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May 27

The X-Axis – 27 May 2012

Posted on Sunday, May 27, 2012 by Paul in x-axis

This is the quietest week for X-books in ages, with just one regular X-Men title, one Avengers vs X-Men tie-ins, and one single tie-in from another crossover elsewhere in the line.  Why, you’d almost think they wanted to give something a clear run at getting attention…

Oh, and I haven’t got my copy of Secret Avengers #27 yet (the AvX tie-in).  So for the moment, we’ll just stick to the two I’ve read…

Astonishing X-Men #50 – As seen on The View, it’s the gay wedding storyline!  Actually, it’s part three of a story that began with Marjorie Liu’s debut issue, and in theory the main plot is about the X-Men being attacked by C-list villains who are being mind-controlled by some mysterious bad guy.  As flash forwards already established, this is heading towards everyone else getting mind-controlled and piling on Northstar, which duly happens in this issue.

But that’s the functional bit.  What Marvel really want everyone to be talking about here is Northstar proposing to his boyfriend Kyle, which (to judge by the cover) will lead to an actual wedding in the next issue.  Or more likely in the epilogue to the next issue, since the main story will probably still have to be concerned with fighting bad guys and such forth.

In a sense, of course, this is a publicity stunt.  In fact, Marvel were pretty explicit about that in the solicitations for chapter one, which they cheerfully billed as “the first chapter of what will be the most controversial story of 2012.”  Thus far, in fact, it has singularly failed to excite much in the way of controversy at all, which must be a terrible disappointment to somebody in the marketing department.  Still, it’s hardly a solicitation that inspires confidence that the story is being driven by any sort of creative agenda.  Nor does the fact that Northstar was pretty much in limbo until he was dusted off and shoved into a starring role two issues ago.  You do rather get the feeling that Marvel started off by deciding they wanted to do a gay wedding story, and working back from there.

Still, all that being said, it’s not the worst idea in the world.  To the extent that it becomes an attention-grabbing gimmick, that’s somewhat inevitable when you do a topic like this for the first few times.  Northstar as a character has drifted in recent years.  He needs some direction, and this is a direction.  It also gives him a unique position in the X-Men’s cast as the only member of the group who has a spouse – in fact, any sort of family contact – in the real world.  That’s something future writers can work with, without the topicality necessarily dominating everything.

Marjorie Liu certainly tries her hardest to make this a story about the relationship between a superhero and his civilian partner, and to keep the gay angle purely incidental.  That’s probably wise given the need to stop the purely topical aspects from overpowering everything else, and the imperative to give Kyle an agenda of his own so that he doesn’t end up as a character who exists merely to provide Northstar with the opportunity to be gay.  The story itself steers clear of easy targets.

All that being said, it’s far from a stand-out story.  While Northstar and Kyle’s relationship is fairly well defined, it doesn’t quite feel like Northstar is being written in character (you can make a case that this is a different side of his personality, but I’m not sure this book has really established what his default persona is meant to be yet).  Kyle isn’t a terribly interesting character; the story is so clearly on his side in his argument with Northstar that to all intents and purposes he’s being written as a long-suffering saint.  And the actual story – you know, with the villains and such – feels decidedly perfunctory.  So a random bad guy is sending henchmen to attack the X-Men – well, yes, isn’t that just Tuesday?

Take away the topical angle, and what you’re left with is a story where the X-Men fight a mystery villain though the mystery isn’t particularly compelling, and we’re asked to care about the marriage of two characters who only joined the cast two issues ago.  Judged on that level, it’s alright.  But it’s no more than that.

Journey into Mystery #638 – Part 4 of the “Exiled” crossover with New Mutants.  The Disir are running riot in San Francisco; the Asgardians aren’t much help because they still don’t remember who they are; but Loki belatedly gets his memory back in time to take some kind of control and set up the Disir’s origin flashback.

