therealgaygeekery:

What’s This? Is this something new? lol, no, but I wish.

A long time ago I tried my hand at being a comic book artist and while I got some freelance gigs here and there, some independent work, one of the last things I did was being an artist on a book called Pride High.

During this time in my life I was going through a series of things and none of the work was what I considered my best (my opinion) but I tried to stay true to my commitment until my abrupt departure in Issue 4. It was a tough decision and I left the comics world in a active way though always a fan of that book and all comics.

Why am I talking about this here? Because as someone once in the industry I have seen some things in the last few years that really bother the hell out of me and one of those things is the treatment of the X-Men.

I get they are part of a huge corporate machine and no one from their offices can publicly say they are trying to diminish the characters because of Fox owning the rights to produce mutants in general media. I am glad The Avengers finally got the push they needed, but at the cost of character development? How I hate that we can’t all just be real about why Wanda and Pietro’s origins were retconned. At least when they were the Whizzer’s and Miss America’s children they were still mutants. Anyway, I’m not going to beat the whole Marvel redux or DC’s New 52…I like certain things from both but oh so hate a lot as well…

I always wanted to work on the X-Men because the characters spoke to me as a kid. Maybe because I’m queer. Maybe because I’m biracial. Maybe because they were outsiders. There are many reasons. I think some characters have been greatly mishandled from the depowering of Rogue, the whole “Wanda’s Nuts” thing, forgetting certain characters were mutants or hinted at being mutants in their introductions and then to have it “quietly” swept under the rug…or when writer’s dismiss when some characters get an upgrade or develop new skills just to have another completely diminish them. Like Karma developing telepathic skills beyond her possession ability. Rarely seen but could be useful.

When I thought of the teams you see here and I had thought of…why must we always use the same mutants? Why do certain characters have to be morts?…a good writer can make even a mort seem like a great character. Now some of these ideas were before Avengers vs X-Men and Civil War, etc and there are some newer concepts that I liked. I think its funny that since I thought about these concepts both Namor, Northstar, Karma, and Cloak were X-Men and Polaris and Scarlet Witch’s counterparts were in Exiles together…but alas here were the thoughts:

X-Men: Worldbreakers: I liked Joss Whedon’s run on the X-Men and later when Cyclops recruited a team of very powerful mutants on Utopia and I thought, that would be a great concept. Mutants so powerful they could “break the world”…a team to handle the big threats. I also thought let’s get Cyclops away from the whole Jean/Emma thing. Another thing was to have Polaris and Scarlet Witch actually be on a team together. We get to almost always see Polaris and Quicksilver bonding but except for one issue of X-Factor, we never get to see Wanda and Polaris try to interact. I think that would be a great dynamic. A Namor/Storm pairing would be incredible as well. Legion was thought of because I wanted to get away from using the traditional X-Men psychics and I thought a Legion with more control would be a cool addition. I thought Wanda being in a book without Wonder Man or Vision would allow the character to grow and she would learn to appreciate her mutant heritage by bonding with her sister or even her and Namor sharing their thoughts on it. When I was thinking they needed a teleporter I thought of Cloak because his look is striking, he houses a powerful force inside him like the Phoenix and we finally get to see him without Dagger like she is always separated from him. It was time for Marvel to step up and give a male person of color a time to shine. Polaris was never one to be on the traditional X-Men lineup for a long period of time and I thought this would finally give her the “clout” to have the character treated with a whole different level of respect. Plus to finally have a place for her and Wanda to grow together. I like Namor’s “Phoenix” look 😛 Sue me, he looked hot lool. I liked Storm’s X-Force outfit as well. It gave her her edge back as well as maintaining her regalness.

