Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Scott/Jean, Scott/Emma
Author on LJ: xenokattz
Author Website: Katt's Aerie
Why this must be read:

In honor of the new Astonishing X-Men coming out today, I wanted to rec a story about Scott Summers (Cyclops), set during the current AXM arc. This is a dream story and, while it's vaguely spoilery for recent events, it mostly deals with Scott's development over years of canon. We see Scott/Jean and hints of Scott/Emma, and also some nice brotherly bits about Scott and Alex (Havok). xenokattz does an exceptional job of conveying Scott's inner conflict, signaled by parenthetical asides where he argues with his own dreams. (Is it just me or does inner-Scott sound suspiciously like Logan?)

( Excerpt: Bobby can't even spell 'beatifically' )

Read the rest here:

Riding Horses, or, Five Things that Should Never Happen to Scott Summers.

Fandom: XMEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Gen, references Emma Frost/Scott Summers and Emma Frost/Sebastian Shaw
Author on LJ: sionnain
Author Website: sionnain_fics
Why this must be read:

Emma Frost is definitely one of the most divisive characters in the X-men comics -- in canon and fandom. I can't always decide how I feel about her from one moment to the next, but she certainly has the potential to be an endlessly fascinating character. With this fic, sionnain single-handedly invented a genre, while providing twenty highly amusing and revealing facts about Miss Frost. Set in current comics timeline, with no plot spoilers.

Beginning at the beginning:

1. Emma’s cell phone has different ringtones for people she knows, which she doesn’t really need since she’s a telepath. Any call coming in from the mansion rings with the "William Tell Overture," which she finds annoying and inspires her to answer quickly. Kitty’s cell phone rings in with "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks—Emma only saw the title and doesn’t really know the song, and Kitty’s actually never called her so it’s never worked.

As for the rest:

Twenty Things you Might Not Know about Emma Frost

Hi! I'm sionnain and I'll be bringing you X-Men goodness (both movieverse and comic-verse) for your reading pleasure for the month of August! *waves*

Fandom: X-Men, Comicverse (Astonishing X-Men)
Pairing: Scott, Logan; references to Scott/Emma, Scott/Jean, and most of the E Street Band.
Author on LJ: likeadeuce
Author Website: Organized Links

Why this must be read: Just read her description of how this story came to be: I was trying to figure out why Logan spends so much time crouching on Scott's bed. The answer, inevitably, led me to the life story of Bruce Springsteen. Because every shipper war has a Bruce, a Patti, a Stevie, and a Clarence. Logan will be happy to explain.

How could you not want to read this?

likeadeuce writes a great Scott, a wonderful Logan, and the banter between them is spot-on and wonderful. Her voices are perfect, and her comparisons of the X-Men team to Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band? Priceless

Here follows a snippet!

"Do you actually have a point? Because this might be the stupidest conversation I've ever had before noon on a Sunday."

Logan keeps staring at him, "You tell me. Why did Clarence move?"

"Because he was the new second guitarist?"

Scott has actualy seen Logan stabbed in the gut, more than once, but he's never looked quite so pained as he does at this moment.

The E-Street Band.

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Wolverine/Jubilee
Author on LJ: thelasteuropean
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read:

So, I wasn’t going to recommend any Jubilee stories this time since that’s pretty much all I did in February. This one is so good though that I just have to. This author has become one of my favorite writers in the fandom. I wish we could recommend WIPs because the novel The Last European has been posting is a really fun grocery store read. Oh well. Her shorter fics tend to not be so fun. She writes stories that are totally gross and totally realistic at the same time. The squick level in this particular one is kind of off the charts. The characters are written in a way that they’re both sympathetic and totally hateful at the same time. It’s not a way I like thinking of Wolverine or Jubilee.

Tiny Fires isn’t a fun story. It’s not a story that I had a good time reading. It’s really, really well written though and definitely worthwhile.

