X-Factor: Rictor and Shatterstar...

Among the many comics I have been reading lately, one that I'm particularly enjoying is Peter David's X-Factor. That was a comic that never meant much to me till he started writing it; it used to be "a book to feature leftover X-Men characters no one knows what to do with." And David has made it his own. Full of personality.

Especially now he's outed Rictor and Shatterstar.

Back in the 1990s, I fell in love with Shatterstar as soon as he appeared - regardless of how Rictor might have felt, and regardless of how the creator, Rob Liefeld, felt. Statterstar fell into the world of X-Force from another dimension, the Mojoverse, and everyone on the team, male or female, commented on how beautiful he was. His creator, Rob Liefeld, says he intended Star to be asexual, but that wasn't the impression the story gave.

Like Longshot in X-Men,Shatterstar was a media star gladiator in his homeworld, a cloned warrior who was bemused by our world, a stranger in a strange land. Rictor - a cute Mexican member of the X-Force team - started helping him out, and Star started depending on Rictor to understand American culture. He even learned Spanish so he could talk privately with Rictor. Of course we were slashing them - how could be not? Statterstar was gorgeous, with his red pony tail, his flashing double swords, swordsman's regalia, and his facial tattoo. A delicious combination of courage and innocnece. Perhaps I should confess that at the time, I was slashing Shatterstar not with Rictor, like everyone else, but with Cable. Showing my taste for the mentor/acolyte dynamic, or maybe the older guy/younger guy thing - or just because I loved them both. In the comic, it was definitely Rictor and Shatterstar who were a team within the team - if not explicitly a couple. In the pages of Cable, they were beautifully drawn by Ian Churchill. When Rictor left the team to go back to Mexico - leaving Shatterstar - and breaking Statterstar's heart.

So now they're both in the comic X-Factor. Statterstar came back in issue #45 a few months ago, possessed by an enemy named Cortex who forced him to fight Rictor. Rictor knew Star wouldn't ever hurt him, and when Star returned to his senses, they kissed. Fandom - well, my segment of fandom - cheered.

( We didn't... )

Monday...

An odd day: sometimes I was crippled with mysterious aches and pains, sometimes I felt just fine. Not quite the lively and productive day I intended, though rather fun. I went into Chapter's intending to buy just one book... And ended up spending money. I was excited to find a biography of Alfred the Great and a paperback copy of The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, edited by Amin Maalouf - a book I used quite a bit in my student days, and have always wanted to own.

I made a spinach quiche for supper, and watched last week's episode of Castle ("Fool Me Once") with maaseru because she hadn't seen it, and with explodedteabag because even though it isn't her kind of thing, she'd heard it was good. She said she'd heard that Flash Forward, after a good first episode, hadn't gone much of anywhere - I wonder if that's true?

X-Force: Old Ghosts

As part of my ongoing project of catching up in what's going on in comics these days, I read the TPB X-Force: Old Ghosts, compiling issues 7 to 11 of the current X-Force run by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost. I'd already read the last couple of X-Force comics to hit the stands, but didn't really know what to make of them. I found the continuity difficult to follow, the story disjointed. The writers have a habit of using first person narration, which I love, but I wasn't always sure who the character doing the narration was. I thought maybe if I read more background, I'd understand the story better.

Good news: I understand better than I did. Bad news: I understand that I don't like the writing - or the art, which was mostly by Mike Choi. The art seemed cold. The story remains unclear and disjointed. I was bored despite plenty of action and a basically first-rate plot.

Characters I normally love (like the young clone assassin X-23) seemed to lack spark. I loved Domino as much as ever. She seemed to have a real personality - but had no one to play against.

Frustratingly, there were bits and pieces I liked. Bits of great dialogue. Good characters, like Elixir. Interesting situations. It even has Wolverine acting tough - how can you go wrong with Wolverine acting tough? And Cyclops too? But it never added up to a good story.

I did like the art in the final story, by Alina Urusov¹ and Clayton Crain. That part was the opening chapter to a story about Selene, set in ancient Rome. Even with the good art, it didn't catch my interest.

It's a pity, because I really wanted to like this title: characters I love, in a book that used to be a favourite. But ... no. It's one I won't have to keep on my subscription list.

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¹ How nice to see a female artist in comics again. They seem to be an endangered species.