Bill Sienkiewicz + Chris Claremont + New Mutants = Perfection. What else is there to say? I could try to justify or even support why I feel this way, but I’m not going to. Seek out these stories. Read them aloud to the teenager in yourself and see how you might be transformed. Start at New Mutants (the original series) #1 and keep going through #18 (like this Marvel ad recommends). New Mutants lasted a total of 100 issues and it’s a bumpy ride at times. Different creative teams and too many crossovers abound (Secret Wars II really takes its toll on these characters), but somehow my love for this era has never faltered.
It never will.
To be hated and to be feared by a world in which you want to find your place is everyone’s thesis on some level. It’s a timeless tale, the hero’s quest, made better for also being about unity through community. Do these characters become the next generation of X-Men as they were originally created to be? Well, yes and no. Characters in never-ending sequential art periodicals (now referred to as franchises) are not created for resolution. They can never have the full arc of character growth. The best the reader can hope for is a poignant chapter that speaks directly to their own experience AT THAT TIME. That is what the New Mutants did for me. Perhaps it might do the same for you. It wouldn’t hurt to find out and besides, Sienkiewicz’s art will enrich your perception of comic book art (Also read Elektra: Assassin by Sienkiewicz & Frank Miller).
Toronto based illustrator and comic book artist J. Bone is one of the nicest people you can imagine meeting! I follow his blogs Blah Blah Blog! and Man’s Adventure as much as possible and was overjoyed to find that he had sketched Storm and Loki! Currently he draws the covers for DC Super Friends and boy, do they rock! His Storm sketch is so cuddly and cute as she cradles her cloud of rain. I love the circular face and how her cape billows out in a bell shape below (Whoa, that is a lot of alliteration! Even for me!). Her curvy hips and one foot in front of another stance is nice, but I think it’s how her eyes and lips are drawn that makes this sketch a J. Bone original. And you know my favorite thing? He didn’t skimp on the hair. It’s way below her hips!
Here Loki reclines in sassy heels, plotting machinations to offset her supreme boredom. Or at least that’s how I see it. The horns and gauntlets are great touches (Loki’s horns are just as important a character detail as Storm’s tiara and of course, J. gets them both perfectly) and I love the overall posture of this figure. She looks simply diabolical!
Check out a lovely Wonder Woman sketch by J. Bone at this blog! Peter Parker works out some household chores here. And J. Bone’s creation, Jett Vector appears in a two page story here!
Oh yeah, that is Yours Truly in between Miss Ara (left) and Miss Yabette (right) working out our fierce handmade clothing scene at the oh so amazing Swankety Swank! Ara is wearing a hat by E-Star, jacket by Donna Lee, while I rock a vest by DAS over Gibbous shirt. Yabette is in an E-Star hat, cuff by Juror2, and necklace by Sarah & Stephanie. Photo by Bleu Loo 2009.
What a fabulous photo shoot that was! I’ll be posting more pix as I receive them! If you are in San Francisco and you love original one of a kind handmade art and clothing, then I recommend you get yourself and at least one friend to Swankety Swank, located at 289 Divisadero St. (@ Haight St.). Over 60 local artists are represented! Yours Truly has dolls, art boxes and art books for sale and on Fridays from 4pm until 7 I give X-Men Tarot Readings!
Marvel has announced that superstar artist Phil Jimenez will be drawing Astonishing X-Men for five issues! I am soooo excited! If anyone loves Storm as much as I do it’s Phil Jimenez (If we’re going to split hairs about it, then yes, Patrick Fillion loves Ororo just as much, too)! Just from that tiny promotional piece, I can tell that we’re in for a treat! I love how Phil has streamlined much of Storm’s costume and given Hisako (Armor) a better hairstyle (”Cause that’s what’s really important, folks–superhero fashion)! The overwrought tiara actually works. I’m really surprised that I’m into it as it deviates so much from Dave Cockrum’s design, but I’m digging it. Cannot wait for this arc!
And now for some Where’s Waldo fun! Here’s the cover for X-Men: Legacy Annual #1 by writer Mike Carey and artist Daniel Acuña. Where in San Francisco is Queen Ororo Iqadi T’Challa, née Munroe?
Uncanny X-Men Annual #10 by Chris Claremont and Arthur Adams gave the world the X-Babies and merchandising was never the same! Extra-dimensional despot Mojo de-ages the the team and the New Mutants have to come to the rescue! Great fun and totally worth checking out!
The team at the time consisted of Rogue, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Psylocke, Magneto, Dazzler, Havok and Longshot. This image unfortunately cuts off the upper half of Richochet Rita, but I liked the rich colors of the scan, so I included it. Gotta love the French word balloons in the lower right corner:)
The X-Babies return in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12 as their own entities separate from the regular X-Men (also by Chris Claremont and Arthur Adams). They return a few other times but they never seemed to recapture the youthful kineticism of the aforementioned annuals. Also, they weren’t drawn by Arthur Adams, who knew how to actually draw children and not just chibi amalgams of the X-Men (Not that there is anything wrong with chibi. I happen to love them, but the X-Babies debuted as something completely different). I haven’t given the X-Babies much thought until I saw that….
