Azazel

[sigmund_droid]

Well just came back from watching X-men:first class (yeah I'm late to the party, needed someone to see it with!) and I have to say I loved the story, acting, and CG. I know alot of people were angry because of the big changes they made lore-wise but I thought there was alot of stuff that would be decent enough to add to canon.



As you may know from my previous posts I am a massive fan of the teleportation superpower. Azazel in first class was probably the best usage of combat teleportation I've seen in a film.

So with that let's take a look at the Fuzzy Elf's father, the demonic Azazel!



From Uncanny X #433




The revelation!




A nice collection of all of Azazel's offspring (minus Angel, Mystique, that archeleogist and Logan of course!)




From a later ish, we see the loving relationship between father and son. (Lothario means "woman seducer")

Till next time X-fans!

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I did enjoy Azazel in the movies, and I hope some of that comes over to his rather flat comicsverse characterisation (though I still wish they'd gone with Destiny and Mystique as Kurt's parents!) Also, your first scan, the one above the cut, is stretched vertically.

[squirle]

Did movie-Azazel have any characterization? To me he was just a background goon with a neat super power. I don't think turning the comic version of him into that would make him a very engaging character, although it would still be a step up from what we saw in the Draco!

I'd rather just see this ignored for the rest of eternity, or ret-conned (but if it's ret-conned, it should be done in a panel or two, I wouldn't want to waste more space on undoing Chuck Austin stuff most people have forgotten about anyway :P)

[blake_reitz]

He had almost no lines, but I thought the actor did a good job with him anyway. Especially how, after killing the Russian boat crew, he can be seen wearing a navel officer's hat.

[kusonaga]

Agreed. Let's just forget Azazel ever existed.

[sigmund_droid]

Sorry about the first scan above the post being warped, it has to be so to fit community guidelines.

I wouldn't mind having Azazel as he was in the movie, sometimes backstory just ruins villains :p

[q99]

To me, Destiny and Mystique are always Kurt's parents :)

[sigmund_droid]

Ah yes, what was originally intended to be.

Pity it never saw the light of day.

[crinos]

Okay, those are some of the goofiest faces I have ever seen in that first scan.

Azazel: Kurt I am your father!

Kurt (and other guy I don't recogize. Angel?): THIS IS SHOCKING! AND SOMEONE STEPPED ON MY TAIL! OW!

Wolverine: This is so full of crap I'm not even gonna open my mouth all the way to talk.

Mystique: U mad?

[darrylayo]

Anime Nightcrawler.

D^:

[indy2012]

Why... art... so.... ugly?

Especially Mystique. Yuck.

[drmcninja]

Is this from the nineties? Because its the worst art I've seen in a comic book outside of the nineties.

[icon_uk]

Nope, 2003.

[crinos]

In an attempt to lighten the mood in this obviously awkward situation, Mystique begins to morph into the likeness of Alfred E Newman.

[cainofdreaming]

I was thinking of a bobblehead doll, but guess that works too.

[sigmund_droid]

Yup I agree, bobblehead doll.

and that is indeed Angel.

The hilarious thing is to look at the art inconsistency between the first panel of that scan and the last,

[mrstatham]

Regarding the 'changes to the lore' that First Class as a movie makes, personally I don't see the problem with them. If we mean the books and their lore, then 95% of the X-Canon is garbage, really, with choice nuggets here and there. If we mean the films and their lore, the filmmakers already stated their intent to go out of their way and ignore X3 and Wolverine, which, frankly, is the best decision they could've made.

[sigmund_droid]

Whoa now! I wouldn't say that 95% of x-canon is garbage! There's been some real stinker story arcs here and there for sure but I wouldn't say the x-lore is notable more terrible then anything else the mainstream comic industry publishes

[salinea]

OMG that reaction shot.

[halloweenjack]

it's all like NO WAI

[valtyr]

..you know, it occurs to me that Kurt is a rare exception to the whole "Evil is genetic," thing. Two of the most sincere baddies in the MU for parents, and he's one of the moral all-stars.

Also, Mystique's hair is so high she looks like a Final Fantasy character.

[kenwyn89]

He is in the exception he's not been used as a doomsday device as far as I know. (Although I have read the Draco and there was a whole load of business about why Azazel wanted loads of kids which I can't remember- but it wasn't quite a doomsday yet). Raven is the closest example I can think of at the top of my head.

[icon_uk]

IIRC (and I probably don't) he wanted kids so he could use them to emerge from the dimension he was trapped in. Which was one of the more blatant bits of codswallop in the Draco (which is REALLY saying something) as if he was really trapped in the dimension, how was he able to sire children? I'd have thought a dimensional barrier was a pretty effective prophylactic.

[starwolf_oakley]

Comic Book Resources explained the perceived "flaw" in Azazel's plan to go to Earth so he could father children so he could... go to Earth.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/06/04/ten-goofiest-moments-in-uncanny-x-men-426-435/

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…

But that isn't very clear in the story.

[midnightvoyager]

"So with that let's take a look at the Fuzzy Elf's father, the demonic-"

no kthx.

Friends don't let friends do Austen.

(and that art is pretty terrible on top of that)

[midnightvoyager]

Wait.

"Austen’s reaction to the scathing criticism he recieved as well as his termination from DC comics was a public vow never to return to comics again. Mind you, this was not meant as an apology to fans. It was done because he felt “unappreciated” by the fans for all his “hard work”, as he “carried” the X books."

...I will overlook how completely stupid that last comic is, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY *THROWS CONFETTI*

[neuhallidae]

He flounced from comics? I might die of lol.

[an_idol_mind]

I wish more bad writers would feel unappreciated and go away.

[abriel]

he felt “unappreciated” by the fans for all his “hard work”, as he “carried” butchered the X books."


Fixed.

[northstarfan]

Editorial interference or not, Austen's writing was shit, but his interviews were a goldmine of oblivious self-absorption. I don't believe the man actually left comics -- he was eaten by his own ego.

[sigmund_droid]

Hey now! I vow to never let poor writing/art get in the way of posting!

At the very least I share my suffering!

Sebastian Shaw

[cypherfdp]

AHZAYZEL

Re: Sebastian Shaw

[icon_uk]

I'm hearing that more in the voice of Reverend Lovejoy myself...

[lucky_gamble]

the first shot of Azazel was mildly sexy but the quality just went down hill from there. what a shame =/

My god austen produced some horrible storylines.

[icon_uk]

I think it might be this arc (or the one about the exploding communion wafers) which prompted Paul O'Brien to break down and say something along the lines of

"I appreciate that everyone has their favourite creators who they will follow and support. However if you enjoy this story you are objectively wrong, and I can prove it... with graphs"

[biod]

Didn't Wolverine fight this guy in WWI some of his hax healing factor, then again in the present day, only to lose them in a story that was never mentioned again?

[biod]

*and that's how he gained some of his hax

[wizardru]

You know, back in the 1970s/early 80s when Nightcrawler and Wolverine's histories were mysterious and only alluded to, they were much more interesting.

This Azazeal thing? Not so much.

[selke]

That first art is just hideous.

The faces...

[big_daddy_d]

Oh god the faces....

[eyz]

I actually sort of like Azazel as a character, even if some might thing is out of place in the X-men books.