Title: The Ghost at the Institute Part 2

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating: T - some graphic imagery.

Summary: When a strange ghost starts terrorizing the students at the Institute, it's up to Beast, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde to save the day!

Notes: This is my first major story for the X-Men, so feel free to enjoy it and be gentle with the criticisms!

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Chapter 3: The White Ghost Attacks!

Later that night, all of the X-Men and the students were sleeping, but in one room, Kitty Pryde sat up in her bed thinking about the student who was affected by the ghost and how in the world such a ghost exists in this world.

“I still can’t over this weird feeling I have. About everything that has happened today. I mean, ghosts? Come on, they don’t exist,” Kitty thought to herself. Kitty turned over and yawned, “Well, until we could do something about that poor student, hopefully things will make more sense in the morning.” Kitty turned off her light and tried to go to sleep.

In the next room, Piotr Rasputin was laying awake, thinking about the events of today and said to himself, “A ghost? How can such a strange thing happen here? I cannot help myself, but this situation makes me feel truly uncomfortable…like what happened that day,” Piotr said to himself worriedly. Piotr then turned around in his bed and fell asleep.

In another room, Kurt Wagner was pacing the roof of his room, wondering about the troubling situation that awaits them ahead, “Dear God, who would have thought that such a supernatural force would have existed in this world. We best be on our toes to prepare ourselves for this event.” Kurt then leaped down from the roof of his room and went to bed.

Deep in the middle of the night, the white mist was lurking among the hallways of the Institute, seeking out a fresh prey to feed upon. Once the mist got through halfway through the hall, it comes upon a door that is labeled “Armor” and it starts seeping underneath the door. Hisako Ichiki, codename ARMOR, was sleeping contently in her bed when the white mist lingered around the door and transformed into the same large white figure from before. The large white figure than crept quietly towards Hisako and once it got closer to the bed, it started to tower over Hisako’s bed. It was then that Hisako started to feel a chill in the air while snug in her bed and so, she started to rise in her bed, rubbed her eyes and stood up to come face to face with a face covered in blue hair. Hisako and the white figure stared at each other for a few minutes…until suddenly, the white figure let out a terrifying scream, showing its face which was distorted and skinless towards Hisako who also let out a terrified scream. Hisako tried to transform into her armored form, but found that she could not transform, so she kicked the white figure in the face and tried to run out of the room, but the white figure grabbed her by the arm! Hisako struggled to get free from the white figure’s grip but found that she could not and she thought that she was a goner until Kitty Pryde, hearing Hisako’s cries, phased through the wall and punched the white figure in the face causing the white figure to let go of Hisako. While the white figure was recovering, Piotr suddenly charged into the room in his steel form and smashed the door to pieces to see what the trouble was. Hisako was still trying to get away from the white figure when a smell of brimstone came in the room and Kurt came and teleported Hisako away from the room and into a safe place. Kitty, Piotr and Kurt then stood in front of the white figure while the frightening figure was trying to recover from all the punches it received. The white figure then hissed in a frightening manner and started to wave its hands around itself frantically.

“Alright, this ghost is starting to get on my nerves,” hissed Kitty.

“We must defeat this ghost as soon as possible,” said Piotr.

“Yes, the sooner we defeat this ghost, the bet---“

Suddenly, Kurt, Piotr and Kitty found themselves stuck to the ground and also discover something extremely terrible.

“Our powers! They’re gone!” yelped Kitty.

The three X-Men tried to get themselves free, but they could not and the white figure came charging at them at full force until a strange blue ray shot out from the doorway and strikes the white figure in the chest. The white figure let out a cry of terror and yells out in a voice of a thousand insects:

“DEATH!! YOU WILL FEEL THE WRATH OF DEATH SOON ENOUGH!!”

Then the white figure turned into white mist and swirled out of the window of the room.

Kurt, Piotr and Kitty stood confused about where the blue ray came from and then out stepped Beast from the doorway.

“Hank! What was that laser ray you’ve just shoot?” Kurt asked.

“It’s a power neutralizer ray gun, a gun that can neutralize the powers of supernatural beings. I’ve just made it in my spare time while I was tinkering with the possibilities of stopping supernatural beings with supernatural powers that could wipe us out in a nanosecond.”

“But our powers! What will become of our powers?” said Piotr.

“Don’t worry. It appears that after I had run some tests on the student who was affected by the ghost; his powers seem to come back within twenty-four hours, so your powers will return soon enough,” stated Hank.

