- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Exploring his Past /; Discussing how his memories returned | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Mar 15 2009, 09:53 AM (630 Views) | |
| Gabriel Zero | Mar 15 2009, 09:53 AM Post #1 |
Administrator
|
(Warning: this topic is for discussing the concept of having Logan's past told. Not for whether Daniel Way did a good or bad job. I simply wanted to talk about whether Logan is better character for regaining his memories and having his past explored. So really this topic covers House of M and his other ongoing titles as well.) Personally I enjoy having Logan's past explained. I think that a popular character like this needs his story told. Especially if this character is someone who has a new story being told every single month of the year. Having his story remain a mystery got annoying after awhile, it was always this cat and mouse game of "Hey this sounds like it's from my past...Wait no it's really a fake memory". I don't know about anyone else, but that grows predictable and old after a while. It suddenly becomes less of a big deal every time they attempt to even give us a hint at what happened to Logan before he joined the X-Men. If Logan was a character that only appeared in a few short mini stories, then maybe I would agree that he is someone who didn't need his origin. My opinion is that a character only remains interesting if we actually get to see him progress in his adventure. Seeing a character go backwards like in "One More Day" is not only a slap in the face for the readers who are paying money to see the story continue, but it shows us that the writers don't take their own work seriously. So should he remain a enigma or move forward with is life already? No one has a wrong answer because obviously everyone enjoys Wolverine for different reasons. I'm only sharing mine and I don't expect anyone to agree with it. Comics are meant to be fun after all and don't be afraid to disagree with me. Especially now that there is so many different titles based on Wolverine, you can actually buy a new comic about him and ignore the others. That is how ridiculously popular this character is. The guy has his own transformer toy for christ sakes! http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp41/liveXwell/TF_Wolverine.jpg Spoiler: click to toggle
|
 |
 
|
| Ace | Mar 15 2009, 10:17 AM Post #2 |
Samurai
|
I'm not a fan of leaving things untold for all eternity. No one likes a lingering plot thread. There's something to be said for a mysterious past, but you can only write and read about that for so long before you tire of the soap opera like drama. Not to say it wasn't interesting to begin with, it was, but after so many scenes of "I've forgotten my whole life... if only I could remember!" you just want the character to find happiness, and the storyline and readers to find closure. Some people, I think, believe that if you tell Wolverine's history then there's nothing left to do with the character. But I think that sort of mindset does Logan a disservice. We know all about Beast's childhood, teenage years, etc. Does that makes him a less interesting character in the here and now? I certainly don't believe so. And there are others still who think that once his history is told (ala Wolverine: Origins) that there will be no more surprises in the characters history. However that's not the case. Just because they tell us most of the history, doesn't mean a future writer can't add to that. For example Logan participated in WW2. A writer could create a story twenty years from now where we learn about an adventure we the readers never knew about during that time period. One can also not forget that that Marvel has a sliding time scale. That means Wolverine's history will never fully be told. Right now we know what he was doing in the late 1800s, the early to late 1900s, and so on. But in 30 years a writer will have to explain what he was doing in his life in the 2000s, since the time scale always moves forward. Logan's unique in that his history will never end. EDIT: I wanted to add that even if Logan does have all of his memories, that doesn't mean he knows everything about his past. Having his memories returned just means he's aware of the things he already knew once upon a time. There are plenty of things he never knew to begin with to reveal. And even if that wasn't the case, all of these new stories are still reveals to the reader, so it doesn't really matter if Logan knows about it ahead of time. On a related note, one of my largest gripes with the X-books over the years has been Rogue. For over 25 years now we've been subjected to the same tried plotline repeatedly. "Ah love you, but ah can't touch you". After a time it starts to grate on your nerves. Once upon a time I was a fan of the Rogue/Gambit relationship, but these days if I even see them in a scene/panel together I can do little but cringe. It always leads down the same path, and every time there's a shimmer of hope or happiness in their lives its taken away. Writers have tried to deal with this before, usually taking away Rogue's powers entirely for a few months, only to undo it afterwords and put us right back where we started. My point with this is this: it's not cute anymore. It's not fun watching the characters and the readers be jerked around by a will they or won't they relationship after all of these years. Eventually these sort of plot threads (Wolverine's mysterious past included) wear out their welcome. On that note, I'm extremely hopeful that Mike Carey intends to give Rogue control of her powers in upcoming issues of X-Men: Legacy, finally putting that plot to rest. Edited by Ace, Mar 15 2009, 10:31 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Gorvar | Mar 15 2009, 03:37 PM Post #3 |
Self claimed fanfic critic.
|
His memories mostly came back from M-day, right? |
|
|
|
| Templedog | Mar 15 2009, 05:41 PM Post #4 |
X-Men Chronologist
|
Yes, because of the Scarlet Witch, |
|
|
|
| Gorvar | Mar 16 2009, 04:39 AM Post #5 |
|
Self claimed fanfic critic.
|
Ok. |
|
|
|
| Ahma | Mar 17 2009, 03:03 PM Post #6 |
Secret Agent
|
I do agree that his past needed to be unraveled eventually (those memory implants were becoming a bit too popular), but I would have preferred a more systematic approach, unveiling it little by little instead of having it 'land' all of a sudden! That way the mystery surrounding the character would have been preserved, at least to some extent. |
|
|
|
| Gabriel Zero | Mar 17 2009, 03:37 PM Post #7 |
|
Administrator
|
Well that is sort of what is happening. Maybe not in a organized fashion, since I don't think anyone at Marvel knew the whole story. But over time different writers will take parts of his past like Jason Aaron, and explore them in greater detail. |
|
|
|
| Ahma | Mar 17 2009, 04:23 PM Post #8 |
|
Secret Agent
|
Yes, true. I meant to say 'the past being revealed gradually' to the character as well as the audience, but missed that along the way 
|
|
|
|
| Ace | Mar 17 2009, 04:30 PM Post #9 |
|
Samurai
|
If I might offer a respectful rebuttal: wasn't that what they had been doing since the character's creation? It seems like they wanted a quicker storytelling vehicle than 30 years of trickle down reveals. Not that that wasn't enjoyable, but at that rate of revealing we likely wouldn't see the entire history expanded upon in our lifetimes. Of course that doesn't mean they picked the right approach, but I can see why they might feel why they needed to something, anything really to hurry the process. |
|
|
|
| Brian Knippenberg | Mar 17 2009, 04:32 PM Post #10 |
Secret Agent
|
I think with exception to the first Weapon X arc, Jason Aaron has stated that he wants to write about Wolverine in the now and move forward with him, while letting Daniel Way reconcile his past. Of course, I'm sure he'll touch on Logan's past now and again at some point. |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
|
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Daniel Way + Rob Williams · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
8:10 PM May 18