#liefeld hell

[sublimedestructivevoid]

Baron Zemo looking all like King Pumpkin.

Captain America #6 (1997) cover by Rob Liefeld

[jewishcissiekj]

"I look at Meltdown with pride... and disgust. What a good little soldier I turned her into. Shame on me." CABLE DO YOU WANT ME DEAD DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT

[stenclastiel]

A Wolf Pack Rant

If Wolf Pack was mostly about Baron and Daddy Briggs then it would have been a hell of a watch.

I don't need to know about these other boring ass teenagers whose only sole purpose as werewolves is to flaunt dehydrated abdomens and hallucinating doing the horny hokey pokey with their crushes in every single area in califuckingfornia

That's what euphoria is for

[importantbusinessdinosaur]

Guess what time it is kids that's fucking right

It's Rob Liefeld day. Maybe the final Rob Liefeld day forever, we'll talk about that in a bit. Let's have a look at some nonsense art first.

cable is just a little guy

with horrible posture.

DEADPOOL:

ALL CHEEKED UP.

I need you to look at this. The final reveal of Major X! Who could it be!

WHO IS THIS MYSTERIOUS MAN

YEAH BABY SELF INSERT!

And with that we end Liefeld's adventures with Marvel. Why? Well.

This is an interesting read and the big point is, Rob's not wrong. Putting the original creator names, even if they're contract work out front means a hell of a lot. From what I understand Marvel doesn't because they never want individuals associated with any of their work, just that it's "Marvel". While he's taking the closest thing to the nuclear approach he can, Liefeld is pushing for the right thing.

If anyone says you shouldn't listen to him on this because obviously he doesn't know what he's talking about and that youtuber they watch does, punch them in the snout for me.

[doesnotloveyou]

The "Marvel Rivals" Hot Takes (that my irl friends don't want to hear)

The Basics

The target demographic is straight male players with extremely average intellect. Y'know, gamers

Heavily influenced by the Chinese devs. You will wonder who the hell Luna Snow is (K-Pop Dazzler), and why Moon Knight has a Chinese-style skin option (especially since Moon Night is an Egyptian deity's avatar, but Lunar New Year puns are whatever)

Including Psylocke and a Chinese Iron Fist (bye, Danny Rand) is cool, but surprising if you're expecting American Marvel decisions

Male Characters

most of the men are stereotypical top heavy beefcakes who would go down instantly in a slight breeze

exceptions: Spider-Man is lithe, Bruce Banner is a twig, we can't see Strange's physique under his cloak, and the two small creature characters of Rocket & Jeff

Iron Fist and Winter Soldier should be closer to Spider-Man on the Lithe-to-Beefcake spectrum,

Namor stands out as he apparently mistook this for a Mr. International costume contest, which is not OOC for our K’uk’ulkan, but unusual in the line-up of "straight male fantasy" body types

AND WHY IS NAMOR'S VOICE SPANIARD? WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?

most of the male characters have no butt whatsoever, just rippling biceps

Winter Soldier has one of the flattest backsides I have ever seen....but one of the most artistically shaded groins...

THE MOST interesting character designs for a game trying to pass as straight-coded are Venom and Groot. They got backsides to match the female characters, as in PRONOUNCED

unpack that how you will...

Female Characters

it's a dude game, our ladies are Barbie dolls with back problems *shakes fist at Rob Liefeld*

Black Widow's bubble-butt is halfway up her back for some reason. Maybe the devs thought she is genetically part spider?

Cloak and Dagger are an odd inclusion. Dagger in her skintight, butt-crack suit is who you see most often as she prances around the battlefield on her tippy toes like Tinkerbell; and Cloak, one of three black playable characters in the game, is almost never visible and seems to have one line of dialogue. Tandy does all the talking and most of the playing

Magick looks great, whoever designed her understood the assignment

Squirrel Girl is the token "chunky girl" even though her belly is flatter than mine and those thighs are made of steel.Other than an exposed midriff and shorts, she's not overtly sexualized

why is cutscene Shuri so light-skinned? Her skintone is close to Loki's

Storm and Shuri have faces molded to look more attractive to Asian audiences (that emaciated, triangular shape) than to resemble Afro features

Hela is a diva so her looks are completely defensible, and season zero she has perhaps the steamiest skin choice

with Emma Frost slated to release soon, they'll have new sexy skins to put on her so have fun, straight boys

