#kurt is belasco

[illyanarasputinfan]

Magik #1 (1983) Marvel Comics

Penciller: John Buscema

Inker: Michael Maikowsky

[d-criss-news]

From Hedwig to Helperbot: Darren Criss Looks Back on His Stage Journey

It’s nap time for Darren Criss’s newborn son, Brother, when the Glee star hops on our video chat. The camera’s off, but he quickly turns it on to say hello face-to-face dressed in workout clothes — a green sleeveless top and a ball cap — as he tries to do some chores at the same time.

Criss has a limited window at home as he prepares to star in the new musical Maybe Happy Ending, now playing at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre. The story, with book, music, and lyrics by Will Aronson and Hue Park, takes place 100 years in the future in Seoul, South Korea. Criss plays Oliver, an obsolete Belperbot along the lines of Siri or Google, “except more human-like, who is definitely past his prime and has been just waiting [in a Helperbot retirement facility] for his owner to pick him up,” Criss describes to Broadway Direct of the role. He stars opposite rising star Helen J Shen, who plays Oliver’s retired Helperbot neighbor. “It almost feels like two people in an old-folks’ home trying to connect with a family member.”

The plot sounds dramatic, but “make no mistake: This is a musical. It’s a musical comedy,” says Criss. “It has a lot of heart and a lot of joy and a lot of humor and amazing music, and it’s a hell of a spectacle.”

His friend Michael Arden, who won a Tony Award for his direction of Parade, was a big reason for Criss to sign on to the project — and serve as an executive producer as well. Arden brought the show to Criss’s attention many years ago, and again recently when Criss was starring in Little Shop of Horrors Off-Broadway.

“This had been kind of percolating for a while, and between the pandemic and strikes and just a lot of other things, that really comes down to timing. So the stars just kind of aligned,” Criss says.

Criss, a figure on Broadway for well over a decade, started to gather a following while at University of Michigan as a founding member of Team StarKid, the student-run theater company behind the viral Harry Potter musical parody A Very Potter Musical. His big break came on the hit Fox TV show Glee back in 2010. The show had already aired for a full season before he was cast as Warbler Blaine Anderson and future love interest to Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel. If not for Glee, he believes his career would not have had the same trajectory.

“I felt like this was my master’s in performance of music on camera,” Criss says, admitting that, until Glee, he didn’t consider himself a singer — rather, a musician who acted. “I have that show to thank for giving me any headway in the musical-theater space.”

In the middle of filming Glee in 2012, his Broadway debut called. Criss was asked to succeed Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying for three weeks during a winter break from filming Glee. “I left on, like, a Friday night from my last day of shooting. I started rehearsal on a Saturday. Within 10 days, I was on a Broadway stage. I left my Sunday matinee, got on the plane, and went to work [at Glee] Monday morning as if nothing had happened. So it was a bit of a fever dream. It goes by as quickly as it came, like all other moments in life.”

Three years later, Criss stepped into his next Broadway role. This time, he played Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch for about two and half months, succeeding John Cameron Mitchell. “People always ask me, ‘What’s your dream role?’ I’m like, ‘I kind of did it,’” he says of the opportunity. “Hedwig was a role I always loved so much when I was a teenager, and getting to jump into it was so special to me and my wife. We both love Hedwig so much. It’s a big part of our relationship.”

More recently on Broadway, Criss starred in the play American Buffalo with Laurence Fishburne and Sam Rockwell in 2022 for a three-month limited run. “I completely idolized them,” he says of his scene partners. “I mean, if you see a pattern here, I recommend this to everybody, to just chase their heroes. I’ve just been chasing my heroes my whole life, and I’m not being bashful about it at all.”

Getting Rachel Evan Wood to play Audrey opposite Criss’s Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theatre earlier this year was something that he says was his idea.

“I pitched her pretty hard,” he said of getting casting directors to choose the Westworld actress as his costar. “When they heard her sing, I think it was very clear that this wasn’t like a favor to anybody. She was doing us a favor. The fact that she said yes just blew my mind.” The role of the nerdy floral shop worker wasn’t something Criss thought he’d get the opportunity to add to his résumé “because it just was never something that I thought anybody would let me do. … I wasn’t sprinting to that in the way that I was the other things in my life.”

Criss welcomed Brother, his second baby, this past June with his wife Mia. The timing couldn’t be more coincidental, since their first, Bluesy, was born during his run of American Buffalo.

