Now, you may be saying to yourself, what do you mean, Patrick? Every one of the main X-Books features Emma Frost, and each of the ancillary books has its own female at or near the forefront, from Psylocke in Exiles to Monet in X-Factor to X-23 in X-Force.
It's not these ancillary books I'm really talking about though. What I am referring to is the core X-Books, which I guess at this point is really Uncanny & Astonishing.
In these books, you have exactly one female X-Man who fans have known as one of the core X-Ladies: Storm, in Astonishing.
No Phoenix.
No Rogue.
No Shadowcat.
Even Storm shouldn't really count, as she's tied to happenings in other books with her ridiculous (and forced) marriage to Black Panther.
It's not like long-time secondhand members are there to take the spotlight either, like the aforementioned Psylocke, the oft-backgrounded Polaris, the Phoenix fill-in Rachel Summers or the disco Dazzler.
The men of the X-Men are getting some great attention by the current crop of writers, especially characters like Colossus and Cyclops who need to be handled by a deft hand lest they become caricatures. But the girls that we all grew up with, depending on which era you were born into comics during, are being entirely ignored. No, ignored is not the correct word. They've all been superseded by Emma Frost, as though her presence is a catch-all for fans of all of these other characters who will not get to play in the major league for whatever reason.
I understand that Dazzler is supposed to be coming aboard sometime soon, and that is an improvement. However, let's take a look at some of the missing primetime players and check in on them, shall we?
Jean - dead, resurrected only to die again
Rogue - dumped by boyfriend, betrayed by ex, infected with horrendous virus, comatose, possessed of the thoughts and powers of psychotic adoptive mother
Shadowcat - trapped in giant metal bullet, hurdling endlessly in space
Maybe Gail Simone should revive that Women in Refrigerators business...
So, all of this being said, we fans need more of our favorite ladies back in the X-Books flagship titles. This does not mean I'd like to see Husk rejoin, or some New Mutant like Magma step up and join. I mean, I'd be okay with either of those things as long as they were not replacing the women we've already grown to love.
In conclusion, bring back the babes, or I'll let Phoenix here cleanse you from the timeline!
Simmering,
Patrick James
