Characters that didn't interest you before, but are now grow

Post by **fourpawsonthefloor** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:05 pm

You know, I think we've all done this. Where we've seen a character here and there, but weren't really all that interested in them, until for whatever reason, they grabbed your attention, and you went back and read 'looking' for them.

And then you think. Hey. Wait. This person is pretty cool!

I've had that moment lately with Cannonball. I've not read a lot of the newer stuff, but as I read more and more of it, I'm really starting to feel the love. He's pretty damn cool. Hmm. Maybe I have something for southern boys.

Anyway...anyone making the transformation from 'meh' to 'oh hey!' for you all lately?

Paws

Post by **Slarti** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:26 pm

For me right now itâ€™s Jamie Madrox in X-Factor. Iâ€™ve read that character in stuff for years, but this is the first time heâ€™s ever had a distinct personality. When they had a mini for him before the X-Factor relaunch I was justâ€¦.. WHY?! Cool power, but boring, boring, boring and the same costume for 20 years. But, dammit, Peter David has made him really interesting and made me care.

I think X-Factor 16 is one of the best overall single issues Iâ€™ve read in a long time â€“ I mean, what moral responsibility does Jamie have to these dupes who are essentially him, yet are their own people themselves? Cool stuff.

NachtcGleiskette · Post by **NachtcGleiskette** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:42 pm

I think for me right now, it's M and Wolfsbane in Xfactor, and Lady Mastermind in Xmen. I looooove the bitchiness of M and Lady M, and how can you not love Rahne's "burn in hell!" suicide talk to Rictor. <3!

Post by **Freak** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 6:48 pm

For me it's Zemo, all the way.

That guy started out as just another very smart, still cheesy supervillain with a horrible fashion sense. Just that he wasn't 'super', he was just smart. Not as smart as Tony Stark or Dr. Doom, though. So rather meh.

And then I read him on Thunderbolts: He was a good fighter, smart, devious but in a good way, a villain that made giant plots to help humanity for a change, and still he managed to be so absolutely snotty, that I wondered whether to laugh, or to get angry.

Example: The Thunderbolts are on Counter Earth, and there are some dudes who want to destroy Paris. Zemo: "But why do you want to kill them?...They are French, though..."

But he really got me when he gathered the power of all the heros and villains on Earth, just to cancel his and the Grandmaster's powers and finally kill him with a simple Luger (that dude was an elder of the universe, yo!)

Made me read up on all the old Thunderbolt comics, you should try them too

And I just can recommend you reading the last mini Zemo: Born better. Close to never have seen such a good characterization, while there still is action.

Trigger · Post by **Trigger** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:24 pm

I have to agree with Paws. Cannonball really jumped out at me a while back, and I'm not even sure why. I've only read a couple issues with him in it, and yet...

Angelique · Post by **Angelique** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:32 am

All of the New X-Men have been growing on me lately, particularly Blindfold and Dust.

[Edited on 26/6/2007 by Angelique]

Feuerstein · Post by **Feuerstein** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:27 am

I don't care about Cannonball, but I definitely agree with Madrox. I suddenly love Siryn and Monet too. X-factor rocks.

Oh yeah, the New X-men too. I'm into Anole after all, and Santo is amusing. And I like Cessily and Surge.

[Edited on 6-27-07 by Feuerstein]

The Drastic Spastic · Post by **The Drastic Spastic** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 12:39 am

No one recently. In the past: Cyclops, Xavier, Maddrox, Iceman, Emma Frost.

The Drastic Spastic · Post by **The Drastic Spastic** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 4:29 am

I'm rereading Excalibur and I would like to add Meggan to my list. She's such a sweetie, and not as dumb as I'd thought. She just seemed so dull and pointless before but she's growing on me now.

Post by **Slarti** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 3:25 pm

Oh yeah, back in the day in Excalibur Meggan was an awesome character. She was certainly one of my favorites in that book, though I wanted to smack her for staying with Brian.

Feuerstein · Post by **Feuerstein** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:45 pm

Though some people have shown me some excellent proof that Meggan is a great character, I have never liked her. On scans_daily, someone posted pre-Excalibur scans of Meggan and Captain Britian stories, and I liked that version of Meggan a lot. But when I first read about her, I knew her only as a character in Excalibur (and, being quite comic book-illiterate, I also assumed she was a mutant! X_X), and I really disliked her. I'm still not really into her, even though I've had the chance to read more.

But I definitely like her better than Captain Britain.

I've liked Tony Stark recently! He makes me giggle ALL THE TIME.

The Drastic Spastic · Post by **The Drastic Spastic** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:15 pm

I like Captain Britain.

She is a mutant in Excalibur. They change it later (??) but in the early issues they explicitly say she is one. As in, "This is Meggan and she is a mutant." So it's no wonder you would be "wrong". They did the same thing with Alpha Flight's wonder twins.

Feuerstein · Post by **Feuerstein** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:58 am

Whatever floats your boat, my friend.

Ahh, I see. I feel cheated. And hurt. I think I need some therapy now to deal with this information. Why, writers, why did you mislead meeee! [/drama]

Post by **Slarti** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:09 am

Wonder twins? JP and JM? I thought they were always mutants and still are? JP was on the X-Men for a while, of course that's not conclusive proof of mutancy I guess. *cough* Hepzibah *cough*

Post by **Saint Kurt** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:07 pm

Originally posted by The Drastic Spastic
I like Captain Britain.

