X-Men In General

Morrison said he wrote Jean as someone who was rapidly evolving beyond human ken and realizing she'd have to sever her mortal attachments and ultimately her life to achieve her destiny - and if that's giving you Avatar the Last Airbender flashbacks, that's because both Morrison and the Avatar writers did do the research and related both the full potential of the Phoenix and the Avatar State to the Crown Chakra (a real piece of Buddhist philosophy), which is blocked by Earthly attachment.

Point being, I wonder why she's coming back down - she kinda became a fundamental force of the universe, and that's not really a duty you just blow off...

edited 17th Sep '17 8:50:13 PM by HamburgerTime

*Cough Fox's Dark Phoenix Movie Cough*

I smell movie influences in this.

More Details On Phoenix Ressurection

Just how many flings and such can Cyclops get into? Like, anyone have a total number?

So, thanks to Scans Daily, I got a good look at God Loves, Man Kills.

Beautiful work man. And with all the shit that's happened, it's so weird to see how the Xmen were back then. Nothing but mutual respect among the team (even Scott and Logan, despite their long time issues), Xavier as a beloved Mentor instead of the jerk face with numerous skeletons in his closet that got so big they buried all his legitimate good will, and even humans who recognize how crazy the Anti Mutant hysteria is.

Even the Police, who's reputation these days is in something much deeper than a gutter, are portrayed fairly. One of them is the one who ultimately stops Stryker from shooting Kitty.

The fact that she could have phased through the bullet, or that any of the X-Men there had a way to stop him well before he got the bullet off is, in my opinion irrelevant to the fact that one of the normal humans Stryker claimed to fight for opted to stop him himself.

Here it is to look at yourself. Stuff like this is the reason Nostalgia's not so bad. There were some things that were better in the old days.

edited 19th Sep '17 5:20:11 PM by HandsomeRob

God Loves, Man Kills is a timeless story, especially now. I do sorta wish Storm clocked Kitty for saying the N-word though.

I kinda do too, but beyond that, good stuff.

Like I said, when you look at this story and see what the Xmen are like now...

It's damned sad. Marvel has lost something fundamental in their story telling.

That whole run is timeless. Excessive and somewhat dated dialogue and needless stacks of narration boxes aside, when you get underneath all of that, you still have one of the best (and longest,) runs known to man. And God Loves is the epitome of it.

edited 19th Sep '17 5:03:23 PM by kkhohoho

"Just how many flings and such can Cyclops get into? Like, anyone have a total number?"

Well, off the top of my head: Jean, Lee Forrester, Maddie Pryor, and Emma Frost were his most notable romantic relationships. He had an attraction to Psylocke in the early '90s, but it didn't go anywhere. He and Colleen Wing started something, but boy howdy did it ever get dropped hard, to the point where I don't know that they've ever been on-panel together since. Who else? An alternate version of him had a thing with Storm. Another alternate version of him had a thing with Dazzler. His teen version had a very brief very slight thing with Laura. And got a girl's number.

So, not that many girls, really. And, hell, two of them were just rebounds after believing Jean died.

@ Handsome Rob

Even if it's nostalgia aside, it's a good X-Men story before all the mess of the 2000's and 2010's. It felt like everyone was behind the cause for mutant rights, and defeating bigoted foes. I think out of all the Marvel properties the X-Men should have been the ones to evolve with mutants gradually getting accepted into mainstream society and slowly recognized as deserving human liberties. I think gradually there should have probably have been mutant rights lobby in-universe and have support of politicians, who are for mutant rights. The still fighting bigotry part can still be there through showing there will always be extremists, who fear those they don't understand.

I very much agree with this. One of the biggest issues with the Xmen franchise is the complete lack of progress.

For all the hate Teen Jean gets, she points out that things have actually gotten worse, and she ain't wrong. The fact that there are government programs dedicated to killing the hell out of mutants is the biggest issue.

At this point, all the minority demographics that the mutants have regularly represented are becoming more mainstream and people are standing up for their rights even more than ever. The fact that mutants always seem to be going backwards is detrimental to the message of conquering intolerance and gaining acceptance. Status Quo Is God is usually common for comics, but for the X-Men it should be by now mutants are gaining mainstream acceptance, with still wads of bigoted sources plaguing them. At this point, the only government sources that should still be after them are rogue ones who have no special authority. Also it should be mainly mutant hate groups, who should be the main target of them as well as extremist mutant groups.

By sticking to the long held status quo, the mutant situation is proving Magneto's stance right when it's supposed to eventually show that Xavier's vision is feasible.

edited 20th Sep '17 8:45:11 AM by firewriter

It's been pointed out many times that somebody at Marvel seems to believe that minorities are unable to live under conditions other than "apartheid."

The X-Men turn up to help out Spidey in Renew Your Vows#12 next month

edited 20th Sep '17 9:56:54 AM by Zarius

Marvel should take lessons from Disney's Zootopia on how to handle the topic of bigotry. There is a reason why the original tame collar draft was ditched, because the world was too bleak for anyone to care about Nick trying to change his situation. The thing is with the mutants instead of always having to fear of being exterminated, it should be more about how public fears against them can heat up. And we see more non-mutants who would be willing to stand up for their rights, and call out others for fanning fears.

I think I read somewhere that that detail was changed because it was so terrible that the early script readers didn't want Zootopia reformed, they wanted it destroyed.

I can't blame them, the overall tone of the original draft was at times hopeless and mean spirited in so many ways. The old script really invokes Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy, which is something no write should want. Sure, there should be big trials and tribulations that characters go through, but there at least should be some light at the end of the tunnel. The thing is for the anti-mutant bigotry plot it's still stuck in a 1960's like mindset when it comes to fighting prejudice.

So were pretty much experiencing what those early script-readers felt.

Only in this case we want Mutants to either totally annihilate or subjugate humanity not achieve peace & be accepted by them.

@slimcoder

Pretty much after ages of writers sticking to the same set up, it's really not hard to see readers just saying what's the point and join Magneto's cause. I kind of want the next head of the X-Men stories to permanently shift the mutants from being always hunted, subjugated, and almost driven to extinction to finally finding grow acceptance and thriving but they still have to fight prejudice.

And as well as the fact that Character Derailment for many X-men has resulted in having a cast full of unlikable jerkasses, which no one finds appealing. They keep doing the cliche Professor X has a dark hidden secret over and over again to the point that people just want him to actually be the Big Good again.

edited 20th Sep '17 12:27:47 PM by firewriter

You know what they should do? The Phoenix's return to Earth activates all humans who have the mutant gene. Suddenly there are tons of them all over the world, maybe even the US president is one.

Have Kitty do what Claremont wanted her to do and get into politics(with or without Rachel as her girlfriend/future first lady).

edited 20th Sep '17 1:57:26 PM by LordofLore

That's an awesome idea.

So, you want Phoenix to basically do a global version of Magneto's movie plan then?

Or more topically (man, that movie is almost twenty years old), have it pull an even grander version of the end of Xmen vs Avengers?

When it comes down to it, it does not sound bad.

If everyone (who hadn't gained superpowers through some other method) became a mutant, I suppose we'd have to stop killing mutants because they were different and go back to other reasons to hate each other.

I let you decide if I should have put in a Sarcasm Mode pothole or a Joking Mode pothole...

Or a Reality Ensues pothole.