From: maguire@copland.jpl.nasa.gov (Kevin Maguire)
Subject: Ideas to help the mutants (was: Re: X-cutioner's Song)
Followup-To: rec.arts.comics.xbooks
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 16:31:42 GMT

In article <BvKH87.4Br@acsu.buffalo.edu>, v083lmh8@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu
(Fred @ UB) wrote:
> complain about the plots and art but now is the time to take action.  We must
> band together and save the mutants.  Three people have already contacted me and 
> have given me ideas but I still need more.  PLEASE e-mail me ideas to help the
> mutants.  We're counting on you!!!

Alright, here's things I think we need to do to help fix the X-books:

1.  Retcon away the Upstarts and Omega Red, as well as Cable, Feral and 
Shatterstar.  This won't happen, but it would be nice - all of these are
extremely stupid characters.  The Hellfire Club as developed in old
continuity
would have kicked these 'Upstarts' asses.  Feral and Shatterstar are bad 
one-note Wolverine clones, and Cable is so messed up by now it would be
better
to just have him fade away.
	  Deal with Omega Red in the Wolverine book when he gets his true origin,
once and for all, no bullshit this time.  Cable gets sent back to the
future,
and stays there.  For Feral and Shatterstar, see the plot sketch below.

2.  No more time travelling.  Period.  Good time travel stories require 
extremely tight plotting with very careful attention to detail and
continuity,
which the current X-books do not have.  Also, characters with time-travel
on demand are just too powerful - see Bill & Ted (dude - we gotta remember
to
leave some keys here for us - excellent! here they are!).

3.  Get rid of Gambit.  There's no reason for the X-Men to trust him.  I'll

accept Bishop - he worships them, and this has been verified by a
brain-scan
by Xavier, so they can trust him, but Gambit hasn't been checked out at
all.
Furthermore, they have lots of reasons not to trust him - they know he's a
thief and he used to hang out with Sabertooth.

4.  The X-Men have lots of old friends they haven't looked in on in a
while.
They should do so - round up Excalibur, the New Mutants members of X-Force,
the other loose New Mutants, Amanda Sefton, Stevie Hunter, etc.  People
who get attacked all the time shouldn't go for long stretches without
checking in on their friends who also might get jumped.  They should also
go after Forge and Mystique - when your friends go unstable and act out of
character, you don't
just let them leave, especially when posession and shit like that happen
to your friends all the time.

5.  Shi'ar technology and Forge have to be up to the task of letting Prof.
X
walk again - they did it before.

6.  Xavier should open another school for training mutants, and abandon
field
leadership of the X-Men.  This school should not be at the mansion - too
many
enemies attack that joint.  For that matter, the X-Men should leave there
too,
for the same reasons.  These students should NOT be involved in fights, but
stories based on them should resolve on learning and teen peer group stuff,
like early New Mutants issues.

7.  Wolverine's origin - give him one once and for all, and stick with it.
Stop overexposing him in every book in the Marvel Universe.  Return to the
Wolverine who tried to keep his rage under control, and ditch the one who
relishes bathing in blood.

8.  Betsy shouldn't like being what the Hand turned her into.  Build a
story
arc around her quest to get changed back.  Potential guest stars:  Dr.
Strange,
Merlin, Roma, Saturnyne.  The X-Men know enough magical big shots that this
shouldn't be too hard.  Archangel could also try to get some help.

9.  Cable's original plan, as presented to the New Mutants, made sense: 
you
have all these enemies, which come here to attack you all the time.  Why
not 
take the fight to them?  Of course, X-Force hasn't done this, and has spent
all
their time fighting CABLE's enemies, and the enemies he was talking about
in
his proposal were the X-Men's, not the New Mutants.  
	   It would make sense for the X-Men to form a strike team of their heavy 
hitters to go after their enemies and put them down:  Wolverine, Archangel,
Storm, Bishop, Rogue.

10.  The X-Men get restrained by power-dampers all the time, and often
they're
customized for the victim.  Why not have Forge build one for Rogue so she
can
touch people - note that her flight, strength and invulnerability are not 
a mutant power, but a permanently absorbed one, so it wouldn't be too hard
to 
say that the damper leaves her all those powers, and only damps the touch
power.

11.  Why aren't the X-Men looking for Dazzler and Longshot?  Longshot
should be
kept out of the X-Men, since he's been out of character since his very
first
appearance outside of his own mini-series, but they still should be looking
for
him.

12.  No more appearances by the Mojoverse either.  It was funny the first
time,
as written by Ann Nocenti.  Now it's tired.

13.  Restore the Magneto characterization from the later New Mutants
issues, 
where his time as a teacher taught him that compassion and cooperation may
be
the way to go after all.  All the suffering the recent all-combat X-Men
have 
been through should help convince him, and his efforts to go after X-Force
and
convince them that terrorism is not the way would make a fine story with
which
to bring him back.

14.  When the X-Men meet strangers, they talk before fighting  (see the
Beast's
speech in issue where Xavier gets kidnapped by Ryking's kid).

