X-Men Gold #28 Preview

[Maestroneto]

Fingers crossed it's fine. Thankfully (?), I don't make any money from it aha

This is the link: http://danguys.blogspot.co.uk/2018/0...tagnation.html

Great read. Agree with everything in it and love that there's now an essay I can link to when someone says "what's your problem with the wedding". :P

One thing I'd add that differs Guggenheim's depiction from earlier incarnations is the thorough, pathetic co-dependence of the two. During Whedon's run, they were in a relationship, but the main thrust of both their characters was ultimately Kitty's conflict with Emma Frost (a conflict that doesn't rely on a man!) and Colossus coming to grips with his return from the dead and supposed destiny to destroy Breakworld. Their relationship was a side-plot. You could remove it and the story would still 90% be the same.

In Gold, on the other hand, these two characters just can't live without one another. From Colossus' desperate attempts to get back with Kitty pre-issue #10 to Kitty's desperate zeal to show her affection for Colossus post-#10 (culminating in her pathetic breakdown where she says she can't live without Piotr and the moment that leads her to propose. Didn't she live without Colossus from 2011 to 2017? Whatever. Feminism!). Their relationship is the only thing driving these two's motivation. Kitty became the leader of the X-Men (a Big Fucking Deal considering she's only the fourth/fifth person in that position) and after 28 issues we haven't gotten in her headspace about that at all. Guggs just wants us to take for granted she's the best at what she does (and besides the screentime overkill is a big reason for the backlash against Kitty). A woman's relationship is more important than her job. This type of co-dependence is an extremely unhealthy depiction of a supposed mature relationship and fits more into a situation where Kitty is still 14 and Colossus is still 19. Which kind of makes sense since that's the jumping off point for Gold.

Oh, and Crystal got a pixie cut too when she became a leadership figure.

[akiresu_]

Great read. Agree with everything in it and love that there's now an essay I can link to when someone says "what's your problem with the wedding". :P

One thing I'd add that differs Guggenheim's depiction from earlier incarnations is the thorough, pathetic co-dependence of the two. During Whedon's run, they were in a relationship, but the main thrust of both their characters was ultimately Kitty's conflict with Emma Frost (a conflict that doesn't rely on a man!) and Colossus coming to grips with his return from the dead and supposed destiny to destroy Breakworld. Their relationship was a side-plot. You could remove it and the story would still 90% be the same.

In Gold, on the other hand, these two characters just can't live without one another. From Colossus' desperate attempts to get back with Kitty pre-issue #10 to Kitty's desperate zeal to show her affection for Colossus post-#10 (culminating in her pathetic breakdown where she says she can't live without Piotr and the moment that leads her to propose. Didn't she live without Colossus from 2011 to 2017? Whatever. Feminism!). Their relationship is the only thing driving these two's motivation. Kitty became the leader of the X-Men (a Big Fucking Deal considering she's only the fourth/fifth person in that position) and after 28 issues we haven't gotten in her headspace about that at all. Guggs just wants us to take for granted she's the best at what she does (and besides the screentime overkill is a big reason for the backlash against Kitty). A woman's relationship is more important than her job. This type of co-dependence is an extremely unhealthy depiction of a supposed mature relationship and fits more into a situation where Kitty is still 14 and Colossus is still 19. Which kind of makes sense since that's the jumping off point for Gold.

Oh, and Crystal got a pixie cut too when she became a leadership figure.

Thanks! And what you say here is really interesting, I'd been wondering just why I enjoyed reading Whedon's rerun so much more than Guggenheim's (despite it often falling into similar traps) and I think you've got a real point with how the relationship is so central to Gold's storytelling. Whedon used the relationship to add emotional beats to a wider story with multi-layered character development, so I don't think a reader can ever bring themselves to get really angry at it. Guggenheim puts it in full focus and, when exposed like this, you can't help but read and see the deep, troubling nature of it.

I'm really missing thought bubbles for Kitty in Gold. Perhaps it's more to do with Guggenheim's tv background, but they are a brilliant tool for character building that I think goes far too under-utilised in modern comics.

[Innocent Bystander]

it wouldn't surprise me if there's a bait and switch in issue 30. I don't believe Guggenheim has done any work for it to make sense at this time, and since they can't compete with Bat/Cat, a shocking soap opera twist might be the best they can do.

Kitty hasn't had her Jewishness removed. It's *always* been a come and go thing. The entire essay felt like you are grasping at straws because you ship Kitty with someone else.

