What Ever Happened To The Children of the Atom?

In some respects, they rolled back some of the mid-90's craziness, and other ways, they didn't.  It was a crazy time, man.  They took a successful sub-universe in the continuity and hired all new people to write what were then top tier, best selling books.

"A bold move."

Before hand, the model, in her extravagant clothes, mind-swapped with a half-naked ninja, the untouchable goth girl became a high-flying Hulk-strong super woman.

And other.

A teen introduced, not even a student at the school, but just some kid, accompanying the team on dangerous missions, and still, on the cover of the book, somewhere usually near the periphery.

It was born from a scrum, writers talking to artists, artists to writers, Gateway and Australia with Claremont's touch for abject fantasy, and Lee's touch for drawing guns: the paradigm of change was set when a band of mercenary's defeated the great team of X-Men, Lee's chance to draw plenty of guns; for any storytelling criticism, any negativity directed his way, I have only to look to Punisher: Armory for consolation, seeing his brilliant, precise work in those humble pages.

Storytelling snafu's notwithstanding, he earned his place, Jim Lee did, as a company giant.  He even put heat on Alpha Flight, a feat thought impossible in the run of Marvel Comics.

Before militant genetic supremacist anarchy reigned, there was just a man with a dream.  The Dream, and all through the high-water mark of the book, the notion and primacy of the Dream ruled over all.

They created Ms. Marvel just to give her powers to Rogue, who had an ultrasexy half-Goth churchmouse Georgia Belle thing going on in the green suit.  I had the poster; I saw it.  That was also when Psylock wore the fancy clothes.

Men made an empire, then hired a cadre of mooks to create for them, at the height of fan interest.

It was a bold move.

And it had its time, the House of Ideas, as it were, in one respect, hiring new talent for the sake of injecting fresh ideas, going through re-organizing the thing, and Peter David being perhaps the one bright point, perhaps the book that stands the test of time, that got a redux later by his own hand.

Jubilee was just a Sparkler.  

Dazzler was just a Sparkler.

They wrote Dazzler off, from the era of Claremont-Byrne fantasy, and threw a bone to Jim, giving him Jubilee, the part-Asian foster child, who, improbably, accompanied the team on missions.

Jim's attempt at Claremont-Byrne fantasy.

Logan was not a neandrethal jockboy, but an attitude in his own right, a former secret agent, but they kept working at that, destroying it to portray him almost the Comedian without national pride, just a toxic male, haunting the pages of comic books that were horrorshows of manipulation, mistrust and hatred.

But we certainly see the other side, with the Children of the Atom, genetic Critical Race Theory, and it has its place perhaps, fully plumbed as a separate continuity.

Lee's big idea with Rogue was that she was indestructible, therefore, and get this, her Clothes would get destroyed, and she would be half-naked, strips of cloth impossibly hanging to her body.

Psylocke's psi abilities were relegated to a kind of "knock out touch".

Gambit was Longshot.

X-23 was Gambit.

Twas the times, and the seasons, as the months crawled by and we scour the magazine stands for our Red or Blue or whatever.  We don't rent comic books, thank you, because we do think its an art form, and we like to own our own copies, in print or digital of the books, be it posters, trade paperbacks, or the monthly publication.

The Siege Perilous, it was, Wolverine pinioned, Jubilee talking to herself, Gateway giving the other's a downcast, losing epilogue of exodus from responsibility, back into the fray of what passed for regular life.

Her checking her phone while I popped my wad and tried to pump it dry....