Xmen Monday 106

[Dthirds3]

At this juncture, ANY discussion about the upcoming team has my hyped. Love to be reminded that Duggan loves Rogue. Pleased to hear what's to come with Laura and the opinions we may get to explore about her.

My only worry is laura synch relationship. Along as that dosent take over there characters its good. I have high hopes but as a comics fan I know to always be skeptical

[cranger]

Too many leading questions that Duggan was not taking the bait on. I think some of his replies might have come off humorous if tone and all that was known, but otherwise this felt like old school interviews from the Alonso era for example.

[nx01a]

"But that's none of my business."

Bansheemma confirmed!
...or most likely not.

[Devaishwarya]

You don't say

That's very close to my usual mental response when I accidentally come across Twitts on line. So I don't blame him, at all.
It was an okies interview with delovely teaser art.

[Project Initiative Cascada]

You don't say

I’m stealing this one for future use.

Generation X mentor reunion! I don’t think they’ve actually interacted in 616 continuity since the Gen. X finale. I just don’t want them to hook up. I prefer them being bickering colleagues with great respect for each other’s ideals.

And Lorna being a supportive ex. Gotta love her.

[Flameworthy]

I'm cautiously optimistic to see what he will do with Sunfire. Most writers who have handled him have only really show us that he's a nationalistic, standoffish, pyrokinteic but I'm hoping Duggan will delve deeper than that and show us another side of Shiro.

[Devaishwarya]

"Gerry: I don’t feel the pressure of fans, just my own expectations and that of my collaborators. If CB [Cebulski] and Jordan are happy, and my artists are happy, the fans have every shot at happiness. I can’t unmake a fan of Polaris, I can only make them not a fan of mine, and I’m only trying to deliver ideas to my artist to turn into moonshots. So, yes, sure, as you said. Lots of pressure in the Polaris business."

My favourite answer in the entire interview.
He's 100% correct.
As a creative you really cannot be obsessed with how the fans will receive your work. Because even your best attempts will only please some readers, some of the times. And...you have to answer to your editors first and foremost as they're the ones paying your salary. Do your best and hope it's well-received.

It's unfortunate that many fans of specific characters like Lorna, Jean, Scott, Storm, Rogue etc. are very rarely ever open to that "shot of happiness". Long before stories are published they have pre-conceived notions and judgments and personal, individual wants and expectations that no writer can fully meet or live up to, ever...and they end up resentful and disappointed.

[mugiwara]

I'm cautiously optimistic to see what he will do with Sunfire. Most writers who have handled him have only really show us that he's a nationalistic, standoffish, pyrokinteic but I'm hoping Duggan will delve deeper than that and show us another side of Shiro.

It will be interesting to see.
I disliked japanese comics characters for a long time because writers keep them babbling about "honnor", "great warrior" and all that samurai crap. I hope that Duggan's Shiro will be beyond that.

[Angleman70]

"Gerry: I don’t feel the pressure of fans, just my own expectations and that of my collaborators. If CB [Cebulski] and Jordan are happy, and my artists are happy, the fans have every shot at happiness. I can’t unmake a fan of Polaris, I can only make them not a fan of mine, and I’m only trying to deliver ideas to my artist to turn into moonshots. So, yes, sure, as you said. Lots of pressure in the Polaris business."

My favourite answer in the entire interview.
He's 100% correct.
As a creative you really cannot be obsessed with how the fans will receive your work. Because even your best attempts will only please some readers, some of the times. And...you have to answer to your editors first and foremost as they're the ones paying your salary. Do your best and hope it's well-received.

It's unfortunate that many fans of specific characters like Lorna, Jean, Scott, Storm, Rogue etc. are very rarely ever open to that "shot of happiness". Long before stories are published they have pre-conceived notions and judgments and personal, individual wants and expectations that no writer can fully meet or live up to, ever...and they end up resentful and disappointed.

As a fan of Polaris, I do take things with how she’s portrayed with some serious dread. She is the second female to join the X-men after Jean. Yet through the Chris Claremont period, she was terribly portrayed. Some other writers after were hit or miss. Chris made her into this weak character that succumbed to to many threats like Mesmero, Eric the Red and Malice. Malice specifically did so much damage to her head which had me wondering why Jean or Charles couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything for Polaris. That’s specifically made me angry because it makes no sense as to why they didn’t do anything to help. So, yes us Polaris fans want her portrayed better than what we’ve been getting in the past. Hopefully her shot on the X-men again will do better for her and her fellow teammates.

