So, I am a X-Men fan, above all others.
 
I always enjoyed the X-Books, but there was a point in my reading life when I realized that reading comics was pointless. That happened when Archangel and Psylocke broke up (Betsy was being a whore and Warren was being lame), and when that happened I found myself staring at the page and wondering "Wow, that made no sense at all. A writer or editor, someday, decided they had to spice things up, and broke these two up". That clash of reading a true, well-thought story against reading a fan-based series of events that are poorly conected to one another made me stop reading comics for quite sometime.
 
But, being the good, shameless person I am, when I heard Betsy and Warren were finally getting back together in Uncanny X-Force, I decided to buy those. I took advantage of a trip to the US, and bought all new X-Force numbers (not making the distinction between the X-Force, the one with X-23 and Domino, and Uncanny X-Force, the one I thought I wanted). So one thing leads to another, and I bought X-Force, Messiah War, New X-Men, Messiah Complex and Second Coming, and I was officially back on the X-Boat. I pretty much enjoyed most of it, but ironically enough, I didn't enjoy Uncanny X-Force at all.
 
That feeling of 'Man... it's so dumb that Warren and Betsy are still at this page in their lives... can't they grow up?"
 
Most of the popular comic book characters suffer from this over-exposure (Wolverine anyone?) one time or another, because fans demand to see their favored ones get more attention, and roar in rage when they are put on the background. Thing is, as a business, comic books either make the characters too stale, it doesn't matter how much they change. Warren is Archangel, then he is Angel, but with metal wings, and then just Angel, and then he can morph into both, and then he is wingless, it's an eternal cycle. I know most comic book readers feel this, but the question I have to ask is... aren't we to blame too?
 
I will tell you this: I am a X-23 fan. I like her story, I like how well-developed she was, and how she was really growing as a character, especially after joining the New X-Men, finding Cessily and Julian, and all that jazz. I really thought she was going somewhere. But then she joins X-Force, everybody finds out, she gets into a fight in Utopia with Noriko about it (Cessily is nowhere to be seen. So busy that girl), and leaves. She gets her solo title, and since then, she has not taken one meaningful step towards someplace else. She is just adrift, the same she started. And it makes me wonder if this is the right direction comic books should take characters.
 
If you move too fast, you have to keep changing the characters, to keep them interesting. If you move too slow, they become boring and predictable.
 
But since people love Laura so much, there's only so much she can get exposed before she gets the Warren/Betsy/Spidey/Wolverine/Somanyothers  treatment. She will end up getting back to Utopia, sticking with Julian, and suddenly her past gets back to haunt her, she breaks up with him, becomes an emotionless murderer again, all tha jazz. Or maybe Mephisto will just blackmail her. Oh, the battle scars some characters have will never fade... 
 
Marvel won't give other minor females a chance if people won't have them. Maybe comic book readers should be more tolerant, or maybe Marvel should put more effort in writting original stories to their stabilished characters? Or should they bite the bullet and write their least known characters better, and show the readers how interesting they could be?
 
Comment away!

It might help if some of the writers seek treatment for the drug addictions I'm convinced they have. Some of the plots...WTF, lol.
 
I think Laura's solo series has been okay. Not what I would have come up with myself, but Liu has given her some needed self growth. I would personally like to see her with Julian (yeah everyone knows this), and read about what happens, as in how they manage their connection. The problem is, most comic writers don't understand that a relationship makes for awesome reading. Having a partner involves work; thinking of their well being, balancing desires to be fair to both, talking about issues, being understanding and sympathetic when there is an issue. There's a ton to write about there...a lot of opportunity for growth for the characters involved... but many writers seem to think the only interesting part is getting the pair together and splitting them up again.I'm hoping that this pairing will be different, but if it's not...some awesome writer will come along someday and fix it! Always room to hope =)

:* I think Laura is the only person who will look at Julian the same way she did even he's no-hands. And its good since Julian hates being pitied... :D That's our trooper.

