CBR: 0rigins!

[Novaya Havoc]

Hey all!

This thread is dedicated to our fan ORIGINS.

Now, now, I don't mean "Why I <3 the X-Men." So many of us have that ONE FAVORITE CHARACTER THAT WE LOVE SO MUCH WE JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! Mine, of course, is Lila Cheney. She's so hot.

But jokes aside, this is a space to share a story of your FIRST EXPOSURE to your fan-favorite and WHY they became such! I want melodrama! I want fantasticisms! I want SOUL!

Share share. I will link all users who post INSIGHFUL COMMENTARY by fan-favorite character in this initial post, too!

Someone get the ball rolling!

[Brian M.]

My Love

An Essay by Brian M.

My first issue was Uncanny 299, it was kinda boring and I was too young to understand the bigger peices of the story. As I got older though I kept reading about the original. team and I was interested. I've always enjoyed how things came about, how they form and they grow from their original design. My dad at the time was buying me my comics b/c I was 11 and had no job. He recognized the X-Men logo and told me he use to collect them as a little kid. One day he brought out his old comics. Sgt Fury and the Hallowing Commando's and a bunch of other military comics from back in the day. Also mixed in where the original X-Men issues. Almost the whole collection. He stopped collecting at #57. I got to read them all and b/c of the way the Silver Age was written, it was much more to my liking, simple plots, fun dialogue, as a little kid it's catchy. I kept collecting the regular series and eventually used E-Bay to finish up his original run. I had gotten several back issues of X-Factor and was over joyed to find I could read more stories about them. I just kinda grew to like there. I liked how in the current (older issues now) that their scenes seemed to carry more weight. When they spoke together you could kinda feel the friendship on the page. Plus the O5 had Cyclops and Jean and they represented the perfect couple at the time, plus man...they had some cool ass powers. Cyclops w/ the blasts...Iceman's slides...Jean's TK/TP...Angel can fly...Beast was super strong, smart and funny...it was cool group.

As I got older it got deeper. You all know that as your grow up you lose touch with friends, friends that you really didn't want to leave behind but becuase of other circumstances you seperate. The first neighborhood I can really remember living in I had a group of 6 friends. We'd play sports together, hang out, watch movies, just a local group of guys in the neighborhood, kinda like my own Sandlot. The O5 were like the Sandlot. No matter what happened, where they went, they had those adventures and they were best friends for life because of it. They remind me of the good times I use to have with those friends from the old neighborhood.

Later I'll explain my Cyclops/Marvel Girl love

[Faded]

I first fell in love with the Spice Girls (and Mel B) when they performed "Say You'll Be There" at the 1997 MTV VMA's. They were just so coloful and alive and represented different sides to my personality.

Plus, their stuff is just catchy.

Like for real.

[Novaya Havoc]

I first fell in love with the Spice Girls (and Mel B) when they performed "Say You'll Be There" at the 1997 MTV VMA's. They were just so coloful and alive and represented different sides to my personality.

Plus, their stuff is just catchy.

Like for real.

FAVORITE X-CHARACTER, PLZ.

[Affinity]

HAHAHAHA FADED! <333333 LOLOLOL

I like the addendum, Brian.

[mattbib]

My first exposure to Cyclops was in an episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, in the "A Firestar Is Born" episode. And he later appeared in the Cyborg episode too. I loved the sleek costume design and the optic blast was just so damn cool. And I bought one of my first comics, Uncanny X-Men #197, because he was on the cover (even though I found out it was a robot in that same issue).

Here's what I had to say about him as my #1 pick for the Comics Should Be Good blog's Top 100 Marvel Characters:
Cyclops is a character that I've always identified with.

What makes Cyclops such a great character is that his greatest flaw is that he believes that his self-imposed responsibilities outweigh his own personal needs. Scott Summers carries the weight of the mutant world on his shoulders. He feels himself responsible for not just his family and the X-Men, but for the legitimacy and pursuit of Xavier's dream. Over the years Scott has actually come to believe in the dream more than the man who created it.

