Because if they kill Northstar, they piss off the relatively small number of AF fans in the world. If they kill, say, Beast. . . They bring on the wrath of the entire internet.
Because if they kill Northstar, they piss off the relatively small number of AF fans in the world. If they kill, say, Beast. . . They bring on the wrath of the entire internet.
To quote what Marc Millar, wolverine writer says about it:
Ben
Ah, I said he was a BIG DEAL in the 90s and Northstar got more face-time in the international press than Wolvie and the others all added together. Northstar coming out was HUGE. It made every paper in Britain in a full-page pic. He was the first openly gay character at Marvel and possibly in superhero comics.
For these reasons, I assumed Marvel would say no way when I suggested killing him. Also, in these PC times, killing off the one well-known gay character might be frowned upon. But they were cool about it.
.
.
.
.
...Jubilee has never registered for me. I just wasn't very interested in her as a character. It's interesting to see everyone hoping their least fave X-Man would get bumped. Gambit would have been funny, but there are plans for Gambit. Northstar just seems kind of sad because he was nice.
.
.
.
Wolvie on the brink of raping Rachel, slicing up a couple of X-Men and murdering Northstar (not the mention all the SHIELD guys he offed this issue) has him in a mess as it is. The desired effect is there and that's what Agent of SHIELD is all about; his kick-ass come-back and retribution.
I have to question why they do this to super heroes, anyway....
Why would anyone want to work with Wolverine again, after this? He's always been a little shakey in the crazed killer department, but now he's killed teammate, a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and even came close to killing a few others on the team.
Oh well....I'm sure all will be forgiven and forgotten in no time
Dana
ALPHA FLIGHT IS RESURRECTED, LONG LIVE ALPHA FLIGHT!
Complete and utter crap. Yeah, Millar really liked the character. The same way he "really liked" Apollo and the Midnighter, I'm guessing, or the Batman and Robin stand-ins in 'Wanted'. I guess that's why he decided the best thing to do was to paint the floor with Northstar's guts. And yeah, this so sad because Northstar was "nice". Not because it's pointless shock value with homophobic undertones and the waste of a complex character, oh NO! Because that's the first thing that comes to mind when you do more than thirty seconds of research into that character's personality..."Wow, Northstar's really nice! Not at all bitter or snarky!" Bull. It's all ass-covering and it makes this even more disgusting.
Suzene
Whoa there neddy, can I suggest that you take a step back. Millar is anything but homphobic. If he has any fault, it's mainly that he enjoys shocking people, he's done this on numerous occasion. The rape of Apollo in 'The Authority' comes to mind, the sheer verocity of 'Wanted', but homophobic definately not. He likes to shock and create controversy,obviously he's gonna be ecstatic about this one.Originally Posted by suzene
Del
Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!
Okay, really, where the hell is this 'homophobe' BS coming from?! (And not just from Suzene. I've seen this said in several places now) Just because the character getting gutted is gay doesn't mean ANYONE's a homophobe - it means they're a (shamefully) underused minor character used to make a point (no pun intended). If the character getting gutted was a Jew, would that make Millar an antisemite? Or if he was Black, would that make him a white supremist? Or if it was a dog, an animal-cruelist?
Most ppl on here know me as THE most vehement when it comes to the topic of equality for homosexuals (to a point of actually attacking ppl whom I percieve to have made a comment at our expence - my apologise to those this applies to), and I don't see ANY evidence of homophobia! M'thinks many of you are being WAY to conscious of this fact. Yes, Jean-Paul was the first publically Gay character in Marvel, but that doesn't mean the writer that kills him off is a homophobe. Sorry, I just don't see it.
No, this doesn't mean I'm happy that it's JP that snuffs it - he's one of the most complex and intriguing characters out there - and his treatment since he was reintroduced in UXM 414 has been pissing me off for some time. Am I happy that Millar chose him to get the pointy ends? no. But I do understand the why - Northstar, at that point, was a minor character (which pains me to say, btw), thus expendable without unsettling the rest of the X-Titles.
Allan 'HappyCanuck' Crocker
"Hey... Philosophers love wisdom, not mankind."
