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x_men_classic2019-06-05 02:10 pm
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Readthrough: Classic X-Men 16
A return to the readthrough and to Classic X-Men! This time, a story from Banshee's past.
This story begins with a young Sean Cassidy in a spot of trouble with a corrupt cop. He is rescued by his future wife, Maeve Roarke, who takes him up on her motorcycle and leads the cop on a chase.

Of course, the cop then shoots her tire, causing her to go off a cliff. Sean ends up having to reveal his powers to save them both. Still. It’s a great intro for a love interest!

(Evil Cop was enjoying their incipient demise; he’s freaked out and disappointed by this turn of events.)
Sean takes Maeve to his house. Which is a castle. (With leprechauns, who are presumably hiding. I wonder if Maeve ever met them?) Maeve has had a rough evening…

… But she cools off quickly.

The ruckus has drawn some attention from the household!

(Future bank robber Tom is of course the one to bring up the Cassidy family’s financial problems. Nice touch.)
Sean wants to keep seeing her, which she’s happy about; so does Tom. There’s a montage she goes on dates with both of them, and the three become close (though always with the tension of a love triangle).
There’s a bit of a text/art mismatch here; the text says that Maeve seems torn…

… But in the art she’s clearly having more fun with Sean, and physically closer to him. Not sure if that’s supposed to reflect Sean’s insecurity (he thinks of himself as far less charming than Tom; maybe the narration reflects his thoughts more than the reality of the situation), or if Claremont and Bolton just weren’t quite on the same page. Maybe Bolton had firm shipping opinions, who knows?
At any rate, Maeve asks Sean to take her to a dance, and he’s delighted.

I am including this scan partly because Sean’s thoughts are cute, but mostly because I am delighted by his pants.
However, this story does have a villain. The Evil Cop from earlier purposefully runs over him with a car as he heads to his date. (Evil Cop would make a good supervillain; he’s a sadistic, malicious ass. Fellow missed his calling.)
Sean lives, of course, and is (just barely) able to stagger home. Tom, who’s just been brooding about his love for Maeve and his willingness to do “anything” for that love, is nonetheless shocked and horrified by his cousin’s injuries.

(I do like that last bit, with Tom sort of giving Sean a chance to remove the temptation—but of course not explaining at all.)
So Tom goes on the date, but when he sees Maeve, he doesn’t explain why he’s there in Sean’s place. They have a lovely evening, but Maeve clearly thinks that Sean is absent because he didn't care, and Tom realizes that he's hurt her by doing this.

I do like the surprise of what the title actually means: the dear friends aren't Sean and his lady-love, or the cousins who'll later be enemies, but Maeve and Tom, who cared about her enough to do the right thing in the end.
I really like Maeve! She’s great. I am easy to please, and a lady introduced rescuing her love interest on a motorcycle out of nowhere really does it for me, apparently.
When I first read this story, I was expecting it to explain how Black Tom became a villain. So I was surprised when it ended with him choosing to do the right thing, tell the truth, and generally put Maeve’s feelings above his own. I know his turn to evil wasn’t explained in the main Uncanny run—I remember Siryn more or less showing up out of nowhere to announce that she’s Sean’s long-lost daughter, well after he’d left the team—so I assume that the details are in her first appearance, which according to the Internet is a Claremont Spider-Woman issue.
As far as I remember, there wasn’t another backup story about these characters. So at least in this series, Black Tom rather disconcertingly jumps from a young man who’s tempted to do something nasty but doesn’t, to full-on supervillain (and less redeemed by his partnership with the Juggernaut than Cain is, since Cain’s the one to jump off a cliff to rescue Tom). On the other hand, the lack of follow-up means the last we see of Maeve is her alive and happy; a return to these characters would probably have involved her death, as I gather that was the event that finally drove the two cousins apart. This story has a happy ending only because it ends early; these people are pretty doomed.
I made icons of this one!
This story begins with a young Sean Cassidy in a spot of trouble with a corrupt cop. He is rescued by his future wife, Maeve Roarke, who takes him up on her motorcycle and leads the cop on a chase.

