that dumb cosmic turkey

I'm into comics again. 

More specifically, I'm into the mutants again. 

How the hell did I get here. 

I want to say it's because of the Hellfire Gala X of Swords Excalibur reboot House of X but it isn't. It was Avengers vs X-Men (AvX).

I blame Carol Danvers.

It's Katee Sackhoff's fault. 

I'll explain. 

Before the 2019 movie, before the 2016(?) cast announcement, and even before all the casting rumors, when Marvel announced the Captain Marvel movie, the fandom decided to fancast Battlestar Galactica's Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Katee Sackhoff, as Avengers mainstay (erstwhile leader) Carol Danvers. 

 Friends, I was all about that fan-casting. 

It didn't happen. (Obviously.) I love Brie Larson's Carol, but Kara Thrace is basically proto-Carol, so to borrow from Adele, we could have had it alllllllll.

But everyone talked about Kelly Sue DeConnick's Captain Marvel (2012) comic book run, and how it was that series that would be the basis for MCU Carol, so I got into the book. 

It's so good. 

(Up until The Enemy Within. I will talk about that separately. This is a Marvel comics blog now.)

In a later Carol Danvers compilation, though, it mentioned how the original Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) came back briefly, and the editorial note says "In Avengers vs X-Men" and I was like, what? 

 

Understand: at that time, my love for the X-Men was in past tense. I enjoyed the original Uncanny X-Men run, but I loved (loved.) the original Excalibur comics. That series was batshit insane. But when Rachel Summers got written out, and Colossus showed up to join Excalibur to pine after Kitty Pryde, I was out. 

I wasn't completely gone: I read some of the Ultimate titles. The Kitty Pryde oneshot featuring Lockheed (her pet "dragon").

I didn't read the Whedon run that was the Astonishing X-Men for many reasons, primarily because Kitty Pryde's mind was hijacked and she was hallucinating fake children (don't ask), and she ultimately ended up in a giant bullet tearing through space (seriously: don't ask). 

In Comic Book World, when the MCU started taking off, there was an editorial drive to downplay the mutants (the X-Men) because the IP belonged to a different movie studio, and as X-Men fans note, part of that drive was to make the Avengers the "real" heroes, especially in comparison to the X-Men. 

So: Avengers vs X-Men. 

(It's one of those crossovers that took over the entire comic book line, which is to say, covid community quarantine gave me too much free time.)

AvX sucks. Basically: the Phoenix Force (long story, but basically a powerful cosmic being symbolized by a fiery bird) is heading back to Earth after a long absence and towards Mutant Messiah/new host Hope Summers who the mutants (Scott Summers, et al.) swear to protect, and the Avengers are scared shitless, because their only point of reference is the whole Dark Phoenix phase when it had taken over Jean Grey. 

As a Rachel Summers (basically Phoenix II) fan, I was pissed. I was "what the fuck is this bullshit" pissed. Especially since Rachel Summers is right there, she hosted the Phoenix longer than anyone and it's been established the Phoenix likes her, and there was none of this "destructive force" bullshit. 

And in the comics, when Wolverine is consulting her about handling the Phoenix and finding Hope, Steven Rogers ends their call. 

Dude. What the fuck.  

Later, when Steve, Wolvie and Tony Stark are monologuing about how the Phoenix can't be controlled, every Rachel Summers fan is yelling at them about how dumb they are.

It's so dumb, and my only consolation is that Carol doesn't factor much in the whole thing until the Phoenix somehow brings back Mar-Vell and his death is part of the reason why she drops being "Ms. Marvel" and becomes Captain Marvel. 

So instead of rooting for the Avengers, what happened was I remembered my love for Rachel Summers and I started going through back issues (yay Unlimited free 1-week trial).

Yes, yes: Mouse bad, but I've been buying back issues and I'm no longer on the free trial, which is way cheaper.

Rachel's back issues outside of the Excalibur run generally suck. (And outside of Phoenix, all her codenames suck.) Rachel is clearly a character too many writers didn't know what to do with. But there's End of Greys, which was part of the return of Chris Claremont (and generally considered the only good part of that return). Jean Grey is currently back from the dead (again) and actually cares about Rachel now (long story. but also yay!).

There's a new Excalibur series with Betsy Braddock (formerly Psylocke, and back in her original body [long story]) as Captain Britain. And Meggan (from the original Excalibur comics) features in it.

Kitty Pryde is now officially Kate Pryde, and she's a pirate now. Because sure, why not. 

Rogue and Gambit hijacked Kitty and Colossus's non-wedding and are now married. They even had a Mr. and Mrs. X book and it's not bad!

Speaking of Rogue: reading through the whole Carol/Rogue saga and I have to tell you: I enjoy seething-ball-of-rage Carol more than the current Supercop iteration of Carol. I love the onesie uniform when it's in the darker blue, but she was so much more fun and sympathetic when she was in that dumb bathing suit/leotard. 

Oh, and there's a landshark named Jeff in the Deadpool series and Jeff is the best.

"Don't call me Marvel Girl. And also, bite me, Captain America! I am one of the greats."

-Rachel Grey Summers, Wolverine and the X-Men