As our conversation comes to a close, Criss says he kind of got all of his chores done and haphazardly put things away and folded laundry. The next project he wants to pursue is his writing, something he hasn’t tackled much in five years. Until then, he’s reveling in Maybe Happy Ending.

“I do find myself at a loss for words, trying to truly put into words how special this experience has been,” he adds. “I think it really is a thing of beauty that can really add quite a bit of ornamentation in perhaps a grim world.”

[spongebobafettywap]

i gave up on most old claremont fans from reddit and x after i heard they'd rather have belasco or nightmare be nightcrawler's father than for it to be azazel

look we can all have different opinions that's totally fine but for whatever reason whenever they explain why they'd pick those two over the latter they start sounding borderline schizophrenic from how at odds with themselves their arguments get

i saw a "azazel is too on the nose" on reddit but just putting that next to belasco (who is a demon and looks the way he does down to having horns) and nightmare (who rules over his own nightmarish realm and is classified as a demon) shows that you can't win with these people

Yeah that's my problem with Claremont fans they just say one thing then say another and it comes off as so inconsistent and hypocritical.

Azazel was only ever implied to be a demon by some writers but in the original story the Neyaphem and the Cheyarafim were implied to be the inspiration behind devils and angels.

I don't see how that's more demonic than Belasco the Demon from Dante's Inferno. Or Nightmare the Demon that Dr Strange has fought for like ever.

Like if the problem they have is that Kurt shouldn't be a demon then they need to keep that energy for Belasco and Nightmare not just shrug it off because they're more nostalgic for those characters.

I also don't get why they act like Claremont is the authority on characters that he did NOT create. Nightcrawler is Cockrum's creation and he WAS conceived as a Demon and he was NOT fond of making Kurt overly religious. These two things that are apparently so important for Nightcrawler were not even things that Dave Cockrum wanted to be a part of the character at all.

With Claremont's own characters they have more of a right to claim his authority and intent behind them should be respected but other people's characters? Nah that's lame. I've never heard of any other time that a character that wasn't even invented by a certain author needs to be molded and stay solid to the idea that this some other guy came up with.

[ao3feed-johnnylawrence]

Random Oneshots

by SnowDove1991

AU- Random Oneshots from my Crazy Fandom mind, aka oneshots I want to see more of since some or most of the pairings have practically no stories and some have none at all.....I'm looking at you Stay Alive and Scary Stories to tell in the dark.

Words: 1155, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), Back to the Future (Movies), Better Watch Out (2016), Fear Street Trilogy (TV), Halloween (Movies - Green), Jeepers Creepers (Movies), My Bloody Valentine (2009), Pretty In Pink (1986), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), Stay Alive (2006), Summer of 84 (2018), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Movies), The Boy Next Door (2015), The Cleansing Hour (2019), The Forsaken (2001), The Hitcher (2007), Karate Kid (Movies), The Notebook (2004), The Stepfather (2009), Titanic (1997), Underworld (Movies)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage

Categories: M/M

Relationships: Kevin Peterson/Noah Sandborn, Andy McDermott/Chris, Andy McDermott/Claude, Marty McFly/Biff Tannen, Luke Lerner/Ricky, Luke Lerner/Jeremy, Kurt/Tommy Slater, Nicholas "Nick Good/Simon Kalivoda, Corey Cunningham/Cameron Elam, Corey Cunningham/Terry, Andy "Bucky" Buck/Dante Belasco, Darry Jenner/Scott "Scotty" Braddock, Tom Hanniger/Axel Palmer, Duckie Dale/Blane McDonnagh, Duckie Dale/Steff McKee, Tommy Milner/Ramón Morales, Swink Sylvania/Phineus Bantum, Hutch O'Neill/Swink Sylvania, Davey Armstrong/Tommy "Eats" Eaton, Andy/Kemper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Darryl/Ryan (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Carl Hartman/Kenny (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Richter/Dante Spivey (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Drew/Max (The Cleansing Hour), Kit/Sean (The Forsaken), Jim Halsey/John Ryder, Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence, Noah Calhoun/Lon Hammond Jr., Michael Harding/The Stepfather, Jack Dawson/Caledon Hockley, David/Lucian (Underworld), Varga/Gregor (Underworld)

