Young X-Men

[chamber-music]

I still like me some classic New Mutants with Sienkiewicz crazy art.

 

[Havok83]

Mike Carey's made me a big fan of Karima Shapander. I read on Wikipedia that she was in that Claremont Excalibur series. Was she any good, or did Claremont make her suck as much as he does all of the characters he touches?

How so? Karima is nothing more than window dressing and hasnt had any particular spotlight to give her a chance to shine. She doesnt have much of a personality or defining characteristics over in X-men as she's nothing more than an extra body

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The thing that got me interested in the first place is the fact that she's Indian. There isn't much to represent Indians in superhero comics. Beyond that, she seemed to have a cool set of powers and command some respect from many of the X-Men, Beast included. So I looked her up on Wikipedia, found out about her background as a cop in India, her involvement with Bastion's Operation: Zero Tolerance sleeper stuff, etc. and thought it was cool that she was basically victimized but recovered, and then took the "enhancements" that had made her a victim in the first place and put them to use for something positive. I saw potential in her, which is why I'm now asking everyone if there's anything else that features her rather than just blindly gushing about how awesome she is. I don't know if she's awesome. I know that she could be awesome, but I need to know more about her.

She was much better in Excalibur. I'm not diggin her too much these days.

Well, that's probably because she's evil. Stupid Malice.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Haha, even before she got "infected"

 

[Havok83]

Haha, even before she got "infected"

yeah I think she's had more to do and showing more expression in X-men since being taken over by Malice. Maybe Malice should perma-bond with her like she did with Polaris back in the 80s

 

[GL1]

So... they're trying to capitolize on New Avengers... perhaps with faux-second generation X-kids... interesting...

I don't see much potential. I'm actually playing a second-generation MURPG campaign now, and there's not a lot to be mined out of it, and without the necessary set of diverse and originalish powers and personalities, it's pointless. Even with that, being vicariously related to the X-men isn't enough to carry it... just like the squad breakdown didn't carry the New Mutants and the penance mystery didn't carry Generation X.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

yeah I think she's had more to do and showing more expression in X-men since being taken over by Malice. Maybe Malice should perma-bond with her like she did with Polaris back in the 80s

Or maybe she just needs an arc focusing on her rather than having her sit around in the back as the all-purpose technopath.

 

[JewishHobbit]

For the record... Karima was cool in Excalibur, but her first appearance (and all that Zero Tolerance stuff) was in X-Men Unlimited (Vol. 1) issue 27 (I believe). It was the issue that told Thunderbird III's origin. She was Neal's major girlfriend that was turned into a Prime Sentinel and tried to kill him. She overcame her programing and ran... leading Neal to join the X-Men. Sadly, nothing has ever come of that story because though they are using Karima, Marvel refuses to use Thunderbird, Lifeuard, or Slipstream for whatever reason.

 

[PhotoJones]

Probably because those are all character Claremont creations, are they not?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I know about her and Thunderbird. That's okay that nothing's come of that story for me. I never really liked Neal.

 

[PhotoJones]

I remember Neal from Xtreme X-Men. And once that happens, I just try to forget the whole thing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Cannonball came back in X-Treme X-Men.

 

[PhotoJones]

He wasn't cool again until Carey started writing him, though.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's true. Remember that terrible orange and red costume from Uncanny X-Men?

 

[PhotoJones]

Uh...no? I remember his X-Force costumes, his basic blue and gold costume when he got bumped up to the X-Men the first time and his costume that he wears now.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

You probably just didn't recognize him, since Davis didn't draw him like any other artist I've seen.

That's him on the far right. I usually love Davis' art, and the rest of the redesigns on that cover are pretty good, but that Cannonball one is terrible beyond words.

 

[PhotoJones]

Jesus H. Christ, that's bad.

 

[Harlekin]

Cannonball was pretty cool in X-Treme too.

 

[PhotoJones]

Nothing about Xtreme X-Men was cool, dude. Nothing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I wonder if it might've been remembered better if its name were... well, anything other than "X-Treme" X-Men.

 

[PhotoJones]

I doubt it. It was just a bad idea for an ongoing series. It also marked the beginning of the end for Larocca's awesomeness.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh yeah, he was tossing all the hard work to the colorist by the end of that series. Poor Larocca. He used to be good.

 

[PhotoJones]

Larocca bascially created a new position with that book. He became the "outliner." He would outline shapes and panels, and Liquid! would fill in the rest.

 

[El Bastardo]

Who is this Larocca you speak of?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Salvador Larocca.