Character Voices & Writer Visions: Who sets the gold standard for your favorite mutant?

[u/JeremiahPetion]

When it comes to your favorite mutant, which writers past, present, or dream future pairings, do you feel perfectly understand their core needs? Who knows exactly how they should be presented and what they should embody for the franchise going forward?

For me, the gold standard for Wolverine's past is Chris Claremont and Greg Rucka. Claremont essentially built the foundation of Logan's feral yet honorable voice, while Rucka stripped him down to his gritty, isolated core, perfectly capturing the psychological toll of his long life. Looking at the present, I feel like Saladin Ahmed is absolutely nailing that same depth. Ahmed intuitively understands how to test Logan, pushing him through psychological degradation & real sensory limits crafting stories that feel like they are genuinely setting the stage for the next era of his journey.

Who is the definitive writer for your favorite, or who is the dream writer you'd want to take over?

[u/BlindrNugget]

For Nightcrawler, Rachel Summers, and Kitty Pryde, Alan Davis. Definitive character writing to this very day.

[u/P33L3D → u/BlindrNugget]

He put them on such a huge pedestal,. He got the best out of them, especially after Mutant Massacre when we didn't expect anything from them. Complete overhaul.

[u/Ashyboi13]

Morrison redefined Emma and under his writing she became one of the most popular X-Men out there. His voice for her was so influential and unique that pretty much every writer since has tried to mimic it in their runs, to varying degrees of success.

But Claremont deserves most of the credit for all of the X-Men he created. They wouldn’t be remotely how they are today without his work. Even the mutants he didn’t create got completely redefined in his run. Like, think about it. Most X-Men character with unique, distinct vernacular, dialects and accents came from Claremont. If someone else had written Rogue or Gambit first I can guarantee they wouldn’t speak like they have for decades at this point.

[u/Ok-Diet9321 → u/Ashyboi13]

I wish many of the writers (and readers) that came after actually read and understood Claremont and morrisin, instead of completely disregarding them, or intentionally doing character assassinations. those two really are the most important

[u/serphilip1275 → u/Ok-Diet9321]

Ironic, considering Morrison ignored a lot of what Claremont did 😅

[u/Ok-Diet9321 → u/serphilip1275]

oh, i think was little, compared to writers that came after

(and I agree with you, I like claremont more, I was just trying to be polite)

[u/Heavy_Prior9431 → u/Ashyboi13]

Is it controversial to say that I think joss whedon did Emma better than grant Morrison

[u/RelsircTheGrey]

Definitive for the X-Men is Claremont, followed by Lobdell/Nicieza. Specifically for Wolverine, I'm going with Larry Hama and Ben Percy. I'd love to see Larry on a Wolverine book again. Dream writer for Wolverine, like he hasn't done it yet? Tom Waltz. We heard rumors, and I LOVED his TMNT. Dream writer for X-Men. Maybe give Ewing the main title. He hasn't quite had that.

[u/Jermobooka]

You basically got it down for Wolverine, so I’ll comment on my second fave: Cyclops

Claremont, Whedon, Fraction, and McKay are all real great with Cyke.

I’d also put down Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost for their version of Cyclops in X-Men Evolution.

For something “new” I’d like for Paknadel do some more solo-Cyclops stuff.

[u/cmcdonald22]

Iceman - Scott Lobdell

Rogue - Claremont > Carey > Kelly Thompson

Boom Boom - Simonson > Brisson > Loeb

Magik - Claremont > Allen

Multiple Man - Peter David

Quicksilver - Peter David

[u/serphilip1275]

Gillen, or Louise Simonson with Cyclops. Jed MacKay also has a great voice for him.

[u/angrysunbird]

Al Ewing on Sunspot is supreme. Fabian Nicieza on Cannonball was great during his leadership days of X-Force, and while I like the more acidic take on her from New X-Men on, Scott Lobdell’s Emma Frost from Gemeration X is the goat.

Also Claremont for Storm, PAD for Maddrox and Strong Guy, and enjoyed Duggan’s take on Pyro as a bit of a manchild who could just as easily be a hero as a villain.

[u/nixielikesnaps → u/angrysunbird]

Al Ewing's Sunspot was perfection.

[u/DoubleDopeDummy → u/nixielikesnaps]

His Magneto and Storm are nothing to sneeze at either.

[u/nixielikesnaps → u/DoubleDopeDummy]

Agreed. I miss X-men Red so much.

[u/DoubleDopeDummy → u/nixielikesnaps]

One of my favorite books from the Krakoa era. If I was an editor at Marvel i'd let him and Kieron Gillen have carte blanche over the x-franchise. I feel like both of their runs were criminally short.

[u/nixielikesnaps → u/DoubleDopeDummy]

It was one of my favorites too. Red, Immortal, and X-terminators are all books that I'd happily read more issues of. I enjoyed the first Marauders too but the second one was trash.

[u/DoubleDopeDummy → u/nixielikesnaps]

We have the same taste lol. The first Marauders was exceptional. I enjoyed the growth of Kitty and Emma's relationship and Kitty growing into her own as a leader. Ths second group of Marauders had so much potential too but it completely dropped premise and got lost in it's own story.

[u/nixielikesnaps → u/DoubleDopeDummy]

I miss Red Queen Captain Kate so much.

[u/BlindrNugget → u/angrysunbird]

Second PAD for Strong Guy. God, I love Guido in his runs so much

[u/ItalianChef22]

I loved Gillen's Cyclops, he had such a clear vision for the character that drew upon so much of his muddled history.

