Aussie Bloggers

When I first volunteered to guest post here at Aussie Bloggers, I almost immediately regretted the idea. You see, I didn’t actually have an idea to speak of. I’ve often had trouble identifying with the whole Australiana thing and have generally found the inspiration and indulgences in my life to be of more a global variety.

They do say to write what you know and I suspect this applies to blogging as much as any writing, therefore I chose a topic I’m a little more comfortable with and would be more likely to write at my own virtual home, Quit Your Day Job: Popular culture.

There is an obvious Australian connection to the widely popular and well-known franchise, Marvel Comic’s X-Men. The upcoming film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was filming in Sydney of course stars Australia’s own Hugh Jackman (as did the first three X-Men films). This fact alone I’m sure is enough to swell the heart of any Aussie comic book fans but it is also in the comic books themselves (and bearing in mind that I am no X-Men expert) that I found at least a couple of Australian references and connections.

Staying with the Wolverine themed train of thought, the character has taken on a fatherly figure role for at least three young mutants throughout the comic book’s history, one of which was a character named Jubilee whom he first encountered… wait for it; whilst in the Australian outback.

Apparently for a period the X-Men were temporarily stationed in a secret base located in the Northern Territory where some way or the other Jubilee found herself transported (whilst following the X-Men), she rescued Wolverine, who after fighting an enemy called the Reavers (I’m assuming not a Firefly reference) was at the very limit of his restorative mutant abilities and close to death.

We do actually happen to have our own Australian born mutant in the X-Men comics.

Pyro is a mutant with the abilities to control fire and flame and was born in Sydney. It should be noted that, unfortunately, he was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. I wonder what says about our Sydney friends?

I suspect someone better versed in the intricacies of X-Men history could dig up some more Aussie references and I invite you to leave a comment displaying your god-like X-Men/Australian trivia knowledge.

For the rest of us I guess it’s just nice to be part of the bigger picture, even if our main contribution of a mutant is over to the baddies!