I actually do too. I loved that there was a superhero who could, at times, be as despicable as any villian. Characters who are too perfect get dull, characters who are too flawed get annoying with the angst.

Brian was neither. He was just a garden variety jerk in Excalibur. It was awesome. (Plus he had some really amusing story lines - like when he went to New York and his Captain Britain suit didn't work anymore...)

-e

Feuerstein · Post by **Feuerstein** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:54 am

Yeah, but then it turned out his jerkiness was due to a "blunder jinx," which is one of the lamest retcons I've ever heard of. "Brian used to be a smart, level-headed superhero, but then he was a jerk, but that's okay because it turns out The Powers That Be had just cursed him to be unable to do anything alone, like he was used to, but that's all over now and he's as mature a superhero as he was before."

Honestly, I liked him better as the selfish jerk. When he did have moments where he proved his love for Meggan or his loyalty to the team, they seemed all the stronger because of how they contrasted with the way he acted the rest of the time. Excalibur had a really great team dynamic, with each character being very unique both in abilities and personalities. No one was the "perfect" hero. Everyone, quite remarkably in light of the bizarre adventures they had, seemed very human. That's something I feel is missing in most X-men comics right now: a large amount of characters are stuck in a mold. There's very little characterization going on, it's all action, action, action. But that's not to say there isn't any... I just miss the funness of stuff like Generation X, and whatnot. Even New X-men, which is about a bunch of hormone-crazy teenagers, doesn't have that flair. Petty is GOOD!

The Drastic Spastic · Post by **The Drastic Spastic** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:16 am

Captain Britain reminds me of my ex. Those selfish jerky qualities are so familiar, and not just because I read Excalibur years ago. You'd think this would make me less sympathetic but it is completely the opposite because I've seen it. He's not happy with his life. His heart is just not in the superhero business. His girlfriend doesn't understand him at all. But he has to be a superhero because he has the powers and with great power yada yada. He's stuck with Meggan because she is alone in the world and functionally retarded and he'd feel guilty about abandoning her. He feels trapped by the pressure to do "the right thing", so he drinks and suffers and lashes out.

Not looking forward to the "blunder curse". God forbid someone show some humanity!

Originally posted by Slarti
Wonder twins? JP and JM? I thought they were always mutants and still are? JP was on the X-Men for a while, of course that's not conclusive proof of mutancy I guess. *cough* Hepzibah *cough*

There was a story where they were faeries. Let me consult my books. (Wikipedia is a book, right?)

At one point, Aurora and Northstar were retconned to be half-human, half-elf; however, this development was itself retconned away, and the twins are known to be human mutants, as they were originally intended.

Post by **Saint Kurt** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:42 pm

Originally posted by Feuerstein
Yeah, but then it turned out his jerkiness was due to a "blunder jinx," which is one of the lamest retcons I've ever heard of.

No doubt. And it has a dumb sounding name too.

I'd forgotten about "the blunder jinx" and just remembered Brian as being the first truly human super hero I'd seen in a long time. (For all the reasons Spaz said).

Now I'm all bummed. Here I'd thought it was actually good insightful writing and characterization and they had to go and ruin it...

{sigh}

-e

Post by **fourpawsonthefloor** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 5:06 pm

Oh thank God they retconned the elf thing out.

Paws

Feuerstein · Post by **Feuerstein** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 3:29 am

Elf thing?

Post by **fourpawsonthefloor** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:24 pm

There was a story where they were faeries. Let me consult my books. (Wikipedia is a book, right?)

Quote:
At one point, Aurora and Northstar were retconned to be half-human, half-elf; however, this development was itself retconned away, and the twins are known to be human mutants, as they were originally intended.

(from up above)

Feuerstein · Post by **Feuerstein** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:19 am

Ahh, thanks. (And... wow.)

Ult_Sm86 · Post by **Ult_Sm86** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:28 am

Superman.

Without a doubt the only New 52 Book I'm actually eager to get my hands on simply because I love the idea of a clean slate.

This is one character who, for me, has stupid amounts of potential and I never seem to enjoy his stuff.

Let me rephrase that:

I absolutely LOVE Superman/Batman stories. I like seeing when the stories revolve around the MAN rather than the SUPER.

I'm thinking that Grant More-Is-Lesson, who usually makes me wary of any title he's assigned to, might be the perfect person to do this.

I'm hoping I get to see this character in a whole new light.

Another cool character who I am suddenly interested in, Azazel.
I hated the guy, but after X-Men First Class, the movie? I'm hoping they take that persona, amplify it, characterize it some more, and throw it into the comics. Would love to see him go sword-to-sword with Darkholme.

Ferguson · Post by **Ferguson** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:46 pm

I think in new hands and maybe with a bit of the crack shaken out of him Azazel could be a fun and interesting character. Also, to give the movie a bit more credit I have to say that Darwin is a character with untapped potential considering the unique history he has within the X-Men storyline.

Ult_Sm86 · Post by **Ult_Sm86** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:57 am

I hadn't thought of that Ferg, you're right.

Darwin would be a very interesting character for them to develop a little further.

I'm suddenly very intrigued as to the direction they're gonna take this Juggolossus story, but I'll be honest -- ... As much as I like Peter Rasputin, it's not enough to put up with the rest of the crappy characters on the Blue-Squad just to read his story.

Oh, well. Wikipedia my friends, it exists for a reason. :3

Nightscrawlers