galactus! Fun. Wonder if it's lucky Noa passed out for a lot of the attack... on the one hand, passing out with blood is a baaad sign. On the other, well, it's not like being awake and seeing him was doing her much good either.

Hope all the others make it out of this. People are definitely dying, people Noa knows personally, but I like all the friends and colleagues we've met and can't help but worry that one of them might've been driving or unable to handle the trauma in the aftermath.
 
Great Greedy Guts said:
Glad that Noa got to tell Jonah, but also that one conversation didn't have him just flip things entirely. He'll probably be more sympathetic in a bunch of small, unintentional ways, but it's an ideological issue he has with masked superheroes and he's not bowing out on that just because this one might be decent.

Does get him to maybe keep off Peter's back about it, which is probably good for the kid's stress levels.
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Even before that, I have to think this story's JJJ wasn't nuts enough to do things like, oh, create a supervillain by dosing a guy with mad science serum.

...Also, overall, despite 'yeah the F4 are there and people are preoccupied with mutant powers and GALACTUS' it often doesn't feel like Noa lives in the kind of world where a newspaperman could readily get that kind of thing.
 
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Great Greedy Guts said:
I love that even in her internal narration, Noa refuses to say exactly what it is she ate. She knows. We know. Everyone who read this and knows even the barest basics of keeping kosher would know. And yet. It's a genuine delight.
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Fun fact: I'm generally not that observant on my own, but a large part of that is... well, I never really got an 'in' with the Jewish community where I'm currently living. If plans for the next few years pan out, though, I will be moving up to the New York area... where I have two "Conservadox" rabbis in the family, and would be surrounded by extended family for whom regular Shabbat dinners are a thing.

Even without that, I subconsciously keep much closer to kosher than I'd initially realized until a friend pointed it out. I don't even know how to cook any pork other than bacon, I only ever make bacon if it's for a specific recipe, I don't cook shellfish at home (too expensive!), I also don't know how to make even the most basic of cream sauces, and I hardly ever find myself mixing dairy and meat in recipes.

And if I were actively trying to keep kosher... it honestly wouldn't be hard.

For Noa, though? The advent of vegan meat-alikes and cheese-alikes is going to be outright life-changing for her.

Great Greedy Guts said:
Glad that Noa got to tell Jonah, but also that one conversation didn't have him just flip things entirely. He'll probably be more sympathetic in a bunch of small, unintentional ways, but it's an ideological issue he has with masked superheroes and he's not bowing out on that just because this one might be decent.
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There was not a snowball's chance in hell of John Jonah Jameson fully changing his tune on Spider-Man. I enjoyed reframing a lot of his distaste and dislike as being 1, his own personal bias (the basis for which is largely ripped straight from canon), and 2, a more protective and paternalistic instinct towards the people he considers "his".

I loved Spidey: No Way Home, and the Spidey PS4 game. But I will NEVER forgive them for the sheer character assassination of John Jonah Jameson that they pulled.

Great Greedy Guts said:
Hope all the others make it out of this. People are definitely dying, people Noa knows personally, but I like all the friends and colleagues we've met and can't help but worry that one of them might've been driving or unable to handle the trauma in the aftermath.
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At LEAST one person who has been named in the last five chapters, if not specifically shown, will be dead.

Let the guessing games begin.
 
if I was writing it would either be Cate or Sam on the chopping block. Because their deaths would open up potential narrative angles.(the Osborn investigation and if Sam's law firm would still be willing to be involved since the other partners were the ones who axed her just off the top of my head)
 
Named but not specifically shown... Either Noa's father, a member of Babbage's family, or one of the Less Loved Ls in LL&L.
 
October Daye said:
I loved Spidey: No Way Home, and the Spidey PS4 game. But I will NEVER forgive them for the sheer character assassination of John Jonah Jameson that they pulled.
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This.

JJJ was a complex and interesting character and what they did to him in NWH was an abomination.

That said, have you seen the Stupendium music video for the game? It's great.
 
October Daye said:
I loved Spidey: No Way Home, and the Spidey PS4 game. But I will NEVER forgive them for the sheer character assassination of John Jonah Jameson that they pulled.
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Honestly, his showing in the game isn't that bad. As the city goes to absolute shit, he goes from crude asshole who deserves a good punch to a man somberly urging people to stand together and follow their better angels. And even when he is an asshole, he still raises the occasional good point.

No Way Home Jameson is really bad though.
 
Junkyardmob said:
And even when he is an asshole, he still raises the occasional good point.
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I recall a comment he made in a clip I saw about the various super villains and the security they were or were not placed under considering how dangerous they could be.

Something on the order of 'How nice, he's been placed in maximum security after Spiderman brought him back in. Why wasn't this done before now to prevent the whole mess?'
 
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The issue is that we also see PS4 JJJ outright lie about things, like get told information and just memory hole it, in order to keep pushing his schtick, and his legitimate comments often seem kind of accidental. His occasional cogent or semi-valid criticisms are just the same scrabbling for shit to throw at Spider-Man and anyone who works with him. Like, he makes some very clear criticisms of the whole Oscorp surveillance state that's the excuse for radio towers but they're framed as more nonsense from JJJ's Alex Jones impersonation, not a valid complaint anyone ought to think about.
 
Well, that was quite the development. Poor Noa. Well, and poor rest of the world too, until the F4 do their thing.

Not that I'm against it, but makes me think the courtroom drama is going to lessen in favor of other types of development. Or maybe some case comes up about insurance companies. If there ever was a time about pulling "acts of God damages" shenanigans, this might well be it.

Re: JJJ character assassination. And here I was having doubts about missing something for not watching recent Spider-Man media. How does one even manage to mess JJJ's basic character up?
 
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Connelly said:
Re: JJJ character assassination. And here I was having doubts about missing something for not watching recent Spider-Man media. How does one even manage to mess JJJ's basic character up?
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By turning him into an expy of Alex Jones.

And Alex Jones, by the way, has just been rendered bankrupt for pulling his schtick.

No proper characterization of John Jonah Jameson would ever be caught DEAD doing something even a TENTH as onerous as what Alex Jones did.

ALSO NOTE. This is NOT permission to discuss Alex Jones in this thread. You may ONLY bring him up in relation to John Jonah Jameson, and even then, I've already done that. You don't need to.

Do not derail the thread with Alex Jones discussion. Just gonna preemptively request people be aware of that road and not go down it.
 
Connelly said:
Not that I'm against it, but makes me think the courtroom drama is going to lessen in favor of other types of development. Or maybe some case comes up about insurance companies. If there ever was a time about pulling "acts of God damages" shenanigans, this might well be it.
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I don't see why the courtroom drama would lessen? Noa isn't a player in things like Galactus. She's just there along with everybody else on the planet. She'll be back to doing her own thing once the fallout has settled, if not sooner.
 
"The court has postponed all hearings and trials until we can redistribute judges to the intact courthouses and from there new calendars will be set"

Osborne into more legal limbo due to the World ending event of the week
 
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