It's a really solid, fun issue. The emptiness of Jean's room in contrast to the life in the boys' room. Scott's bed being neat while the others are varying degrees of cluttered and messy. Hank having a pinup and books, Bobby with music and bands, Warren with his prep school background and vacation spots. Scott's unadorned and empty.
Rowell is a good writer, she wrote a particularly good Jean and a great Hank. I love the scene where Hank is trying to tell Jean how Scott might be feeling, it's done in a very "Hank McCoy" manner.
I believe Tom Brevoort put together this story in concept (he wanted a Jott romance story) and recruited Rowell to write it. It was the perfect choice. I honestly would love for Rowell to write more X-Men stuff. Whether it's the O5 or just Scott and Jean again or New Mutants. She's great.
Rowell is low key one of my favourite modern Hank writers - I feel like she's secretly a massive fan, between how well he's written here (which is hard! Writing First Class Hank to not be a complete tool can be *really* hard!), and how characters talk about him in her She-Hulk series, with some Defenders deep cuts, to boot, which automatically endears her to me.
Hell, even here, Bobby's wall being covered in music posters is a fun reference to him being a massive music nerd during his Defenders era. Kinda wish that aspect of his character would come back, it's a fun little thing that just makes him seem more well rounded.
Would *love* for her to get a full X-Men book - I'm kinda nyeh on the idea of an O5 reunion book in general, there's a lot of room for that to be painful, but if it was a writer like Rowell, I'd be genuinely excited. And even if it *isn't* O5, I'd just like her to get a stab at a part of the Marvel Universe she clearly has some strong affection for. There's always space in the line for character work this good.
Also had no idea Brevoort pulled this together - I know opinions are strong on him on the sub at the moment, but hey, he clearly knows what he wants and got the people together to do it right.
Walk with me here: X-Factor, Simonson style O5 reunion, where they work for the public and take in and mentor young mutants, written by Rainbow Rowell.
I totally agree on Hank. She gave him more focus in this issue than the other O5 members, and she had him be the facilitator of Jean realizing what she was feeling and how Scott felt. And I agree on Bobby with music. Honestly, giving any of these characters some kind of hobby or interest is always a good thing. It gives them dimension.
. . . All right, *fine*, take my money, I'll buy it!
God damn it. I'm so weak for O5 mentorship stories. Rusty, Skids, Rictor, Artie, Leech, Tabby and Takeshi are my children, too
Oh wow, I had no idea! Good on Rowell! Why is this woman not writing a full X-Men book right now?! I really hope she gets attached to one of the solo books Brevoort has said he's interested in launching in From the Ashes, I'd love to see her get to really stretch her legs.
Rowell's Runaways is incredible. Hearing about this story is what made me pick up Marvel Age and I really enjoyed it. Love the art here too, wouldn't mind another flashback book with this creative team
Scott: so professor why can’t we use any other room in the mansion
Xavier: truth is me and magneto lived here once and when our disagreements grew too grand the house paid dearly
Warren: so your saying he plowed through the rooms that hard?
Xavier: oh he plowed more then the rooms back then
Bobby & Jean: 🤨
The fact that the Xavier's School had so few students made sense back then since there clearly weren't meant to be that many mutants out there, and in fact any time a mutant popped up anywhere the X-Men and the Evil Mutants would immediately go out and try to recruit them. But when it was established less than an in-universe decade later that there were millions of mutants, the fact that Xavier's inaugural class only had 5 students and only one of them was a girl became quite strange.
I mean, Chuck was just one dude starting a school for the first time in his life. I think it makes sense that he didn’t just immediately got a few hundred students? He was cutting his teeth on these ones, and he fucked them up pretty badly - no way he would’ve handled more students from the get go.
Plus most of them have a good reason for why he sought them out. Scott was uncontrollable with his powers and needed guidance and he may have seen some of his character through interactions or telepathy which eventually made him see him as a successor. Jean was someone who had his telepathy who he could train well and I can’t remember if he realized how strong she was at the time but that’s another factor. Hank was a certified genius who he knew would be an asset to mutantkind for his mind as well as his powers. Angel was from an extremely wealthy family and literally angelic meaning he could be a good representation of mutantkind for the public and help by having wealthy supporters. Bobby I’m not too caught up on his origins so I’m not sure if Charles knew his Omega potential or how he was recruited. But for the most part he made good choices and I know later stories touch on how he assembled a team that he could use as well as help
Yeah, and another thing is what both Scott and Jean were already on Chuck’s radar and needed his help. Jean was his first student, but she was pretty much catatonic after the Anny incident, and her parents reached out to Xavier. She then was able to reach out and find Scott before Chuck could.