“Great. Now we have to wait a whole day before our powers come back,” said Kitty grumpily.

“This is good actually. It should give us enough time to come up with a plan to defeat this ghost once and for all so that it would not harm anymore students. The ghost might come back to the Institute to take another student again. Are you ready for this?” asked Hank.

“I’m ready!” said Kitty.

“I’m in!” said Piotr.

“Count me in also!” said Kurt.

“Alright! Let’s get down to ghost business shall we?” said Hank.

Chapter 4: Memories…

Twenty four hours later…

“Alright, now that your powers are back again, I wanted to give you these new power suits that I also created during my spare time. With these suits, the ghost’s powers would prove to be invulnerable once its powers hit these suits. These suits will neutralize the ghost’s powers, therefore preventing its powers from taking away your powers,” stated Hank proudly.

“Another invention you have done during your spare time? I am most impressed, Hank!” said Kurt amazed.

“All in a day’s work for a scientific genius! Now, let’s get ready for this ghost.” said Hank.

Once the X-Men departed to get dressed, Piotr silently walked to his room and sat down on his bed to think about today’s events.

“Death…you will feel the wrath of death soon enough. That is what the ghost said. Why does that make me feel so…uncomfortable?” Piotr wondered to himself.

“Peter? Are you okay?” In the doorway, stood Kitty and she slowly came inside Piotr’s room and sat next to him on his bed.

“Oh, hello Katya. I was just thinking to myself about what that ghost said about death.”

“About how we will feel the wrath of death?” asked Kitty quietly.

Piotr took a deep breath and started talking, “It has been four years since the day I died. The day I…I sacrificed my life when the legacy virus was affecting all the mutants. Before I died, I was thinking that maybe I would be at peace with myself because I have saved the lives of my dearest friends from the virus. But, when I was brought back to life by Ord, I felt a little uneasy about living the same life I lived before I died. Things are so different now and I am still trying to get used to everything that has happened since I died. So, when that ghost said that we will feel the wrath of death, it has me feeling a little frightened that I will have to go through that experience again.”

Kitty was silent for a moment and then said, “To be honest, I can’t imagine what you went through. What they did to you was beyond cruel and unusual and if I had a chance, I would give them a piece of my mind,” Kitty said a bit angrily.

“I would definitely like to do the same Katya,” said Piotr laughing quietly.

Kitty laughed too and said, “But Piotr, what matters is that you’re still alive. Maybe, being brought back to life means that you have another shot at life. That maybe, there are still some things that you have always wanted to do, but was never able to really do.”

“I suppose that is true. There are so many things I have not been able to do, even when I was still alive. Like…” Piotr leaned in closely to Kitty’s ear and whispered, “Getting closer to you.”

Kitty blushed and said, “Hmmm…now that’s something I want to do all my life, handsome.”

Kitty and Piotr held each other for a moment and kissed each other deeply.

Suddenly, the smell of brimstone filled the room and up pops Kurt who says, “It is time for us to go and fight the ghost!”

Piotr and Kitty quickly separated before Kurt came into the room and they both said, “Oh! Thanks for telling us Kurt!”

Kurt turned to leave and then said, “Oh and do not worry, I won’t tell anyone about your little “rendezvous” with each other!” Then he disappeared in a smoke of brimstone.

Kitty and Piotr looked at each other, embarrassed and then Piotr said, “Uh, should we go then?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” said Kitty hurriedly.

And the two lovers went out the door quickly.

Title: The Ghost at the Institute Part 1

Author: Rabbitearsblog

Universe: X-Men

Rating: T - some graphic imagery.

Summary: When a strange ghost starts terrorizing the students at the Institute, it's up to Beast, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde to save the day!

Notes: This is my first major story for the X-Men, so feel free to enjoy it and be gentle with the criticisms!

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Prologue:

It was a dark and spooky night and a young boy was walking alone by a secluded river. His mind was occupied, as he sat by the river and looked at his reflection in the dark water. He was not a bad looking boy: blond hair, blue eyes and his ears slightly pointed, but he knew that he was not an ordinary boy. No, he was a mutant. A young mutant who attends a special school called the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, which is basically a school for young gifted mutants like himself. The young boy kept staring at the river, pondering about his powers, which is the ability to shape shift his body at will, until suddenly, he felt a cold chill in the air.