The crossover as a whole has been rather more of a Journey into Mystery story than a New Mutants one.  With the last chapter, in their own book, the New Mutants seemed to be getting some mileage out of having the chance to interact with their San Francisco neighbourhood.  Plus, they were needed to drive the plot.  Now that Loki’s got his memory back, it’s rather less clear that New Mutants have an essential role to play in this story, beyond the happy coincidence that Dani happens to be a Valkyrie.  In fact, the Disir’s origin flashback takes up a good third of this issue.  But fair enough; it’s an issue of Journey into Mystery.  It’s probably got its priorities right.

And it’s another strong issue from arguably Marvel’s most consistently interesting title.  Loki’s plan to stop the Disir’s rampage is as inventively underhanded as usual, while the Disir’s origin story has a suitably mythical feel to it.  I’m not a huge fan of the art, which has some strong moments but doesn’t flow terribly well from panel to panel.  Still, it gets the job done.  If you’re reading the series anyway (and I am, and you should be), you’ll probably be quite relieved that the crossover isn’t dragging the book away from its usual strengths.

It’s a good issue – not necessarily one that needs to have the New Mutants running around adding to the cast, but a good one nonetheless.

Bring on the comments

  1. The original Matt says:

    Please note: I have now used the word “gay” more times than I actually wanted to. And when it comes to gay marriage, I think Family Guy hit it best.

    “Let the gays marry, why shouldn’t they be allowed to be as miserable as the rest of us.”

  2. wwk5d says:

    “I don’t think Quicksilver has ever been that closely associated with his sister?”

    Start with this page from his uncannyxmen.net profile, and judge for yourself…

    http://uncannyxmen.net/db/spotlight/showquestion.asp?faq=10&fldAuto=128&page=3

  3. wwk5d says:

    Of course, that’s just a few examples…I’m sure there were many more where Quicksilver expressed his opinion about Wanda’s relationships with both the Vision and Wonderman…

  4. Si says:

    Be fair, I’d be pretty annoyed if I thought my sister was in a relationship with an appliance too.

  5. Thom H. says:

    “As others have pointed out, aren’t they basically the same character? A super-speed mutant who is generally a dick to most people but has a soft spot (and kind of unhealthy relationship with) for their sister? And they both have shady terrorist/criminal pasts even, as well?”

    Fair enough. Maybe I find Northstar more compelling because he’s got actual connections to the real world. His time as an Olympic athlete and member of the Front de liberation du Quebec ground him, whereas Quicksilver seems very much bound by the fictional Marvel universe. QS was a criminal, sure, but just in the comic-book-bad-guy way. Northstar belonged to a group that killed real people.

    Or maybe I’m just finding excuses, and I really like Northstar because he’s gay and Alpha Flight deserved better than 100+ issues of nonsense. The character-defining associations I mention above certainly haven’t been referenced in years and years. Ah, nostalgia.

  6. Mika says:

    Wasn’t Nortstar a terrorist because a nasty older man whose thrall he found himself in seduced him into a life of violence though?

    Actually, that sounds ridiculous, even for comics. Have I made that up?

  7. Matt C. says:

    @Dan

    Cyclops lets Namor stick around and hit on his girlfriend because he thinks (knows?) Emma won’t leave him for Namor. It’s another way for Cylcops to prove how manly he is: “I let Namor stick around and try to steal my woman even though he can’t.”

    (I actually like the way Namor’s written in the current Uncanny comic, though maybe that’s because I haven’t had much exposure to him before. I don’t mind him banging everything in sight as long as he does it with his Princely Style, though I admit having Hepzibah dredged up and put on his team solely for the “will in involve nudity” lines and such seemed forced and out-of-character for her. I always get a laugh out of him and the Tabula Rasa Queen, though).

  8. Si says:

    The thing about Namor is he’s living on Superhero Island. “Tight abs and piles of cash” describes about a quarter of the population. A huge chunk have even ruled their own kingdom/army/cult. Storm has ruled at least two. Why should Cyclops feel threatened?