Scott has always denied his feelings and wants in favor of protecting others and fulfilling his duties. He was repressed boy, hiding behind a visor. He held himself to impossible standards, constantly striving for perfection and control and ideals that nobody could hope to achieve. And while his loyalty was absolute and his determination unwavering, his world was black and white.

Fortunately for him he met someone who loved him, despite himself. She helped him to grow and to feel and to love and to become a man who could see shades of grey. And they were happy. But unfortunately it wasn't enough. Both of them changed. One accepted the universe. The other was tainted by evil in order to save the future. And they outgrew each other. But their love remained. So much so that Jean let him go, wanting his happiness most of all.

In the end, through all he's been through…the loss of his childhood…two wives…a son…a mother and a father…the decimation of his people…betrayal by a mentor…Cyclops has remained strong and true because he's had to. For the mutants. For Xavier's dream. But now he does so just as much for himself. For his own happiness. For his own dream.

[Dagger]

My intro to the X-Men was with the Pryde of the X-Men pilot, and when I found out that there were comic books with them in it I gobbled them up like crackwhore does cocks for a rock, but was kinda disappointed because the characters from the cartoon weren't in the book(I had a fanboy crush on Kitty already from the cartoon) so I started to get back issues. Most of the back issues I got were from the CC and JRJR. run, and while that's my favorite run on this book to this day, I kinda noticed that they had other characters running around in the background every now and again. That team was called the New Mutants.

When I found out they had a book, I started to get some of the back issues of that. My first NM issue was the issue where they're abducted to Asgard by the Enchantress, and fell in love with a portly, emotional young woman called THICKY-THICK KARMA! Her struggle through the wastelands was all I needed. I saw someone a lot like me, except I wasn't THICKY-THICK. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life. Like wondering why I liked boys instead of girls. Anyway, after getting the rest of the series, I fell in love with all of these characters, but when I got to the issue where Karma went missing for 2 years from this title, it was kinda missing something for me. Karma's backstory just spoke novels to me. She was a refugee from a wartorn country who had to take care of her siblings, kinda like I had to because my parents couldn't afford daycare, and other things which I won't go into specifics about(it involves the s word) and I just knew that I would love her.

Anyway, when she wasn't in the book for 2 years, I felt it was missing something. That je ne sais pas(I started to learn french because of Karma!) and finally got to the Shadow King saga, and there was no turning back. Sure, I still had a fanboy crush on Warren from my New Defenders and X-Factor comics, but when he became Archangel it just wasn't the same for me. Anyway, after several years w/o my beloved Karma, I was picking up X-Force under Moore, and when I got the issue where Karma came back to the team(even for a brief moment) it all came running back to me! Karma! And she was GAY!!!! My love knew no bounds from that moment on. Then I went back into exile waiting for her to come back, and I had to wait fricking YEARS!!! until Claremont brought her back in MechaniX I was elated! Two of my all-time favorite's together!

And then N&C brought her into New Mutants again I wanted to scream! I loved that book, and that cast from the get go, and wish we could get more of her in the real books. The fact that so many people asked about her in the first expostion spoke volumes to me. People want their asian lesbian, damn it!! Bring her back!!!!!

[DeniseXfrost]

My most favorite character is Emma because she a complex character plus she's witty, smart, charming, different and confident. Although I don't really like her hellfire day but the name "White queen" is really intriguing and that's what kept me interested in her. And I'm not good really good at writing long ass paragraph.

Anyway, I have no idea how the polls are related but I'm gonna vote for Posh despite how fugly and skinny she's become.

