Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box...

Well, I have finally been assimilated into the collective. I don't know what on earth possessed me to start my own blog. If anyone on this earth can honestly say she has no statement to make or purpose for existing, it's me. But, dang it, I was the only one of my friends without a blog and that just would not do.

Here is the place to come for random ramblings about current class-related events, amusing anecdotes about the adventures of my grandmother with Alzheimer's, battles between the "love" and the "hate" factions of my love/hate relationship with pop culture, cursing of the name of Freud, and, of course, random bits of strangers' conversations I eavesdrop on when I get bored.

Today's Discussion: Why Marvel is the devil.

Marvel has cancelled my two favorite comics. Yes, boys and girls, Emma Frost is already done and Mystique has two more issues left before the end. I could just look at this as Marvel trying to do its part for my financial health by saving me a minimum of $70 next year, but that's just not how I feel. Sure, the sales of these two may have been lukewarm, but the storylines were fantastic, the art was top notch, and the fan base was solid. If Marvel had given them time to grow, I'm sure sales would have improved. However, they were not immediately catapulted into the stratisphere, like Astonishing X-Men, so they got put down. Meanwhile, truly horrible titles like Uncanny keep stinking up the comic shops simply because it's got the numbers behind it. Seriously, I have no idea what is even happening in Uncanny half the time, and when I do I'm bored out of my mind. What happened to Claremont, man? How can this be the same guy who gave us "God Loves, Man Kills?" I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking Skrull.

In closing, I'd like to offer eulogies to my dearly departed comic girlfriends:

Mystique: When I first heard she was getting her own title, I was a bit wary. Usually, when a villain becomes the star, they get wussified. Witness Emma Frost's current state over in (Adjectiveless)X-Men. But Vaughan and McKeevers knew their stuff. They managed to give Mystique depth and a bit of softness, without dulling her tough and unforgiving nature. They also managed to portray her mile-wide nasty streak without making her unlikable. You loved her when she was proclaiming her love of Oscar Wilde and risking her life to save Cuban children, and you loved her even more when she was double crossing Xavier and slicing up the face of a woman whose cosmetics company experimented on mutants. The portrayal of her bisexuality was also admirable because it was unambiguously stated and treated as completely normal. Mystique's refusal to unquestioningly follow Charles Xavier's pipe dream and her flat out loathing of his strong arm manipulations were a breath of fresh air. She was not another Xavier syncophant, but she wasn't necessarily his enemy either. If his goals or methods interfered with hers, they would fight, but she doesn't define herself as the Anti-Xavier (as, say, Magneto does).

Also, blue girls are hot.

Emma Frost: Like Mystique, she's been known to be a bad, bad girl. In her solo book, however, we got to see her goody two shoes origin. Most of us had pretty much thought of Emma as a spoiled little rich girl, but her solo book let us see the inner strength and ingenuity that let her rebuild her fortune when she turned her back on her family. Her relationships with her father, brother, and first two boyfriends really help you to understand where some of her issues with men come from. Emma's story was much less developed than Mystique's, and if she hadn't gotten cancelled right about now is when things would have gotten really interesting. Now we can see her optimism and generosity stretched to its breaking point. The bitter cynicism is starting to set in and I really wish we could continue following her story so her transformation from shy little wallflower to lingerie-wearing, Hellfire Club-leading, Scott Summers-seducing badass would seem more complete and believable. But, alas, this will never be.

I'm going to go make myself a sandwich.