( Excerpt )

Tiny Fires by The Last European

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: None
Author Website: Story found at Fonts of Wisdom
Why this must be read:

One of my particular weaknesses is Kitty/Magneto stories, especially stories set in Genosha. Because of their shared Jewish heritage, Kitty tends to nail Magneto on social justice issues more than anyone but Xavier, and Jim's just great at writing them both:

( Excerpt )

Seeing It from Both Sides ... and the Middle

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Rogue/Gambit/Joseph
Author on LJ: bard_mercutio
Author Website: Mercutio's Stories
Why this must be read:

I think this was actually the very first piece of slash I ever read, the story that made me sit back, saucer-eyed, and go, "huh!" Rogue, never very secure at the best of times, is having trouble dealing wih the fact that Joseph can only touch her when he's concentrating, which means she knows that she doesn't drive him to distraction. Gambit proposes a solution for reasons of his own, and things get ... complicated:

"That's just it, sugah. He can't want me -- he can only keep up the shield when he's concentratin', so Ah never get to do anything for him. Ah don't know if he wants me at all -- he nevah gets turned on or anythin'."

Gambit's mouth quirked into a wry smile. "Chere, when a man give up sex for a woman, he love her. Trust Remy 'bout dis."

"But Ah want to touch him. Ah want to make a man go crazy over me."


Confusing the Issue

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Hank/Bobby
Author Website: Unfrozen
Why this must be read:

I have to say, I'm a sucker for buddy pairings, and this one's at the top of my list. Hank helps Bobby get ready for a date, Bobby gets a clue.

"No, look, I know I could, but I can't just not, I mean -- there just doesn't seem much point coming out and dealing with all this shit if I'm gonna be fucking celibate--"

"Has anyone been -- unpleasant?"

"What? No -- no, everyone's been -- actually, everyone's just been really nice. It's kind of unnerving actually. I don't remember anyone ever being this nice to me before."

Twenty-First Century Guy

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Hank/Bobby
Author on LJ: 3jane
Author Website: Jane's Fanfiction
Why this must be read:

Candy Southern is dead. Bobby is shocky. Hank quotes Lolita. And things get deliciously out of hand.

"I was wearing both my goddamn socks the first time you met me and I'm eighteen and I love you, asshole!"

Blues

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Nightcrawler/Wolverine
Author Website: Story found at X-Archive
Why this must be read:

This is just a fun, comfy piece of smut, frankly. It's canon that Logan and Kurt are drinking buddies and in this story, when Kurt comes into some money, Logan demands payback in the form of a drink or six. Or ten. Suffice to say, things get a little out of hand...

"But...", Kurt fumbled, "But that was..." There was no way out. "We don't..." Kurt quickly looked down at his check once more. "After all, Logan, we lost count of how many beers I owed you years ago!"

"Two hundred an' twelve."

Yellow eyes widened and Kurt gave a whimper.

Die Bier

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Dani Moonstar/OMC
Author on LJ: minisinoo
Author Website: The Medicine Wheel
Why this must be read:

This is one I could have sworn was recced before, but having scoured the archive four times, I have to conclude that my brain's telling me this is one that should have been recced a long time ago. Dani's not a character I ever got into, but Minisinoo made me forget that for the whole time I was reading this. The slow, comfortable pace makes for a delicious and unusual read.

"I never did ask you what that shirt means," I say.

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No." He grins; it's mischievous. "That's what it means -- 'I don't know.'"

Indian humor. It startles a laugh out of me.

In a Motel 6 on Highway 5 After the 49s

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: None
Author Website: Story found at Fonts of Wisdom
Why this must be read:

One more story about the human side of the mutants for today. Illyana Rasputin isn't good at being just one of the girls, but she makes up for that by being willing to bear more than her teammates and being ready to have the worst thought of her. This story about her taking a hit for Rahne is one of the ones that stayed with me strongly enough over the years for me to search the entire archive so I could rec it.