[RoguishGurl]

My intro to the X-world was when I was little and I watched TAS with my dad all the time and I loved Rogue! She was my favorite character and I use to try to act like her all the time. And then i stopped watching it but then my next exposure to the X-men was the first movie. I remember seeing the trailer for it and I was like "I remember that cartoon!" So I saw the movie wiht my dad and my sister and I loved it! And then I started to watch X-men: Evolution and it was then that I truly became an X-men fan that didn't read the comics. I loved that show and i was so sad when it was cancelled. but then one day I was walking through Waldensbooks and I saw the comic stand and i saw the cover for New X-men #20 and I saw X-23 on the cover and I was excited because i loved her on Evo. So I picked up the comic and then I became addicted to New X-men and since i didn't forget my love for my favorite character of all time, Rogue, I picked up X-men. And now I consider myself a true fan.

[worstblogever]

X-Men:TAS. I watched the pilot, and it utterly owned me just off of the guitar riff on that intro, and the character demographics. It permanently made me jaded to most other Saturday morning cartoons, and got me hunting down comics from that point forward.

Watched it every week. By the time Apocalypse debuted (amazingly creepy that they got away with having him on the cartoon)... good lord, I was a Disciple of the X.

[Flâneur]

My love for the X-men started with X-men: The Animated Series; I remember my dad bought the first three tapes when he was on a business trip in the US and I was hooked even from the opening theme 'Duh duh du-de-da!' and where each character would have their centre zoom in doing their special motion - Xavier would make his head glow, Jean would make sparkly lines, Storm would send out electricity and I loved it. Except for Jubilee, I thought she was stupid. And the classic line that I remember Xavier saying while they watched Sabretooth throw the car on tv 'They hate what they fear and they fear what they do not understand'.

Anyway, I watched these tapes religiously, I knew them by heart and over exposure was starting to give me an american accent and the occasional Storm-esque declarations in public and then one day we found a video store that imported direct from AMERICA (zomg right?) and there were MORE to watch. Problem is ... the last tape ran out during the Gambit vs. Gambit fight and there was a HUGE to be continued thing on there. I was pissed as only a seven year old can be and so my parents tried to shove Superman (pfft!) my way as a surrogate! And I said 'Superman is STUPID, he has a silly costume and he wins ALL the time!'. Nothing but x-men would do.

Unfortunately, there was no weekly showing of X:TAS on tv yet so I went unsatisfied for a couple of years but then when I was around nine or ten they started showing them on 'CHEEZ TV' in the mornings before school!! Which is how I discovered the Dark Phoenix Saga and that's when I was caught in the web forever - I wanted to know more about Jean, I wanted to know everything about her ... she was my first X-men favourite and so I bought X-men guide books , lots of them, so as to learn more about the unbelievably wonderful Jean. So I read all these massive amounts of X-men history in this one guide book from K-Mart, which was blue, and it told me about RACHEL and her baby brother which was the beginning of my second love so I marched out to the newsagent and bought my very first X-men comic sure that I would find an amazing world waiting ... instead I got Onslaught to which I reacted with a massive W T F.

Soon I discovered what was known as a comic shop (:eek: ), a place of amazement and fat ugly men who had open magazines of naked cartoon girls near the register. This is where I learnt all about back issues and I started picking out 80s Uncanny with Rachel, Classic X-men with the Dark Phoenix Saga and the Inferno trade. Which is when I began to learn to love Rachel even more when I read about her fighting off Selene, discovering the orb in the grey's household and then linking herself with her baby brother and battling the Beyonder so that her brother could grow up in a world without that threat ... and I was touched. You see my own sister, who was 15 years older than me, had run away when I was very little and between my yearning for my sister and the start of my estrangement from my parents that statement Rachel made and those actions resonated with something deep within me - the importance of the sibling bond.

After that I grew attached to Magik for her time as the Lightchilde, out back Psylocke because she was the first person who I thought looked good in a cape (stupid Batman and Superman), Magma because of her nifty powers, Karma from when she was fats, Angel (thanks to the Defenders/Champions) and eventually Chamber because he was angsty and looked interesting but none compared to Rachel and Jean.