- Stephen Pastis, Pearls Before Swine
This will majorly impact the many characters off in space, or the other ones who haven't been seen for a while? Or all the X-Men teammates he is so close to? Or his students?...Right.quote:
Millar really liked Northstar, and felt that his death would have a major impact on many characters.
Not one of those deaths I think will be permanent, just as I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing Hawkeye again.
And Dana, you don't have to kid about killing Gambit...long overdue.
Amd it is possible the on a corporate level, Marvel has become more homophobic. Didn't Northstar's appearances really decline after Dan Buckley took over?
www.kozzi.us
recent publications in M-Brane Science Fiction and the anthology Things We Are Not.
Forthcoming stories in Breath and Shadow, Star Dreck anthology and The Aether Age: Helios.
~I woke up one morning finally seeing the world through a rose colored lense. It turned out to be a blood hemorrhage in my good eye.
It was more a case of Marvel signing a big distribution deal with a major outlet. They wanted comics as a bottom shelf commodity, so Northstars proclivities were prolly put on the back burner.
Del
Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!
And that is the fault of the writer who brought him on board to be an openly gay character who could become Juggernaut's boyfriend.. Northstar's overal treatment in X-Men--not without a good spot here or ther--has not been good because he has been little other than a gay character, despite every other complex aspect the character has had.
One opportunity that has been wasted is that of the original Alpha's Wolverine's relationship and interaction with Northstar has been most minimal, and exactly how they might interact one-on-one (and I am not referring to sexually) was never explored. The best it's ever been touched on was in that single issue of "What If?"
www.kozzi.us
recent publications in M-Brane Science Fiction and the anthology Things We Are Not.
Forthcoming stories in Breath and Shadow, Star Dreck anthology and The Aether Age: Helios.
~I woke up one morning finally seeing the world through a rose colored lense. It turned out to be a blood hemorrhage in my good eye.
When do we get a Northstar avatar with a halo over his head?
Lemme ask a question...
With Lobdell bringing the original Alphans from the past into the future isn't there still a Northstar currently on the map? Maybe Lobdell got word of Northstar's soon to be offing and decided to keep him around by using this method.
I just think that more and more Alpha's characters are being used by writers to fill in gaps in their stories where they just need a body and didn't recieve permission to create a new character. The AF legacy is being whored out for all to use at their whimsey and it's really dissappointing to see characters with such rich and complex backgrounds be offed simply for shock and awe.
Also who else agrees with me when I say "Somewhere Byrne is laughing right now."
If I had created AF and Lobdell had treated my creation the way they were portrayed in vol 3 I'd be spitting feathers, but Byrne has made his felings re AF clear so he's prolly pissing himself re vol 3 and the demise of NS.
Regarding the treatment of AF, they've been treated as fill ins and comic relief by numerous writers for years, it's not a new thing. As for the second edition running around cos Lobdell bought them back from the past, hopefully that will get retconned out the window, plus I doubt any other writer has taken much notice of the crappola Lobdell presented.
Del
Driftwood: Well, I got about a foot and a half. Now, it says, uh, "The party of the second part shall be known in this contract as the party of the second part."
Fiorello: Well, I don't know about that...
Driftwood: Now what's the matter?
Fiorello: I no like-a the second party, either.
Driftwood: Well, you should've come to the first party. We didn't get home 'til around four in the morning... I was blind for three days!
I think by now my stance on killing characters for shock value is pretty well-known. That said, I don't think I could bring myself to feel bad for Gambit if someone were to gack that 90's Mary Sue power-fantasy.
In a perfect world it would have been Gambit dressed up in NS' costume when Wolvie went "snikt" in his bowels.
I read somewhere that Marvel plans on downsizing their mutant population during the "House of M" series this summer, so expect a lot of mutant deaths in the coming year.
MM
Well, this is a shame. As for the AF v1 #12 era Northstar running around... well, I haven't any doubt in the world that Marvel is going to simply ignore the whole v1 #12 group that Lobdell left stranded after v3 #12.
It's a pity. Northstar was pretty unique amongst comic characters... an arrogrant jerk who only did the right thing when it suited his purposes.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
