tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post3815483527869354229..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: X-amining Beauty and the Beast #1-4Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-53185820235236484842016-09-20T19:24:10.332-05:002016-09-20T19:24:10.332-05:00I loathe the gladiator trope and I'm pretty su...I loathe the gladiator trope and I'm pretty sure CC has done it more than mentioned. Even in the recent Nightcrawler series. <br /><br />Wasn't the B&B title used for TAS, with the blind patient Beast falls for?<br /><br />This is a step up from Iceman but it's not much. Too bad. I always feel like these issues can be rearranged with new dialogue to wring a decent 2 issue slice of life story. Any takers?DBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04094596928780098392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-80394184067994032452013-05-13T12:14:39.943-05:002013-05-13T12:14:39.943-05:00@Blam: Marvel's continuing expansion/exposure ...@Blam: <i>Marvel's continuing expansion/exposure of mutant characters and the somewhat inexplicable push to constantly make Dazzler happen (maybe because Shooter felt a proprietary interest in the character)</i><br /><br />Yeah, I never really realized until doing this series of posts just how much of a push Dazzler was getting around this time: a new direction/costume in her regular series, a limited series, a guest-starring gig in <i>New Mutants</i>, and, of course, her ultimately-aborted role in <i>X-Factor</i>, which would have made her something of a de facto original X-Men by association. <br /><br />Given the number of creators and books involved in all that, in really does seem likely that Shooter (as the one common denominator) was the one making the push, for whatever reason. <br /><br /><i>I'm not saying that didn't happen, as I haven't read those issues, but I doubt it.</i><br /><br />Ditto both on having not read their respective series and also doubting those series followed up on any of this. <br /><br /><i>Yes; I think back on all the coliseums I've visited and much prefer the less ostentatious ones.</i><br /><br />Ha! Yes, "tastefulness" is an important quality in your death arenas...<br /><br /><i>How do you flunk out of Xavier's — somehow not be worth teaching how to use your mutant abilities responsibly?</i><br /><br />The implication here is that she flunked out because her power is so lame, meaning A. there isn't much she can be taught in terms of using/controlling it (because there's so little to do with it) and B. there's no way her power would be effective in combat, making her useless as a member of the X-Men. <br /><br />Of course, I don't think Nocenti was giving it that much thought...<br /><br /><i>To be fair, Alison, Mr. and Mrs. Summers literally created Havok in the gene pool, so...</i><br /><br />High-oh!<br /><br /><i>Has there ever been a storyline about someone with nefarious intentions, human or mutant, either wanting to breed mutants and raise the children as some kind of superpowered army and/or wanting to breed with mutants to raise his (or her) kids as some kind of superpowered cult?</i><br /><br />Mmm, kinda. Mr. Sinister dabbles in that kind of stuff (Cable is, after all the various retcons, an attempt by Sinister to create a mutant powerful enough to defeat Apocalypse once and for all, and all his manipulations of Cyclops and Jean Grey (including creating Maddy) was to that end). There was a story in the reluanched <i>New Mutants</i> a few years ago involving the army using the now-adult babies from "Inferno". There's probably more I'm forgetting though.<br /><br /><br /><br /> Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-21450346417244595852013-04-28T21:42:43.895-05:002013-04-28T21:42:43.895-05:00Hugo Longride
!!!
I have no idea what the genesi...<br><i>Hugo Longride</i><br /><br />!!!<br /><br /><i>I have no idea what the genesis of this series was, though I'm not convinced it wasn't just an attempt to use Beast in a series with the title "Beauty and the Beast"</i><br /><br />That sounds about right to me. 8^)<br /><br />As someone pointed out here recently, too, Marvel editors were being encouraged to write more at the time — which also led to Nocenti's <i>Longshot</i> mini. So this could've just been an imperfect storm of sorts, including Marvel's continuing expansion/exposure of mutant characters and the somewhat inexplicable push to constantly make Dazzler happen (maybe because Shooter felt a proprietary interest in the character). The fact that it takes place while <i>Dazzler</i>'s series is still being published and Beast is in <i>New Defenders</i> every month — not that he's really ever been out of the spotlight since becoming a regular in <i>Avengers</i> post-transformation — is weird, because the romance and Dazzler's trauma are something that you'd expect should be followed up in their respective ongoing series; I'm not saying that didn't happen, as I haven't read those issues, but I doubt it.<br /><br />Beast's thought balloon in that panel you show, "It's such a dreadful coliseum -- decadent and distasteful," is hilarious. Yes; I think back on all the coliseums I've visited and much prefer the less ostentatious ones.<br /><br /><i> one of whom claims to have flunked out of that school in Westchester </i><br /><br />How do you flunk out of Xavier's — somehow not be worth teaching how to use your mutant abilities responsibly?<br /><br /><i>That's some outfit Dazzler is wearing in issue #3, as she prepares to fight in the arena. </i><br /><br />Oy! And Hank's response is "decadent" again?!?<br /><br /><i>Dazzler comments that at least there aren't separate drinking fountains for mutants yet.</i><br /><br />"What's the world afraid of? That we'll create havoc in the gene pool?" To be fair, Alison, Mr. and Mrs. Summers literally created <i>Havok</i> in the gene pool, so...<br /><br />Has there ever been a storyline about someone with nefarious intentions, human or mutant, either wanting to breed mutants and raise the children as some kind of superpowered army and/or wanting to breed <i>with</i> mutants to raise his (or her) kids as some kind of superpowered cult?<br /><br /><i>a crowd freaks out at the sight of Dazzler and Beast spending time together on the beach</i><br /><br />I don't think either the grandma in the peekaboo collared tank top or the fella in the red half tee, purple short-shorts, and tricorder should be casting stones.