My love for Jean and Rachel faded after a while though, Jean kept being the subject of shitty DPS retreads and retcons (I LOVED Morrison Jean though) and then when Rachel returned in Weinberg it was woah and then CC got his hands on her and now I almost hate her. Fucking R'Chel Grey, bloody falling down stairs with legs in the air and all the 'MOMMY!' crap and then Bru's bird man ... ugh. Other favourites have risen in their place though ... Sunfire (Mariko), Nocturne (not CC), Wiccan, the Runaways as a whole, Ares and Ice Man (thanks to Carey and Casey and the Champions/Defenders). So my great loves are 80s Rachel, DOFP/Morrison Jean and Exiles Mariko.

[Deus ex Chris]

From the I <3 Lists thread:

Storm

1) She was the character that got me into comics via her Silvestri Costume action figure. I bought the figure and was amazed that she was a superhero. At that point, I understood superheroes to be colorful characters running around in tights, and here was this sinister looking woman in black leather with this crazy white hair. I was instantly hooked.

2) This really goes with the first reason. I love the visual. She's an Amazonian black woman with white hair. Unlike Captain America, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman, Storm doesn't need a costume or prop to indicate her identity. That white hair says it all. It's just so striking.

3) She's important to the development of the superhero comic. At a time when female characters and black characters were still being marginalized in comics, she burst out as this strong, independent character who was really the big gun of the team (before and after the Phoenix Saga, of course). She wasn't a damsel. Taking it further, Claremont eventually made her the leader of the X-Men, which again was a very bold, forward-thinking move. Then, he stripped her of her powers, and she remained leader. He made a point of showing that she wasn't leader because of her god-like powers but because of who she was. In a nutshell, she has social relevance, and I dig that.

4) She's a survivor. As a toddler, she was buried alive in an explosion along with her parents. They died, and she survived. On the streets of Cairo, this small child was forced steal for her survival. She excelled at it. Eventually, she was drawn away from Cairo, and she walked hundreds of miles across a continent to reach her ancestral home. Along the way, her incredible mutant abilities began to manifest--complicated abilities whose very use had consequences that impacted the entire world. Just as she had with every other obstacle in her life, she mastered her new circumstances. Since then, she's proven time and again to be incredibly adaptable to situation and circumstance--look at the Callisto battle, for example. No matter what the obstacle, she survives, and she doesn't need a healing factor to do it.

5) Unlike most, I love the aloof Goddess bit. For one thing, it's connected to the functionality of her powers. For another, it shows that she's been tempered by the fire, as I explained in reason 4.

Also, Scary and Posh 4LIFE, bitches!

[xgeek52]

it will always be scott summers, but i've got others too...

one of the reasons i like/love the x-men is because of the character...when my step dad bought me uncanny #1 i saw a lot of myself in that character..whether anyone wants to agree with me or not he is what the x-men is all about for good or for ill...

the other is ororo munroe...despite my issues with her current direction she is the reluctant x-man who turned into a leader...she's had issues with her role in the mutant universe but she, like scott, stepped up to the plate...

the third is kitty pryde...i admit when she was first introduced the editors didn't know what to do with her and that carried on through the years but it took her walking away from the x-men and claremont redefining her in xtreme and the end that made her who she is as a character..

these three are why i keep reading the xmen...yeah there are some days better than others (figure of speech)but creations of characters like these have kept me reading...

[GoingGreen]

Scary. Totally.

As for characters? Polaaarriiss.

First, I'd like to say this: I hate when people pronounce it Pol-air-is. Not a ton of people I know pronounce it that way, but apparently on that Justice League show, they pronounced Dr. Polaris as "Pol-air-is". It's Pol-are-is. Like "AR maties!" Okay.

So, my first exposure to Lorna was from some comics my great grandmother gave me. Strange, right? It was during X-Cutioners Song, I believe, and Lorna was being controlled (again) by Shadow King, along with the rest of the people on Muir Island. At this time, she was magnet-less and had superstrength, so I had nothing to say other than I liked her green hair, but she looked skanky in the bathingsuit thing, and she totally kicked Namorita's ass. Later, I got more comics, X-Factor included. Lorna was in her red and gold uniform and was controlling the jet, via green energy. I was all in lurv with that issue.

