In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What comic character should host a talk show?

Anika

My brother suggested Doc Sampson, which was pretty brilliant. But as I was thinking about how AMAZINGLY AWESOME a Dr. Phil/Dr. Drew talk show for superheroes would be (right?!) I remembered another psychiatrist:

Best. Show. Ever.

And Harley Quinn can be a special consultant during sweeps.

Caroline

Hank McCoy, aka, Beast of the X-Men.

He’s thoughtful, witty, well-spoken and a sharp-dresser. He teaches the kids about science, and he can do his own stupid animal tricks.

Tell me you wouldn’t watch that show.

Jennifer

Though I’ve never watched it regularly, I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of The View — the idea of a show devoted to exploring the perspectives of several different women, allowing them to come together to interview guests and do other standard talk show things. In practice, I’m not sure it’s ever totally worked, but in theory I like it a lot. And I can’t help thinking that it would be pretty awesome to have a version in the Marvel Universe.

For four different perspectives, I’d say we’d need women in four different walks of life — a superhero, a civilian, a reformed and/or ambiguous villain, and maybe a mutant who doesn’t necessarly want to be a superhero. And of course we need the Barbara Walters, the revered established figure moderating them all. For that Barbara Walters role, I think I’d choose Sue Storm — first lady of the Marvel U and beloved by pretty much everyone. For the superhero, perhaps Monica Rambeau — she doesn’t seem that busy these days, and I’m sure she’d have a lot to share about her time as leader of the Avengers. For the civilian, I’d choose reporter Sally Floyd of Frontline — The View needs its conflict, after all, and Sally Floyd is a divisive figure to say the least. Villains are somewhat harder — I have a feeling this is the chair that would change hands the most. But if she was up for it, I think I’d start with the endlessly-fascinating Mystique, whose shapeshifting abilities and long life history would come in handy for any number of potential segments. And for our final role of non-heroic mutant, I’d pick X-Factor’s Monet St. Croix, who’s been everything from a teen superhero to a private detective and would be the most helpful in talk show discussions of fashion and beauty.

There’s a pretty good chance this show would be cancelled within one season as a result of a supervillain attack wrecking the set and/or the women attacking each other during filming. But wouldn’t it be fun while it lasted?

Sigrid

Is it cheating to say Booster Gold? Maybe it is. Okay, how about Wally West? I only really know him from the DC Animated Universe cartoons, specifically Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. But I think he’d be a fine talk show host. Personable, genuinely interested in people, and full of the energy required for the job.

So what about you? What comic character should host a talk show?

In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What is a comic book quote that has stayed with you?

Anika

“You get what anybody gets, you get a lifetime.” (Death; Neil Gaiman)

Anika is on vacation this week enjoying her lifetime.

Caroline

Pepper Potts: “How the hell do you stay so calm?”
Henry Hellrung: “I’m just trying to do the next right thing. One right thing at a time, lined up in a row. That’s it.”
- The Order #1, Matt Fraction

The Order was a too-short-lived series about a California-based Marvel Universe superhero team. Its first issue was narrated by team-leader Anthem, aka Henry Hellrung, a retired actor who was also Tony Stark’s sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous. The issue was called “The Next Right Thing,” taken from this exchange between Pepper and Henry.

I was immediately charmed by Henry as a character, and particularly by this bit of deceptively simple philosophy. Superheroes tend to state their missions in broad cosmic terms, whereas Henry’s “next right thing” credo sounds like something you can imagine an actual human being using to get his mind around such extraordinary circumstances. I eventually recognized a touch of self-help-speak in Henry’s words — a variation on the theme of “one day at a time” –but this only speaks to the subtle realism at work in the writing. It’s rare to see the language of recovery used so effectively in fiction, not as a joke or a sermon but just as an insight into how a character’s mind works, and how he approaches life.

Besides. It’s pretty damn good advice.

Jennifer

Astonishing X-Men #17. Only a few months into my comics-reading lifetime. Cyclops was already my favorite character, and he’d been comatose last we saw him. And then there was this page:

“I don’t have any claws.”

Hell yeah.

Sigrid

I have two quotations. Neither of which are particularly memorable to other people, perhaps, but they are seared on my brain.

First comes from Rachel Summers, shortly after this scene from Uncanny X-Men #188:

Rachel is telling the X-Men, for the first time, where she comes from. She’s doing it because they are making a decision whether or not to disband the X-Men and go their separate ways. Rachel tells them of her past and then says the following:

“If you turn away from that dream, Kurt, you’ll do more damage than you know. We may be doomed — ours may be a lost cause — but sometimes the way we live and die is more important than the simple fact of it. Give up now, and all those sacrifices — in my world as well as yours — will have been for nothing!”

The second is Kitty Pryde, facing down the Norse god Loki in the streets of Asgard, from Uncanny X-Men Annual #9:

“Sez you, Weasel-Face!

There are maybe a score of X-Men and New Mutants loose in Asgard. We know the truth — and so do the Valkyries! Either you call it quits — right now — you send us home, with all curses lifted and no more vendetta, or we scatter! You can’t catch us all! Sooner or later, somebody’ll reach Thor or Balder or Heimdall or Freya or The Warriors Three — and POOF go your ambitions to be big boss here, and maybe a whole lot more!”

