Longshot Appreciation 2018

[Ricochet Rita]

One more visual poem by meolchina.



PS: Sungila, I'll try to answer your post later.

[Ricochet Rita]

It was through sharing there that I came to view Nightcrawler as a sort of living portal, himself a 'passage' and passenger...a bodhisattva of sorts who refuses his own attainment of sanctuary because of his devotion or obsession with saving others.

This is pretty accurate, indeed.

Hmmm, there this self-fabricated thing about Longshot and Nightcrawler. Like they came from someplace midstream, and fought to the surface for a first breath, not a given first breath, but one of desperation, determination, desire and inner demand. It's interesting that so often the two of them, when given focus, are often accompanied by children, X-babies, cartoonish BAMFs, fairy tale fantasy and when loved, they are so often loved for their innocent charm, their swashbuckling shimmering goldeneyed gleam, their careful and caring attention to others...and perhaps most importantly their expressive NEED to be rescued and saved and taken care of.

I think you nailed it. Those creatures who are less 'corrupted' by 'civilization' feel naturally attracted to them...or Kurt and Longshot feel attracted to these creatures...because of their sincere kindness and fairness. Fulfilling their expectations or disappointing them, that's another issue --as Longshot is not from this world, and sometimes even children end up finding him weird. Or they trust too much, so our heroes can't help but let them sort of disillusioned, and that's something they take too much to heart... Yeah, definitely Kurt and Longshot need to be held sometimes.

It's extremely rewarding to see through these veils, to follow Longshot and Kurt into their more shadowy internal vastness into these corridoring chasms of loneliness and otherworldly unending questing for self and root meaning and home. Not just a place to be or even come from, but a genuine place to depart. Yes, this is getting into something 'other' but Rita, when I think about Brian Vaughn's Ultimate Longshot and AoA Kurt Darkholme I get this pure evil adrenaline rush that is so hard to justify as 'good'...but in many ways is more 'pure' than the externalized 'goodness' of these two all-too good heroes.

Yeah, they're kind of eternal exiles. And their wicked versions are, IMO, much stronger than the majority, because they look into real dark waters.

I'm reading Moorcock's 'Elric' saga again, this time all the way through as it was originally published as it has been formatted in the Del Ray omnibus six book collection. There's a lot of Longshot and Nightcrawler in Elric.

Seriously! I've only read the comic-book series by Mignola, but I loved it.

Oh of course, A-Lad-Insane. That lightning bolt! Of course, of course, Longshot is post-Ziggy Bowie...that mercury in his shoulder blade, that 'millions weep a fountain just in case of sunrise' bouquet swinging dandy in a world of destruction, and Kurt might as well be the dark shadow and twin to that thin white duke to be! Bowie himself said of that time after Ziggy when he was recording Aladdin Sane that he was 'gone' that he was 'dead' and the him who recorded those songs was a singing shell, a figment and a wisp, sung and brung back to being like a blue coal caught in the wind. (well, that's how I recall what I've read about what he said).

This article tells vastely about "Aladdin Sane" cover and comic-books covers and characters. It doesn't mention Longshot ¬ ¬

https://www.comicsgrid.com/article/10.16995/cg.94/

As a kid "Siddhartha' was a kind of guide book for me. Dangerous stuff. To think a fast or patient bind to a river could avert ascetic impulse. Anything can become samsara if it's done to the ideal and expulsion of the eternally-compromised-self. Only recently have I finally let go of my clinging to this book. It is beautiful, but it's also a romanticized version and appropriation of a story that's not at all didactic or a pathway to attainment. It is beautiful. Too beautiful, perhaps. Attainment is a lie. Every river knows that! But lies make for stories. You mentioned Pinocchio...yes? But life, life isn't a story, though it's akin to the telling...yet, once upon, unfortunately, comes after the ever after.

I just wonder if calmness and consciousness could be a new path to explore Longshot's control over odds. Something as spiritual quantum mechanics. I mean, just in order to write something different about him, not the same old garbage.

[Ricochet Rita]

The Serendipitous Spider-Man by bonesomething.



Longshot and Spidey have got (superficially) so much in common alright.

[Ricochet Rita]

You just gotta to look at this:



And there's more where that came from!!!

http://a-twins.tumblr.com/post/17454...s-costumes-out

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

That's cool alright.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #229 May 1988
"Down Under!"
Singapore: It's a typical day of business at the Hoan International Bank as Jessan Hoan shows Mrs. Pei and her two children around the bank.
This tranquility is ruined when the bank is suddenly sieged by the Reavers, a group of cyborg mercenaries who teleport in with guns blazing.
When the Reaver known as Skullbuster grabs the owner and demands that he provide the combination -- he cannot talk because the cyborg is choking him too hard.
Jessan pipes up and tells the mercenary that there is no combination, that the vault automatically locks for 24 hours during an emergency and to leave her uncle alone.
Skullbuster instead breaks the man's neck instead and has his colleague Bonebreaker use a laser cannon to blast through the vault.
As the Reavers begin looting the facility, Pretty Boy decides to take Jessan as their hostage and they all teleport away.

