A rant against the current X-Factor comic
I think I need to explain why I'm writing Deadpool/Siryn after they broke up in his series several years ago and they've both moved on in their lives. Yes, I'm sore my favorite pairing was broken up, but this goes a little further than that. I'll try to summarize(rant ahead).
From his works that I've seen, Peter David is not good at portraying women as human beings with strengths and weaknesses. I own all four volumes of X-Factor Visionaries and have read several of his new X-Factor Investigations series. His other works may have stronger women. I don't know. What I do know is that in his first X-Factor series, Lorna Dane was trying to reestablish her relationship with Havok while Rahne Sinclair did her best to interfere, obviously lusting after him. Two women on the team. Both of them romantically interested in the team leader. Compare to X-Factor Investigations if you will. It gets ickier.
Rahne was supposedly fourteen at the time. I'll chalk that up to Marvel's sliding timescale, teenage hormones, and Rahne's abnormal biology. But David took it further and claimed Rahne had been genetically bonded to Alex in a master/slave relationship. This bond made her want to objectify herself for him and obey his every whim. If that doesn't sound like wish fufillment, I'm not sure what does.
Lorna had her own issues as well. She was drawn just like every other superheroine, tall, muscular, full lips, and perfect breasts. I'm used to the cheesecake art. It's just something you have to get past if you're a woman and read comics. My problem was David decided that in order to make Lorna more "realistic" she should have body issues. She felt she was overweight, calling herself a "blimp" compared to the two other women on the team. When she lost fifteen pounds, (she broke her jaw and was unable to eat solid foods), Lorna reacted by standing in front of her therapist and throwing off her coat while wearing a very skimpy uniform underneath, proudly showing off her new and improved figure. "You kick my hormones into overdrive," was his reaction. It was unprofessional of him to say the least. Not to mention that no sane woman should be jealous of a fourteen year old girl's body and no therapist worth his salt would brush that kind of distorted body image off.
I'm not even going to mention when Val was brainwashed into joining an evil dictator's harem (in a bellydancer costume) or that the first thing Rhapsody did when meeting Multiple Man was sleep with him in a dream vision. The "bond" Rahne had with Alex didn't explain why in one issue she tried getting into Jamie's pants or why she was so insanely jealous of Lorna. Wouldn't a true "slave" be happy with whatever her master did? It was never explained just why this bond was so sexual in nature or why Rahne and Lorna both wanted Havok so gosh darn bad.
Havok's a cool character. I'd like him a lot more if he did something other than angst about being Scott's brother. It was too bad his X-men squad was so short lived. However, he doesn't show much more than slight annoyance over Rahne's issues and doesn't even notice Lorna's. He's a broody, badass leader, but he isn't romantic, attentive, or even remotely interesting beyond that.
This pattern will repeat itself when David is given back X-Factor and Multiple Man is in charge. In the previous incarnation of X-Factor, Jamie was the comic relief, desperate for any kind of attention. Now, for no real reason he's become an alcoholic and prone to brooding. He sent his dupes out to gather information and skills before reintegrating themselves, but this hasn't given him any hobbies or personality. He mostly sits around and angsts that it's just so darn hard to run his own detective agency.
Monet's hooking up with Jamie really puzzles me. I would probably be much more ticked off if I ever liked her. In Generation X she was a mild version of the "mean girl." She was rich, intelligent, beautiful, and sophisticated and she damn well knew it. While she was in Generation X, she only dated Synch briefly and he was an intelligent, modest, and sincere young man. Yet she sleeps with Jamie, who is known for being emotionally immature and not too bright. Even if Jamie is the kind of sex god M claimed, would that really be enough to keep her interested in him? Monet never showed any kind of sexual appetite that needed sating. She was simply too poised for that, but she melted like butter in Jamie's hands. She only dumped him when he (or a dupe) continued to sleep with her and Siryn at the same time. At least David gave her enough self-respect to do that. He wasn't that kind to Theresa.
None of the three characters came out of this little love triangle (or square) looking all that bright, but Siryn really got hit the hardest. She'd already had a relationship with Jamie that failed after Jamie revealed she'd dated a dupe. He simply had no emotional attachment to the memories of their time together. It broke her heart, but she was apparently willing to sleep with him again. She wasn't willing to date Warpath, who was her best friend and had a longtime romantic interest in her. Siryn wasn't even willing to commit to Deadpool, whom she admitted she admired, because he was too much of a loose cannon. She was going to jump into a relationship with Jamie when he drunkenly walked into her bedroom in the middle of the night and had hurt her before.