A Friend's Sacrifice

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: None
Author Website: Story found at Fonts of Wisdom
Why this must be read:

I usually detest holiday stories, but this is one of the few I make an exception for. In keeping with the theme of unusual heroism, Kitty, Marrow and Dr. Reyes spend the holidays trying to save the world in ways that have nothing to do with their super powers.

Reyes jumped and whirled, ready to fling her mug of hot cocoa straight at the intruders. "Oh, Dios, no. No. Don't tell me. You're here because somebody swallowed a toaster or Logan's got the Swine Flu or Wings is molting, right?" Cecilia's voice was a resigned sigh, muffled behind her facepalm.

Nes Gadol Haya Sham

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: None
Author Website: Story found at Fonts of Wisdom
Why this must be read:

One of the things I always loved about the various X-Teams was how textured they were. People fought over the bathroom. People had to earn a living. And, sometimes, heroes fell apart for entirely non-heroic reasons. Brian Braddock's alcoholism always seemed emblematic of that to me, and Falstaff quietly captures a different kind of heroism here than the spandex-covered sort we're used to.

The legs of the metal chair scraped on the floor as the man pushed it back. He came to his feet, looking ill at ease and a little afraid. His hair was golden, framing a squared-off jaw and a truly aristocratic face. "Hello," he said in his tweedily-accented voice, "my name is Brian, and I am an alcoholic."

My Name is Brian

Sorry for getting such a late start, guys, but with the first seder just completed minutes ago, I finally have a spare minute after weeks of helping clean and cook! For those of you who remember me from my last turn behind the wheel, I tend towards reccing older stories, and there's going to be a lot of Kittyfic this time around. So, without further ado...

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Author Website: Story found at Fonts of Wisdom
Why this must be read:

There are times when, in the hands of a bad writer or artist, even the best story concept can die a terrible death. Kitty Pryde, Agent of SHIELD was a great idea, but the comic was so badly done that I had to force myself to read it. Here, Jim creates an AU to completely overhaul the characters and storyline and present the story as it should have been done. Stranded on Earth during the cross-time caper, having lost her Excalibur teammates so soon after the X-Men's 'death', Kitty picks herself up again and struggles to find a place and a purpose working for Nick Fury.

Kitty Pryde, Agent of SHIELD

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: Rogue/Joseph, Gambit/Storm, Beast/Cecilia Reyes, others
Author on LJ: indigoskynet
Author's Web Site: defunct, sadly

Well, I'm hoping not to spam, but with one hour left in the month and one rec left, if someone doesn't post something in the next ten minutes I'm going to end up posting three in a row. Sorry about that, folks. It's my 13th and last rec for the month. I apologize again for having to get these in frantically at the last minute, but this has been quite a month.

This rec is slightly unusual. It is not a WIP -- it was finished years ago -- but the author's web site went down, and then every copy of this story disappeared off the Internet. I have all of it and am restoring it to one of my archives, but so far, I've only gotten the first 9 of 18 chapters done and uploaded. I expect to be finished by the end of the weekend, so I'm going ahead and reccing it, because it's worth it.

This is a huge, sprawling epic of a story, featuring dozens of characters from all over the X-Books as well as original ones, which starts off with the infamous Trial of Gambit and Rogue's abandoning Gambit in Antarctica, and continues as an AU from there. Legacy Virus, Genosha, love and death -- this one has it all. Excellent characterizations, the ability to define everyone as an individual despite the huge size of the cast, and a plot that will keep you turning pages (well, clicking links, but you get the idea.)

( Quote inside... )

Crimes of the Heart

And that's a wrap. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the fic!

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: None
Author's LJ: qodarkness
Author's Website: Amanda Sichter at Comicfic.net

You know, I was going to rec a much more typical Amanda Sichter story, full of darkness and angst and horror. And then I finally got into the Memories, which has been down most of the day, and saw that a few of those have been recced already. So I present to you sillyfic by the Queen of Darkness. Read and laugh your head off.

The Beast knew they were in trouble when the cow flew into the window.

