InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "fear is the mind killer"

seriousfic (seriousfic) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-05-27 11:31:00

Entry tags:

char: angel/archangel/warren worthington, char: cameron hodge, char: candy southern, creator: louise simonson, creator: walt simonson, publisher: marvel comics, theme: slash, title: x-factor

Cameron Hodge is gay for Angel, has horrible costume.
So, way back when, the X-Factor was a team that combated mutant prejudice by pretending to be mutant-hunters who captured dangerous mutants, who of course they advertised as being so dangerous you needed specially-trained operatives to come in and round them up. This didn't go over well. So, Marvel did what it always does when their heroes act like idiots: Reveal it was all someone else's fault!

In this case, Cameron Hodge, the team's PR man, turned out to be a member of The Right (unfortunately, this was before Peter David's run on the title, so Hodge was never protected by the Right Guard, yuk yuk), an anti-mutant organization he created. Really, who starts an anti-mutant organization when there are already forty billion out there? On LJ, you'd get yelled at for creating a fourth Wolverine/Rogue comm.

Hodge betrayed the team and went all supervillain on them, driving Angel to pretend-suicide, kidnapping mutants for experiments, and finally kidnapping Angel's girlfriend Candy Southern, who despite the name is neither a stripper or a gay porn star.

My God. To what depths of depravity has this man sunk? Look how he eschews the adornments of his old life, the business suits, the power ties, for a concealing cloak. What dark secret could he be hiding? What terrifying visage is obscured?

His madness has twisted him into an instrument of evil. What possible face could do justice to his menace? How has he chosen to reflect his inner demons to the world? WHAT IS THE MASK THAT HAS BECOME HIS FACE?

And next up, we'll see if Spider-Man can thwart an invasion by Cameron's older brother, Marvin the Martian. "Mutants make me very angry! Very angry indeed!" Gad, I've seen more intimidating Pokemon.

Oh, and he has a demon working for him. A demon that apparently ships it.

"I can feel your cameras watching me."

There's a phrase I bet Warren has said before.

Yeah. "Discovered your secret plan." That's totally the reason.

(Post a new comment)

	icon_uk 2009-05-27 12:32 pm UTC (link)
	Yup, Cameron was a real bunny boiler... On the other hand the Smile-Faces were a magnificently creepy design. The big immobile grin as they laid waste to innocents... brrrrrr! Oh, and the Right funded the Ani-Mator, so I hold them vicariously responsible for the death of Cypher.. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	proteus_lives 2009-05-27 12:53 pm UTC (link)
	The Smile-Faces were creepy! They didn't even need to be turned into Limbo demons to be freaky! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	halloweenjack 2009-05-27 12:40 pm UTC (link)
	That scene really should end with Warren singing "Wind Beneath My Wings." (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sir_razorback 2009-05-27 12:51 pm UTC (link)
	I can see him singing that after Taco Bell take-out night a the X-mansion. (Reply to this) (Parent)

kitty_tc_69
2009-05-27 03:02 pm UTC (link)

Hell hath no fury, eh? I have to agree, the subtext just drips off the page here. Hell, she (the writer) practically comes right out and says it.

And man, was Archangel cool. It was a mistake to ever revert him. The only thing they should have done was get him out of that awful blue and magenta outfit and into something a little more stylish, probably in black. Other than that, the character was awesome.

By the way, who here thinks Warren vibes gay most of the time? Gaiman thought so, and it's pretty easy to see IMO.

In my setting (I run a Marvel /DC merged universe RPG) Angel has been split, one half pink-skinned and with wings and a sword made of psionically projected flaming solid energy, and the other blue with steel wings as you see here. The golden winged Angel is gay, the steel winged one straight.

The gay Angel is a founding member of the Champions of Los Angeles, a gay-themed superteam which also sports Wonder Man and Hercules (among others) as members. The idea is, as an openly queer team, that they provide a positive role model of the gay community both for gays to look up to and for straights to see that gays can save the world and make positive contributions to it just like any other hero. Their hero activity is much like any other team, fighting whatever threats arise, but their public relations arm definitely emphasizes their queer identity. They do things like fundraisers for gay rights groups, appear at events like pride parades, and make public statements and press releases in favor of gay issues and in rebuttal against anti-gay forces. They would definitely have been making a commercial or two against Prop 8, for example.