The young boy hugged himself tighter as the air got colder and colder and when he turn around, he saw a large white figure coming towards him. The large white figure was wearing a long white dress, but there was something terrifying about this young apparition. The apparition had long dark blue hair that covered its face where the boy could not see it and it kept coming closer and closer…

The young boy tried to run away, but he found his feet to be stuck in the ground mysteriously. The boy tried to get his feet off the ground, but they would not budge. He even tried shape shifting into a rock, but he realized with stark terror that his powers would not work.

The large white figure came even closer to the boy, while the boy continued to struggle wildly, but it was too late. The white figure was now inches from the boy’s face, with her blue hair waving in her face…

…suddenly, the dark blue hair from the white figure’s face is lifted and was shown was a face so distorted and so frightening that the boy barely had time to scream before the white figure fell upon him…

Chapter 1: The White Ghost

At that moment, three adult mutants were driving in a small black Toyota car. The three mutants driving on that dark road were known as the X-Men, earth’s mightiest mutant protectors. The three X-Men members in the car were Piotr Rasputin, a Russian mutant who can turn his skin to organic steel and whose codename is COLOSSUS, Kurt Wagner, a German born mutant whose appearance looks demonic, but is extremely good natured and has the ability to teleport anyone and himself anywhere he desires and his codename is NIGHTCRAWLER and Kitty Pryde, a young woman who has the ability to phase through any kind of matter and whose codename is SHADOWCAT. The three X-Men were on their way back to the Institute after spending a day in the city together and they were exhausted from their nightly exploits.

“Whew, man, I’m so tired, guys. I didn’t think you could do so much dancing the rumba all in one night!” said Kitty.

“Well, I must admit Katzchen, it was a very delightful night to be out,” said Kurt.

“I agree. It is rare that we even have a peaceful night out together,” said Piotr.

“Hey guys, how about we try this again another night? It could make our days!” said Kitty excitedly.

“Try again? Hmmm….I wouldn’t mind some more outings like this in the near future,” agreed Piotr.

“You two certainly agree on everything, don’t you?” asked Kurt slyly.

“Oh no, no, no way! It’s not like that! What makes you think that?” Piotr and Kitty both stuttered embarrassedly.

“I thought so,” said Kurt satisfied.

“Humph!” both Piotr and Kitty huffed.

While the three were still driving, suddenly a white figure popped out unexpectedly on the road in front of the car.

“PIOTR! LOOK OUT!” shouted both Kitty and Kurt.

Piotr swerved the car sharply to the side of the road and came to an abrupt stop by a tree. The three X-Men then quickly got out of the car and frantically searched the road.

“What the heck was that?!” asked Kitty startled.

“I don’t know, but it looked like a white figure or something of that nature,” said Kurt.

“Whatever it was, it is gone now,” said Piotr.

The three X-Men looked towards the road and saw that the white figure had vanished into thin air.

“Okay, now this is officially getting spooky. Let’s head back to the mansion,” suggested Kitty.

Piotr and Kurt agreed and got back into the car and drove off towards the mansion.

Not long after the three X-Men left, then the large white figure phased through the tree and saw the three X-Men drive off.

“Beware of the beings of the dark, mutants,” said the white figure in an eerie voice that sounded like a thousand insects, “For they will feed upon your very souls and take what is theirs!”

The white figure then phased through the ground and was gone.

Chapter 2: A Frightening Discovery!

A few hours later, Kitty, Piotr and Kurt finally made it back to the Xavier Institute and got out of the car.

“Guys, I still can’t shake that creepy feeling about that weird white figure in the road. It’s like it’s a ghost or something,” said Kitty uncertainly.

“I don’t know. It seems odd that it would be a ghost. Besides, ghosts do not exist…do they?” asked Piotr uncertainly.

“Well Mein Freud, we have gone against stranger things than ghosts. Besides, we are mutants and I cannot imagine anything stranger than that,” said Kurt.

“Right…” said Piotr and Kitty smugly.

“I mean that, you know, we are beings who have fantastic powers and ghosts have fantastic powers, so in a way, we are no different,” said Kurt embarrassedly.

“It’s okay Kurt,” said Kitty slyly.

“Yes, my friend, we know you mean well,” said Piotr just as slyly.

“Really or are you two got something evil planned for me?” asked Kurt uncertainly.

“Maybe,” Piotr and Kitty both said slyly.

“Oh no!” said Kurt panicking.

“Oh yes!” said both Piotr and Kitty maliciously.