  9. Suzene says:

    @Mika

    According to Mantlo, yes, but since everyone other writer to touch on Northstar’s past seems to have ignored Mantlo’s one-panel appearance of the mysterious “Raymonde St. Jaques” in favor of depicting Northstar’s mentor/father-figure, Raymonde Belmonde, as a principled fellow who tried to keep young Northstar out of trouble (up to having a falling out with him when he suspected Northstar was using his powers to cheat at skiing), and having Northstar choose to join the violent fringe of the separatist movement on his own, that’s been pretty much retconned out.

  10. Jon Dubya says:

    To be fair, let me clairfy that I have absolutely no problem with Northstar being gay or having boyfriends (indeed, as a “Northstar” myself, I would be rather miffed if he didn’t have one.) My issue is with rushing un underdeveloped relationship with an underdeveloped supporting character into marriage and then giving it undue hype completely out-of-proportion to it’s comic relavence (gee what an odd coincidence that the same time he proposes is also the same time he conviently decides to hook up with the X-Men again? The timing worked out on that one, eh? I mean is Northstar actually part of the team, or was he wheeled out just for the sake of this storyline?)

    In this storyline’s defense though, pissing off the prudes is ALWAYS a good thing. And while yes it IS an obvious PR stunt, it’s no more so than, say Avengers vs X-Men. Or rebooting your entire line. Or Archie marries Betty

  11. DanLichtenberg says:

    @Jon Dubya

    “In this storyline’s defense though, pissing off the prudes is ALWAYS a good thing. And while yes it IS an obvious PR stunt, it’s no more so than, say Avengers vs X-Men. Or rebooting your entire line. Or Archie marries Betty”

    Always? Depends on how you look at it. I like to get people riled, but I still have to remind myself that people have different opinions. I’m not sure I agree with filing anyone who doesn’t agree with gay marriage as a “prude” who deserves to be pissed off at every turn. Personally, I couldn’t give a rip about the issue. I associate with people who support and oppose it, and both sides have reasons that I might agree or disagree with. I don’t think the “sanctity of marriage” thing as it’s used makes a whole lot of sense to me personally, but who am I to tell these people that they’re wrong? It’s dangerous thinking and I see a lot of people these days who just sort of operate under the pretense that opposing gay marriage or whatever is the “wrong” opinion. Sorry guys, the sky is blue and water is wet, but gay marriage is ultimately whatever society makes it. People either warm up to an idea or they don’t, it doesn’t mean they need to be antagonized.

  12. Suzene says:

    @Jon Dubya

    Northstar’s been affiliated with the X-Men off and on since 2005. Came in on Austen’s run, took a hiatus (presumably to recover from multiple instances of brain-washing) but still cameoed here and there with the team, and came back on during Fraction’s run in ’09 and has been around since. Even in the recent Alpha Flight mini, it was explicitly stated that he wasn’t rejoining AF, just taking a break from the X-Men’s own brand of insanity when he happened to get sucked into Department H’s evil plan of the week.

  13. DanLichtenberg says:

    “Came in on Austen’s run, took a hiatus (presumably to recover from multiple instances of brain-washing)”

    For as much as I don’t like the character, I remember feeling kind of sorry for Northstar there for a while. If I remember correctly, in the course of a month or two, he was stabbed by a brainwashed Wolverine in 616 (during Enemy of the State), killed in an explosion in X-Men: The End, and shot and hospitalized by Sinister in the Ultimate Universe (he did survive, and actually made it out of Ultimatum alive, so that’s something). Basically, it was a bad month to be Northstar. I’m sure the timing of the books was unintentional, but I couldn’t help but snicker and the ridiculousness of the whole thing. Today we’ve got Northstar trotted out to marry a gay partner. Back then, he was trotted out to die. A lot. Anyone else get the impression he’s just kind of a go to character that they rescue from the fringes of the MU whenever they need to do something to a character they wouldn’t do to one of their leads?

    Come to think of it, I do feel kind of bad for Northstar. Quicksilver should be the whipping boy instead.

