The fandom meme - X-men

[angelophile]

kirke_novak suggested the X-men for the fandom meme, so here goes...



1. The first character I fell in love with:
"Fell in love with" is probably a strong term, but I think Kitty Pryde probably. When I started reading X-men comics with any regularity, she was off with Excalibur and so I didn't really know much about her until I started reading the collected Essential collections. So I was able to read the character from her first appearances. I think falling in love is a gradual process and I think that's what I had with Kitty - warming to her and then finally something clicking completely when I read the way Warren Ellis handled her in Excalibur. I miss her.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Scott Summers. When I first started reading the X-men, I bought into the reputation of Scott as uptight, jerky and otherwise bland. To be fair, the late 80s and 90s weren't the best time for Scott - after Claremont left the book. Again, it was reading the Essential collections that revealed there was more to the character than the reputation might suggest and also Grant Morrison's run where something really clicked and I started to be fascinated by his character - flawed, noble and often brutally hard on himself.

3. The character everyone else loves that I don't:
Jean Grey. I wouldn't say I dislike so much as find her uninteresting. I find her terribly bland and the epitome of the character that has it all - power, looks, not just one, but two men (or three, or four) chasing after her - and is just a little too perfect. The one skeleton she has in her closet - Dark Phoenix - wasn't her at all and what's left is a rather flawless individual. I find the f***-ups like Scott far more interesting than the characters who seem to know it all without actually learning anything. And for all the bad reputation Scott gets (deservedly) for his flakiness with women, somehow Jean always survives unsullied, despite making damn sure Logan remained obsessed with her for years. If she'd actually come out and admitted she was cockteasing him I might actually warm to her as interestingly flawed, but keeping Logan on a leash whilst also being portrayed as near being so damn goodie-two shoes. Few things are more irritating to me than perfect characters.

4. The character I love that everyone else hates:
I don't think there's any character that everyone else hates. Certainly Scott's not popular with certain factions and many people loath Emma, particularly Jean fans. I think, for the purposes of this meme, I'm going to pick Stacy X. Who, let's face it, was massively unpopular for being both a prostitute, ill suited for a mainstream comic book, a bitchy personality and fitting some of the remit for a Mary Sue by popping up from nowhere and immediately making it onto the X-men. But I loved the character for her snarky dialogue and relationships with the other X-men, until she was Austenized (although her departure from the X-men? Still great.)

5. The character I would shag anytime:
Let's face it, it's Emma Frost, isn't it? She'd probably break me, but she oozes confidence, sexuality and I love the snark. Now, date? That would throw up a different answer entirely.

6. The character I'd want to be like:
There's lots of characters I respect and like, a few I already think I am like, but want to be like? Hmm. Bobby's fun, Scott's kick ass, but, let's face it, neither of them are people I'd want to model my personal relationships after. So, it's Nightcrawler. He's the character who's kind, loving, generous, playful, has strong faith, is a loyal friend, a good leader, charisma - who wouldn't want to be like Kurt, quite honestly? And chicks dig the fuzzy dude.

7. The character I'd slap:
Oh my. The entire X-men cast at one point or another. Of course, Chamber's the most slappable for multiple reasons, but he's the kind of character I love - where you want to hug him and slap him at the same time. But in terms of the character I've wanted to smack around the back of the head most often it has to be him. Poor bugger.

8. A pairing that I love:
Of course, I love Emma and Scott when it's written well, but I wouldn't class it as an OTP. I actually preferred the way Banshee and Emma sparked off one another better, if anything. I think there's lots more potential in the relationship, however, and hope they don't break up any time soon. It's probably Kitty Pryde and Pete Wisdom, which I still love on every level. I'd never expect (or want) to see them get back together, that time is gone, but for a while there they were joyous.

9. A pairing that I despise:
Gambit and Rogue. It's the one pairing that I think actually damages the characters quite badly, because it becomes the sum of their characters. Oh god the angst. Mike Carey's recent use of Rogue as a team leader demonstrated how appealing the character could be (as do rereading her early appearances with the X-men) but I can't think of a single thing interesting about Rogue when all she's doing is wangsting about Remy, a character who I actively dislike 90% of the time, but is far, far more interesting on his own too.

10. Favourite character:
Tough call. It probably is Chamber, though. A great visual, interestingly f***ed up character, a dry sense of humour, great potential - love him.

11. What are my three favourite things about the fandom.
The interesting flaws of the characters - Characters like Cyclops and and Nightcrawler and Chamber are the most interesting to me because they're in one way the epitome of The Other, something about them that means that these characters can't truly fit in, can't live normal lives and the interesting character quirks and flaws that come with it. Take off Batman, Superman, Spider-man's masks and they can become ordinary. Many mutants can't and how they deal with that interests me.

