August 2005 Archives

While writing the Taki post, I started thinking about something. Taki was a mechanical genius before he gained his powers, then got the ability to manipulate technology. So I'm wondering about the process by which people's mutant abilities manifest.

I'm not talking about how a writer decides, say, "mutant pheromones would be a cool power" and then creates a character who either fits well with the power or is opposed to the power. I mean, within the parameters of the mutant premise - a genetic 'x-factor' (a gene, or, more likely, a cluster of them, probably the ones geneticists arrogantly call 'junk DNA') modifies the human in such a way as to give them abilities far beyond those of mere mortals--is there a rhyme or reason to the type of powers. Is there a relationship between their manifestation and the persona of the mutant?

This is kind of an obscure concern, I know. But as I keep creating my own characters over the years, it's something that I find kind of interesting. There are some powers - telepathy, healing factor, increased strength or speed - that would seem to follow from some basic evolutionary imperative. Others, such as controlling fire or the weather, would seem to find their inspiration in mythology. Others kind of defy belief even with the premise - you turn blue and furry, can teleport, and stick to walls. And you have a prehensile tail. I think you could argue that many of the mutants don't possess abilities that would strike you as resulting from the stresses of the human condition, they aren't Darwinian responses to food supply or dangers in the environment. Some of them are downright whimsical, or, in the case of a 'death touch' which one of the New X-Men: Academy X characters has, nature's way of curbing the population.

But why a particular manifestation to a particular person? Puberty hits, I end up shooting bolts of force out of my eyes, the guy next to me can control magnetism, the girl next to him can change shape? Why don't I get the shape changing power? Did my parents not get exposed to the right radiation (which Marvel have gotten away from talking about as a cause, with good reason)? Is there something within my personality that causes one manifestation over another? Or is it just chance? And if it is chance, then what does that say about our universe? If I was a biologist in the Marvel universe, not only would I jump at the chance to study any of them, particularly bodies that created shells of ice or fire without harming the person, but that would raise some profound and interesting questions about the nature of biological change, and what humans are. (side note: studying them would not mean dissecting them; this would not solely be the process of crazy Nazi vivisectionists.)

And why is it something confined to humans? We share 99.9% of our DNA with chimpanzees... is this happening in the Congo? Were they reading Dian Fossey's mind and decided it was best to just lay low? If this kind of incredible change is possible within one generation, what's changed in the universe? Is evolutionary theory even correct? Couldn't a proponent of Intelligent Design make good use of the mutant phenomenon? Of course, that would also raise the question of why Thor seems to show up a hell of a lot more than Jesus-Man... but that's an essay for another time.

This changes the basic view of the human being as composed of a set arrangement of chemicals. Or at least, chemicals that don't burn on contact with oxygen, or change in density. It makes one wonder what other leaps are possible, and if there are heretofore unseen patterns in how these aberrations show themselves. If there is a strong correlation between bestial humans who gain accelerated healing (Wolvie, Sabretooth), between the mechanically or linguistically inclined seeing geometric leaps in their ability (Forge, Taki, Cypher), loudmouth girls being able to draw more attention to them (Boom Boom, Jubilee), or sensitive, insecure women becoming able to read minds (Phoenix, Psylocke, Emma Frost), then that raises questions about how important consciousness becomes to our physical development. As do the opposite phenomena - the swashbuckling, intelligent beasts (Beast, Nightcrawler). As to repressed introverts causing destruction (Cyclops, Havok, Chamber), that's years of therapy right there.

Outside of the mutant universe, the other marquee Marvel heroes-- Spidey, the Hulk, Fantastic Four, Captain America, even to an extent Dr. Strange--seem to indicate that the human form is capable of these quantum leaps given a certain set of conditions. The capacity for personal transformation is far beyond what we thought - going back to the ancient empires, where men could become immortal heroes, gods who would control the forces of the Earth. Maybe it just seems like there would be a lot more schools of thought exploring this idea and its implications than we've seen.

Anyway. Just some things I haven't thought about for a minute. Thought I'd share the virus, see if it sparks anything in the rest of you.

What can you say about a character who spells his codename without an 'H'? Who was actually ditched by Artie and Leech, tiny grotesque mutant children with relatively useless powers? For those of you without a side interest in sad, forgotten characters, Taki Matsuya is a wheelchair-bound mutant with the ability to 'technoform': that is, to manipulate glass, plastic and metal into any form he can imagine, including complex machinery. He's turned his wheelchair into a helicopter, added jets to it, etc.

Which leads the first obvious question about this character, which I will illustrate from a (paraphrased) dialog between Jaybeans and his girlfriend, who has never heard of Taki.

Jaybeans: So this character, he's confined to a wheelchair, but his power is, he can manipulate glass, plastic, and metal, So he--

Girlfriend: Wait.

Jaybeans: What?

Girlfriend: Why doesn't he make legs?

Yes, friends, this question, which occurs to most people within 30 seconds after hearing the situation, has never occurred to Wiz Kid over the months and years he's had his powers. He is actually bitter about being in the wheelchair, forever scarred by this accident which also took his parents. But no, no cybernetic legs, no exoskeleton. So, if we're talking rehabilitation, the first step with the character would be to establish that he can make legs if he goddamn well feels like it. Well, no, the first step would actually be to retire the name 'wiz kid', leaving his days of being the middle school urinating champion to the dustbin of history. Then establishing that he can make himself walk. Well, no. the first step is to take this photo:

"Now that I've got these elbow pads and this safety helmet, mama says no-one's gonna hurt me ever again! Especially me!" (glances away) "I hurt myself sometimes. I fall over. (beat.) If only I could walk."

