ComicBook says a villainess like Mystique must be given respect
ComicBook's lecturing that Marvel villainess Mystique, one of the most prominent adversaries of the X-Men, needs to be provided with "respect", as though we don't have enough of these villainy-on-the-pedastal problems already:
It goes without saying the columnist is blurring the differences between fiction and reality by lecturing us that a non-existant character is the one who "managed" to become one of the X-Men's most formidable foes, rather than Claremont succeeding in writing a talented story where she did.
And it's not Carol Danvers who gave Mystique an "in" with series other than X-Men, but Claremont as a writer. If memory serves, Sabretooth originally appeared Iron Fist's Bronze Age stories, to which Claremont had some writing credits, and later went on to appear in the X-Men, also as an adversary for Wolverine. Now that I think of it, the columnist doesn't clearly thank Claremont for any of that so much as he does fawn over a villainess as though that alone is fun.
Writer Chris Claremont’s tenure at Marvel is one of the most important in the history of the publisher. Claremont created boatloads of important characters for Marvel, all while the taking the X-Men and making them into the comic industry’s most popular team. Claremont’s best characters still play a massive role in the lives of the X-Men and one of those characters doesn’t actually get the respect she deserves — the shapeshifting assassin known as Mystique. Mystique has had a great couple of years. She played a key role in the X-Men’s Krakoa Era. Her longtime lesbian lover Destiny was resurrected, and the true parentage of her son Nightcrawler was revealed. Mystique and Destiny got officially married, and the character has since returned in a solo miniseries from Declan Shalvey. Mystique might seem like she’s getting her just desserts, but it’s honestly not enough.So a criminal is awesome, but not a heroine, or even a reformed crook? What a groaner indeed. Why are we being lectured Mystique is "great", and all because of the wokest retcons that turned up in recent years? What's so "great" about Raven Darkholme and even Irene Adler that isn't so great about Rogue, who was once depicted as a protege of Mystique before reforming?
Mystique is not just one of the most important villains in the X-Men’s long and illustrious history, but she’s also one of the most important female villains in the entire Marvel Universe. Mystique managed to be a woman arch-enemy of Marvel’s most popular team during one of its more popular phases. Mystique deserves her flowers as a Marvel great, and looking at her history shows just how awesome Mystique truly is.
It goes without saying the columnist is blurring the differences between fiction and reality by lecturing us that a non-existant character is the one who "managed" to become one of the X-Men's most formidable foes, rather than Claremont succeeding in writing a talented story where she did.
Mystique first appeared in Ms. Marvel #16 back in 1978, four years after Giant-Size X-Men #1 made mutants important again. Mystique wouldn’t appear in the X-Men books for a little bit after this, showing up as the leader of a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, one that counted her, Destiny, Blob, Toad, Avalanche, Pyro, and other lesser known members like Sabre. Mystique’s Brotherhood became one of the more iconic versions of the evil team, and immediately showed that Mystique was a villain to watch out for. She jumped into the lead of the foremost X-Men villains and she stayed there for years, eventually getting the Brotherhood deputized by the federal government of the US as the Freedom Force, and the group played a huge role in the X-Men’s stories.Apparently, that must be the reason the columnist considers her such a big deal, and "important" to mutant "history". So it's not so much a matter of merit as it is a matter of political bias.
As the years went on, more was revealed about Mystique’s past, for example her rather advanced age, and it all showed just how important she was to the history of mutants in general. Mystique and Destiny found each other at the end of the 19th century and made for a formidable force in events. Destiny’s precognitive abilities led them to where they needed to be and Mystique’s powers and fighting skills always allowed them to influence events. Mystique was a major player in the black ops and mutant worlds for decades. She’s been everything from a lackey — like the time she worked for Sinister to destroy the X-Men from within and take Rogue away from the team — or as the mastermind, like her long tenure at the head of the Brotherhood. She was a legitimate power player on Krakoa once Destiny was resurrected, and stands as one of the foremost bisexual characters in comics.
