Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business An alternate X-Men timeline

If they'd just stuck with Professor X and Jean (and I guess later, Rachel) being the only psis both powerful and well-trained enough to encompass all of the specific psi-talents it wouldn't bother me, but yeah with power creep it does get to the point where you've made it impossible to challenge your own characters. By the same token I much prefer a Wolverine who takes time to heal from injuries and can still be killed, an Iceman who isn't functionally immortal with the ability to summon an army of ice golems, a Storm who can't take on the Silver Surfer, etc etc...

In the odd moment, I've been peeking back at some of these issues.

If I read "abody" being "fit to burst" as they're using "the ultimate expression of their powers" again, I'm going to bamf.

Chris Claremont: Secretly a mutant with the code name Cut and Paste Man.

His editor should really have been gently telling Claremont that while it's nice to have favourite phrases, having every member of the cast say them probably isn't the best way of making them distinctive characters.

Oh, so many recycled lines!

"Welcome to the X-Men [random person], I hope you survive the experience!"

"Thanks, I think."

"The focused totality of my telepathic powers."

"Ah'm nearly invulnerable when ah'm blastin.'"

"and I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Ugh.

Still, it's sometimes fun to play with, such as when I made a Dream Girl/Psylocke mashup who wears a silver ninja-kini and uses a purple psionic whip she calls her 'Cassandra Coil, the focused totality of her precognitive powers' to overwhelm those struck with a senses-shattering barrage of visions of alternate futures.

We could give that sort of 'focused totality' thing to all sorts of mutants. Doug Ramsey smacking people with his Babel Strike, the focused totality of his omnilingual powers (rendering them aphasic and incapable of understanding or speaking clearly). Xian Coy Manh flinging her 'Ki Needles, the focused totality of her mind control abilities' at someone causing them to lose all control of their own body and mind, and collapse bonelessly to convulse on the ground (the quick and dirty version of mind control, requiring no concentration on her part, as she merely disrupts one's own control, without requiring the focus and distraction of imposing her own, making it better suited to a fast paced fight with lots of stuff going on).

hahaha I actually love the Claremontisms

For all that he has his particular phrases he likes to reuse (and the body horror/embracing the secret darkness within tropes that got way out of control later on), I think there aren't many mainstream comic writers who were so good at giving their characters a well-rounded background and personality. Nobody has ever been able to make Storm, Mystique or Spiral sound like themselves since he left Marvel (just off the top of my head)....and I think through most of his first run on the team he was good at giving his characters real flaws that actually impacted them as well; Wolverine as the impossible-to-kill battle god was something that only came along after Claremont left; there were times when a lot of characters came close to killing him who wouldn't stand a chance nowadays.

I think he was always generally pretty good at utilising the larger sandbox of the Marvel Universe as well...Spider-Man, Misty Knight, the Fantastic Four etc never felt like they were second-rate when they worked with the X-Men and when it made sense character-wise they were actually better at some things. A lot of writers aren't that good at letting their pet characters come second place even when it makes sense.

They can get on your wick when doing a reread of a lot of them. I couldn't wait for them to shut up sometimes.


I think that the body horror extends itself thematically through the core of the book. Claremont seems to be frequently keen to transform the team and concept, never mind the individual characters.

Base of Operations: The school fades away to an island base; deep space for many issues; San Francisco; Morlock tunnels and Australian outback with frequent trips to Muir Island. I read that Harras had wanted to get back to it being a school with Prof X. That was a very long time ago for Claremont stories. He'd gone out of his way to show the characters develop beyond that setting. Besides which, apart from a good spell at the mansion, earlier in his run, the original version of it managed to get cancelled.

Personnel: It changed with increasing frequency. Initially it was the likes of Angel returning, or Scott. But the additions of Rachel, Kitty, ROgue and MagnetoBut there was an overhaul at the time he was looking use Moore's story, and Psylocke, Havok, Dazzler and Longshot joined in short order. Then it was the Muir Island X-Men, then a shifting set of teams beyond.

Purpose: Xavier's dream of mutants and humans living together looks daft when you're behind the wall of an all mutants school. It's simply reinforcing the stereotype that somehow mutants aren't human. They became defenders of the Earth on a few occasions and then proactive agents of justice in their "Moore"/Australian days.




I don't really know anything about Claremont. I did read a quote suggesting that if he had ever written a character, he thought it was his to play with. I also read Claremont saying that he was happy to return cast members to their books, if they were wanted, and belonged there. The example being Misty Knight and Coleen Wing. I've no idea if there was another book being published with them, when Claremont was using them in X-Men. I get the impression he enjoyed using the ideas he had for characters he'd previously written, and in brining them into his X-Verse. I'm not sure that he saw huge distinctions between them if he could tell his story. A lot of plots combined both sets of characters anyway. Wing and Summers for example. Seems fine to me. I don't recall anyone being damaged and it's up to editorial to keep that side of things straight. I did read he rather pinched and broke Longshot though.