Suddenly, the doors to the Xavier Institute opened suddenly and out came Henry “Hank” McCoy, whose codename is BEAST. Unfortunately, Hank looked disturbed and he said, “Oh! Kitty, Piotr and Kurt! Thank goodness that you three have arrived here! There is something amiss in the Institute and it seems to have affected one of our students!”

“What happened?” asked Kitty, Piotr and Kurt.

“Come inside and I’ll show you three!”

As the three X-Men joined Hank inside the Institute, a white mist suddenly comes swirling behind the three X-Men, unbeknownst to the X-Men and just as the doors were closing, the white mist zips through the doors and gets inside the Institute.

Kitty, Piotr, Kurt and Hank are now inside the Institute infirmary and what they saw made their skins crawl. On the table, lays a student whose skin is now bleached white and whose eyes were sunken in, making him look like a dead corpse.

“Oh my god…” said Kitty.

“What happened here?” asked Kurt.

“One of the students found this boy lying around the school grounds this morning, as white as a sheet. This young boy looks like he is dying, but his body system is still stabilizing. Unfortunately though, not only is this boy’s unconscious, but it seems like his powers are gone.”

Kitty, Piotr and Kurt looked at each other in shock and then Piotr asked, “What kind of terrible force has affected this boy?”

“It’s hard to say. The strange thing about this whole incident is that it doesn’t seem to be a mutant who has caused this kind of harm upon the boy. No, it seems like a sort of…supernatural being that has caused this,” speculated Hank.

“Supernatural Being?” asked Kitty, Piotr and Kurt in shock.

“As in ghosts, witches, vampires, you name it! However, it’s strange that such a being has found a way to come towards the school without any of us knowing about it. Strange indeed…”

“Okay, this is getting weirder and weirder every time,” said Kitty.

“We got to protect the students from this…being of sorts before it gets to anyone else,” said Piotr.

“I agree. We just need to know where this supernatural being is at and what we can do to stop it,” said Kurt.

“I’ll set up the security system for the institute to seek out supernatural waves so that way, the students can be more alerted,” stated Beast.

Little did the four X-Men members know, the white mist that entered the school was silently lurking around the health infirmary doors and spying on the X-Men. The white mist lingered around for a few minutes and silently slinked off down the hallways of the institute, looking for fresh prey to feed upon.

Comics are just like how we read novels and books. We read comics because we love the action, the characters and the interesting plots that the writers throw at us. So, what makes a really good comic book story and what makes us interested in these stories? Here are some tips in making a good comic book story:

1. Make the Character’s death meaningful.Probably the most used up concept in comic books is the death of many characters. Deaths in any kind of genre are meant to be sad and meaningful and they should not be used as an overused plot device to cause tension in the stories. Take the deaths of Superman and Colossus for examples. The death of Colossus during the Legacy Virus was meaningful because Colossus was willing to sacrifice his life to save the people he loved and to prevent his friends from suffering the same fate that his sister, Magik had suffered. Also, the death of Superman was the same because he was willing to sacrifice his life to save people he loved. If the deaths of characters are used in the plots, then their deaths must be meaningful, in other words, death should be used in the stories if the characters are willing to sacrifice their lives to save the people they love or if the death is unintentional.
2. Focus on the characters.We as readers read comics and any other kind of genre so we could invest ourselves into the characters. In order to make the characters interesting to the reader, there must be a good amount of developing the characters and focusing the stories on them so that way the readers will enjoy what the characters bring to the stories. If the character is never focused enough on, then they could become “background” characters, which are characters who are in the story, but they contribute nothing to the story and that is one of the worst ways to use a character. If the character has nothing to do with the story, then they should not be featured in that story just so they would be rendered useless in the end. Characters should always have something to do in the story or at least, have their point of views on what happened in the events told so that way, the readers will see that the character had some significance to the story at hand. Another bad example of using characters is to make them into “Mary Sue” characters and “Mary Sue” characters are characters who are so perfect that they almost never do anything wrong. There is nothing wrong with a character always doing the right thing, since that is what heroes do. However, in order to make the character be more relatable to the readers, they need to have moments of weakness or self-doubt to ensure the readers that they are like normal people also and that even though they have superpowers or are constantly saving the world, they have moments where they doubt themselves also about their goals in life. Another important aspect in developing the characters is if a terrible situation happens to the character, then the writers need to show how that situation affects the character and not skim over that event like it never happened to the characters at all. The situation could affect the character in a negative way like make them evil or the situation could affect the character in a positive way, like make them grown as characters or realize what they really want in life.