The X-Babies are back ! It’s an interesting lineup, in terms of members and costumes. From left to right we have Kitty Pryde (in the old school X-uniform), Colossus, Wolverine in his brown costume, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Rogue (in her debut costume) and Storm (with modified tiara and more modern costume). I wish we had one more girl to even things up a bit, but it’s a good mix of characters.
I have to admit, even without Arthur Adams’ pencils, I am so going to get this! The poster of the even younger X-Babies is really funny and reminds me of the Marvel Super Hero Squad toys. I love how infant Storm looks like Maggie Simpson!
The X-Babies have inspired many a fan to make their own versions of the pint-sized mutie cuties! To wit, the X-baby Storm was beautifully created by CBR Message Board poster and DeviantART member Chizel Man! Be sure to check out his other X-Babies! I really love his Jubilee and Professor X.
Sana Takeda first came to my attention when he drew a Nehzno story for X-Men Divided featuring Black Panther & Storm. I blogged about it here. Sana has the pages on his site here. I loved his fluid lines and the slick look he brings to costumes. My friend Ken Kneisel showed me these amazing fashion images from VOGUE NIPPON featuring Jean Grey, Storm and Rogue and I had to share them as well! They are so beautiful! Seriously, his dramatic representation of Jean Grey makes me miss her and wish she wasn’t dead.
Especially this image. Those eyes, those gestures, the jewelry, the skintight bodysuit. That’s a telepathic/telekinetic fashionista powerhouse right there, folks! If and when Jean does come back, let’s let Takeda draw her return and we’ll have a smokin’ (pun intended) Phoenix for sure! Oh, and more X-Men fashion shoots please! That’s the kind of crossover I can get behind!
Today’s Storm Sunday is short and sweet, folks. I simply had to share this gem of a drawing by Arthur Adams from 1991. Art uses Ororo’s cape to great effect, rippling it into butterfly wings while her hair rises to the sky in stylistic solidarity. Storm is all curves (as she should be when wearing this costume). The tiara is perfect. That is all.
In other Storm related comics reading, did anyone read the first issue of X-Men Forever? I found it rather good fun. I had forgotten how much I liked thought balloons. It’s a flashback to a different time/style of storytelling. I love the eight panel grids where every member is aboard the Blackbird and they are each reflecting about their motivations/actions. Many subplots are introduced this way and I am looking forward to seeing how Chris Claremont moves all of them forward. I have never found Fabian Cortez interesting but using him as a first issue adversary gives the reader an idea of what everyone’s powers and relationships are.
The only thing that stuck in my craw was Gambit’s last name. In the 616 Universe, Gambit is known as Remy LeBeau. In X-Men Forever, he’s listed as Remy Picard. Really? His last name is the same as a certain Starship Captain who just happens to look like the movie universe’s version of Professor X? It’s too much. However, that is a minor quibble as I really enjoyed the rest of the issue. It was nice to see Excalibur era Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler hanging out with the 90s X-Men again. Hells, it’s just nice to see Kitty Pryde again. It looks like Wolverine will not be a part of the story and if upcoming covers are to be believed, then Sabretooth will be a member instead. I’m interested in seeing how that plays out. Not much stuff about Storm in this issue to write about. There’s a moment in the battle where Cortez throws Rogue into Storm and their skins touch. Later, Storm wants to talk about it ad Rogue doesn’t. That’s it. Definitely going to check out issue #2.
In the pages of Black Panther this month, Storm makes a deal with Death (?) to save T’Challa from the spirit realm. That ought to go well. Riiiight.
Uncanny X-Men has a grotesque panel or two of Storm fighting alongside the X-Men in the Sisterhood arc. Seriously, it is painful to look upon.
I don’t have my stack of comics beside me right now, so I’m unsure if there’s some other comics I missed with Storm in them these last couple of weeks (Marvel Adventures Avengers, maybe?), but those are the ones that I recall. I sure do wish that Arthur Adams was drawing Storm monthly these days!
Ah, Forge, what did we ever see in you? Mutant with the power to invent anything (nicknamed “Maker”) so he’s super technologically advanced. He also has sorcerous abilities that are tied to his Cheyenne bloodline, but he hardly ever uses them due to a mishap in Vietnam (He conjured some demons but it cost the souls of his fellow soldiers which is why the Outback X-Men had to “die.”)
Currently, Forge is causing trouble in Astonishing X-Men where he may be behind some kind of inane tomfoolery, which given his past track record of making mutant power nullifiers for the government and mucking around with time machines is a logical progression of his personal narrative. I miss the days when he and Banshee were hanging out together and trying to find all of the X-Men who went through the Siege Perilous. That was a bromance I could get behind.
So, here’s Storm in all of her sex kitten finery, chewing on her sun glasses for Forge. I think I’m just going to pretend it’s Mystique pretending to be Storm and leave it at that.
