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  1. #1

    Default Better Than Human: Northstar Appreciation 2019


  2. #2

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    For reference purposes, the old thread is here. I will be re-indexing some of the essays and posting wiki links and such here as a sort of a Northstar 101 deal.
    Last edited by Anduinel; 01-02-2019 at 11:40 PM.

  3. #3

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    Current Appearances: Northstar isn't currently slated to be part of any spotlight teams post HoX/PoX, but is supposed to be part of Hickman's rotating roster in the main X-Men title.

    Last edited by Anduinel; 08-29-2019 at 01:16 PM.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for making the thread, girl!

    I'm still taken aback by how underused Northstar is. He has A-List potential, but none of the higher-up writers tend to want to use him. I'm really hoping Leah Williams makes good use of him and I'm almost positive that she'll be writing an X-Men book post-Age of X-Man. The writers during an event that leads to a relaunch often gets a book.

    If so, I can see the book having both Northstar and Psylocke in it easily. I'm sure they can relate to each other because they both have their inner demons and they're both twins... Haha?
    I like boys, comics, Disney, and traveling. // follow me @ itsnickmen
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  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by gifted View Post
    Thanks for making the thread, girl!

    I'm still taken aback by how underused Northstar is. He has A-List potential, but none of the higher-up writers tend to want to use him. I'm really hoping Leah Williams makes good use of him and I'm almost positive that she'll be writing an X-Men book post-Age of X-Man. The writers during an event that leads to a relaunch often gets a book.

    If so, I can see the book having both Northstar and Psylocke in it easily. I'm sure they can relate to each other because they both have their inner demons and they're both twins... Haha?
    Yeah, for writers who don't bother to read up on backstory, Northstar is just the gay guy. Not a multiple-times-over self-made man, not a former terrorist, not the guy who put himself at risk to look out for family he never knew, not someone who adopted a kid even knowing all he could do for her was give a name to be buried with, etc. And that's really unfortunate.

    I am really, really curious to see where the X-Men in general wind up post-AoXM. If they remember everything that happened to them in what appears to be a loveless world, that could give them a hell of a POV shake-up when returning to to "reality".

  6. #6
    homo superior gifted's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Anduinel View Post
    Yeah, for writers who don't bother to read up on backstory, Northstar is just the gay guy. Not a multiple-times-over self-made man, not a former terrorist, not the guy who put himself at risk to look out for family he never knew, not someone who adopted a kid even knowing all he could do for her was give a name to be buried with, etc. And that's really unfortunate.

    I am really, really curious to see where the X-Men in general wind up post-AoXM. If they remember everything that happened to them in what appears to be a loveless world, that could give them a hell of a POV shake-up when returning to to "reality".
    Definitely! I'm super interested as that won't be until Summer 2019. The year just started, so that seems like so far away. If Age of X-Man is ending around May/June, then June/July should be around the time new books are launching. Which means we should get news around March/April when solicits for those months hit.

    I wonder if the X-Tremists team has their love stripped? If they feel any remorse, according to issue #2's solicit, then maybe not?
    I like boys, comics, Disney, and traveling. // follow me @ itsnickmen
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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by gifted View Post
    Definitely! I'm super interested as that won't be until Summer 2019. The year just started, so that seems like so far away. If Age of X-Man is ending around May/June, then June/July should be around the time new books are launching. Which means we should get news around March/April when solicits for those months hit.

    I wonder if the X-Tremists team has their love stripped? If they feel any remorse, according to issue #2's solicit, then maybe not?
    That's something I'm hoping gets clarified sooner rather than later. From the solits on various books, we're given the impression that love is somehow illegal in AoXM. Does that mean relationships between "normals" and mutants? Does it mean the expression of romantic love in general? The emotion itself? And, yes, does that mean a Section 31 team like The X-Tremists have had extra steps taken to make sure they're above reproach? Lots of interesting possibilities here.

  8. #8
    homo superior gifted's Avatar
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    It reminds me of the dystopian YA series Delirium, where the country deemed love to be illegal.