Destroy all extant copies and never have him in that outfit again. Sure, it'll mean a few scraped elbows and skinned knees, but dignity isn't free. I think, um, Proust said that. Then the next step, retire the name Wiz Kid, then establish he can walk.

Or is that too easy? After thinking about this fifty times longer than I should have (read: 30 minutes), I thought of another aspect to it. Taki was a mechanical genius before his powers manifested, in fact a lot of his self-image came from that mastery and the work he'd put into it. So, yeah, it's cool that he has these amazing powers and can create anything he imagines with little work... but it also takes little work, and no true understanding of the process. It kind of makes a mockery of his intelligence. Not only has he lost his legs, but in a sense, his vast intelligence has been amputated as well. It doesn't matter how smart he is now, anybody with that accident of genetics could invent this shit. When people compliment him on an invention, he feels like a fraud. Even if he forces himself through the process, can he be sure his power isn't working? Was it ever due to his own effort, or has his entire life been dictated by blind chance, both beneficial and detrimental? Maybe he refuses to leave the chair until he can be sure, until the solution he creates is his alone, and not due to any 'cheating' on behalf of his strange abilities.

Of course he knows he can leave the chair. Maybe he did it five minutes after figuring out what he could do. And yet he doesn't. He won't. Not until he can do it without any fucking help, from God or anything else. Otherwise, what good is he? What value does he have, as a human being?

When Joe Quesada took over as the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics one of his vows was "dead means dead." He pointed out how often people died and came back. Since then he's had a lot of explaining to do, especially for the X-Men who had been one of the main reasons for the rule's inception. We watched as Colossus, Phoenix and Psylocke returned.

Phoenix it was explained is the essence of rebirth and so can never die. Fair enough. I'll buy it. Combine that with the fact that Jean Grey had died and come back so many times and it's almost like she's getting in through a grandfather clause anyway. Colossus, we are told, came back because Joss Whedon had such a great story to tell and Quesada simply could not refuse to print it despite his public statements in the past. Okay, I dig Whedon and I won't deny him the right to tell his story. Psylocke, we're told, came back because Claremont lobbied hard for her and because Quesada thought her character hadn't been fully explored. Again, I won't complain because I happen to agree with Mr. Quesada (as well as Sequential Arts' own King Snake) that Psylocke is a character that hasn't been fully tapped yet.

That brings us to Hawkeye. Hawkeye's only been dead for only a few months (which is what in terms of Marvel time? A long weekend?) and already he's coming back. His death has no emotional resonance because it was overturned and the fact that it happened so quickly only goes to further undercut the significance. I'd say there's no way to validate this return... save perhaps one way:

Hawkeye is seen as a modern day Jesus.

Not that he is Jesus but that he'd be perceived as being like Jesus. Here's a guy who died and a week later has been resurrected. Here's a guy who's a hundred percent superhero and a hundred percent man. How is the Marvel Universe going to look at this guy? Surely if you're a plumber in Brooklyn, a part of you is going to think, "so that's why he's been hanging out with these superheroes, he is more powerful than all of them. He can't die. I knew he just wasn't some guy with a bow." Even in a world of the spectacular wouldn't someone coming back from the dead make some people (maybe not a large group but a sizeable one) think that person has some kind of divine power? Combine that with the fact that he's on the same team as a Norse god and surely someone's thinking it.

How do you feel if you're a villain? Suddenly you're about to take on the Avengers. Here comes Iron Man and Hawkeye, wouldn't you try to take on Iron Man? He's just a guy in a suit but Hawkeye is a guy who can't die. And you know that Dr. Doom would be tracking him down, trying to figure out the secret to eternal life.

Even though I'm a big supporter of "dead means dead" I have to say that if Marvel explored that concept, I'd have no problem whatsoever with Hawkeye's return.

1) In which city do you work? it's actually more of a small town.
2) What got you into comics? the lure of money and endless sex.
3) Where do babies come from? hell.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? answering stupid questions from internet websites.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? clean the gutters.
6) Does this make me look fat? no, the fact you drink a 64 oz. bottle of coca-cola every day and wear a captain america t-shirt that was too small on you 20 years ago makes you look fat.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? my superman shelf on my bookcase. slowly, but surely, it's coming close to perfection.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? i think if you read my work, none of my influences would be al that proud to have me list them as an influence.
9) Does this look infected to you? never do that without a condom again. didn't you ever watch "Oz"?
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? become an inker. no way will technology ever supplant you. ever. seriously.

Is it right to pre-emptively strike a foe who may or may not become a threat to you? It's a question of reactive force versus proactive force and that issue has been dealt with in comics for a while now. Is it right to act "before it's too late" even if there is only a chance that any phyiscal danger will actually coming to bear? If so, when do you draw the line? One might suggest if the other person is planning on developing weapons to attack while another person might say that simply harboring people who plan on attacking us is enough.

In Justice League: New World Order, the team struggles with the Hyperclan, a proactive team who looks to solve the world's problems with a series of quickfixes. These solutions solve the problems but with little thought to the ramifications. For instance, the Hyperclan can turn the Sahara into a garden paradise but the problem remains that the climate simply cannot survive there. As with this action, all the solutions are proved in the end to be so short sighted that they have no permanence.

