Gateway Appreciation

[sungila]

The AoA Gateway was a different sort of guy. Much more talkative and 'busy'. Actively working to string together the frayed strands of a better future beyond the impending end of days. Sadly, he is enlisted into battle and killed before being able to mend a solution.
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Hopefully Fox will see to it to include Gateway in the next film.

[sungila]

Correction...it wasn't Jubilation that first encountered Gateway - it was she who first spoke to Gateway. It was brief, but profound, given his silence up to that point.
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[butterflykyss]

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Gateway has no industrial technology, no uniform, I don’t know if he’s ever even spoken more than one word (Penance), he has been an indentured servant to the Reavers (twice), a friend to the X-Men and later to X-Force, a mentor to the St. Croix twins and Eden Fesi – he is related to Bishop and Shard – he has survived a targeted assassination by the Marauders and in the AoA alternate universe he is a revolutionary champion who dies attempting to save the world.
With just a bullroarer, bare feet, a deep connection to the land and spirit of the Aboriginal Outback he is one of the most endearing and captivating friends of the X-Men to never join the team. Is he a mutant? If he is, then his mutation allows him to open portals between time and space. He has a clairvoyant awareness of restitution, an internal map of all pasts, futures and galaxies that he can traverse by way of the rhythmic pathways that string these dimensions together.
I only really know Gateway from his first appearances with the displaced resurrected Outback-based Uncanny X-Men and his reappearance with Uncanny X-Force. My appreciation for Gateway has made me curious about Manifold (Eden Fesi) nd the St. Croix Twins.
I was hoping that in this thread we coasuld discuss Gateway as a character, why he has endured for so long, what makes him so singular and special. I was also hoping that fans of Generation X, Secret Warriors, Bishop/Shard, and the current ongoing Avengers and Avenger’s World could share their ideas about Eden Fesi(Manifold) and those storylines. Are they worth reading? Is Manifold a strong enough character to engage a Gateway fan and make reading Hickman's ‘Avengers’ worthwhile?
So here’s an appreciation thread for all things Gateway. I hope I’m not alone in my appreciation for this incredible character and I look forward to hearing from his fellow fans.
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I honestly forgot about gateway. I personally havent read anything wit him in it since the outback era. Thanks for creating this thread... ot brough back wonderful memories of when i first began reading xmen. So once again excellent thread let the appreciation continue!!!

[Beezzi]

Correction...it wasn't Jubilation that first encountered Gateway - it was she who first spoke to Gateway. It was brief, but profound, given his silence up to that point.
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Thanks for posting this Sungila. I thought he greeted her, but wasn't sure. Do you know if this is this from Uncanny X-Men #244?

[sungila]

Thanks for posting this Sungila. I thought he greeted her, but wasn't sure. Do you know if this is this from Uncanny X-Men #244?

My pleasure Beezi. The panel sort of makes me blush. Very 1989.

It's from the split issue UXM Annual #13. The second story is 'Jubilation Day' by Sally Pashkow & Jim Fern penciling. Time wise I think the story falls just after UXM 244. It's a different sort of story...all told in through Jubilee's narration with a few suspect lines...I seem to recall J saying some pretty derogatory stuff about Gateway's appearance.

Overall though, it's consistent with the Outback stories' mix of madcap fun and gut wrenching drama. It was such a great time for X-books.

[Wind Rider]

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Great images of Gateway. Isn't there also one of him and Storm on a mountain top (I think it was the issue where she fought Nanny, Orphan Maker, and the X-Men they controlled)? And one of him and Rogue in X-Treme X-Men where he plays music for her?

[jh.uk]

Has anyone read the theory for Gateway's origin here: http://fanfix.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/gateways-origin ?

[Beezzi]

Has anyone read the theory for Gateway's origin here: http://fanfix.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/gateways-origin ?

I've never seen this. Thx for the post. This is going to be a long and detailed read by the looks of it.

Since following this thread I've realised that I really miss old Gateway. He added a real touch of mystery and mysticism to things.

[jh.uk]

He makes a fantastic case for Claremont's original intent for the mutant Aborigine and it's a shame we never saw it come to fruition.

[Beezzi]

He makes a fantastic case for Claremont's original intent for the mutant Aborigine and it's a shame we never saw it come to fruition.

That's something I both loved and loathed about Claremont. I love that he spent so many years writing the X-Men, that he never really felt he needed to rush and explain a character's origins. He would just let the mystery and suspense build, dropping little hints every other month. Sometimes it would take years before we found out something new (Gambit is a great example of this).

The part part I hate though, is that when he left Marvel - he also left so many threads of plots unfinished. Who knows all the awesome stuff we missed out on.

[jh.uk]

The part part I hate though, is that when he left Marvel - he also left so many threads of plots unfinished. Who knows all the awesome stuff we missed out on.

That's only because he believed he would be on the X-titles for the foreseeable future and that he would have plenty of time to resolve his threads.

There's some great other posts on that thread about Claremont's X-Men and the blogger is quite sick so has a call-out for other writers to contribute which you might be interested in here: http://fanfix.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/call-out/

[Beezzi]

That's only because he believed he would be on the X-titles for the foreseeable future and that he would have plenty of time to resolve his threads.

There's some great other posts on that thread about Claremont's X-Men and the blogger is quite sick so has a call-out for other writers to contribute which you might be interested in here: http://fanfix.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/call-out/

Thanks jh.uk, I'll totally look into it. (Maybe they need a 20-page essay on the tragic death of Jubilee's poor Aunt Hope. )

[jh.uk]

Haha;-) Or who Claremont intended the parents of young Nate/Lefty/Mr. Sinister to be!

[sungila]

Has anyone read the theory for Gateway's origin here: http://fanfix.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/gateways-origin ?

Thank you for sharing this incredible adventure in creative exposition. I learned a great deal and had an exhilarating wandering through this mosaic of spirit and mind. I'm sorry to hear that this gifted and generous blogger is sick.

[sungila]

That's something I both loved and loathed about Claremont. I love that he spent so many years writing the X-Men, that he never really felt he needed to rush and explain a character's origins. He would just let the mystery and suspense build, dropping little hints every other month. Sometimes it would take years before we found out something new (Gambit is a great example of this).

The part part I hate though, is that when he left Marvel - he also left so many threads of plots unfinished. Who knows all the awesome stuff we missed out on.

Yes! I do believe the BEST sagas and the BEST characters are knowable mysteries...they are questions that destroy the answers...and yet, known and rooted within us...

Best stories are our own unfinished stories...the best heroes are the heroes that we all are...flawed, dynamic...with our past as wide and limber as our future...

Claremont is a genius...the unfinished stuff...that's a gift to us...that's ours...or his if he wants...but the sum of truly great creation is a reverberation of more and more creation...great is mystery.

Gateway totally embodies this mystery. He's a familiar friend...but who the heck is he? Nobody stranger than the ones we know...