Thursday, May 27, 2004
Yesterday evening, to The Foundry on Old Street for drinks and debauchery... All right, no debauchery, though Plums did show me her tattoo. We stayed outside as the weather was lovely and warm, but mainly to avoid the interpretive dance that broke out inside. Quote of the night was Cherry Bomb, who said she was shortly going back to the States to be bridesmaid at a friend's wedding. She was asked whether she was going to wear a pretty dress and she replied "No, but I do have to buy a relatively large inflatable p@nis." The mind boggles. They'd probably be happy with a dinner set or something Cherry... Flyboy meanwhile seemed to have decided he was Derren Brown and was displaying his mentalist powers. Gypsy Lantern was telling me about how his magical working with Oshun was going. When I was looking at ways to make changes in my life last year he'd recommended her to me as a possibly useful Goddess to work with, as she is a Flower Goddess, but after making a few half-hearted and wrong attempts I gave up, knowing that if I couldn't give her the attention and respect she deserved I would only end up hurting myself. He's invited me round for one of his sessions when he makes offerings and calls upon her, which I'd definitely like to attend.
Today, met up with Plums at Farringdon Station. She'd been up to review the Helen Chadwick exhibition at The Barbican for The 24 Hour Museum and there was one piece which was seperate from The Barbican. Blood Hyphen was a site-specific piece based at the Woodbridge Chapel nearby, and it had been recreated for this retrospective. What used to be a tall room had been split in two by a false ceiling, visiting it Chadwick had an idea which she developed into Blood Hyphen, using smoke machines in the gloom to periodically obscure a laser-bean that was shining from a corner on to a photo of cells from Chadwick's body. It was an interesting piece, meant to be interpreted in both a scientific way, the laser is scientific process cutting through the fog of ignorance to destroy diseased cells, and a religious one, the piercing light of God on humanity. It's free to get in so do pop along if you're in the area.
Right, geek out warning.
I bought Astonishing X-Men #1. Written by Joss Buffy Whedon, this effectively was following on from Grant Morrison's New X-Men and had attracted pre-launch publicity for a return to the spandex costumes that Morrison had ditched in favour of a 'mutant UN uniform that you wouldn't look daft in' look. Now, Whedon said he was genuinely happy with this decision, which seems to have come down from Marvel boss Joe Quesada. I have no problem with costumes per se, I've been a comics fan for over twenty years after all. What I don't like and don't agree with, is the way that they've been rationalised back into the plot.
Scott: The point is simply this- We need to get into the world, saving lives helping with disaster relief, we need to present ourselves as a team like any other. Avengers, Fantastic Four- They don't get chased through the streets with torches.
Logan: Here come the tights...
Scott: Sorry Logan, super heroes wear costumes. And quite frankly, all the black leather is making people nervous.
OK, so I've missed the meeting where it's been decided that the X-Men are super heroes. They've always behaved super-heroically, but they weren't a super hero team. And comparing themselves to legitimate Government-sanctioned super teams when they have no similar mandate, often fighting Government operatives out to kill them as often as super villains. There's also this quaint idea that the costume maketh the man, or mutant. Throughout their long history the X-Men have been scorned by humanity. It also suggests a media literacy amongst the normal people in the Marvel Universe that I don't think stands up, that they will see photos in their newspapers of people with super-powers in costumes fighting other people in costumes with powers and think "Wow, these guys must be heroes like the Avengers! We should like them!" Doctor Doom wears a costume. Magneto wears a costume. Any super-villain wears a costume. How are people supposed to discriminate between Doctor Octopus and a snarling Wolverine as to who is the bad guy? And super-heroes don't always have acceptance, look at Spiderman, constantly pilloried in the pages of the Daily Bugle? Costumes didn't stop fights breaking out between mutants and other superheroes back in the Secret War days.
When Morrison wrote X-Men he made a very important change. Nothing really came of it but it was a neat idea. The X-Men stopped trying to win humanities acceptence by fighting for their good. They have other super-heroes to do that. The X-Men repositioned itself as an organisation that was primarily about helping mutants in distress. This was acceptable to Scott, after all he founded X-Factor which initially did much the same thing, albeit under a different guise. This was a bolder approach, rather than the 'please like us' attitude it said 'we don't care whether you like us or not, but we won't let you hurt us'. If the X-Men are supposed to help all mutants they can't really do it by trying to make nice with the people that support their suppression. They have the money and the resources to wait them out. The Morrison uniforms also had prominent 'X's on them. Only one of the new uniforms does, the rest have small buckles that can't be seen from a distance and two of the team look like they're nothing to do with the others. How are a public under attack from costumed super-villains supposed to know who has saved them?
I don't care that Whedon has stepped back from this to a much less interesting reading which was the status quo for forty years. What irritates me is that he hasn't been able to find a way to do this that makes sense in the story. What irritates me more is that the new costumes look absolutely ridiculous, especially Cyclops' look. How can the others bear to be seen in public with him wearing that. His last line is that in regard to the public, "We must astonish them." Wearing that you will do.
