#proudstar

[keepsmagnetoaway]

Giant-Size X-Men 1 (May 1975)

Len Wein/Dave Cockrum

Here we...here we...here we fucking go!

This is the most important X-Men comic ever published: more important than the very first issue, even. This is also going to be a heinously long post, so strap in.

Notwithstanding the last, uh, six months of posts, this is where X-Men really starts, with it re-starting. In the mid-70s, the team had been without a book of their own for years but sporadic guest appearances had kept the characters present in the minds of readers: many of those guest appearances had been written by Len Wein, who in 1974 became editor-in-chief at Marvel and decided to revive the X-Men, but cautiously: he was going to put out a special large-format issue introducing a new team, and then follow it with further occasional large-format issues, maybe three or four times a year. He wrote the first issue, and got Dave Cockrum to draw it, creating a number of new mutants for the team's rebirth and introducing them all in a series of virtuoso sequences. I'm trying to resist the urge to just post this entire comic, but snippets will have to suffice.

Right away - this is page 1 - we see that the issue of prejudice and fear is back at the centre of the X-Men story, where it has always belonged. Not all the characters were totally new, though: one of the had been seeded a few months ago in Incredible Hulk, as we have seen.

Banshee, meanwhile - who, as we know, is canonically a country music freak - was also returning (slight sigh).

That's an interesting start - three characters and none of them Americans - but what about some non-white characters, huh?

So. The introduction and framing of the non-white, non-Western characters in this issue - and in this run of X-Men, to some extent - is obviously, shall we say, heavy-handed.

And yet, here they are - the characters exist, and I think it's important that they are drawn from all over the world: the comic is working hard to emphasise that and in doing so slips over and over into caricature in the interests of foregrounding diversity. It's not great - it's aged pretty terribly, in isolation - but with the knowledge of where these characters (particularly Storm) end up it's difficult to read any of this as actively bad, I think.

Certainly the clunkiest of these introductions is that of John Proudstar, the Apache, and it's surely no coincidence that...well, we'll get to that.

So, there they all are.

And here is someone you do recognise.

This is a long section of set-up, (re)introducing Cyclops and explainign where the others have gone: Jean, Bobby, Warren, Lorna and Alex have all gone missing on a mysterious island that seemed to house a super-powerful mutant (Beast, the X-Man we've seen most of during the hiatus, is now fully off doing his thing with the Avengers and is not involved).

There's so much going on here: we of course are all totally familiar now with the original X-Men, but some reader picking this up in 1975 very likely wouldn't have been, so here they are crammed in and then immediately disposed off. Shout-out also to Cockrum's art here, of which we'll have much more to say as we go on, but it does a huge amount, packing in character designs, costumes, action and plot while still leaving room for effect and emotion that, at times, ism almost Neal Adams-like (here, as you can see, Cyclops was briefly depowered when escaping the island, though he gets them back).

Also, here's our next big theme: infighting, introduced when Sunfire quits and then re-joins the team in the space of a single page. This is both foreshadowing and a sign that this issue was maaaaybe trying to do a bit too much.

But fuck it, this issue is great. Can you imagine the sheer richness of picking this up on a newsstand as a kid. All these characters! All this lore! All this potential! And then we get to the action of the issue, as the team fights its way across Krakoa, which is a kind of pulp nightmare landscape.

Enjoy the drama, the design, the style of this whole page: the looming temple, the strange angles, the sinister greyness of the final panel. Everything here is at the top of its game.

And then the big - if slightly obvious - reveal that the mutant is the island itself. This art kicks ass, and in the meantime introduces another thematic strand in the whole nuclear testing/cold war/mutation angle.

The final action sequence is bersekly brilliant, full of ambitious layout choices and complex storytelling that pulls of the goal of showcasing all the various disaparate X-Men and getting them to work together.

Eventually the fire the entire island into space (??) and the issue finally runs out of room and ends.

So, yeah. This issue was so obviously great, and such a success, that plans changed, and instead of occasional big stories like this, X-Men was revived as a regular monthly book: or rather, because it was still being printed but only with re-runs of original era stories, it was revamped as a book with new stories, starting with issue 94.

That's where this read will go next - and, guided by my trusty reading guide, we'll go right through for about 50 issues with only occasional guest appearances in the meantime, returning us at last to the one long on-going soap opera that is X-Men at their peak. Can't wait!

[folansstuff]

X-Men Unlimited Sneak Peek

Holy shit this is a fucking team. I think(?) this is meant to be the team Roberto is on too, so this will be a really cool set up, Multiple Man?, Proudstar?, Layla??, Betsy???