Would be so, so happy if the writing improved, but the odds are slim- Marvel had to fire a bunch of writers recently, I seem to recall.

Why would Mephisto blackmail X-23? Have they even met?

(O_o ) Welp. I guess no LauraxJulian... Kimura can kiss her idea of killing Laura's Telekinetic boyfriend goodbye... (T^T ) coz it never happened!!!

(╯°□°)╯ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

@Squares:

Well, if Mephisto can make the whole Marvel Universe forget about Peter's identity, then it's safe to say he knows who Laura is. Problem is... it doesn't make it any more reasonable, what happened.

@rokusan23: It sorta happened. I am just worried Laura might be following Wolverine's footsteps in being so all over the place that she has no continuity or personality to speak of.

Don't forget that Laura was in Hell. I don't think that visit escaped Mephisto's attention.

@Tchokes: True. You know... Logan's charm is legendary. He's been with a lot... I mean lot O_O of women.

@k2 said:

It might help if some of the writers seek treatment for the drug addictions I'm convinced they have. Some of the plots...WTF, lol. I think Laura's solo series has been okay. Not what I would have come up with myself, but Liu has given her some needed self growth. I would personally like to see her with Julian (yeah everyone knows this), and read about what happens, as in how they manage their connection. The problem is, most comic writers don't understand that a relationship makes for awesome reading. Having a partner involves work; thinking of their well being, balancing desires to be fair to both, talking about issues, being understanding and sympathetic when there is an issue. There's a ton to write about there...a lot of opportunity for growth for the characters involved... but many writers seem to think the only interesting part is getting the pair together and splitting them up again.I'm hoping that this pairing will be different, but if it's not...some awesome writer will come along someday and fix it! Always room to hope =)

I definitely agree with you on this!!! I think that relationships in comics can be more interesting if most comic writers stopped breaking up the couples for no good reason. Like for example, I loved Joss Whedon's run of "Astonishing X-Men" because he portrayed Kitty and Colossus' relationship with each other so well and I was so disappointed when another comic book writer broke them up for no logical reason because Joss Whedon made Kitty and Colossus' relationship so interesting that I was rooting for the two of them to stay together. I hope that Laura's relationship goes well and the writers would try to expand more on her relationship instead of trying to break her up with the person she cares about.

@Rabbitearsblog: Man, when I wrote this I had no idea that Laura was going to get involved in cosmic adventures and eventually going to the Avengers Academy... I think she and Julian are going nowhere fast the way things are developing! ><

@rokusan23: Both because he -is- charming, and because everyone thinks he is so badass. In the world of comics, dominated by males, the bad ass guy always gets the chicks, which is simplistic, to say at least. If you look at Wolverine, he is ugly, short, stocky-built and full of rage. He has all the traits of a redneck wife-beater. How charming he could be, really?

@Tchokes: @Tchokes said:

@rokusan23: Both because he -is- charming, and because everyone thinks he is so badass. In the world of comics, dominated by males, the bad ass guy always gets the chicks, which is simplistic, to say at least. If you look at Wolverine, he is ugly, short, stocky-built and full of rage. He has all the traits of a redneck wife-beater. How charming he could be, really?

He may be all that.... but he's a big teddy bear. He would never beat a girl, unless they're villains. What I was saying.... Logan has been with a lot of women. His series confirms that women were his weakness. Not in any sexual predator way, he genuinely loved them all during a specific time. I'm afraid that some writers might pattern X-23 with that kind of hopeless romantic goop. Look at Daken :P It looks bad ass with guys (._. ) but with women (O_O ) Well, the talent is in the writer.

But I guess one way or another, it'll still happen with her... given her longevity.

@Tchokes: That's kind of out of the blue, not to mention jumping to conclusions. We don't know if Mephisto knows or cares about X-23 until/unless we're shown or told so.