There are hints that Claremont had a *lot* of background information on the cast that rarely made it onto the page. On one hand it added depth to them, but could also lead to some fragmented storytelling. Beyond the usual planting of plot seeds, there's a lot of stories that go nowhere, have a disjointed arc or look to have been abandoned at various stages.

On a more positive note, a lot of those character issues, also dealt with transformative subjects, mirroring what was going on everywhere else in the book.

Wolverine: A man struggling between serious psychopathic issues and trying to control this through an idealised form of Bushido.
Rogue: Multiple personalities increasingly at odds within the same body.
Magneto: Transformed from stock villain into someone who has to reassess his actions and shape the dream of a former foe.
Nightcrawler: The romantic one who looks different. Convictions in a religion whose devil images look like he does. His is a moral transformation/ test.
Colossus: Ideological transformations were handled less than deftly early on.
Storm: Her form, function and powers change with the weather. Child thief; wind rider; storm goddess; dark storm; sorceress; vampire; unarmed combat champion...
Havok: Tries to contain a huge power and loses his life in pieces; his partner; his freedom from choice; killing and then sacrificing what was left in Dallas.
Dazzler: The one who saw nothing wrong with living a normal life with dreams. The backlash from that left her having to disguise herself, and live those dreams vicariously. Dazzler's actions helped to transform the wider society. Just not in the way she hoped.
Rachel: Looking to transform the timeline, only to find herself perhaps in the wrong one.

BUMP

Hey, all,

It took a few more years, but I'm ready to pick up where I left off, with Magneto dying at the same time that Rachel Summers is being born. I'm also going to fill in the gap between 182 and 200.

Stay tuned.

Looking forward to reading more.

Thanks for the encouragement, Thoth.

I've decided I'm going to fill in the gap before I move forward past 200.

Here's where we left off:

And here's where the roll call stands right now:

Wolverine (team leader)
Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde)
Rogue
Banshee 2 (Theresa Rourke Cassidy, daughter of Banshee 1, Sean Cassidy)
Cannonball (Sam Guthrie)
Armor (Carmella Unuscione, daughter of Unus the Untouchable)

LION HEARTLESS: 183-189

The X-Men combine business with pleasure by visiting their allies on Muir Isle (where Moira introduces them to her ward, a shy girl named Rahne Sinclair) while simultaneously working at rounding up the scattered members of the Mutant Liberation Front. This leads to a clash on the streets of London with none other than Captain Britain, whose sister Betsy Braddock is destined to become the MLF member Psylocke at some point in the future. When the smoke clears, Theresa stands revealed as the MLF mole, Rahne turns out to be a werewolf, and Betsy has killed her own future self.

So the X-Men now are Professor X, Wolvie, Kitty, Rogue, Unus's daughter, Siryn and Cannonball? That is a really interesting dynamic, I dig it!

Emma being outed as a villain so early in the piece is early as well, that changes a lot moving forward!

Thank you, Raz.

Regarding Emma, I neglected to mention before that she was outed through the efforts of Val Cooper and closeted mutant Raven "Mystique" Darkholme.

I reread the thread. I'd been thinking of the Moore plots a while ago, and had reread the issues while dusting off the notes.

So, Im a lot more familiar with the shifts in plot you've done here. It certainly adds to the enjoyment, and the work you've put in.

The line up is interesting. In rereads, the team had fewer core members thanId thought. You've shown the same thing. With such rich backgrounds, it's all too easy for many of them to find paths away from the team.

Kitty's early time with the team had her connected to Storm. But this changed to Wolverine as she found her own way, and her relationship with Colossus blossomed and faded. In this younger team, reminding me of New Mutants/ original students, that Kitty/ Wolvie one is more central. Good to see Theresa used more fully, as she really should have been.

Looking forward to more.

Thank you kindly, Thoth.

Regarding Theresa, I thought that certain parts of her background, being raised by supervillains, would make her the most logical choice to be the mole. And we haven't seen the last of her, there's still the question of whether the X-Men should keep her in their custody instead of turning her over to the authorities. Also, her father is devastated by what she has become.

Issue 190 will be a light-hearted, romantic change of pace, as Sam finally musters the courage to ask Rogue out on a date. It's coming along so well, I'm tempted to actually write it out as a full-length story.

Daughter of morally iffy secret agent and Factor 3 dupe, raised by villains.
Daughter of a villain who was a member of the brotherhood.
Adoptive daughter of a villainess who was a key part of the brotherhood.
I think Sam started off as the pawn of villains too.

Poor Kitty is left looking to reluctant leader Wolvie. I wonder what the Prof thinks of his latest team, so far removed from the original students.