X-Men Legends #12
“Start Again: A Prelude to Excalibur”
Writer: Chris Claremont
Pencils: Scot Eaton
Colours: Rachelle Rosenberg
Inks: Lorenzo Ruggeiro
Letters: Joe Caramanga
Editor: Mark Basso
Original publication date: March 2022
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″] [/et_pb_code][et_pb_button button_url=”https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/91792/x-men_legends_2021_12″ url_new_window=”on” button_text=”marvel unlimited link” _builder_version=”4.14.7″ custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”14px” button_text_color=”#FFFFFF” button_bg_color=”#ef00db” button_border_width=”8px” button_border_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” button_letter_spacing=”2px” button_font=”Nunito|700||on|||||” button_use_icon=”off” custom_margin=”30px|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” hover_enabled=”0″ box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”0px” box_shadow_vertical=”25px” box_shadow_blur=”45px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(148,166,191,0.25)” global_colors_info=”{}” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][/et_pb_button][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”My Books Section” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_margin=”23px|||||” custom_padding=”100px||100px|” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_margin=”-78px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||7px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]What’s this? Anna, Mav, and Andrew talking about a current comic book? Released this very past Wednesday?? It took Chris Claremont writing a tie-in to our darling, officially known as X-Men Legends #12: “Start Again: A Prelude to Excalibur” to drag us into the present. Except it’s not really the present; it’s still the past, specifically, the space between “Fall of the Mutants” and the arrival of the Technet at Muir Island in “The Sword is Drawn.” We do some griping but also wax nostalgic about expectations and Claremont and what it means to love fictional characters who always keep changing with an obligation to remain the same.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On loving fictional characters:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Legends_opening-splash.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="Legends_opening splash" sticky_enabled="0"]“The irony is: the humanity that makes Chris Claremont hurt by the X-Men existing beyond him, or makes fans criticize him for loving too much, is the same humanity that made ‘Lifedeath: A Love Story,’ or ‘The Demon Bear Saga,’ or ‘The Sword is Drawn,’ such great stories in the first place.” -Mav
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On continuity intertexts:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Legends_classic-copy.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="Legends_classic copy" sticky_enabled="0"]“This is a genre Claremont kind of invented: the idea of going back in your continuity and creating interstitial stories that add nuance and complexity for an audience that has now matured from them. It did that really well in ‘Classic X-Men.’” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="-16px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On callbacks:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Legends_kurt-heroism.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" custom_padding="0px|||||" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="Legends_kurt heroism" sticky_enabled="0"]“The thing I didn’t like about Kurt so calmly explaining heroism is Kitty is that it interferes with the scene where Kitty yells at Kurt in ‘The Sword is Drawn.’ There, Kitty yelling at a grown man and telling him to grow the heck up, was disruptive. This is less so.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On retconning:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Legends_mystique.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="Legends_mystique" sticky_enabled="0"]”The last two times Claremont has revisited Excalibur, he’s pushed the Destiny and Mystique are Nightcrawler’s parents agenda. And I will always applaud him for that. Keep fighting the good fight, Chris. I don’t care if it’s awkward.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On special moments:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Legends_teleport.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="Legends_teleport" sticky_enabled="0"]“I loved the first teleport with Kitty and Kurt. She has her arms wrapped so tightly around his body, and he has his face tucked in her hair—they look so desperate in that image, with palpable trust. That one’s going to stick with me for a long time.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On team efforts:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/legends_claremont-ann-and-louise.jpeg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="legends_claremont ann and louise" sticky_enabled="0"]“One of the big things I’ve taken away from my study of Chris Claremont is that Claremont wasn’t just Claremont. Claremont was Louise Simonson and Ann Nocenti, plus every artist, penciler, and colourist, and a wonderful niche circumstance that lasted for a very long time.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On successful nostalgia:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/legends_end.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="legends_end" sticky_enabled="0"]“I like the final panel of Kitty, Kurt, and Lockheed in silhouette, with the sunrise that could be the sunset, and the Phoenix force burning above them—that’s a heavily nostalgic image that did succeed in hitting me right in the feels.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]Wanna keep the conversation going? Dr. Stephanie Burt joined Anna to review X-Men Legends #12 for ComicsXF.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.5″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-107px|||||” custom_padding=”44px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” min_height=”401.6px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.5″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-63px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]And as usual:
You can find Anna on Twitter (@peppard_anna) and on her podcast with Andrew and Michael Hancock, Three Panel Contrast (@3PanelContrast).
You can find Andrew on Twitter (@ClaremontRun).
You can find Mav on Twitter (@chrismaverick) and on his podcast, VoxPopcast (@VoxPopcast).
Enjoy!
-GGW Team
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