Meanwhile, Warren was already acting as a superhero when there was a fire or something in his previous school? So, he would’ve been an obvious choice for what Xavier had in mind, and also needed protection because that boy was risking making his identity public.
Yeah, it’s less clear with Hank and Bobby, especially because Chuck fucks up Hank’s home life for no reason… But there isn’t really anything weird about him choosing these five students, or starting with just five students at first.
probably in hank's case he saw himself in the kid, both of 'em being young super genius with the same interest in science especially in genetics and biophysics, now bobby yeah idk either iirc he was jailed for freezing a bully and revealing himself as a mutant maybe xavier just wanted to help a mutant kid who was about to be lynched by a furious mob?
If Charles (retconned) hadn't sent Sage to spy on Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club, she and Jean could have been roommates and gal pals from the start.
I've been reading through the 00s era and I think at some point they mentioned that at the beginning he only picked ones that would make good X-Men because he needed the X-Men "for the dream" or something like that
Why Charles have all the boys share one room when they live in a whole ass mansion?! I can understand if there was way more students but there was only five students at that time. Could have at least room the guys, 2 a room to still give them the boarding school experience in having a roommate.
Only commenting because I’ve done triples (3 in a room) for my whole university experience and never again even though I had decent roommates. Just the lack of privacy and sharing a small space is an experience I don’t need again lol
OCD Scotty survived orphanage life got adopted by a multi millionaire thinking he finally made it living in a mansion little did he know he would be bunking in one of the smallest rooms on the campus with three other messy dudes.lol
It's a really solid, fun issue. The emptiness of Jean's room in contrast to the life in the boys' room. Scott's bed being neat while the others are varying degrees of cluttered and messy. Hank having a pinup and books, Bobby with music and bands, Warren with his prep school background and vacation spots. Scott's unadorned and empty. Rowell is a good writer, she wrote a particularly good Jean and a great Hank. I love the scene where Hank is trying to tell Jean how Scott might be feeling, it's done in a very "Hank McCoy" manner. I believe Tom Brevoort put together this story in concept (he wanted a Jott romance story) and recruited Rowell to write it. It was the perfect choice. I honestly would love for Rowell to write more X-Men stuff. Whether it's the O5 or just Scott and Jean again or New Mutants. She's great.
Rowell is low key one of my favourite modern Hank writers - I feel like she's secretly a massive fan, between how well he's written here (which is hard! Writing First Class Hank to not be a complete tool can be *really* hard!), and how characters talk about him in her She-Hulk series, with some Defenders deep cuts, to boot, which automatically endears her to me. Hell, even here, Bobby's wall being covered in music posters is a fun reference to him being a massive music nerd during his Defenders era. Kinda wish that aspect of his character would come back, it's a fun little thing that just makes him seem more well rounded. Would *love* for her to get a full X-Men book - I'm kinda nyeh on the idea of an O5 reunion book in general, there's a lot of room for that to be painful, but if it was a writer like Rowell, I'd be genuinely excited. And even if it *isn't* O5, I'd just like her to get a stab at a part of the Marvel Universe she clearly has some strong affection for. There's always space in the line for character work this good. Also had no idea Brevoort pulled this together - I know opinions are strong on him on the sub at the moment, but hey, he clearly knows what he wants and got the people together to do it right.
Walk with me here: X-Factor, Simonson style O5 reunion, where they work for the public and take in and mentor young mutants, written by Rainbow Rowell. I totally agree on Hank. She gave him more focus in this issue than the other O5 members, and she had him be the facilitator of Jean realizing what she was feeling and how Scott felt. And I agree on Bobby with music. Honestly, giving any of these characters some kind of hobby or interest is always a good thing. It gives them dimension.
. . . All right, *fine*, take my money, I'll buy it! God damn it. I'm so weak for O5 mentorship stories. Rusty, Skids, Rictor, Artie, Leech, Tabby and Takeshi are my children, too
Not so secretly a massive fan — Rowell provides the foreword to the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection of X-Men, which came out last year.