Additional Tags: Consensual Underage Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Mates, Time Travel, Older Man/Younger Man, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe, Dark, Punishment, Sexual Content, Disney References, Crossover, Love Confessions, Falling In Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Obsession, Claiming, Alternate Universe - Mental Institution, Love/Hate, Enemies to Lovers, Moral Dilemmas, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/43174059

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #42: Magik: Storm and Illyana issues 1-4

A lot of reading orders put this miniseries right after the first Limbo story, but it was published around this point, and I prefer it here as a flashback once we know Illyana better. It’s a great exploration of Illyana's history, with art by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. We open with Illyana watching the sunrise on her fifteenth birthday, flashing back to the moment she was separated from her brother. Belasco pulls her back into his domain and casts a spell to remove part of her soul and transform it into the first stone for her Bloodstone Pendant. For his plan, he must take a purely innocent soul and set it on the path of corruption. When the pendant is full, the Elder Gods of Limbo will be released onto Earth. Ororo is about to be killed by Belasco when the future Kitty makes her first appearance, now a sword wielding ninja called Cat. She and Ororo rescue Illyana and reflect on how they've changed time. In their reality, Illyana was freed while the X-Men stayed to be destroyed, but here, the opposite has happened, and they may have doomed Earth. Illyana, still a child, doesn't understand. She loves Ororo and Kitty, but she also loves Belasco, who from her perspective has been kind and taken care of her. Ororo tries to sever Belasco's link to her, but there's already an evil in Illyana's soul, taken the form of her older, more powerful self. Ororo has a new plan- train her in good magic so she can save herself. Cat, who we now learn has been transformed into a cat-like creature by Belasco, says it could corrupt Illyana the way Belasco wants, and that she'll kill them both before Ororo takes that risk. Cat flees and Ororo takes Illyana on a tour of her little paradise in the middle of hell. It's a garden, similar to her attic at the mansion. She shows Illyana the power of healing magic and tells her that humans possess both the potential for life and death, good and evil. Belasco seeks to bring out the evil in her and make her his slave, but Ororo believes they can avoid that. Late in the night, Cat returns to sneak Illyana out, saying Ororo is corrupted by Belasco in ways she doesn't yet realize, and she can get Illyana home to Peter.

Over the years, Cat has turned into something resembling Wolverine. She's a predator, killing demons and monsters and always on the move. Whereas Ororo wants to train Illyana in magic, Cat thinks that'll turn her into what Belasco wants, and decides to either get Illyana home or kill them both trying. She and Illyana make their way across the wastelands of Limbo, and Cat does her best to harden Illyana into a fighter like her, threatening to leave her behind or kill her if she falters. Illyana grows to fear both Cat and Ororo as much as Belasco, as the wonky time in Limbo begins to age her. It's been the equivalent of three years for her, one in Ororo's garden, and now two in the desert with Cat. They finally make it to Belasco's citadel, where they're confronted by the demonic Kurt. Taking Cat's lessons to heart, Illyana fights to kill, distracting him long enough for Cat to phase him into the floor and stab him through the heart. They almost make it to the portal, which Cat can phase them through, but Belasco stops them. He removes the last traces of Cat's humanity, making her his new slave to replace Nightcrawler, and invites Illyana to join him. She knows he's evil, but she's drawn to him, the corrupt part of her soul drawn to the power he could provide. He gives her a knife, and she cuts herself, filling the second bloodstone.

