That Is Why: I Love Chamber pt. 1 (or: Why Generation X Was Flippin' Brilliant In The 90s)

It's no secret to the world that I am a massive fan of Marvel's mutant comics. I constantly rave about them here on the site, I tell my friends how annoyed I am at how my favourite million and one mutants aren't being used anymore, constantly promise to make a list of my favourite muties and of course have read far more of the X-Men lines than anyone should ever read.

It's also no secret that Uncanny X-Men has been like 90% balls over the last 20 years so I won't talk about that very much.

No instead I'll talk about the one mutant I love like no other, the one which the internet wishes I never mentioned and indeed the mutant of whom's miniseries only I felt like voting for in a recent poll because people are ignorant.

Yes, I'm talking about Jonothan Starsmore, better known as Chamber and lesser known as Decibel.

The. Best. Mutant. EVER.

So what better way to ring in 2010 than to spend the WHOLE year doing That Is Why posts about him and everything related to him, in my epic quest to prove that A) Chamber is awesome, B) I should be writing a Chamber ongoing and C) Marvel need to use Chamber more. And some other stuff but never mind that.

This first part exists purely because of a twitter convo between myself and Primewax (these sorta posts keep happening) wherein he declared Silver Surfer the only good 90s comic as Silver Surfer. Of course he's wrong, because Generation X came out in the 90s. So I am defending the awesomeness of Generation X (you know it's from the 90s 'cause I keep saying awesome for some reason) and he will be declaring how awesome 90s Surfer was at some point.

So let's jump in to what will be the first part of my year long (because I take ages to update) foray into stuff no-one remembers or cares about!

HIT THE JUMP TO UNDERSTAND WHY GENERATION X WAS THE BEST COMIC OF THE 90s!

For those who aren't particularly up on their mutant history (and let's face it, with how much of a hit and miss crapfest it's been over the years that's not exactly a hard group to fall into) Generation X is a comic that span fantastically out of the unique-as-all-heck crossover The Phalanx Covenant, which not kept the X-Men themselves in minor roles but set up a new class of mutants, under the tutelage of Banshee and Emma Frost. The concept of the new class help up well, especially due to the absence of the usually incompetent Charles Xavier (who should REALLY have a superhero name. BaldMind perhaps? I don't know, it bugs me), and thus the series was born.

Generation X had some very simple ideas behind it, which you can actually count on one hand, as thus:

... What, you expected it to be funny? This is ME we're talking about here.

By throwing the team of kiddos together they managed to get the concept to work right off the bat and for the majority of the comic's history this held true, despite changes in the creative team or the freakishly poor timed switch to the Age of Apocalypse after the 4th issue. Now, keep in mind this was in the 90s, where comics fall apart into incomprehensible mess the second they attach themselves to the X-Men line, where in general most comics sucked. So how in the hell did this manage such a feat? The characters for one.

You may not know it now, what with her being another one of Uncanny's snooty, 'sexy' identikit ladies of no real personality, but Emma Frost was a very interesting character to have as a teacher for this new generation of mutants, mostly due to her formerly being the EVIL teacher of the Hellions back in the heyday of New Mutants. As such her mildly heroic twist here to raise and care for these new and increasingly unusual mutants was one of the more interesting aspects of the series, especially as time went on and she showed how much she had bonded with her students and indeed the other teacher, Sean Cassidy.

Banshee (you remember Banshee right?) really does come into his own here. A character that has often felt neglected in his many years as an X-Man thrives here in an environment that places him away from his relationship with Moira MacTaggert and into the supervisory role of a teacher, and though the cliché is painful as all hell, he really learns a lot from his students. They show capabilities beyond what he thinks they'd be able and emotional strength that he can only wish he could replicate as his beloved Moira catches the deadly Legacy virus. His road as a teacher is a long one, with a surprising amount of depth to it compared to the blind errors and injustices committed by a certain bald guy frequently.

Now, if you were alive at ANY point towards the end of the 20th century, you've probably heard of Jubilation Lee.... Unless you haven't which is perfectly reasonable I guess.... *ahem* ANYWAY, Jubilee has a very special role in Generation X: she's Kitty Pryde, in Claremont-era New Mutants. The experienced mutant, member of the X-Men, and person who comes off like an arsehole for being smarmy about her accomplishments. The way she escapes this carbon copy role is simply by being Jubilee, one of the most well developed teen characters in any comic ever. Here she shares that development with others, helping them with their issues and forming a strong friendship with her classmate Synch. It's all small stuff, but Jubilee is really stretched in Generation X into a character that people can be proud isn't that annoying little girl from the the X-Men 90s show. Well, all that and she isn't suddenly white, as in the Generation X TV special.

