InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I have asked you thrice!"

seriousfic (seriousfic) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-04-22 09:11:00

Entry tags:

char: cyclops/scott summers, char: goblyn queen/madelyne pryor, publisher: marvel comics, series: fucked-up love life of cyclops

The Incredibly Fucked-Up Love Life Of Scott Summers: Madeline Pryor
Catchy title, no? It was either this or The Incredibly Fucked-Up Love Life Of Matt Murdock, and if you think I'm documenting Daredevil's sex life then you've got another thing coming.

So you probably know the background. Scott Summers and Jean Grey were the obligatory Silver Age couple with tons of UST but some handicap or angst that kept them from getting together, like Matt Murdock and Karen Page or Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy (man, these Silver Age romances do not end well). When Chris Claremont restarted the X-Men, he kept the two and actually got them together. Then came the Dark Phoenix Saga, in which Jean (or... was she?) died (or... did she?) to keep from eating any more planets. But, all told, it was a pretty healthy relationship.

Scott, naturally, was heartbroken and there followed several issues of him working on a shrimpboat, romancing a captain named Lee Forester (a GIRL captain, before you ask), and getting stranded on a deserted island in his skivvies to foil a plot by Magneto to start nuclear war. You know, the usual five stages of grief.

Ruh-roh, Scoob! Looks like we got a mystery on our hands!

(And check out the next issue blurb. Truly, this was the Mighty Marvel Age of Great Titles!)

Ah, X-Men, where even the titles have phonetic accents!

BWAHAHA! I'm sorry, but people going "Uh, Scott, your new girlfriend looks like your dead girlfriend" keeps getting funnier everytime I come across it. BECAUSE HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND LOOKS LIKE HIS DEAD GIRLFRIEND.

In case you were wondering, the Ugloids of "Angel and the Ugloids." No, they're not a band.

Damn. Brother worked up an appetite. I've gotta try that "Hey, you look like my dead girlfriend" line sometime.

You have to love Madeline's response there. "I'm impressed."

I'll spoil you now and say, if I have my facts right, that Claremont meant for this literally to all be a big coincidence. Which could be seen as a bit refreshing after all the conspiracies and grandiose histories your average superheroes have to wad through, but also seems like a bit of a cheat when they make this much of a point of Maddie and Jean looking exactly alike, and Jean dying on the same day of Maddie's crash. I think they could've fudged it a little to make it more plausible, but of course, it's hard to tell how this would read back then, when the Dark Phoenix saga was still fresh in people's minds and Madeline Pryor's name doesn't have the baggage it does today.

They only have one set of pajamas between them, BUT THEY'LL MAKE DO.

You know, I can't help it, Claremont does a good job of making their romance the right mix of angst and genuine warmth. I mean, he shows her an earthrise. Gets ya right there.

Sexual anxiety 1,433: Being interrupted with your girlfriend by your father while a furry flirts with him.

Corsair offers to let Scott and Madeline come with him into deep space. They think it over.

Scott's being mature and thoughtful of other people's feelings, so you know that won't last. The photograph is a picture of Jean and the "priest" is our old friend Mastermind, last seen getting his mind scrambled by the Phoenix for turning Jean's life into one of those Colonial reenactments.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Madeline Pryor!

Scott goes to apologize to her and finds out she is TEH PHOENIS OH NOES! (Or not.)

It all turns out to be a plot by Mastermind, who really needs to learn to stop messing with redheads that have slept with Scott Summers.

See? Told you.

Jesus, Storm, you're at a wedding...

D'awwwesome. Okay, so that's it, Scott's resolved his psychological issues, they're in love, they're married, all done, now we can move on to all-new, all-different? Well, not quite. First, they've gotta fight a giant fucking shark.

Look at that fourth panel! It's almost like Scott's likable!

They're forced to land at sea, because what do you expect when Scott gets in an airplane, and the happy couple gets to work fixing the plane when...

Madeline's top: Bikini or hard-working shadow? You be the judge!

The shark gets eaten by a giant squid (YES) and...

They fight the squid, but I'll skip the hentai jokes and just say they win. But some day I am so posting those scans.

Okay, so now they're done. They've literally flown off into the sunset, their story's been told, now all that's left is the occasional cameo appearance. Like so:

In X-Men and Alpha Flight, Scott and Maddie run into one of those plot contrivances that resolves everyone's drama, so you just know it's going to get blow'd up by the end of the series. Scott's eyes are normal and Madeline becomes a healer, leading to Rachel Summers adopting her official role of Girl Who Does Not Like Other Women In Scott's Life.

Is Madeline blushing or has she just applied red greasepaint for a game of touch football? It would explain the helmet...

The X-Men: Where when you hear a happily married couple is going to have a baby, the response is to angst about it!

And here we see Madeline Pryor refusing phenomenal cosmic power, which I'm sure will in no way be important later on.

