Hi all -- glad I found this appreciation thread, because Dani Moonstar is AWESOME!!! Took me awhile to read through the other Moonstar appreciation threads, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.
I'm kind of surprised by how underutilized she's been across the various X-titles. Dating back to her original run in New Mutants, she was by far the most interesting, dynamic, and complex member. She was the focal point of the first 20 issues or so [more or less], and her personality / attitude really stood out amongst the rest of the team. I'm not remotely surprised that she ascended to being the team leader, etc.
The problem for her is that Marvel has shifted away from the pattern of the 80s / 90s of having super teams battle other super teams / menaces, to putting them in cosmic level scenarios against nearly impossible odds. Under those circumstances, it is tough to be a superhero with powers that don't deal a lot of damage in combat, and aren't easy for readers to wrap their heads around. I wonder if that's why they initially made her a Valkyrie -- to power her up.
But then the writers got in the trap of not knowing what to do with her, and she went from being a prominent butt-kicker who led various New Mutants / X-Force / X-Men teams to being an afterthought. Which is really too bad, because she's still by far the most interesting New Mutant.
Speaking of that, I know that this is a couple of months back now, but I was very disappointed in the New Mutants movie overall. Great cast, and I had no issue with Blu Hunt as Dani -- but if I didn't know about the New Mutants and their powers from the comics, I would have had no idea what was going on. Very disappointing overall, but if nothing else it may have launched Dani back into prominence since she was the main character and the primary focal point of the movie -- seems like the long buildup to the movie got her back in the comic "mainstream."
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