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Mostly I talk about Northstar, but there is some violence mentioned because its a comic and there are battles. So I'm warning for violence and spoilers...
I waited a few days to write about this because when I got my comics I was really excited. The guy I buy my comic books from knows how much I identify with and love Northstar. He was kind enough to save me a promotional ‘save the date’ card that has some of the cover art on it for Astonishing X-men 51. Needless to say I’m was thrilled.
I have to admit that issue 48 left me holding my breath, hoping they’d get this right, because the last time I got excited about Northstar being an X-man he had a very unrequited crush on Bobby Drake and practically every issue reminded everyone that he was gay. Yes, Northstar is gay. He only came out in Alpha Flight series 1 issue 106 way back in March of 1992 and there were many hints before that.
Astonishing X-men 48 opens with Northstar alone in a tunnel, dead people at his feet, tears in his eyes while he talks about love. He runs into Wolverine and Gambit who attack him, he tries to tell Wolverine to stop. He tells them that this isn’t them. Bobby shows up, using his powers to hold Gambit and Wolverine still, agreeing that this isn’t them and telling Northstar to go. This is very worrisome since the last time Wolverine lost his mind around Northstar, JP ended up dead. Granted he got resurrected and Wolverine went and save him, still the whole situation is bad.
Then Northstar wakes up and you’re left thinking it’s all a nightmare and that they are perhaps touching upon his past crush on Bobby. The first thing Jean-Paul does when he sits up is call out for Kyle, his boyfriend. Kyle immediately responds with ‘Babe?’ and JP gets up to see that his boyfriend is looking through boxes. They start bantering back and forth and its teasing and loving and it struck me as so very nice because JP is smiling and joking and they established way back in Machine Man 18 that JP likes a guy who can make him laugh and this seemed to be where his crush on Walter started, because Walter made him laugh. This is further supported by his crush on Drake since Bobby often jokes around with his teammates. So I was happy to see this touched upon. The next thing that pulled me in was that Kyle and JP establish that they’ve dated long distance for years and now they are finally living together and that this is a big deal for the two of them but they both wanted a fresh start together. They get back to bantering, Kyle pointing out that he thought the apartment would be but together easily considering JP’s superspeed. I also feel the need to say that they’re having this conversation surrounded by boxes, sitting in their new kitchen with Kyle in boxers and a white tank top while JP is just wearing black boxers. They almost share a kiss but banter back to JP putting the apartment together, which he does before they share an on-panel kiss. It’s lovely, you actually see them kiss, JP’s arm is around Kyle. Then of course the phone rings, their foreheads press together and Kyle doesn’t want JP to answer, but he has to because it’s the private line for the Jean Grey School. This apparently means it must be serious business. So JP answers demanding to know what Wolverine wants. Which of course harkens back to the fact that Wolverine and JP started out as teammates on Alpha Flight before Wolverine became one of the X-men, these two have a history and a camaraderie.
The comics switch to Gambit trying to convince Cecilia Reyes she can use his apartment, this is flirty too and I gave up on keeping up with Gambit’s love life a long time ago because it’s always complicated and difficult and honestly I grew up on XTAS so I ship him with Rogue, it’s just one of those things from my childhood. Apparently these two are just friends, but very flirty friends. The doorbell rings and when Gambit answers it suddenly Northstar is being called ‘Jean-Claude’ and this is where I started being worried that this was going to get all screwed up because if they can’t even keep his name right in one issue then how can I count on them to tell a good story? Also JP’s clothes aren’t very JP. Jean-Paul from even the early comics tends to wear his uniform, a suit or dress in layers. Nice slacks, nice shirt often worn with a sweater or vest. JP is wearing jeans, a white shirt and green jacket and he’s his posture if off too because he’s kinda hunched in on himself. Maybe he’s tired? It just didn’t work for me because while I could see JP letting his guard down around Kyle, maybe even Wolverine I couldn’t see it happen with Gambit or Cecilia. It just irked me and didn’t feel very JP, but maybe I’m having problems because for the rest of the issue he’s referred to as Jean-Claude. After Logan shows up, established that he asked JP to meet him there because he has business he wants to discuss and Cecilia points out that she’s not getting involved with the X-men again Warbird shows up, covered in blood. She tells them ‘It has begun’ before she tosses a decapitated head into the room. JP wants to know if he can go home now, Logan swears and tells everyone to get down. Cecilia uses her powers to protect them all and its clear she’s pissed and wants none of this mess, though Gambit hopes she still knows how to fight. Logan pulls out his claws and tells Northstar he needs eyes. It then cuts to a helicopter where people say they have the target in their sights and you can see a fuzzy picture of Northstar on one of the back screens. Then the guys in the helicopter want to know why its suddenly cold.