Marc Silvestri brings the curves for Marvel’s Swimsuit Edition (Anyone know the year?). I love the crinkled hair and the parrot the most, but Silvestri’s Storm has always been a favorite of mine. He draws the eyebrows high and draws the double lines on the outside of the eyes that many artists forget to add.
I saved the ridiculous for last. Forget the controversy of Storm’s marriage to Black Panther! This Deviant guy Ghaur kidnaps seven of Marvel’s (then) superstar ladies to marry them off to Set, Egyptian god of (in the Marvel world) evil. From left to right, we have Jean Grey (Wearing her X-Factor costume), The Invisible Woman, Andromeda (her inclusion always puzzled me. She’s an Atlantean warrior who adventured with The Defenders just long enough to die with most of them when their series got cancelled, but she was kind of a cypher character and besides, the one leg pantsuit is so bad), She-Hulk (barefoot, of course), Storm, the Scarlet Witch and Dagger (of Cloak and…). Quite a crew, eh? Of course, no one gets really married to Set, but it seemed at the time that Marvel had chosen their favorite female heroes and these were it. I found the grouping to be odd. Where’s Monica Rambeau (Captain Marvel at the time)? They are a rather colorful bunch though. An alternate story in an issue of What If? explores this story if Set had won.
Nobody brings the spooky and the sexy the way Dan Brereton can! This image of Storm and Rogue from their punk rock days is a true gem! Those eyes! Those curves! Those amazing eyebrows that go on forever! Okay, I have to admit, I love Dan’s work. There’s just something simultaneously ethereal and hard-edged about his lush paintings. His characters have a strong presence that feels both realistic and animated to me. Rogue looks like she’s ready to fly out of the picture and throw you around (And who would mind, really?).
Comes the Dawn
After a while you learn the subtle difference
between holding a hand and obtaining a soul
and you learn love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn mean security
and you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
and presents aren’t promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes open
with the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child
and you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while,
you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much
so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
and that you really ARE strong
and you really do have worth
and you learn and learn.
With every goodbye, you learn.
Seems like ever since I attended Goteblud’s opening, I’ve been a bit obsessed by ‘zines. And thanks to all of the political rulings over Gay Marriage, I’ve been reviewing my feelings about marriage and relationships in general.
Recently my friend Suki Divine lent me her copy of sexyouality: challenging the culture of monogamy. That’s where the above poem came from. No author is attributed to the piece, but the issue is printed in England (1999) by GodhavenInk publications. There’s many essays on sex and relationships, focusing on monogamy and polyamory (as the title references). The essays rely heavily on quotations to back up their theses about sex and culture. I think three quotes in particular are worth sharing.
The first is by Terence McKenna:
“I think the most dangerous parts of the current cultural trance are pretty obvious: male domination, materialism, and the absence of spirit. Monogamy is another one in there. These are cultural styles which, if not overcome, will probably contribute to our ever more rapid acceleration toward, if not extinction, at least a profound brutalisation of life.”
Another by Henry Rollins:
“It’s hilarious to me when someone says that someone belongs to them, like ‘That’s my girl.’ What a crock. No one belongs to anybody. Fuck slavery. Do what you want…Such mental torment over petty, trivial, emotional displays such as jealousy; it’s a form of laziness. You all should loosen up.”
And my favorite by Deborah Anapol:
“Intimate relationships at their best are a path to higher consciousness and greater self knowledge, largely because of the valuable feedback – or mirroring effect – one receives from a beloved. Having more than one partner at a time not only increases the available quantity of feedback, it also makes it harder to blame your partner for the problems you might be creating in the relationship. In other words, multiple partners can actually help you become a more responsible person.”
I don’t know how I personally feel about the whole monogamy versus polyamory debate. I know that this ‘zine opened my mind to new ways of thinking about relationships, but I don’t know if they would be right for me. I suppose I too have been indoctrinated in the classic Snow White “One Day My Prince Will Come” kind of mindset. Seems to me that it’s a lot of work to date one person, let alone a village. I do think jealousy and ownership are messed up ways to relate to your beloved, and maybe it is unreasonable to ask one person to be your everything, and yes, our society has really backwards ways of thinking about sex and sexuality. However, I don’t think polyamory is necessarily a prescription for everyone’s needs. It’s probably best to take the whole monogamy versus polyamory and apply it on a case by case individual basis.
I’ve never liked the ownership aspects of marriage, but I also think making a lifelong commitment to one’s partner is pretty amazing. The whole thing gets more complicated when you start to analyze the rights one gets when the government legitimizes your relationship. I might not like the idea of marriage, but it starts to look pretty good when you start considering legal rights. Anyway, I’m just touching on these ideas in a cursory fashion. I’m not up to the task of really analyzing them any more than that right now.
The last page of sexyouality reprints a poem by Kahlil Gibran which I think is a pretty succinct way of looking at the whole coupling thing:
Marriage
You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of time.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your being.
Fill each others cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
You can order a copy of sexyouality here.