1. Show more relationships between the characters.

Relationships are truly important to any storyline and to the characters as they truly make the characters’ personalities stand out. The relationship could be between loving couples or between groups of friends and it’s always these relationships between the characters that make the characters truly relatable to the readers and also provide some humor and heartwarming moments in the comics. Without relationships in comics, the characters would seem a bit flat and dull since you would not know how they can cope being around other people. Also, the writers should not have to continually mess with the relationships started between the characters. Yes, there should be some tensions between the characters to test how strong their relationships are to each other and the writers should show that love and friendship is more powerful than any kind of turmoil that the characters go through. Take Kitty and Colossus’ relationship during Joss Whedon’s run on “Astonishing X-Men.” They suffered through so much during that run, but their love for each other proved to outweigh all the turmoil they went through.

1. Have thought-provoking plots.

Plots are essential to making the stories extremely interesting and the plot doesn’t have to be so action oriented all the time. The plots could focus on the characters and their battles either within themselves or with villains. The plots need to have a balance between action and character moments in order for the readers to get interested into the story. One of the best examples of good plot development was the “Dark Phoenix Saga” where we not only have really good action scenes of Jean Grey going destructive as the Dark Phoenix, but we also get a good glimpse at Jean Grey’s character and her struggles with trying to control such a dark and destructive power. You want to have plenty of action to keep the reader interested, but you also want to show how the characters are affected by the events so that way, the event could affect the character in many ways.

So, that’s my suggestions on making a good comic book story. What do you think about this list? Do you like this list or is there more to be added to this list?

This is my video review on Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men: Gifted. Feel free to tell me what you think about this video!

Many of us fans who have read the X-Men comics for many years have noticed that early on, the X-Men would treat each like family members. You had some X-Men members who treated each other like brothers and sisters and you’ve had some X-Men members treating each other like a child is to a parent.

Some of the greatest examples included the relationship between Wolverine and Kitty Pryde and Wolverine’s friendship with Nightcrawler and Colossus. These X-Men members probably had the greatest close relationships within the X-Universe and we have them to thank for showing us that the X-Men can be the family that we love to see. Even though none of the X-Men members are related to each other (save for Colossus and Magik), they treated each other like a family because they are all mutants and knowing that they live in a world where the mutant race is hated, they put their trust in each other and stick together through anything no matter what dangerous situation they are thrown in.

So now, WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

Well, one of the obstacles that caused the X-Men family to split up was the event called “Schism.” The X-Men are now split up into two different groups: Cyclops’ group and Wolverine’s group. Even though Wolverine’s group is trying to maintain the original motto of the X-Men, which is where not only do they create a school for mutant children just like how Professor Xavier’s original dream was, but they try to treat each other like a family. However, it is not the same without most of the members from Cyclops’ team being there with them. Many close ties were broken during this event including Wolverine’s relationship with Jubilee, another member he treats like his daughter and Storm’s close friendship with Kitty Pryde and Wolverine.

Even before Schism started, the X-Men still haven’t been the close knit family they were years ago which was in recent years. It seems like when the X-Men were still together before “Schism” happened, they just didn’t have the tight relationship they had years ago since they acted a little distant towards each other. Of course, so much has happened to the X-Men over the years that would cause tension between all of them including the destruction of Genosha and finally, the decimation of many mutants during the “House of M” event.

Another obstacle could have been the departure of Professor Xavier, the founder of the X-Men. When X-Men first started out, he was the one who kept the X-Men together and he treated his students like his own family. Unfortunately, recent events have shown Professor Xavier in a very negative light as he has done some horrible things and now the X-Men don’t seem to trust him anymore. So, whether or not Professor Xavier’s return to the X-Universe will reunite the X-Men again is unknown at this point since we don’t know what direction the X-Men are going at this point.

Even if all of these terrible events happened to the X-Men, they still would have stuck through this together and also, letting Cyclops and Wolverine split the team seems a bit odd considering that the other team members probably would have talked both Cyclops and Wolverine out of splitting the team, especially if they are so close to each other.

Personally, I think that there needs to be more scenes of the X-Men becoming the family that they once were. Yes, “Schism” split them up, but who knows how long that will last and the important part of the X-Universe that made the X-Men special characters in the first place was the fact that they treated each other like a family, despite their differences and that they were willing to stick together through anything that was thrown at them.

So considering all that has happened to the X-Men over the years, do you think that the X-Men will ever be the close knit family they were years ago or will these disastrous events leaves scars on their relationships with each other?