All Creatures Great and Small

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: Scott/Phoenix
Author on LJ: I don't think she has one anymore
Author's Website: I don't know if she has one anymore, but you can find a lot of her fic at Kaylee Jaya at Comicfic.net
Why this must be read:

This is a very, very short story about an argument between Scott and Phoenix. And I use those names deliberately.

One of the scariest short pieces of X-Men fanfic ever.

Green and Gold and Copper and

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: None, but all about the nonromantic relationship of Magneto and Xavier
Author on LJ: gardendoor
Author's Website: The Gardendoor Archive

Why this must be read:

This is an AU spinning off from the premise that Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller do *not* have a sexual relationship, and that Charles thus retains the moral high ground to persuade Magnus to join him. The two form a partnership -- and extremely stormy friendship -- to create the X-Men. This story does not whitewash the real differences or emotional conflicts between the two -- it does not make the mistake of assuming that because they are allies Magnus will think like Charles. He doesn't. They don't always (sometimes they don't usually) get along. They fight over things other than ideology. Both parties have serious character flaws. But their mutual dedication to the children they are trying to teach and save makes both of them noble even as the writing keeps them human. The relationship between Magnus and Scott Summers in this AU is particularly touching, and makes one wish for might-have-beens.

No one story in this series truly stands on its own, so I recommend them all, although "The Essential Thing" and "Carnival Mirrors" are two of my favorites. The entire series is located in a headlined box on the author's comic book fanfic page, so that is what I link to below.

Satan and Lucifer

I can't believe this one has never been recced before.

FANDOM: X-Men Comicverse
PAIRING: Rogue/Gambit
Author on LJ: poilass
Author's Website: Poi Lass at Comicfic.net

Based on a memorably bad bit of apparent canon that had *everyone* shaking their heads with bemusement, this is one of the funniest X-Men Comicverse stories ever.

"One more t'ing chere. Wit' your powers negated, it means dis may be our night. Our first. Our last."

The two star crossed lovers held each other tenderly for long, precious moments, just savouring the chance to be close to each other. A brief interlude of peace and love, during their terrifying ordeal and cruel captivity. And then -

"Remy - are you saying you wanna have sex in a cave?"

"Non!"

"Oh good. Cos for a moment there I -"

Don't t'ink of it as a cave, chere... T'ink of it as a - Love Grotto."

You Did What In A Cave?

And with two minutes to go, my final rec of the day.

FANDOM: X-Men Comicverse/Hellraiser
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: xanderdg
Author website: None, but you can find some fic at XanderDig at Comicfic.net
Why this must be read:

Sebastian Shaw, an X-Men villain who rarely is used as a protagonist, is a young man in this story, given an assignment by the Hellfire Club (which he later becomes leader of, but that hasn't happened yet.) The assignment involves a certain box. People familiar with either the Hellraiser comics or movies will know *exactly* what the box is. This is horror of high literary quality and it scared the crap out of me.

Hellraiser: Hellfire

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: None
Author's Website: None, but various stories available on my Magneto site, Alara's Happy-Happy Text-Only Magneto Site

Why this must be read: A dark action/drama that borders on a horror story, this story features mutants who would ordinarily be in violent conflict with each other banding together to try to fight off the Shadow King, who holds various of their friends in his telepathic thrall. Scarily intense, this story doesn't make the mistake of most "enemies work together" fics and make everyone play nice together; several times the allies nearly kill each other. This is a very early X-Men fanfic from the beginning of the fandom, and has some rough edges, as most of the stories from those days did, but it is still powerful and moving.

Ashes in the Wind

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: None; main characters are Magneto and X-Force/New Mutants
Author on LJ: samy
Author's Webpage: The Corona

It's raining men today. I've decided that since I'm trying to get all my X-Men recs out of the way before the end of the month, I'll dedicate today to the unusually high number of talented men working in X-Men Comicverse fanfiction.

