Hmmm... I'm intrigued, excited, and a bit worrisome. The lineup is interesting... But why would they create even more new characters? There are plenty of teenage heroes to choose from (and if they're willing to de-age Bucky, who's to say they can't do that some more?) G-d knows there's only like 50 X-students to choose from. Why couldn't a band of New X-Men with a couple of other MU teens "Run Away"?
With Dani Moonstar and Cannonball as their mentors, and the rest of the New Mutants as teachers!
Yesto this lineup, but Bendis? Not even with Mann.
Strike the "creative team" that's mentioned... I just like the photo and lineup!!! But it's missing Prodigy as mission coordinator and Elixir as medic!
Some of them I'm not really close to, and some I haven't talked to in a while, but I have talked to all of them at some point and found them very nice.
I know I've forgotten some, but that's all I can think of right now.
Awwww... Thanks! Haven't been on here in awhile but I pop up periodically! :P
That Jubilee was turned into a vampire around the time all the Twilight's and all came out was an obvious gimmick. I think that is what irritates people. There should be no need to jump on the bandwagon. The Xmen comics should set the trend not follow it
I agree. However, the X-Men comics have jumped on bandwagons before using gimmicks to create characters:
Dazzler - created during the end of the disco era, with powers designed to work alongside a real-life singer that would have the same performing name and etc., which ultimately fell through before the deal was completed.
Cable/Shatterstar/Anyone-With-Big-Shoulderpads-Plus-Big-Guns/Swords - created during an era when certain artists in the 90s popularized Big Everything...big hair, big muscles, body armor, and obsessive focuses on Xtreme superheroes with Rambo-like combat abilities.
Magik - One of my favorites, but she was created during a time when magic and demonic possession was somewhat of a thing. It had been years since "The Exorcist", but there were a lot of movies about demons and magic at the time. I also think that's why her magical abilities have never really been integrated into the X-Men mythos - they've generally been accepted, but except for occasional spell usage, her magic usage was strict limited to Limbo for the most part. There were also other heroes associated with magic during this time period - Kulan Gath became associated with the X-Men during this time (he was an older Conan character, though), Jennifer Kale, Magali Szardos, and Dr. Druid were active around this time period as well with at least three crossover events prominently focused around magic (the Atlantis Attacks, Inferno, and the one where Manhattan was transformed into an island like one you'd find in Conan).
Mirage/Thunderbird/Thunderbird II - This is interesting because there was a fascination with Native Americans at the time, that seems to have completely faded away from our pop culture memory. This was the time period when the commercial with the crying Native American, when celebs would dress up in the ethnic jewelry or clothing as a fashion statement, and etc.
Dust - it's not a surprise, given the above, that Marvel writers thought it would be edgy to create a visibly Muslim character during a time period where they were (and still are) marginalized by some parts of the American population.
Karma - her background was partially a result of more attention being paid to the aftermath of the Vietnam war. Unfortunately, because this dates the character by tying her to a specific time period, it's hard to reconcile that with her apparent age compared to her teammates and the fact that she hasn't aged since, while some of her teammates are young adults. Current writers don't really focus on her origins.
Luke Cage and Misty Knight - created during an era where blacksploitation films were still in vogue; both characters were meant to personify the image of street smart, African Americans from the inner city (moreso for Cage), and cash in on the lingo, style of dress, and inner city problems faced during that time. There was even a story where Storm first met them, and Luke had to explain the street problems he fought against to her (not much of a stretch considering she spent most of her life in Africa).
The question is whether some of these characters were created because of the fads, or if interesting parts of this background legitimately inspired their creation. It's not always so clear.
I like this debrief analysis! Great job! You should do a whole blog centered around characters created in result of popular culture's transition and flow from one bandwagon to the next!
Hey cutter, you also agree with @papad1992 can you confirm which series too.
Well I'd say from about issue #390 or so to Messiah Complex (around 2001) that's when I started back into X-Men comics. So from there till Messiah Complex. After then, it's all downhill from there :(
Log in to comment