Stormwatch deals with the same issue, particularly with the introduction of the High, who wants to bring peace to the world. However, his view of the world is far too naive for him to be successful. The trend continues and expands when the series switched over to the Authority, since the very protagonists of that book are proactive heroes. There is even a scene in the Authority where they overthrow an abusive Asian dictator (certainly this reminds you of our own situation in the Middle East). Indeed, the situation is strikingly similar, here is a despot who abuses his own people so a group disposes of him and offers sanctuary to his citizens. Yet the citizens are no better off with their conquering heroes than they were with the dictator because despite best intentions. Once you interfere with something all you do is create more chaos, at least initially and the less forethought put into a matter, the worse that chaos will be. In the case of the rescued peasants, they end up dying and being dumped in the interdimensional barrier known as the Bleed.

Proactive, or pre-emptive strikes end up being merely a stop-gap solution as our involvement in Iraq shows. When you fix a situation with force, all you end up doing is replacing one problem with another and the more effort you put into the more the situation requires of you. As Oliver Cromwell said, "a man who owns everything by force, owns nothing at all." Or for a more comic related quote, although a more chilling one, turn to Magog in Kingdom Come: "They chose me. They chose the ma who would kill over the man who wouldn't... and now they're dead."

1) In which city do you work? New York City, NY.
2) What got you into comics? I read the Sunday comics, ARCHIE and MAD when I was a pre-teen. When I was about thriteen or so I started reading and collecting Marvel and DC and so on.
3) Where do babies come from? They come from their parent's house and end up sitting next to me in the restaurant where they cry and cry and cry.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? I will be about halfway through my third graphic novel, RETURN TO CAVE CITY.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? I feel that I have yet to start my third graphic novel, RETURN TO CAVE CITY. Aside from that, I think I've pretty much accomplished all that I want to do in life.
6) Does this make me look fat? No, it only accentuates your delicious curves.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Normally I'm definitely not one to toot my own horn. Most of the time I can barely look at my own work because seeing all the mistakes, misjudgements and outright blown opportunities makes me wince. However, you've caught me in a charitable mood, so I'll say my newest book, TRICKED.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? In comics, I would have to say Dave Sim, though it's out of fashion to say so. I don't agree with any of his theories on religion, politics or gender studies, but as a cartoonist he was always fantastic and had a huge influence on my stuff.
9) Does this look infected to you? Yes. That will be $95, please.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Comics will break your heart. Well, I don't know about mainstream superhero stuff, but indy comics will definitely break your heart.

1) In which city do you work? Berkeley and Oakland, California.
2) What got you into comics? My Dad's comic book collection and a strong desire to fuck off all day long.
3) Where do babies come from? People fucking. If people didn't fuck there would be far fewer babies.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? In the same rut that I'm in now.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? Sodomize a drifter.
6) Does this make me look fat? Quite.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Savage Dragon and Nova the Human Rocket.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? Jack Kirby, Herb Trimpe, Steve Ditko, Walter Simonson, Gil Kane, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Bill Watterson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin and hundreds more.
9) Does this look infected to you? Nah. You're good.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Bring firearms.

1) In which city do you work? Whatever city I'm traveling in at the time.
2) What got you into comics? Watching the Spider-Man live action shorts on the Electric Company as a wee little kid.
3) Where do babies come from? Beer and bad judgement?
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? Maybe selling tacos in Mexico City or something like that.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? Punch out a politician or a clown.
6) Does this make me look fat? Unbutton the top button, maybe...
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Staying drunk for five days straight in San Diego and still making a shitload of money.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? Probably David Axelrod and the skate shoes I'm wearing.
9) Does this look infected to you? I take cream and sugar in my coffee, thanks.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Maybe get into professional bowling or something like that. Buy some sketchbooks and only draw squirrels. Steal Bendis' car?

1) In which city do you work? brooklyn ny
2) What got you into comics? loved them as a kid, so figured a way to make a living out of them.
3) Where do babies come from? who's babies? I have none, so "my balls" cant be an accurate answer.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? in a bigger home, with Amanda Conner, not worrying about the bills, looking out the window and commenting on how nuclear explosions look
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? make a movie, write a novel, kill a shark with my hands and love everyone.
6) Does this make me look fat? like a pig.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Jonah hex and daughters of the dragon, and the projects near my home where I buy my weed.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? amanda conner, my mom and dad, and paul newman.
9) Does this look infected to you? no, just bad lighting.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? shut up and braw you whining bitch!

1) In which city do you work? I work in a town called Southend, on the south-east coast of England. If you ever saw the video for Morrissey's "Every Day Is Like Sunday," then you've seen Southend: the seaside town they forgot to shut down.
2) What got you into comics? My dad brought home a copy of COUNTDOWN comic when I was two years old. And that was that.
3) Where do babies come from?Me.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? So obscure that you'll wonder why you asked me to do this questionnaire.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? Watch the rest of my hair fall out.
6) Does this make me look fat? Colostomy bags make everyone look fat. There's nothing you can do about it.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Probably TRANSMETROPOLITAN. In hindsight, I kind of wonder why I thought it was a good idea to write a 1300-page graphic novel over five years. Also ORBITER.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? Oh, God. I don't think I have time to list them. Everything's an influence. And mine is probably the same shopping list as everyone else's anyway. Off the top of my head: Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Alfred Bester, Philip K Dick, Hunter Thompson, My Bloody Valentine, a bunch of the mid-80s music journalists like Chris Roberts and Simon Reynolds, Lydia Lunch, Dennis Potter, Troy Kennedy Martin...more recently, Aaron Sorkin and David Milch for their dialogue... Tom Wolfe, Peter Greenaway, Mike Moorcock, JG Ballard, David Cronenberg, Nic Roeg... Can I stop now?
9) Does this look infected to you? I try not to talk about people's faces like that.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Firstly, if you want to break into comics just to do the company-owned characters, sod off. We have enough people like you in the business as it is. That sort of thing should only ever be a sidebar to your career. Second, focus on getting published, not on where you're getting published. A published book is your calling card. Study the independent publishers yourself -- with the advent of the net, that's a hell of a lot easier to do now than it was when I was starting out. Doesn't matter how small they are; they simply need to be on your wavelength. Your goal isn't loads of money at this point: it's retaining rights and getting 25 copies of the printed book. Because handing over one of those shows another publisher that someone else was prepared to gamble their money on your work. Which makes you a safer bet than the person with a handful of photocopies. That's the trick. But please, in the name of god, have something to say. I want more good comics. Bring the New. Put me out of work.