[rhaenylis]

As a fan of Polaris, I do take things with how she’s portrayed with some serious dread. She is the second female to join the X-men after Jean. Yet through the Chris Claremont period, she was terribly portrayed. Some other writers after were hit or miss. Chris made her into this weak character that succumbed to to many threats like Mesmero, Eric the Red and Malice. Malice specifically did so much damage to her head which had me wondering why Jean or Charles couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything for Polaris. That’s specifically made me angry because it makes no sense as to why they didn’t do anything to help. So, yes us Polaris fans want her portrayed better than what we’ve been getting in the past. Hopefully her shot on the X-men again will do better for her and her fellow teammates.

You took the words right out of my mouth

[Fokken]

I mean…i dont even blame him tbh

Same.
Whoever he was replying to likely earned that response.
"Fans" can be savages.

[Devaishwarya]

Completely understandable, Angleman 70, to be wary of character exploration based on how they were written by previous writers but...Duggan isn't any of those writers. Hix-Man isn't any of those writers. Percy isn't any of those writers. And at some point we as readers and fans of these characters have to actively suppress what we already know (and hate) about these characterisations in order to appreciate what the current writer is doing now...with a healthy dose of subjectivity thrown in.

You say Lorna's time being possessed by Malice was detrimental to her...fair enough. I loved it. I respected what Claremont was going for..."changing the character into something different because of the experience(s) she's had up to that point" (did I agree with the actual physical changes in her power and appearance...not really...but it was interesting...imho). And just as you and I can differ greatly on that one plot point, we must expect the actual writers to have and express their own points of view, based on the story they're writing, regardless of what we may personally want and expect as individual readers.

Yes, we may end up hating it, as you do Claremont's Polaris/Malice plot but that's not because the writer didn't do the job he was given to the best of his intention and ability.

[Rang10]

Duggan love to pander to the fans, he isnt convincing me

[salarta]

My comments about the Lorna portion, since it's relevant to the thread and recent discussion here.

There's a certain level of "you can't please everyone" that's certainly true, especially when it comes to Lorna's history.

Over the years, I've seen fans of all sorts of franchises that insisted bad work was good actually. I remember one Soul Calibur fan that insisted Soul Calibur V was perfect and said they wouldn't get future Soul Calibur games if Sophitia returned. SCV having been a game that used a timeskip as an excuse to replace most of the female roster, and its director claiming Taki was "too old" to be a ninja even as older male characters like Siegfried and Mitsurugi were in. That game sold half of what Soul Calibur IV did and mostly killed the franchise again, turning it into a free-to-play exploit until Soul Calibur VI released 6 years later. That next game ignored SCV (actually being set during past games as a soft reboot), brought back most of the female roster, and subsequently sold better than SCV.

Similarly, there are periods of Lorna's history that some people will insist are perfect in spite of major problems. There are a lot of different ideas of Lorna. Decades worth of poor treatment have enshrined that poor treatment in nostalgia. When some fans want progress, and other fans want the past, a writer is inevitably going to upset somebody.

But I'll also add that directors/editors/writers/etc can be fans and go both ways too. They're not neutral parties. The director of Soul Calibur V that I mentioned before made that game happen with a Facebook campaign at the time to prove interest in the franchise still existed, and he proceeded to do things he personally wanted that hurt the franchise. Austen often gets lambasted by X-Men fans for missteps caused by doing things he personally wanted to do, with the exception of Lorna because he actually looked at the character and built from her Genosha experience rather than catering to what nostalgic fans would've wanted. Usually Lorna under Austen is dismissed only as part of a blanket "everything Austen is instantly bad, no thought required" attitude.

If the goal is to do right by Lorna - to look at her history and development, understand who she is and what she's been through, and depict that as well as able - then it should work out well. If the goal is just to advance an agenda or please people who have them, or to use her as a means to an end, then it won't. I do think Lorna having won the vote adds pressure. In a good way. Pressure to put care into how she's used. As opposed to thinking nobody cares and there's no reason to put any effort into doing well by her.

As I've said before, the preview for the first X-Men issue looks promising. I don't know what else is to come, but I hope it pans out in a positive manner this time.

[Fokken]

People only call it "pandering" when its something THEY don't care about or doesn't appeal to THEM.

Otherwise its "fanservice" or "recognizing continuity" or "good writing"