And some Rachel Summers, because she and Scott are cute together.

And here that patented X-Men Angst sets in, with Scott being indisposed with Magneto's trial while Madeline goes into labor.

That tickling word balloon is just begging to be turned into a perverted icon.

Storm interrupts the angst to ask if Scott wants to step aside as leader. He says no. So it's time to tackle the thorny issue of who's best fit to lead the team by a manner both logical and fair. Start the Amok Time music!

Cyclops gets his clock cleaned because it's Storm and Chris Claremont is writing it, so he and Madeline make their angsty way back to Alaska. Scott accepts that Storm's leading the X-Men now and wondering if he'll be able to make up for his douchiness to Madeline. Not beer and skittles, and not the note you want to leave one of the original X-Men on, but for now, it'll do. Because if you thought this wasn't the best final word on the Scott/Madeline relationship, wait until you see next time.

Next time: Jean returns, Scott kicks the dog, and Madeline gets the biggest fridging since William Perry.

(Post a new comment)

	arilou_skiff 2009-04-22 10:14 am UTC (link)
	I love Hepzibah when they remember she's a skunk and not a freaking cat! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	seriousfic 2009-04-22 10:30 am UTC (link)
	Gives a whole new meaning to two in the pink, one in the stink. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-07-08 05:43 pm UTC (link)
	You win the internet. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	Hey, have a heart! zhinxy 2009-04-22 03:58 pm UTC (link)
	They suffer from a chronic, little understood condition, known as felicius-mephitis confusius, or, colloquially Pepe Le Pew's disease. Please be a little more sensitive to their plight. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kaileighblue 2009-04-22 10:41 am UTC (link)
	Who wears short shorts?! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mullon 2009-04-22 01:04 pm UTC (link)
	Scott wear short shorts! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	greenmask 2009-04-22 07:04 pm UTC (link)
	Short shorts and a gimpy mask! I vote to bring this look back. The husband shall match the wife, yea. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	halloweenjack 2009-04-22 10:50 am UTC (link)
	Mullet Rachel is extraordinarily lesbianic. (Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2009-04-22 12:05 pm UTC (link)
	Has Maddy meeting Lockheed been reposted yet to the new scans_daily? Could someone repost that? (Reply to this)

arcus.livejournal.com
2009-04-22 12:29 pm UTC (link)

Now, let's be fair: in Uncanny 175, which you posted scans from, Scott takes out the entire team singlehandedly, including Storm with powers, and with a couple broken ribs on top of it. Claremont liked Scott, and as much as he was characterized as neurotic and repressed, you wouldn't want anyone else to have your back in the battlefield.

Unfortunately, after the Powers that Be decreed that he leave Maddy for the resurrected Jean, there was no way to sell the plotline except to make Scott an irredeemable bastard, which happens in Uncanny 201. When Storm kicks Scott's ass, Claremont hasn't forgotten that he'd previously demonstrated him to be her equal or better in combat, he was making a point - essentially pissing all over the unrecognizable wreckage of a character that Marvel editorial destroyed.

Of course, the in-story explanation is that Maddy unconsciously used her latent psi powers to throw Scott off his game, but everything about Maddy after Uncanny 200 is so wonderfully meta that the behind-the-scenes story tends to be the more interesting one.

(Reply to this)

icon_uk
2009-04-22 12:46 pm UTC (link)

They only have one set of pajamas between them, BUT THEY'LL MAKE DO.

Though wouldn't it be more fun if they swapped. :)

It all turns out to be a plot by Mastermind, who really needs to learn to stop messing with redheads that have slept with Scott Summers.

Jimmy Olsen, the untold story! :)

So is that Warren or Doug talking to Piotr and Hank at the wedding do you think?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	philippos42 2009-04-23 03:26 am UTC (link)
	Maybe Doug. Warren would have trouble hiding his wings--or is this when he was wingless? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

icon_uk
2009-04-23 10:49 am UTC (link)

Warren wasn't wingless at this point, as he didn't lose his wings until years later, when X-factor, the one with Jean, was formed.

Also he never had a problem folding his wings underneath a snappy suit, he had a harness he wore.

It's the fact that he would bother hiding his wings at an X-Men wedding which made me think it might not be Warren. That and the fact that Doug, Piotr and the Beast are AFAIK, the only X-Men who could talk in Russian, Doug and Piotr fluently, Hank... not so much, but he gets by.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	wait a minute... philippos42 2009-04-27 01:47 pm UTC (link)
	In the panel I'm looking at, isn't Piotr in the group with Ororo & Logan? So who is that black-haired guy with Hank & ?Doug? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: wait a minute... icon_uk 2009-04-27 02:02 pm UTC (link)
	Oooh, hadn't spotted the big tall guy who MUST be Piotr at the back. No idea who the other guy is then, possibly just a friend of the family. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	mullon 2009-04-22 01:04 pm UTC (link)
	Hair was so bad in the eighties. (Reply to this)

starwolf_oakley
2009-04-22 01:39 pm UTC (link)

Funny thing is, it can be argued that the X-Men *don't* work very well without Cyclops. What happens after Scott leaves? They decide to team up with the Hellfire Club, they get their hinders kicked by the Marauders, and then they have the brilliant idea to let the world think that they're dead while they live in Australia.

