... Where Did You Come From?
Alright, so, I've been reading an utter slew of X-Men comics this past week and a half. Utter, slew. My poor library. I've hit the max. amount of holds a couple times over now.
I've come to a couple conclusions (Besides the fact Ultimate X-Men can go die in the furthest possible corner) and one of them is that my two favorite characters are Hank McCoy (Beast)... and Emma Frost.
Now, Hank is really no surprise in the "I totally like this character department" but as of a few months ago, I sorta hated Emma Frost from what I knew about her, and honestly I think part of it is because she's a very complex character you don't really get on the onset. Also, she's totally and utterly broken in some ways, and to get to the point where I really like her/enjoy reading her, takes a whole hell of a lot... ((Which is actually impossible to do in movie verse. Thank you movie verse.))
Now, the first time I encountered her was on Whedon's run in Astonishing X-Men and I did actually like her as written by him, though my other brushes with her had not gone so well. Looking back at it though, Whedon's run takes place about the point where I like her character arc the most, and I understand some of the stuff going on with it a great deal more now, with context. But I have always loved a set of lines she had with a shadowy figure regarding Scott Summers at that point. "You really love him, don't you?" "With all my predator's heart." That particular description has always stuck with me, long after I read the book, and is one of the reasons I like her so much.
Yes, she's vain as all hell, and can be rather cold, abrupt, and not really a warm fuzzy figure.
But, I mean, her backstory. Her father was deeply cold, and she ended up a dancer at the Hellfire Club after walking away from her rich Boston family, banding together with Shaw to take over said Hellfire Club. At this point she started a school for mutant students... who all ended up dead. She went into a coma. Shit happened, she tried again, and then ended up teaching in Genosha... which was utterly destroyed killing millions. It's one of the defining points of X-Men cannon, and due to her diamond form ((Which had not shown up before this, actually)) she was one of the few, if not the only person to survive. Survivor's guilt to the max here ((Again, see Whedon's run)). And once again, her students are dead. Considering how often she ends up teaching, that death rate of her students must be traumatizing.
So, more shit happens, and she ends up starting a mental affair with Scott Summers... while Jean Grey is still alive. That, I sorta don't like and is the brain child of Grant Morrison who... I actually like what I've read of his X-Men run. Which is surprisingly considering how much I loathe his Batman/Final Crisis run. Shortly therefore, she ends up shot in her diamond form in her one flaw, shattering her into thousands of pieces. I mention this, because I love Hank's reaction to it so much. He's coming with some wine and a book to comfort her after Jean found out about the affair and just about took Emma apart, only to find her shattered everywhere. Sage and Bishop come to investigate and Hank basically says he's going to piece her back together. They're like... okay sure. Then Sage goes, "It's going to be hard narrowing it down. Nobody liked her." Hank: "Well *I* did. She was a good listener. She laughed at my jokes. She knew every line of Byron by heart." And he goes about putting her back together. Earlier, it had shown them chatting in Hank's study, Emma reading one of his science journals and wearing his spectacles, which was pretty cute.
Anyway, she gets better from being shattered, and somewhere along the road Jean Grey dies... again. After this, Emma and Scott become an actual couple and... I really, really like them as a couple. There's the predator heart line, as well as some other stuff but... I never much cared for Jean Grey, and honestly, I know it's like *The* Couple but I never much cared for Scott and Jean. Something about them seemed sorta, eh, which is why I think so many people ship Jean and Logan. Well, I ship Emma and Scott like whoa. They're personalities suit each other so well, and they complement and balance each other. Also, they run the school together, which can be sorta badass. And, I don't know, they just function so well, as leaders and as lovers.
Then there's the House of M event, which I really, really liked. In this alternate universe, Scott and Emma are married ((Also... it occurs to me... part of the point of that universe was giving most people what they wanted and... they were married. ... Shipper instincts are frolicking even more than they were a minute ago.)) I love this exchange between them in the morning:
Scott: Here
Emma: Tsk, aw, you made a pop tart.
Scott: My love knows no bounds. You ready to greet the day?
Emma: I'm meeting that little Richards boy again today. Poor kid.
Scott: Which one was he?
Emma: Parents were astronauts. Died in the--
Scott: Oh, yeah. You up to it?
Emma: I have to.
Scott: Don't go today. Take a "you" day.
Emma: Kid needs me.
Scott: I love you.
Emma: Oh, I know.
I mean, my god, they've hit my "I ship couples I can see making breakfast for each other thirty years down the road" button so. damn. hard.
In summary: Oh my god, when did I end up loving this character so much? She's also deeply complex and interesting, and it's hard to get into her.
Which is why her in First Class is putting my spine up even more than usual. She's so... bland, and it's all but impossible to do most of the things from the comics with her in movie verse. I mean, her and Scott is utterly impossible, not only due to her being in the wrong period, but they killed of Scott too. The fuckers >.> Also, watching Mad Men finally and it was like... Omg January Jones can act. What the hell was she doing in First Class not acting worth a damn?
