House of M
The X-books tour of Battleworld has been largely a parade of misery. And so it’s something of a relief that we get to complete that tour with a relatively pleasant dystopia, at least if you’re a mutant. Sure, House of M is a world where Magneto has installed himself as emperor and is systematically oppressing the humans. But hey, at least the mutants are doing okay. They get to wear cool stormtrooper outfits and everything.
The original House of M miniseries, ten years ago now, was always a better concept than it was a story. It set up a world that looked quite interesting, but what followed was seven issues of gathering the characters and killing the pages until it was time for the deus ex machina to happen. So there’s actually some unused potential that’s worth revisiting here. And that’s pretty much the approach which this book takes; forget the details of the original story, and do something with the general concept, free of any obligation to hit the reset button at the end. (Oh yeah, and pay lip service to Doom. But this is one of those books that might as well not be on Battleworld at all.)
Dennis Hopeless was the original writer on this book, with Cullen Bunn joining as co-writer on the second issue. Unusually, there’s a mid-stream change of artists as well, with Marco Failla on the first half of the series, and Ario Anindito on the second. Both are perfectly decent artists and solid storytellers, though the change of style from Failla’s looser line work to Anindito’s more detailed rendering jars a bit on re-reading.
Bunn may have joined the story in mid-stream, but House of M fits reasonably well with his take on Magneto, as seen in the recent solo series. This version of Magneto may be passionate about saving his people, and he may have dedicated his life that cause, but he’s also driven by a hatred for his former oppressors, and decidedly invested in the idea of himself as the Great Man Of History. Now, the original House of M got away with a lot because the central premise was that it was a warped reality created by the Scarlet Witch – in that context, things like Magneto as the head of a royal family could be readily interpreted as wish fulfilment. But that doesn’t apply here, since this setting is meant to be the remains of an actual House of M alternate Earth. And yes, there’s a bit of a logical leap in here somewhere, in which Magneto not only leads the mutants to triumph but actually becomes king. But even if a literal monarchy is pushing it, the idea of a post-revolutionary Magneto installing himself as a cult-of-personality strongman and convincing himself that it’s for the greater good is eminently plausible.
The plot sees Magneto as a slightly bored emperor who never sees action any more. He has three potential heirs in the royal family – Lorna, who’s essentially sane; Wanda, who’s nuts, but is largely content to retain the status quo as long as nobody screws with her beloved twins; and Pietro, who feigns loyalty but is actually planning to usurp the throne in alliance with Namor. Alongside all this, the remains of the human resistance are planning an attack, which doesn’t succeed, but temporarily depowers Magneto, forcing him on the run with them when Pietro and Namor make their move. So, naturally, it’s a temporary alliance of Magneto, Lorna and the human resistance against Pietro’s regime, which is even worse.
It’s been alleged over at Bleeding Cool that this story originally had Namor and Pietro as a same-sex couple, before it was nixed. This is undeniably plausible, not least because the story never offers any real explanation of why the duo are working together. A romantic link would fill the gap rather nicely, and Marvel do indeed continue to demonstrate apparent nervousness about the whole area that makes such an editorial decision entirely believable. That said, I can also imagine other reasons why someone might have had second thoughts about this particular case (if indeed it was the plan). It’s not exactly a flattering portrayal of either character – particularly Pietro, who starts out as a treacherous schemer and winds up being portrayed as an ineffectual, gullible fop. I can see some reason to be cautious about how that might be taken, as a total package.
At any rate, there’s certainly a gap in the story where it ought to be fleshing out the relationship between these two. Without that, their alliance, and its eventual breakdown, doesn’t carry a great deal of weight. Wanda’s subplot also feels as though it’s been shoehorned in because the nostalgia remit demands that she be in the story somewhere. The plot doesn’t need her, so she has to be sidelined, but prominently so.
On the other hand, a nice touch is that the book doesn’t labour the idea of the mutant characters having any particular qualms about this state of affairs. Even if they have some concerns about the way Magneto is treating the defeated humans, they don’t really seem to have a major problem with the idea that they won, goddammit. That’s probably a more interesting tack than having everyone point out what the readers can see perfectly clearly. More striking is that the book sets up a story which would normally end with everyone learning to see things from the other side’s perspective, heralding a new era of mutual tolerance in Magneto’s regime – and then pointedly refuses to deliver. Magneto is willing to let his human allies go free, but solely because his sense of personal honour demands a quid pro quo, not because his attitude towards them has changed in any way. This is the basic tragedy of Bunn’s Magneto – he can never develop past this – approached from the other side, with a world where he’s effectively won, and undergone a story that ought to change him, but he just can’t be moved.
There’s quite a bit going on in this series, some of it interesting, some of it feeling underdeveloped and incomplete. It could really stand to lose a few characters and give more space to the ones that remain. But it does enough with Magneto and Lorna, I think, to make the case that there’s something in the House of M set-up that’s worth the time to revisit.
On the same-sex thing, Alonso’s refusal to say whether Angela is a lesbian/bi character even after last week’s issue (which features several scenes of her making out with a character who’s clearly supposed to be an ex-girlfriend) is kind of hilarious.
It is – the issue also describes her as Angela’s consort, so the idea that Alonso genuinely thinks there’s any ambiguity there is difficult to credit. The tension between Marvel publishing the story in the first place but refusing to acknowledge what it very obviously depicts suggests a profound internal incoherence, since the result seems guaranteed to offend both sides.
