Nunzio Defilippis Christina Weir Popular Books

Nunzio Defilippis Christina Weir Biography & Facts

Anole (Victor Borkowski) is a fictional mutant superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis and first appeared in issue #2 of New Mutants vol. 2 (August 2003). A student at the Xavier Institute and junior member of the X-Men, Anole is also openly gay. His reptilian mutation grants him superhuman abilities including wallcrawling, a prehensile tongue, and adaptive camouflage. Initially a supporting character in New Mutants vol. 2 and its relaunched title, New X-Men: Academy X, Weir and DeFilippis intended for the character to commit suicide early in the series after coming out as gay and finding himself rejected by his family and friends. According to the writers, the story was to serve as a message about intolerance. Marvel editors scrapped the story due to concerns about the controversy it might generate. The storyline was rewritten and the character survived. He since became a fan favorite and began to be featured regularly throughout the series and as a main character in subsequent X-Men-related titles, including New X-Men and the short-lived Young X-Men. Publication history Victor Borkowski first appears in New Mutants vol. 2 #2 in August 2003. Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis originally wrote a storyline for New Mutants that was to take place between issues 8 and 10. The plot involved Victor committing suicide after coming out as gay and being rejected by his parents and his friends, serving as "a powerful message about what intolerance can do to people." Due to the controversial subject matter, the storyline was dropped, with Victor coming from an accepting family and hometown. Despite only rare initial appearances as a supporting character, Victor developed a fan following. Victor was given the codename "Anole" ( ə-NOH-lee), a kind of lizard frequently and incorrectly known as an American chameleon, after it was suggested to Weir and DeFilippis by a fan via a post on their forum. He continued to make numerous appearances during Craig Kyle and Chris Yost's run on New X-Men (2nd Series), having a more active role in the plots than most of the other background characters. Anole was featured as a main character beginning in New X-Men vol. 2 #37, illustrated by comic book artist Skottie Young. He was later added to the New X-Men as a teammate. Anole was a "pretty early pick" for new additions to the team, according to Yost, who felt that Anole had a decent set of abilities and represented "a kind of level-headed, good, normal kid." Additionally, Yost and Kyle felt adding Anole and the character Pixie to the New X-Men team gave the roster "tonal balance" and the opportunity to slightly "twist and warp" the characters through darker events to come in the series. While alluded to since his first main appearances in the franchise and confirmed off-panel during their run by DiFilippis and Weir and in Marvel character profiles, it was during this series in New X-Men (2nd Series) #43 that Anole's gay identity was stated and dealt with explicitly on-panel for the first time. When the series ended, Anole was featured in a vignette entitled "Blend In" written and illustrated by Young in X-Men: Divided We Stand #1. The story explored the effects of the darker events in Yost and Kyle's run on younger characters such as Anole, Young feeling that younger characters were often improperly characterized like mature adults in how they dealt with large, traumatic events in comic series. He described his decision to illustrate and write about Anole as "a natural choice" and that he wanted to flesh out his previously unknown backstory, claiming that drawing Anole for a year during his time on New X-Men allowed him to understand the character. In developing Anole's backstory, Young also established the character's hometown as his own—Fairbury, Illinois. Young added that he chose to write Anole's divestment from the X-Men at the conclusion of the story in a way that would allow him to explore more of the character's future decisions and experiences at another time. Anole would later reappear as a team member in the main cast of Young X-Men as of Young X-Men #6 and as a supporting character in X-Men franchise crossover events such as X-Men: Manifest Destiny, Secret Invasion: X-Men, and X-Men: Nation X. Fictional character biography Early life and arrival at Xavier's Victor Borkowski is a sixteen-year-old mutant born and raised in Fairbury, Illinois, a small, typical American town in which he lives a normal life despite his reptilian features. The close-knit community accepts him for who he is until anti-mutant sentiment begins to spread. For his own safety, his parents send him to the Xavier Institute where he quickly excels academically. When the advisor system is set up at the Xavier Institute, Victor chooses Karma as his advisor and is given the code name Anole. During the formation of training squads throughout the school, he is reassigned to Northstar's Alpha Squadron where he serves as the squad leader. At first, he is depicted as close friends with fellow student Julian Keller and the other students in the Hellions, but later becomes closer to his teammates. He is especially close to his mentor Northstar, who helps him to come to terms with his sexuality. Anole is deeply affected by Northstar's death, stating that Northstar understood him and was important as a figure he could confide in. Post M-Day Anole is one of only 27 students at the Institute who does not lose his mutant powers in the aftermath of House of M, also known as Decimation or "M-Day." The squad system is dissolved and the remaining students are merged into one group. Shortly afterward, Emma Frost sets up an all-out brawl amongst the remaining students to determine who will become the new team of X-Men trainees (dubbed the "New X-Men"); Victor is not selected for the squad, but remains at the school. When a resurrected and brainwashed Northstar returns with his sister Aurora and attacks the Institute, Anole finds him and is able to temporarily snap him out of the mind control set in place by the Children of the Vault. Anole's joy at seeing his former mentor is short-lived, as Northstar returns to his mind-controlled status and knocks him out. The school is later attacked by Reverend William Stryker and his army of mutant-exterminating Purifiers. This results in a bus full of Anole's classmates being killed and the murder of other friends at the school. Joining the New X-Men During the New X-Men story arc "The Quest for Magik," Anole and his classmates are sucked down into the dimension of Limbo by the demon Belasco. They are soon attacked by a large group of demons, and Anole takes charge, rallying the students around the defenseless Blindfold, only to have his right arm severed at the shoulder by a demon. Later he is trapped in stone by the machinations of Darkchilde as she attempts to create a powerful Soulsword from Pi.... Discover the Nunzio Defilippis Christina Weir popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Nunzio Defilippis Christina Weir books.