The New Mutants were a popular team of young mutants who were trained first by Charles Xavier and then by Magneto before splitting off, joining up with Cable, and eventually forming X-Force. This story takes place in an alternate universe where three members of the team who died in canon, didn't, and the team continues to consist solely of the original New Mutant characters. Samy handles the complex emotions the team feels for its former mentor and the different personalities of the characters, as well as making Magneto both sympathetic and terrifying, but what makes this story stand out is that it actually has really well-written comic book action scenes, something that's *rare* in fanfic.

Your Way

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: None really; main characters are Kitty Pryde and Rogue; Kitty/Piotr gets mentioned a lot but isn't onscreen
Author on LJ: d_benway
Author's Webpage: None, but you can find most of his stuff at Luba Kmetyk's Fonts of Wisdom
Why this must be read:

Benway is best known for really, really dark stuff. His more "psychological realistic" stuff tends to be overlooked. "Tag" has darkness in it, as does nearly every Benway story, but it's not over the top -- it's about the pain of losing a boyfriend when you're 14, the pain of no longer being able to touch your mother, the pain of lost memories, the pain of a mother who won't see you for who you are... it's about real life, for teenage girls who are living a decidedly unrealistic life. Shortly after Rogue joins the team, right after Secret Wars, she and Kitty talk about their lives, their loves, their relationships with their parents (it should surprise no one who knows the characters that Rogue, who was raised by supervillains, has a loving and warm relationship with her parents, while Kitty is deeply conflicted about her ordinary human ones.) This story is very human and very real. Especially recommended for fans of either character.


Tag

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: Charles Xavier/m
Author on LJ: andrastewhite
Author Website: Altogether Elsewhere
Why this must be read: Because Charles Xavier really *does* have a troubling history of having various former best friends, lovers, and relatives show up to try to kill his X-Men throughout his history, and it is long past time one of his students actually called him on it. And because it's hilarious.

"I don't see what has you so upset. We're a group of mutant superheroes. This kind of thing happens all the time. We still have a budget surplus this year so we can rebuild, and the tents were safe in the basement ..."

"Don't understand why I'm upset?" Cyclops had turned almost the colour of his visor with rage, and he slammed his palms down on the professor's desk. They'd repaired to his office in order to have the illusion of privacy. Not to mention walls that were mostly intact. "You keep hiding things from us! And the things keep trying to kill us! I mean, we've all got deadly enemies from our pasts that we just forget to mention, but this is getting ridiculous! I'm starting to think that our next arch nemesis will be the evil guy you sat next to on a bus once! That's if it doesn't turn out to be you! Again!"


Full Disclosure

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: No romantic pairing; story features non-romantic relationship between a young Cable and Stryfe
Author on LJ: aliciam
Author Website: Alicia McKenzie at Comicfic.net
Why this must be read: Alicia McKenzie is the writer who single-handedly turned Cable from a character most fans considered more or less a joke into a fanficcer favorite. Here, she takes the most tragic yet irredeemable villain in Cable's history and writes an AU that offers him the possibility of redemption. Her take on the characters, their emotions and behavior, seems completely realistic -- and the two boys in this story are just so darned *cute*. For a freedom fighter and an emotionally damaged murderous bastard, anyway. :-)

( Quote inside... )

Two Princes

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Lori McDonald on Fanfiction.net
Why this must be read: This is not actually the most representative sample of Lori's work -- she mostly did much more serious stories, and usually focused on the Gambit/Rogue relationship. However, that does not change the fact that this is one of the funniest damn stories I have read, ever.

Magneto, one of the most hated and feared mutants in the Marvel Universe, a man who has dedicated his life to appearing as a proud, dignified Icon of Power, a man who says things like, "So say I, Magneto, Master of Magnetism!" (okay, he only said things like that back in the 60's, but still)... has a cold. That affects his powers. Hilarity ensues.

