Chuck Austen: Not that bad?

[starwolf_oakley]

I've never been a big fan of all the Chuck Austen hate. Was he really that bad? Well... maybe. Polaris going batshit crazy and actually being Magneto's daughter are some of the bigger problems. But some of the special dislike is for "The Draco." But there's a very good scene in Part One of the story.







Chuck Austen is mentioning Silver Age elements of how Xavier used to have little problem with using his mental powers for less then "perfectly moral" reasons. Xavier using his powers so the bad guys will forget what they were doing and go home was used a couple of times in the early issues. Cain smacking Charles when they first met was in the first Juggernaut story, UNCANNY X-MEN #12.



Well, when you put it like that...

This is a powerful page, because the Juggernaut is absolutely right. Xavier left him under a mountain for decades. It is something we knew and yet... never really thought about.

In the original story, the "Reds" shelling the area causes the cave to collapse. Has that been updated to Cain's transformation causing the collapse?



Kurt Marko being an abusive dick is relatively knew. I think it was first revealed in UNCANNY X-MEN #309 that he beat Sharon Xavier. Kurt beating Cain and Charles might be totally new for this story.





So... not everything Chuck Austen did on his UNCANNY run was mind-numbingly bad. Just wanted to say that.


Comic Book Resources cleared up on major "flaw" with "The Draco."
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/06/04/ten-goofiest-moments-in-uncanny-x-men-426-435/

If only I could return to Earth. I know! I’ll go to Earth and do something to allow myself to one day return to Eart…wait a second…

One of the plot points of “The Draco” that gets mocked a lot, and I think a bit unfairly so, is the whole bit about how Azazel impregnated women on Earth so that when they got older he could manipulate them into using their teleportation powers to bring him back to Earth. A lot was written about how it was silly that Azazel went to Earth so that he could one day have kids who could bring him to…Earth.

However, that was not his plan, really. His plan was to bring his entire army of demonic mutants back to Earth (after they had been driven to this hell-like dimension centuries ago), so the fact that he alone could visit Earth himself once or twice wasn’t the point…
that said, Chuck Austen sure doesn’t make that very clear in the comic, including this bit that definitely makes it sound like Azazel just wants to get back to Earth himself (in which case, why did he leave in the first place? If he was forced to return, they never say as much in the comic itself)…

Comments

[zenbro]

I kind of miss the good Cain. Now he has a more interesting backstory than Piotr Rasputin, whose "death" frankly affected more characters' lives than his life did. Cain could have made a good Colossus II.

All of Piotr's former roles - fish-out-of-water; wide-eyed innocent; big hitter; pacifist artist, even Kitty Pryde's boyfriend - all have been taken over by other characters. I luvs ya Pete, but as a character you have no where else to go (Unless I've missed a recent development. I stopped buying X-books around 2005 for financial reasons.)

[arilou_skiff]

Cain is still good... Kind of. In Thunderbolts (well, one of the more upstanding members anyhow) the entire Hammer thing kind of changed that though...

[newnumber6]

Magik's older brother?

[zenbro]

The same, aka Colossus.

[newnumber6]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant that as a response to "all of Piotr's roles have been taken over by other characters". But he's still (or again, since she's back alive now), Magik's older brother.

[zenbro]

Sure, but even as such I think his "death" could have actually been used to develop Illyana's character further, caused her to be irreversibly demonic out of grief, say, or have developed into a narrative about how grief can bring us to a greater understanding of life and so forth.

After a certain point, Colossus' character to me never seemed to be defined other than in relation to other characters. If I were given the task to write him, I would have tried to develop some of the traits Claremont originally gave him (the stock characteizations I mention above); but even so it would be difficult because all those stock characterizations have been co-opted by newer X-Men from Mercury to Rockslide to Pixie and his powerset of "heavy hitter" is duplicated by Juggernaut or Rogue or Frenzy.

Piotr Rasputin to me reached an evolutionary dead end as a character and so I think it would have been fine to kill him off and create good stories about the repercussions of that event on the other X-Men.

[starwolf_oakley]

They already DID kill him off and created good stories about the repercussions of that event on the other X-Men. Kitty spread his ashes in Russia, and Mr. Sinister politely asked Nightcrawler if he wanted Colossus cloned.

It was Joss Whedon's idea to bring him back, presumably. I wonder how it went.

Joey Q: I want you to write the new X-Men series!
Joss W: Can I bring back one of the dead X-Men?
Joey Q: Which one? Don't say Jean.
Joss W: Colossus. You know, the really boring Russian one. I'll even add a joke about his last name being Rasputin,
Joey Q: Well, he's a really boring character. Sure, why not?

[suzene]

Joss W: Colossus. You know, the really boring Russian one. I'll even add a joke about his last name being Rasputin,

Probably went more along the lines of:

Joss W: Colossus! Kitty Pryde's One True Love forever and ever, just like when I was reading X-Men! Come on, Joe -- I NEEEEEED this guy back! Without a One True Love, who am I supposed to kill off now that Grant's got dibs on Jean?