Danielle Moonstar/Mirage Appreciation 2023

[rf2044]

Speaking of art, that image you posted from Avengers is a blast from the past!

I remember that mid-80s era of how the characters were drawn in that book! Ha!

[Arachne]

I think there are two main reasons why Dani has never been called up to the "bigs" as a member of the X-Men.

First, her powers are too abstract. Claremont created her, and had a good sense of her powers and how to use them [even when she was inexperienced and couldn't control them]. That's why I think there's an over-reliance on her psi-arrows, because that application is easy to understand and straightforward in terms of how it applies in battle. But at the X-Men level, there's a greater emphasis on powers that deal damage, so she's a tough sell for many writers.

Secondly, her personality is too dominant for her to take a back seat role. When Dani's on a team, she's generally the focal point or one of the top characters. She isn't going to be a good soldier following orders -- SHE'S the leader. And justifiably so, given her history. Cyclops recognized this inherent leadership aptitude, as well. So she's a tough person to bring on a team, without her overpowering some other personalities on the squad. Used properly, she's a great team player. But you can't just throw her in a background role [a la Fearless Defenders] -- it's out of character for her.

Just my opinion.

And third, she's not white or male. A lot of writers may be afraid of writing her because of that. These days getting something wrong about a woman or POC can lead to a lot of criticism and some writers won't want to risk that.

Speaking of her powers, I was impressed with how the writer on Karma in Love (can't remember his name right now) used them. I think it's the first time she's been shown to read people's emotions when she's not using her arrows or illusions, and yesterday she used them in a way I haven't seen since the 90's. (Won't spoil the story, there's a summary in the new Karma in Love thread.)

[rf2044]

Interesting article about Dani confronting Bishop about his leadership tactics in War College #1:

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-bishop-war...ocrisy-marvel/

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[The Cool Thatguy]

Nice to see Dani's leadership skills acknowledged, just wish that she would use them more.

[norj]

So I just learned the myth of the Devil's Tower which may have inspired creation of the Demon Bear.

A band of Cheyennes went on one of their visits to Na Kovehe (Bear Lodge) to worship the great spirit, as did many other tribes. Families and all members of the tribe came, as Bear Lodge was known as a holy place.

After having camped there for several days one of the Cheyenne braves noticed that his wife was gone from camp, staying away for a short time. As time went on, he noticed that she was gone longer than before. This brave could not understand why his wife should be gone from their lodge so much as he had always been devoted to her, being a good hunter as well as a brave warrior. She always had much buffalo, antelope and deer meat. He furnished her fine skins to make nice clothes.

Becoming suspicious that some other brave in his band might be courting his wife, he watched to see what man was missing when his wife left camp. He found that no man was missing when his wife was gone. This man also saw that his wife had a skin over her shoulders, which she did not wear before coming to this camp.

One day when she had been gone longer than usual, he laid in wait for her. On her return her asked her where she had been and what drew her from camp so much of the time. She would not answer any of his questions. Then the man became mad and tore the skin from her shoulders and saw that she was covered with scratches. He demanded that she tell him which man had abused her. Becoming frightened at the way her husband was acting, she told him that she had been charmed by a very big bear that lived in the big rock. The bear had no mate and had become infatuated with her while she was out gathering fruit. Fearing for the safety of the camp, she had submitted to the bear's embraces, which accounted for the scratches on her shoulders.

Then the warrior told his wife to lead him to the bear so he could kill it. When they found the bear the man had great fear because the bear was big, very big. The bear slapped the woman with his paw and changed her into a bear. The man ran to the camp to get the rest of the braves to help him kill the big bear.

They found the bear had crawled into a cave, leaving his hind feet in the door. The bear's feet were so big that nobody could get past them. They could not get close enough to the bear to kill him so they shot at his feet to make him come out. When the bear came out he was so big that all the warriors were scared and climbed up on a big rock.

These men were so scared that they prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. In answer to their prayers, the rock began to grow up out of the ground and when it stopped it was very high. The bear jumped at the men and on the fourth jump his claws were on the top. The Great Spirit had helped the men and now they had great courage and they shot the bear and killed him. When the bear fell backwards and pushed the big rock, the big rock leaned.

After that the bear-woman made this big rock her home, so the Cheyennes call it "Bear Lodge."

This legend was told to Dick Stone by Young-Bird, a Cheyenne, whose home was on the Lame Deer Reservation. Samuel Weasel Bear acted as an interpreter. Young-Bird said, "This is a true story. It happened."

[danielsan52]

I want to see her back in her graduation or MLF costume!

[Thirteen]

Speaking of bear scratches...I wondered if the markings on Age of X Moonstar are meant to be evocative of scars from bear claws since the Demon Bear is such a visual touchstone for Dani's storyline.

[Arachne]

I want to see her back in her graduation or MLF costume!

Which MLF costume? She had 3: the red swimsuit, the yellow and blue full body, and the red and tan shorts outfit.

[Arachne]

I always loved these panels from X-men Annual #10 (1987).

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[Soulsword323]

The Age of X costume for Dani was so good. Forever hate that the New Mutants are always stuck in those same training uniforms. How a visual medium like comics won't let characters looks evolve is beyond me.

Also, those Dani panels from Bishop's comic are great.

[rcaguy]

The Age of X costume for Dani was so good. Forever hate that the New Mutants are always stuck in those same training uniforms. How a visual medium like comics won't let characters looks evolve is beyond me.

Also, those Dani panels from Bishop's comic are great.

Maybe because outside the Valkyrie-influenced designs, Moonstars's costumes are so bad that pretty much no one outside the artist that created them wants to deal with them.

[Arachne]

It's not just Dani, though. All the New Mutants are stuck in the bumble bee costumes. Magik has had a bit of a reprieve, lately, but that may not last.

[Alan2099]

It's not just Dani, though. All the New Mutants are stuck in the bumble bee costumes. Magik has had a bit of a reprieve, lately, but that may not last.

Cannonball gets away with having an actual costume more often than most. I think it's because those goggles are such a unique image to him and nobody else has anything like it.

[Arachne]

Escapade is encroaching on his territory.

[Krakoa]

Cannonball gets away with having an actual costume more often than most. I think it's because those goggles are such a unique image to him and nobody else has anything like it.

I think it also has to do with having the longest runs in "actual costume" teams during the 90s between X-Force & the main team.