I COULD try and explain the continuity nightmare that is Monet St. Croix in this article, but rest assured it will just hurt your head. And mine. The basics of it all is that she's a couple a twins who appear autistic when combined in her form (remember those 'real world issues'?) but no-one else knows that and the real Monet was kidnapped by her evil brother Emplate years prior. Oh and her mentor leads Generation X outside one stormy night where the REAL Monet has escaped from Emplate and is stuck in the ADORABLE monstrous form known as Penance.

No, not that Penance! Learn your unimportant comics history, dammit!

mmmmmmmmmmuch better! Penance, my darling mute who cuts things up with a touch, you were too good for your plot developments.... *ahem* moving on!

Penance/Monet is a particularly interesting character from the get-go, due to her sudden appearance, mystery identity and early bond formed with Chamber, that somehow got relegated so he could have a doomed relationship with Husk (Paige Guthrie). Perhaps the biggest misfire in the entire series, Penance eventually kinda disappeared when the twins impersonating Monet switched with her and fused with the evil brother to make M-Plate. OR something like that. It's no lie to say that this stuff is all buttfuck insane, though compelling as it plays out.



The other characters are a mixed bag of above average awesomeness. Contained in the pages of Gen X we have Husk (pre-Chuck Austen whore-up version), Leech and Artie (whom will always rule some small part of my heart), Skin (you don't even care who he is do you?) and of course, Chamber.

I... FUCKEN'... LUURRRRRRRRRRRVE.... CHAMBER!

But we'll be getting to that in more depth in the coming months, so I'll keep it light on his involvement with the series in this part. Suffice to say he's a cornerstone of angst, love and character development and any arc he's in is a powerful arc indeed.

In fact the story as a whole is usually grade A, from the opening 3 issues in all of its tightly wound framing to later arcs such as one where they end up in a fantasy realm where Skin tries to look tough to a FLIPPIN' DRAGON it's all entertaining stuff. And even if an arc doesn't seem to be very interesting or crucial when it's occurring, by the end you'll have seen some real change in the characters as they learn from the experiences they've survived through.

Well... Survived may not be the best word for it. Banshee is dead. Synch is dead. Husk became a whore. Skin is dead. Jubilee is depowered. There's some other Penance going around who isn't as good as the Monet one's early appearances. Chamber was depowered and has since become infused with the power and looks of his ancestor APOCALYPSE. Artie is depowered. The only characters who seem to still be wholly intact are Leech, Emma Frost and Monet, and even then one's criminally ignored, another might die in a coming crossover and the final one... Well actually Monet is still going from strength to strength. Seriously, go read Peter David's X-Factor, support the only strong link in the Gen X chain!

I've kinda gone off kilter here from my original intent of showing why Generation X was a wonderful 90s series, so I'll make my stand here. Generation X was a shining gem in a dark period of Marvel history (especially for the X-books), with plots and characters that were at their best (though Emma Frost may well have risen above her role here in the coming years) against the wave of awful titles that were hitting the shelves at the same time. It made mutants cool again, something that kids wanted to be like (or at least I did. their lives were so exciting!), recapturing that same spirit of youthful fun and empathetic characterisations that made Marvel comics work in the first place. There's nothing that can take away the experience of Generation X, nor is there any way that it could ever return following the systematic elimination of every character.

But that doesn't mean that the comic can't be enjoyed by those willing to go back and read those issues. Sure there's not ultimate collection, essentials book or reprint trades. But that just makes tracking it down all the more fun.

Go on, do it. Then you'll see why this IS the good 90s comic.


EXTRA BIT: it's hit me I didn't mention the fact that the early creative team and guiding lights for this series were the inimitable Chris Bachalo and Scott Lobdell. If you don't know those two names you're a fool for one and missing out for another. Look up some stuff they've worked on and you'll see it's usually amazing stuff. That and this is Bachalo before his current art shift into a hellishly unique style, so it's like you get to see how he developed from one unique style to one completely different.

Next up: An introduction to why Chamber is amazing!

though before that I have some more fun and less painful to read stuff coming up, like more A to Z and a couple of new things to make this place look more active. Now to hide!