A Can-Con look at Astonishing X-Men #48

Even if this blog were not specific to Canadian characters, this would be a Can-Con look regardless for the simple reason that I don't even slightly care for anyone else in it but the Canadian characters.  In fact, even that is stretching it because I find Northstar's boyfriend Kyle to be a one-trick pain in the ass.

A very good sign early on is that Northstar has the first page all to himself.  He's joined by Wolverine on page two, so in terms of Canuck-goodness, we're off to a fast start.  Gambit is there too, but since he's a character I detest only slightly less than Michael Pointer, I shall ignore him.

Pages 4-7 continue to include Northstar, now with Kyle, unpacking.  That's right, four pages of unpacking in their new place.  And being gay.  Lots and lots of gayness.  It's like Marvel REALLY wants us to notice that however homophobic they were in the past, they're totally not now.  See how gay these two are being? SO gay!!  And that's okay!

The next three pages are Gambit and some chick, ALSO chatting in an apartment.  After checking the cover again to make sure they haven't brought back Friends in comic book form, I forge ahead hoping that the next four pages aren't just Gambit making gumbo.

They're not.  Northstar and Wolverine show up on Gambit's doorstep.  Not sure at first that it's actually Northstar because writer Marjorie Liu got his name wrong.  He's referred to as Jean-Claude instead of Jean-Paul.  The pointy ears give him away though.  At least they got that right.

Though it's a head-shaker, I'm sort of appreciative of the timing since I referred to Alpha Flight as a Marvel afterthought in the previous post.  Way to prove my point, Marvel.  But in fairness, only one writer and three editors would have looked at it.  And the mistake only appears three times in total.

Speaking of goofs, the usually arrogantly proud Northstar reminded me of another comic character during that scene.

Even after some warrior chick shows up and tosses a severed head on Gambit's floor, Northstar's reaction is to ask if he can go home.  Dude is totally bummed.  Must have a been a tiring night of gayness, because Marvel is totally pro-gay now, if you haven't heard.

Then the team gets attacked by a chopper, and a few pages later six super bad guys, for no reason I could determine (maybe it's hinted at in the previous issue?).  And on the last page, Kyle appears to get abducted in a nearby alley.  To be continued.

So the Canadian Content is actually quite high, and the pleasant surprise is that it isn't 80% Wolverine.  Northstar is actually the most prominent character in the book.

Unfortunately, it isn't a very good book.  But it's too early to judge the overall story, so we'll get #49.  At the very least, we're pretty well guaranteed a gay old time, because Marvel loves gays now.  They really, really do.