1) In which city do you work? I don't work in a city. I work in a village.
2) What got you into comics? Haircuts. When I was a kid, my barber had stacks of them, and he was real slow, so I always had to wait a while and had plenty of time to read.
3) Where do babies come from? Big babies, who then become adults.
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? I don't.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? Five more questions after this one.
6) Does this make me look fat? No, but that does.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? My kids.
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? My friends and family.
9) Does this look infected to you? Christ, yes. That'll have to come off.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Don't get caught.

1) In which city do you work? I work in a suburban town in southwestern Connecticut, actually.
2) What got you into comics? I grew up loving comics, and eventually got lucky enough to work in the field. Twenty years later, I still am.
3) Where do babies come from? There's this magic garden and some enchanted bees see...
4) Where do you see yourself in five years? Rich would be nice. I'll settle for busy and prosperous.
5) What do you feel you have yet to do? There's always something new. I hope the ideas never stop coming.
6) Does this make me look fat? There's no truly safe answer to that question. If it's any consolation, I like you just the way you are, no matter what.
7) Which of your projects are you the most proud of? Either Gotham By Gaslight, DC's very first Elseworlds (with art by Mike Mignola), Out There with Humberto Ramos, or my 90 issue run as editor of Flash (discovering writer Mark Waid, along the way)
8) Who are your influences, inside or outside of comics? Ray Bradbury, Raymond Chandler, Will Eisner, Julius Schwartz
9) Does this look infected to you? Um, definitely have that looked at...green-yellow is not a flattering color.
10) What advice would you give a person trying to break into the industry? Be tough, be persistent, be ready to wait, but keep trying. Even in slow periods, great talent is always in demand.

Rogue is a southern woman. It's something that seems both inescapable but also overly ignored. When it comes to mangling her speech pattern, the writer's will go straight for the South, but when it comes to giving her subtle nuance, it is often ignored. So much of her character seems to come right out of her culture identity but are often ignored. For instance, due to her power she cannot be touched. This is a powerful representation of what southern women are taught. This is, after all, a part of the country that celebrates the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye.

Even her super strength (which she had up until recently) reminds me of the strength of Southern women. Of course, the strength that they are attributed is often emotional, not physical but that's why it's a metaphor. True to her southern roots, Rogue is in her own way a steel magnolia, delicate but strong.

The greater problem isn't that most writers don't understand her. The greater problem is Rogue is the poster child for the permanent second act. It seemed that she is always in love with Gambit, but they can't touch, but she loves him, but they can't touch. In a world with Leech and Forge's power-zapping gun and the Genosha collars, I just can't believe that this is still a problem. I'd rather have the two of the use a collar as means to be intimate but then she resents it. In a way it could become a metaphor for prophylactics, where it all too often becomes the women's responsibility. You could even have a "why don't you try wearing the collar, just once?" Anything other than this ultra-repetitative state she's in.

Magneto is a character that can never seem to remain consistent. He vasilates between two different outlooks: evil, tyranical would-be king and angry, misunderstood mutant liberator. Lately he's being portrayed more as the former ever since the Joseph ordeal when the head honchos at Marvel apparently wanted to "put teeth" back in Magneto. It's not that one of those portrayals is inheirently better than the other, the character is dynamic enough and more importantly his presence is commanding enough that he can go either way. The bigger issue is consistency.

By far, the more intriguing route to go is with him as the liberator, which in a way is quite a shame because it robs the X-Men of a great villian. Still, the feeling I always got was that Professor Xavier was the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Magneto's Malcom X. Like Malcolm X, all Magneto has known has been prejudice, hatred and fear. The greater point is that both Malcolm X and Dr. King had valid ponts, it was more a matter of your particular point of view of the world.

Magneto grew up in Nazi Germany where he lost his family and later in his life, his wife was taken from him; both events gave him plenty of good reason to be distrustful. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times, shame on me. At this point all he really wants to do is to seperate the mutant world from the humans, whether that be in Genosha or Asteroid M. Much as some of the militant civil rights groups of the 60's, he is willing to use the ends to justify his means.

But much as Malcolm X changed during his Hajj, Magneto had to have a revelation that in fighting racism, he had become a racist. His attempts to seperate were only excaserbating things. Chris Claremont played with this idea in Uncanny X-Men 200 where Magneto takes over the X-Men. If I may be allowed a quick aside, I always enjoyed Claremont's take on Magneto, it seemed like he got the character pretty well. Even the way that he returned Magneto to being a villian much later with the new X-Men book that he launched with Jim Lee was very believeable and didn't sacrifice any of the character.

