Vulcan Appreciation

[emperorkang]

I know this thread may be too soon or not too well recieved due to the fact that not too many people don't like the character known as Vulcan, the 3rd Summers brother. But I think he is an interesting character nonetheless. In the short time he has been retconned into existence, he has accomplished a lot. This is a guy with a tragic past of sorts. He was ripped from his mother's womb, artificially aged, raised as a slave to the Shi'ar, escaped, became an x-man. Only to be screwed over by Xavier, and shot into space, left for dead. I felt he was perfectly justified for taking revenge in such a case. He then went to space, married deathbird, killed D'ken, and became Emperor. He is now expanding the Shi'ar Empire like he promised, and now the Shi'ar love him. To them, he is a hero. To make a fair comparison, he's sort of like Vlad the Impaler in a way. Hated by the world, but a hero to his people. The guy has issues, that's for sure. I'm not denying it, but It makes him an interesting character, since right now he has everything he's always wanted and has gotten away with it. Even the x-men gave up and went home, except for havok, polaris, and rachel, who are stuck fighting him right now. I'm eagerly awaiting War of Kings to see what happens next. So show some appreciation for the guy.

[marvell2100]

Live long and prosper! 46509

[mimic_616]

Y'know it makes me laugh how many people "hate" this character. My reasoning for this is becuase half of them wanted the third Summers brother to be Gambit or some other chump. Brubaker has made a really interesting character here with a back story that ties nicely into x-men continuity. I'm actually sympathetic with Gabriel's rage.

All in all I really enjoy this character and I hope if he does die during 'War of the Kings' that he goes out in spectacular fashion. :wink:

[Falconen]

I think my issue with Vulcan was the vehicle in how he was introduced to us. Professor X, yet again, came off as a Bush Administration type of slimey guy. Then there was also the "sacrifice" of Banshee, just to show how big, powerful and bad Vulcan was. Banshee's death was pretty terrible, and to top it off, Scott and Kurt, who worked with Sean a lot, seemed kind of uneffected by his death when they were investigating the crash. (I do like how Siryn is still denying that her father is really dead)

I do like that fact that Vulcan has gone into space and created a lot of drama out there, and how it is drawing on a lot of the cosmic scene to work. I love the Star Jammers, and the Shiar imperial Guard. I am really looking forward to the War of Kings series.

[Expletive Deleted]

Petulant characters are a tough sell. Look at the fan reaction to Superboy Prime.

Now that he's matured a little and is a bit more overtly malevolent, I think Vulcan makes for a more interesting villain. Initially, though, I found him kind of grating.

[celticguy]

I think my issue with Vulcan was the vehicle in how he was introduced to us. Professor X, yet again, came off as a Bush Administration type of slimey guy. Then there was also the "sacrifice" of Banshee, just to show how big, powerful and bad Vulcan was. Banshee's death was pretty terrible, and to top it off, Scott and Kurt, who worked with Sean a lot, seemed kind of uneffected by his death when they were investigating the crash. (I do like how Siryn is still denying that her father is really dead)
.


No kidding Doom could take lessons from the recent activity of Professor X.

[ClanAskani]

Y'know it makes me laugh how many people "hate" this character. My reasoning for this is becuase half of them wanted the third Summers brother to be Gambit or some other chump. :

I don't think that many people like the Gambit as a Summers brother. I think the majority of X-fans see it as a bad joke and wish it would be forgotten, especially since Adam X is involved.

The 3rd Summers brother was meant to be Adam X the Xtreme, which is the epitome of bad 90s characters, but was a more likely story - he was meant to be the son of Katherine Summers who was raped by Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken. If Katherine was pregnant with Gabriel then killed, that situation would be impossible.

The other major reasons fans just don't like Vulcan are:

- He's the product of a major retcon to the X-verse that made Xavier look horrible and shat on GS X-Men #1.
- He's incredibly overpowered
- He's the editors' pet character who always wins and they promote like crazy, even though he's widely despised.
- Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire wasn't a popular arc, and it drug on and on. Had it been a 6 issue arc that had ended with everyone going home and Vulcan defeated, there might not be so most animosity towards it.

I think the only way to save Vulcan as a character is to have him massively defeated and depowered, put him in limbo for a while licking his wounds and bring him back as sort of slightly evil Nate Grey type of character, someone with no morals and more of an anti-hero rather an some whiny, spoiled brat of an Emperor.