Mantis, Scarlet Witch, and Psylocke aren't too different from their comic/film appearances in terms of design. Psylocke has always been cheeks-out and that is barely altered here, whereas Wanda is pretty covered up for Wanda

Final Thought(s)

In a game where headshots matter, it's so funny how many characters have heads smaller than one of their pecs/boobs

[sciderman]

Hi Sci! Have you read the newest Deadpool comic issue and if yes, what's your opinion on it?

you... kind of have to be more specific here, @somewhereinasgard my beloved... the latest deadpool issue i've read is deadpool: badder blood #5, which came out like, this week i think. it's cute. i like this series, but not because it's well-written (in fact, i have no idea what is going on, but that's just the way with comics these days i think), just because it's stupid and has all my boys in it.

there's also something about rob liefeld's art that calms me. soothes me. heals me. reminds me of simpler times.

this is ridiculouse. what the hell is that. liefeld wyd. i don't care. don't stop. keep doing this. whatever this is.

if you mean the latest deadpool issue proper, which i guess is deadpool #8 from like, a few months ago... yeah i read that too. i've been keeping up with deadpool (which is more than i can say for spider-man), and i guess i think it's fine but i feel very little about it. i feel very little about 616 deadpool at the moment. i feel like he's kind of being wasted. i wish someone would do something interesting with him. i feel so bored every time i read anything about him. (which i guess is preferable to how i feel whenever i read anything about spider-man - where i feel pretty mad.)

(have you seen this?? have you fucking seen this????????)

peter. turn off your fucking batman voice you pathetic little worm of a man. i want to flush you down the fucking toilet.

anyway i hate comics.

[artaith-21]

Old, but gold?

Done in 2013. Good lord that’s 10 years ago now. Here’s the original blurb that accompanied it:

A deck of cards, a few drinks, and a really bad idea that was obviously 'Vinnie' in origin.

I thought it would be funny to have a strip poker situation where the only female playing is the only one fully dressed, while it's the men who have had their pants ( literally ) beat off of them.

I'm pretty happy with the anatomy in this- Throttle and Vinnie in particular turned out really well ( though they are mostly hidden by Charley, they are on their own seprate layers so they are complete figures ) and for some reason, Modo's pose caused me the most difficulty. And omigod, once again, ALL THE DAMN FEET. I hate drawing feet almost as much as Rob Liefeld, but I force myself to do it and I need the practice on them -_-

Also got some foreshortening in there, like on Throttle's hand and Modo's foot, and I needed practice in those areas too so I'm glad it's getting a little easier as I go.

I would have done more for the background but my laptop overheated and crashed FIVE TIMES while coloring this and by the end of the night I was feeling very much ready to be done due to my frustration ( and my iPhone crashed 4 times as well while. What the hell, was there a gremlin loose in my house somewhere?)

Also, thanks again to the every enduring Shamon Cornell who put up with me consistently texting him progress sketches of naked mouse-men for feedback XD ( anyone else want to sign up for that task? lol )

Anyway, enjoy the eye candy.

( also, I hope this doesn't appear too dark on other people's monitors. I need to calibrate my monitor among other things like tossing this laptop in the trash anyway ).

[sl-walker]

Today in Lines I Loved Writing

From the second chapter of Stardust:

“Heads up!” Ted shouted, cheerily, swinging off of a catwalk like some kind of acrobat, only to smack Random Henchman #3 -- on a shelf below him beside an open crate -- in the middle of his back with both boots, which--

--sent him flying down right into Booster’s outstretched arm, who clotheslined him neatly, saving him from a potentially bone-crunching meeting with the floor. “And down!”  The henchman dropped in a heap with a grunt and wheeze.  Booster winced, looking down at the guy.  “Oooh, might wanna watch the face, those ski-masks aren’t really much protection.”

Random Henchman #5 was running for the doors after #4 tripped and tumbled, because it had frankly only taken three minutes of chasing them around the warehouse to take most of them down.  “Grab him?” Ted asked, sounded surprisingly winded, and Booster glanced down at the guy he’d just dropped before taking off after the one running.

It was a quick collar -- literally! -- and just so he wouldn’t have to babysit, Booster hoisted and hung that guy off of a pulley by the leather belt he was wearing before flying back to make sure #3 and #4 were still subdued along with the others.

In the meantime, the Blue Beetle wasn’t looking so good even in the dim light; he was still hanging from the catwalk and something about his pallor was alarming.  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Booster asked, wasting no time flying over there.