The sense of underdog - although it doesn't really make sense within the Marvel universe, where characters with superpowers are often well loved, the feeling of mutants being put upon by the rest of the world, but fighting on regardless to "protect the world that hates and fears them". Love it.

The soap opera element. I'm a sucker for it. The sense of X-men as extended family that, er, sometimes sleep with each other is what makes the team so interesting. I like the overblown melodrama of it all, extended to superheroics. I love this.

12. What are my three least favourite things about the fandom.
Selfishness. That's something that's crept in heavily in the last few years. The X-men used to fight for mutant rights but they also did so by protecting humanity as a whole. The major issue I've had with recent years is that the X-men have spent most of their time fighting threats to themselves, now going so far as to kill anti-mutant groups. They no longer seem to care about humanity as a whole and that's an issue for me.

The lack of freshness - It seems like nothing really changes at X-men basecamp. The team now hasn't really been shaken up since Giant Sized X-men and while there's potential to bring on new characters, and often writers attempt to, things have been snapping back to the mold of when Claremont left the book for the last 15 years or so. Occasionally a writers like Scott Lobdell will attempt to create a new X-men team or a new book like New Mutants will try and introduce the next generation of core characters. But they're never actually allowed to be core and while one might pick up a character, they're all too often shuffled aside every time a new writer comes on who only wants to play with the famous toys.

The ridiculous, overblown complexity of it all. I can handle stuff like Mystique being Nightcrawler's mother, but the daftness of clones, every character being in some shape or form related to another, no matter how much it strains canon to do so, that doesn't sit well with you. The X-men line needs serious streamlining and simplifying and instead there's an awful lot of navel gazing and disappearing into its own convoluted continuity that's difficult to fathom, even for long term readers. The approach of treating each issue as if it were a reader's first has been neglected since the 80s, sadly.

13. Who are my three favourite characters.
Chamber - as mentioned above.
Cyclops, again, detailed above.
Toad - A somewhat surprising entry. I really do love the poor sod. I wish he'd crop up more, but I'm a sucker for his appearances whenever I can get my hands on them.

Emma drops out of the top three because of the way she's been handled lately and her sheer overexposure. Scott just manages to cling on on the strength of his glory years and a few good moments lately. The top three'll change depending on how a character's been portrayed lately, anyway. Iceman, Shadowcat, Jubilee, Wolfsbane and others might claim the top next week.

14. Who are my three least favourite characters.
Slipstream - Hate the whiny bitch. He's a terrible concept, a stereotype and used horribly. Totally unlikable.
Darwin - A walking deus ex machina and retcon rolled into one. Lifeguard's nearly as bad, but at least she had a touch of personality with it. Darwin doesn't even get that. And bland as some other character's personalities might be, at least they never had the fix all powers with it.
Ink - All the problems of the above with a genuinely unlikable personality with it.

15. What are my three favourite pairings.
Kitty Pryde and Pete Wisdom - As mentioned above. It was a relationship that allowed Kitty to mature, provided some great repartee and had genuine chemistry. Both characters came out of it as better people than they went in.
Jono and Paige - I know it's sad, but I do love the teen angst and the will-they, won't-they drama of them.
Emma and Scott - The dynamic's fun and the relationship could have potential, if they just let them spark off one another like they did in Morrison and Whedon's issues.

16. What are my three least favourite pairings.
Rogue and Gambit - as detailed above.
Kitty and Piotr - I have issues with this pairing. While it was okay at the time, sorta, there's something quite skeevy about a 19 year old and a 14 year old having a romance and certainly not one that's TRUE LOVE and lasts forever. Piotr was a jerk to Kitty, the both of them moved on and Kitty grew up past her crush. Returning to what was effectively a crush from a 14 year old and proclaiming it to be a great romance just doesn't work for me.
Jean and Scott - For similar reasons to the Kitty and Piotr relationship - it was a high school romance and those rarely last forever. I do like Morrison's comment on the relationship, which I agree with: "Emma does everything Scott wishes Jean would do. Claremont gave me the key when he said Jean is actually much kinkier than Emma, but not as demonstrative. A repressed guy like Scott needs to be brought out of his shell by an extravert. Jean is sensitive and tends to nurse Scott in ways that don't allow him to grow."

17. Which character are you most like.
Probably Chamber, alas, as I have the same tendency to self-sabotage.

18. What is my deep, dark fandom secret.
I find the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stories almost entirely unreadable.


I better not ask for any other fandom suggestions. That took me entirely too long.