Back on topic, the problem with Magneto's conversion is where do you go from there? Malcolm X was assassinated, some of his own followers and allies having felt betrayed by him. So unless the writer planned to kill Magneto off, the parallels would have to stop there. What's interesting is when Magneto joined the X-Men, the Brotherhood was left to their own devices and, unlike Magneto, not all of their motives were pure. Without him being there to guide them and keep an eye on things, then they'd run unabated, performing terrorist acts in his name. He'd find himself the poster child for a cause he no longer believed in. How does it feel when you see a church burned to the ground in your name? It'd be tragic, that no matter what good deed you did, only the bad would be remembered.

There are logical repercussions to the life that he'd chosen, the only thing is that the writers and editors would have to commit to portraying the character in a particular light.

I don't know who out there remembers Rage from the Marvel Universe. He was a pretty forgetable character and it's probably for the best. A former New Warrior and Avenger, Rage was a thirteen year old gifted with super strength. So what was his major flaw other than barely being a teenager on the Avengers? Well come on, he's a young black kid named Rage; he's not exactly the most creative character.

However, I also don't think it'd take too much to clean him up. Basically you have to look at the whole "Rage" persona as his awkward teenage phase. You start up a series with him at seventeen, he's come across a teacher at his high school that's really sparked his imagination. He's becoming educated. He plans on returning to superheroics but not as Rage and he's thinking of waiting until after college. He still encounters people who want him to be Rage, some from his own neighborhood. They're channeling their rage into him. However he's come into a sort of zen state about his role in the world, in society.

The New York Jets would come and offer him a job on their football team. They basically offer him a forged identity and say he can make a lot of money and bring a championship to New York. He says no, because it's not the life he wants and, besides, it's cheating. There are a lot of people in his neighborhood that don't understand it. They feel he's betraying them in a sense, that he is not feeling a responsibility to his race.

The point is that he's developed his own sense of identity. He no longer feels "black rage" not because he doesn't identify as being black but because he's found the way to be a boon to his community is to be intelligent, to actually contribute to society at large. He volunteers at the local rec center, he studies after school, he works a part-time job at a nursing home where he's befriended a couple of the residents.

The run would start with him getting a job offer from the Avengers who basically need his muscle and they're willing to pay to get it. Rage convinces Iron Man to use his money to pay for him to get into a first rate college (the college interview would be a funny scene, when he reveals that he was an Avenger while in middle school) as well as giving some money to his neighborhood's rec center.

We all know that Gambit is from Louisiana. How do we know? Because he says things like "dis t'ing be out o' control, chere." Or at least that's what he says when he's being poorly written. I don't mean poorly written in the sense of poor character motivation or flimsy dialogue, I mean the basic forming of words is poor.

There is never any reason to write in dialect. Ever. Of course the X-Men are the worst offender so it's easy to pick on them. Whether its Gambit, Rogue, Cannonball or someone else the writers often feel the need to make us "hear the character's voice" in our heads by writing the dialogue phoenitically. Here's a better idea, just write good dialogue and we'll hear them just fine. After all, the writer's don't feel the need to write Xavier with a nasal upstate New Yorker accent so why make Cannonball say things like, "Ah'll be!"

The only dialogue sin worse than writing in dialect is the over dependence on stereotypical speech. For example, we know that Colossus is Russian because he shouts out "boize moi!" And we've all read Nightcrawler call women "frauline" and say "danke" despite the fact that he's lived in the United States for years, has no German friends, doesn't visit Germany nor have any real occasion to speak German. If you're bilingual and live in a country that doesn't speak one of your languages, you're not going to rush to use one of those words [an exception to this rule is if you don't know the English word for something you might insert another that you don't know].

So to recap, a bad way to write Banshee would be "top o' th' marnin' to ya, Beast. Yer lookin' like a right fookin' mess, ye are boyo." A better way to write him would be to say "I haven't thought about that since university." We know that he's Irish, we don't need to be hit over the head with it, if you want to remind us use subtle clues (for example, the UK's use of the word university or hospital without any modifier such as "my" or "the").

The time has come to look at our favorite fuzzy blue German priest/superhero (and probably the only one): Nightcrawler. A great character, he's one of those that is a staple of the X-Men mythology since he's such a great representation of the "other." To anyone who doubts the power of Nightcrawler, need I remind you that he gets mentioned in a Weezer song?

So what makes Nightcrawler such a great character? He's very self-possessed and self-aware, he rarely doubts himself. This confidence in himself often leads him to act differently than his appearace might suggest. Despite his freakish (and devilish) appearance he is a man of great faith in God and rather than brood, he's actually a fun-loving thrill seeker. He is what we all wish that we had been in our teen years (well, in hindsight wish we'd been), he doesn't try to conform because he's got a greater perspective of the world and his role in it.

Most writers are fine dealing with Nightcrawler's belief in God, at least in theory. It's in the execution that most writers fall to the wayside. His faith warbles from being a priest to a recent crisis in faith. I think the best way to handle Kurt was actually perfected by Claremont over in Excalibur. Here's a guy who loves life; he loves to do acrobatics, romance ladies, and perform various feats of daring doo. He has a strong belief in God and has given himself over as a vessel for the Lord's doing, yet he still has a sense of self, a sense of desire. The problem with his becoming a priest is that he's a bit too much of a hedonist, he couldn't turn away from fighting the good fight and making dirty inneundo.