Ted’s skin was sweaty where it was exposed, and up close, he was clearly having an incredibly hard time holding himself up. “Heart.  Ride down?” he panted, and sagged with a grateful sounding sigh when Booster took his weight and he could let go of the catwalk. “I’ll be okay,” he said, shivering. “Just need to lay down.”

Booster was less convinced, but he landed them soft and didn’t let his alarm show when Ted literally stretched out on the floor of the warehouse, thumping against his chest with the side of his fist.

“--should I tie them up?” Booster asked, even as he hit his wrist-comm. “Skeets, call the police, send ‘em to our position?  Then hone in on my position and get here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yeah, please,” Ted said, though he had picked up his head and was watching; he beamed despite looking like hell. “Do I get to meet your robot?!”

Booster smiled, shaking his head, and went to go figure out how to secure their random henchpeople.  “Your lucky night.  Hey, do you have anything I can use as handcuffs?”

Ted fished something out of that thigh holster, then held up a handful of zip ties that were sticking out of his fist like porcupine quills. “These work?”

“You came to a bust with zip ties?  And while I’m at it, do you actually keep a gun in there, or is it just like your all-purpose junk drawer?”

“Actually, I do have a gun!  It’s called the BB gun, because I’m clever like that.”  Ted let his head rest back on the floor and took a slower, more even-sounding breath.  “But yeah, I also stick random stuff in there because I don’t have pockets.  It’s got pouches in its pouch,” he added, with a snicker. “Like a Liefeld comic.”

Booster didn’t get the reference, but he did happen to think the word pouch was funny, which was why he was giggling like a twelve-year-old as he zip-tied their disgruntled henchfolk.  “And don’t want any civilian games of guess that lump?”

“Give the man a cookie!”

“I’ll settle for some all-night diner pancakes, but if a cookie’s all I’m getting for saving your butt--”

“It’ll be one of those really big cookies.”

“They do make some impressively sized baked goods in this era,” Skeets said, zipping through the half-open man door. “Also, the police will be here in approximately forty-five seconds.”

“Skeets!”  Booster grinned, then nodded back towards where Ted was sitting up gingerly. “Your new biggest fan ever wants to meet you.”

Skeets paused for a moment mid-air, a barely noticeable hesitation, then flew over to hover in front of Ted, offering a cordial, “A pleasure to meet you, Mister Blue Beetle.”

Ted made a noise that Booster might’ve ascribed to an overly excited young dog being shown a new toy.  Like-- maybe a verbal flail of excitement, if that was a thing.  Then he said, “You are so cool.  Booster!  I’ll buy the pancakes if the ‘bot comes with us!”

Booster sat back on his heels and watched, even as the sound of vehicles roaring up outside filtered in; something about the scene -- Ted sitting there in wide-eyed wonder and Skeets hovering at eye level -- grabbed him by the heart.  Good, mixed.  “Blueberry pancakes?” he asked, rising to his feet so he could go lead the cops in.

“Pal, I’ll get you the whole damn blueberry bush.”

“Deal!”

--

Why I loved writing them: OMG, the dialogue. I've had the fortune of occasionally having pairs of characters who, if you give them even the barest kind of space, will take a scene and run away with it. And writing Booster and Beetle is just like that; one of them starts, the other builds on it, and then they just keep going, rolling it along and chasing it down the road.

So, I had fun having Ted taking a potshot at Rob Liefeld because I cut my teeth on comics in the 90s and don't even get me started. For all those fans out there who might be unfamiliar, Liefeld's not like-- the only reason 90s comics are just Like That, but he was a big contributor of it. Like, I really can draw a very clear, unambiguous line between Cable's design and Booster's look post-Overmaster arc. It's not even subtle. So, everyone who ever squinted at that really godawful run of really bad design, you almost have to blame it on Liefeld.

Ahem. Anyway. The other part is the whole bit--

“Give the man a cookie!”

“I’ll settle for some all-night diner pancakes, but if a cookie’s all I’m getting for saving your butt--”

“It’ll be one of those really big cookies.”

--starting with that. It's not the first example of those two kind of 'yes, and'ing' each other in the story, their introduction to each other was the first, but it serves as a good illustration of their easy patter and ability to build on one another. And there's something super charming about them basically turning a joking bit of banter into a decision to go out to eat together, which leads to them spending almost the whole day together, which--

I've also had friendships like that, albeit without the unresolved romantic tension. But where you just enjoy the other person's company so much that you don't want to let them go. LOL! @b-radley66 can attest. @shadowmaat can, too. And many, many other people over the years.

