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Longbox Diving: X-Men #76

By | November 16th, 2011
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Back when this website was first getting its wheels in gear, I “hired” a bunch of guys I had never met to write for me. Among them was one Brandon Burpee, who was an outspoken fan of a character I’d never even heard of at the time: Maggott. Brandon’s love of the character became a frequently used inside joke inside the Multiversity offices, with Maggott often being discussed with high accolades despite none of us besides Brandon really caring about the character.

This started two years ago. Since then, I have never read a comic with Maggott in it (on purpose; I’m willing to resound to the fact that he might’ve popped up somewhere without me knowing).

So I’m going to review this copy of X-Men #76 I found while perusing back issues in a store the other day. Hop after the cut to see what I thought of The Tragic Origin of MAGGOTT!, or, “A Boykie and his Dinges.”

As a note, spoilers are discussed for the issue, but this book came out in 1998. If you haven’t read it by now, somehow I think you’ll be ok knowing how it ends.

Reeling from the events of the previous over-sized issue, Joe Kelly tones his run down a bit by giving everyone a chance to heal and relax for an issue. Wounds are taken care of with routine physicals, mail is picked up that hasn’t been touched in weeks/months, and various flirting is had by all. Of course, away from the revelry is one lonely Japheth, who sits by himself with his thoughts until visited by Logan, who coaxes him into finally revealing who he truly is, where he comes from and what Magneto has to do with all of it.

If I have learned one thing from reading comics for an extended period of time, its that it is always worthwhile to trust in Joe Kelly. Kelly is perhaps one of my favorite storytellers who pops in and out of Marvel; his work on the Brand New Day of Amazing Spider-Man is some of my favorite, his Deadpool run is the only one I’ll ever talk about, and his creator-owned work at Image (such as the monumental and heartbreaking I Kill Giants) sits proudly in my collection. What Kelly does better than most is really drive home the emotional core and resonance of a story, capitalizing on what makes the characters work and playing it up for an emotional roller coaster of a story.

X-Men #76 is an early example of this methodology. All the work that Kelly would have down perfect a decade or so later is present here in its earliest stages, not quite reaching the sublime emotional apex of stories he’d write about the Rhino yet still full of that dark and uneasy tone that draws you in. Maggott is, in all fairness, a rather goofy character at first; he’s a hulking monstrosity designed by Joe Madureira who carries around two giant maggots named Eeny and Meany, and after feeding on various substances, the two slugs re-enter his body and give him nourishment and power. It’s fairly gross, rather ridiculous and it is fairly obvious why the character remains deceased rather than popping back up from any number of resurrection loopholes. Yet somehow, the character becomes rather endearing after a story like this. While he seems like a character simply born out of a “What weird crap can we do today?” discussion between Lobdell and editorial, Kelly places him in a landscape that defines his humanity in line with his mutant ability.

Japheth, as it turns out, was born amongst one of the most difficult eras of South African history, when the country was gripped by Apartheid. The mutants are no stranger to being used as an analogy for opressed minorities, but Kelly continues this time honored tradition by placing young Japheth in the middle of conflict, born of a poor home and with thoughts of suicide. However, thanks to a timely intervention from Magneto, Japheth is able to learn more of his mutant abilities and begin an odyssey of self discovery. The key scene of the book takes place while Magneto and Japheth watch on as a riot breaks out between the white supremist South African soldiers and the black citizens, and Japeth begs Magneto to save the civilians. The scene, while not too long, is the rather stark defining moment for the character: after murdering the soldiers, Magneto brings all of the issues of racial supremacy to the forefront as he urges young Japheth to join him on his quest to bring mutants to power over the planet, and Japheth – despite feeling alienated by humanity – chooses to walk the path of the hero.

Continued below

It’s a strong issue for Kelly that fits in well with his legacy at Marvel. While Apartheid had (finally) ended 4 years before the issue came out, the reflection that Kelly brings to the trouble political situation is respectful, if darkly on the nose. The perhaps most difficult aspect of the issue is Kelly’s heavy use of Afrikaans slang peppered all over Maggot’s dialogue which, without any previous notions of the dialect, reads somewhat like Burgess’ Nadsat in A Clockwork Orange. That element of Maggott’s character makes it rather obvious why other writers might have found handling him difficult, yet you rarley find a character with such an earnest backdrop. The original Maggott had no history whatsoever, so by infusing him with one as rich as this, Kelly really gives motivation to use the character, as well as introducing several further mysteries about him (which were apparently never resolved due to his eventual death).

Of course, the biggest issue of the story is this: unless you actively have some interest in Maggott, there’s no real reason to care. As I alluded to, Kelly is a writer who can take a character whom I have no interest in — such as the Rhino, for example — and give my reasons to care, a story worth following. This was something that he had perfected long after this issue came out, and it resulted in great stories (Amazing Spider-Man #625, the resolution of the Rhino’s storyline in the Gauntlet, is a personal favorite). Yet with this issue, I happen to read it with a rather uniquely objective perspective; I am not a Maggott fan, nor am I reader of this particular run. I’m just someone buying the issue at random because it amuses me based on something somewhat unrelated. I’m sure that if had been reading his run regularly, or perhaps had an emotional investment in a character like Maggott, that the issue would be astounding. Yet, as someone simply coming across it after the fact, it amounts to a good read, not a great read, and it certainly doesn’t hit the same darkly emotional levels that Kelly’s work on the Deadpool ongoing at the same time.

(Side note: I will probably never forget the rather savage Deadpool #14 that I bought at a gas station in New Hampshire, in which Deadpool throws his blind best friend in a room full of broken glass and used needles, and she takes time to reflect on their history together. It was one of my favorite comics I read as a young man at the age of 11, and still is at 24.)

What X-Men #76 does do well, however, is serve as a reminder that as much as I quite enjoy the modern day X-Men work, I missed out on a lot of interesting X-Men stories when I was younger. X-Men #76 came out a time when I collected comics regularly, yet had a much more limited budget due to only being allowed a few comics any given week (based on what my mom would buy me). I’ve never gone back and read through Kelly’s run before, but given that it came out at the same time as my favorite run of his, it only seems appropriate now to start seeking out the rest of his X-Men work (perhaps for a future Longbox Dive). Heck, if I can end up finding a character like Maggott a little bit more endearing by the end of one issue from the middle of a run that was read completely out of context, I can only imagine what the rest of his run might do for me in regards to other characters I don’t care for or haven’t thought about in years.

I’m not ready to sign any “Bring Back Maggott” petitions yet, but I’d certainly like to read more.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – Buy (if you can find it)


//TAGS | Longbox Diving

Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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