Of course, the cop then shoots her tire, causing her to go off a cliff. Sean ends up having to reveal his powers to save them both. Still. It’s a great intro for a love interest!

(Evil Cop was enjoying their incipient demise; he’s freaked out and disappointed by this turn of events.)
Sean takes Maeve to his house. Which is a castle. (With leprechauns, who are presumably hiding. I wonder if Maeve ever met them?) Maeve has had a rough evening…

… But she cools off quickly.

The ruckus has drawn some attention from the household!

(Future bank robber Tom is of course the one to bring up the Cassidy family’s financial problems. Nice touch.)
Sean wants to keep seeing her, which she’s happy about; so does Tom. There’s a montage she goes on dates with both of them, and the three become close (though always with the tension of a love triangle).
There’s a bit of a text/art mismatch here; the text says that Maeve seems torn…

… But in the art she’s clearly having more fun with Sean, and physically closer to him. Not sure if that’s supposed to reflect Sean’s insecurity (he thinks of himself as far less charming than Tom; maybe the narration reflects his thoughts more than the reality of the situation), or if Claremont and Bolton just weren’t quite on the same page. Maybe Bolton had firm shipping opinions, who knows?
At any rate, Maeve asks Sean to take her to a dance, and he’s delighted.

I am including this scan partly because Sean’s thoughts are cute, but mostly because I am delighted by his pants.
However, this story does have a villain. The Evil Cop from earlier purposefully runs over him with a car as he heads to his date. (Evil Cop would make a good supervillain; he’s a sadistic, malicious ass. Fellow missed his calling.)
Sean lives, of course, and is (just barely) able to stagger home. Tom, who’s just been brooding about his love for Maeve and his willingness to do “anything” for that love, is nonetheless shocked and horrified by his cousin’s injuries.

(I do like that last bit, with Tom sort of giving Sean a chance to remove the temptation—but of course not explaining at all.)
So Tom goes on the date, but when he sees Maeve, he doesn’t explain why he’s there in Sean’s place. They have a lovely evening, but Maeve clearly thinks that Sean is absent because he didn't care, and Tom realizes that he's hurt her by doing this.

I do like the surprise of what the title actually means: the dear friends aren't Sean and his lady-love, or the cousins who'll later be enemies, but Maeve and Tom, who cared about her enough to do the right thing in the end.
I really like Maeve! She’s great. I am easy to please, and a lady introduced rescuing her love interest on a motorcycle out of nowhere really does it for me, apparently.
When I first read this story, I was expecting it to explain how Black Tom became a villain. So I was surprised when it ended with him choosing to do the right thing, tell the truth, and generally put Maeve’s feelings above his own. I know his turn to evil wasn’t explained in the main Uncanny run—I remember Siryn more or less showing up out of nowhere to announce that she’s Sean’s long-lost daughter, well after he’d left the team—so I assume that the details are in her first appearance, which according to the Internet is a Claremont Spider-Woman issue.
As far as I remember, there wasn’t another backup story about these characters. So at least in this series, Black Tom rather disconcertingly jumps from a young man who’s tempted to do something nasty but doesn’t, to full-on supervillain (and less redeemed by his partnership with the Juggernaut than Cain is, since Cain’s the one to jump off a cliff to rescue Tom). On the other hand, the lack of follow-up means the last we see of Maeve is her alive and happy; a return to these characters would probably have involved her death, as I gather that was the event that finally drove the two cousins apart. This story has a happy ending only because it ends early; these people are pretty doomed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
Does Black Tom's characterization here work for you?
Would you have liked a sequel/follow-up to this story?
View Answers
Yes
2 (50.0%)
No; this is a good place to leave off.
2 (50.0%)
No; I'm not invested enough in these characters
0 (0.0%)
Should the leprechauns have shown up?
View Answers
The leprechauns should always show up.
3 (75.0%)
No, but they should have met Maeve in a later story.
0 (0.0%)
No, it wouldn't have worked.
1 (25.0%)
I made icons of this one!