15.  Finally, lots more of the sitting by the pool/picnic/softball game
issues
with no fights, just character development, which are what made the X-Men
great
in the first place, lo those many moons ago.

MY ideas for X-Men plotlines:

1.  Gambit IS the traitor, and he DOES have a charm power (as SHOWN already
in
some old X-Men book), which is why the X-Men have not been as suspicious of
him
as they should have been.
    This charm power has clouded the X-Men's minds, leading to their
strange 
and out of character recent behavior.  He goes for it, with help from some
of 
his clan members, and the X-Men put them down.  Bishop gets lots of airtime
in the final fight - this is his plotline, after all.

2.  The X-Men realize they have lots of stray friends out there, and go to
check
up on them.  They split into teams to go visit their friends - 3 or 4
issues
of visiting with friends.  Begin developing subplots:  Magneto tracking
X-Force,
Selene pops up with Sebastian Shaw in Nova Roma. 

3.  Search for Dazzler, Forge and Mystique.  Begin hinting at Mystique's 
connection to Nightcrawler. Afer they find Forge, restore the bald guy's
legs and give Rogue the damper so she can touch people.  Forge and Storm
get
married - art by BWS, Lifedeath III. 

4.  X-Force wrap up:  X-Men reach X-Force at same time as Magneto.  They
don't
fight, but all talk.  Feral gets sent to the cops for disemboweling an
innocent
bystander somewhere along the way.  Shatterstar realizes his time on Earth
does
nothing for his cause at home, and returns to the Mojoverse, with Feral,
who 
he sprung from jail cause she fights well.  Last appearance ever of
Mojoverse until Ann Nocenti writes Longshot II.  No Cable with X-Force now;
 he's returned to the future (to stay) after X-Cutioner's Song.
	   Magnus and Charles realize there's still a need for a school for young 
mutants.  Boom-Boom, Rictor to be first students, new characters to be 
introduced later.  Turn X-Force book back to New Mutants.  Send some
surviving
Hellions to this school.  Scott/Jean and Forge/Storm to be faculty, along
with
Prof. X (married couples want to settle down some, maybe have some babies).

Magneto becomes field leader for X-Men.
    Sam and Warpath are too experienced now to be students, attach them to
X-Men.  Continue Nova Roma subplot - (old) Hellfire Club takes over, by 
political subterfuge, not violence. Amara on the run from them.

5.  New school set up on Graymalkin Lane.  Is attacked by Upstarts, big
fight,
some casualties on both sides.  Spurs decision to move base of operations
due to
all enemies knowing where G. Lane is.  Fight with Upstarts is draw, leads
to info about Hellfire Club takeover in Nova Roma, X-Men go there to bust
them up 
and rescue Amara. 
	   On arrival, find population likes being run by Selene/Shaw - they fit
right
in.  X-Men and HC form uneasy alliance to go after Upstarts together, X-Men
pick up Amara.  X-Men/HC team break up Upstarts organization, but lots of
'em
get away.

   Split into X-books 4 books:  X-Factor still government agency, current
direction good, lots of crossovers of characters into the 'hanging by the
pool/going out for a beer' issues.  No crossovers into the strike-team
fight issues. 
   New Mutants to be focused on the new school.  Scott, Jean, Ororo and
Forge 
move to this book as faculty, as does Prof. X.  Students of all ages, not
just teenagers.
		 2 or 3 monthlies with Superman-book style continuity between them
focusing on the strike-team X-Men and supporting cast.  Merge Excalibur
with X-Men.  This is a big cast, some characters may have to be written out
(sensibly, not 
arbitrarily) to keep cast size manageable.  Maybe lose Wolverine, as he
goes to 
find himself in the woods (in his own book).

6. Strike-team X-Men tired of getting jumped, go on hunt for Upstarts, 
Marauders, Apocalypse, Hodge, etc.  1-2 years of 2 out of 3 issues focusing
on hunts and fights, 1 out of 3 issues with no fights showing group
interaction between missions for character development.  Battles will be
hard-core, people will get hurt - injuries are good excuse to write
characters out temporarily to keep cast size manageable.  With multiple
books, can keep fights in one books
and 'hanging out' in another, to allow fans to buy only one type of story
if 
they don't like both.


Other plots to be developed:
   Nightcrawler's past, and his connection with Mystique.
   Wolverine's real past - in the Wolverine book.
   Dazzlers sister
   Illyana's magical potential
   the Hand.  crossover with Daredevil, since they're really DD's villains.
   visit with Dani Moonstar.
	  the state of the Shi'Ar empire after Operation Galactic Storm.
   still some Brood loose on Earth 
	  clean up danglers from the dangler list
   Rogue's past
   Archangel and his wings
   un-ninjaizing Betsy Braddock
   Lorna Dane's past
   all the Wolverine clones running around the Marvel Universe, which
explains
how he can guest-star in that many books while still spending so much time
with the X-Men and in his own book :)


   Plus, of course, new villains can be added along the way to many of the
existing villain gangs.

   So, what'd'ya think?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Maguire                         No, not THAT Kevin Maguire
maguire@copland.jpl.nasa.gov          I'm a rocket scientist, not an artist