And finally, I just also really love the mental image of Ted and Skeets meeting, just as much as I love Booster's reaction to it.

[thevindicativevordan]

Hey there 🙂 why do you think Alan Moore agreed to write a WildC.A.Ts book for Wildstorm in the first place, considering his open disdain for edgy 90’s cheese (heavily influenced by Watchmen/Rorschach, much to his chagrin) that was all the rage in comics at the time? I mean, I’m personally a big fan of his WildC.A.Ts run, but it does seem like a weird fit, no?

Money dear boy.

"I can write this entire six-issue series in a week, as opposed to all this brainy stuff that takes me months to write an episode. It's not at all fair; it's quite ironic really. Things like Big Numbers, From Hell, Lost Girls - this as far as I'm concerned is the best stuff I've done in my life. It will not make a tenth [of the money] of this frankly brainless garbage that I'm doing for Image comics; but it will support it." - Comics Forum #4, Summer 1993, when 1963 was first rumored.

"The Image stuff is very lucrative and a great deal of fun. It's been a real breath of fresh air amongst the other projects. After wading through entrails in Whitechapel for a month, writing an episode of From Hell, it's really nice to do something...silly." - Hero Illustrated #7, January 1994

"In terms of future comics work, in terms of the serious comics work, by which...all right, I'm doing various stuff for Image, for Extreme Studios, for WildStorm Studios which I'm having fun with and which I still think of as being very valid in their way. I'm trying to create an interesting realm of the imagination for teenage, adolescent, or even younger boys. And that seems valid. But, in terms of the serious work, the next serious comic work that I'll do after concluding Lost Girls will almost certainly be a history of magic." - Feature Magazine Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1997 (which shows how long we've been waiting for the Bumper Book of Magic!)

"Doing the work for Image, after being away from mainstream comics for a long time, was different. Image was everywhere and everybody wanted comics about super-heroes with a pin-up every three pages and no story. I thought that this is a challenge, so let's see if I can write comics like this. I worked at it for a while. At the time, I had a lapse in consciousness where I thought it was my job to work out what the readers liked and luckily, around about the time I started doing Supreme, I worked out that it's not my job to work out what readers like; it's my job to tell readers what they like. My job is to do what I like and then readers will like it. So I started doing what I liked again and the readers have liked it as well." - Comic Book Artist #25, June 2003

"the whole Awesome Comics experience wasn't a lot of fun; there was a lot of messing about and stuff like that dealing with Rob Liefeld, but I enjoyed the work that I did there. I thought that I'd done a good job on Youngblood; I thought I'd done a good job on Supreme, on Glory, you know? Some of the other things - I mean, Judgment Day - I did the best job I could." ... "But, you know, Rob Liefeld never seemed to put any enthusiasm into any of these drawings; he wouldn't put enough backgrounds or anything like that. It was pointless writing scripts for him because he'd just ignore most of them because he wanted to do the easiest, simplest thing. So, there were limitations, but yeah, it was fun to be on Supreme, on Youngblood, like I say. But by the time that Awesome fell apart, I was starting to get a bit frustrated because I was starting to see how you could actually put together a really, really good mainstream comics company." ... "I'd some great fun doing the various bits that we got to on Supreme, you know. Working with Jim Mooney, and working with Rick, with Melinda and Jim Baikie and - a lot of my favorite people. It was an interesting experience. I don't think that the ABC books would have turned out the way they did if we hadn't had that sort of springboard or that kind of rehearsal that we were able to get for ourselves with the Awesome comics." (then, apparently talking about Rob Liefeld again:) "Well, it was just so - I just got fed up with the unreliability of information that I get from him, that I didn't trust him. I didn't think that he was respecting the work and I found it difficult to respect him. And also by then I was probably feeling that with the exception of Jim Lee, Jim Valentino - people like that - that a couple of the Image partners were seeming, to my eyes, to be less than gentlemen. They were seeming to be not necessarily the people that I wanted to deal with. I was quite happy to carry on doing Supreme as long as it was there, as long as it was providing work for people that I wanted to work their way and work with, and we were getting to the stories that we wanted; I was quite happy to go along with that." - The Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore, July 2003

Even wizards have bills to pay.