We tend to think of religious people as being overly moralistic, especially someone who's faith is as prominent as Nightcrawler's. So writer's tend to just ignore his faith, put it to the side and never mention it or they make it the central focus of his being. It is his motivating factor. After all, with every superhero or villian the reader must ask "why?" Why does this person put themselves in danger? What do they get out of it? Nightcrawler believes he's doing God's work, that's why. Every night he says his prayers and every Sunday he goes to Mass. But he is more than just a Catholic. He is a mutant. He is a man. He is Kurt Wagner.

There's a immensly funny moment in Peter Jackson's Dead Alive where a priest performs a bit of marital arts on some zombies before announcing, "I kick ass for the Lord!" It's a great gag but in a greater sense that should be the mantra for anyone writing a Nightcrawler story. He is active, he is passionate and he is religous. And it is that faith that allows him to be so sure of himself. Everyone else at Xavier's doubts themselves, their motives, their lives but not Nightcrawler. While he appears to have the roughest life due to his appearance, he is actually the happiest.

OK, it's my turn to do one of these, or Stephen will start stealing them from me. So, Psylocke. One of my favorite X-Men and one of the most mistreated. This is not very edited, so bear with me. Here's where we would start:

What if, one day, you're blue blood English, and on the next, you woke up and you were Chinese? This has never been dealt with, and it seems to me you can't get anywhere with Psylocke unless you address this. I mean, I'm black, and if I woke up Mexican tomorrow you can bet that would be some shit to deal with.

At the core of it, Psylocke is someone who is always looking to come into her own, to simply be the best of who she is. Fate has conspired to treat this modest ambition most cruelly, beginning with her birth: though older by mere minutes, her brother Brian aka Captain Britain, has always outshone her. He was more powerful, a more experienced and celebrated hero, a scientific genius whose being pervaded the known omniverse. She had purple hair, could read minds, and, uh, modeled. And I think she liked to ski. She became captain Britain temporarily, and got crippled by Slaymaster (can't believe I remembered his name. Slaymaster? That's disco death metal for you). She was also blinded, and I think her brother had to save her. Mojo gave her bionic eyes, and used her to broadcast her adventures with the x-men in his homeworld, where it was a ratings success.

So she moved on to greener pastures, with the x-men. But even there, with her amazing telepathic abilities, she was third behind Charles "I could teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony, with the unbridled powers of my MIND" Xavier, and Jean "I got the power of phoenix and perfect skin" Grey.

After entering the Siege Perilous, she came out the other end remodeled, the product of an ambiguous and unintentional alliance between otherworldly network demon Mojo and the evil ninja clan, The Hand. She came out Chinese, reprogrammed to serve the Mandarin, a Chinese crimelord, and with the ability to create a psychic knife, which was, as the writers never failed to tell us, 'the focused totality of her psionic powers'. That was kind of cool. She also again had eyes that were cameras into another dimension. But again, you don't recognize your face in the mirror; Chinese people keep coming up to you and speaking Chinese, you can't get a table in that exclusive restaurant the Braddocks have eaten at for centuries, and on top of it all you're not sure whether you're completely deprogrammed; you might still flip out and kill all your friends. Which puts a strain on those nights out drinkin'.

And her story only gets more convoluted from there. A quick recap: after rejoining the x-men, she gets put in a coma by sabretooth; she is given a magic potion, the Crimson Dawn, and half of Angel's soul to bring her back. From this she gets a red mark over her eye and the power to melt into shadows. This goes nowhere. She uses her mind as a prison for the shadow king, meaning she can never use her telepathy again. She gains telekinesis. Then she gets killed. Then, pretty recently, she comes back again, with just the telekinesis. you might have noticed I skipped the whole Kwannon/Revanche debacle. The only thing of interest there is what happens when a writer tries to punch outside his weight class.

The only constant in Psylocke's life is change; all she wants is to be herself and be recognized as a valued individual, but all she does is change. She longs for the mundane. Though the well-meaning hippies who ask her about Buddhism cling to the stereotype of the 'wise oriental' bother her, she is kind of zen due to her experiences. She never quite knows who she is, but she knows instinctively that the self is not a static thing, however much she might want it.

Her relationships, except for the romance with Angel, have been pretty hit or miss. A lot of flirtations but not much else, not surprising for someone who barely knows who she is, much less what she wants out of a relationship. Angel worked because they were both freaks, who changed too much, raised in a wealthy environment, and had similar adventuring backgrounds.

She should be cagey, edgy. Since she grew up with telepathy, now that she doesn't have it, she lacks the ability to read body language and nonverbal cues. It's like she's blind, deaf, and mute - cut off from everyone's innermost thoughts. Two ways this manifest: one as a source of awkward humor - she doesn't know when to leave a room, or when to shut up, or when to start talking. Second, she is able to project a crazy, larger-than-life adventuress vibe, because she's liable to just charge into a situation. And she has somebody else's soul in her, keeping her alive (bringing her back? She might believe so), a reminder of how fragile life is, and the sacrifices that bring about a second chance.

Apologies for the rambling.

Many people feel that the Hulk is Bruce Banner's id, that he is all of the repressed anger and rage that Banner doesn't allow himself to voice. This interpretation gained more momentum with the introduction of the Ultimate line's reimagining of the Hulk character, who indeed is all about his desires. This interpretation, however, sells the character short and is the reason that the Ultimate's Hulk is far more lacking in depth than the "regular" Marvel's Hulk.