So anyone who has been reading the X-Men series since it was first introduced knows that early on, the X-Men have treated each other like a family and there were many adventures that included both the older X-Men (mainly the original X-Men) and the newer X-Men (at the time, the second generation of X-Men) working side by side. Even during the late 80s and the 90s, when newer mutant characters Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and many others joined the X-Men, they were also treated as they were apart of the family, with characters like Kitty Pryde and Jubilee having close relationships with Wolverine. So, how about the older X-Men having relationships with the newer X-Men students?

The newer X-Men students are the students known as “New X-Men” as they have students like Armor, Pixie, Hellion, Rockslide, Dust, Elixir, The Stepford Cuckoos, Surge, Prodigy and many more and even though some of them have relationships with the older X-Men (Wolverine and Armor’s relationship and the Stepford Cuckoos’ relationship with Emma Frost) it seems like they barely developed relationships with the older X-Men and are just seen as students. Now I know that the X-Men at this point are supposed to be teachers to the newer X-Men and that is excellent, but I do sort of miss the whole “family” relationships that the X-Men shared among each other and having the older X-Men treat the younger X-Men like they are apart of this big family would definitely be a huge step in developing the relationships with all the characters in the X-Men universe. Also, who wouldn’t want to see the newer X-Men students go butt heads with the older X-Men or have a sort of brother and sister relationship with the older X-Men?

Another reason why I think that the newer X-Men should have more relationships with the older X-Men is because they are rarely seen in missions with the older X-Men unless it was during drastic times and it seems to be a poor waste to have such interesting characters as the new X-Men to be put to the side for most of the story arcs involving the older X-Men. I also would love to see what kind of hilarious and heartwarming moments would come from the older X-Men fighting alongside the newer X-Men.

So what do you think? Do you think that there should be more stories of the older X-Men having closer relationships with the newer X-Men or do you think they are fine where they are?

Even though continuity in comics is becoming more irrelevant currently, what about the characters’ histories and pasts? Although, DC comics have undergone a recent change in their comics by doing the new 52, which changed all the characters’ back stories, is it still important to use whatever history or past the characters currently have to explain their growth as people in a more clear way? Exploring the comic book characters’ histories are essential to showing the readers about what kind of life the character had once lived before they underwent the changes in their lives and how much they had learned from their past mistakes and how they became better characters in the future.

Probably the biggest controversy in regarding whether or not the character’s history was used properly was dealing with the character Wolverine in the Schism arc of X-Men. It was often argued that Wolverine should have never been in the position of defending the mutant kids’ rights to be normal children, not become soldiers as Cyclops suggested. In Wolverine’s past history, he was trained as a killer and he has killed many people in the past. However, his stance in Schism is often confusing since in the past, he has never really raised this issue with Cyclops and his troubling past as a killer makes his stance even odder. Also, many readers felt that either Storm or Beast should have taken this position against Cyclops since they had a history of disagreeing with Cyclops' current militant ways of handling the mutants. However, readers who have read Wolverine’s solo series saw that Wolverine might have a change of heart when he was tricked into killing his children and that led to his decision in Schism.

While this reason was very reasonable, it was never clearly stated in Schism, which led to a lot of controversy in whether or not Wolverine was right for this position. Probably in order to make Wolverine’s statement more sound in his argument with Cyclops would be stated like this:

In regarding to his past in his solo series:

Wolverine: “Summers, she should have never been in that position because I know what it’s like to kill people and feel pain. I was practically tricked into killing two kids I didn’t even know I had and when I look back at it, I just feel too much pain and I don’t want that kid to go through the same thing I went through.”

Or in regarding to his past as a killer:

Wolverine: “Summers, she should have never been in that position because she’s not a killer like me. I’ve spent my whole life being trained as a killer and I never had a chance to be a kid. Heck, I don’t even remember being a kid. Don’t make these kids lose their childhood like I did.”

Or something to that mindset. If Wolverine had pointed out these points in his past to Cyclops, it would have made his argument seem less odd and we wouldn’t really argue with his point since we would know what he was going through in the past that made him change as a person.

Personally, I think that writers need to allude to the characters’ histories quite often so that way, when a character undergoes a drastic change in their personalities or their values, then it wouldn’t seem so awkward to the readers. Also, it would allow us to see how much the character has matured over the years and how the various events that happened in their lives affected them as people and how they learned from their histories as killers or as weak minded characters and became stronger and better characters in the future. It’s also essential in defining who the character truly is and if they are going to permanently be the hero or the villain in the future.