  14. maxwell's hammer says:

    Whoa there, Dan. Gay marriage isn’t something that we should just sit around and wait and see if society warms up to. Depriving gay people of the rights and benefits of marraige disrupts the lives of lots and lots of individuals and families, and its ridiculous that a vocal minority (albeit a large one) is allowed to withhold those rights from a segment of the population.

    You can be against gay marraige if that happens to be your religious belief. But all that gives you the right to do is to not get gay married. No one should be able to force other people to live by their own arbitrary moral standards. That would be like wanting to make peanuts illegal for everybody just because you have a peanut allergy.

    If you think gay people should be outlawed from being able to marry, then yes, you are wrong. That is not an opinion, any more than it was just Mississippi’s opinion in the 1800s that you should be able to own black people, and we shouldn’t have antagonized anybody into a Civil War and should have waited instead to see if Mississippi would just warm up to the idea of not owning black people instead.

    And also, I’m so pissed that Marvel has 47 X-Men titles that serve no real purpose that I’m not buying Astonishing anyway, even if they are advocating what I think is a very important social issue.

  15. DanLichtenberg says:

    @ Maxwell’s Hammer

    Just to clear things up if it will help, I’m not religious and, as I’ve said, gay marriage is a non issue to me. It will probably move closer and closer to acceptance by society as time goes on just like anything else (civil rights, women’s rights, etc.) and that’s just fine. Some people are put off that I’m detached from it, but I can’t lie. I’m not personally invested in any of it, and I just don’t really care. Bigger fish to fry, I think. If that makes me a sad human being, so be it. I’d never protest against it. I’d also never protest for it. I know, I could have a son someday that will be gay and wants to get married, yadda yadda. I’d support him because he’s my son. As far as the entire political circus surrounding the issue goes right now, meh.

    Your opinion is sensible. But really, what rights do any of us have to do or not do anything? What does any of it mean? It’s all relative. Good, evil, right, wrong. I’ve heard the philosophical arguments, written about them, studied them. I understand why societies put rules and laws in place and I understand why the general populace goes along with them. I’m not saying we should all run around like crazy people so we don’t need to get into that. But I just don’t know if something like this can be put in such absolute terms. Can it? Are there not just as many people who feel that it’s a fact that gay marriage is wrong? What do you do with that? Wait for them to die, probably, but still.

    The thing I do support, and this is something we’ll agree on, is staying out of other people’s business. If a person does something that doesn’t hurt others or fuck around with their shit (metaphorically speaking), then that’s okay by me. I probably sound like I’m making a contradiction. I don’t feel that I am. If someone hates gay marriage, I don’t care. If someone loves gay marriage, I don’t care. You’d probably say, well, that’s fine but people are trying to make laws about it (which is kind of fucking around with people’s shit and not just agreeing to disagree) so why would you be okay with that? And I don’t have an answer. I probably will someday. Or not.

    Does any of that make sense? If you think I’m crazy, that’s fine. I didn’t mean to step on toes or start a political argument. Truthfully, I think want hit me wrong was the “ALWAYS good to piss off prudes” line (and no offense to that poster who has been a great contributor here since I’ve been lurking). I guess it sort reminded me of a lot of the younger atheists I see. People who complain about religious people being pushy and obnoxious and always trying to convert others, when they’re more or less using the same tactics to do the same thing. I’m not religious at all. I know obnoxious, awful religious people. I know obnoxious, awful atheists as well. I love to discuss the topic but people are so full of venom and they need to relax a little. And in fairness to that poster, he wasn’t even talking about religion so I apologize to him for using his post as a springboard for my randomness.

    Does this help? Hopefully a little. Probably not, lol.

