Welcome back to Mutantiversity! Like, for real, for real welcome back. It’s been a minute since we’ve had real X-comics, but comic schedules are returning to something that resembles normal and that means plenty of X-content to parse. If you are new or you have forgotten what we do here well, Mutantversity is 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’ll learn, we’ll laugh, and we won’t take new comics for granted. But most of all, 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!
It won’t be long until “X of Swords” but until that series comes out, we’ve got tie-ins to “Empyre,” a new series and plenty of returning favorites to consider. It’s busy here in the ‘Dawn of X.’
Here’s how it’s going to go. First we’re going to recap the last month of the ongoing superhero soap opera that is “X-Men,” focusing on the titles that are really driving the story. Next, I’ll tell you which X-Men books I looked at this month, and whether I thought they were worth reading. Finally, we’re going to award our very special Monthly Mutantversity Medals of Merit to close out these issues of “X-Men.” Stick with me true believers, and maybe we’ll survive this experience!
My Dinner With Magnus
This month we finally got to see a spotlight put on the mutant master of magnetism, he who is called: Magneto! In “Giant Size X-Men” you’d hope that we’d get a character spotlight on the dude whose face and name are on the front cover, but the issue ended up being more of a showcase for another Jonathan Hickman favorite character. I am talking about Mister Imperius Rex himself, Namor the Sub-Mariner.
Namor has opted out of Krakoa, despite technically being a mutant. That makes a lot of sense. Namor was a prominent member of the X-Men in the early 2010s, but his loyalty eventually drifted away from mutants and back to his kingdom beneath the sea. Pollution hasn’t really slowed down in our universe or the Marvel one, so Namor is back on his grind bringing vengeance to those who’d dump trash in the sea. We learn here that he still has his greatest weakness though- the dude is horny for blonde ladies. After a tense meeting with Magneto, he just had to hear Emma Frost’s name to freely give away an island.
We do pick up on a few details about how Magneto has been doing on Krakoa. It seems like he’s thriving. You get the impression in this issue that Magnus has been hopping around the world a lot, working for the mutant utopia while keeping an eye on the world at large. He has a fancy-ass lobster dinner with Emma in this one too, implying that he hasn’t been socializing a lot but that he’s welcome company. And that’s kind of a funny place for Magneto to end up. While Professor X is the dad that everyone has complicated feelings about, Magneto has really settled into the cool bachelor uncle role.
Oceans Rise, Empyres Fall
I can’t tell if “Empyre” is more sophisticated than I would have thought or needlessly complex. I’m not complaining though, because it brought us issues co-written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard. I love writer collaborations in comics. Good comic creators are good collaborators, thus good writers can compliment each others strengths and weaknesses. In this case, a delightful and irreverent issue ended up bringing some of the best characterization to two chronically unpopular classic X-Men: Professor X and Angel.
Prof. X is obviously in a lot of stuff, but when he’s not played by Patrick Stewart he usually comes across as a dick. And Angel… that dude is more boring than not. But in this they have a great dynamic. Turns out Angel has been managing X-Corp, which is no small feat. Thanks to Krakoa, Prof. X is one of the 10 richest people on the planet. Angel grew up with wealth, so it makes sense that he’d head up the global financial side of Krakoa. And that’s why he’s so heartbroken that it seems like the Professor is axing the enterprise.
Continued belowIt turns out to be a misunderstanding. Xavier doesn’t really understand what to do with all his wealth. But he does know what he does with promising young mutants- mainly turn them into paramilitary commandos and occasionally get them killed. Which isn’t a great plan, but it’s what he does. He essentially asks Angel, “Is wealth worth it?” And Angel says yeah, they could do a lot of good with a lot of money and more importantly oppose the bad people who have a lot of money. And Xavier trusts him, which I found really touching. Angel kind of sucks at being an X-Man, but he’s a decent businessman, and it’s cool that the mutants are finding a way to leverage that sort of power in their new world order.
The rest of the issue involves… you know, I think the title more than captures the appeal of this story.
And then we get the return of everyone’s favorite trash-talking septuagenarian botanists, Hordeculture! One of the many, many, many, many threads that Hickman laid out in his early books is starting to pay off. And it feels great! This is the good stuff.
The Malleable Mind of Mister Fantastic
“X-Men + Fantastic Four” was a good idea by talented people that never managed to click. It was kind of throwbacky, the sort of miniseries Marvel would have published well, the last time there was an “X-Men + Fantastic Four” miniseries (which was 1987). The ending of this modern series though was a perfect Black Mirror twist, and I’d like to discuss it here.
After all the traditional misunderstanding-related fisticuffs, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four seem to come to an accord. Franklin will live on the teen sex island that is Krakoa, but he will go home for regular visits. Invisible Woman is cordial with Professor X and Magneto. The Thing isn’t, but in his lovable crusty way. Then Magneto and the Professor go to visit Mister Fantastic to confront him about his latest invention, a machine that can disguise the X-Gene… or destroy it. He assures the two mutant leaders that he would never use the weapon he just built to do a hate crime, that would be just awful. But Mags and the Professor aren’t convinced.
So they erase Reed’s memory of the device. Sort of. He’ll remember inventing it. He’ll remember this incident. But he won’t ever be able to build the machine. Professor X reminds Reed of the time they were on the supervillain team, the Illuminati, together. Back then, he explains, “I would erase your memory of me doing this to you. But that was then. This is now. I want you to remember. This is not a game to us. This is our right to survive.” Then Magneto is like, “yeah bitch, magnets!” and blows Reed’s machine up with his powers.
Is this a violation? Big time. Messing with peoples’ minds is messed up. But bringing up the Illuminati is a great point- it would be hypocritical of Reed to object to the way he’s being treated because it’s literally his go-to move. I’m not saying that two wrongs make a right. I am saying that all these entitled losers absolutely deserve each other. Of course, knowing Reed, he’s probably going to take this as a challenge and try to fix his memory, accidentally unleashing a far more destructive weapon in the process. But if everyone acted in anticipation of that happening, nothing would ever get done.
Mutants Vs Death: Resurrection
Resurrection is an inherently sci-fi idea. By that I mean it’s a speculative fiction concept. It allows us to explore the world he live in, and consider how things could be different. So it’s awesome that there’s a book about asking the tough questions. Take Northstar for instance. Because he’s got special twin magic, he feels that his sister is dead and demand that she be brought back by the Five. Not only that, he storms in while they are taking a coffee break. He insults them. But he’s not entirely wrong.
I have a deep appreciation for the consideration writer Leah Williams gives to the Five. We’ve seen them perform miracles and we’ve seen them treated like saints. But they still need to eat and sleep. Presumably they want occasional R&R breaks. But their jobs are so important that even them performing the basic act of being a person can be viewed as selfish. “X-Factor” is careful not to condemn either side- you understand why Northstar wants these people to live up to their sacred calling, and you see that Hope and Goldballs/Egg/Fabio are just regular folks.
And those folks have reasonable requests. Respect to Northstar and his twin bond but that’s not sufficient evidence that someone is dead. We need verification. And when mutants have a problem, the solution is often a team of misfits and hotheads focused on solving it. That’s this new incarnation of X-Factor. Northstar is the obnoxious leader. Polaris is more focused and makes an excellent number two. Daken is practically intolerable but he’s a skilled tracker and on some level wants to earn the love of his compatriots. Prodigy is a chronic overachiever who doesn’t know how to say no. Prestige is powerful and looking for something productive to do. And Eye Boy just really wants to be included. Together they will go on a trippy journey to parse the finer points of ethical philosophy. And as we know, everyone always loves ethical philosophers!
This Month’s Books:
“X-Force” #10 – this book hasn’t lost a step, meaning it’s as flawed and intriguing as its ever been
“God Loves, Man Kills Extended Cut” #1 – An honest travesty. It’s a reprint of a stone-cold classic, with unnecessary new scenes garishly grafted on.
“Giant Size X-Men: Magneto” #1 – The weakest issue of “Giant Size” by a bit, but it’s always fun when Hickman gets to write Namor.
“iWolverine 2020” #1 – The premise and crossover might be dumb, but if you’re gonna have an issue like this, you pray it’s written by Larry Hama. There’s no imitating his tough guy dialogue!
“Empyre: X-Men” #1 – Written by Hickman and Tini Howard and it shows. This issue is way better than it has to be. A lot of fun.
“New Mutants” #11 – Cool art. Forgettable adventure. But a great setup for things to come. I’m hoping next issue is where “New Mutants” starts to turn things back around.
“X-Men + Fantastic Four” #4 – I was going to call this a rare misfire from Chip Zdarsky and the Dodsons, but then the ending blew me away. This book mostly didn’t click, but its consequences are genius and far reaching. And maybe that’s the worst thing a book can be!
“Wolverine” #3 – Writer Ben Percy recently tweeted a short video of himself chopping wood. That was a better Wolverine comic than this.
“X-Factor” #1 – If you don’t know what a Leah Williams book reads like, it is this. And I love it. She answers every rhetorical question you see online in thoughtful ways!
“Cable” #2 – Maybe lacking the magic of the first issue, but still very very good! Fun even!
“X-Men” #10 – This crossover issue only features characters that I hate. It is starting at such a deficit. And it is fantastic. How does that even happen?
The Mutantversity Monthly Medals of Merit:
The Cable’s Pouch of X-Treme Grittiness Award
Given to a mutant for demonstrating badassitude and commitment to the 90s aesthetic
Greycrow
First, a hearty kudos the the folks at Marvel who got rid of this characters racist codename. It feels like a huge weight off my chest because now I’m not embarrassed to talk about this character and it turns out I really like him. Greycrow is less a badass in the Cable mold- that involves a lot of gritted teeth, screaming, and guns that look like they are compensating for something. No, he’s much more like Bishop. Softspoken, cordial, and totally confident that he’s the baddest mother in any room. When Empath started toeing the line by clowning around with his powers, Greycrow gave him one quiet warning. And when Empath didn’t relent, blammo, he got shot in the face. The law says Murder No Man, but not killing mutants is more of a norm.
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Merriest Mutant Award
Given to a mutant who found a rare moment of happiness
Angel
I was so pleased to see that Angel seems to be thriving in Krakoa. As a young man, Angel was mostly trained to fly between crushy thingies and when he had to do that in the field, he failed as often as he succeeded. When he turned into Archangel he was a lot better about accomplishing his goals, but his goals tended to involve a lot of dismemberment. Seeing Angel manage money to help protect his people is a great role for him. He seems to be thriving, he’s working towards building up his nation, and he gets to eat fancy food around the world as he does it. Everything is coming up Warren Kenneth Worthington III.
“Professor Xavier is a Jerk” Award
Given to a mutant who acted like a real jerk
Colossus
I’ve seen some disagreement on what exactly it is that Colossus has done, but I think it’s pretty insidious. After his ex-GF/current partner/it’s complicated Domino was mortally injured, she begged him to bring her back with intact memories and injuries. She… did not come back that way. And it seems pretty clear to me that Colossus was not honest. We now have a whole series about the thorny issues that come along with resurrection, but Colossus may have committed the biggest violation. When you are dealing with power at such a level, consent is important my big metal idiot.
Fastball Special Award
Given to a duo who exhibited great friendship, collaboration, and teamwork
Professor X and Magneto
It’s not like these two were up to anything wholesome, but they proved how effective they are as a unit. Charles did most of the heavy lifting, what with messing with Mister Fantastic’s brain and giving the big speech. But Magneto was there to be the heavy, blowing up the Fantastic machine at the perfect moment to deliver their shakedown message. Doesn’t matter if it’s being superheroes, supervillains, a mafia, a nationstate, or a marriage. These two prove that teamwork makes the dreamwork and that they are so much more effective together than they are apart.
Let’s Talk About X Baby Award
Given to the sweetest, sexiest, bestest romantic couple
Cyclops and Emma Frost
This is a bit of a cheat because we don’t see these two involved romantically. Sort of the opposite, they have a meeting as exes to talk about how their kids are now exploring romance with each other. But I have never had an encounter with an ex like that. Hoo damn. The whole thing was charged, and it’s clear that as Cyclops is exploring new parts of his sexual identity, Emma still has a big role to play. And Emma is not over Scott, he is (somehow) the big love of her life. These two can’t help but connect when they get near each other, and for that they are recognized.
MVX: Most Valuable X-Man
Given to an X-Man who embodied the values of the team and showed all around X-cellence
Northstar
I want to make something clear. I hate(d) Northstar. He has all of the pompous grandeur and precise cruelty as Namor but all of that stature of a guy who gets into fights with Major Maple Leaf. My point is, Northstar’s attitude has never been backed up by his importance. He was mean, but not always honest. He was grandiose but unimportant. My feelings changed with “X-Factor” #1. This is a version of Northstar who lacks tact sure, but he says what everyone is thinking. His feelings make sense to me.
And then he takes those feelings and starts a small revolution. He was frustrated enough to question the Five, but had enough hustle to do something about it. The latest version of X-Factor is important, and it wouldn’t have existed if Northstar was anyone else. Northstar has always borne the dubious honor of being the first openly gay Marvel character (both dubious because it took them so long and because because he was written to be so unpleasant). Jean-Paul didn’t stop being any of those things, but now he feels like a full person, someone who can bring about positive change because of who he is as an individual. In other words: a hero.
