From: [b--eb--p] at [infobafnos.comn] (Jean-Michel Laprise)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks
Subject: Death - The X-Men Way!
Date: 7 Nov 1995 08:23:38 GMT

In my habitual manner, I have adopted a point of view on this subject 
which should manage to alienate pretty much everybody on all sides of the
issue. And what better way to introduce myself to RACMX than to get 
everybody telling me why I'm wrong? So here's my two cents on Death: the
X-Men Way.

Basically, there are two points of view on this topic: "Why are there so
many stupid retcons to bring everybody back from the dead? Dead should be
dead." Then, there's the other side: "Why did Marvel kill off 
[Illyana/Doug/Rusty/insert your favorite dead hero] for no good reason?
Bring [him/her/it] back!"

Actually, considering the conflicting viewpoints, I think the X-Men Way 
is the only way. We all have our favourite characters. Mine happens to be
Jubilee, for some strange, unknown reason. Maybe it's that her real power
is making dumb storylines mildly palatable with her one-liners, and that
with basically no angst and no serious problems, pretty much any old
hack can write her at least okay. Why, she might even have saved XMU #4, 
though that might be beyond even her near-miraculous powers. Especially 
since half the world thinks her real power is screwing up good storylines.

But the point is that if Scott Lobdell decided it might be a defining 
moment for the other members of Generation X if Jubilee was accidentally
killed in an explosion caused by Chamber and Paige following up on what
they seemed to have started sometime ago, well, I'd be pretty damn peeved,
add a "Keeper of the Jubilee Flame" in my sig, and start writing all kinds
of angry letters on RACMX about how Lobdell can't write and couldn't 
recognize a good storyline if it knifed him in the shower, and recite a 
rosary every night for Big Bad Bob to get enough fan letters to bring Jube
back. ("Well, you see, at the exact moment of the explosion, Jube was 
being transported to the Shi'ar galaxy by Lila Cheney...")

But if I feel that way about Jubilee, if I'm the least bit honest, I can't
really advocate Marvel's killing off another merry mutant, since you gotta
figure they're certainly someone else's favourite character. I kind of 
liked Rusty, from the old X-Factor days, but I can't say I shed a tear 
over his death. But obviously, even such a (relatively) minor and 
unexploited character has his fans, so obviously Yana and Doug have even
more fans, and somebody like Wolverine...

Still, I hate putting such restraints on the writers: I think they should
have as free a rein as possible, as long as they love the comics as much 
as we fans do. Sometimes, it might be conceivable that a character's death
could be a defining moment in many character's lives. Certainly for a Jube
fan, UXM #303, Illyana's death, is truly one of the rare moments where we
can see her escape from the one-lining sidekick role she's usually been 
cast as. I don't think I could have killed off Yana, and it's your call
whether that would have made me a better or worse writer, but I don't 
think I want to pose those kinds of constraints on the creators of the 
X-Books. 

So how do we reconcile the two? How can we allow both unrestrained, 
realistic writing on one side, and outraged fans on the other? The answer
is, strangely enough, Marvel Death. I guess watching a crummy american 
soap for two years might have ruined me for this one, but I think they've 
hit the nail on the head with this one: writers can kill off a character,
if they judge there to be a true need, and our friend Bob doesn't nix it 
on account of being burned in effigy in every comic book store in America.
And at some point in the future, we can get our favourite character back
for the mere price of a hard-to-swallow retcon, a la "no, she was really 
encased in a cocoon at the bottom of the ocean", from the one and only 
Chris Claremont. At least I hope it was him, cause it might have happened 
in the pages of X-Factor and I can't remember who wrote the first issues.
Hell, I can swallow a cocoon if it means getting Jean back. 

So that's my opinion on Marvel Death. I'll take this opportunity to make
a second point, which I think is actually more important: I can understand
the feeling ("Gee, why don't we turn Jubilee into a child molester?"), but
I think people who are angry at Colossus' recent match-up with Wisdom are
really in the wrong. Yes, I know Colossus had always been portrayed as the
sweet, gentle, naive, Russian we all used to love (well, at least I did). 
But in all honesty, the man who showed up at the mansion was not the same
man we knew all those years. People DO change. And I think comic book 
characters should, too. Peter Rasputin certainly had very traumatic events
in his recent life, and being a rather simple man at heart, it is not at 
all unrealistic to think he could have reacted by shutting in all the 
pain, all the hurt, refusing to deal with it. And I think that the events 
in the pages of Excalibur, not only were powerful writing, but were truly
in character, not a static, unmoving view of the character, but one that 
is truly subject to evolution and change. I also think that it was 
probably the first step on the long way back. I think that after this, 
Peter will have to deal with all the pain, and I'm certain his always
forgiving friends will be willing to forgive him, too. After all, how many
Super-Hero teams have been led by not one but two of their ex- and next- 
worst enemies (Mag and Emma)?

Well, that's my two cents, thought it's probably about a buck-fifty long
and worth about a canadian penny. Hope some of you got through it, and 
will welcome this eager newbie with a nice, long, flame!


Jean-Michel Laprise
(one of those French-Canadians from the great white north. Actually, we're
Quebecois. You know, the ones who called the Queen and asked if she'd 
wear one of her Hats as a costume for Halloween? We got the Pope, too. And
Aristide down in Haiti. And Brigitte Bardot, for those who might care.)