Theresa thought she was finally dating the "real" Jamie, which was a dream come true. Okay, but wouldn't she feel even more hurt and betrayed after she found out the truth? That he was sleeping with both her and M and didn't care about either of their feelings enough to end it? Unfortunately, Theresa became pregnant, but wanted to carry her child to term. The child was a dupe that she somehow carried and gave birth to until Jamie absorbed it accidentally. The sheer stupidity of that pregnancy aside, it is implied that Monet also became pregnant, but her body rejected it because she somehow knew it wasn't a real infant. That's right Terry. You got fake knocked up because your body is weak and stupid.
I would even be okay with her dupe birth if anyone had shown a reasonable reaction to it. The next issue focuses entirely on Jamie and his self-pity because obviously such a tragedy affected him the most (sarcasm there). He's sad that his powers have fucked up his and other people's lives again. What he doesn't do is call and ask if Theresa is okay, lament the loss of a new life with Siryn, or apologize for treating her so cruelly. Jamie never says he loved her. He is about to shoot himself when Layla shows up.
Layla, who just a few weeks ago to him had been a little girl, grew up in the future and travelled to the past to bring Jamie with her. One of the first things out of his mouth is that she's developed "hips" and "things." The next time we see them, they're kissing and Jamie is talking about how nice she is being to him. Layla is a precog. She knew what was going to happen to Siryn and let it happen anyway, but shows no guilt over her complicity. In fact, has been prophecied that she's going to marry Multiple Man. So Jamie has done one better than Havok and is going to score with all three women on his team!
Meanwhile, Siryn has physically recovered from her pregnancy. She is mentally dealing with the loss of her first child, the child she named after her dead father, by...acting bitchy. Not by drinking again, crying, leaving the team, or tracking Jamie down and killing his stupid ass. She just acts like she's perpetually PMSing. Her team-mates don't show any real sympathy or concern for her either. This makes them either look like total morons or unfeelings jerks. Women do not respond to a miscarriage or still-birth (the closest real life scenario I think) by not wanting to discuss the child and by acting kind of pissy.
Losing a child like that can damage a woman for life. Sean died right in front of her, "killed" by his father. Theresa should be all kinds of fucked up right now, not leading X-Factor in Jamie's absense. Why the hell would she? She has an inheritance and she doesn't seem especially attached to any of her teammates. Theresa had a stronger emotional reaction to having her vocal chords severed by Feral. This really cheapens her as a character and I really miss when she was strong, impulsive, and intelligent as well as compassionate. She really deserves better writing than this. I could continue with why I ship her with Deadpool instead of Proudstar, but I've written quite enough for today and this entry is way too long as it is.
From his works that I've seen, Peter David is not good at portraying women as human beings with strengths and weaknesses. I own all four volumes of X-Factor Visionaries and have read several of his new X-Factor Investigations series. His other works may have stronger women. I don't know. What I do know is that in his first X-Factor series, Lorna Dane was trying to reestablish her relationship with Havok while Rahne Sinclair did her best to interfere, obviously lusting after him. Two women on the team. Both of them romantically interested in the team leader. Compare to X-Factor Investigations if you will. It gets ickier.
Rahne was supposedly fourteen at the time. I'll chalk that up to Marvel's sliding timescale, teenage hormones, and Rahne's abnormal biology. But David took it further and claimed Rahne had been genetically bonded to Alex in a master/slave relationship. This bond made her want to objectify herself for him and obey his every whim. If that doesn't sound like wish fufillment, I'm not sure what does.
Lorna had her own issues as well. She was drawn just like every other superheroine, tall, muscular, full lips, and perfect breasts. I'm used to the cheesecake art. It's just something you have to get past if you're a woman and read comics. My problem was David decided that in order to make Lorna more "realistic" she should have body issues. She felt she was overweight, calling herself a "blimp" compared to the two other women on the team. When she lost fifteen pounds, (she broke her jaw and was unable to eat solid foods), Lorna reacted by standing in front of her therapist and throwing off her coat while wearing a very skimpy uniform underneath, proudly showing off her new and improved figure. "You kick my hormones into overdrive," was his reaction. It was unprofessional of him to say the least. Not to mention that no sane woman should be jealous of a fourteen year old girl's body and no therapist worth his salt would brush that kind of distorted body image off.
I'm not even going to mention when Val was brainwashed into joining an evil dictator's harem (in a bellydancer costume) or that the first thing Rhapsody did when meeting Multiple Man was sleep with him in a dream vision. The "bond" Rahne had with Alex didn't explain why in one issue she tried getting into Jamie's pants or why she was so insanely jealous of Lorna. Wouldn't a true "slave" be happy with whatever her master did? It was never explained just why this bond was so sexual in nature or why Rahne and Lorna both wanted Havok so gosh darn bad.
