Probably Repetitive Musings on the X-Men

I love the X-Men cartoon. I love the first two X-Men movies. I love the idea of the X-Men. I will always love poor Scott Summers. But for some reason I've never been a huge fan of the X-comics.

I read them occasionally. I do have a strange fondness for those old horribly cheesy, impossibly sexist original 5 comics. (I intend to pick up First Class, but haven't gotten around to it.) I did enjoy Ultimate X-Men for a brief time until I realized that they were trying way too hard to be "edgy" to the point where "edgy" became "idiotic". (I have that problem with the Authority sometimes too. At least the Ellis-Millar versions. It's a good comic but sometimes it got to be too much.)

I love the Summers family tree. I love Cable and Corsair, Stryfe, Madeleine Pryor and Rachel and all that lunacy. Mr. Sinister. Apocalypse. Even the clumsy metaphor mutation becomes to race, gender, sexual orientation or whatever issue du jour the writers are using this week.

But it's just really hard for me to sit down and read them.

I think a part of it's that I don't like Wolverine. I simply don't. I've had many an intelligent person try to explain his appeal, but nothing's worked. I simply don't like him. It's hard to be an X-fan and not like Wolverine I think.

I also for the record dislike Gambit. Unlike Wolverine, he's a character I outright hate. He's easier to avoid than Wolverine.

It might be my problem with the premise. While I am by and large a huge fan of a shared universe, X-Men is the one team that really seems to suffer for it. In a world where Mutants are as despised and hated as they are in the Marvel Universe, Xavier's strange blend of sanctuary/stronghold/militia does make a kind of sense. But not from the mind of a man whose ideals are so patterned after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There is no way a secret militia can further the notion of mutants and regular folk together in peace and without fear. It's a SECRET ARMY. That'd scare the shit out of me too!

That's actually a digression though. I don't doubt that mutants are (or were pre-House of M at least) hated and feared in the Marvel Universe. But then...the Fantastic Four are (pre-CW at least) celebrated. The Fantastic Four may not have been born mutant, but they certainly fit the literal definition. Reed and Sue and Johnny may pass for normal, if not for Reed's absent-mindedness or Johnny's showy tendancies. But Johnny at least has a very potentially dangerous power. Sue could literally be anywhere, the perfect spy/saboteur. Ben's monstrous and Reed's power is frankly really freaking gross.

But people like them!

The Avengers are a huge team of superheroes with powers gleaned from various methods and they work with the government. Heck, She-Hulk practices law AS She-Hulk.

It really doesn't read like the same world, to me. And if it IS the same world, it's a clear indication that Xavier is WRONG. A hidden army makes things worse, when living as open heroes may have a much better chance of garnering wide-spread acceptance. And honestly, most of the characters are smart enough to realize that. And heck, considering how often Wolverine seems to be on every team under the sun, you'd think he'd have brought that up.

I think that may also be part of my objection to Storm and Black Panther's marriage. Her characterization blips aside, it's more proof that the X-Men (and related X-Teams) are stuck in a larger universe that they don't fit.

This is discounting Civil War of course. Though I do think it's a shame that the mutants, what's left of them, really didn't seem to be explored much at all. 'Course it might have helped if the Superhero Registration Act were more consistently portrayed...

I admit, as I said above, I don't read very much of the comics themselves. Handfuls here and there. It's possible that some of this crap was actually addressed. That would be cool. I'd be interested in seeing that.

I do like Excalibur/New Excalibur. I think because it does away with the secret army element and has much more of a direct interaction with the people and government. It's probably then not that much of a shock that the persecution element doesn't turn up as often in the book.

But yeah, this is all babbling anyway. I really wish I could get into the series, since I love everything else. (I also like the backstories I've read/read about...batshit crazy is fun). I love the idea of the teams. (Except Excalibur which I genuinely love). It's just the teambooks themselves...I'll pass.