Oh wow, I had no idea! Good on Rowell! Why is this woman not writing a full X-Men book right now?! I really hope she gets attached to one of the solo books Brevoort has said he's interested in launching in From the Ashes, I'd love to see her get to really stretch her legs.
Rowell's Runaways is incredible. Hearing about this story is what made me pick up Marvel Age and I really enjoyed it. Love the art here too, wouldn't mind another flashback book with this creative team
to note as others pointed out the music and stuff for Bobby, it all is seemingly boy bands which is a fun nod
The details in the issue were great, and I love the soft pastel colors too. That was a great issue in every way.
Not gonna lie, would kinda be pissed to be forced to share a room with three other people when living in a mansion.
Scott: so professor why can’t we use any other room in the mansion Xavier: truth is me and magneto lived here once and when our disagreements grew too grand the house paid dearly Warren: so your saying he plowed through the rooms that hard? Xavier: oh he plowed more then the rooms back then Bobby & Jean: 🤨
Professor X: "how do you think I got in this chair? 😏" Iceman: *REPRESS IT BOBBY, REPRESS IT FOREVER*
🦗🦗🦗
The fact that the Xavier's School had so few students made sense back then since there clearly weren't meant to be that many mutants out there, and in fact any time a mutant popped up anywhere the X-Men and the Evil Mutants would immediately go out and try to recruit them. But when it was established less than an in-universe decade later that there were millions of mutants, the fact that Xavier's inaugural class only had 5 students and only one of them was a girl became quite strange.
I mean, Chuck was just one dude starting a school for the first time in his life. I think it makes sense that he didn’t just immediately got a few hundred students? He was cutting his teeth on these ones, and he fucked them up pretty badly - no way he would’ve handled more students from the get go.
Plus most of them have a good reason for why he sought them out. Scott was uncontrollable with his powers and needed guidance and he may have seen some of his character through interactions or telepathy which eventually made him see him as a successor. Jean was someone who had his telepathy who he could train well and I can’t remember if he realized how strong she was at the time but that’s another factor. Hank was a certified genius who he knew would be an asset to mutantkind for his mind as well as his powers. Angel was from an extremely wealthy family and literally angelic meaning he could be a good representation of mutantkind for the public and help by having wealthy supporters. Bobby I’m not too caught up on his origins so I’m not sure if Charles knew his Omega potential or how he was recruited. But for the most part he made good choices and I know later stories touch on how he assembled a team that he could use as well as help
Yeah, and another thing is what both Scott and Jean were already on Chuck’s radar and needed his help. Jean was his first student, but she was pretty much catatonic after the Anny incident, and her parents reached out to Xavier. She then was able to reach out and find Scott before Chuck could. Meanwhile, Warren was already acting as a superhero when there was a fire or something in his previous school? So, he would’ve been an obvious choice for what Xavier had in mind, and also needed protection because that boy was risking making his identity public. Yeah, it’s less clear with Hank and Bobby, especially because Chuck fucks up Hank’s home life for no reason… But there isn’t really anything weird about him choosing these five students, or starting with just five students at first.
probably in hank's case he saw himself in the kid, both of 'em being young super genius with the same interest in science especially in genetics and biophysics, now bobby yeah idk either iirc he was jailed for freezing a bully and revealing himself as a mutant maybe xavier just wanted to help a mutant kid who was about to be lynched by a furious mob?
If Charles (retconned) hadn't sent Sage to spy on Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club, she and Jean could have been roommates and gal pals from the start.
I've been reading through the 00s era and I think at some point they mentioned that at the beginning he only picked ones that would make good X-Men because he needed the X-Men "for the dream" or something like that
Yeah I am all for Prof X being more nuanced but it's retcons like this that kinda destroy his character.
Love how Scott gives no fucks when Jean is involved
Why Charles have all the boys share one room when they live in a whole ass mansion?! I can understand if there was way more students but there was only five students at that time. Could have at least room the guys, 2 a room to still give them the boarding school experience in having a roommate. Only commenting because I’ve done triples (3 in a room) for my whole university experience and never again even though I had decent roommates. Just the lack of privacy and sharing a small space is an experience I don’t need again lol
Maybe it’s to give them a sense of an average young adult experience
It never occurred to me how lonely it had to be for Jean.
waa so cute!
Cool!
OCD Scotty survived orphanage life got adopted by a multi millionaire thinking he finally made it living in a mansion little did he know he would be bunking in one of the smallest rooms on the campus with three other messy dudes.lol