Cool Characters...Marvel

A while back i took a look back at my library and tried to pin point my favorite and least favorite characters. After a day or too i came up with a comprehensive list of characters i really adore for both Marvel and DC. As i attempt to share this list for Marvel, i have to make it abudnently clear that i have significant X-men bias so seperated my top ten lists for Marvel into the X-men and Marvel Universe proper in its own right. Because honestly thats how the Marvel Universe is divided anyway

X-Men

1.Iceman-Iceman is a character that is sort of misused by a lot of writers, he was one of those lame characters in the past with a basic power that when writers like claremont and simonson realized the depths of his true power and how it can be applied sort of became a god amongst characters. as a result, most writers play up the loser and underachiever aspects to the point where he is useless as a character. Out of the original five X-men i have always really liked Iceman the most and during Mike Carey's run the creativity and use his powers were put to use intrigued me and i sort of fell in love with his character which now in the new status quo has been reverted back down to the sort of background character when he really should be like a member of the a list roster of characters up there with Cyclops, Wolverine and even freakin storm. While he's being brought more into the limelight more recently he's always the character in the background or the character who Scott or Hank turn to talk to he's never really any prominent character movement. I tend to read any book with bobby in it as long as he is an integral character and not just a guest star no matter the creator just hopping that someone gives him his due as the power house of the X-men.

2.Cyclops-I love Scott and next to Iceman he is one of my favorite Marvel heroes in general up there in the top five. Now Cyclops has always been a "stick in the mud", but from a character stand point you would be too if you had to make the tough choices and lead an entire generation of mutant heroes. Thats why it annoys me when people claim aww cyclops sucks, or he's such a pussy, or he's such a dick. You see Cyclops has an implied danger to his power that unlike Wolverine he doesn't have to prove to people every five seconds for no reasons. So when he unleashes its a gratifying effect. This push to transform him into the general of the x-men has been one of my favorite developments of the last couple of years as the writers are finally seeing what i've seen since i started reading X-men comics. Professor X has been training Cyclops for in my head nearly two decades to become the leader of the X-men and to an extension of mutant kind and seeing him take up the mantle is satisfying

3.Havok-I really like Havok, i have no idea why but i think its his relationship with Cyclops and the underlying feeling that no matter how much he tries he'll never be as good as his brother when it comes to leadership though when it comes down to hit he's always pushed into the role.4.Surge-I have a softspot for asian characters in comics and when i was introduces to surge in the relaunch of New Mutants and Academy X i was intrigued she was an asian character specifically japanese who didn't really fall into the sort of asian trap of most characters. Then New X-men happened and they threw her into the spot light as the reluctant leader of the team and the sort of pressure and moral dilemas fell on her shoulders making her one of my favorite characters. Alas like many of the New X-men characters she has been relegated to background status and when she does get a speaking role theres either no characterization or she's protrayed as a raging bitch.

5.Jubilee-While i've gone on record to many people i know proclaiming how much i hated the 90's X-men cartoon Jubilee was one of the saving graces of that show in my opinion. It was the 90's and she sort of encapsulated that entire decades' mindset without going into dark and edgy. when i started getting back into comics however she had been relegated to a sort of absentee background role and when i began readign comics readily House of M happened and they through her own the bus. Soon she had appearences in the failed New Warriors relaunch and i was kind a jonsing for a return of Jubilee as fraction has pulled lots of characters into the X-men who really didn't need comebacks Jubes was the one i was really pulling for.

6.Warpath-An old character, my love of Warpath started when Ed Brubaker placed him on his Uncanny Team for no real reason and then i saw some of billy Tan's first dynamic pages of him. At that point he was on my radar and for a while he didn't really do anything impressive just kinda in the background. Then X-Force happened and he quickly became one of my favorite characters. A conflicted killer, whose angry and more then willing to lya some vengeance down but is horrified and sickend at his own actions. He's the wolverine i've always wanted

7.Cable-I have an unbiased love of the entire Summer's bloodline and despite cable being one of the poster child for out of control 90's hardcore action he still has a special place in my heart. Cable is one of those characters desgined to be really powerful but hard to use as a result. For a long time he had the T.O. virus and they just used that as an excuse to keep him underpowered. Then i think durin Fabian Niceaza's Cable and Deadpool he explored a side of cable thati quite enjoyed and while there were still unncessary over the top action he was a more cultured charactered. Hell he took on the Silver Surfer bare handed and surived. Then Mike Carey used him in adjectiveless X-men and it was really good

