"It was -- it felt good for you, too?"

[crabby_lioness]

I hoped someone else would post the amazing femslash in Uncanny X-Men 526 so I could post Heinberg's Magneto scenes, but as no one else has stepped up to the plate, here I am.  I'm pretty oblivious when it comes to subtext.  Most of the time I just don't see the slash unless it's canon couples, but these pages just screamed "Femslash!"

We start with a young woman becoming a mutant in Vancouver.  All she knows is that she's incredibly sick, her hair is falling out, and her skin is hardening for no apparent reason (although they're all symptoms of terminal illness, so she has reason to worry.)  The X-Men are keeping an eye on her, but not making contact to ease her fears and tell her what's going on until she bolts for the rooftop.  Only then, after she's in full blown panic mode, do they introduce themselves and tell her she's probably becoming a mutant.

She freaks out even worse.

So unless I'm mistaken that's adolescent body horror followed by a controversial labelling, rejection of the label, flying-as-a-metaphor-for-sex and some dodgy poses, followed by acceptance and a public declaration of love.   Anyone else seeing the subtext?

ETA 
 

This is my first post so I'm not sure how everything works.  I think these are the tags:

Comments

[neuhallidae]

Just making sure I get the basics correct... Hope basically accelerated her mutant "growth" so that she skipped all the painful in-between stuff and went right to the final stage of what she was becoming, yes?

[pyrotwilight]

Why hello Neytiri.

[rallamajoop]

First time through, I was too busy goggling at the emotional whiplash on those pages to notice any subtext, beyond maybe 'the writer really didn't leave himself enough pages to deal with this part of the story, did he?' The leap from 'I'M A FREAK AND I WANT TO DIE' to 'BEST THING EVER I LOVE YOU SO MUCH' is way too sudden for me to find it believable.

But taking your interpretation, I would also point out the fact that new-mutant-girl is suddenly naked post-transformation for no obvious reason, and could the dialogue get any more suspicious than 'it felt good for you too?' On a reread, an unexpected mid-air orgasm is indeed the only logical way to interpret those pages that I can think of.

[ninjapeps]

The leap from 'I'M A FREAK AND I WANT TO DIE' to 'BEST THING EVER I LOVE YOU SO MUCH' is way too sudden for me to find it believable.

it kind of reminds me of the scene from Runaways where Karolina finds out she's an alien. she started freaking out until she realized she was flying.

[nervousystem.livejournal.com]

Hope's got the magic touch.

/AAAOOOOOWWW!/

[rallamajoop]

True, though at least Karolina wasn't actively trying to throw herself off a roof at the time, which made the whole thing a lot less over-the-top extreme. Also - in the ultimate irony - much less lesbian subtext in her version.

...you think 'I hate myself until I realise I can fly' is now the official Marvel code for lesbians?

[bradhanon]

Speaking just for myself, any process or event that results in my suddenly being able to fly: automatic Best Process Or Event Ever.

[stolisomancer]

Somebody might want to tell Karma that she got screwed out of part of the lesbian benefits package.

[rallamajoop]

See, I'd agree with that. Probably most of the other people reading this post would agree with that. But we're talking about a girl so horrified by the thought of being a 'freak' that she responds to seeing a few bits of her skin turning blue by screaming at everyone who tries to help her and throwing herself off the nearest roof. Unless you take that to mean she's just generally crazy over-emotional about everything, I'm not quite buying that being able to fly would be all it took to change her mind.

[suzene]

This artwork makes me miss Land.

I may never feel clean again.

[stolisomancer]

You're not reading the text closely enough. The flying is certainly part of it, but part of the physical change is that she feels "brand-new... from the inside out." That's what changes her mind, more than the flight did.

[stolisomancer]

I think this is what it looks like when you ask Whilce Portacio's worst enemy in the world to ink for him. It's better in the earlier pages, but this looks like some kind of offhand doodle.

[rallamajoop]

Again, still not buying the idea of her changing her mind that fast, that much, and no-one around her seems to think it's remotely odd. Unless the change has overridden her brain too, which is just plain creepy.

The whole scene is making very light of someone trying to commit suicide, and that doesn't sit well with me.

