Generation X: I Have Questions

Generation X: I Have Questions

Mar 19

Still going through ye olde long boxes. Still discovering treasures large and small. Still wondering why I have three completely random issues from that one Vision and Scarlet Witch 12-part maxi-series. Shouldn’t I have, say, 1, 2 and 3, if any? I have 3, 9 and 12. What was my thought process? Why these three issues? If I never read them, do they even exist? So many philosophical quandaries must be endured when sifting through old comics!

That’s not really what I want to talk about, though. Last night, I re-read Brian Wood’s short-ish run on Generation X (#63-75). I’ve always had generally positive feelings about this run — it’s not perfect and it never really had a chance to go very far, but I think Wood captures certain essential aspects of the characters’ voices, some of which weren’t even there ’til he came onboard. Wood initially took over as part of Warren Ellis’ Counter-X Plotmastering, and I recall this being a particularly refreshing change since the issues of Generation X leading up to it are…well, they’re kind of dreadful. To be clear, I’m not talking about early Generation X, but the shaky middle era circa ’98-’99, which concluded with a storyline wherein Monet goes to boarding school and — in a fashion more Scooby Doo than Buffy — slays vampires. Zoinks, you guys!

Wood’s run is tougher and less hijinks-y, but somehow still manages to find time for Jubilee and Chamber to argue over who is more disgusting via a multi-panel debate that encompasses laundry, boxer shorts and toilet-flushing. I appreciate stuff like that.

And yet, as I was reading through last night…so many questions. So many “heys” and “buts” and “ehs?” Some of these are thanks to time and perspective and some are just examples of the mind-prickling minutiae that keeps me up at night. Still, if you have ANSWERS…please do provide!

1. Why is Emma Frost wearing power suits?

Another annoying thing about the issues leading up to Wood’s run: they thoroughly de-fanged Emma. Her clipped tones gave way to more generic, reformed bad guy-sounding pronouncements and all those bustiers were replaced with actual normal-person outfits — the kind that regular human beings wear! I have a mental image of a panel where I think she was wearing — *gasp* — running clothes! Like a t-shirt! And shorts! Maybe they were even sweat-shorts! I can’t talk about this anymore! Anyway, I feel like Wood really did a lot as far restoring Emma’s voice, giving her a hint of bitch but still making her mentor-like. I remember this being the point in time wherein I really started loving Emma and seeing her full potential as a character. (And I’m still a fan, I just hate FROSTLOPS, but that’s another blog post that I will never write because it will turn me into raving, mouth-foamy FANHAG. No one wants that.) The bustiers, however, didn’t return until her next iteration in New X-Men, so here, she seems to favor…suits. Like, shoulder pads, matchy pumps, Working Girl…the whole nine. Given that these are combined with an angular blonde pageboy, she’s a dead ringer for Amanda Woodward on Melrose Place. I would like to posit that this is weird.

2. Why has Husk fallen by the wayside?

I don’t know if Paige Guthrie has a big following — or indeed, if she has any following — but personally, I think she’s got one of the coolest, weirdest, most visually interesting powers out there. I mean, she strips off her skin and is something else underneath. And it’s always a different something else! Glass, metal, Cheetos…you don’t know! It’s awesome! I also really dig the way Wood further developed Paige, zeroing in on her computer expertise, making her a girl who’s always in motion because she has to be, identifying her favorite show as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And yet, Husk hasn’t been seen much in recent years. Lots of untapped potential here, I feel. Somebody use it.

3. Is M’s power just…”she is the greatest”?

Truly, Monet — er, sorry, Monet Yvette Clarisse Maria Therese St. Croix! — has one of the most convoluted backstories in Marveldom and I think that’s saying something. But all that was pretty much over with by the time Wood took over, so we’re essentially left with a gal who is just…super. Super-strength, super-smarts, super-reflexes…and she can fly? In a book where everybody has weirdo abilities — guy with furnace of psionic energy for a mouth/chest, girl who can make fireworks, did I mention the girl who strips off her skin and is something else underneath?! — M’s vague-ery stands out. Why did she make the final cut for this run’s pared down roster?

4. How many islands does Emma own, exactly?

In #63, Emma casually mentions that she “just sold an island,” which she discovered in dead sis’ Adrienne’s real estate portfolio. I just have this feeling it wasn’t the only one. We never actually learn more about this, sadly, but I feel like we should, someday? If there’s time in the current X-Mythos for Emma and Scott to ride around on dinosaurs and engage in prodigious jungle sex, I feel like there’s plenty of space to further investigate the Frostian Island Empire.

5. Who fucked up the X-Men phone tree?

In issue #73, Banshee gets a notion to call up Moira. Loving catch-up? Flirty banter? Hopeful bootycall? We never find out, because Professor X answers instead. Because Moira is dead. And this — this! — is how Banshee finds out. I always thought this was massively uncool, to say the least. I know mutants are busy folks, but didn’t it occur to someone that poor Sean might deserve a phone call? This still bothers me. I’m serious. If only there was someone for me to write a retroactively angry letter to.