[akiresu_]

it wouldn't surprise me if there's a bait and switch in issue 30. I don't believe Guggenheim has done any work for it to make sense at this time, and since they can't compete with Bat/Cat, a shocking soap opera twist might be the best they can do.

Kitty hasn't had her Jewishness removed. It's *always* been a come and go thing. The entire essay felt like you are grasping at straws because you ship Kitty with someone else.

Out of curiosity (and for the sake of my writing style), who do you think it sounds like I ship her with?
Because I'm not really a shipping kind of person, and don't have any particular preference when it comes to Kitty, that shouldn't be something that comes across in my writing.

I do, however, think that the "come and go" of Kitty's Jewishness is an important topic for discussion because it shouldn't be come and go; it has been written into the character from her inception. Moments like her interaction with her mother are just the latest in a long-line of work that either shows an unwillingness to research or engage with Jewish identities or a conscious effort to eliminate Jewishness from the character.

Kitty's Jewishness is critical. It ties her to other characters and the wider themes of the franchise itself. Even in Gold particularly, it is dangerous to not read her Jewishness; the Ardian Syaf controversy develops new meaning when the main character of that story is Jewish.

[Sutekh]

Kitty's Jewishness is critical. It ties her to other characters and the wider themes of the franchise itself. Even in Gold particularly, it is dangerous to not read her Jewishness; the Ardian Syaf controversy develops new meaning when the main character of that story is Jewish.

While I don't think that it's been handled all that well, I do think that Kitty is probably the 'most Jewish' of Marvel's Jewish characters, certainly more so than Ben Grimm, Moon Knight, Iceman, Doc Samson or the Maximoff kids (who are no longer related to a father than was retconned from being Romani to Jewish, so I don't even). AFAIK, Sabra is the only character at Marvel who is 'more Jewish' than Kitty, and she's mostly forgotten (which, given what Marvel tends to do to third-tier mutants, is to her benefit, since she hasn't been put on a bus and blowed up or staked out on the lawn and set on fire yet...).

Claremont certainly seemed to play up Kitty's faith (and Nightcrawlers), back in the day, compared to other X-folk whose faiths were less central to their character (or downright ambiguous).

[Omegarogue]

I have "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" backing me up...so you might wanna rethink what your saying. As I can give you scans of everything I said.

While over the years most heroes have grown in strength, Classic Rogue has never been close to Colossus is strength. I actually remember an issue of X-Men, with Rogue lifting 47 tons which is within her Marvel Official 50 tons range. Ms. Marvel's strength level was only 10 tons when she first started out.

And does that matter? Rogue was above the 50th rank, and ms Marvel defeated Tiggershark which is well above class 40 in its beginnings, so it is impossible for it to be a class 10.

What matters is that classic Rogue was always much more powerful than Colossus, while Colossus was only a little stronger in physical strength, Rogue could easily beat him, first because he was invulnerable, he could easily resist the blows of people much stronger than she , and second with the absorption Colossus siemrpe has been lost, thanks.

____________

These manuals are often not exact, what is worth is what you see in the comics.

The question is now Rogue has the powerset of Wonderman, so in physical strength she is far superior to Colossus, as well as Namor and Carol Danvers themselves are superior to Namor in physical strength.

[Maestroneto]

Thanks! And what you say here is really interesting, I'd been wondering just why I enjoyed reading Whedon's rerun so much more than Guggenheim's (despite it often falling into similar traps) and I think you've got a real point with how the relationship is so central to Gold's storytelling. Whedon used the relationship to add emotional beats to a wider story with multi-layered character development, so I don't think a reader can ever bring themselves to get really angry at it. Guggenheim puts it in full focus and, when exposed like this, you can't help but read and see the deep, troubling nature of it.

I'm really missing thought bubbles for Kitty in Gold. Perhaps it's more to do with Guggenheim's tv background, but they are a brilliant tool for character building that I think goes far too under-utilised in modern comics.

I doubt we'd get any more character depth with thought boxes when the writer simply has no interest in exploring characters' thoughts and feelings and just starts at an endpoint ("Kitty and Colossus get married" "Rachel is crazy") and then works his way back. And I don't think even the most accomplished writer can explain how a character goes from "I'm done with relationships" to "I want to get married because I can't live without you" in twenty issues.