Under Belasco's tutelage, the now 11 year old Illyana masters a spell to shape souls. She tests it on a gentle demon called Squidge, her pet that she's raised from birth, transforming it into an evil beast. It attacks her, giving her a cut on her cheek, and Cat eats it. Illyana and Squidge are a reflection of Belasco and Illyana. Belasco is corrupting her by giving her a semblance of the power he has over her, but she and Squidge are both his pawns in the end. Cat is drawn to Illyana's open wound, and wants to eat her too. At the last second, she regains a little control of herself, and says Illyana's name, the first human word she's spoken in two years. But in fear of and grief for her friend, Illyana lashes out, blasting Cat through the door and out of her life. Along with the guilt from this act, Illyana is scared of the new revelation that power now lies within her. Belasco thinks her a tool, but his Elder Gods have "blessed" Illyana as well. She's now being pulled between the two parties, both of whom think they're the mastermind using the other. Illyana decides she won't be a pawn, and draws a spell circle. She's been taught by two instructors- Belasco, who's spells circles are red, and signify destruction, and Ororo, who initially learned from Belasco, but broke away and began drawing silver circles, the color of creation. Illyana's circles are still silver, and she casts the hardest spell she's ever attempted- the creation of an acorn. It's a symbol of hope for herself, but it's shortlived as it explodes into blood. She's discouraged until an astral projection of Ororo appears to comfort her. Illyana says she has a plan to sneak to the library and learn a spell of destruction to use on Belasco, but Ororo forbids it, fearing it'll complete her corruption. She leaves Illyana alone, and the young girl feels like all hope is lost again until her mutant power activates- she can control the stepping disks that bring people through time and space in Limbo. It's never really been explored whether being in Limbo influenced her powers, or if it was part of the reason Belasco chose her, or if it's just a crazy coincidence. Personally, I'd love to see a story where it's revealed that a future Illyana is the one who put the discs into Limbo in the first place so her younger self could use them. Anyway, she teleports through Limbo and briefly runs into the New Mutants, who are having their own stepping disk adventure in the future. When Illyana makes it to Belasco's library, she's gone back in time far enough to witness the downfall of Ororo. She was once Belasco's apprentice as well, and had the same plan Illyana did, but her destruction spell failed and corrupted her into Belasco's image. This is the first of many times in her life that Illyana is forced to confront her own hubris; if she tried to kill Belasco, she would meet the same fate as her mentor. She's pulled into the present, where Ororo is battling Belasco until Cat cuts her from behind. Illyana goes after Cat not with magic, but with the predatory hand to hand fighting that she taught her. Cat, who tormented her for years, was also in Illyana's words her best friend. But Illyana snaps her neck anyway. Ororo says it was what Cat would have wanted, and this is what she wants too- to join her family in whatever afterlife awaits. But Belasco has one final punishment for the only slave who ever broke from his control. He will use Ororo's death to conjure Illyana's third bloodstone before sacrificing Ororo's soul to the Elder Gods.

Illyana's corruption is still incomplete. In her narration (from the perspective of her older self) she goes from wishing she'd killed Belasco in one sentence to seeking his praise in the next. But she finally breaks free by killing Ororo before Belasco can steal her soul again, before teleporting herself to Ororo's garden sanctuary. But just like in the real world, the oasis represents Ororo's soul, only this time literally. It collapses around Illyana as Belasco takes back control and sends Illyana horrible hallucinations- first of Ororo condemning her, then of Peter saying it's her fault he died, and finally of her parents rejecting her for not being their little girl. Belasco himself arrives with the reanimated corpses of the X-Men and casts a spell over Illyana, creating the third bloodstone out of her pain. He then turns off her mutant power and casts her into the wilderness, placing another spell on her to ensure her survival in the most painful way possible. She makes it to the first tree Ororo ever created, and spends months on end drawing power from it, attempting to recreate Ororo's spell of creation. But there's too much Belasco in her, and in the end the tree dies and Illyana has accomplished nothing. But then she has an epiphany- the creation of an acorn was Ororo's master spell, because pure life was what was most important to her. But Illyana's deepest desire is for vengeance. She casts the creation spell again, but this time with that in mind, and conjures a sword- the same one she attacked Kitty with in Uncanny 171. Her circle is still silver, but her aura is tinged red. She cuts through Belasco's enchantments and summons a stepping circle that takes her to Belasco. She strikes down S'ym in vengeance for Peter and then begins her assault on her slaver. As she begins winning, the Elder Gods' favor shifts to her, and she begins to take on demonic aspects as Belasco reverts to his original human form. She beats him, but when she realizes what's happened, she rejects her place as the Elder Gods' champion and sets him free, reverting to human form. She looks at her pendant, now with three of the five stones filled. The Belasco part of her power now outweighs the Ororo part, but hope isn't lost. In the present, she turns away from the horizon to look at the New Mutants having a snowball fight, and walks towards them and her new life.

Illyana is another of my favorite characters, and this series is where her arc and decades of Limbo stories begin. She begins the series as the young, innocent Illyana, and Belasco hopes to corrupt her into Darkchylde. But by the end of this series, she’s somewhere in between as Magik. She chose creation magic over destruction, but her creation was a weapon used to destroy. She could be pulled in either direction, and soon will be pulled in both. A lot of the contents of this book won’t pay off until years from now in Inferno, and it’s crazy how far in advance they were foreshadowing years of New Mutants stories. Illyana’s story is about the question of whether she’ll be a pawn of evil, a pawn of good, or her own person for good or evil. This miniseries did a great job setting up those questions, and when she joins the cast of New Mutants we’ll start looking for answers.

