#hellions (2020)

[summerstrash]

currently fixated on the persistent theme of objectification and weaponization in alex's arc in the krakoan era, the way he's reduced to his body and his powers' utility to others, and how every time he asserts himself as an individual with desires and interiority and opinions, he is immediately either mocked, condescended to, narratively punished, or physically brutalized.

and like, this is specifically noteworthy in a gender way because alex often tries to express personhood via displays of heroism and/or masculinity, and he is punished both for failure to achieve these ideals, and for even trying in the first place —

and then there's the fact that alex has not had a single issue or even scene where we're directly in his head, and even when the focus is on him, his implicit thoughts and feelings, and his explicit words and actions are predominantly related to humanizing (& relating to) maddie, barring the argument he has with scott in x-men and his first scene with emma in hellions.

alex is constantly filtered through the contempt, pity, and condescension of the people around him, rather than being allowed by the narrative to express himself without pain and horror mediating the proceedings.

emma's weapon, manuel's plaything, forge's petty revenge, maddie's zombie helpmeet — alex has spent the entire past four years being used and used and used.

and people still have the gall to say he needs to "figure out what he wants" and "grow/get some spine" —

as if the second he does that, he won't just get his back broken for it.

[summerstrash]

thinking about the flesh and the machine in Hellions (2020) again and the interplay between love and violence and kinship and the fact that john greycrow, an at-least-double amputee who wears his prostheses as weapons and as armor, is unambiguously the emotional heart of the team.

like, he's the one who reaches out, who physically and emotionally supports his teammates when they need someone. he's the man who walked into the dream-desert for kwannon, subverting the nightmare-desert of Inferno (1988) and contrasting the way alex is abandoned by the nightmare robot maddie. they can only reunite, as a team, because john heard kwannon's call and came, no matter how long it took.

and it's john's perspective from which we see a lot of issue #13, where kwannon tries to pull away from him, and he comforts and spends time with peter as he feels abandoned by nanny, and he calls alex out for ignoring the team at the first hellfire gala.

he's also kyle's friend, willing to take him as he is post-arakkification, and he's the first one to get to alex when hex butcher cuts off his hands, the first to comfort him as he lays bleeding in the dirt.

and this is a book that in large part hinges on the conflict between the mutant and the machine, and the way both are malleable and subject to manipulation by people with institutional power (sinister and emma on the council, tarn on the great ring and as cult leader and "father" to the locus vile, the hodge robot & the right in general)

and I just think it's really neat that john, the most visible fusion of mutant and machine in the book, a man who, despite several resurrections, remains an amputee with big fuckoff metal prostheses, is the one whose engagement with the rest of the team forms one of the big emotional cores of the book.

[summerstrash]

["Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds plays menacingly in the distance]

(Hellions #12 (Wells/Segovia/Curiel/Maher) vs Hellions #13 (Wells/Antônio/Beredo/Maher)

[summerstrash]

help I've accidentally developed an ot3

[summerstrash]

hot tip for kyle: it might also be because you call them "the females"

[summerstrash]

"that looks hard, havok..." could you be any more of a fucking evil twink, empath? genuinely losing my mind over this flirtatious-ass dialogue.

[summerstrash]

please, God, just let them Nap.

[image description: A digital illustration of Alex Summers, John Greycrow, and Psylocke napping on a pale blue background. Alex, a blonde white guy in a black and silver costume, is facing toward the left, his head tipped back onto John's shoulder. John, a muscular, light-skinned Native American man with long dark hair and a short goatee, in a metal half-vest, is in the middle, facing the viewer. Slumped against his right shoulder is Psylocke, a Japanese woman with long black hair and pale skin whose face is turned toward the viewer, though her body is twisted sideways somewhat. All are asleep with their eyes closed, shown from the chest up. End description.]

[summerstrash]

because why should the extended summers polycule get to have all the fun with meaningful beers?

I drew this earlier this month and am only getting around to posting it now.

Image Description: A simple digital illustration of Alex Summers and John Greycrow. They are facing each other, both in profile, shown from the hips up, and wearing civilian clothes, as John passes Alex a beer. John is a tall, muscular, light-skinned Native American man with long black hair, dark eyes, and a goatee, and he is smiling a little, facing right as he hands Alex the green beer bottle. He is shirtless and wearing black pants. Alex is a white man of medium build with short, messy blond hair and blue eyes, and he is wearing a black t-shirt and medium-wash blue jeans. He looks a little stunned and is flushing heavily as he, facing left, takes the beer, his hand covering part of John's on the bottle. The background is a mess of sky-blue and white paint streaks. End description.