The lineup: Cyclops, Storm, Namor, Cloak, Legion, Polaris, Scarlet Witch

X-Men: Street Team: A group to handle lower lining threats but powerful enough to deal with a major one if needed to and more public oriented. I liked that the Defenders were like the Avengers “B Team” and I thought the X-Men could use that as well. A group led by Wolverine, a group that included Justice the once Marvel Boy who is a powerful enough telekinetic to put him on par with Jean or X-Man. Kitty Pryde’s technical prowess and her ability to keep Wolverine in check. Quicksilver and Gambit’s interactions in the last version of X-Factor was fun and Pietro will feel a bit alienated by Wanda and Lorna’s growing connection. Too proud to say anything he’ll growse from afar but stays a part of the X-Men to keep an eye on them. And maybe some anger management. Does he really have to not be the son of Magneto to get some help? I mean come on. Frenzy would be the muscle and I would probably put her in the same strength class as the Thing or She-Hulk. Gambit is a constant thorn in Wolverine’s side but they work well together as does he and Kitty. I like Wolverine being on a team that’s more public to keep him in check because the whole “I’m a beserker” thing was being overdone. I like when he became headmaster of the school that he seemed more mature and more in control. He would have the same thing here too. I think another late addition would be a telepath or psychic. My thought was Danielle Moonstar with her Mirage abilities in tact or a reformed Empath from the Hellions.

The lineup: Wolverine, Kitty Pryde (with Lockheed), Gambit, Quicksilver, Frenzy, and Justice

X-Men: Stealth: a team to handle things quietly and discreetly, a lot of night missions but maintain the X-Men ethics. A more mature X-Force but just as potential dangerous. Powerful enough to handle threats that may be bigger but with enough “quiet” to do stealth missions. The Folding Circle, a team of villains (well sort of), from the New Warriors big heyday had two members I thought had more potential. Smiling Tiger and Midnight’s Fire. Now while they might not be considered mutants now, there was enough information to lead to that being hinted at. Midnight’s Fire sister was a mutant (well she was until they retconned that), the leader, the Left Hand was said to have stolen his daughter’s “latent mutant powers” that access the Darkforce leading the thought to be that the remaining members of the Folding Circle that were connected to the Universal Wellspring were also mutants but also mystical. I thought Midnight’s Fire was an untapped character with potential. I liked Catseye and I thought she was too “good” to be left with the Hellions. I thought her fur color would blend in better for stealthier missions. Karma would be great for her connections and giving her more telepathic abilities would keep the team informed throughout missions. I liked the idea of Namorita being a member of the X-Men and I think she would like it better than her cousin would at first. I liked her Kymeara incarnation and think the tone of her skin would be great for flying in night missions. Plus she is strong as hell 🙂 Northstar has Quicksilver’s speed but can join Namorita in missions that require flight. His greater light abilities could come in handy in a fight and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. Nightcrawler as leader would keep their ethics in check and it would give him a great role to grow as a character. I know everyone hated his Excalibur “Pirate Look” but I think the right artist could make that outfit sell and if not, their is his traditional look. Cypher would be there for his technical expertise, but not as “Douglock” or Warlock. I think his mutant nature would mutate the techno virus and make him similar to Douglock in power but retain his Doug Ramsey style. His character treatment in X-Factor and during the whole X-Force being sent to the future really showed what kind of potential he had as a character.

The lineup: Nightcrawler, Northstar, Catseye, Karma, Kymeara, Midnight’s Fire, and Cypher

Well, those are my thoughts, love them or hate them, but it’s my blog so I thought, what the hell? See ya later!

Damn, you had me REEEAAALLY hoping this was a surprise reveal that Lorna and Wanda were actually on a team together. I like your concept there, maybe if we’re lucky something similar to it will come out at some point.

I completely agree with your thoughts about Marvel not treating the X-Men (or Fantastic Four) well, and how terrible the forced retcon on Wanda and Pietro’s parentage is. My feelings about comics are more or less the same as well. I haven’t tried anything professionally, but the way corporate at these companies treats franchises creators pour so much love into is a huge turnoff to wanting to even try.

And by that, I don’t mean “There should be no oversight.” Creators absolutely need oversight, writers can make a lot of mistakes both technical and conceptually. Editors are needed to point out the flaws, and to tell a writer “No, that idea is stupid, don’t do it” before the writer might realize it themselves. Unfortunately, executive and editorial seem like they go beyond that role far too often.

I don’t really know you, this is the first time I’ve seen something of yours, but I hope things are going well in your life. 🙂

mutantmerriment:

At the suggestion of Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch, she and her (former?) half-sister Lorna Dane, AKA Polaris, spent some family bonding time together…with Danger…in All-New X-Factor #14. Together, they spent the day getting drunk, first at the Renaissance Festival! It was Wanda’s first turkey leg (which is almost always pork) and her first beer. I don’t want to read the Avengers and fact-check, but it’s probably right. Beer is so plebeian.