[blueberrybamf]

Mine were classic Excalibur, found while helping mom clean a coworkers (nasty) house. Her son let me have his giant long box of them. I saw this charming blue guy with a tail and pointy ears and I needed to know more.

I also found Ka-zar comic with Belasco on the cover at the same time, odd coincidence :P (if you know you know)

Shortly after, the clip from X2: Xmen United with Kurt at the Whitehouse came out. I spent so long waiting for it to load and watch each day at school in the computer lab XD

I also found Nightscrawlers around this time but just missed being able to interact with the creator himself, Dave Cockrum. R.I.P.

every time I think, "hm, am I a LITTLE TOO thirsty for Kurt Wagner?" something like this pops up in the comics

and I'm like, oh. no. they want us to STAY THIRSTY, and honestly? respect. nothing but love for my babe

[kurtty-drabbles]

Evil Belasco NSFW(sort of)

N/A: this could go well with hellfire from Frollo(Disney) or unforgivable from Natalie Cole, I know odd choices but when this scene came to me I was listening to those songs.

@djinmer4

https://youtu.be/Ih4qSCrtj14

https://youtu.be/vDN5rG3wLa4

His chambers are one of the numerous chambers in his mansion that can be craft in where his desire wants, currently, the lord of Limbo is laid down on his bed, the room resembles a penthouse, one of those where only celebrities can live.

So far, the luxurious room did little to make Belasco sleep, even though sleep is something not really need just like food, sometimes, even him likes to dream every once in awhile.

Contrary to popular belief, Belasco can sleep without wearing his unfamous red chiton, he does have more clothes option, but Belasco often chooses blood red.

The ruler is on his bed and tries as might sleep does not grace him tonight(time is misleading here) and all the relentless is attributed to one person, Kitty Pryde, who is in her own chambers sleeping soundly(Belasco thinks so)

Belasco is a patient man, extremely so, but is never wise to test him(Mephisto can testify this), however, Belasco can´t wait for the woman to finally fall from grace, to finally accept Limbo as her only home and...finally accept her place next to him.

"Oh, such cruel thing to do" there´s a smirk as Belasco forget the sleep, it is not needed after all " making me waiting for you, torturing me so" the smile never leaves his face, it increases his longing for the young woman.

He could go visit her and take her again, again and again, as much his heart desire, an attractive idea for the ruler of Limbo, sadly their first time was yesterday and Belasco didn´t hold back meaning that Kitty needs to rest, but the idea of Kitty coming to him is more appealing.

The sheets that are covering his naked body give the illusion that is her skin, the silk sheet on his body are causing an immediate response, how ironic, he is the powerful ruler of Limbo and can control almost everything in this realm but his arousal is not one of them.

The seductiveness words: Don´t , stop.

Don´t stop, please.

Is a symphony that Belasco holds dear to his heart.

His hands stroke his hard member remembering their first and what they will do in the future, how delightful it will be when the corruption is finally complete. This makes his climax build upon the sheets and Belasco would find amusing that he is still such sexual creature.

He pictures her brown eyes half lidden, her legs intertwined around his member, her moans, her futile resistance and how she gives up to their pleasure encounter. She was moaning his name so sinfully and Belasco couldn´t have been more proud(fucking proud) it doesn´t matter if it was his old and forsaken name, she is his and his alone.

The waiting game is not for everyone. And Belasco is good at games, especially if the reward is that good.

"I can feel the corruption on you, once you fall, there´s no turning back" with that sentence being said and a flick of his hand the sheets are cleaned and Belasco still isn´t graced by sleep or dreams. Just the waiting hours until Kitty finally is defeated and is choose him.

[tales-of-the-dense]

see? kurt knows just how reading this issue feels

[bamfoftheundead]

@kurtty-drabbles my pen is charged and ready to go 😁

Kurt tries to show kitty a basic pose and man is it harder than it looks

Belasco dancing with kitty, the waltz! Bet having one arm makes it hard tho

[illyanarasputinfan]

Happy 40th anniversary to Magik #1, released on December 1, 1983!

[djinmer4]

Choose Your Own Adventure 4/5 (Dresden AU)

“Are you going to need more time to consider your options?”

