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Hello, and welcome back for another shot of Artistic
License. I've been terribly busy the last couple of months,
what with changing jobs and setting up my studio and
fighting with my other computer, and everything. Things are
finally getting settled down, a bit, and I had time to put
together a couple of ideas I've been thinking about.
Last month, in the Collector Times Online, Jason Bourgeois
had his review of the X-men movie, with which I concur on
virtually every point. The casting and characterization were
much better than I had expected, from Marvel Comics' prior
endeavors into cinematic super-heroes. If any of you have
seen the Swedish Punisher or the skinny, lisping Captain
America of the 80s, you'll know what I'm talking about. Now,
while I enjoyed the movie and will definitely be getting a
copy on video, there was something missing that I'd like to
see corrected in any sequel that might be made. No, I
haven't heard anything, so don't start palpitating, this is
just something I started sketching on and decided to use.
As anyone who has read these columns in the past knows, I'm
a fan of winged characters. So, of course, when I saw the
lineup for the X-men movie I was disappointed to see they
left out The Angel (or Archangel, as he's been called for
the last 15 years, or so). I realize that the special
effects for wings would tax most movie budgets, that's why
they aren't done very often, but these days, with CGI, it's
possible to do the previously impossible, on a reasonable
budget.
We got to see another of the original X-men in the movie,
cast as a teenage student in Xavier's School for Gifted
youngsters, one Bobby Drake, the Iceman. He showed off his
power of ice generation, in one scene, but was mostly a
background character for the rest of the movie. In a sequel,
I'd like to see him as an active member of the team, wearing
the standard X-men uniform with a coating of frost. The
visual effect of him "icing up" could be interesting. Also,
with his ice-slides and stuff, there's a good chance for all
kinds of athletic stunts. He could be transformed from the
"fifth wheel" he played in the original X-men stories, into
the flashy, young star with some well-choreographed skater
stunts.
Lastly, just to keep it from being a total boy's club, I
thought I'd throw in the green-haired Mistress of Magnetism,
Polaris. First introduced into the X-men as the putative
"daughter of Magneto", she later discovered this to be a
fabrication of Magneto's. Polaris is Lorna Dane, longtime
girlfriend of Scott(Cyclops)Summers' brother Alex, a.k.a.
Havok. She has magnetic powers on a par with Magneto and
startling green hair and I have always thought the green
hair was an interesting touch. Gives her a bit of that
"anime" look, too.
One thing I did with the Angel, was to give him a pair of
goggles. Not as a mask, per se, but to give him something to
protect his eyes as he flies at high speed. As inspiration,
I used an old ad I found for mask-style driving goggles.
I may work on some of the other X-folks, if I can think of
anything interesting to do with them. Let me know what you
think of these and I'll see you here, again, next month.
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