While I don't think that it's been handled all that well, I do think that Kitty is probably the 'most Jewish' of Marvel's Jewish characters, certainly more so than Ben Grimm, Moon Knight, Iceman, Doc Samson or the Maximoff kids (who are no longer related to a father than was retconned from being Romani to Jewish, so I don't even). AFAIK, Sabra is the only character at Marvel who is 'more Jewish' than Kitty, and she's mostly forgotten (which, given what Marvel tends to do to third-tier mutants, is to her benefit, since she hasn't been put on a bus and blowed up or staked out on the lawn and set on fire yet...).

Claremont certainly seemed to play up Kitty's faith (and Nightcrawlers), back in the day, compared to other X-folk whose faiths were less central to their character (or downright ambiguous).

Ben Grimm has always been extremely Jewish, even though it wasn't made official until Waid's run. Sabra is Israeli and the insinuation that makes her "more Jewish" is absurd.

And Magneto was Jewish before he was retconned into being Roma.

[Omegarogue]

No, the point is Base Storm in her natural form is NOT stronger than Thor. When Storm has the Hammer she is as strong as Thor because it’s a transformation. You need to understand it’s the HAMMER that changes her. It spikes her strength and durability. We know this because she fought Thor to a standstill. That makes her as strong as Thor ONLY in this transformation.

No, Rogue and Wonderman does not have the same strength. Wonderman can increase his power with Ionic Energy, energy Rogue can not replicate. And I Disagree Rogue and Namor are not closer to Thor in strength. The Answer to your question is Yes. Storm with the hammer is stronger than Colossus, Namor, Rogue why? Because In THIS form Storm took control over Mjolnir while still in Thor’s hands. Storm WITHOUT the Hammer is the weakest link in the strength department.

OK IM DONE. Next Topic: :0)

They at the initial level are class 100 +++ so you're wrong, and yes, if they have the same strength, and yes, Rogue already said that the ionic powers work better in Rogue's body than in Simon's, and in In the case of her, her potential energy is unlimited.

Well, it's like the thread got too far out, I'll open one to discuss Storm's level of power with the hammer.

[Innocent Bystander]

Off hand, the essay comes across as someone who ships her with another woman, probably Illyana (even though Rachel makes more sense to me). But your tired old arguments are the same we've seen from those who ship her with Pete Wisdom, Bobby Drake, Peter Quill or Doug Ramsey (who is another good match), the folks from the Ultimate Universe fandom who ship her with Peter Parker. If you consider Piotr a predator, and then don't subsequently despise and indict Logan, Ororo, Kurt, Scott, and the Professor for enabling it - even punishing him for ending the relationship - then I don't think you have a leg to stand on. It was absolutely problematic in hindsight. Shooter was right to force an end to it. Maligning the characters like that, laying accusations that he was "grooming her' is not supported by the text at all and suggests an agenda.

Dragging one jerk who hijacked one panel for his political statement (and who was rightfully fired and blacklisted for it) and making everything about that? Really? The most religiously Jewish I recall seeing Kitty, aside from mentioning her Bat Mitzvah, was the Yartzeit story from X-Men Unlimited, where she explored her grief at losing Piotr. The writer is Jewish, and was probably thinking of his own wedding in the scene with Kitty and her mom. If so, you are ascribing malice where none exists.

[Omegarogue]

Okay, let's get the facts straight, here:

1) When a character is said to be "invulnerable", it merely means resistance. Rogue has been hurt in canon. LAM brought up a scan where she was nearly killed by a laser gun, and I brought up an issue where a sentinel analyzed Rogue's invulnerability, and generated a flame strong enough to overcome it and kill her. The flame, however, was not hot enough to affect Colossus, who put blocked the flame from Rogue to save her life. The issue flat out stated he is more invulnerable than she is.

2) Colossus has also been able to take multiple blows from people much stronger than he is (Gladiator and Juggernaut, for instance). Not only that, but his punches have much more of an affect when he fights them than Rogue's blows (until Rogue uses her powers to steal some of their strength, thus bolstering her stolen strength).

3) Again, neither Colossus or Rogue can beat Juggy with their own natural strength. Both would lose, but Colossus can give a much better fight than she because he is much stronger and more invulnerable. Rogue has to use her other ability (the touching power) to even budge Juggy with a punch. Yeah, he said he was impressed by Rogue's blow in Uncanny X-Men #218, but he remained unphased by it, and she couldn't budge him with that punch. Colossus, on the other hand, has always been able to knock Juggernaut back with his blows. I provided scans of their lengthy one-on-one from Uncanny X-Men 183, but here are more from another fight they had:



4) Rogue did not resist blows that sent her into orbit, as resisting it would have meant she would not have gone there. What you mean is she took the blow and was not knocked out by it.