Later still, I spotted her on TAS. As the famous line goes, "HaaaAAAAAVOOOOOK!" Yep. I knew it was her, even though they only called her "Lorna"... I guess I just knew it was her for whatever reason. Maybe it was the jellatin hair or something.

So, eventually I accumulated more and more issues with Polaris in it, and found she was really funny. I prefer quirky/strong willed/independent Polaris than mind controlled/girlfriendy/mindless Polaris. But I'm sure everybody does. I also love that she was a feminist before feminism was cool. She's amazing!

[Deus ex Chris]

First, I'd like to say this: I hate when people pronounce it Pol-air-is. Not a ton of people I know pronounce it that way, but apparently on that Justice League show, they pronounced Dr. Polaris as "Pol-air-is". It's Pol-are-is. Like "AR maties!" Okay.
Actually, both pronunciations are acceptable.

[rwsmith]

I am a cynical, hairy man with a bad temper. Deep down inside I am just a spoiled, little, frightened rich boy, though.

That is why I love Wolverine.;)

[Brian M.]

I am a cynical, hairy man with a bad temper. Deep down inside I am just a spoiled, little, frightened rich boy, though.

That is why I love Wolverine.;)

Do you have a fascination with asians or redheads?

[prince_nightcrawler]

..Bampf...

[CJ Lentze]

I am a cynical, hairy man with a bad temper. Deep down inside I am just a spoiled, little, frightened rich boy, though.

That is why I love Wolverine.;)


I think that you should have posted something closer to THIS:

Man, that was my first exposure to Cable during the X-tinction Agenda and I remember thinking he was awesome back then.

Basically, I bought X-men #1 (with the full Jim Lee fold-out cover) and that's when I fell in love with the X-men. The danger room scene in the beginning where Wolverine bursts through the floor to "tag" Xavier sold me on the character forever. Seriously.

So I went back and bought a bunch of back issues, including all of the X-tinction Agenda. The fight between Logan and Warren was a classic, with that scene of Wolverine leaping at him forever etched into my little 14-year old memory (in fact, I think I had a T-shirt with that image on it). I also remember thinking that Cable was very cool with the way he took out some of the magistrates and pulled a gun on Hodge (only to surrender the weapon after Hodge hid behind Psylocke).

Like I said, I was young and these were my first experiences with the X-men (before that I had been all about Spider-man and Captain America), but from that point on I was hooked. I always loved how the X-men seemed to be edgier and cooler than the other heroes, and guys like Wolverine and Cable were a big part of that. If Messiah Complex gets back some of that "edge," then my inner 14-year old will jump for joy!;)

[rwsmith]

Do you have a fascination with asians or redheads?

Redheads more so than Asians, but after going to Japan and Hong Kong for work a couple of months ago I have to say that I'm coming around on the whole Asian chick thing.

I think that you should have posted something closer to THIS:

Kind of busy at work right now, but if I get some free time this afternoon I'll post a serious one.

[Nyssane]

There's different stories to each of my faves...

I, too, grew up with the X-Men animated series and that was my major form of fandom, but I did have a handful of comics at the time. I remember one of them was Uncanny X-Men #298 (with Frenzy), but I didn't really think anything about her until I got X-Factor #33 later on in a bunch of comics I won on eBay, and I was just blooown away with her awesomeness. She was such a fierce bitch, so I got the rest of her appearances and here I am now. I'd say I was about 14 when I first read X-Factor #33.

With Anaconda, I was a big fan of the Serpent Society because of these trading cards my best friend at the time had (his brother had like EVERY MARVEL CARD EVAH), and I saw the Serpent Society and fell in luff with Coachwhip. When I was at a comic shop later, I got Captain America #310, and that's when I was like OMFG ANACONDA.

Enchantress I also fell in love with due to the Marvel cards. Actually, I think Rogue, too... and then I saw Rogue on the cartoon and luffed her even more.

