Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities X-Statix

I understand that right now testing out the new DCNu may come first but, everyone, as soon as the first few months are over? Do yourself a favor and check out Milligan's X-Force/X-Statix in some form if you haven't already. It's a fun read and great satire of a celebrity & hero mix. I echo everything Lash said.

If you don't want the omnibus, X-Statix is definitely in trade form. That's how I read the first few issues of that book back in the day.

Good to its all readily available (rather than hunting down back issues)! This should be a cool addition to my 'will buy TPB' list.

Set, since when do super-powers have to make sense?

Speaking of X-Statix, a preview for X-Men '92 seemed to feature the appearance of Orphan among the younger X-students.

Since the X-Men '92 reality set up the X-Men as public faces after winning that off-panel "Magneto/Brotherhood War," the writers have said they're bringing in the X-Statix kids to portray the mutants charmed by the fame and fortune. They'll contrast with the Generation-X students, who will probably be the more traditional heroic types in it for better reasons.

Unfortunately I can't say there was much of that seen in the writing. I believe Dead Girl and U Go Girl were the most prominent of the X-Statix characters seen. I believe Dead Girl had a big role to play in the vampire arc.

I've been able to get my hands on the original X-Force and X-Statix issues by Milligan and Allred, and I... I don't like them. I mean, for the longest time I've only ever had the Dead Girl miniseries and a worn X-Force copy, but being able to read more of the series I find myself disappointed.

I feel the only characters I'm genuinely interested in are Gin Genie and Saint Anna, who both die fairly early in the series. And maybe Lacuna. But the rest of the characters are just... so self absorbed and boring. It's another book that goes beyond deconstructionism of superheroes into a shallow parody of something else. I get that they're not supposed to be seen as paragons (the whole point is that they're not, right?) but nothing I've read has been able to get me to really care about the majority of the main cast beyond saying "I'm ambivalent."

I'm not even sure I get what U Go Girl's appeal is.

It's not going to be to everyone's taste, but what I like about it is the analysis of celebrity culture. The way that the desire for fame and fortune can co-exist with purer motives, and the way the public persona the celebrities create blends with their real selves. That's why I think the Princess Diana story would have been brilliant. Everyone thought it was just going to be poking fun at her memory, but I think it would have been both a parody and a tribute at the same time. "affectionate mocking" usually involves taking light jabs, but in these books Milligan takes vicious jabs while still showing affection for the things he's mocking.