There are villains with more stature in the Marvel Universe that haven’t been nearly as important as Mystique has. Claremont used Mystique as one of the main X-Men villains from the early ’80s until the Outback Era at least, with the character constantly striking at the team. She’s been established as a major player in the history of the mutant race. She’s one of the first women to lead a major Marvel villains team. She’s a perfect villain in a variety of roles — she’s a great master manipulator, a great black ops hero/villain, an awesome archenemy — her time as one of Wolverine’s main villain during the Jason Aaron years doesn’t get enough credit, great as a solo villain or part of a team, and she has several stints on X-teams that are a lot of fun, especially her time with X-Factor in the mid ’90s, a generally underrated time for the team. Mystique even fits outside of the mutant side of the Marvel Universe, her history with Carol Danvers giving her an in with Marvel’s most formidable team, the Avengers. There are villains who are much more popular than Mystique who don’t have a tenth of the utility.There are heroes and even civilian co-stars who don't have a 10th of the attention given to any villain, and the writer's wasting tons of page bytes gushing over a character who was conceived as a criminal. Even Mary Jane Watson doesn't get this kind of positive praise today. I'm sorry, but this is insulting to the intellect, and since they seem to be making a big deal out of a lesbian couple leading lives of crime, one can only wonder if a male gay couple would've lasted as long in the same roles, recalling there was a time in the past century when the entertainment industry was far more willing to depict lesbians as criminals than homosexual men? It's also telling the writer cites the stories of a woke writer like Aaron, after all the horrible, politically motivated writing he produced for Thor, as something to admire. That says all you need to know the columnist isn't serious.
And it's not Carol Danvers who gave Mystique an "in" with series other than X-Men, but Claremont as a writer. If memory serves, Sabretooth originally appeared Iron Fist's Bronze Age stories, to which Claremont had some writing credits, and later went on to appear in the X-Men, also as an adversary for Wolverine. Now that I think of it, the columnist doesn't clearly thank Claremont for any of that so much as he does fawn over a villainess as though that alone is fun.
Mystique is a character that doesn’t come along very often. It’s rare to find a character who is so useful in so many types of stories. Calling Mystique underappreciated may seem an exaggeration — she’s a beloved X-Men character — but it’s also a true statement. Mystique can be an A-list villain for basically any Marvel hero out there. That’s extremely rare, and that’s before Destiny is even entered into the equation. Mystique is a character who deserves the spotlight all the time.Tell us about it. There's plenty of heroic minor characters who don't come along often in creation by their past writers and artists, including the Silver Age Atom and his lady co-star Jean Loring, and all they get today is abuse. And we're supposed to find a bunch of villains something to party about? Shame.
Mystique is in a class all her own. She can stand tall in any kind of story she’s in, and it’s about time that Marvel actually realized that. Mystique gained a lot of popularity from her live-action renditions by Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence, making her one of the more recognizable mutants out there. She’s a character that Marvel could build around, and should never be anything less than an A-list character. Here’s how great Mystique is — she was a major part of the Krakoa Era, but no one ever complained about how important she was, whereas people got sick of Mister Sinister, another villain that played a huge role in the Krakoa Era.They haven't played them right for a quarter century now. Something many of these ideologues aren't willing to admit. Nor do they recognize it's the writing merit that makes a character "stand tall", which could explain why whatever mention Claremont gets here, it's so dumbed down. And then, in another silly reference, the columnist appears to be making illogical distinctions by claiming nobody cared about Mr. Sinister in the same run. All without clearly acknowledging the writing merit, or lack thereof. It's also hilarious how the columnist talks about "identifying" fictional characters with potential, but not talented writers who can realize said potential. If it hadn't been for Claremont's efforts in the past, who knows if the X-Men would've regained popularity? There was one commentor who responded to the puff piece, and said:
Mystique has decades of amazing stories under her belt and the kind of history that allows her an in with just about any character out there. Marvel got as popular as they have because they were able to identify the characters that had the most potential and put them forward. Mystique is a character on this level, and Marvel can easily make her into a superstar in the years to come if they play their cards right.
Well they ruined Mystique after the Blue Origins retcon. They changed her powers, her motivations, binned her connection to Rogue as something unsubstantial, made her a victim of her now out of character wife and took away her motherhood to make her a father. This is why she is not selling. Claremont ruined her for his own petty games to beat out Austen while being greedy and ignoring the bigger picture. If they stubbornly won't fix her and undo this retcon then she is redundant. Maybe they can focus on Selene instead?I don't think Claremont's the one responsible, though his writing talents certainly declined over the years. But a valid point's made about the petty retcons forced upon the Marvel universe post-2000, and the gushing over characters created as criminals as something to celebrate has long gotten way out of hand. This is practically why mainstream superhero fare is losing readership. If we're not being asked to care about heroes and their co-stars, and all that matters is villains, who didn't usually get "character growth" as a focus years before, that's disturbing, and sets a very poor example that's sadly become very common today. Unfortunately, there's no chance even now that anybody's going to put a more serious emphasis on why heroes and civilian co-stars should be admired, foremost courtesy of the writing talent. Though it does explain why specialty news coverage of comicdom has become so poor.
Labels: golden calf of LGBT, golden calf of villainy, history, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, X-Men