“Yes, we will.”  With that, Belasco disappeared in a cloud of smoke, reminiscent of Kurt’s own teleportation abilities.

“Twixt the Devil and the deep blue sea we are.  Is there really no other way to get this Unraveling?”  Wisdom pulled out a cigarette and used his hot knives to light it.

Yana shook her head.  “Trying to steal from the Queen Mothers would be as bad as trying to steal from Belasco.  We could go back and try to bargain with the wizard, but we don’t know what we could offer him either.”

“The way I see it,” said Brian.  “Is we’re either screwed now or we’re screwed later.  We give Belasco that Bloodstone, it probably won’t take him that long to create the final one.  Maybe even within the year.  But a favor, I’m thinking he’ll hold on to it for quite a while.”

“I disagree,” Kurt interjected.  “We don’t know how long it took Belasco to create the first two Bloodstones, but we do know there was a large gap in time between making the second and the third.  And it’s been a few years since he created the one from your soul, Yana.  He could turn a favor back on us fairly quickly, but if we give him a Bloodstone, we’ve probably got a few years to stop him from making the final one.  Or, worse comes to worst, we could steal it back.”

Wisdom turned to Yana.  “Can we put restrictions on the favor?  What I’m concerned about is if we give him a favor, he’ll make us give him the Soul Sword or create the Bloodstone anyway.”

She nodded.  “We could do that.  Trade him for a favor but state that giving him the Soul Sword or creating a Bloodstone are specifically excluded.”

Pete’s fag went out and he didn’t bother to relight it.  “Then giving him a favor gets my vote.  So that’s two for the favor and one for the Bloodstone.  Magik, I guess it’s your call.”

Yana bowed her head in thought and Kurt held his breath.  “Then it’s three to one.  Belasco gets a favor, but not the Soul Sword or a Bloodstone.”

The demon reappeared, having clearly been spying on them.  “The Unravelling in exchange for future favors from four different members of Excalibur, not including a Bloodstone or the Soul Sword.  Done and done.”  From thin air, he conjured up what looked like a tangled mesh of dark grey yarn.

“No fiery parchment?  No signing in our blood?” japed Wisdom as he took the enchantment form the demon.

“No need,” a thin smile appeared on that red face.  “I have other methods of enforcing my contracts.”

Excalibur repressed a communal shiver as they stepped away and Yana opened up a portal to take them out of Limbo.

[spongebobafettywap]

I'm gonna be 100% honest with you on this one : I think those who want Belasco to be Nightcrawler's father are just Claremont fans in denial

Azazel and Belasco are near identical as characters except Azazel is higher on the morality scale than Belasco for most things and isn't a demon

I don't know why they force the issue with Belasco when he wasn't even a character created by Claremont : He's a character he recycled from another writer

To be honest these fans seem to think that if Claremont uses a character in a story it's his character. It's why they seem to think he is the one that's allowed to create the origin for Nightcrawler when Kurt is Dave Cockrum's creation.

[justdealingwithsomeissues]

Oh shit? Is this happening already? I didn’t know this happened so soon!

