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Claremont goes right at this, beginning with the X-Men encountering Hela and Kitty subsequently questioning her own mortality, while Wolverine expresses his comfort with the concept in its absolute certainty. 3/7
Furthermore, the “difficult labors” that Fawaz mentions add to the struggle of the characters, with an underlying story in which stereotypes become antagonists and defining yourself outside of them a heroic goal. Obviously this is deeply relatable to most human beings. 4/4
We also see roles challenged at the narrative level, with women in traditionally male narrative roles such as martyr or sage. They are more than what author Ursula Le Guin calls “squeaking dolls …or, at best, loyal little wives or mistresses of accomplished heroes.” 6/9
C practiced what he preached, with women frequently occupying traditionally masculine roles at a level that transcended tokenism. This includes background characters (such as both pilot and co-pilot) and more featured characters (such as the genius scientist). 3/9
As a final tack-on, I deeply love this panel. A whole lot of nuance and condensed storytelling in a simple embrace with a few short speech bubbles + contrasting thought bubbles. Tremendous character work:
The issue also features a rare metatextual visual gag about superheroine anatomy. It’s a cute character-bit that establishes Jubilee’s perspective while lamp-shading one of the more prominent sexual abstraction tendencies in comics history. 5/5
Her accomplishment is enhanced through the dysfunction of the X-Men, whose heaviest hitter is famously insubordinate. Storm takes charge with Wolverine through a healthy mix of authority and compassion, to the point that she actually helps him in his pursuit of humanity. 2/3
New Mutants became (equally improbably since Marvel had wanted a kid-friendly X-Men junior book) an existential tome juxtaposing childhood innocence with the horrors of reality (both real and metaphorical). 3/4 #newmutants @TalkingMagik
Cocca on C’s X-Women “these characters’ looks, powers, motivations and personalities display a range of characterizations of girls and women whose centrality and diversity can provide points of entry, identification, and empathy for a wide spectrum of comic readers.” #xmen