Best characters created post-Claremont?

[catscandal]

I was bored at work the other day and trying to think of any X-men that I actually liked that weren't created before or during Claremont's run, and found it distressingly difficult. When you go through the top 20 or so most popular characters in the franchise, not a single one was introduced in the last 20 years.

The only mutants to join the X-Men in the 90s after X-Men vol 2 #3 were Maggot, Marrow, and Cecelia Reyes unless you count clones and alternate reality versions of people and whatever the hell Revanche is. And while I know Marrow has her fans, that's a really ridiculously D-list lineup. If you add in X-Force and Excalibur we get Bedlam and Pete Wisdom, woohoo.

To me the only good characters of the whole decade came out of Generation X, and even most of them didn't really make it. Synch died before the series was over, Skin died right after it, Mondo and Penance disappeared, and Husk has never really been able to find a good place on a team. Chamber and M were the only new characters to really make it out of the series.

The picture gets a little less grim once Grant Morrison opened the floodgates of creating new mutants willy-nilly, we got Fantomex and Quentin Quire and the Cuckoos, but I feel like after he left not many people were able to recreate that magic. X-23 and Pixie are probably my favorites of the new breed but if they both died on Wednesday I wouldn't mourn them, you know?

To be honest, on that whole list I think Fantomex is probably my favorite, and he's probably not in my top 10 X-men.

Were Lee, Claremont, Cockrum, etc really that much better than everyone since or do you think there are some new characters that will really take off once they've been around a bit longer?

[pmaestro]

Quentin, Fantomex, X-23 and Pixie would make a great book! haha

i was watching a roundtable discussion with the directors of this years biggest animated films, and when topic of classically animated (hand drawn) movies came up, and why we don't see them anymore other than in europe... one of the guys blamed the audience. the audience is voting with ticket sales, and it seems as though they want 3D animated movies that more closely resemble live action and live action movies that closely resemble 3D animation. another guy said it wasn't the audience's fault but the creators, and that for nearly a decade everyone was making Disney movies, and the industry was stagnating. that it's up to the creators to offer something new for the audience to fall in love with.

the same applies here. when you talk about classic stories and you bring up dark phoenix saga or days of future past... or how the new characters introduced under claremont's run are the most iconic and memorable... is it now the fault of the audience not embracing Frenzy as a legitimate x-man? or is it the fault of the writers for not giving us something worth attaching to?

morrison's run suggests you've a better chance of connecting to the audience if you tell the story you want to read, rather than the story you think the audience wants. as a comic fan, you pick up an x-men comic, and you hope for an x-men comic. not a deathlok story, or whatever. i think the most successful new characters are the ones who are well integrated into stories featuring other x-men. ie, x-23 shared so many pages with wolverine... and then with gambit and jubilee in her own run, cementing her position. Gentle shared pages with Storm, but she wasn't exactly character of the month back then... so he was piggybacking off the wrong character. Pixie was tied to Illyana, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and the Mastermind Sisters.

a character is only as good as it's supporting cast. Armor is an interesting case, because she fits the formula perfectly. put your character in an allstar team and cross your fingers. the question then becomes, does she inspire other creators to Keep the pressure up to sell the character? Fantomex was almost re-lost to obscurity before Fraction dug him up and Remender dusted him off, polished him, set him on the top shelf of the trophy cabinet and sold tickets to see him.

[Magneto'sWay]

I hadn't really thought about it until reading this but I agree with both of you. I can't honestly think of a single character that I really enjoy that wasn't from back during the Claremont era. I do have to give some credit to the creativity of new writers taking on old characters. The Downfall of Cyclops from being the "Next Xavier" to becoming the "Next Magneto" is something that I have enjoyed reading whereas when he was just leading the X-men and then later X-factor he always bored me. On the flip side I used to love Nightcrawler during the Claremont days. One of my favorite moments was during Excalibur Special Edition - The Sword is Drawn when Nightcrawler throws Captain Britain into the ocean and then later slams him to a wall yelling at him to man up and deal with his sister's alleged death and stop feeling sorry for himself cause he's not the only person who has lost people he loved. Nightcrawler as a character hasnt interested me at all since that time. I wasn't even really that bothered by his death. With that said I would love for someone to bring him back and make him as great as he used to be.

[Magneto'sWay]

OH FYI....Just as Psylocke was Betsy Braddock in the body of Kwannon (asian ninja), Revanche was Kwannon in body of Betsy Braddock.

[Hartoke]

I think the main problem recently was House of M with Scarlett Witch ie Marvel and the thinking that it would be a good idea to have a book about mutants and not have any new mutants. I mean seriously how much of the main cast was truly effected by this very few with some lack luster stories and so we really have'nt had any new heroes/villians Hope and the 5 lights where about as new as you can get. But since after AvX I assume the mandate is off as more and more people are discovering they are mutants, and all the major players are almost in a recruitment phase right now. I think in the coming months we are going see so many new characters the ? then becomes do they have staying power, and as a fan and reader do I want to invest my money and time on these characters, and that will be the job of the creator to make them worthwhile this all of course is just speculation and my 2 cents good topic.

[catscandal]

[Magneto'sWay]

Yeah, White Queen has really become one of the more interesting characters in comparison to how she was. 90s definitely had some aweful X-men events that almost scared me away as well. Glad I stuck with it.

[Eric]

Bishop. I've been a big fan of the character since his introduction. I'm pretty disappointed in how the character has been handled lately though. I'm hoping that his reintroduction to the current Marvel timeline will see a turnaround.

I can't think of anyone else that stands out post-Claremont, other than X-23 and Fantomex. And I didn't give a crap about Fantomex until he turned up in Uncanny X-Force.

Fortunately, we have Wolverine And The X-Men. The creation of the Jean Grey school has given us some promising characters and given the writers a sandbox to develop them in. In particular, I think that Broo and Quire are a couple of faces we should keep an eye on.

[catscandal]

[Eric]

Wasn't Bishop created and introduced by John Byrne? I don't see how he's connected to Claremont.

[catscandal]

Byrne co-wrote the issue but I believe Lee and Portacio are credited with the character. But I'm not really talking about specific creators so much as a specific time period, and I happened to draw the line at when Claremont left the company, because that seemed like the most dramatic shift in X-history to me, you know, the artist taking precedence over the writer, the longest run on the book ending, etc, etc.

Claremont didn't create the giant-size team either, or Dazzler, I wouldn't want to give him credit for everything good that's ever been done.

[Eric]

LOL Gotcha. Good point.

[IcemanDan]

Strong Guy

[mythmakingetc]

[MetoxoTheLavaMan]

Stacy X, all the gen x kids, marrow, maggot, Joseph, Cecelia Reyes, sage (technically Claremont, but post original Claremont), beak, angel salvadore, x-man, fishboy, armor, all the new x-men and young x-men, x-23,

That's just from the top of my head.

[PSB]

Maggott.

Seriously, so much unrealized potential with that character.

[Eric]

Maggot was interesting, but man; that NAME. Gross.

[catscandal]

[Slym]

Negasonic Teenage Warhead...nuff said.

[Eric]

What's the name of the super-strong/invulnerable woman with the bad attitude and short temper who's been featured in Adjectiveless? I picked up an issue featuring some flashbacks to her youth and the emergence of her powers a few months back, and it was pretty good stuff. I'd like to see more done with her at some point.