That's sweet, thanks for saying it.
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I know I'm preaching to the choir so I'm not sure if this would be of any use here, but I'll expand on why I want to scream when *writers* dismiss Warren.
The gist of it is that Warren is an awesome character and writers should have him in the cast of the flagship, but that's not coming from the simple desire of a fan. I think there are *fundamental* reasons to support the claim.
As a writer, I suppose you should take a step back (before you even start to think of the story) to understand your medium, your genre and your audience.
A writer coming to Marvel should keep in mind they're writing a narrative that :
(1) uses sequential art,
(2) in the superhero genre,
(3) for an audience that is loyal, invested and passionate enough to have followed those characters and stories for years, if not decades.
This understanding should come first. This is the guiding star for everything else. Whatever is not aligned with it, should not be considered, or should be altered enough not to clash against it.
What does that have to do with Warren?
Let's start with (1) the sequential art and the visual element of storytelling in comic books.
Simply put, wings look cool.
Moreover, they could be part of the narrative.
One thing that I'd love to see is writers and artists thinking of his wings as something that emotes and expresses mental states as much as the face and the body. This is a narrative resource that should be used to make one's storytelling richer, especially because you're dealing with a visual medium. Not using it is like having Spiral in the scene and having her extra arms just hanging along her body. Or Medusa's hair just lying on the floor.
"Wings are cool" should be a tenet written at the top of every script, but there's no need to point it out in the dialogue. Let the art do its thing. The reader will notice, even if unconsciously.
That's not everything wings have to contribute, though.
Warren's wings, especially the techno-organic ones, look *amazing* in combat (both at a distance and close-quarters), so extra cool points for the boy.
Lastly, the thematic and the visuals that come with an "angelic" character are a banquet for any writer. The contrast between divine and benevolent and corrupted and violent, for instance, works perfectly with any visual medium, especially if you explore lighting and angles to help you tell the story. Again, no need to point out, the reader will get the feeling even if they're not consciously aware of it.
So I guess you got the point when it comes to taking advantage of the fact the comics use sequential art, how it should factor into the writing, and how a character like Warren is perfect for it.
[NOTE: I'd love it if Warren had both his feather and his metal wings, exactly because I think the feather ones would look better for expression, and the metal ones look cooler for combat.]
Let's move on to the (2) superhero genre.
Anti-heroes are interesting characters and when you have one or some of them interacting with the heroes, the story often gets more interesting (think of Luke and Han, for instance).
But heroes are the core of the thing. We expect even the anti-heroes to behave in heroic ways when it counts the most. Those are the moments that make us *all* go, "yes!" as we read them.
Even the people who prefer morally grey characters will bring up those moments (and sometimes they don't even realize it).
Back to our boy, Warren is one of the most courageous and heroic Marvel characters. He comes from a background of extreme privilege but the first thing he does once his wings becomes strong enough for him to fly? He uses them to help people in need.
Xavier found him as a teenager and he didn't have to give him the speech ("think of how much good you can do with your gift"). It'd be understandable if Warren was afraid and overly focused on how being a "freak" set him apart from his peers (teenagers tend to give a lot of importance to being part of groups as a way to define their identity), but Warren was already a hero on his own. As a teenager, he knew that was who he was.
This is so freaking powerful. And again, if you have the chance to write this character in a *superhero* genre story and you don't take it... I don't even know how to finish this sentence.
So I'll move on to the last point. The (3) audience, and I want to link that to Warren's powers.
It hurts my brain when I read *writers* and *editors* talking about Warren having lame powers.
First of all, if that was ever true, it hasn't been true since the 80s.
Second of all, have these people heard of Batman? Or Daredevil?
Surely, powers are a part of the character and the genre, but what makes us invested are the stories and the characters in them. That's what keeps us coming back for more.
So what I'd tell those writers is this: "get your act together. Stop being wasteful by ignoring the rich histories of those characters. Understand that the majority of the fans who have been reading those stories love when you take continuity into consideration. You don't need to bring up past stories explicitly, but you need to take them into account when writing those characters. It's *easier* to make a character tridimensional, consistent and interesting when you come to write it after decades of stories. The work has been literally done for you. Stop seeing this as an anchor to limit you and understand it as a resource for you to tell better stories."
Back to Warren, he has a couple of epic stories in his past. This is an incredible resource on its own. It gives his character depth and so many avenues of his psyche to explore.
They should focus on *that* instead of how "lame" his powers are. They're not any lamer than Cyclops' (another favorite of mine) and just like the optic blasts, they *look cool*. It's not about power levels, damn it. Cool visuals (regardless of power levels) is the single most important thing for the *visual* medium that is comic books. That's half of the battle won before you even start imagining a combat scene.
All of that is to say that before a writer even comes up with a plot, having Warren in the cast already gives them a *lot* to work with and a lot to help them succeed in the medium, in the genre and with the audience.
So yeah... it's astounding to me that the X-Office did almost nothing with Warren during this entire Krakoa era, especially considering the amount of ongoing and limited series they published....