But there was some promising dialogue on page 12:
Emma: We have learned the first lesson. They [humans] will always hate us. We will never live in a world of peace. Which is why control and non-violence are essential. We must prove ourselves a peaceful people. We must give the ordinary humans respect, compliance, and understanding. And we must never mistake that for trust.
It does make you wonder though why she's going along with Scott's 'be heroes to make them be nice to us; policy.
And don't get me started on Claremont bring back Magneto in Excalibur after Wolverine chopped his head off a few months ago...
Okay, non comics geeks can look back now...
Today, met up with Plums at Farringdon Station. She'd been up to review the Helen Chadwick exhibition at The Barbican for The 24 Hour Museum and there was one piece which was seperate from The Barbican. Blood Hyphen was a site-specific piece based at the Woodbridge Chapel nearby, and it had been recreated for this retrospective. What used to be a tall room had been split in two by a false ceiling, visiting it Chadwick had an idea which she developed into Blood Hyphen, using smoke machines in the gloom to periodically obscure a laser-bean that was shining from a corner on to a photo of cells from Chadwick's body. It was an interesting piece, meant to be interpreted in both a scientific way, the laser is scientific process cutting through the fog of ignorance to destroy diseased cells, and a religious one, the piercing light of God on humanity. It's free to get in so do pop along if you're in the area.
Right, geek out warning.
I bought Astonishing X-Men #1. Written by Joss Buffy Whedon, this effectively was following on from Grant Morrison's New X-Men and had attracted pre-launch publicity for a return to the spandex costumes that Morrison had ditched in favour of a 'mutant UN uniform that you wouldn't look daft in' look. Now, Whedon said he was genuinely happy with this decision, which seems to have come down from Marvel boss Joe Quesada. I have no problem with costumes per se, I've been a comics fan for over twenty years after all. What I don't like and don't agree with, is the way that they've been rationalised back into the plot.
Scott: The point is simply this- We need to get into the world, saving lives helping with disaster relief, we need to present ourselves as a team like any other. Avengers, Fantastic Four- They don't get chased through the streets with torches.
Logan: Here come the tights...
Scott: Sorry Logan, super heroes wear costumes. And quite frankly, all the black leather is making people nervous.
OK, so I've missed the meeting where it's been decided that the X-Men are super heroes. They've always behaved super-heroically, but they weren't a super hero team. And comparing themselves to legitimate Government-sanctioned super teams when they have no similar mandate, often fighting Government operatives out to kill them as often as super villains. There's also this quaint idea that the costume maketh the man, or mutant. Throughout their long history the X-Men have been scorned by humanity. It also suggests a media literacy amongst the normal people in the Marvel Universe that I don't think stands up, that they will see photos in their newspapers of people with super-powers in costumes fighting other people in costumes with powers and think "Wow, these guys must be heroes like the Avengers! We should like them!" Doctor Doom wears a costume. Magneto wears a costume. Any super-villain wears a costume. How are people supposed to discriminate between Doctor Octopus and a snarling Wolverine as to who is the bad guy? And super-heroes don't always have acceptance, look at Spiderman, constantly pilloried in the pages of the Daily Bugle? Costumes didn't stop fights breaking out between mutants and other superheroes back in the Secret War days.
When Morrison wrote X-Men he made a very important change. Nothing really came of it but it was a neat idea. The X-Men stopped trying to win humanities acceptence by fighting for their good. They have other super-heroes to do that. The X-Men repositioned itself as an organisation that was primarily about helping mutants in distress. This was acceptable to Scott, after all he founded X-Factor which initially did much the same thing, albeit under a different guise. This was a bolder approach, rather than the 'please like us' attitude it said 'we don't care whether you like us or not, but we won't let you hurt us'. If the X-Men are supposed to help all mutants they can't really do it by trying to make nice with the people that support their suppression. They have the money and the resources to wait them out. The Morrison uniforms also had prominent 'X's on them. Only one of the new uniforms does, the rest have small buckles that can't be seen from a distance and two of the team look like they're nothing to do with the others. How are a public under attack from costumed super-villains supposed to know who has saved them?
I don't care that Whedon has stepped back from this to a much less interesting reading which was the status quo for forty years. What irritates me is that he hasn't been able to find a way to do this that makes sense in the story. What irritates me more is that the new costumes look absolutely ridiculous, especially Cyclops' look. How can the others bear to be seen in public with him wearing that. His last line is that in regard to the public, "We must astonish them." Wearing that you will do.
But there was some promising dialogue on page 12:
Emma: We have learned the first lesson. They [humans] will always hate us. We will never live in a world of peace. Which is why control and non-violence are essential. We must prove ourselves a peaceful people. We must give the ordinary humans respect, compliance, and understanding. And we must never mistake that for trust.
It does make you wonder though why she's going along with Scott's 'be heroes to make them be nice to us; policy.
And don't get me started on Claremont bring back Magneto in Excalibur after Wolverine chopped his head off a few months ago...
Okay, non comics geeks can look back now...
