General Marvel Legends

Amazon POs for Guido and Wade are 39.99 and 49.99 each. Pulse is charging 46.99 and 57.99 respectively!
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I bet the AIDS metaphor hit you hard back then.
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Maybe. At that time, as a 2nd or 3rd grader I think I was largely aware of AIDs through pop culture and several likely problematic and possibly homophobic after school specials or health videos.

From what I remember... X-Factor encountered the Legacy virus before it had a name, while they were visiting Genosha. The mutates had contracted it, and the mutates were already a pretty big paradigm for a kid - genetically enslaved mutants that served Genoshan elite. This was kind of a "post slavery" narrative I think where Havok gets enraged by the cruel ways in which the Genoshan government is trying to integrate (and still exploit) the mutates. I felt as a kid that particular kind of fear when you realize the responsible and "adult coded" institutions might be the villain, like in ET.

It gets worse when X-Factor discovers several mutates were being held, some against their will, in an abandoned hospital because they had contracted the virus. Moira MacTaggert was experimenting on them, trying to find a cure. Havok was ready to pop off. There was the moral conflict about sacrificing the few—sometimes against their will—to save the many. And again it was scary because the hospital and doctors, even Moira, were maybe the villains.

One of the sick mutates doesn't want to die as an experiment and escapes into the sewer system. The Genoshan government dispatches a team to track down and kill him. X-Factor puts on sci-fi hazmat suits and enters into the sewers to battle the government and find the mutate before the Genoshans do.

Multiple Man finds him first, and he's dying in the sewers. I remember that the art of the sick mutate was really rough... he was bald, skeletal, and had a number on his forehead. I remember him being reminiscent of what I had seen of Holocaust victims. To keep him alive, MM needs to give him CPR. He takes off his hazmat glove and makes a duplicate who performs mouth to mouth resuscitation on him. This is, I think, what really hit me hard. Multiple Man's mouth was pressed against the mouth of someone who looked downright ghastly. I realized I had my own prejudice and fear of very sick people, I was squeamish and scared. MM was kind of the class clown, and I was a well behaved kid and didn't like the class clowns as they often made me the joke. But here he was doing this incredibly selfless thing, knowingly putting himself at risk in a very, very intimate way to buy someone a little more time. He even had doubts while he was doing it. It was a struggle, it wasn't an easy choice.

The man lives, but is returned to the hospital. X-Factor leaves Genosha with an uneasy peace. The man does not live happily ever after. We leave him hooked up to an IV. X-Factor has to trust that the government will do right by him. There's only so much they can do as a small team of heroes. But it does not feel resolved.

And later on, inevitably, Multiple Man dies from the virus. For my 2nd or 3rd grade self, this was an incredibly shades of gray, scary, yet inspiring story. I was, of course, used to super heroes sacrificing themselves, but definitely not in this way. What he did even seemed futile at first glance—inevitably they both die. We aren't, as far as I remember, ever given a panel where the rescued mutate visits his grave, happy and cured. But I realized then and still do now: Multiple Man didn't do this just to save a single man. He sacrificed himself to uphold an ideal of how people should value each other in the world. That's what the team represented. They were fighting for how we should treat each other.

He modeled a kind of love that reached out to me more than the bible worksheets I had to do in Sunday school class. So this is why X-Factor showed me what comics could do. I just didn't see stories like this on the TV, and this was one of the first comic storylines I read and followed. Been hooked ever since.
 
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$39.99 for Strong Guy seems fair, at least by today’s standards. Pulse must not be feeling very optimistic about China giving the U.S. magnets.
 
AgentHemlock said:
Maybe. *snip*
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Thank you for sharing that. Having never read that story, you did an excellent job explaining its significance and impact in ways that I think perhaps the issue itself may not have done as well. It touches on what I enjoy most about these characters: the ideals they stand for, even when so many practical realities run contrary to them.
 
i mistakenly ordered from pulse before coming, here, glad i checked! canceled the pulse order and pre-ordered from the online used book store website

anyway, if they do another Polaris they should do 90s jacked Polaris...
 
AgentHemlock said:
But I realized then and still do now: Multiple Man didn't do this just to save a single man. He sacrificed himself to uphold an ideal of how people should value each other in the world. That's what the team represented. They were fighting for how we should treat each other.

He modeled a kind of love that reached out to me more than the bible worksheets I had to do in Sunday school class. So this is why X-Factor showed me what comics could do. I just didn't see stories like this on the TV, and this was one of the first comic storylines I read and followed. Been hooked ever since.
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That's beautifully articulated, sir. Bravo.
 
From a discussion over on a FB page I follow:
If Star Wars can put out Halloween-themed Black Series figures which are re-designs based on existing characters, why can't Legends put out Halloween-themed characters based on actual characters?
 
If this is a tease I have no idea what it's for. Isn't there an animated Marvel Zombies something or other coming out soon?
 
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