[u/Front-Suggestion-366]

For my favorite mutant, Omega Red, Alex Paknadel set the gold standard that I don't think any other writer can truly match. When I read the Infinity comic arc he did for Arkady when From the Ashes first started, my jaw hit the floor. He captured Arkady’s inner voice, the societal pressures and forces that shaped him, and the incredibly melancholy view he has of both the world and himself perfectly.

You can tell he has a love and passion for his character. I would love to see him get a chance to write Arkady again. He's mentioned in interviews that Omega Red is one of his favorite villains and it really shows in his writing. Give him Omega Red Origins and I will pay anything for it. I value his work that highly.

[u/ZealousidealHyena102]

Pretty easy one here, Zeb Wells and Alyssa Wong had the right voices and writing for Kwannon as Psylocke.

[u/PlanetXParadox]

For Legion, Spurrier’s take is the definite one.

[u/bloodredcookie]

Cyclops: Gillian

Beast: Lobdell

Archangel: Remender

Jean: Hopeless

Wolverine: Hama

Storm: Claremont

Nightcrawler: Claremont

Colossus: Whedon

Kitty: Claremont/Whedon

Rogue: Carrey

Jubilee: Lobdell

Gambit: Nicieza

Cable: Nicieza

X-23: Kyle and Yost

Deadpool: Duggan

Magneto: Claremont

Professor X: Carrey

[u/Johnny-Silvertwat]

Al Ewing

[u/BezerkerBobby]

Mostly Claremont.

[u/Silly_Commercial8092]

Me, in my fan fictions.

[u/Blaze14192008]

Scott Lobdell Iceman no one has really understood the character since him in my opinion

[u/jemmers6]

While we wouldn't be here without Stan Lee and Claremont, Simonson deepened Jean's characterization in incredible ways, and Lobdell and Nicieza did a great job building on it. Jean was my favorite from the start, but X-Factor and the 90s really solidified it for me. I'm excited to see how MacKay writes her!

[u/No_HandleName]

Whedon

[u/CrispyGold]

Rick Remender is probably the only writer to really nail Fantomex and made him a very interesting character with unique motivations and execution of his powers.

The succeeding writer made Fantomex too villainous/pathetic, while his creator Morrison emphasized the faux coolness too much.

Remender's Fantomex was all about perceptions, illusions, and how he can manipulate it, himself, and people for the greater good no matter the cost.

[u/Teukr05]

Peter David for Quicksilver, of course.

[u/brickcheney]

Magik: Claremont, Bendis, Allen

[u/Mr-BornAgain]

X men 97 did Beast the best, and even then, that interpretation of him was inspired by his avengers/defenders era

[u/hvc101fc]

Is that deathbird wearing magneto’s helmet

[u/JeremiahPetion → u/hvc101fc]

That’s Magnus himself lol.

[u/Fossil_Finder88]

My favorite X-characters are all New Mutants,
So Claremont really gets the bulk of the credit there since they were such defined characters from rhetorical jump.

That being said, I particularly like Wells’s voice for Dani and Hickman’s voice for Roberto and Sam

[u/agentrevenger]

Angel: Simonson and Remender

Colossus: Claremont and Whedon

Havok: PAD and Wells

Polaris: PAD

Cyclops: Gillen, Fraction, and Whedon

Emma: Morrison definitely

[u/BirdsandScoundrels]

It's an answer everyone is saying, but Claremont is that answer with good reason for many of the Mutants, but perhaps just X-men in general.

Other than that, I'm a big Rogue fan, and I really believe Mike Carey did a lot for her, especially when it came to her powers and being a leader. To take it further, Kelly Thomposn did a lot more for her and Gambit's relationship than anyone---in my personal opinion.

[u/hellrune]

Magneto: Claremont and Cullen Bunn

Laura Kinney: Kyle/Yost, I really liked their takes on Hellion and Elixir as well.. they took the characters introduced in Academy X and made them really special IMO.

Quicksilver: Peter David obvs

[u/shibuyasurvivor]

Gillen for Charles, Ewing for Magneto. Claremont for both in the past and Lobdell for Charles. Nicieza as well for them.

[u/Shinobi347]

Chris Claremont and Beau DeMayo both revitalized the entire team and Jean Grey for me.

[u/JahnnDraegos]

This is the boring answer, but only because it's so true: Chris Claremont's Cyclops was the reason I started reading X-Men in the first place. Cyke had an arc that ran from Proteus to Dark Phoenix to Brood to From the Ashes that handily beats anything that's been done with any other X-character. Not that anyone acknolwedges it nowadays.

Cyclops was the only one who could make Wolverine back down and listen to reason. Cyclops was the only one who could talk Dark Phoenix down from the ledge. Cyclops was the only one who could hold the eclectic post-All-New-All-Different X-Men together, much less make them effective. Cyclops took on the entire X-Men team and won.

Under Claremont, Cyclops was a paragon. He was just that good. He always had the answer. He always had a plan. And you could trust him to never let you down. He didn't need to be a morally compromised asshole. He didn't need his morals unbelievably turned inside out so that hack writers have something they can quickly glom onto during their six-month stint before cutting bait and running. He was something to beleive in, like Captain America.

I know common knowlege is that Wolverine is Claremont's pet character, but I put it to you that only happened after Cyclops was taken away from the writer. For a glorious 10 years, Cyclops was the star of Claremont's X-Men, the self-insert character the writer seemed to have the strongest personal connection to. And it showed. There is an amazing slow-burn development of this character as Claremont carefully peels back the layers little by little and ladels on the nuance. What should have been the most boring and 2D member of the X-Men became its confident father-figure instead because the writer cared enough to put some actual thought into where they were going with this character.

In conclusion, get off my lawn.

[u/Witty_Rich2100]

Emma. No contest.

[u/Short_Condition_1079]

Momoko for Armor. 616 Hisako feels so weird now