X-Men Legacy 259

[shadowpsykie]

Okay, i love that they found Ariel... but seriously... they are REALLY teasing Jean's Return.

Comments

[long_silence]

When Carey said that he'd bring back an X-character we haven't seen in a while in his final two issues I was hoping for Karima Shapandar.

Ariel is cool too though, there was like no reaction to her death during Second Coming.

[batman]

Bringing back Karima would mean undoing that asinine storyline where Hellion beat her to death despite that not being consistent with his characterisation before or since.

And we can't have that.

[shadowpsykie]

Karima is not technically dead... she is in a coma and in stasis, but she is an Omega Sentinel so chances are she will be fine.

ANd Hellion beat her at her request, because she was taken over by bastion's programing. and he has been shown to still be troubled by doing that. he was full of rage because a sentinel took his hands, and she was a sentinel, but she was also an x-men. it still bothers him so

[batman]

Yeah, I'm familiar with his appearances in both Legacy and X-23 - he's not so much bothered as borderline suicidal over it, which is more to Liu's credit at acknowledging who Hellion is meant to be.

The point is that one of Hellion's defining traits is that he will not kill. It's a consistent thing in NXM - for someone with such a terrible temper as his, he consistently is the one pulling the others back from killing people and he flips out when Laura suggests killing Kimura despite that being a) completely logical given that his powerset means that he can and Laura can't; and b) that it would mean that she can never hurt Laura again.

The Legacy story not only had him kill her when the old Julian would have tried to find another way to stop her (even if he failed) but enjoy it. Some of that might just be the art as it wasn't that great and having him smirk psychotically after beating her into the ground was perhaps not the best of art choices. But some of that was intentional, Carey's said in interviews that it was meant to be the dark place that he took Julian to. As, you know, a depressive teenaged boy disabled under profoundly traumatic circumstances who hates what he's become isn't apparently dark enough.

It was a really silly storyline and I wish it hadn't happened, as it misses the point of who Julian Keller is meant to be.

(I also wish that Carey would acknowledge that Rogue's comments to him after the fact were infinitely worse than Cyclops' but that's neither here nor there, given that everyone knows how Carey is fond of Rogue.)

[rordulum]

Well said. I thought Hellion was vastly out of character in that storyline with Karima. Even with his PTSD, depression, suicidal tendencies and anything else, I can't see him attempting to kill someone, particularly someone he knows.

I often think that many writers stopped reading New X-Men when De Phillipis and Weir left the book, and so have no clue that Hellion was developed significantly past the arrogant, spoiled kid who looked down on others. Yes, under Kyle and Yost, he still had those characteristics, but there was much more going on.

In the Nimrod and Mercury Rising arcs, he showed all the qualities one would expect an X-Man to have. Bravery, loyalty, respect for life even when faced with people who wanted to kill him (though perhaps they're all no longer seen as vital qualities for an X-Man). So much character potential, and it all seems to have been thrown away in favour of cheap angst.

Regarding Carey in particular, I don't rate him as a writer at all, and can't wait until he's gone from X-Men: Legacy. I can't think of one character he's written who appeared to be in character, to me.

[batman]

Yep, and not only does he kill her (Cyclops says that she's either brain dead or that her consciousness is so far down that they can't find it ... and given that they have Emma Frost and the Cuckoos on Utopia, that's saying something) but he was in control! I could actually see him killing someone if seeing Karima attack someone with her abilities triggered some kind of flashback, given that his powers aren't always under his control and that sort of thing would trigger a flight or fight response - which then is compatible with him basically using telekinesis to bludgeon someone to death. Or, Hope used her coercive powers on him. But an entirely aware Julian Keller who is conscious enough to be talking coherently? Not a chance.

I mean hell, even when de Phillipis and Weir were writing him, he had lines he would not cross - he was petty, spoiled and obscenely arrogant, but this is still the kid who jumped up on a table and told his year to sit down, shut up and leave Kevin alone. He's the person who challenged Homeland Security to let his friends board a plane because he believed wholeheartedly that they had a right to be on there. It's like they read the first six issues of New Mutants, when they're still trying to nail down what his personality is and not ... the rest. These traits came to the fore post M-Day because, simply, he grew up. He's still arrogant, thoughtless, impulsive and has a terrible temper, but we got to see him mature into someone better ... and then that got undone. It's kind of sad.

I'm told that Carey is a better writer on his own work but I don't like what he's done with Rogue at all.

[salinea]

Oh, I'd have loved to have Karima back! but yeah, I'm still glad he bothered with Ariel. :D