5) Jeen never beat Gladiator. All that happened is they traded one punch with both characters being winded afterwards (the team thinking Jeen was dead as she was nearly passed out), and then Oracle called an end to the fight. Cannonball did better than Jeen in his fight against Gladiator in Uncanny X-Men #341. Colossus was able to take multiple blows from him and not get knocked out. Read the scans again, it was not Gladiator that knocked out Peter in that fight. So, technically, Gambit beat Gladiator, while Cannonball did the next best (he didn't get hurt in his fight against Gladiator), followed by Colossus (he took multiple hits from Gladiator while Jeen barely survived one in her pink form),and Jeen did worse than either Remy, Sam, or Peter. Of course, if Gladiator was at anywhere near his peak, he would have squashed either of these four physically.


5) Look, Rogue can beat Colossus in a fight, okay? I am not doubting you on that. However, not because of her strength of invulnerability, as he surpasses her in both of those aspects. She can beat him because she can fly (which makes her more maneuverable), and she can steal his powers. The flying ability and power stealing stuff she has actually makes her a tougher opponent than Peter, but in terms of pure physical strength and invulnerability where she is limited to only what she has stolen from Carol, he surpasses her. He was always shown to be stronger and more invulnerable.

6) IIRC, the Official Handbook put Simon at 90 tons back in the 80s. He may have gotten to Class 100 eventually, but he did not start there.

1)The point is, she has never been with those powers seriously wounded, by people much stronger than her, Colossus has a shell, and is resistant but not invulnerable, invulnerability is something else.

A Classic Rogue example was not hurt by a punch that sent it into orbit, Colossus actual, a blow that I throw a few meters broke his ribs.


2)Stronger than classic Rogue, yes, more invulnerable NO, and more powerful? for nothing, the absorption of Rogue gives a tremendous level of power and advantage against most enemies, Peter is tough but not invulnerable is not the same. Hehco has never said that Peter is invulnerable.

3)The point is Classic Rogue, if she was superior to Juggy using absorption, Peter has never been superior.

At present, Juggy is much stronger than Peter, and Rogue as well.


4) Jean, she defeated Gladiator not for nothing without doubt is the best telepath, it has even affected the mind of Hulk something that Xavier could not.

And of the rest, only Gambit defeated him clearly, Sam has not been able to, and the others tampcoo, it only makes me that Rogue could defeat him with his absorption, the rest not.

5) That Classic Rogue beats her, and that she was more powerful is a fact, in fact she could with enemies that Peter can not.

In terms of physical strength, yes colossus was something superior in ressitence? Well no, Colossus is not invulnerable.

Examples, Rogue has resisted blows that take it out of orbit, or make it fly hundreds of meters, and then we see that it does not have a wound, that is the power of invulnerability.

When something like this happens to Colossus, and on a much smaller scale, ends with broken ribs or arms folded, that is not invulnerability, and this even happens to the current Colossus. And the current Rogue is much stronger and stronger than Colossus.


_____________


Another example, Monet is only a class 10, no more, but she is invulnerable, she resists attacks that other characters (colossus) would probably leave them with fractures or injuries, and not much did she fight with Amora, and it was clearly said that Amora is much stronger than her, Amora in levels of strength should be more or less close to Colossus.

And I defeated her using her strength, her invulnerability and her high-speed flight, she launched herself as a rocket towards Amora, and left her defeated shot full of fractures.

) The point is Simon from the beginning was much stronger than Peter, and now it is much more.

[Omegarogue]

Rachel defeated him in AvX

Technically I defeat it Namor (Phoenix Force) no? Rachel just hit him no more.

[akiresu_]

Off hand, the essay comes across as someone who ships her with another woman, probably Illyana (even though Rachel makes more sense to me). But your tired old arguments are the same we've seen from those who ship her with Pete Wisdom, Bobby Drake, Peter Quill or Doug Ramsey (who is another good match), the folks from the Ultimate Universe fandom who ship her with Peter Parker. If you consider Piotr a predator, and then don't subsequently despise and indict Logan, Ororo, Kurt, Scott, and the Professor for enabling it - even punishing him for ending the relationship - then I don't think you have a leg to stand on. It was absolutely problematic in hindsight. Shooter was right to force an end to it. Maligning the characters like that, laying accusations that he was "grooming her' is not supported by the text at all and suggests an agenda.

