Weekly Ketchup 21 - Return to the X-men

I've done a lot of revisiting and reminiscing this past week - mainly spurred by the release of Days of Future Past. Let me just get my feelings about the movie out of the way before I descend into my usual existentialist rambling.

1) The first trailer made me want to cry. The entire movie got me bawling. None of the MCU films have yet to affect me as much.
I will say this, though: DofP was a comic book/superhero movie I really WANTED to watch, whereas the MCU movies (with the exception of The Avengers) were something I just NEEDED to see.
2) I didn't think that I still cared about these characters but I apparently still do. The battle scenes are epic and all, but it was the emotional tugs and nods to the comics and previous movies that really made it for me.

Additionally, Comixology had an X-men sale so I bought Schism with my complimentary $5 coupon, which was about to expire. I also thought it would be perfect timing to pick up my copy of the Uncanny Avengers Annual and X-Men: No More Mutants en route to seeing the movie - on opening day!

It's my first X-book in almost a decade and I'm just glad most of them are there. 

With the new movie and the comics, my head was definitely swimming in mutant nostalgia this entire week. And, of course, thoughts and feelings happened.

I'd like to think that the fable of the X-men - empowering the disenfranchised, minority, outcasts, and all - were really what bonded me to the mutant universe growing up because that's exactly how I saw myself. Looking back, however, I realize that it was because they were, more than anything, easily accessible then . I collected the cards, followed the show, the works; but I didn't really get my first X-men comic until later - during the Phalanx Covenant saga when Blink first appeared (hence my excitement for her inclusion in DofP).

This is how much of a fan I was then: I drew fan art, wrote fan fiction, and contributed issue synopses on fan sites, none of which I have ever done for The Avengers. So when my mutant hysteria waned sometime in 2000, months after the first movie and before my first Avengers issue, I thought it was because:
a) The X-men had become too popular and I wanted a fandom that was just mine;
b) I don't want drama in my comics anymore - I just want action and super-heroics;
c) There are just too many X-books. I can't keep up.

Hmmm. Sound familiar?

What I realize now is that this change in super-team also coincided with a shift in my personality. Following a period of personal drama and identity issues, I entered a period of assertiveness where I decided what kind of person I wanted to be (forgive the pretension - I was 19 and about to enter college). No more drama, I thought then. I was gonna focus on being awesome. And so I did. Mission accomplished.

That's probably why I gravitated towards The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver early on. They got the job done and did away with all the drama associated with carrying the mutant banner.

Sad but true.

I also understand where Havok was coming from in that controversial speech. I also don't like labels as they have a way of boxing me and forcing expectations from other people that I have no intention of meeting, which is also where I stand with religion.

Coincidentally, he's been Wanda and Pietro's teammate on different squads.

Unlike the mutants, I've never really had to fight for my survival (like I said my only issues growing up, which seems silly now, were about identity). That, coupled with my disregard for other people's expectations, meant that I was also prone to fits of mediocrity, which further adds to the notion that I seem to lack ambition.

Aside from bringing out old issues (Get it? Issues? Coz comics?), this nostalgic week also seemingly brought back a bad behavior I've worked so hard to control: Impulse buying. I did set aside budget for the new comics I got this week, both of which I've been really waiting for, so that's okay. But as I dove back into the mutant world, I found myself looking for more digital comics to buy. I was even tempted to get the Origin of Generation X trade paperback, which reprints the entire Phalanx Covenant saga, from the downgraded Fully Booked Gateway branch. Granted, the book was at 50% off but I already have the individual issues, missing only a couple.

I also found myself looking at new Android devices even if I don't really need it. I suppose I was spoiled by reading Invincible on Rocky's 10-inch Asus Transformer, which I had just returned. So I just ended up re-reading old issues and the X-men chapters of the complete Avengers vs. X-men saga, which was about as close as I got to re-connecting with the mutants until now.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say my future self sent his consciousness back in time to stop me.