8.Cannonball-My favorite New Mutant, Sam is in my own little world the person i believe best suited to inherit leadership of the X-men should something happen to Scott and the older members. Out of all the New Mutants he was the only one to go to active X-man status and during Carey's run of X-men he was one of my favorite characters. Sense a pattern here, now i wasn't a fan of the revival of New Mutants simply because like the Titans revival i believed all it would do was sort of regress the character but sam has come out stronger then before. I also love the in-joke in the Xmen books that everyone comments on Sam's supposed immortality when he's brutally injured

9.X-man-The opposite spectrum of Cable, Xman is what Cable should have been as a character and he sort of languished as a character for a while because no one really knew what to do with a character that powerful. My unbiased love for the summers family initally drew me to the character and i've been pining for his return to comics since his original book's cancellation and his shunting into limbo

10.Juggernaut-I really love the Juggernaut and ignoring the Randy Hayes internet parodies i've always had an affection for him. He never seemed like that bad of a villian for a long time and then when he became an active X-man i was delighted because during a period with no colossus the X-men needed a strong man. Plus it was one of those great reform stories like Rogue and the White Queen where despite a dark background the character could come out on top as a good guy. However alot of people hate me so they took the first opportunity they could get to book Juggs out of the hero buisness and while he's not returned to active villinary i'm quite angry that he's returned to being a bad guy.

Office Rants....probably talk about X-men

Just chillin in the office and playing around with my ipod touch which i'm finally warming up too and thinking of a subject to rant about. Let me just rant about the X-men line of books and what i like, what i don't like and what people must pick up. I don't count any deadpool books among the ranks because i refuse to talk about the pool anymore.

First uncanny X-men which is the flaghship x-book and written by Matt Fraction with revolving art chores between Greg Land and Terry Dodson. Now previously it was done by Fractions life partner Ed Brubaker and when Fraction took over he set out to make Uncanny both the flagship book once more as well as an ensemble book. He succeeded in both but suffered prblems in the process. I like the idea but he throws charcters in for brief cameos and then does nothing completely eskewing past characterization to fit his weird indie kinda plots. According to the current team list there is like 19 X-men and he keeps adding characters when he feels like with no real plans leadign to a sort of stagnation in the X-men line as alot of the characters have no real purpose on the X-men outside of they are classic X-men and he just keeps pulling in more characters from limbo just because. In the good year or two of writing he's done, Psylocke, Namor, Cloak and Dagger, Northstar, Domino, Fantomex, the X-men Science Club its alot of characters who really don't get much focus or characterization. As a result characters come off as redudant with Nightcrawler serving as a core example of characters suffering from his hand and i'm guessing a big bullseye has been painted on his forehead for the upcoming second coming crossover. Another major upset of this book isthe portrayal of pixie who Fraction set out to be the next kitty pryde in the absence of both Kitty and her awesome replacment Jubilee. Now two problems, one Pixie was a side character in New X-men a 14 year old welsh girl who was the sort of typical "genki" girl character. Under Fraction's pen, she suddenly became a 19 year old straw hat hippie valley girl completely outshadowing other members of the New Generation of characters who were far cooler then she was. I mean what happened to Surge and Hellion, now their just used in crowd scenes and nothing significant has happened to these characters in forever not counting their cameo appearences in X-Force. Secondly Fraction ignored the fact that Joss Whedon the person who put Kitty on the bus or is should say space bullet had already created a replacement in Armor. He also tries to be witty and weird for no reason and sort of the voice of the character seem weird, coupled with his sort of weird characterizations this causes so characters to just seem off. I remeber during Utopia, Hellion who appearently became a radical anti-human terrorist showed up randomly with a collection of characters including Sunspot who should no better to wage war against Norman Osborn and San Francisco. My final issue with the book is the art because i hate Greg Land, as someone who draws themselves i take offense to his tracing style and miss the days when he drew nightwing and it was good. Now i'm not saying the book is crap, Fraction's core ideas are really cool like the X-men having their own island and sort of creating a genosha esque island for the rest of the mutant race. Terry Dodson's art is also a good draw and its constrasting nature to the horror of Land makes me crave it more and i'm excited when i turn the page and see some Dodson art. I really miss the days prior to Messiah Complex when the X-books were dividied into teams and if you wanted to read the adventures of this character they were in this book and would really like Fraction to narrow down the cast to a core team.