Dragging one jerk who hijacked one panel for his political statement (and who was rightfully fired and blacklisted for it) and making everything about that? Really? The most religiously Jewish I recall seeing Kitty, aside from mentioning her Bat Mitzvah, was the Yartzeit story from X-Men Unlimited, where she explored her grief at losing Piotr. The writer is Jewish, and was probably thinking of his own wedding in the scene with Kitty and her mom. If so, you are ascribing malice where none exists.

The essay wasn't about Logan, Ororo, Kurt, Scott or the Professor. I needed some semblance of direction. I absolutely consider the Professor to be a predator, perhaps Logan too (though I'm more willing to negotiate on that front- age difference doesn't matter, emotional maturity and ability to consent does), Perhaps my indictment of Piotr as "grooming" was too strong, but I stand by the sentiment. I don't think he was aware, I don't think he particularly employed the emotional maturity that he should have, but the power dynamics between a 14 year old and a 19 year old are clear; that he took no action against her interest was an action in and of itself.

And Kitty has made mention of her Holocaust-survivor heritage on numerous occasions (most notably #199 of Uncanny) and spoke about her Jewishness frankly and honestly as recently as during Bendis' run. Sure, it doesn't come up every issue, but why should it? It should appear when it needs to. Like at a wedding. A Jewish wedding, that would abide by Jewish tradition. And I hardly made everything about Syaf, that was one incident I used as an example.
The issue I have with you suggesting that Guggenheim is absolved because of his own Jewish heritage is the important caveat of, if he was thinking of his own wedding, he's misguided as he's not a Jewish woman. I don't seek to presume, but, if his wife wasn't Jewish, then she wouldn't have abided by Jewish tradition. I don't think there is malice there, but I do think there is a wider problem that is causing these kinds of incidents to occur; Guggenheim certainly didn't write the scene intending to attack Jewish people, but he did write it to make a 'feminist-ic' statement and, in doing so, unintentionally devalued Kitty's identity as a Jewish woman (and her mom's).

I value the feedback, but I'm concerned you're being somewhat aggressive here. I'd be interested in an engagement with my "tired, old arguments", rather than having it flinged around as an insult.

It's interesting with what you have to say wrt shipping, as I'm certainly predisposed towards seeing her in a relationship with a woman (seeing as she should be one of the franchise's visible bi characters yet really isn't), though not Illyana as I'm in the firm camp that, whichever way she swings, she has no real sexual interest one way or another. But I feel like I make this pretty clear in my writing, it isn't a kind of hidden agenda. I'm more interested in a relationship that pushes the franchise forwards and I think one with a woman would certainly be a step in the right direction.

Importantly, my argument was more focused on franchise stagnation, rather than the merits and demerits of the relationship (I intended to use the relationship as evidence or a backdrop for my wider points), so perhaps this is something I failed to communicate clearly enough. I find it is quite difficult in attempting to write a piece that delivers enough information for a non-reader to understand, whilst reaching the depth of analysis that committed readers and fans do on a regular basis.

Apologies that I've engaged with your comment non-chronologically.

[Innocent Bystander]

Is Theresa Pryde jewish? Has that been established? Do we know Theresa wasn't walked down the aisle by just her father? All the history we are given were from Carmen's side, to my recollection. It may be that the Pryde wedding was similar to the Guggenheim one.

Kitty will never not be Jewish, but she doesn't seem to be a practicing one, or at least not often. Her family died in Aushwitz. She has been slandered for her ethnicity. Whether or not she has a jewish wedding while marrying an athiest won't and can't change that. But I feel I saw more Judaism in Dan Slott's run on the Thing than in years of Kitty's appearances.

I value the feedback, but I'm concerned you're being somewhat aggressive here. I'd be interested in an engagement with my "tired, old arguments", rather than having it flinged around as an insult.

my apologies for that. please understand I have heard almost all of it before, generally from people with their own preferred pairing.

It's interesting with what you have to say wrt shipping, as I'm certainly predisposed towards seeing her in a relationship with a woman (seeing as she should be one of the franchise's visible bi characters yet really isn't), though not Illyana as I'm in the firm camp that, whichever way she swings, she has no real sexual interest one way or another. But I feel like I make this pretty clear in my writing, it isn't a kind of hidden agenda. I'm more interested in a relationship that pushes the franchise forwards and I think one with a woman would certainly be a step in the right direction.