I doubt it's anything that we'd ever see in the real Marvel Universe due to timidity on the part of editorial, but I'd love to see it happen.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	psychop_rex 2009-05-28 02:36 am UTC (link)
	Uh... I could be wrong, but I'm pretty certain Hercules isn't gay. One of his favorite activities, as best I can tell, is to go to bars, sing songs of his glory, and attract beautiful women like flies. (Granted, we never see what he ultimately DOES with those women, but hey, these are family-friendly comics.) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

kitty_tc_69
2009-05-28 03:05 am UTC (link)

Well I'm more going by classical Greek myth, which paints Hercules as quite strongly bisexual. Yes, he was married at least once or twice (to women), but his exploits with male lovers are also front and center in the myths. I'm aware that Marvel excised that part of his mythological characterization, but I'd see it returned to him if I had my way.

Also, there's the fact that he hails from a culture where homosexuality was accepted and respected, and I'm certain that he'd want to be a part of a group that demonstrated against modern homophobia. After all, the Hercules of myth would find such attitudes both baffling and infuriating, and completely alien to his cultural sensibilities.

Again, this is going by the actual classical myths, here, rather than strictly by the Marvel version of the character.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

psychop_rex
2009-05-28 03:27 am UTC (link)

Offhand, I can't recall any stories talking about Hercules's 'exploits with male lovers'. I'm not saying you're wrong, mind you, just that I can't think of any.
You're probably right about Herc protesting homophobia, but in my opinion, it'd be more likely that he'd be a SUPPORTER of the group, not a member of it. Still, it's your story.
It's an interesting concept, actually - superheroes are frequently given the opportunity to talk about their positions on such issues as environmentalism and gun control, but rarely on more sensitive ones, such as abortion and gay rights. It makes you wonder how Thor, for instance, would view the subject - as a god of the Vikings, who were some of the more swaggeringly macho people ever to walk the Earth, would he be for or against gay rights, I wonder?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

kitty_tc_69
2009-05-28 11:27 am UTC (link)

Here's just one source: http://www.gay-art-history.org/gay-history/gay-literature/gay-mythology-folktales/homosexual-greek-mythology/homosexual-greek-mythology.html

I've also read that there was a common attitude in place, at least in Athens, that heterosexuality and marriage was for procreation and that 'true love' could only be between 'equals' --ie, same sex.

Modern retellings of the myths typically bowdlerize out the homosexual aspects, but they're most certainly there. The ancient greek attitudes about homosexuality were far, far different than our own.

As to the Vikings, that's a different story. I'm not aware of any particular penchant for homosexuality among the ancient Norse, but I do know that much like the Celts they highly respected their women. Thor was married in the myths, and his wife was the one person god or mortal he wouldn't cross.

Too often, these stories and the cultures they represent get filtered through a modern cultural lens rather than portray the actual mores of the time.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

starwolf_oakley
2009-05-27 03:13 pm UTC (link)

Brucha S. Meyers posted on one of the older USENET boards that Hodge's deal with Warren was "just your typical obsessive-love-hate-desire-rejection psychosis."

To what degree Hodge's rage was due Warren being a mutant or Warren no being gay for him, I don't know. Maybe Hodges hated mutants but secretly loved Warren, found out Warren was a mutant, and went insane from the cognitive dissonance. Like "the Fox and the Grapes," only the Fox thinks all Grapes are out to usurp humanity and must be destroyed.

(Reply to this)

	wonderwomanhero 2009-05-27 03:14 pm UTC (link)
	What if it were Hodge instead of Callisto? (Reply to this)

	volksjager 2009-05-27 07:18 pm UTC (link)
	I think CH was gay long before he met Angle LOL... (Reply to this)

	ar_feiniel_ 2009-05-27 09:23 pm UTC (link)
	With dialogue like "You turned from me and loved her," it's hard to read this story any other way than a deluded and sexually repressed man lashing out at the object of his affection-turned-hatred. And IMHO it's a better story for it. I always felt bad for Candy. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	timgueguen 2009-05-28 01:28 am UTC (link)
	It's surprising they never brought her back as a revenge minded cyborg, or a revenge minded clone, or a revenge minded something else. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	starwolf_oakley 2009-05-28 03:57 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, in the early 300's of UNCANNY, but she wasn't revenge minded. Hodge brought Candy back for revenge as part of the Phalanx, but she wasn't mad at Warren. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	So Yeah politicalzombie 2009-07-24 05:39 pm UTC (link)
	Hmmmm, I wonder if there are any creepy Camero/Warren fics out there. (Reply to this) (Parent)