Other writers have used the idea that Scott is somehow totally worthless (or at least thinks he is) without the X-Men. Joss Whedon used it in the "Torn" storyline in ASTONISHING.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	arilou_skiff 2009-04-23 02:39 am UTC (link)
	You know, I've always figured that, warts and all, Scott is the X-men. He's not the big guy or the flashy guy or even the guy with the plan or the big ideals, but he's the guy that actually makes them work together (often by shouting at them, admittedly) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	fusil 2009-04-22 02:25 pm UTC (link)
	Maddie! <3 Ashes to Ashes and the Asgardian Wars TPBs were the few X-Men stories I read over and over again as a child. When I started reading X-Men years later, I was so sad when I learned what happened to her. Also, 15+ years later, Kitty's hair is still as hideous as I remember. (Reply to this)

	ex_menagerie993 2009-04-22 02:26 pm UTC (link)
	Gods. It was a bit over dramatic at times but I do miss the era where you could have super powered tickle fights in X-titles rather than fairly constant doom and gloom. (Reply to this)

	sandoz_iscariot 2009-04-22 04:25 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, Maddy's story is a sad one. (That puffy, frilly yellow nightmare she wears is almost as sad.) As bad as the editorially mandated "explanation" for Maddy was, I was never impressed with Claremont's intended "it was all coincidence!" story either. Mmm, Paul Smith art. So 80s. (Reply to this)

	tpsreports 2009-04-22 07:44 pm UTC (link)
	All these years and Paul Smith's art still looks great. I remember why I was so crazy for this book as a kid. (Reply to this)

ashtoreth
2009-04-23 12:53 am UTC (link)

Those issues of Madelyne were my introduction to the X-men. I still love her more than Jean (though I do not love the mockery that pretends to be her now).

Pretty sure Claremont's lying about the coincidence. You don't do that sort of thing without having a future story in mind. However, that remark "Who am i to complain about other people being secretive? Old habits die hard" made me think she used to be a spy.

Scott is so much better when he's on his own or when someone else is in charge. :(

(Reply to this) (Thread)

sandoz_iscariot
2009-04-23 10:48 am UTC (link)

Maddy's story as envisioned by Claremont (marries Cyclops, has a baby, both leave the crazy world of the X-Men behind for a "happily ever after" ending) is pretty much what he intended for Jean after the Dark Phoenix Saga, before editorial demanded that she pay for her crimes as Dark Phoenix. So I don't think he's lying about it being a coincidence; you know, "Fine, if I can't use Jean I'll just create a character who looks exactly like her!" Of course, never explaining the eerie similarities that go beyond their physical resemblance left the door open for the "evil bitch clone from hell" explanation that came later. :/

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	timemonkey 2009-04-23 05:37 am UTC (link)
	That is an ugly baby. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-04-27 02:03 pm UTC (link)
	He grew into Cable, who has never really been a looker, if truth be told (It's not his fault though, he was designed by Liefeld, poor bastard) (Reply to this) (Parent)

(Anonymous)
2009-07-08 05:53 pm UTC (link)

Good heavens, I remember reading this when it first came out. *25 years ago*

Ahem. Anyway, as far as "it's a coincidence," that didn't seem plausible even then. That may be what Claremont intended but it's too much of a coincidence to be believable, and even then had the feel of the writer deliberately messing with the reader's head for kicks (as opposed to messing with the reader's head for the sake of an interesting plot direction or something).

I actually read Uncanny starting with #169, so for me Dark Phoenix was "ancient history" (although relatively speaking it wasn't that long prior to all of this...).

If something similar happened today it might be a refreshing change from the usual IT WAS A CONSPIRACY ALL ALONG HAHAHA... but that sort of continuity-raping MESS wasn't nearly as common back in those days (although again, this may be from the perspective of someone who'd just gotten into comics at the time). E.g., we didn't have yearly EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT WOLVERINE IS WRONG DUE TO MINDWIPES AND PLEASE IGNORE PREVIOUS STORYLINES WHICH CONTRADICT THIS.

And I realize that I am commenting on a three-month-old thread. I just recently discovered new!scans_daily and am going through archives...

(Reply to this)

	ex_agata254 2009-12-28 12:02 pm UTC (link)
	Oh! Thanks for sharing this touching love story. Here's my favorite one I'm glad to share with you, it's about Christmas party: signature: sex toy is the most fun you can have without laughing (Reply to this)