I'm so keen. Once again Unlimited is providing the good stuff when everything else has been so bleh.

[watch-joey-collect]

[the-wlndrider]

[why-i-love-comics]

Marvel Zombies: Black, White, & Blood #2 - "Warpath" (2024)

written by Doug Wagner art by Juan Gedeon & Dee Cunniffe

[kermit-coded]

oooohhhh you wanna read x force 1991 sooo bad ooooohhhh

[reusedtvseriescostumes]

This Black Jacket worn on Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester in Supernatural: Rock Never Dies (2016) and worn later on Dominic Sherwood as Jace Wayland in Shadowhunters (2017) and worn again on Blair Redford as John Proudstar in The Gifted (2018) and last worn on Christian Navarro as Tony Padilla in 13 Reasons Why: The World Closing In (2019)

[lysenfeu]

Ah yes, we've finally assembled a new & improved Weapon X team! We've got:

Victor "Babygirl" Creed

James Logan "Old Man" Howlett

Neena "Best Girl" Thurman

Yuriko "World's Most Expensive Manicure" Oyama

James "Please Stop Calling Me Thunderbird" Proudstar

Arkady "Maneater" Rossovich

...

And none for Maverick, bye!

[tepkunset]

🥹 🥹 🥹

(X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #121)

[heckcareoxytwit]

The Proudstar Family - Thunderbird (John Proudstar), Warpath (James Proudstar) and Grandma Lozen Proudstar, are in charge of Camp Gozhoo where they shelter the mutant refugees. However, the Orchis soldiers had invaded their place and they started to harass the mutants. This prompts the Proudstar Brothers to fight off the Orchis soldiers. Also, Grandma Lozen stood up to the Orchis soldiers showing no fear as she laughs in their faces defiantly.

X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic # 121, 2024

[historicalreusedcostumes]

This Black Jacket worn on Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester in Supernatural: Rock Never Dies (2016) and worn later on Dominic Sherwood as Jace Wayland in Shadowhunters (2017) and worn again on Blair Redford as John Proudstar in The Gifted (2018) and last worn on Christian Navarro as Tony Padilla in 13 Reasons Why: The World Closing In (2019)

[wakandas]

warpath sketches x2

[jojoseames]

The Uncanny X-Tober! Day 30: Family!

Ink & Watercolor, 6 x 9 inches JoJo Seames, 2024

[rei-ismyname]

X-MEN RED Highlights 1

Continuing the story from SWORD (2020), Al Ewing's masterpiece might just be my favourite book of all time. As such, it's going to be difficult to narrow down highlights - because every panel is a banger. I'm going to indulge myself here.

Flashback to Ororo fighting for her seat on the Great Ring - Arakko's Quiet Council equivalent. Thematically it sets up that Ororo's greatest enemy is herself - taking on too much responsibility and spreading herself thin. She's incredibly powerful but she can't be everywhere at once.

Meanwhile, Magneto has quit the Quiet Council and retired to Arakko to die. He makes a new friend - the Fisher King, and shares his pain and failures. He monologues while building a fucking *castle* mind you, so the dramatic bitch is in there somewhere.

A third Omega Mutant - Vulcan - is also a bit lost. Tbh the poor guy could seriously use some therapy but instead he's wandering around starting fights. Thunderbird is ... unsympathetic. In the guise of helping, Agent Brand (also working with ORCHIS) gives him a job in X-Men Red - after Storm rejects the same offer.

You can't keep a secret from Sunspot. As he strolls into Mags' house he slips back into headmaster mode. 'How many names do you have? 'Too many.'

Unable to get a moment's peace, Ororo wanders into his (secluded) house as well. She knows how what words to use though - the Brotherhood rides again!

Vulcan hates Chuck. His reaction to non-consensual telepathy is to blow up the Summers House on the moon, with all inside.

Brand fills out the rest of her X-Men Red squad with her direct employees. Manifold objects to the paternalistic premise and quits on the spot. As an Indigenous Australian, he knows first hand where this kind of colonial bullshit leads and he's not having it.

On that note, Brand wants a man on the Great Ring. To take a seat you have to challenge the current holder. Vulcan vs Tarn the Uncaring!

This concerns pretty much everyone. Magneto is really feeling the gravity of consequence pulling him away from retirement.

He resists for now, wallowing in grief, but how long will he be able to stand against his nature and comic book inertia? (Spoiler - not long. Find out in part 2! It's Magneto.)

[wildavisart]

Full X men roster so far!

[why-i-love-comics]

Marvel Zombies: Black, White, & Blood #2 - "Warpath" (2024)

written by Doug Wagner art by Juan Gedeon & Dee Cunniffe