#daken

i do absolutely love how he and jeanne-marie beaubier were queening out in x-factor (2020) 🤭😇😈

https://pin.it/1mxX2hSuB

Them just teasing the readers for like three issues when they only interact in one is just so…weird? Like why make it seem like they dated but then never have them interact after iceman 2017 just rubs me the wrong way

I loooove a slow burn, so I'd put them on a team together and make it take like three years for them to get together. Not that most comics last three years these days, but as long as I'm dreaming I'll go ahead and reach for the moon.

I've always gotten the impression that Sina Grace was planning to do more with those two but the 2017 series was canceled, and Winter's End was him doing his best to put some kind of conclusion on a story that hadn't played out the way he wanted. I did see someone on Reddit saying that apparently years ago he'd said that he'd intended an enemies to lovers story for them, although I don't have the original quote from him. So I don't think this was a case of Marvel as a whole having a weird plan for Darkice, I think it was one writer with a vision and then the comics went in a drastically different direction (Krakoa, both characters on separate teams with different love interests, etc.) and there was just no chance to pick it back up.

Akihiro is Gumball (obviously), he’s a schemer, he’s very dramatic and can be very self centered/egotistical while constantly failing, but he still is capable of giving and receiving love and helping others (even if he doesn’t immediately)

Bobby’s Darwin because he believes in a good in all things but can get extremely intense when brought to his limit, he’s also a pretty big ride-or-die but also kinda a sheep. Also, can get extraordinarily jealous

Would also love to hear your reasoning, but not necessary if it would be too much to ask ^^;

Sorry, Nonnie, I'm real late answering this...

First, since I'm totally willing but not very good at these ask games... Let me say two things. First : don't hesitate asking for clarification if I make a mess of an answer. Any question welcome. Two : kudos for asking 'favourite' as in what I LIKE, instead of what is best. I'm a bit wary when people dunk on a series to the point you feel guilty for liking it. So. Whatever I say engages only me and all hail the kinktomato thing.

Anyway, valid question too, since as soon as Daken/Akihiro belongs in a team his presence is often very diluted, so, not always his place to shine. So obviously, his series by Daniel Way and Marjorie Liu are the must, it's the magificent bastard in all his glory, asshole character that still manages to punch you in the feels repeatedly. When Rob Williams took over my gut reaction was a bit of disappointment, but coming back to this run later, I must admit it has vastly grown on me, because it was exploring the frailties and weaknesses of the character in a way that created welcome nuances for our boy. (Sorry, Aki, you can't come on top every time, right?)

I owe All-New Wolverine (w: Tom Taylor) immensely, as it actually got me back into writing after years of not writing at all. And yes, folding Daken into family relations (sniktlings, yeah!!!) in the orphans of X arc was fun and heartwarming , but I wrote what I was missing too from it, paradoxically, that being the transition between the Daken we knew and this more appeased and balanced one.

I have a fondness for Claws of a Killer, because I'm suuuper weak for Jackson Butch Guice's art and I loved his Daken (I have original pencil pages of this run, even). I cried when this artist passed, no kidding. It's not ground breaking as a characterization of Daken on the writing angle, but I love how excellent it is at showing grown-up dapper Daken at the beginning only to have him turn sullen teeanager on Lady D and ST probably just to annoy. (It's my headcanon, that the oooold guy likes behaving bratty to annoy. ^^) Plus the ending broke my heart and sent me into depression, no kidding. Good art/story is the one that makes you cry, so I'm sure not forgetting this one.

I have another fondness for the Wolverines series (will add creators when I have the courage). Daken is not always (if hardly) prominent, but it's the arc when we see him start to really engage with and care for Laura (and the other way round too).

There's a few single issues/episodes I LOVE :

The issue written by Greg Pak that "pits" Daken and Logan againt Hulk and Skar, very fun. (But also with a darker taste for me, because it shows that Logan lacks something to break through his son, in a way: the willing ness of it. Dives up on him before really trying to make him open up... Not sure the foreshadowing is intentional, but...). That's The Incredible Hulk #603, and we get to have more art by Camuncoli.

Death of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #5 (sorry too tired to remember writer and artist of the top of my head, so maybe I'll fix this later if I have the courage) is a favorite too. We have Daken's reaction to his genitor's death, his relationship with his Japanese heritage, plus an old flame that ciments the fact (which is very endearing) that he never forgets a lover...

...as was showed as well with Carl Valentino / Somnus' origin story in Marvel Voices: Pride - “Man of His Dreams” (2021) by Steve Orlando and Claudia Aguirre & Luciano Vecchio. Very sweet and melancholy.