Cyclops is awesome. Really.

[thehefner]

GIP, because while I may have my problems with Joss Whedon, he at least understands that Cyclops has been a sorely neglected, under-appreciated character (disc_sophist and I are members of the PETS, the People's Ethical Treatment of Scott... I have *got* to make an icon of that one of these days) and has FINALLY given him some character development that he's sorely needed since the 70's.

That's the problem with poor Scott Summers. I finally isolated exactly why he's such a boring character to most. The poor guy is perhaps the ONLY major comic character to have gotten virtually zero character development since the Silver Age. I mean, virtually all major superheroes were pretty much like Scott back in those days. I mean, hell, can you imagine if Batman today was still like the Batman of the 60's?

But during the period when everyone else was getting fleshed-out characters, what happened to Cyclops? He was half a character, always serving to be someone else's foil. When he wasn't playing straight man to Wolverine, he was being Jean's handbag. He was a textbook example of why writers should follow the rule "Show, don't tell," because all anyone ever did was tell with Cyke. How often did we ever see just why he's the leader of the X-Men? Or why Jean always goes back to him? I imagine so many people watching the X-Men movies and going, "Why the hell doesn't she go with Wolverine?!" We never see it. And while geeks might be able to pick out one or two moments of Cyclops coolness in the past, that doesn't change the overwhelming common perception that he's a stiff, humorless dick.

And frankly, that jars with what he's supposed to be. He's the frickin' leader of the frickin' X-Men, right? But do we believe for a moment that he's inspiring people to follow him? Does he ever give a stirring, inspiring leader speech like Superman or Captain America do? Are we to believe that he's only the leader out of, what, a pity position by Xavier?

There's always been a potentially awesome character in Scott Summers, but he needed to get out from under the shadows of women (Jean and Emma included) and to stop serving purely to make Wolverine cool (and also to get the stick out of his ass just a teeny bit, all while within the realms that make sense to the character) to really show us why he's the leader of the most popular team in all of comics.

Thank god Joss bloody Whedon is finally doing it (and it helps that Scott w/o his shades/powers looks kinda like Nathan Fillon from FIREFLY/SERENITY), and here's hoping other writers take his cue and run with it.

Regardless, I still wanna do my LETHAL WEAPON style Scott/Logan buddy movie comic.



And to think, this post had started with the simple intent of announcing that, starting this year, I am going to make it a personal Thanksgiving tradition to watch PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES.

Comments

[ortugatay.livejournal.com]

Happy Thanksgiving!
(and fyi, Cyclops has always been my fave of the X-Men :-)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

And to you too, m'dear! :)

Oh, and huzzah! You are a rare breed indeed! (And it's not just because his Dad's a space pirate, right? Because he totally is)

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I read that issue! (And I don't even pick up X-Men!)

It's nice to see Scott get some development, yeah, but I personally don't think he should look like Nathan Fillon. His head is too... squashed. *turns comic this way and that, squinting and trying to make him look more like Scott*

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Well, part of it is also seeing his eyes. Maybe that's part of the reason why folks had a hard time warming up to him. Even James Marsden said it was really hard trying to play him since his eyes were covered up the whole time; so much character is told through the eyes.

If Scott doesn't get his powers back by the end of Whedon's run (which I'm fairly certain he will), it'll be interesting to see how other artists handle Scott's new look. (seriously, how could a character with the coolest specs this side of Matt Murdock be so not cool for so long? This has to be rectified!)

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

so much character is told through the eyes.

That's true. I recently rewatched the Transformers movie and was struck again by how expressive Optimus Prime is despite most of his face being covered by a mask. Scott has, a lot of the time, come across as cold or at least inexpressive. *hugs Scott*

Is the artist for Whedon's run leaving when he is? I would have thought he was the writer.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, no one is going to take over Astonishing X-Men. It ends when Whedon and Cassaday are done. It's always been their book from the start. So we'll see how many of the things they do will carry over to the other X-books afterwards.

[the-mithril-man.livejournal.com]

I always took the Cyke/Wolverine thing as a variation of the Nixon/JFK analogy. Nixon is what we are, Kennedy is who we want to be. In the X-men Wolverine is who everyone wants to be and Cyclopes is who we are. Most writers and comic fans would like to be the tough bar brawling bad ass that is Logan. But in the end they aren’t and they take it out in their writing on the most straight laced guy in the group. I always liked him in the early ultimate Xmen as he’s written as a dare devil athlete fearless pilot walk softly and carry a big stick kind of guy. He takes Out U Wolverine in one panel. Always made sense to me, one is a short Canadian with knives on his hands, the other is a guy who punches holes in mountains.

With his eyes!

Maybe making him more like Mal will help, but what happens after Joss leaves, and the next writer looks at the team for a patsy?

And BTW if you do the LETHAL WEAPON style story, put Scott in the deleted scene with Riggs taking out the sniper. Takes his time under fire for one good shot. Smiles an “all done here” to the SWAT guys and leaves.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aww, now Scott is Nixon. He just can't catch a break! ;)

Seriously, though it's a fascinating comparison you make, one that I wish others would observe.

And that thing, "Always made sense to me, one is a short Canadian with knives on his hands, the other is a guy who punches holes in mountains. With his eyes!" made me laugh, because it's so true! It's so true! Oh man, I'm so gonna have to remember that.

Well, Joss' book is his own, ASTONISHING X-MEN, which will end when he leaves. So lord knows if the writers in the other X-books will take their cues and run with it (that's even assuming something else doesn't happen to Scott), but right now the writers are Mike Carey and Ed Brubaker, so for the time being we have some pretty top-notch writers in charge.

Oh man, is there such a deleted scene? I'm a-gonna need to check out that DVD and keep that in mind! Hee hee. I said LETHAL WEAPON, but I just meant Shane Black in general. Logan and Scott by way of THE LAST BOY SCOUT or KISS KISS, BANG BANG. Ehh, maybe not so much THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT.