Welcome back to Mutantversity, a class offered at the Krakoan Akademos Habitat. This isn’t a place to find big reviews of X-books, (that’s what our Review section is for!) but it’s a great way to keep up with one of the most complicated superhero series around. We’re going to dive into the deep end as we try to parse all the secrets of this new era of “X-Men” comics. As your designated X-Pert, I will do my best to help you work through everything Marvel’s Merry Mutants have to offer!
This month was a big ones on stories spotlighting villains, so that’s who we will be focusing on. Next month looks to include a few #1s as the Destiny of X era begins!
A Life of Wolverine
Looks like the ‘ol Canucklehead is getting the HOXPOX treatment. We are getting interwoven miniseries, coming out weekly, with the spotlight on Wolverine. Logan’s role on Krakoa has been weird so far. He’s not one of the Captains. He doesn’t really have any official role. He’s on X-Force, but doesn’t seem to have a lot of authority. No, Logan has mostly spent the last few years doing solo spy stuff, without a lot of connection to the current story. “X Lives” #1 changes that with a spectacular retcon.
It turns out Wolverine was present at the birth of Charles Xavier. Not only that, my hairy homie literally cut the cord with his bone claws. That’s an image I’m not forgetting anytime soon. This sequence did what any good retcon should, which is fold in a bunch of other dangling stories to make some sense of the story moving forward. So we see Xavier’s parents, and we see their reaction to the death of their daughter, Charles’ sister Cassandra.
As for who wants the Xavier family dead, it seems to be some iteration of Omega Red. In the present, Omega Red is in cahoots with Mikhael Rasputin, and the two of them are manipulating Mikhael’s brother, who you might know as the X-Man Colossus. A lot of long running “X-Force” plots seem to be coming to a head here; Omega Red and Mikhael still have the Cerebro Sword they stole way way back at the beginning of all of this.
This is the kind of retcon that makes a universe feel small, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to “X-Men.” A soap opera is made up of relationships, and the more relationships a character has, the more staying power they are gonna get. Omega Red is a villain I have always enjoyed, but that more had to do with playing as him in the Marvel vs Capcom games and his episodes of the animated series. If nothing else, this series looks likely to give some more motivation to a very cool looking but shallow villain. If that’s all that’s accomplished by “X Lives” and “X Deaths,” that will be quite a lot!
An Ode to Brimstone Love
You read comics as a kid, you end up walking away with a weird fave or two? And me? I love Brimstone Love and his Theater of Pain. I was a weird goth kid. I played with his action figure.
Brimstone Love (real name: Brimstone Love) first appeared in 1993’s “X-Men 2099” #3 by John Francis Moore and Ron Lim. He has big weird devil horns and a whole demon aesthetic. He operates one of those sci-fi S&M clubs/assassin clubs that always seem to be menacing a certain type of superhero. He had a sidekick/nemesis named La Lunática (Luna for short), and his enemies included characters like Skullfire, Bloodhawk, and Meanstreak. “X-Men 2099” had a strong aesthetic, and it was committed to the bit.
The new Brimstone Love, appearing in “Marauders Annual” #1, is just as vaguely defined. He still loves torture games, and inflicts one on Daken, who can heal, so you know it’s extra depraved. His power profile looks like it includes things like “fire manipulation” and “spontaneous sinkhole creation.” Instead of operating a bordello for the powerful and corrupt, Brimstone Love is now shouting sermons on the lawn of Xavier Mansion. It’s never been confirmed whether or not Mr. Love is a mutant, and he seems intent on inflaming human jealousy towards Krakoa. That’s an angle that was explored with subtlety in “Children of the Atom” but this is a big demon guy, subtlety is not on the menu.
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Time will tell if this is some incarnation of the same Brimstone Love from Earth-928, or if this is just a remix of design elements. Regardless, he shares one thing with the 90s original and that’s panache; a flair for the dramatic. Because this is a guy who called his secret club the Theater of Pain. He wants an audience, and he wants to perform. I can’t believe my favorite childhood action figure made his way back to comics.
A Screed on Victor Creed
The truth is, Sabretooth isn’t inherently that interesting a character. His main thing is that he has an infinite capacity for cruelty. That’s how he wound up as the first mutant thrown into the Pit, forever immortally imprisoned for his murderous rampages. Most writers focus on the cruel acts of Sabretooth, with an emphasis on mental torture, dismemberment, and murder. Victor LaValle takes a different approach, and in doing so may be telling the definitive story of Victor Creed.
LaValle’s take on the character is existential. Doug Ramsey and Krakoa basically invent a little Matrix for Creed to exist in, and even let him pick the fantasy. Of course, Creed’s fantasies all involves doing unspeakable things to his enemies. Through a series of deep continuity pulls, we see all the different shades of the hatred Creed feels towards Wolverine, Banshee, and Iron Fist. Despite never really having that exciting of an impact on the ongoing story of “X-Men,” there have been a hell of a lot of Sabretooth stories, and this one captures their vibe nicely while taking them to the next level.
In the end of the first issue, Sabretooth has imagined himself the Devil to mutantkind and indeed, he’s had long enough to master the prison Matrix that he basically does have free reign. So when another group of prisoners arrives, including teenage mutant Indie Okonkwo, they aren’t showing up in an empty prison, they are literally being sent to the most unspeakable of hells. One can’t help but notice LaValle using the embodiment of mutant evil as an analogy to real carceral practices, and thus he asks the question: how do you justly punish true evil?
X-Books Read:
“The X Lives of Wolverine” #1 – This is the most exciting and energetic any Wolverine book has been since the dawn of Krakoa.
“The X Lives of Wolverine” #2 – The life chapters are proving to be more interesting than the death chapters, but this issue can’t match the energy of the first.
“The X Deaths of Wolverine” #1 – an intriguing story that holds back too much on explaining its mysteries
“Sabretooth” #1 – A remarkable first issue that shocks you even as it spells out exactly what’s in store.
“Devil’s Reign: X-Men” #1 – Lovely to see the Hellfire crew playing politics on the side of the angels
“Marauders Annual” #1 – A fun issue introducing some new heroes, a forgotten villain, and a brand new creative team!
“The X-Cellent” #1 – This issue feels farther from the central story than just about any series since Krakoa started. But if you liked “X-Statix,” well it’s back!