They come out of the other side of the teleportal in Australia, where they once more threaten the Aboriginal mutant teleporter Gateway
that they will desecrate the land if he refuses to continue helping them pull their heists. The group then begins to party hard, like they usually do.
Pretty Boy takes Jessan down to the room where the Reavers keep all their stolen loot and tells her that
he is going to make her one of them so that they can use her financial skills to properly manage their soils.
When Hoan tries to run, Pretty Boy grabs her and then ejects his eye filaments and begins reprogramming her brain to be like them, ruthless with no sense of morality.

Suddenly, an unexpected sandstorm blows up into the Reavers hideout and begins to trip them up before they can act.
This has been caused by Storm who has come with her fellow X-Men to break up the Reavers' operation.
While the others attack the main party, Dazzler and Longshot go to rescue Jessan.

Furious at seeing Hoan being reprogrammed, Longshot cuts the filaments and saves her while Dazzler attacks and overpowers him.

While in the hideout's saloon, Colossus and Rogue attack the gathered Reavers, with an assist from Havok.
When Bonebreaker grabs Rogue's bare arm, her powers absorb his memories, thoroughly disgusting her with how vile they are.
In the confusion, Bonebreaker, Skullbuster and Pretty Boy manage to get away and order Gateway to teleport them away, telling the Aboriginal that if he does so then his debt to them is paid.
When Gateway complies and the three senior Reavers manage to escape, Wolverine considers killing him,
but Storm orders him to stand down, telling Logan that she thinks Gateway was forced into doing their bidding.

In the aftermath of the battle, the X-Men have gathered up the Reavers and bound them.
With their mission accomplished they begin to wonder what to do with the captured Reavers, as letting them loose to the authorities would blow their cover of supposedly being dead.

Roma appears before them and thanks the X-Men for completing the mission that she tasked them with.
She then gives them the Siege Perilous, telling them that whoever passes through its gates is judged by the highest powers and is reborn into a new life where they can get a second chance.

After some discussion, Storm gives the Reavers a choice: Go through the Siege, or be killed by Wolverine. The cowardly remains of the Reavers choose the Siege and soon traverse into it.
Jessan cries against being forced through the Siege telling them that she was the Reavers' prisoner.
The X-Men decide to leave her be and ask Roma to teleport her back home, something that Roma does thankfully.

Before departing, she tells the X-Men that they now have a bold new direction to go into, and leaves the Siege Perilous in their care.
Telling them that they can choose to use it themselves should they desire to take on new lives.
However, the X-Men all unanimously agree that they will stay together and go after their enemies before they consider doing this.
As a final word, Roma tells the X-Men that she has caused them to be invisible to any scanning or detection method,
be it technological, magic or biological in fashion -- save for the devices within the Reavers' base.
With that, she departs and tells the X-Men that they have the opportunity to lead the world and that the future rests in their hands.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by Marc Silvestri and Dan Green.

[Ricochet Rita]

Shatterstar solo series announced:

https://news.marvel.com/comics/90695...a-solo-series/

What was Seeley’s pitch for this new book? “When the life he built crumbles, Shatterstar is forced to ask himself if he truly ever gave up the gladiator ring. The series will be part John Wick, a dash of Will Eisner’s A Contract with God, and infused with lots of lots of interdimensional X-Men Super Hero mythos.” Speaking specifically about that X-Men lore, Seeley says he was inspired by classic ’80s and ’90s X-Men stories: “I really stuck close to the Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld stuff—especially those last few issues of NEW MUTANTS where you can see the purest form of this guy. I also really leaned on the LONGSHOT limited series by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams, as well as the ‘Shattershot’ storyline from the old X-Men annuals.”

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Seeing as they have (superficially) so much in common, I'd love for Spidey and Longshot to meet in either Sony or the MCU if in the MCU than they can be joined by Doctor Strange!

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #230 Jun 1988
'Twas the Night...!"
At their new secret headquarters located in the Australian outback, Storm takes the opportunity to enjoy her recently returned powers,
while Madelyne Pryor uses the systems created by the Reavers to track her progress.
While elsewhere on the property, the other X-Men are engaged in a training session to try and take down Rogue.
While Havok and Dazzler fail, Psylocke's mental powers take her down and Logan pins her until she surrenders.
When the session is over, Madelyne marvels at how advanced the systems are
and hopes to use the Reaver's devices to help track down the Marauders and take back her son.
As the X-Men wind down from their training session Storm notices that Longshot is missing and wonders where he has gone.