    But yes, I do wonder. With the information given, I'm thinking that it's illegal to express love and the extreme measure is to literally remove that feeling from individuals.

    I'm not sure exactly what's happening in that #2 cover. To me, I'm thinking the two civilians are lovers. Northstar is arresting Person A and Betsy is removing all of Person B's memories of Person A away -- hence the purple-colored fading.
    I like boys, comics, Disney, and traveling. // follow me @ itsnickmen
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  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by gifted View Post
    It reminds me of the dystopian YA series Delirium, where the country deemed love to be illegal.

    But yes, I do wonder. With the information given, I'm thinking that it's illegal to express love and the extreme measure is to literally remove that feeling from individuals.
    Given the referenced scandal in the Nightcrawler solo, that's what I'm leaning toward too. And it's especially interesting that Williams pretty much horded all the confirmed queer adult X-Men to be the ones policing expressions of love. If we don't get some subversive storytelling out of that particular cast choice, I'm going to be a very disappointed reader. But given some of the things she's hinted at already (like her treatment of Blob), I'm not terribly worried.

    I'm not sure exactly what's happening in that #2 cover. To me, I'm thinking the two civilians are lovers. Northstar is arresting Person A and Betsy is removing all of Person B's memories of Person A away -- hence the purple-colored fading.
    That cover is sinister, yet busier than I would have gone for. XD Hard to tell what's going on there. I think yours is a good take on it, but I do wonder if there's some significance to the kneeling man's relatively subtle mutation.

  10. #10
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    A french cover of the Strange Magazine in the middle of the 80's by Jean Frisano:
    Couv_13126.jpg

    I've always liked Northstar, he was brash, sometimes arrogant, clearly had a bad temper and had a dysfunctional relation with his far from sane twin sister! Most superheroes at the time were cool, or looked like they were. It wasn't Jean-Paul's case, and that's what made him cool in my eyes. He came out at a time where I was no longer reading Alpha flight (and who could at that time, since the Jim Lee episodes, the art had plot had been less than consistent!) and I learnt of it in Incredible Hulk, the wedding of Rick Jones and Marlo. It made sense and gave him another layer to an already (for me) well-built character.
    I followed him from far in his early X-Men days (Chuck Austen's fault!) and I'm glad he's now an X-Man, because who could think a gay canadian mutant who looks like a walking D&D roleplayer fantasy doesn't know about prejudice?

  11. #11

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    Northstar and Aurora got a mention in this list... and it's just so far off-base that I had to bring it up just to WTF? at it.

    Northstar and Aurora are two mutant twins from the Great White North, Canada. These French-Canadian twins don't work as closely together as they used to, but they were once quite inseparable. While Northstar currently resides on the X-Men roster, his sister Aurora is more commonly associated with the Canadian super-team, Alpha Flight.

    The reason these two twins used to work so closely, is due to a former limitation in their powers. At one time, neither of the mutant siblings' powers would activate without the other. Without each other in close proximity, their powers wouldn't respond, making teamwork between the pair a necessity.
    That's... a really sloppy way of saying that the Beaubier twins once had one aspect of their powers that activated jointly, sure.

  12. #12

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    Waiting for this book is gonna kill me.


  13. #13

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    I'm waiting for Leah to make me a Northstar fan.

  14. #14
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    I always liked NorthStar but I didn't really love his character until Claremont wrote him in the X-Men/Alpha Flight series.





    Had Rogue had much interaction with Jean Paul since then? I can't remember.

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by From The Shadows View Post
    I always liked NorthStar but I didn't really love his character until Claremont wrote him in the X-Men/Alpha Flight series.

    Had Rogue had much interaction with Jean Paul since then? I can't remember.
    That story was my intro to Northstar, and yeah. I was intrigued from the first. It was a really good showing for him and Rogue.

    Aside from the "Supernovas" arc, no. No one seems to recall that Rogue and Jean-Paul had a pretty close bond. I asked Kelly Thompson about it once, and even she didn't seem aware of it.

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