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From: moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Re: X-Men Sneak Preview & General comments (by Henry Vogel)
Message-ID: <770@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 28-Jun-85 03:00:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: vax2.770
Posted: Fri Jun 28 03:00:10 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Jul-85 04:32:15 EDT
References: <754@vax2.fluke.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Somewhere In Soho
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In article <754@vax2.fluke.UUCP> moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Henry Vogel) writes:
>As several people have mentioned recently, the X-Men are definately not what
>they used to be. I suppose everyone has their opinions as to what has caused
>this - you'd be surprised how many people blame the fall on Byrne - and I'd
>like to give mine. I think Clairmont is burning out. He seems to desperately
>(in my opinion, one of the best extended comic book stories ever). The problem
>is he seems to have forgotten what made the team special. The X-Men no longer
>laugh or seem to get any enjoyment from life. Everything they do is cosmic
>in scope. Somehow, I don't think the present Clairmont could write many of the
>old stories. Do you remember the issue where Kitty told a fairy tale to Illiana
>(before Illiana went to Hell)? That was fun. It didn't involve saving the world.
>That kind of story, I'm afraid, is no more. Maybe he'll break out of it soon -
>I certainly hope so.

I couldn't agree with this more -- the "'tweener" issues (i.e. Jerry's term
-- in-between issues where not much happens in the way of battles or major
plot developments; the characters get a chance to catch their breath) are
usually my favorite, but they are few and far between.  I would like to take
it a step further: in the wonderful old (old?  I was 18 when those issues
came out!) Claremont/Byrne issues came out, the thing you enjoyed about the
X-Men most was the family atmosphere of the characters.  They had all been
loners, many ostracized from the rest of society, but they become friends
and, in a sense, family to one another -- and it was nicely done, in a
manner that seemed realistic.  The current batch of X-Men/New
Mutants/X-Factor seem to be a bunch of talented individuals meeting at a
cocktail party or a health spa.  Each of them has their own crisises, on
their own, and they keep it to themselves.  The Kitty/Colossus story in the
last issue really drove me up the wall -- I do not expect a kind person to
do what Kitty did to Peter, and it bothers me a lot.  I know she's not the
sweet young thing of 50 issues ago, but having her come on like Joan Collins
doesn't make my day, either.

>... By the way, are the rest of
>you out there as tired of anti-mutant hatred as I am?

Pet Peeve! Pet Peeve!  I mean, what happened to all the reasonable people on
Earth-Marvel? (Answer: Jim Shooter had them shipped out two years ago).
What about my counterpart?  Is HE sitting on his ass, letting this go by?
No way, man.  The battle for mutant rights would be kindled in net.flame...

>(How can the
>populace of the nation hate/fear mutants and embrace Captain America as a 
>hero at the same time?)

Well, that I can understand.  Many people would like to think of themselves
as represented by Captain America, who is a legend (I mean, to your
Grandfather, father and to you).  Man has been promoted in history books and
news stories up one side and down another.  Mutants are mysterious,
powerful, often ugly or strange-looking, and most importantly, they all act
like individuals, each with his own good and evil qualities.  Americans like
a nice simple symbol-like persona as a rule (look at our President :-));
having to move a group of people out of a stereotype and onto a one-by-one
evaluation takes too much effort for many.

                "You're all MISTAKEN!  I got 65 girlfriends -- and a
                 LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP in the NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION!"

					Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
					John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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