[bad-comic-art]

definitely an all time Liefeld gun for me, cherry on top is his eyes are 100% closed

Youngblood Deluxe #1 (2025) "art" by Rob Liefeld

[orangezeppelin]

Today's installment of the 12 Days of Comixmas reaches for the lowest hanging branch on the Christmas tree, questionable anatomy of 90's comics! I'm not sure I should clown on Rob Liefeld (and his imitators) for his past aversion to drawing feet because I sure as hell can't draw them either.

To throw myself under the bus further, Leifeld started his career at Marvel at the same age that I was drawing comics that looked like....

and I send this shit in to Heavy Metal. I'm tempted to re-draw the comic and send it in again.

[gaykarstaagforever]

The 1990s comics "Rob Liefeld Revolution", along with the speculation boom that created AND immediately destroyed it, produced a lot of poorly-aged comic book jank. We know this.

What many of us do not know is that it also inspired a similar sea-change in that market that is always eager to rip off whatever is currently making the most money: Christian book stores.

Which brings us to Eternal Studios 1993 Archangels: The Saga.

(Just a note: this ENTIRE book is printed on slippy magazine-cover paper. I took these pictures in a room barely lit by a distant lightbulb and STILL couldn't get rid of the glare. Never before have I worked so hard on something so utterly pointless, and I post comics content on Tumblr dot com. God bless my phone for doing its best to make any of these even bearable.)

This "saga" apparently lastest exactly 9 issues, before the company, Eternal Studios of Houston, Texas (because of course) went bust. Or so I assume. I haven't found any information on them online, and I Googled for way longer than I'm willing to admit.

Archangels: The Short Saga is the story of a group of men who are given metal armor and vague superpowers by God to fight demons, or something. This is just the first issue and I've never seen any of the others, and this is just the origin story of one of the guys, so I don't know. And I won't be finding out, because a) the Internet doesn't know what this is, and 2) any of the physical copies of these cost between $30 and $60 online. Because Evangelical Christianity is an eternal grift, ever since it was started by an unemployed man who claimed to be a wizard, but then suspiciously didn't use any of his powers to stop himself from getting tortured to death. And then his 12 unemployed friends decided they REALLY didn't want to go back to work.

This comic fits well into the religion invented by those people, in that whatever their God is doing here, it doesn't make a lot of sense. He already has an army of angels who battle demons. Why does He need to empower human men to do it, too?

The art here is...well. Given the era, it is fine. It is a step above the typical Liefeld, in that basic human anatomy is understood and replicated. The most distracting thing is the mid-90s digital coloring, which absolutely loves that lensflare.

See?

Also, and I want to be clear here, "good" and "bad" assessments of art are, to me, vaguely technical determinations. Like, art can be good, but a book can still be stupid and boring. Conversely, art can be bad, but can still be used in a way that is rad as hell:

And if the 90s - in comics, and in general - are notable for one thing besides Nirvana and Friends, it is how radical to the MAX everything was. We were not doing subtle nuance in 1993.

I got this book as a gift in like 1997 (it is a 1996 "second printing"), and I loved these splash pages. I was about 5 years into comics at that point, but with limited access in my area and under the yoke of the Assemblies of God church, so this was edgy and cool to me at 15. I had many bad Christian comics at that time, and this wasn't one of them. So kudos on that...?

It isn't even badly written. It is vaguely preachy, but specifically about how drunk driving is bad, and I'm not about to argue that point, even if you're only saying that because JESUS.

The blue-and-orange metal suit man from the above screamy splash page becomes that because he is the shotgun passenger in this car (I think). He gets killed in this crash, and the Angel of Death harvests all the souls except his, because God needs him to be Metal Angel Superman. Because of...protests? And gang crime?

Evangelical Christians who live in the suburbs conceive of evil as exactly two things, icky hippie protests and urban gang violence. This was true in 1993, and is true now.

They also only know about "wild parties" from tracts Jack Chick published in the 1960s. Note how these cool 90s young people are smoking cigars and drinking brandy from Old Fashioned glasses.

Overall, as an intro to a series, this is fine. Weird metal He-Men are fighting the Devil in the name of God, and there have certainly been worse ideas, and worse introductions to them. But it also hardly encourages anyone to want more of whatever this is. Like, it's an American Evangelical Christian comic: even if there ARE any fight scenes, everything will end with some speech about how Jesus is better than pills and gangs, and some brawny white man in a polo shirt will do the Sinner's Prayer, then probably marry his best (blonde) girl. They all have one note, even if they're playing that note during the heady days of the 90s comics wasteland.

