X-Force #38

[iamrman]

Phalanx Covenant tie-in.

I'm sorry, there was an actual plot going on? I was distracted by the werewolf butt.

Forge is entranced by the intricacies of the Phalanx. Something that doesn’t sit well with Sam.

Comments

[petermilley]

Ah yes, the "women stand with their butt sticking out all the time, right?" era of comics.

[huntleyhaverstock]

I don't think scoliosis works like that, Mr. Daniel.

Or anatomy in general, really.

How did this particular outfit square with Rahne's small-c conservative upbringing and general struggles with self-acceptance and body image? Did they ever bother to address it in a comic, or was it just YOU OGLE LADY NOW?

[scorntx]

Think the closest was Rahne was stuck at half-wolf form because if she went back to fully human she'd be stuck as a mindless Mutate, and since she's half-wolf and covered in fur she's got to wear less?

[iamrman]

Wasn't Rahne cured of being a Mutate. The issue in which I think it happened was written by J.M. DeMatteis, so I probably skimmed through it and missed the finer details.

[mastermahan]

At this point, yes, Rahne had been cured of her Mutate-ness nearly a real-time year earlier.

[scorntx]

Oh. Huh.

Alternative, not entirely serious theory: Val Cooper's responsible somehow.

[beyondthefringe]

ha ha ha ha
see, the REAL Rahne died in Genosha and what we got back was a faulty clone?
That's what I want to believe, anyway.

[gnarll]

My headcanon: Rhane was replaced by a secret invasion Skrull duplicate just before being captured by Genosha. But the mutate process interacted badly with the Skrulls new copying process and permanently ereased the Skrull persona.

Things I consider evidence:
Afterwards, Rahne demonstrated a huge jump in her shapeshifting powers, demonstrating skills such as staying permanently in a variety of hybrid forms to disable the mutate genetic modification, or even turn into a pack of wolves, and gain the ability to grow her hair longer, something her mutation had previously blocked. Some thing she did not seem to remember.

She did however, seem to lose access to her mindlink with Dani for years. She seemed to lose her ability to handle human emotions, such as rage and normal horomonal lusts, when she had previosly been characterized as excessivly controlled. She forget about how her powers worked orignially; talking about her "wolf inside" when she had picked the name "wolfsbane" due to not having any wolven instincts. And she seemed to lose a lot of her grip on how human religons worked, forgetting which denomination she grew up in. Again, something the original Rahne had been very strong on.

All of which, increased shapeshifing at the cost of knowledge and control of human culture and emotions, could be explained through a damaged Skrull imprint.

[iamrman]

I like your version of events.

[metadronos]

The nineties art... it burns...

Seriously, why does so much mainstream comic art from that decade share that too-thin inking, that overuse of hatching, that contorted anatomy? I know Liefeld was influential, but it can't all be just because of him. Or can it?

[icon_uk]

I'd put more of the blame on Jim Lee myself, but Liefeld was a contributor too, it's just Lee is a better artist, if overly fussy for my tastes,

[icon_uk]

So little of this makes sense.

The Phalanx keep saying they can't infect mutants, despite the fact the Doug Ramsey was very definitely a mutant who was repeatedly infected with the transmode virus by Warlock, and he seems very much infected as Douglock, and then he infects the others, who are all mutants...

And yes, Rahne's X-Factor/Excalibur costume just looks so darned uncomfortable even without the absurd posing it must CHAFE