The Hulk is actually a social construction given physical form. It is the idealization of manhood, not Banner's idealization but instead one created by society that he is expected to live up to. Whether it is his own father or his father-in-law, General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, calling him a pansy and trying to toughen him up, they are attempting to make him fit into a pre-exisiting mold. Banner is seen as weak, he is seen as useless by these men. The Hulk however is seen as strong, the military sees him as a potential weapon. To masculine society, the Hulk is useful, albeit dangerous.

Is society better served by the Hulk or by Banner? Obviously the Hulk is a loose cannon who has destroyed entire cities while Banner's intellect could be far more helpful to curing diseases and creating inventions. Yet when you look at our society, who is praised more? The smart or the strong? So Banner assumes the guise of the Hulk, much in the same way that many men put on a tougher exterior in an attempt to be taken seriously, to make it in the world and just as it is with those men, Banner is hurting himself and the world more than he is helping.

Banner is portrayed as a victim with no control over his transformation so the point could be made that he is nothing like the young men who assume a tougher guise. Upon closer inspection, do those men really have much of a choice? To not be labeled a pansy (or worse) and suffer the social (and sometimes physical) consequences don't they have to act in that manner?

The Hulk is not alone in this gender construction, however. He is joined by his cousin, Jennifer Walters also known as the She-Hulk. Jennifer Walters is a very intelligent, slightly frumpy lawyer who recieved some of her cousin's blood after a near-fatal accident. She too can transform into a gamma-powered super being. However, her transformation renders her into a slightly-bobbley brained (but by no means stupid), sexpot. While society says that a man is "meant" to be strong, silent and stupid so the Hulk is that, meanwhile a woman is supposed to be ditzy, pretty and built so the She-Hulk fulfills that. Again, we see that the gamma exposure doesn't merely turn people into super-powered machines of destruction but instead makes them into a social construct.

Tagged with: The Hulk

The Thing is an interesting character on so many levels. Despite his impressive physique and his immense strength, he is a sensitive soul who'd trade away his powers in a second if it would guarantee him a normal life again. He is the poster child for Marvel Comics because it was him more than any other character in the Fantastic Four (the modern Marvel's first book) that showed how they were different from DC; they focused less on the amazing powers of the superheroes and chose instead to focus on the human drama that was born out of their situation.

From a creative standpoint, the sad thing about the Thing is that he's fairly easy to do but a little bit harder to actually understand. The recipe to follow has been laid down by some of the great comic writers, so as long as you follow it you'll at least not embarrass yourself. Basically have him use a bit of self-depreciating humor, bicker with the Human Torch and say things that we assume that people from Brooklyn said in the fifties.

The true core of Ben Grimm is deeper than that. Many of our comic pantheon are a reflection of the readers and this case is no different: Grimm is the young teenager. Let's first take a look at the structure of the Fantastic Four, often called "Marvel's first family," and we will see how much they're structured like a family. Sue Storm and Reed Richards (aka the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic) are obviously the parents of the group, despite the fact that they are actually married; they also are the most responsible members of the team. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, is practically a child. He has no impulse control and always wants his way.

Ben Grimm on the other hand, woke up one day to find that his body had changed, that it had in a sense betrayed him. Yes he was more physically imposing but that he was also more awkward both physically and socially. Also, his physical appearance had changed for the worse. Ask any teenager who is starting to sprout the first few bits of facial hair (not when they look like cool stubble but are just in random uneven patches) and pimples and most of them would trade some of their height and broader shoulders to look a little more, well, normal. This is Ben Grimm.

What's interesting, and often untapped, is that the metaphor of the Thing is actually gender neutral. When his transformation first happened (and some since then), he took to wearing baggy, ill-fitting clothes in an attempt to hide his new body. Many young teenage girls go through a similar awkward growth where they find themselves repulsive and so decide to hide behind such clothes (of course, they go for sweatshirts that are too big rather than a trench coat and a fedora, but the desire is the same).

The story of the Thing was not a different person the day before he left for space and the day after he got back. Inside he knows the same things, likes the same jokes, and hates the same things yet society treats him differently. Some would say that this provides a nice racial paradigm and I think the casting of a black woman to play Alicia Masters in the Fantastic Four movie obviously means that there is some validity to that claim. Unlike with race, though, Ben Grimm was the once not superpowered whereas a black man has never been white. Also, as the Fantastic Four has become famous people have been willing to look past his rocky hide and not see him as a monster. But as with any teenager, the issue is that it doesn't matter how society really sees him, it matters more how he thinks society views him.

Tagged with: The Thing

Okay, so the first Fantastic Four film has come out and it's kinda alright. Is it good? No but it definitely showed more promise than I thought it would and even holds the potential that a sequel could actually be a good movie, if not a great one. The fact that the worst moments of the film seemed to center around Dr. Doom and he is now, quite thankfully, out of the picture, the film can move on to bigger and better things. Just how big? How about something galactic or should I say Galactus?

Whoa there, Tex. Slow down. For those of you keeping score at home, Galactus is the devour of worlds; meaning that he goes from planet to planet eating them, the more life on the planet, the tastier it is to him. He does this not out of evil but because he possess the Power Cosmic, a force that grants him almost ultimate power but drains his very existence. As this also introduced the character of the Silver Surfer, it's obvious to see why it's a fan favorite. This is an epic story that was truly one of the early "widescreen" comics that felt much more like a movie than a comic.