Various characters like Famine, Vertigo, and Ruckus I fell in love with because of the cartoon. I actually liked Pestilence more than Famine back in the day, but when I read the comics with them in it, I liked Famine more because she was feistier. When I got the comics with them, a big clump of X-Factor comics, that's how I found out about Frenzy also.

Phantazia was my first obscure love, and I remember I was just digging through my toy box one day and found all my old Hardee's X-Men toys, and I saw Phantazia and was like "uhm...? Who izzit?" And I remember now looking back at it, I had the Toys R Us special comic which had her in it, so the figure wasn't my first exposure to her. But anyway, I found Lia Brown's Freedom Force site and e-mailed her asking her who Phantazia was and she told me all about her and sent me scans and I was like OMGAW SHE IS SO KEWL. I was like 12 at the time. I remember I ordered comics with her in them on ebay but I went up to New York before they shipped so I had to wait the whole trip before I got them. But it was exciting. It's funny to think I was such an ebayaholic at 12.

I don't remember how I fell in love with Thumbelina... I think I just saw her on uncannyxmen.net and was like OMGAW wtf is that? And I didn't realize I had X-Force #1 (which had come with a bundle with other Phantazia appearances) so I read it and was like this girl is so fugly and awesome.

The Kleinstocks I got into after reading lots of Frenzy appearances, I remember thinking "they're pretty kewl" after Uncanny X-Men #298, but it wasn't until after the Fall of Avalon, and later the Quicksilver appearances that I really started luffing them. Prism, I started loving ever since Mutant Massacre, I thought he was silly and awesome.

As for other Marvel characters, I loved Blizzard after reading the first few issues of New Thunderbolts, I loved Poundcakes after Captain America #371 during my Anaconda craze, and I loved Perro after his first sexy appearance.

I think that's all my major faves...

[Flâneur]

Various characters like Famine, Vertigo, and Ruckus I fell in love with because of the cartoon.

I <3 cartoon Vertigo too:

'I feel Magneto flowing throw me!'

*gay sparkle magic*

*opponent falls over and moans*

[Nyssane]

I <3 cartoon Vertigo too:

'I feel Magneto flowing throw me!'

*gay sparkle magic*

*opponent falls over and moans*

I love when she's all "YOUR MUTANT POWERS CANNOT SAVE YOU FROM VERTIGO!" and Magneto surrounds her and crushes her with metal. HAW HAW. As a side note, I also liked Amphibius in the cartoon.

[Faded]

THIS WAS WRONG.
l

[Faded]

It occured to me randomly that I totally wrote a Eulogy for Risque instead of an essay on where my love for her came from.

So like, bump it up...since I totally ruined it.

[Waterlily]

My first exposure to the X-Men was the cartoon, X-Men TAS. I was partial to stories involving Wolverine, though I can't really say he was my favorite because I kind'a thought he was a dick. I liked the episodes dealing with Weapon X and found myself interested in Silver Fox in particular.

Later on, I was able to read some of Hama's Wolverine issues at a friends house, one of which Wolverine 48. It's one the crazy memory implant issues, and hey! there's Silver Fox! I pretty much started to hunt down Wolverine comics that had her in it, but it was pretty sporadic and I ended up reading summaries online to see what happened to her.

And found she's dead. Twice over. :p

[GoingGreen]

Actually, both pronunciations are acceptable.

I'm sure they're acceptable, but it doesn't make me hate Pol-air-is any less d:

I guess it's just a dialect/accent type thing.

[rZi]

Some great reads here, i'll post mine when i have more time. But i thought alot more of you would have been exposed through comics as apose to the animated series.

[Mikl C]

I change between Geri and Victoria daily. But I voted Geri because her abs demanded it so.
Major.

[Dagger]

I change between Geri and Victoria daily. But I voted Geri because her abs demanded it so.
Major.
LOLOL! Yeah, Geri's abs>Victoria's pout. But if she were wearing her li'l Gucci dress I might have to change my mind:p