Below their base, Longshot is searching the tunnels, having heard voices he goes to see if there are any prisoners of the Reavers
that they might have missed when they forced the cyborgs out. What he finds is the stolen loot that they had amassed over the years.
Longshot's psychometric powers are extremely sensitive to these stolen goods and they cry out to be returned to their rightful owners.

Longshot is soon overwhelmed by all the phantom voices and passes out.

Later, Dazzler begins the process of cleaning out the Reavers former possessions out of the living house and is disgusted by the amount of filth the cyborgs lived in.
The final straw is when Dazzler screams when she sees something moving, prompting Colossus to smash into the room and investigate.
She is disgusted when Colossus finds a mound of animal feces from under the bed.
Going out side she has a temper tantrum from being so far away from civilization,
it prompts Storm to use her powers to create a rainstorm that literally washes out the filth, which Havok promptly incinerates with his plasma powers.

When the X-Men begin to consider Gateway, the silent Aboriginal mutant teleporter who quietly sits on the hill outside their base, Logan surmises that this is his land.
Rogue makes an effort to communicate and be friendly with him, however her attempts to get him to socialize are met with silence.
After a much needed shower, Dazzler finds that Longshot has awoken from the coma they found him in and he tells them what he had gleaned from the treasure room.

The X-Men confirm what Longshot had experienced, who convinces them to return everything to their rightful owners.
Wolverine is the only one who has issue with this task, although the other X-Men find it quite daunting.
When Storm decides to carry out Longshot's wishes the X-Men work out a plan:
Sifting through each item, they have Longshot divine it's location and then they will have Gateway teleport them around the world to drop the items off to their rightful owners.
As they are going through the items, Dazzler falls completely in love with a motorcycle which is among the loot, envying the original owner.

Eventually, the X-Men manage to find the homes for the majority of items and go to see Gateway. After Rogue explains what the X-Men intend to do,
Psylocke telepathically gives him the locations they need to get to and to their delight Gateway opens a portal for them to travel through.
The X-Men then travel around the world dropping off all the stolen items to those who had their belongings stolen by the Reavers.
Lastly, Storm makes a trip to Salem Center to look in on the New Mutants. She finds them out with their leader Magneto caroling in a snowstorm.
They are not in the mood since the death of their teammate Cypher and the "death" of the X-Men.
Unable to reveal herself in order to maintain the X-Men's cover, Storm instead uses her powers to divert the snowstorm, making the Mutants decide to keep on caroling.

When the X-Men return to their new home, they realize that it's Christmas Day and celebrate.
Dazzler gets a surprise when Logan and Storm reveal that they kept the motorcycle for her.
She is happy and pulls Longshot on for a ride. Lastly, Rogue pays a visit to Gateway and gives him a gift: a wood carved flue.
Gateway is visibly touched by this and invites Rogue to sit next to him as he plays the musical instrument for her.

Story by Chris Claremont. Art by Marc Silvestri and Joe Rubinstein.

[Ricochet Rita]

This is, deservedly, a favorite issue for many X-fans. A cute Christmas piece that, IMO, would be perfect if only the inker was Dan Green as usual instead of Rubinstein (I'm sorry, but I find his line a bit bland). Incidentally, this is as well the only X-cover in which Longshot appears alone --plus he's got sort of the leading role in the plot.

His psychometric powers will be scarcely showed in the following X-issues, neither in such a cool way (it makes me think of 'The Fury' and 'The Conjuring'). PAD in XFI achieved to appreciate its possibilities. Anyway, post-Nocenti Longshot uses his psychometry a lot less --is he subconsciously protecting himself?

[Ricochet Rita]

My favorite alien reachs the age of Jesus Christ as cheerful and luminous as ever.

[Ricochet Rita]

Major Domo and friends by fedde.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

I wish it were possible to have them along with Longshot appear in either Legion, Runaways or The Gifted .

[Ricochet Rita]

I want to read this so much!!!



DOMINO #10

GAIL SIMONE (W) • DAVID BALDEON (A)

Cover by GANG HYUK LIM

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!

• You saw her on the silver screen, now Domino’s live and direct from the Mojoverse!
• Can you guess which special guest is along for the ride?
• The answer’s a real long shot...

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

https://www.newsarama.com/42355-marv...citations.html

[Ricochet Rita]

This one too, since it's confirmed that Spiral is going to be there:

MR. AND MRS. X #7

KELLY THOMPSON (W) • Oscar Bazaldua (A)

Cover by TERRY & RACHEL DODSON

• Stuck in the Mojoverse!
• Rogue and Gambit are forced to relive moments of their past…but this time for the cameras!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99