That’s right Iceman is there to save the day! He postures and calls them puny soldiers and downs the helicopter. Northstar wants to know what Iceman is doing and Bobby is all ‘I got this, I’m so cool’ and then he gets attacked and he’s down and Northstar is all ‘Bobby!’ and standing over him protectively telling his assailant to ‘Get the hell away from him’ and I suddenly feel pathetic because I don’t recognize the group of six that tell JP ‘Make us’ but apparently it’s the Marauders.
It then cuts to Kyle who is somehow tracking JP through an app and they don’t say why he’s doing this…maybe for the same reason he got caught in a bad guy attack in the recent Alpha Flight? He wanted to get pictures of JP in action for promotional reasons, except I don’t see a camera. Surprise Kyle gets attacked and dragged away by a mysterious figure in the shadow!
So I admit it I was excited. JP is getting treated as if his relationship to Kyle is important, he’s one of the superheros and they’re very vaguely touching on the fact that at one point he had a thing for Bobby. I was also hopeful that they’d explore the friendship that Wolverine and JP have…JP has left him all him Johnny on multiple occasions and if that doesn’t speak of friendship between the two then what does? Also Gambit is usually fun to read and even though I doubt she’ll stick around I always liked Cecilia. Karma wasn’t in the book, but on the cover so that means she’s showing up. Two men in a relationship, a previous crush, an interesting lesbian character, Warbird looks badass, Gambit is usually fun, Cecilia is usually competent and willing to point out when others need to step up and well Wolverine’s in everything so you can’t fault him being there. I was interested and desperately hoping they’d get Jean-Paul’s name right in the next issue.
I waited a few days to write about this because when I got my comics I was really excited. The guy I buy my comic books from knows how much I identify with and love Northstar. He was kind enough to save me a promotional ‘save the date’ card that has some of the cover art on it for Astonishing X-men 51. Needless to say I’m was thrilled.
I have to admit that issue 48 left me holding my breath, hoping they’d get this right, because the last time I got excited about Northstar being an X-man he had a very unrequited crush on Bobby Drake and practically every issue reminded everyone that he was gay. Yes, Northstar is gay. He only came out in Alpha Flight series 1 issue 106 way back in March of 1992 and there were many hints before that.
Astonishing X-men 48 opens with Northstar alone in a tunnel, dead people at his feet, tears in his eyes while he talks about love. He runs into Wolverine and Gambit who attack him, he tries to tell Wolverine to stop. He tells them that this isn’t them. Bobby shows up, using his powers to hold Gambit and Wolverine still, agreeing that this isn’t them and telling Northstar to go. This is very worrisome since the last time Wolverine lost his mind around Northstar, JP ended up dead. Granted he got resurrected and Wolverine went and save him, still the whole situation is bad.
Then Northstar wakes up and you’re left thinking it’s all a nightmare and that they are perhaps touching upon his past crush on Bobby. The first thing Jean-Paul does when he sits up is call out for Kyle, his boyfriend. Kyle immediately responds with ‘Babe?’ and JP gets up to see that his boyfriend is looking through boxes. They start bantering back and forth and its teasing and loving and it struck me as so very nice because JP is smiling and joking and they established way back in Machine Man 18 that JP likes a guy who can make him laugh and this seemed to be where his crush on Walter started, because Walter made him laugh. This is further supported by his crush on Drake since Bobby often jokes around with his teammates. So I was happy to see this touched upon. The next thing that pulled me in was that Kyle and JP establish that they’ve dated long distance for years and now they are finally living together and that this is a big deal for the two of them but they both wanted a fresh start together. They get back to bantering, Kyle pointing out that he thought the apartment would be but together easily considering JP’s superspeed. I also feel the need to say that they’re having this conversation surrounded by boxes, sitting in their new kitchen with Kyle in boxers and a white tank top while JP is just wearing black boxers. They almost share a kiss but banter back to JP putting the apartment together, which he does before they share an on-panel kiss. It’s lovely, you actually see them kiss, JP’s arm is around Kyle. Then of course the phone rings, their foreheads press together and Kyle doesn’t want JP to answer, but he has to because it’s the private line for the Jean Grey School. This apparently means it must be serious business. So JP answers demanding to know what Wolverine wants. Which of course harkens back to the fact that Wolverine and JP started out as teammates on Alpha Flight before Wolverine became one of the X-men, these two have a history and a camaraderie.
