Tag: comics

I agree: Wolverine is ridiculous.

Claremont, despite his histrionics, never violated the central tenet of Wolverine’s appeal and left the Canadian’s mysterious past mysterious. Alas, when he left the X-Men in 1991, suddenly everyone wanted to play with the coolest character in the Marvel universe. In just a few years, writers and editors clumsily managed to graft every single antihero trope onto his backstory. According to his new biography, Wolverine has been, at various times, a Canadian cowboy, a ninja, a private eye, a secret agent, a bootlegger, a mercenary, a bodyguard, a caveman, a victim of the Holocaust, a Vietnam vet, a World War II vet, a corrupt cop, and a lumberjack. Also, he was raised by wolves; he was raised by native Canadians; he is the reincarnation of a warrior from a race of humanoid dog people; he was at Hiroshima when the bomb fell, and all his girlfriends died (11 to date). Oh, and he’s saddled with five children.

He was much cooler when we couldn’t know who or what he was. Or even how he became what he is. When we look back at his lifestory, we get the sense that comics are filled with lame stories. Then we must grow up and accept that Wolverine is pretty lame himself.

So have you finished off Josh Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men?

I’ve been reading X-Men comics since forever, since whenever I started reading them. I came along around the same time as Kitty Pryde. She was the young, newbie, learning her powers, learning her place in the world, and learning her place on the team. She may not have been the most powerful of X-Men, at times she was annoying, yet, she was scrappy and smart, and a computer geek, too. You had to give her her due just because she could battle the brood, evil mutants and all sorts of nasty characters and still remain standing. Lacking the cosmic level power doesn’t mean you can’t still kick ass.

So, she joins her place in the X-Men team and becomes integral to it. I loved that. It was the good glory years of reading X-Men. Colossus and her, Wolverine and Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Storm that was the X-Men.

Whedon blows that up and sends Kitty Pryde hurtling forever through space. I thought Whedon was all about the strong girl. Kitty Pryde would’ve been that girl, the Buffy if you will. Yet, she’s still hurtling through space. She saved the world. And got the thankless prize of hurtling through space.

We’ll miss you Kitty Pryde. I hope you return soon.

We’ll miss Joss Whedon’s take on the X-Men. I hope some other writers can continue with fine stories.

I’ll be waiting.