<br /><br /><i> man, do I regret that decision </i><br /><br />I know I've said this before, but after I picked up the first issues of this and <i>Iceman</i> I had a "fool me twice" moment, really souring on the saturation of lesser X-Men spinoffs. Beast was actually a really fun character in his "Oh my stars and garters!" days, too, which makes this a lost opportunity. Him meeting up with Wonder Man could've been a better story, perhaps with Dazzler in the mix and Simon having to deal with the fact that Alison's hitting it off with Hank rather than with him, while they completely unintentionally stumble into Doom's investigation of this kid claiming to be his son. <br /><br>Blamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342343767763035991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-85949853782604729582013-04-25T14:26:57.608-05:002013-04-25T14:26:57.608-05:00Oh, Spambots, you crack me up. I'm going to le...Oh, Spambots, you crack me up. I'm going to leave that comment in place because it's so hilariously obvious that a robot generated it. Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-40787054662603602952013-04-19T15:34:09.316-05:002013-04-19T15:34:09.316-05:00@Ian: I also seem to recall an X-Factor annual wi...@Ian: <i> I also seem to recall an X-Factor annual with the Beast in it that also had some kind of title like "Beauty and the Beast". Is that a sequel to this mini-series?</i><br /><br />I don't remember the details of that annual offhand, but I'm fairly certain it wasn't a sequel to this. <br /><br />@Chris: <i>However, financial needs of Cadence caused him to gut that budget and turn everything over to Tom Defalco and local in house talent.</i><br /><br />Yeah, there's a whole chunk in <i>Marvel Comics: The Untold Story</i> about Shooter's gran plans for the New Universe and how it kept getting undercut by budgetary concerns. <br /><br /><i> Ann Nocenti was an unknown at this time, and this could have been her first writing assignment. </i><br /><br />Not technically her first (at the very least, she'd closed out <i>Spider-Woman</i>), but she was definitely not an established talent, at least as a writer, and likely earned the minimum rate for freelance writing. <br /><br />I can definitely buy the idea that this was churned out in an effort to just flood the market with cheaply-produced content in the hopes of goosing sales across the board (as opposed to producing this to say to corporate masters "this is the kind of low-selling crap we're going to churn out unless you give us more money."). Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-49699279652779461442013-04-18T20:54:45.584-05:002013-04-18T20:54:45.584-05:00I can easily believe Matt's conspiracy theory....I can easily believe Matt's conspiracy theory. Marvel may have been dominant at the time and making good money, but Marvel was not its own company. It was owned by Cadence Industries, and I believe it may have been fighting a corporate takeover around this time. Jim Shooter has mentioned several times that he had to make business decisions based on earning more money for Cadence.<br /><br />For example, I know he stated that originally the New Universe was budgeted so that high price talent could be hired to generate new concepts and create the stories. However, financial needs of Cadence caused him to gut that budget and turn everything over to Tom Defalco and local in house talent.<br /><br />If so, Shooter didn't publish this to prove a point. He published it using second tier talents to make a quick buck. Ann Nocenti was an unknown at this time, and this could have been her first writing assignment. Don Perlin was an old thoroughbred artist, but he was far from hot. Kim DeMulder was an established inker, but no following as far as I could tell.<br /><br />-ChrisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-80413727268776859272013-04-18T14:31:56.673-05:002013-04-18T14:31:56.673-05:00Interesting post. I also seem to recall an X-Facto...Interesting post. I also seem to recall an X-Factor annual with the Beast in it that also had some kind of title like "Beauty and the Beast". Is that a sequel to this mini-series?Ian Millerhttp://universex259.deviantart.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-66366857038243021342013-04-18T11:27:57.514-05:002013-04-18T11:27:57.514-05:00@Matt: To my recollection, no one has ever mentio...@Matt: <i> To my recollection, no one has ever mentioned this again.</i><br /><br />Nor to mine, either. <br /><br /><i>I'm not quite sure I buy that, since as far as I know, Marvel was still outselling pretty much everyone around this time</i><br /><br />I also tend to question conspiracy theories of this sort which require someone with a head/concern for business (and Shooter definitely had both) to willingly put something out they don't expect to sell just to make/prove a point, but you never know. <br /><br /><i>Anyway, after reading about how awful this and </i>Iceman<i> were, I look forwared to your covering a good limited series next week in </i>X-Men & Alpha Flight<i>!</i><br /><br />You and me both, my friend, you and me both...Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-20165937559206954552013-04-18T11:15:00.140-05:002013-04-18T11:15:00.140-05:00Wow. Until this very moment, I seriously had no i...Wow. Until this very moment, I seriously had no idea that there had ever been a romantic "thing" between Beast and Dazzler. To my recollection, no one has ever mentioned this again.<br /><br />"<b>I have no idea what the genesis of this series was</b>..."<br /><br />I recently read a conspiracy theory that around this time, in order to appease the bottom-line demands of Marvel corporate, Jim Shooter started publishing all manner of limited series, to varying degrees of success/quality. I'm not quite sure I buy that, since as far as I know, Marvel was still outselling pretty much everyone around this time -- but the sudden glut of limited series at this point is kind of odd.<br /><br />Anyway, after reading about how awful this and <i>Iceman</i> were, I look forwared to your covering a <i>good</i> limited series next week in <i>X-Men & Alpha Flight</i>!Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14580725636327122073noreply@blogger.com