Louise Simonson: C or D

Louise Simonson was SO RUBBISH in so many ways - loads of really awful ideas (eg DMN on the drugs thread) , k-lame plots, a ton of folksy homilies in every book, far far far too keen on cutesy kids, however I'm still sort of fond of her writing. She could pace a comic and there was always a pretty humane and sensible outlook to things which in the "Guns don't kill people, FUCKING HUGE GUNS do" atmos of the early 90s wasn't so bad.

xpost KEITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surely Keith can't still be with us? Has he been murdered by the all-new all-insane Toyman?

I need a beer now.

I am going to waste office time attempting to research the final fate of Keith.

Who the eff is KEITH??!?!?

Who the eff is KEITH??!?!?

The list of plot summaries at superman fan sites makes for really shoddy, miserable reading.

xpost OK OK STOP SHOUTING

His mother died of AIDS and his grandma was squashed by a robot (probably) so Perry and Alice White adopted him. I think once Louise Simonson left he was rarely used.

He was very annoying.

You can see Keith in 'action' in the Death of Superman trade I think, and probably Funeral and Return too.

Sorry about the KEITH!!! thing, BTW - it's Friday, I'm ready for the 3-day weekend, I just dropped some Zzizz, etc.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is the greatest description ever.

I really wanted to like Power Pack (particularly after the Mutant Massacre) but when I saw those aliens I just went, "Hmm. The last time I checked I had a penis, ergo I cannot read this." I didn't even know what twee was and already I was kicking against it.

Also, NEEP-NOSE?
Didn't Alex steal all of the other kids' powers and run around with the New Warriors for a short time?

Did she come up w/ the idea for Artie (in _X-Factor_), or is that something she picked up & ran with? & what was the name of that mute green kid that hooked up w/ Artie & twee'd up the _X-Factor_ proceedings?

LEECH! The green kid was LEECH! He'd be thrown into the fray (or throw himself into the fray - damn kids) and bearhug anyone trying to use their powers! He was a power cockblocker! And he looked like a green raisin! And he wasn't mute, was he? Artie was the mute; Leech was monosyllabic.

I imagine she threw in these kid characters so the yutes had people they could identify with, but if you want the yutes to identify w/ the kids, it helps to make the kids LESS ANNOYING.

It isn't Artie or Leech's fault that Lobdell couldn't write them (they really became unbearable in Generation X, partially because HELLO IT'S BEEN 15 YEARS AT LEAST LET THEM BE TEENAGERS).

(xpost Vic OTM, and that's why I loved it; who can't identify with a former Navy recruit who accidentally burned off the face of a prostitute?)

My big question was this: Why didn't Rusty notice this after the first time he masturbated?

He got killed eventually didn't he? Christ what a boring character.

I re-read some old X-Factors thanks to the wonders of CBR, I had forgotten what fannies they looked in their original X-Factor outfit (Angel with a big plastic box on his back full of 'mutant finding equipment'!). In fact I'd forgotten how desperately awful the original premise was.

I remember X-Factor and the irritating crossovers with other MU books - they would have to go and fight Spidey or the Hulk just in case they might be mutants......oh dear...