So... Emma Frost. Thank you brain. Now to figure out how to write her worth a damn in "Not Just Pain and Anger" to give her some of that depth I love her in without any of her backstory to back her up. Woo.
I've come to a couple conclusions (Besides the fact Ultimate X-Men can go die in the furthest possible corner) and one of them is that my two favorite characters are Hank McCoy (Beast)... and Emma Frost.
Now, Hank is really no surprise in the "I totally like this character department" but as of a few months ago, I sorta hated Emma Frost from what I knew about her, and honestly I think part of it is because she's a very complex character you don't really get on the onset. Also, she's totally and utterly broken in some ways, and to get to the point where I really like her/enjoy reading her, takes a whole hell of a lot... ((Which is actually impossible to do in movie verse. Thank you movie verse.))
Now, the first time I encountered her was on Whedon's run in Astonishing X-Men and I did actually like her as written by him, though my other brushes with her had not gone so well. Looking back at it though, Whedon's run takes place about the point where I like her character arc the most, and I understand some of the stuff going on with it a great deal more now, with context. But I have always loved a set of lines she had with a shadowy figure regarding Scott Summers at that point. "You really love him, don't you?" "With all my predator's heart." That particular description has always stuck with me, long after I read the book, and is one of the reasons I like her so much.
Yes, she's vain as all hell, and can be rather cold, abrupt, and not really a warm fuzzy figure.
But, I mean, her backstory. Her father was deeply cold, and she ended up a dancer at the Hellfire Club after walking away from her rich Boston family, banding together with Shaw to take over said Hellfire Club. At this point she started a school for mutant students... who all ended up dead. She went into a coma. Shit happened, she tried again, and then ended up teaching in Genosha... which was utterly destroyed killing millions. It's one of the defining points of X-Men cannon, and due to her diamond form ((Which had not shown up before this, actually)) she was one of the few, if not the only person to survive. Survivor's guilt to the max here ((Again, see Whedon's run)). And once again, her students are dead. Considering how often she ends up teaching, that death rate of her students must be traumatizing.
So, more shit happens, and she ends up starting a mental affair with Scott Summers... while Jean Grey is still alive. That, I sorta don't like and is the brain child of Grant Morrison who... I actually like what I've read of his X-Men run. Which is surprisingly considering how much I loathe his Batman/Final Crisis run. Shortly therefore, she ends up shot in her diamond form in her one flaw, shattering her into thousands of pieces. I mention this, because I love Hank's reaction to it so much. He's coming with some wine and a book to comfort her after Jean found out about the affair and just about took Emma apart, only to find her shattered everywhere. Sage and Bishop come to investigate and Hank basically says he's going to piece her back together. They're like... okay sure. Then Sage goes, "It's going to be hard narrowing it down. Nobody liked her." Hank: "Well *I* did. She was a good listener. She laughed at my jokes. She knew every line of Byron by heart." And he goes about putting her back together. Earlier, it had shown them chatting in Hank's study, Emma reading one of his science journals and wearing his spectacles, which was pretty cute.
Anyway, she gets better from being shattered, and somewhere along the road Jean Grey dies... again. After this, Emma and Scott become an actual couple and... I really, really like them as a couple. There's the predator heart line, as well as some other stuff but... I never much cared for Jean Grey, and honestly, I know it's like *The* Couple but I never much cared for Scott and Jean. Something about them seemed sorta, eh, which is why I think so many people ship Jean and Logan. Well, I ship Emma and Scott like whoa. They're personalities suit each other so well, and they complement and balance each other. Also, they run the school together, which can be sorta badass. And, I don't know, they just function so well, as leaders and as lovers.
Then there's the House of M event, which I really, really liked. In this alternate universe, Scott and Emma are married ((Also... it occurs to me... part of the point of that universe was giving most people what they wanted and... they were married. ... Shipper instincts are frolicking even more than they were a minute ago.)) I love this exchange between them in the morning:
Scott: Here
Emma: Tsk, aw, you made a pop tart.
Scott: My love knows no bounds. You ready to greet the day?
Emma: I'm meeting that little Richards boy again today. Poor kid.
Scott: Which one was he?
Emma: Parents were astronauts. Died in the--
Scott: Oh, yeah. You up to it?
Emma: I have to.
Scott: Don't go today. Take a "you" day.
Emma: Kid needs me.
Scott: I love you.
Emma: Oh, I know.
I mean, my god, they've hit my "I ship couples I can see making breakfast for each other thirty years down the road" button so. damn. hard.
In summary: Oh my god, when did I end up loving this character so much? She's also deeply complex and interesting, and it's hard to get into her.
Which is why her in First Class is putting my spine up even more than usual. She's so... bland, and it's all but impossible to do most of the things from the comics with her in movie verse. I mean, her and Scott is utterly impossible, not only due to her being in the wrong period, but they killed of Scott too. The fuckers >.> Also, watching Mad Men finally and it was like... Omg January Jones can act. What the hell was she doing in First Class not acting worth a damn?
So... Emma Frost. Thank you brain. Now to figure out how to write her worth a damn in "Not Just Pain and Anger" to give her some of that depth I love her in without any of her backstory to back her up. Woo.