Given the uproar over Alonso’s offhand and ill-considered remarks on Hercules, I can quite see why he’d be shy to make any further definitive statements regarding characters’ sexual identities in interviews. And really, what purpose do such statements serve? If something is clear in the text, why does it need to be confirmed? If it’s at all ambiguous, why would we want that ambiguity crushed extra-textually? Why not just let the text stand for itself, and let readers read it as they may? The only reason I can see for creators or editors to step in and clarify any part of a story is if they realize they’ve made some mistake, and the story is failing to communicate what they’d intended.
“The tension between Marvel publishing the story in the first place but refusing to acknowledge what it very obviously depicts suggests a profound internal incoherence”
Well that’s Marvel’s editors to a tee for quite some time now, isn’t it? As if none of them actually even read the books they nominally edit.
Yeah, when “diversity” and “inclusivity” are Marvel’s hot new selling points, doing a conspicuous tap-dance around actually planting a P-flag and saying “Yes, so-and-so is headlining Marvel’s first LGBT ongoing” leaves a bad impression. Marvel’s been proudly touting their new titles: “Look, it’s our new MUSLIM superhero! Our new NATIVE AMERICAN superhero! And we have a LADY Thor! And a BLACK Captain America! Lookit how progressive we are!” And then if the EIC is suddenly coughing and mumbling when it comes to explicitly including LGBT characters in that line-up, it looks Mojoworld levels of spineless.
Well, at least this EIC hasn’t said a gay solo title would have to be MAX…yet.
I dunno. I don’t know what rumors are floating around about that decision, but on its face it doesn’t look spineless or hypocritical to me. Marvel has a slew of LGBT characters, and while they could certainly use more, a single instance of deciding against yet another massive retcon of two characters with long histories doesn’t strike me as strong evidence of being afraid of anti-LGBT backlash. They haven’t even finished up with the Iceman retcon yet. I can see deciding to back-burner any decision about retconning Quicksilver and Namor, just to see how the dust settles on the Iceman story. I can also see deciding to nix the Namor-Pietro retcon altogether as being too complex and unnecessary, preferring instead to introduce new characters and/or retcon ones with a little less baggage.
@Nu-D: I was referring to the recent Herc and Angela dust-ups. The Namor and Quicksilver might-have-been mostly gets a shrug. 1) It’s a Bleeding Cool rumor and 2) it’s an AU and, according to the same EIC, those don’t count in the main books anyway.
I think you could retcon 616 Namor as gay without much trouble; in particular, I see him taking a Venture Bros. Colonel Gentleman approach, where he’s so convinced of his own awesomeness that he’s beyond any existing notion of sexuality.
I suppose you could do the same with Quicksilver, although that further narrows any difference between him and Northstar.
Not that the alt-universe versions of the characters in House of M have any bearing on the regular ones anyway.
I didn’t know Marvel editorial was waffling on Angela’s sexuality. That’s… well, as everyone else has said, that’s certainly not what’s on the page.
Although I also see the problem that Paul mentions, that you don’t want to make *all* your gay male characters arrogant jerks. One the reasons it’s nice to have Hulking and Wiccan running around.
I think you could retcon 616 Namor as gay without much trouble;
I’m having a vague recollection of Namor seducing an alien fish queen to get some favors for the X-Men. So I guess it’s not too much of a stretch to say that his sexuality is quite broad.
On the other hand, he’s been shown to be a Lothario with the lady folk, so a straight up retcon to closeted gay male would be a bit of a stretch.
you don’t want to make *all* your gay male characters arrogant jerks.
Yes. Of course, Iceman’s not an “arrogant jerk,” either.
You could easily see Namor as bisexual. As a gay male, that’d create some problems.
He’s had numerous relationships with females and has always pined for Sue Richards.
Right; I meant bisexual, not gay.
Didn’t Namor marry that alien fish queen?
I think the Gillen “imperious sex” version of Namor would sleep with anyone and anything.
@Nu-D – you realise being a “lothario” with lots of women isn’t the greatest sign of being heterosexual? Inability to maintain relationships, obsessive approach to certain women who they idolise (literally turning them into something they aren’t in your mind), treating women as conquests rather than people – all are among armory of the closeted male.
@Donnacha DeLong
Or a heterosexual guy who just has issues with women.
Anyway. Of all the fanfic slash couples they went with, they chose Namor and Quicksilver? Ok then.
Well, they *didn’t* choose Namor and Quicksilver. Hence the debate.
I was curious and had a free few minutes, so in case anyone else is interested, according to ten minutes on Google, the top X-Men fanfic slash couples are Professor X and Magneto, and Wolverine and Cyclops, which isn’t really surprising.
Wolverine and Gambit used to be a popular pairing, but it appears the Cajun’s star has waned.
@Donnacha DeLong–“obsessive approach to certain women who they idolise (literally turning them into something they aren’t in your mind)”
I think what you’ve described here is infatuation, which has probably afflicted–oh, let’s say every human being who has ever gone through puberty
I guess we are all gay.
“Well, they *didn’t* choose Namor and Quicksilver. Hence the debate”
Sorry, of all the fanfic slash couples they may have chosen to go with, they chose Namor and Quicksilver? Ok then.
You are now technically correct–the best kind of correct! And I realize I’m an internet pedant, so I’m now the worst everything.
@Carl – Namor’s obsession with Sue Storm goes far beyond any kind of infatuation.
That is still hardly an indication or evidence of someone being gay.
According to the Internet, everyone (either real or fictional) is gay.
@wwk5d True, but it’s also not a compelling argument for definite heterosexuality, which was the contention I disagreed with.