Both of these quotations speak to bravery, to being quakingly afraid and still refusing to give in to despair. I’ve loved these quotations, and these two characters, since I was fourteen years old. Rachel and Kitty, and these lines they speak, are part of my core definition of heroism. You keep on doing what’s right, even if you think you can’t win, because you do what’s right.

So what about you? What is a comic book quote that has stayed with you?

In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What superhero would you want to be for a day?

Anika

I’ve always been little and I’ve never been a big fan of heroes whose power set is “I’m really big and really strong and hit stuff really hard”. I don’t like Bruce Banner. But I would love to be The Incredible Hulk for a day.

I would be really big. I would be really strong. I would be really angry. And I would smash things all day long.

And no one could tell me not to.

Caroline

The Lady Sif, from Thor comics.

Hanging out with a lot of Norse God-type alpha males on a regular basis would get a little tiresome for me personally. But just one good day where I could let loose and do a lot of smiting-the-unworthy and look really badass while doing it? Yeah, I’d take that.

Jennifer

For me, the sticking point of this question is the word day. If I had to choose a superhero to be forever, or for a year or a month or even a week, my priorities would have to be different. I would want to be someone I wouldn’t mind being in the long term, and that would probably be someone similar to me but with superpowers.

But for a day, I’d want to choose someone as little like me as possible, so I could get the chance to be radically different just once. And, after much consideration, I have to admit that my answer is a character I don’t even like very much: Emma Frost.

For one day, I’d get to look like a supermodel, wear ridiculous clothing, read people’s minds, date Scott Summers, go all sparkly, and be far ruder and more assertive than I could ever bring myself to be in real life. And then, 24 hours later, I’d get to go back to being me.

I see no downside here.

Sigrid

For one day only? Or, I suppose, one night? Twenty-four hours?

Dick Grayson.

1. I have never and will never in my life have the physical skills he has, and I think it looks like a ton of fun.

2. Depending on the era, I could be having sex with any of a number of desperately attractive women.

So what about you? What superhero would you want to be for a day?

In Q & A, a weekly feature of Fantastic Fangirls, we ask our staff to tackle a simple question — then open the floor to comments.

What’s the most memorable break-up in comics?

Anika

I do not endorse the following panel or the story from which it is taken in any way. I do not LIKE it. It is, in a sick car wreck on the side of the road kind of way, interesting to consider. It is also most certainly memorable. Not so much in a GOOD way, but I will always always (unfortunately) remember:

I do, admittedly, kind of love and maybe even endorse the line WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BE SUCH A SUMMERS BROTHER ABOUT IT? That is secretly genius, if also nonsensical.

Caroline

Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

I still can’t talk about it.

Jennifer

For me, there exists no breakup more memorable than the one that set in motion every major event that’s transpired in the Marvel Universe since I started reading comics five years ago.

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark may not have been romantically involved (in this universe, at least), but the dissolution of their friendship cleaved the superhero world in two, jumpstarting Marvel’s “Civil War” and eventually leading, indirectly, to the Initiative, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, Siege, and the Heroic Age. Even now that both characters are alive and speaking again, the consequences of the former rift between them still radiate across the Marvel U. Their friendship remains tentative at best, and their breakup will likely continue to provide story fuel for a long time to come.

Sigrid

The most memorable break-up in comics may not be memorable to that many people. I know Joss Whedon remembers it, but that’s my only guarantee. It’s the break-up of Kitty Pryde and Peter Rasputin, back when they were teenagers.

So, the set-up is, the X-Men were kidnapped with the rest of Earth’s heroes and villains to a world where they were supposed to fight each other for the entertainment of an alien called The Beyonder. While there, Peter was horribly wounded, was healed by an alien, and got a massive crush on said alien. (Who, it should be noted, had empathy powers. Just sayin’.) When everyone returned to Earth, Peter told Kitty — his girlfriend at the time — that his experience of attraction for said alien healer had alerted him to the fact that he perhaps did not love Kitty, and in order to respect her and himself, he ended the relationship.

This all sounds pretty run-of-the-mill. That’s actually why I remember it. It’s about a girl who is more into her boyfriend than he is into her. He gets the hots for another girl and, rather than string his first girlfriend along, breaks things off with her as gently as he can. It was a classic “it’s not you, it’s me” moment.

I was in high school when I read this. my friends were breaking up and getting back together all around me. In the middle of all that, Peter and Kitty breaking up was an incredibly normal moment. It was mundane, and was written and draw as beautifully mundane. They are on a hillside. Peter can’t look at Kitty, he’s ashamed and sad and he doesn’t want to hurt her. Kitty is angry with him, he just sits there. In my memory, he’s picking at the flowers in the grass, but maybe I added that detail. Afterwards, she goes to find her friends and cries a lot. Afterwards, the guys take Peter out for drinks and to beat him up for being stupid enough to think he’s in love with an empath who manipulates emotions. It’s all so delightfully normal. And, in the world of comics, that makes it memorable.

So what about you? What’s the most memorable break-up in comics?