A Shadowy Flight

[dreamer_easy]

At random, re-read the earliest appearances of Phoenix c/- Classic X-Men. At first put off by the chunky, thickly-inked art, but was completely drawn in by Claremont's writing. Phoenix was a crucial discovery in my life (Phoenix II, really) - a woman defined by her power and her connection to the cosmos, rather than by her relationship with a man. My first image of the Goddess. What a shame she was killed off rather than working out how to incorporate her dark side. Inanna managed it.

One annoyance, though, and a perpetual problem with comics which will probably prevent my return to them: Cyclops is built like a football player, Colossus is built like a tank, Wolverine is short and stocky, Nightcrawler is slender, Phoenix is statuesque with big breasts, Polaris is statuesque with big breasts, Lilandra is statuesque with big breasts, etc etc.

WTF is this pr0n manga Phoenix I keep seeing covers for on Ebay?!

In other nostalgia news, bought The Best of Knight Rider and watched Knightmares, the amnesia episode. I was surprised by how competent and enjoyable it was, if dated - they'd thought through their story quite well, the jokes worked, and Hasslehoff's performance is quite adequate. Also on the DVD is the first KARR story and the one with Ann Turkel and the music that saps your strength. Yay!

Comments

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Cyclops is built like a football player, Colossus is built like a tank, Wolverine is short and stocky, Nightcrawler is slender, Phoenix is statuesque with big breasts, Polaris is statuesque with big breasts, Lilandra is statuesque with big breasts, etc etc.

It's a perpetual problem with Byrne's artwork, compounded with Claremont's tendency to write strong female characters, which the artist attempts (clumsily) to match with equally strong (ahem) physical attributes.

I don't recall if Byrne had left by the time Kitty Pryde (age 14) came onboard, which would mitigate things.

[gregmce.livejournal.com]

Byrne drew Kitty's introduction issues (#129-131) and her first few as a regular castmember (#138-143) but then left the book. So she didn't have as much an influence from Byrne as some of the other characters did.

(Why the hell can I still remember that sort of thing? *sigh*)

[michaellee.livejournal.com]

Er, that seems a bit strange -- he drew Kitty's first appearance -- but had less influence on her appearance than characters he didn't create? (Pretty much all of the rest of the X-Men mentioned?)

I think later artists were far worse as far as such things go.

[gregmce.livejournal.com]

It sounds strange but I think the difference is that Byrne drew almost 40 issues of the other X-Men characters, and most artists since him seemed to be looking back on Byrne's character designs for them.

With Kitty, she'd only just been created and there wasn't as much of a backlog of material that he'd drawn her in, especially since her only "costume" at that point was the yellow-and-black training outfit. So when future artists worked on the book, they only had a tiny bit of Kitty material to look at. The other artists's interpretations of the character became just as much an influence.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Byrne's artwork

He's not the only one: the issues I've been reading were drawn by Dave Cockrum.

[vespurrs.livejournal.com]

In other nostalgia news, bought The Best of Knight Rider and watched Knightmares, the amnesia episode. I was surprised by how competent and enjoyable it was, if dated - they'd thought through their story quite well, the jokes worked, and Hasslehoff's performance is quite adequate. Also on the DVD is the first KARR story and the one with Ann Turkel and the music that saps your strength. Yay!

O.O

I think I'm in love with you. At the very least, can I quote you on that? I go through so much crap from my family for being a KR fan...!

;)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

can I quote you on that?

You may. You can also tell people that the second piece of fan fiction I ever wrote was Knight and Day, where a Black female time traveller rescues Michael from being killed by someone with a plasma rifle or something which makes KITT xplod. Angst ensues as we revisit the pilot episode.

The first piece of fan fiction I ever wrote was an A-Team story. (This was all a deacde before my involvement with fandom.) Sadly, both of these early literary efforts are lost to us.

[kkglinka.livejournal.com]

Then there's Jim Lee. He makes everyone look the same, male and female character alike.

I was about to recoil in horror at the realization you were a Jean Grey fan, but then I realized you meant Phoenix and that's a lot more believable. The recent story in X-Men focuses on the Phoenix Force and involves a lot of time travel, implausible villainy and kinda bad art.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I was about to recoil in horror at the realization you were a Jean Grey fan

Pourquoi? Jean and Scott are far from my favourite characters - they remind me of the top dogs in Matt Groening's diagram of high school - but I've never found them particularly objectionable. Although I have to admit watching Storm kick Cyclop's arse for leadership of the team was a mighty pleasure, as was watching him fall into a billion bits in the early X Factor. OTOH when he blubs pathethically because Jean is OK post-Jamaica Bay, I wanted to give him a big hug. He's defined by his relationship with her, which is an interesting reversal.

The recent story in X-Men focuses on the Phoenix Force and involves a lot of time travel, implausible villainy and kinda bad art.

Is that all the hoo-hah with that condom full of walnuts, Cable? I haven't read the X books regularly since the early nineties and am hopelessly behind all the complicated family trees and timelines.

[kkglinka.livejournal.com]

For the reason you mention about the high-school diagram, but more because of the all the creepy fic involving her, scott and logan. Creepy. Also, there's the fact that Scott married Madelyne Pryor not Jean, and has been in a permanent schizo state since. There's just something off about that.

No, the current storyline involves Beast having gone crazy in the future. He wreaks havoc and war upon the remaining earth population using his vat grown pod people mutants. He's fetched the Phoenix Egg off the moon (Logan and Jean crashed out in space or something, millions of years earlier) and the plot kinda falls apart there. But anyway, Beast wants the Phoenix Force so he can become the ultimate mutant. Or something.

I quit reading for a while after the angst laden Gambit/Rogue fiasco and picked it back up when Morrison came on the title. But I might be dropping it again if this crap keeps up. Guess I'll stick with Catwoman.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

all the creepy fic involving her, scott and logan

Y'mean like... all at once? That's a heck of a Danger Room scenario.