The comics switch to Gambit trying to convince Cecilia Reyes she can use his apartment, this is flirty too and I gave up on keeping up with Gambit’s love life a long time ago because it’s always complicated and difficult and honestly I grew up on XTAS so I ship him with Rogue, it’s just one of those things from my childhood. Apparently these two are just friends, but very flirty friends. The doorbell rings and when Gambit answers it suddenly Northstar is being called ‘Jean-Claude’ and this is where I started being worried that this was going to get all screwed up because if they can’t even keep his name right in one issue then how can I count on them to tell a good story? Also JP’s clothes aren’t very JP. Jean-Paul from even the early comics tends to wear his uniform, a suit or dress in layers. Nice slacks, nice shirt often worn with a sweater or vest. JP is wearing jeans, a white shirt and green jacket and he’s his posture if off too because he’s kinda hunched in on himself. Maybe he’s tired? It just didn’t work for me because while I could see JP letting his guard down around Kyle, maybe even Wolverine I couldn’t see it happen with Gambit or Cecilia. It just irked me and didn’t feel very JP, but maybe I’m having problems because for the rest of the issue he’s referred to as Jean-Claude. After Logan shows up, established that he asked JP to meet him there because he has business he wants to discuss and Cecilia points out that she’s not getting involved with the X-men again Warbird shows up, covered in blood. She tells them ‘It has begun’ before she tosses a decapitated head into the room. JP wants to know if he can go home now, Logan swears and tells everyone to get down. Cecilia uses her powers to protect them all and its clear she’s pissed and wants none of this mess, though Gambit hopes she still knows how to fight. Logan pulls out his claws and tells Northstar he needs eyes. It then cuts to a helicopter where people say they have the target in their sights and you can see a fuzzy picture of Northstar on one of the back screens. Then the guys in the helicopter want to know why its suddenly cold.
That’s right Iceman is there to save the day! He postures and calls them puny soldiers and downs the helicopter. Northstar wants to know what Iceman is doing and Bobby is all ‘I got this, I’m so cool’ and then he gets attacked and he’s down and Northstar is all ‘Bobby!’ and standing over him protectively telling his assailant to ‘Get the hell away from him’ and I suddenly feel pathetic because I don’t recognize the group of six that tell JP ‘Make us’ but apparently it’s the Marauders.
It then cuts to Kyle who is somehow tracking JP through an app and they don’t say why he’s doing this…maybe for the same reason he got caught in a bad guy attack in the recent Alpha Flight? He wanted to get pictures of JP in action for promotional reasons, except I don’t see a camera. Surprise Kyle gets attacked and dragged away by a mysterious figure in the shadow!
So I admit it I was excited. JP is getting treated as if his relationship to Kyle is important, he’s one of the superheros and they’re very vaguely touching on the fact that at one point he had a thing for Bobby. I was also hopeful that they’d explore the friendship that Wolverine and JP have…JP has left him all him Johnny on multiple occasions and if that doesn’t speak of friendship between the two then what does? Also Gambit is usually fun to read and even though I doubt she’ll stick around I always liked Cecilia. Karma wasn’t in the book, but on the cover so that means she’s showing up. Two men in a relationship, a previous crush, an interesting lesbian character, Warbird looks badass, Gambit is usually fun, Cecilia is usually competent and willing to point out when others need to step up and well Wolverine’s in everything so you can’t fault him being there. I was interested and desperately hoping they’d get Jean-Paul’s name right in the next issue.
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