Ever since his abilities manifested themselves, Magneto had been a name to be feared. Dedicated to preserving mutant life and helping them ascend to their well deserved position of superiority over normal humans, he had been labeled a terrorist, his magnetic powers on a level that threatened the entire world if he chose to use them. He had sunk nuclear subs, destroyed cities. He had defeated almost all who dared to challenge him in combat and his face was an image that haunted human childrens’ nightmares.

Not all children. The place he lived now had never heard of Magneto, and had no reason to balk at the sight of him. Magnus had built his present house high on a mountain twenty miles from the nearest town, which was the only place for him to go within fifty to buy food. Not a gardener himself, he went there once a week for vegetables and meat, once a month for dry stock. He spoke to no one and was quiet and polite, his face hidden wide brimmed hat. No one had ever recognized him in it, but then, he wasn’t normally trying to fight a cold that affected his powers when he came into town.

His head aching and his nose clogged, Magnus walked into the town, sniffing repeatedly as he headed down the sidewalk, very aware of how lightheaded and sickly he was feeling.

The lampposts bending over like pretzels behind him escaped his notice.

Magneto's Cold

Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: Tragically, the author, Kielle, died last September, of cancer. Her original LJ has not been deleted; it was kielle.
Author Website: Subreality (to find her fiction, go to the subpage Camelot, which features all the fan fiction she and her husband Chris, aka "Laersyn", wrote)
Why this must be read: It created fanon that had a permanent effect on X-Men comic fandom, it is utterly original, and it is a damn good read.


First of all, I am such a scrub.

I was assigned to drive the Crack Van for X-Men Comicverse this month, and then my computer died, thus I lost the email informing me of this fact. I managed to completely forget about it until about a week ago or so, and have been too busy with work and doctor's appointments to do any recs.

And yet I have so many recs to make! Arrgh! Only three days!

Since I usually *get* my Crack Van recs by going back through the memories, I am going to do twelve recs in three days so they can at least be logged to memories, and I apologize to anyone who has this journal friended and really doesn't like X-Men Comicverse.

Now, on to the rec.

In "No Way Up" Kielle took an excessively minor supervillain, Vertigo, who was one of the weaker members of a team of mercenary assassins (the Marauders) that fans generally paid little attention to except as cardboard cutouts, and made her real. I don't know if the idea that the Marauders are constantly being cloned and brought back in new bodies every time they die was actual comic canon, or fanon invented to explain why we saw people come back who had died on panel (these things happen in comic books), but whichever, Kielle ran with it to create a suspenseful story that explores issues of identity and gives personalities and depth to characters no one had really worked with before.


( Quote inside... )

Vertigo: No Way Up

This is it for me, cats and kittens. It’s been a fun month. I hope y’all enjoyed these fics (or at least didn’t gag on them too much) as much as I enjoyed picking them out.

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: Wolverine/Jubilee
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read:

This is yet another UXM #423 fic. It’s a short one, but I think it’s a really honest look at Logan and Jubilee. Whether you see their relationship as paternal, a working partnership or as Nabokovian, at its base, this is what it’s all about. She loves him. He leaves her. They both know it. Neither one of them can change it. So, they do what they do best. He pulls away. She makes jokes to make it easier for him.

( Excerpt )

Even Butterflies Rest

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: The Beast/Jubilee
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read:

It's a totally bizarre pairing that Ramos actually makes work and I'm not even into smut. SRSLY. I’m not kidding. It works. Shhhhh...I know...shhhhhh. Just try it.



( Excerpt )


Beauty Tips and the Beast

Fandom: X-MEN COMICVERSE
Pairing: None
Author on LJ: N/A
Author Website: N/A
Why this must be read:

So, this is the first in a series. Honestly, the last one is my favorite but you can’t really just pick it up at the end.

Silence Isn’t Always Golden and its sequels are really about Northstar. Since I have kind of a soft spot in my bitter little heart for Alpha Flight, I really liked that he made it over to the X-Men. For a while, anyway. This story is about his theoretical friendship with Jubilee and how it changes him. While this Jubilee is not entirely a Jubilee I recognize, it’s still good stuff.


Silence Isn't Always Golden