There is exactly one short video on YouTube about this book, and the guy is way too generous. Have you ever read this? Are you, along with me and that guy, one of the 10 people who remember this comic?

Those ten people include the three guys who made it.

God, that fucking slippy paper.

Paying premium prices for this shit is probably why they went bust.

[silliestcreature196]

Someone please fill me in I thought this was about Rob Liefeld what the Hell is happening

taking a centrist stance, big titty captain america was fine but the way that guy drew black people was extremely off

[dreamcastboy99]

I don't have a goal for the new year bc there's no point if all mine fail

hell, why bother having a goal if the world is just going to devolve into shit and I'm just another pathetic wage slave

I can't wait for this pathetic nation to die already because there's no fixing it...it's fucked up beyond all repair...

I'm no artist, I'm a fucking fraud...my art makes Penders look like Dobson look like Liefeld look like Amano...I'm a talentless idea guy whose ideas are hardly original....no stupid hacky suit wants to take my ideas and do something with them because they're afraid to take risks...and people are afraid to take risk because this shithole nation called the United States of America is a cesspit of greed and lies...what's the goddamn point? Hardly anything's worth saving...the internet is dead and greed killed it just like it kills every other fucking thing it touches...

[franky-draws]

My Entry for a Liefeld inspired character design contest

Murder Clown Real name: Christopher Thorne

Young and Upcoming. Plans to become a mercenary after graduation. Ecstatic when fighting, lethargic out of costume. He has quite a sadistic streak, which can be seen in his brutal fighting style. But also translates into the way he interacts with other people as he delights in putting others into awkward social situations and stirring up conflict, while staying out of it himself. Grade A Student, finds great interest in furthering his career. Anyone trying to ride his co-tails in hopes for better grades will soon find themselves set up for failure, as he will first act flattered, but will leave you hanging once you need his help, if not actively sabotage you. However Christopher is not the worst person for a group assignment as he wont do anything that could jeopardize his grades and wont bother you if you pull your weight.

For a person a bitter as him, the clown gimmick seems weird, but it makes perfect sense once you see him in action. As he goes to great lengths in preparation, to make his enemies and the fight itself look like joke. His powers are super-human strength and durability. Which allows him to fire an oversized handgun and wield it like an mace(?). The gun has a habit of going off at the most convenient times. Intentional or sheer luck is unknown and Christopher, sure as hell, will never give a straight answer. He is also an explosives expert. His bombs usually come in three varieties: smoke, explosive and poison. And the poison grenades themselves also vary in lethality from paralyzation, to acid, to even deadly poison gas.

His sexuality is a mystery. He has yet to show interest in anyone, and nobody was in a rush to find out.

Send a message in "Liefeld High Character Contest"

[daisyachain]

Rictor is such an enduring fave for me because he’s sick as hell and he struck me as cool one time which means I’m obsessed with him forever. Pretending for a moment that I have a specific rationale for why he’s the best comic book character of all time (outside of MTMTE), it’s because he serves a crucial role in every book.

Rictor’s character isn’t strictly unique. Edgy spike-wearing gay character afraid of their own powers? Rachel did it first and better. Latinoamerican New Mutant whose father broke his heart and who can’t stop dating and breaking up with female teammates while pining after a male one? There are two of them. The only thing that makes Rictor special is that he keeps getting written off and coming back. While most D-listers have a secondary role in a single non-X-Men ongoing and then get put in the dustbin forever, Rictor has been in at least one ongoing per decade for forty years. While most C-listers get cycled into comics consistently, Rictor drops off the face of the planet whenever the one writer who remembers him gets moved to a different book. Introduced by Simonson, dumped by Liefeld, resurrected by Nicieza, jettisoned by Loeb, picked up by David, blasted into oblivion by Bendis, retrieved by Rosenberg/Howard and now silenced by Duggan. Nobody ever thinks of him as a cast member; he’s a curiosity.

He’s a peripheral character. This is melded into the very essence of his writing—he’s volatile, constantly on the edge of leaving (getting written off), abandoning Xavier’s ideals, abandoning hope in life at all. Rictor needs to be convinced moment by moment that staying with an X-Team is better than acting on his own. He’s done heroics off-panel, he’s been his own master, he has his own loyal backup, he’s sceptical of authority for good reason. When you bring Rictor into a book, he asks the other characters to justify his presence to him and to us the reader. Rictor questions the very foundation of whatever he’s in and we get to read the answers he’s given. It wouldn’t be the same without the years of push-pull as he gets almost completely forgotten but not quite.