Daken Akihiro...

[fajrdrako]

Battling, and failing to resist, my new pash. In my recent comic book reading, I've become increasingly fascinated by Daken, son of Wolverine from his first marriage to the Japanese Itsu.

I can just imagine Daken's smirk.

Daken (whose name means 'mongrel') had mostly been featured as a villain in Wolverine: Origins - or so I believe, since I've never read Wolverine: Origins - yeah, I love Wolvie, but a fan can't read everything. Daken is and was an assassin - and I don't usually like assassins personally, except for Elektra. Looks as if Daken might be another exception. The DK book Wolverine: Inside the World of the Living Weapon has this to say (page 170):

Wolverine was captured by the government peacekeeping force SHIELD for staging an attack on the White House in order to gain information about his past. He was subsequently freed by a mysterious man disguised in a SHIELD uniform. As the man took off his helmet, Logan realized that he was looking at his own son for the very first time.

I like fraught father/son relationships (admittedly, this one is a little extreme); I like arrogant characters (Magneto, anyone?); I love mixed-race characters; I love older men, especially if they don't look it; I love bisexual characters - and the fact that Daken had the balls to flirt with Bullseye (Marvels's worst bad-ass assassin psychokiller) and even kiss him charms me no end.

Not only is Daken omnisexual like Captain Jack Harkness, one of his superpowers is to control pheromones. He really can get anyone into his bed, and not just by turning on the charm, though he has that, too. Master manipulator. I'm not the only one who likes him: I found this lovely picture by O-Key on Deviantart: Daken's pheromone problem.

It occurs to me that Daken reminds me of Shinobi Shaw, one of my favourite Marvel villains - not a biggie, and as far as I know he hasn't been around for ages, which is a pity. I loved him and his Hellfire Club. Had him flirting with Sam Guthrie in one of my Magneto slash stories.

Now picturing a Daken/Shinobi team-up...



Sadly, the Daken action figure is ugly, and some drawings of him are, too. No character is better than his writer or artist. I've gone through worse with Magneto. Sadly, I suspect the writers and artists are going to keep him on the dark side of darkness and play him as an ugly monster as they are wont to do, rather than the ambiguous, sexy, possibly-redeemable character I want him to be. Not that I want him redeemed, mind you. Just redeemable.

We shall see.