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #34: UXM issue 171

This isn't a special issue that I was gonna give its own post, but it's in between two two parters so I don't wanna lump it in with one of those just for formatting. We begin with a brief conclusion to the events of the last two issues, where Ororo decrees to the Morlocks that they can no longer prey on the surface world lest they feel her wrath. She's exchanged her cape for Callisto's vest, and she speaks arrogantly and cruelly to Callisto as she leaves. Kurt watches, worried about what's happening to his friend and more worried that she doesn't seem to care about it. In Alaska, Madelyne wakes up from a nightmare and finds comfort in Scott. She was dreaming about the day the plane she was piloting crashed and she was the only survivor of the burning wreckage. To Scott's shock, it happened on the same day Jean died. Outside Boston, Carol- who kinda disappeared the last few issues- is visiting her parents. Thanks to Anna's identity theft, she feels no emotional connection to them, which hurts both her and them. At the school, Kitty is throwing a tantrum about the New Mutants stealing her floppy disks until Illyana points them out under her keyboard, at which point Kitty calls herself a jerk. It's a nice moment of self awareness about how she treats the other students, and she definitely needed a reality check after what happened a few issues ago. Peter is in the kitchen trying to cook, but his efforts are interrupted by the arrival of Anna (just a reminder, I'm calling her Anna, but everyone in universe calls her only Rogue until like 2004). She's come begging for Xavier's help, because having two psyches in her brain is causing her incredible mental pain and anguish. The X-Men are unsympathetic to the woman who destroyed Carol's mind, but Xavier decides to help her and sends his students away to the Danger Room. They ask Illyana to set a training sequence, and she conjures holograms of Belasco's chambers, complete with an evil Kurt and dead Peter. When Kitty asks her why, she goes into a trance and draws a glowing sword from nowhere. She attacks Kitty, who to her shock isn't able to phase through the swords blade and gets a cut on the cheek. She knocks the sword away, and Illyana is herself again, now with memories of Belasco that she had repressed. Ororo goes up to the attic, and we finally get a glimpse into her thoughts. She feels like she's at a crossroads. The person she's becoming, the person who struck to kill against Callisto, is the person that life as an X-Man has made her and the person best suited to lead the team. But it's at odds with everything Ororo used to value. She can't bring herself to leave her family or responsibility to the world, but when Xavier calls her downstairs, she screams at him that it was his fault she joined. Also in this scene, Ororo's plants have been wilting without her, and as she faces her inner turmoil, she accidentally summons a storm that destroys them. When she does go downstairs to meet everyone, it's to learn that Xavier is taking Rogue in and putting her on the team to help her, both with her mental problems and with her redemption. Ororo refuses, saying that it's her decision as leader and that she won't fight alongside an enemy. Just then, Carol returns and punches her into the upper atmosphere. Peter manages to calm her down when Anna returns. Although Ororo and Kurt threaten to walk, Xavier reminds them of what Ororo said about Logan back when Warren left the team. She said that while he wasn't the best person, he had the potential, and the point of the X-Men is to help people like him. People like Anna, who without the X-Men's help are condemned. Eventually, the X-Men agree, minus Carol, who flies off into space. Ororo spends some more time in somber reflection, and concludes that no matter what, she can never be the person she was. The only thing left for her is to stick to her duty as an X-Man and find out what she will become. In format, this issue was similar to 168, a downtime issues with special focus on one character, in this case Ororo. Her sense of self has been torn by the Brood and Callisto, and now she has to pick through the pieces to find out who she is. Over the next few years of the book, whenever she's close to finding herself again she'll be ripped apart again. It's some of the best character development I've seen in comics, and I'm so excited to dive into this part of my reread. Before I end, I wanna talk a little about Anna. Up until this point, she's gotten very little character development or depth, which is usually not what you want for a redemption arc but in this case works perfectly. The reader feels the same shock and anger that the characters do, and Claremont gets to build Anna basically from the ground up while still having a fully formed supervillain background for her. She's one of my favorite characters, and yet another thing to look forward to as I continue my reread.

[comicnerdwill]

Silly teaser for upcoming video Saturday

[kurtty-drabbles]

"Are you even old enough to be here?" (Good Belasco AU)

@dannybagpipesarecalling @djinmer4 @bamfoftheundead

N/A: Ok, here we go.

Kitty blinks one time, two times and three times to register the question the ruler of New Hell just made and still is a totally blank slate here. "I´m sorry, can you repeat your question?" and Belasco, the ruler of New Hell, has enough sanity to know he´s travelling in dangerous waters now.

"I ask how old are you...you don´t look a day older than 21" Belasco amends the blow and Kitty does not seem to take the original question very well and again, Belasco, the ruler of New Hell, has enough sanity to understand how his words can afford to make Kitty "nope out" of here.

"Why my age matters now?" she´s crossing her arms and now Belasco feels on thin ice.

"Uhm...it doesn´t, really, I just wonder why they pick you for such dangerous mission..."

"I volunteer. Wanna know why? Because I was sick tired of being on stand by, all my life has changed and no one appears to notice. I was the odd duck again...that´s why I volunteer for this mission...are you regretting meeting me again?" now she asks a bit forlon and Belasco knows he needs to say something nice or else ...Kitty will cry again.

"Of course not, meeting you again is the best thing that could have happened to me and I´ll be forever grateful for that...I just fear the day you´ll get tired of being in Limbo or with me..."

"Belasco...you´re being dumb. No, you´re being way dumber than Kurt used to be, I´m here because I want to be here...with you. So, let´s make this clear: Are you happy to be together with me?"

"Yes"

"Then...is all that matters!"

"You´re Katzchen"

"I know!"