Dread
TMNT 1984-2009
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- Oct 11, 2001
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I couldn't agree more about the pants. Even his AOA costume with the booty shorts was better
And I refuse to acknowledge that eye poke submission
I often refuse to acknowledge that Ellis' entire 3-mini-long ULTIMATE GALACTUS story happened. Especially since Carey is picking up the pieces and making them work better in UFF right now.
And, yes, pants are a must for Colossus. Only women look good with knee high boots and no pants. Emma Frost should have broken it to Piotr the moment he was revived.
Yeah, if Casey is keeping things tied together, it should work.
I'm hoping for Valkyrie or some of the other Defenders too, like Hellcat & Gargoyle (who just showed up in MCP). Patsey Walker's been around almost as long as Blazing Skull if you count her silly teen romance books, and deserves to be kept in circulation. Besides, if you want the B-Team Defenders, you need more than Nighthawk.
I only mentioned it because as the child of a deadbeat father, I get annoyed at superheroes who are also deadbeat fathers and don't seem to care about it. The fact that Piotr didn't catch on that "Peter Jr." was his son on a return trip almost borders on denial. Come to think of it, a few X-Men have used the Savage Land as their personal kin factories. Wolverine's got a kid up there too. Probably litters across Japan & Madipoor.
Colossus has left over disagreements with the X-Men before, but he's either moved to some other X-related team (like Magneto's Acolytes when he was distraught over his sister dying, or Excaliber across the pond to rejoin Kitty, Nightcrawler, & Lockheed), or struck out alone. It just seems sudden that he decides to join a token superhero team. He's hardly been a diplomat or anything. He usually screams about smashing someone or throws Wolverine at something.
It will all come down to execution, of course. CAPTAIN MARVEL from Reed & Weeks is the best example of how execution can overcome even the silliest of premises. But with everyone slapping asses over how inspired it is for Colossus to be here, I don't mind seeing some of the other side of things, especially as the roster seems pretty random.
Colossus' problem is that he is on the whole a decent person in a universe that rewards people who are immature, grim, dark anti-hero, or can get nasty in a hurry. So he often gets shunted to the side in a lot of arcs.
I'm just saying it FEELS random at this stage. Nighthawk has been a longtime Defender; She-Hulk has been an Avenger and on the Fan Four and arguably is there to replace her cousin Bruce on the team; and Blazing Skull worked with the Invaders (so would likely be willing to work for the Initiative), and hasn't done a lot in 3 years. Colossus...uh...
Some people can make, "I decided to leave the X-Men and do more good elsewhere" read like a wonderful character moment, and others can make it seem like a token excuse for a random X-Man. At this stage I'm not sure how it will go. Naturally, I presume the worst. It is simply my nature.
Granted, it also doesn't help that I'm not on UXM, so whatever set-up for this I will have to hope is summarized in LAST DEFENDERS #1. Joe Casey's been around, so that isn't unlikely.
Thanks for the link. Casey promises to tie things together and all that, but I really hope there are more Defenders than just Four. I know they only started out with that number in the old days (hell, Strange, Namor, and Hulk often did their thing as a trio), but most teams seem to have at least 5-7 members and with some other Defenders on the shelf, hopefully they'll pop up as time goes on. Casey seems to like the classic Avengers for some of his past mini's, so I'd say he at least has some sense of history. That is a plus for him.
He even mentions Gargoyle will appear in the first issue, so there ya go.
Considering Blazing Skull is nearly a century old himself (but the magical properties of his outfit he got from the Skull People of Japan keep him lookin' like a man in his 30's), they may have some stuff in common to talk about. Dern wipper-snappers. However, he is vague on Colossus, likely for Messiah reasons. I just still find it odd that considering Beast, Archangel, and Iceman (who could also use some boosted rep) have been Defenders before, he picked a guy who really has never left the X-Universe to be his "mutant representative", especially since Colossus has nothing that She-Hulk can't do. She is stronger, tougher, and has additional powers (partial Ovoid technique, can see extradimensional spirits or something, etc). She even has team tactics down from Avengers/Four work. It is almost like that song lyric, "anything you can do, I can do better..."
I mean even when the Avengers would have Thor, Hercules, and Wonder Man on the same roster, there was something to switch it up. Thor's hammer absorbs energy, allows for teleportation, and he controls the weather, especially storms and thunder. Herc has that "brawler" mentality and Wonder Man has his ionic energy thing, which has come in handy.
That's not to say Colossus isn't cool and whatnot, I do like him. I just have consistantly been frustrated with his underachieving status for years now and this isn't a roster that plays to his strengths. He has usually been best served on rosters where he was the strongest one. On this one he isn't. Or at least I don't get that sense from the previews. But we'll see when it launches. The thing is I see no middle ground; either LAST DEFENDERS will be the best thing to happen to Piotr in years depending on how he is handled, or he will just be the token X-Man because Wolverine, Storm, Iceman, Angel, and Beast are all busy. Honestly I haven't read a lot of Casey in ages to place a bet now. I'm just wary.
It might be interesting if they played up Colossus' artistic side as more than just having him paint in the background of panels. Such as, he could have an understanding what is appealing to the eye, or to build trust in a locality, and what doesn't in helping to design their headquarters. He's only hung around the X-Mansion for half his life anyway. I've always seen him as someone who can be sensitive and gentle to his friends and a raging wall of steel to enemies. But, then we hit that roadblock, namely, Jen pretty much being able to outdo him on the stat sheets. I mean, any threat that takes her out should really be out of Colossus' league since she's stronger. He doesn't have any special warrior skill or anything, unless good aim at throwing people is a technique. This is the first roster I can think of where Colossus wasn't the strongest tanker on it, and that makes me wary because he's hardly been used to full potential even in THOSE circumstances.
Life has made me cynical, just like Blazing Skull. Now, HIM I am excited to see back in circulation.
Giffen co-plotting the launch of the series is definitely a plus. The guy's been gold lately. He's an industry vet for a reason.
Jen has issues with the SHRA and the laws that are bent/broken to enforce it, but when it counts she's also been willing to do what has to be done. We'll see what happens.