Havok's a cool character. I'd like him a lot more if he did something other than angst about being Scott's brother. It was too bad his X-men squad was so short lived. However, he doesn't show much more than slight annoyance over Rahne's issues and doesn't even notice Lorna's. He's a broody, badass leader, but he isn't romantic, attentive, or even remotely interesting beyond that.
This pattern will repeat itself when David is given back X-Factor and Multiple Man is in charge. In the previous incarnation of X-Factor, Jamie was the comic relief, desperate for any kind of attention. Now, for no real reason he's become an alcoholic and prone to brooding. He sent his dupes out to gather information and skills before reintegrating themselves, but this hasn't given him any hobbies or personality. He mostly sits around and angsts that it's just so darn hard to run his own detective agency.
Monet's hooking up with Jamie really puzzles me. I would probably be much more ticked off if I ever liked her. In Generation X she was a mild version of the "mean girl." She was rich, intelligent, beautiful, and sophisticated and she damn well knew it. While she was in Generation X, she only dated Synch briefly and he was an intelligent, modest, and sincere young man. Yet she sleeps with Jamie, who is known for being emotionally immature and not too bright. Even if Jamie is the kind of sex god M claimed, would that really be enough to keep her interested in him? Monet never showed any kind of sexual appetite that needed sating. She was simply too poised for that, but she melted like butter in Jamie's hands. She only dumped him when he (or a dupe) continued to sleep with her and Siryn at the same time. At least David gave her enough self-respect to do that. He wasn't that kind to Theresa.
None of the three characters came out of this little love triangle (or square) looking all that bright, but Siryn really got hit the hardest. She'd already had a relationship with Jamie that failed after Jamie revealed she'd dated a dupe. He simply had no emotional attachment to the memories of their time together. It broke her heart, but she was apparently willing to sleep with him again. She wasn't willing to date Warpath, who was her best friend and had a longtime romantic interest in her. Siryn wasn't even willing to commit to Deadpool, whom she admitted she admired, because he was too much of a loose cannon. She was going to jump into a relationship with Jamie when he drunkenly walked into her bedroom in the middle of the night and had hurt her before.
Theresa thought she was finally dating the "real" Jamie, which was a dream come true. Okay, but wouldn't she feel even more hurt and betrayed after she found out the truth? That he was sleeping with both her and M and didn't care about either of their feelings enough to end it? Unfortunately, Theresa became pregnant, but wanted to carry her child to term. The child was a dupe that she somehow carried and gave birth to until Jamie absorbed it accidentally. The sheer stupidity of that pregnancy aside, it is implied that Monet also became pregnant, but her body rejected it because she somehow knew it wasn't a real infant. That's right Terry. You got fake knocked up because your body is weak and stupid.
I would even be okay with her dupe birth if anyone had shown a reasonable reaction to it. The next issue focuses entirely on Jamie and his self-pity because obviously such a tragedy affected him the most (sarcasm there). He's sad that his powers have fucked up his and other people's lives again. What he doesn't do is call and ask if Theresa is okay, lament the loss of a new life with Siryn, or apologize for treating her so cruelly. Jamie never says he loved her. He is about to shoot himself when Layla shows up.
Layla, who just a few weeks ago to him had been a little girl, grew up in the future and travelled to the past to bring Jamie with her. One of the first things out of his mouth is that she's developed "hips" and "things." The next time we see them, they're kissing and Jamie is talking about how nice she is being to him. Layla is a precog. She knew what was going to happen to Siryn and let it happen anyway, but shows no guilt over her complicity. In fact, has been prophecied that she's going to marry Multiple Man. So Jamie has done one better than Havok and is going to score with all three women on his team!
Meanwhile, Siryn has physically recovered from her pregnancy. She is mentally dealing with the loss of her first child, the child she named after her dead father, by...acting bitchy. Not by drinking again, crying, leaving the team, or tracking Jamie down and killing his stupid ass. She just acts like she's perpetually PMSing. Her team-mates don't show any real sympathy or concern for her either. This makes them either look like total morons or unfeelings jerks. Women do not respond to a miscarriage or still-birth (the closest real life scenario I think) by not wanting to discuss the child and by acting kind of pissy.
Losing a child like that can damage a woman for life. Sean died right in front of her, "killed" by his father. Theresa should be all kinds of fucked up right now, not leading X-Factor in Jamie's absense. Why the hell would she? She has an inheritance and she doesn't seem especially attached to any of her teammates. Theresa had a stronger emotional reaction to having her vocal chords severed by Feral. This really cheapens her as a character and I really miss when she was strong, impulsive, and intelligent as well as compassionate. She really deserves better writing than this. I could continue with why I ship her with Deadpool instead of Proudstar, but I've written quite enough for today and this entry is way too long as it is.