[rallamajoop]

Actually, speaking of subtext in this chapter, I would also point out these two panels:





"In your absense, I am obliged to deal with my raging jealousy at what you may be planning to do to (ahem) 'smooth things' with Logan by making you jealous right back have dinner with a tremendously wealthy, powerful, hansome man of my acquaintance." amiright?

[stolisomancer]

There's an earlier scene that wasn't included here that goes further into detail about her problems. She's an overachieving, highly driven young woman who, instead of preparing for a successful freshman year of college, is losing her hair, living with constant pain for no obvious reason, and has apparently been having a nervous breakdown. Further, no one on that roof actually knows her as a person; even Bobby and Warren have only been observing her to see what's going on, and haven't actually made contact.

When Hope touches her, the pain immediately goes away and is replaced with powerful euphoria and dramatic personal evolution. It isn't making light of suicide at all, from where I'm sitting; it is instead indicative of what Hope is capable of and of the power of the change.

Granted, the last scene is quite rushed in comparison with the rest of the issue, including the art, which makes me wonder if Heinberg's tie-in piece was inserted into this issue at the last minute. It does seem like she changes her mind remarkably quickly, but you know, when the girl with the vast and unspecified mutant powers causes a vast and unspecified reaction, I'm pretty comfortable suspending disbelief.

[nervousystem.livejournal.com]

Whilce Portacio....you killed my mother and for years I have waited...TO STRIKE! Your comic pages...ARE SHIT NOW!

/evillaugh/

[jlbarnett]

it sounded to me like she was trying to commit suicide, at least partially, because she was in tremendous physical pain, not just because she was a freak.

[magus_69]

Local boy complaint: Canadian students have the option of taking SATs, but only those who think about attending Post-Secondary in the U.S. do so. That would be entirely in keeping with what little we've seen of Flying Fempocalypse, but I don't think that Fraction is aware of that.

Oh, and if anyone's interested: the "finals" she mentions are almost certainly her Provincial Exams, which she would just call "Provincials."

I apologize for the rant. I just hate to see things gotten so terribly wrong, you know?

[rallamajoop]

Yeah, I know - like I said above, these scans aren't the first time I read the issue. Her issues were touched on, but IMO, really rushed through, and there's nothing to suggest they've been happening for more than a few days, or that she's tried seeking medical advice, or done anything about it but panic and throw herself off a roof.

The comic as a whole seems to be presenting committing suicide as a natural reaction to getting sick, and then gives us a miracle cure to all her problems a second later - and the whole event isn't even worth dedicating more than a few pages of subplot to. So yeah, that still does seem to me like they're making very light of the issue.

I do think it would've made a big difference if they'd just allowed a page of two more to develop what was going on, or to let the characters express some kind of surprise or concern or anything beyond Hope's "Yay! Who's next!" You may buy that Hope could cause that kind of reaction, but surely someone in-universe should at least have noticed it, y'know? I could easily buy that the fact she reacted so badly and the fact her mutation came from such an unusual source are connected, and I hope that's going to come up in the next issue, but given how it was handled here I'm not counting on it.

makes me wonder if Heinberg's tie-in piece was inserted into this issue at the last minute.

Excluding the tie-in, there's still 22 pages of comic, isn't that the usual length? I think the problem is more likely to be that there are so many different plot threads getting touched on during those pages that this one got the short straw.

[rallamajoop]

She mentions pain in passing, but going by the dialogue, it really doesn't sound like the part she's dwelling on. People offer her help, she screams at them that no-one could help a 'freak like her' and that's when she jumps.

[espanolbot]

"Hey, girl with body issues! Stand here nude for us so we can oogle you."

Don't really think that her SAT scores matter any more, as she's now going to get abducted into a paramilitary unit where she's going to see her friends killed off one by one while her old family and friends reject and isolate her.

[icon_uk]

Hang on, didn't we just see Hope leg it for Alaska accompanied by Doug, Rogue and Dr Nemesis to meet her family or something not quite light related? Where did Bobby and Warren come into the equation and where did Doug go?

[tacobob]

Geeez Lady, say it don't spray it! :O

[crabby_lioness]

To be fair, losing one's hair and having one's skin turn hard and blue are real symptoms associated with terminal illness. We have a young woman with her whole life in front of her suddenly confronted with evidence that she is dying. That's certainly a good reason to get over-emotional to me.

[crabby_lioness]

Looks that way to me.