So, what do you think? Do you think that a character’s history is important to developing their character or do you think it’s not important to the character’s current situation?

Hey, I was wondering about who would like to give out their ideas about making a Colossus and Magik fan fiction where it takes place after Colossus inherits the powers of the Cyttorak and he and Magik go on these adventures where Colossus has to learn how to control his Cyttorak powers with Magik helping him. We could possibly all try to write this fan fiction together and give out ideas about what to write about in this series. How does that sound?

In the comic book world, relationships are the same as any relationship in the real world. However, if a relationship in the comic book world lasts for a long time and becomes stale, how can you make the relationship interesting to the readers again? Well, here are some suggestions that might work out:

1) Stop breaking up and reuniting the couple: As many comic book readers read a comic, they always see a couple that they care about break up for no reason and then later on, when it seems like the couple are moving on with their lives, they reunite with each other, if not for a brief moment. Eventually, if couples are constantly broken up and then reunited over and over again in later issues of a comic book, then it gets so tiresome and annoying to the audience that the readers will wish that the couple breaks up permanently. Probably the most popular example of a comic book couple that is constantly being separated and reuniting over and over again would be with Colossus and Kitty Pryde from “X-Men.” Basically, the main thing that keeps separating these two is the death of one of them, whether it’s Colossus sacrificing himself during the Legacy Virus arc or Kitty Pryde being shot in a bullet through space and became intangible afterwards. The reasonable thing to do with situations like this is to either keep the couple together permanently or separate them permanently, so that way the readers will not have to endure this cycle over and over again.

2) Make both characters have a voice: What I mean by this is that probably one of the main reasons why the relationship hits a dead end is that the writers sometimes write it where one of the characters is shown to not voice their own opinions about the situations while the other character is shown to voice the opinions of the situation for the both of them. This will annoy the readers because we expect to hear the story from both sides of the relationship and if one of the couples does not say what is on his or her mind, then how will we know if their relationship is even working to begin with? The writers should write it where both people in the relationship voice their opinions and are not afraid to tell their loved one about what they think so that way it would be much easier for the couple to reach a compromise and understand each other better.

3) Don’t hook either couple with another person during the break up (unless they were in an abusive or an emotionless relationship): This is one of the number one ways to make the couple’s relationship beyond annoying if there is no logical reason behind it and that’s hooking up a character who had just recently broken up with another person. Now, this can go both ways depending on the situation, but in the case of whenever a couple breaks up and then all of a sudden, one of the characters from the failed relationship hooks up with another person for no logical reason, then all it would cause is more drama than necessary because either the character’s ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend will come and beat up the new love interest (and this has happened quite a few times) or the character who is dating a new love interest will come to the realization that they still love their ex. A perfect example of this would be when Cyclops from the “X-Men” breaks up with Madeline Pryor once Jean Grey is brought back to life, leaving behind his new wife and his child. And while that situation is bad enough, if both characters from the failed relationship keep on going to a new love interest, then they might not be able to grow as individual characters because they are rarely seen actually reflecting the failed relationship and learning from the mistakes that took place from that relationship and how they will grow as individuals from that relationship. The only other exception about the characters dating someone else after the break up is if they date someone who is much more understanding and have a lot in common with them and does not abuse them. For example, Cyclops and Emma Frost are good for each other since they do support each other (at least in the comics that write their relationship well) and this actually made both characters grow as individuals. As long as the characters learn from the mistakes of their relationships, then they can become better people in the future.

4) Have both characters try to work out their problems: Another way to ensure a more interesting relationship is to have the couples occasionally argue with each other about what to do in a certain situation, but reach an understanding about how to solve the problem. One of the main ways that couples are constantly broken up is that they argue and then they broke up without going into depth about what they want or even compromising a way to solve the problem. A strong couple that manages to stay together despite their differences is definitely an interesting way to keep the relationship more interesting and memorable.

5) Don’t kill off the couples too many times (unless it helps the character grow as individuals): Death is probably the only reasonable excuse for a couple to break up permanently if the death of one character is permanent. However, if the death game is played too many times in a storyline, then it can get pretty tiresome and eventually useless in the end, especially if the character doesn’t have the chance to grow as an individual character. Probably the couple that benefited a lot from the death of an ex is Cyclops and Emma’s relationship since their relationship would never go as far as it is now if Jean Grey hadn’t died.