Which is exactly why it shouldn't be the next Fantastic Four film. Where do you go after Galactus? Do you bring in the Mole Man? The Microverse? Jeez, comic films have got themselves into a bind in the past by racing into things too quickly (don't believe me? Go watch the Daredevil movie, how much did they try to cram into that film, eh?). The Galactus story should be the third and final Fantastic Four movie, and it would also present the option of creating a spin-off movie for the Silver Surfer much in the same way that Blade: Trinity provided an oppertunity for a potential Nightstalkers franchise.

So what should the second movie be? I'm glad you asked. The Skrulls, more importantly, the Skrull invasion. The Skrulls are a shapeshifting race that appeared very early on in the Fantastic Four comic book bent on world domination (aren't they all?). Still, these guys could create some great drama because just as the Fantastic Four are starting to get good press, here comes this group of villians that can parade as them and ruin their cred. Even the team itself wouldn't know if the person they're looking at is really their teammate or a Skrull insider. It could have a great psychological drive to it, kind of like the old horror film the Thing (not to be confused with the Fantastic Four member of the same name).

Think that sounds nice but what about the fights? I mean, every superhero film has gotta have at least one knock-down fight, right? Well, that's what you got the Super-Skrull for. Here's a guy who has all the powers of the Fantastic Four and who was created for the sole purpose of killing them, painfully if possible.

What's even better is that you could even set-up the third film with this one. Perhaps these Skrulls want to take over Earth because they are fleeing Galactus. At the tail end of the film, you have a team that has barely beaten this threat, they're exhausted and then they get this glimpse of what's coming. It's so much bigger and so much more terrifying. Then, credits. Bam. People will be drooling for that third film.

The only problem? What do you call it? When you have something ending with a four you don't want to call it Fantastic Four 2... I guess they'd go the X-Men route and call it FF2 or some such nonsense. Ah well, no matter what they call it, it'd be a heck of a story.

Tagged with: Fantastic Four

Cyclops is an oddity: an introverted superhero. He feels obliged to help others because Xavier, acting as his father figure, has instilled that value in him. Also, growing up as an orphan he feels a sense of duty to protect those who are at the mercy of the world. Despite his outgoing occupation, Cyclops is a thoughtful and reserved man.

Due to his contradictory nature most writers don't know how to handle him. He's seen as a boring boy scout, as uninteresting. Through the years different gimmicks have been tried to make him a more "interesting" character; the most dramatic and quite possibly worst attempt to retool Cyclops was his merger with Apocalypse. The problem with these attempts is that it ignores the spark that makes Cyclops unique: his yearning to be a part of something bigger while refusing to sacrifice his alone time. Again, his childhood at the orphanage goes a long way to explaining his nature, he was used to being self-sufficent while still wanting to be part of a family. His rich inner life is also the reason that he keeps getting romantically involved with telepaths. They can see his thoughts without him having to actually communicate them.

So where do you go with Cyclops from here? He needs to become one inwardly turned. You can see him on a mission and he will be calculating, he'll do what he has to do to get the job done. He'll come back from a mission and he won't celebrate with the new teammate, so people might see him as cold. We then need to be shown him with Beast or Storm or someone else who he's close to and see that he's funny, and sexy and crazy. He's only himself when he's around close friends. Also, he needs to have hobbies again like reading and flying planes. Hell, I'd even be pumped if he started to juggle.

As for potential narrative direction, I'd say that he should meet a cousin of Jean's. The two get to know each other better and fall in love. She wouldn't have any superpowers and perhaps that's one of the things that Cyclops would love about her. Eventually, they'd get married and have a daughter whom he'd name Rachel. Again, the potential for showing the two sides of him: business-like on the field, warm with his daughter. Also the capability for humor would be great because when quiet reflective people have children, it turns their lives completely upside down. After a mission where the team is forced to leave Cyclops behind and he's presumed dead, he manages to make it back to the mansion and he retires. When you have a family, you've got to put it first. So the three of them would move to Alaska, a place where he could give his daughter what he never had: a stable home.

Tagged with: Cyclops

When superhero comics came out in the late 30's, the serial was in full bloom. The serial, for those that don't know (and haven't heard George Lucas drone on and on about them) was a series of short films that played in movie houses that ended in a tense cliffhanger, so that you'd have to come back to the theater for the next installment to see how it turned out. As this format was so popular, the comic creators emulated it.

Fast forward seven decades and what do you have? Clutter. Lots of clutter. Unlike Flash Gordon of the silver screen or even Sherlock Holmes of the page, Superman's been going since 1938. The innate problem is that most serial books are written by one writer meaning that they don't go on for more than a few decades and the output tends to be much less and serial films are heavily dependant on the actors who age and can no longer play the part after perhaps a decade. Since comics can be written by several people (and can have several books coming out a month) and don't age, the amount of narrative baggage can add up quite quickly.

The solution? Marvel has gone so far as to "Ultimatize" its own line of comics, coming out with an alternative universe where they are planning on taking continuity more seriously and try not to flood the market. It's a good effort and I've enjoyed what they've produced so far. However, I think there are other options.

What a comic company could do is come out with a monthly anthology book, in the vein of Dark Horse Presents. Basically, you come out with a 48 page comic that contains four stories inside of it. This could give people a monthly fix, give artists and writers a chance to showcase their talents, and could explore characters without having to commit too much to them. Meanwhile, instead of having other titles, the company could come out with several mini-series; Sin City is a great example. This way you're not watering down the storylines with horrid ideas that sometimes writers have to churn out to fill out a monthly grind.

Comics can benefit from borrowing more from film and books rather than television (which again, seven years is a long run for a TV show but comics can run 35+ years). If comics are gonna stay fresh, they're going to have to examine how they present themselves.