  16. Thom H. says:

    I think what is frequently missing from the same-sex marriage debate is an actual understanding of the stakes. It’s not simply a philosophical issue that people disagree about, nor is it simply a religious issue that people can calmly debate while no one gets hurt. There are actual consequences to barring two people in a relationship from getting married, such as:

    — not having access to your partner when they’re in the hospital, including when they’re dying
    — getting thrown out of your home when your partner dies (or having your home ransacked by your partner’s “real” relatives after they die)
    — having your children taken away when your partner (their biological parent) dies

    That’s some serious shit, and it’s wrong to deny some people the continuity of life that others enjoy simply because a) you have a moral stance against their relationship or b) you think it’s not that big of a deal. It’s a very big deal for some very real people.

    Marriage is a legal protection against having your family torn apart and your life fall apart when bad stuff happens. And bad stuff always eventually happens. I, for one, would rather not have to rely on the kindness of strangers when illness and/or death are already disrupting my life.

    I think part of what makes this problem possible is that we think of gay couples getting married and we think of young, healthy people with their whole lives ahead of them. Elderly gay couples are pretty much invisible (in American culture at least), and they’re the ones who are at the most risk for the types of problems I’ve listed above.

    So, Northstar — remember when Mike Carey cured him and Aurora of their various mental afflictions? Did she go back to being crazy in the Alpha Flight mini or not?

  17. Aaron Thall says:

    I just think three things on the subject.

    1: It’s none of my business what people do in the privacy of their own homes, as long as it isn’t hurting anybody and isn’t blatantly illegal.

    2: Everyone should have the same rights.

    3: Any legislature or law that can be boiled down to bigotry is inherantly wrong.

    That’s all I have to say on the subject.

  18. maxwell's hammer says:

    Dan: Quite frankly, if you’re that indifferent about it, you should remove yourself from the conversation.

    To echo what Thom H. said, people’s lives are affected by this topic, and if none of it directly affects you, your suggestion that everybody just chill and let’s see how it all plays out…that just sounds really thick-headed. (you may not actually be thick-headed, but that’s the way that particular arguement sounds.)

    You’re right that the inherenet rightness or wrongness of an individual’s feelings toward issues like these is rather subjective. But again, if you don’t agree with gay marriage, then don’t get gay married. What is objectively wrong is having an opinion about an issue, then forcing someone else who doesn’t agree with you to live their life according to your opinion.

  19. maxwell's hammer says:

    and Thom: yes, in the recent Alpha Flight mini, the evil conspiring forces nefariously hidden in the Canadian government used some brainwashing shenanegans to make poor Aurora crazy again.

  20. Thom H. says:

    Well, that’s sad. I’m going to have to read that mini one day. Also, apparently, write my own fan fiction to appease my sense of justice when it comes to the characters in Alpha Flight.

  21. DanLichtenberg says:

    @ maxwell’s hammer

    Still mad? Fine. I’ll remove myself. Quite frankly.

  22. Jacob says:

    @Dan re:@Brian – Cyclops continuing the war.

    Whilst it would be nice to see this development in an Exiles issue the problem is Cyclops is a victim of genre. Nothing will ever change enough, Xavier’s ‘Dream’ will never be realised (except for maybe some massive summer crossover and the year after will be ‘Shattered Dreams’ or something like that).

    Poor Scott, I like of Paul’s reading of Cyclops NXM characterisation in the X-Axis reviews where he sees Scott as a guy whose totally unfazed by anything and has a zen like quality in the middle of battle. Make him sound like an eye beam shooting David Bowie or something…

  23. Suzene says:

    @Thom – We can’t blame the AF mini for this one, alas. The Dark X-Men short showed that Aurora still had a head full of other people after the X-Men hit the rest button her and Northstar.

    As for the new mini…if you really want to pick it up in trade, try to get it used or by any other method where you’re not paying cover price. It had nice art, but wasn’t all that good of a story, IMO.

  24. Oi Vey says:

    Just getting around to reading these reviews. i had to do a serious pause at:

    “While Northstar and Kyle’s relationship is fairly well defined… .”

    It is? Do you mean just in that book and not as a whole? Kyle is such a minimal character that I find it hard to believe there’s any depth in that relationship. Emma and Cyclops have more grounding, and they spent 2-3 years only having sex scenes together to define their “intimacy.” 😀

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