6) DON’T TURN THIS INTO A SOAP OPERA!!!! The last thing that comics should do is turn the couples’ lives into carbon copies of every soap opera seen on TV. If a couple faces a dramatic situation that could ruin their relationship, then this event should not be dragged on for so many years to the point where the readers just forget about the whole situation and when the secret finally comes out, then the readers just lose their interest. Bring out the situation as soon as possible and then have the couples try to talk it out instead of go so ballistic that they break up with their ex and then later on, get back together again and pretend that the situation never happened.

So basically, to make a more interesting relationship, the comics could have some tension between the couples just to test their faith in each other, but the couples need to stick through whatever situation they are thrown into and they also need to at least discuss their problems with each other instead of hiding it or lying to each other just to not annoy the audience.

So what do you think about this list? Do you agree with this list or should there be more things added to it?

For many years, the X-Men has the largest number of characters in any comic book franchise as it has characters that range from different countries to different parts of America. While it is interesting to have a very diverse cast of characters, is it possible that there are too many X-Men characters to keep track of over the years?

Take the situation during the big X-Men event called “M-Day.” “M-Day” was the result of Marvel’s decision to cut out a lot of the X-Men characters because there were too many characters for the writers to keep track of and the easiest solution to Marvel would be to cut off as many characters as they can by killing them off or depowering some of the mutants when Scarlett Witch caused the majority of the mutants to disappear when she stated “No More Mutants.” While the concept of “M-Day” was really interesting since we never really witnessed a situation where the X-Men have to use their survival instincts to survive in a world where mutants are going extinct, there could have been other options as to how to handle the increasing number of characters in the X-Men universe. For one thing, Marvel could have shown us what happened to the depowered mutants after M-Day. It does make sense to not entirely focus an entire story on a dead character, but since the depowered mutants are still alive, why shouldn’t they have their own stories about what happened to them after M-Day and how they coped with the disastrous situation? Maybe, if there was a different writer who could write a story about the depowered mutants or if one of the main X-Men titles (Uncanny X-Men for example) has a little short story about the depowered mutants, then we might get a really good story about the depowered mutants without having to resort to placing the characters in a limbo where they are never mentioned again until the next big event comes up.

Another way that Marvel could have solved the problem of having too many characters in the X-Men franchise is that they could have rotated the cast so that way, everyone would have a fair chance at getting their own stories told. This is definitely needed in Uncanny X-Men since most of the time Uncanny X-Men mainly focuses on Cyclops, Emma Frost and Wolverine and barely focuses on the other characters, although we do have brief glimpses of Colossus, Storm and Beast’s side of the story. If the writers rotated the cast such as having Emma Frost, Cyclops, Wolverine, Hope Summers as the main team on the first issue and then the next issue would have Nightcrawler, Colossus, Shadowcat, Rogue as the main team, then it would help writers to be able to write about a different array of characters without stressing on using all of the characters in one issue and risking some of the characters being put into the background.

Personally, I have no problem with having new characters added to the X-Men universe, as long as it is written correctly. I really like the idea that the X-Men has a very diverse cast of characters and it would sadden me if any of the characters were killed off or never developed fully as memorable characters in the X-Universe. I think the biggest issue here is not the fact that there are too many characters in the X-Men universe but the fact that the writers don’t know how to write so many characters into one issue. It is difficult to write a story that is told from several different characters’ point of view since we might get so many mixed messages about the story since each character might have a different view on the situation, but it isn’t necessary to put all the X-Men characters into one issue, especially if the writer is not going to give some of the characters any dialogue throughout the issue. Also, the X-Men comics need to start focusing on the other characters other than Cyclops, Emma Frost and Wolverine in every issue. Yes, Wolverine, Emma Frost and Cyclops are iconic characters in the X-Men universe, but the X-Men is a team book and so, it needs to center on various members of the X-Men other than just the three members I’ve just mentioned. Furthermore, new characters should possibly be added every five years or so, so that way the writers would have enough time to develop the characters and we would not have that distinct feeling that the characters are just being added just for the sake of shaking things up in the X-Universe. I’m guessing that X-Men: Schism is trying to solve the problem of having too many characters in the X-Universe by splitting the cast into eight different books and whether or not that will work or not will remain to be seen.

So what do you think? Do you think that there are too many characters in the X-Universe and some characters need to be written off or do you think that it’s fine having so many characters and that there just needs to be better writing in writing all of these characters?