Layla Miller Appreciation

[xhx23x]

Layla's a lucky lady. I hope that's the gay dupe.

[.A²]

Saw this on Brevoort's formspring and thought it was worth sharing so that we might bask in a feeling of collective joy at having dodged the proverbial bullet.

[Kaiolino]

Wouldn't that mean she'd be part of Hickman's Secret Warriors?

[.A²]

Wouldn't that mean she'd be part of Hickman's Secret Warriors?

Yes, she was recruited by Quake but turned the position down. The scan is somewhere in this thread. It's horrible, Layla answers the door in her underwear (at around fourteen years old), and tells Daisy she's "supremely cool." I'll edit it into this post once I find it.

Here:

[Kaiolino]

Oh right, I remember that scan always being posted when Bendis is accused of being a pedophile.

[.A²]

Oh right, I remember that scan always being posted when Bendis is accused of being a pedophile.

Yikes. Well, anyway kind of strange how now she's older than Quake (who looks particularly awful there).

[.A²]

It's been posted everywhere else, so why not here too? Clay Mann's variant for X-Factor #250:







I'm pleased he went with the younger Layla. I think that's her more iconic look.

[1derer]

I wanted to find something to bump this thread with, in honour of PAD's current struggles and as a toast to his future recovery.

Thanks to Tumblr I came across this gorgeous piece of fanart:



And this cosplay photo, which is basically cover-ready:

[.A²]

I love that piece. It was actually me who posted it on tumblr, lol. I was going to cross post it here too, but I was hoping to avoid triple posting. That artist has done some spectacular X-Factor work. It's the same person who drew this, from a few pages back.

I also have this cute sketch by Becky Cloonan to share.

[MartinRedmond]

Yes, she was recruited by Quake but turned the position down. The scan is somewhere in this thread. It's horrible, Layla answers the door in her underwear (at around fourteen years old), and tells Daisy she's "supremely cool."

At least she didn't have pigtails and a lollypop. Could've been worse.

[1derer]

I liked this panel a lot; it provides a great contrast between Layla's reaction at Monet's threats to her, and her reaction at Monet's threats to Madrox:




Above are two different issues where Monet directly threatens Layla. The first time she punches/smashes a cement wall right by Layla's head, and the second time Monet slams Layla into a wall and then drops her onto the Empire State Building's observation deck. In both cases Layla is completely calm the entire time, and even tells Madrox not to get involved when it happens the second time.

Now obviously Layla's confident that she can just "gauntlet" her way out of the situation if need-be, she even says this in 234, but I still think it's an interesting comment on the character. When Monet "threatens to threaten" Madrox, Layla becomes actively hostile. When Monet explicitly threatens and uses force against Layla, Layla's reaction is to be calm and snarky. It's a cool facet to the character that shows how well-rounded and three-dimensional she's become since returning from Latveria.

--

I really enjoy that PAD gives readers the opportunity to learn more about the characters by contrasting their responses to different situations. It allows for far more character nuance than would be possible if every character trait had to be spelled out explicitly.

[.A²]

A stunning sketch by Valentin De Landro.



This has been donated to the auction J.K. Woodward will be running on February 13th to help raise finances for PAD's healthcare bills. Details in the X-Factor discussion thread, and over at Woodward's blog. I plan on bidding on this! At least if I can afford to do so.

[.A²]

Here's the same piece, now inked.

[ehh246]

Two Questions:

1. Did Peter David want Layla Miller or did Marvel force the character onto him for X-Factor? Until she was written by PAD, Layla strikes me as the kind of "character" that most writers would never want to be given because she was simply a plot device.

2. Speaking of which, why did she have the power to regain characters' memories in House of M? "Knowing Stuff" and resurrection powers doesn't seem to equal "look into my eyes and know the truth". Has that been explained yet?

[LoganAlpha30x33]

Iirc...

1. He wanted her, basically aside from that she would have gone off to limbo, most writers didn't want to bother with her...she had little to no continuity to mess with though she can mess things up if overused...and remember that from the start she's been a HUGE fan of Jamie so I'm guessing that's why man of his and PAD's fans like her...

2. Not sure, then again PAD does seem to just give her whatever power or knowledge that the team needs just when they need it...