X-FORCE by Geoffrey Thorne and Marcus To

[Galen Nycroft]

Or maybe, it's Charles Burlingame aka "Charcoal" who was killed over a copyright dispute. However, the dispute only applied to Charcoal and not his civilian identity, so he can be brought back as Tank!

That would be awesome, but too soon after Rockslide and Wrongslide...wounds still fresh.

[Redjack]

here's another one.

[mattsarchamp]

here's another one.

Nicely done, sir! I'm really intrigued who Tank really is.

[JB]

here's another one.

This is awesome. I love this team and Tank is an absolute brick house.

[Luckystar.]

here's another one.

Let it be know that we LOVE the butterfly!

[MentalManipulator]

here's another one.

This looks cool and dynamic. Can’t wait for their interactions.

The butterfly!!! Always great to see.

Are these alternate looks for the characters or just some artistic freedom?

[CGAR]

Tank with the ladiessssss. Super curious what his dynamic with them is going to be.

[Redjack]

This looks cool and dynamic. Can’t wait for their interactions.

The butterfly!!! Always great to see.

Are these alternate looks for the characters or just some artistic freedom?

the second one.

just a WRITER doodling. This is how they looked in my head before I sold the pitch to Marvel. nothing official here.

Marcus To's designs are 100000000% the only one that matter, as is right and proper.

Just me having some fun as I lock the characters in my head.

[Nicoclaws]

I like the ponchos vibe though.

[CGAR]

Some things that would be cool to see:

Betsy and Sage training session.

Surge and Forge power training session.

[MentalManipulator]

the second one.

just a WRITER doodling. This is how they looked in my head before I sold the pitch to Marvel. nothing official here.

Marcus To's designs are 100000000% the only one that matter, as is right and proper.

Just me having some fun as I lock the characters in my head.

Cool. they look great nonetheless.

Can't wait for July. So glad to see my girl Betsy on X-Force again.

[j9ac9k]

Marcus To's designs are 100000000% the only one that matter, as is right and proper.

Some folks in the Proudstar brothers thread mentioned how the "Native American with red headband" imagery is problematic in that it was invented by Hollywood, so neither Apache (the Proudstars) or Cheyenne (Forge) would wear that - at least not because of their culture. (after reading that, I couldn't help but notice how often that's used as a shorthand for "this is a Native American character") I don't know much about it, but wondered if you and/or Marcus had researched that for Forge. (or maybe he's just a fan of Rambo)

[Redjack]

Some folks in the Proudstar brothers thread mentioned how the "Native American with red headband" imagery is problematic in that it was invented by Hollywood, so neither Apache (the Proudstars) or Cheyenne (Forge) would wear that - at least not because of their culture. (after reading that, I couldn't help but notice how often that's used as a shorthand for "this is a Native American character") I don't know much about it, but wondered if you and/or Marcus had researched that for Forge. (or maybe he's just a fan of Rambo)

hm.

We had a lot of discussions about Forge. A LOT. I did considerable research on Cheyenne history, traditions and current status.

None of that will make it into these first issues.

Once I'm done writing X-Force I'll tell the backstage stories and post pages from my first drafts. I make a point of almost never describing how the sausage is made while I'm on a book because there are scumbags who will use frank discussions to gin up controversy in order to get clicks. I'm aggressively anti-scumbag.

Bottom Line: Forge has a few established looks and, in these first issues, we are using a variation of one of them.

That said, THIS time, at least, there's a story reason for the headband.

[Technopriest]

Some folks in the Proudstar brothers thread mentioned how the "Native American with red headband" imagery is problematic in that it was invented by Hollywood, so neither Apache (the Proudstars) or Cheyenne (Forge) would wear that - at least not because of their culture. (after reading that, I couldn't help but notice how often that's used as a shorthand for "this is a Native American character") I don't know much about it, but wondered if you and/or Marcus had researched that for Forge. (or maybe he's just a fan of Rambo)

The headband is not a part of Native American culture and look, but something that was created so white actors (generally Italian Americans) could hold their wigs while playing the "Indian" (long hair had fallen out of fashion in American culture between the 1920s and the 1960s, which is why even cowboys who historically would grow their hair long and have beards would look clean shaven in movies). By the 70s, the look had become so prevalent among the general public around the world due to movies, that it became the standard "look" of Native American characters, regardless of tribe affiliation. That is why characters from Tonto, to Apache Chief, to Spirit Iron Knife, to Bravestar all sported the same look, because it became shorthand for NA in popular media. With Forge the look at least could be excused as owning more to his military background, as it has nothing to do with Cheyenne identity.

[berserkerclaw]

here's another one.

I like it. The artwork is awesome. And having read Geen Lantern and it was ok looking Forward to your X-Force writting