I picked Illyana because that's the most popular pairing on Ao3. That there are questionable power dynamics there (Kitty did help raise her, both "this" version and the one that died) and with Rachel, who knew Kitty for more than half her life as happily married to Piotr, and may have regarded her as a mother figure after Jean died.

it's a shame, tho', that Marvel rushed this wedding. I've spent decades with these characters, and I want them to be happy. Kitty, to me, is clearly bisexual, but her strongest tie has been with Piotr. This is why I am expecting a bait and switch, because I agree with much of what you say about Guggenheim's writing. I haven't seen a lot of Arrow, but when I did see Oliver & Felicity interact, it wasn't this pathetic and co-dependent. Guggenheim seems inspired by Jason Aaron's antagonistic take on Colossus, and not Claremont or Whedon's. After they broke up, they became good friends, and we aren't seeing that at all.

Importantly, my argument was more focused on franchise stagnation, rather than the merits and demerits of the relationship (I intended to use the relationship as evidence or a backdrop for my wider points), so perhaps this is something I failed to communicate clearly enough. I find it is quite difficult in attempting to write a piece that delivers enough information for a non-reader to understand, whilst reaching the depth of analysis that committed readers and fans do on a regular basis.

maybe when Disney gets a hold of the X-men and are ready to promote their first film, we will see the attention needed to rejuvenate the X-line as you seem to want. It's a couple years down the line, which means it will be time for the marriage, if it even happens, to be removed in some soap opera-y element. Right now, this appears to be roughly what the buyers want, or what Marvel thinks they want.

[Maestroneto]

Guggenheim seems inspired by Jason Aaron's antagonistic take on Colossus, and not Claremont or Whedon's.

Guggenheim's Colossus is a hopeless romantic who is hardly stupid (he even took charge for a bit during the Negative Zone arc) which seems more in line with Claremont than Aaron's (moron) and Whedon's (also a moron). The thing is that Guggenheim's ideas of romance are very creepy, so it just makes Colossus look like a moron too.

Anyway, in his 28 issues Guggenheim hasn't really made clear why these two people are so perfect together (and more importantly: why the reader should care about them). They don't complement each other. They don't challenge each other (their best moment together in this run was when Colossus intervened between here and Magneto... which was written by Cullen Bunn (but also required Kitty to be wildly ooc)). "It's destiny, they belong together" isn't going to cut it and requires a significant amount of ignoring history (none of which involving the "tired old arguments"). It'd be like if Scott and Jean got together and the writer just completely ignored that Scott cheated on Jean with Emma and then was in a happy relationship with her for years. If you're going to reignite a relationship that ended, you're going to have to put in the legwork to explain why now would be different than last time (not to mention explaining when Colossus dumped Domino, a woman he seemed extremely content to be with). And this counts for other relationships too. If Kitty were to get back with Pete Wisdom, you'd have to resolve why they broke up in the first place. If you want her back with Star-Lord, you'd have to resolve why they could have a working long-distance relationship when they broke up over it last time. Or how they kept getting into fights when they were in a relationship.

I also don't think this is going to be a bait and switch wedding because even before the run, Guggs said he ships Kitty and Piotr. And Thompson wrote her short way back last summer which means Marvel has been planning this for a long time.

[BroHomo]

Guggenheim's Colossus is a hopeless romantic who is hardly stupid (he even took charge for a bit during the Negative Zone arc) which seems more in line with Claremont than Aaron's (moron) and Whedon's (also a moron). The thing is that Guggenheim's ideas of romance are very creepy, so it just makes Colossus look like a moron too.

Anyway, in his 28 issues Guggenheim hasn't really made clear why these two people are so perfect together (and more importantly: why the reader should care about them). They don't complement each other. They don't challenge each other (their best moment together in this run was when Colossus intervened between here and Magneto... which was written by Cullen Bunn (but also required Kitty to be wildly ooc)). "It's destiny, they belong together" isn't going to cut it and requires a significant amount of ignoring history (none of which involving the "tired old arguments"). It'd be like if Scott and Jean got together and the writer just completely ignored that Scott cheated on Jean with Emma and then was in a happy relationship with her for years. If you're going to reignite a relationship that ended, you're going to have to put in the legwork to explain why now would be different than last time (not to mention explaining when Colossus dumped Domino, a woman he seemed extremely content to be with). And this counts for other relationships too. If Kitty were to get back with Pete Wisdom, you'd have to resolve why they broke up in the first place. If you want her back with Star-Lord, you'd have to resolve why they could have a working long-distance relationship when they broke up over it last time. Or how they kept getting into fights when they were in a relationship.

sounds like 60% of my friend's 1st marriages
He could be on a whole other 'woke' social commentary stratosphere

Whoa