UNCANNY X-MEN vol 6 #15
“The Dark Artery, part 3: As Close to Evil”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: David Marquez
Colour artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort

THE X-MEN

Rogue. She’s “more embarrassed than injured” by her defeat by Sadurang last issue. And she’s s understandably annoyed that Gambit has brought her to Haven without being honest with her about what it actually is.

Gambit. He already knew that Haven guarded the Artery, and for whatever reason, he chose not to tell the X-Men about it. Given its historical status as a mutant burial site and the fact that, well, they’re the X-Men, it’s not really clear why he was keeping it secret – especially as Marcus seems to think that mutants have the right to know about it. The only explanation Gambit offers is that it’s “not an easy conversation to have”, suggesting that he thought the Artery was essentially inexplicable – perhaps he views it as too weird and magical for the other X-Men’s frame of reference. (There’s no Magik on this roster, after all.)

Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Jubilee are also here, but aren’t the focus.

Deathdream. Last issue, Henrietta told the Outliers that it was “we who drew you here”, and that “someone needs to guard the door”, which could be any of the Outliers. Her account subtly changes here: she now says that Shuvahrak, the ruler of Penumbra, called Deathdream to replace her, and “will ruin your mind if you ignore your call”. On hearing this, Deathdream blithely volunteers. He claims that nobody cares what happens to him (including himself), which is blatantly false given the other Outliers’ response. Maybe he genuinely doesn’t get it, or maybe he’s fishing for compliments. But he certainly keeps trying to persuade the other Outliers to give up and go back, so maybe he’s just trying to shield them. That said, when told that the Penumbra “will change you”, he actually seems pleased.

Ransom. He absolutely refuses to let Deathdream go, and claims that Deathdream has “had enough misery” – despite Deathdream showing no reluctance. Ransom hasn’t been particularly good at understanding Deathdream so far, mind you.

Calico. She doesn’t know whether she can use her powers without Ember – apparently she’s never tried. She cries out “I love you” to Jitter during the fight, to Jitter’s delight – this was being set up back in issue #9.

Jitter. She’s not scared of the Man-Thing, and reads him as “lonely”. She’s terrified in the Penumbra, but determined not to hand over Deathdream.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

Henrietta Benjamin. Okay, so let’s talk about the Penumbra.

Last issue, Henrietta described the Penumbra as “a city of the dead, and every lost soul in it has caused a mutant’s death”. After considerable prompting – she dodges the question several times – she expands on that in this issue, claiming that a mutant called Greta used her powers to create the Penumbra as a “hellish prison” to “punish those kin of mutants who betrayed their own family members.” Henrietta doesn’t give a time frame for this, but in issue #13, Deathdream said that the Penumbra (or at least the Artery) had been there for 300 years.

The Penumbra appears as a ruined town in eternal darkness, with a giant looming face thing in shadow above. According to Henrietta, there are “thousands” of inhabitants, ranging from outright bigots to people who were scared for their own safety. Some are repentent, others are just very angry. They suffer “eternal regret” and “unending torment”. Given the numbers of people, Greta’s spell can’t be sending every human who betrays a mutant relative to the Penumbra – perhaps it’s localised or time limited.

Henrietta says that the people inside have been there for “decades, sometimes many decades”, and doesn’t mention any new arrivals. The inhabitants all look like white Americans from some time in the past – despite Henrietta’s line, there’s no sign of anyone from recent decades. Maybe the clothes are supplied by Penumbra, though – she does mention a “dress code”. Mutant visitors are required to wear black goth outfits which, according to Calico, have a pulse.

Henrietta considers the Penumbra to be “evil” and “a scar upon humanity’s record”. Humans instinctively avoid the Penumbra because they can sense its “wrongness”, which led mutants to adopt the site as a burial ground where their graves would be unviolated. Henrietta talks about this as if it was a historical problem; at any rate, the Artery is a mutant graveyard taking advantage of the Penumbra’s ability to repel humans. We’ve seen in the last two issues, and again in this issue, that mutants find the place quite creepy as well, but Henrietta seems to imply that it discomforts ordinary humans more, perhaps because it exists to punish (some of) them.

Henrietta’s role is not to guard the graves (which is the Man-Thing’s job), but to guard the portal that connects the Artery to the Penumbra, and stop humans going in and out. Mutants are apparently okay, but she tells the Outliers that once the portal closes, there is no guarantee that it will open again. She doesn’t really explain what’s stopping her from opening it for them, but makes fairly clear that she won’t be doing that unless something comes along to change matters.

As noted above, she claimed last issue that “we” drew the Outliers to the Artery, and strongly implied that she was hoping to be relieved of her own role as guardian of the door. But her emphasis in this issue shifts to Shuvahrak, ruler of the Penumbra, who she claims is summoning Deathdream. Still, the “we” from the previous issue must surely be her and Shuvahrak. So is the idea that they both want an Outlier to replace them? Or is there some other link between her and Shuvahrak? We’ll come back to that…

At any rate, she’s clearly encouraging Deathdream to accept Shuvahrak’s call, warning him of the consequences and (once he seems minded to accept) downplaying the point that any of the Outliers would do. Still, she claims to be glad that the Outliers insist on accompanying him into the Penumbra, and says that “I wish I’d had friends like yours” – presumably referring to how she ending up with this job.

She seems able to control the environment within Penumbra to form a rock bridge.

There are more flashbacks to her arrival at Haven. This time the time frame is given as “nearly a century past”, so apparently the late 1920s or 1930s. (See the annotations for the previous issue for the conflicting indications.) In flashback, she regards herself as striving to remain “mild in both aspect and demeanour”, which is indeed how she appears in the other flashbacks. She loses her temper with the Service agents, partly because they shot George last issue, but partly (it seems) because they’re interfering in her efforts to dispose of her mother’s remains. Given the choice, she lets the two Service agents live; this is superficially played as if she’s being allowed to run the risk of exposing Haven to the authorities, but on a closer reading there’s a definite implication that she’s being offered the choice between killing them and throwing them into the Penumbra.

Marcus St Juniors. He knows that Gambit already knew about the Artery. He takes the other X-Men there, but doesn’t go in with them. While he insists that the Outliers “have a right to know” about the Artery (as he did in issue #13), he doesn’t explain why he kept it secret from the other X-Men. Possibly Gambit insisted on it.

Alice St Juniors. The Wolfpack Sentinel seems to regard her as a target, so apparently she’s a mutant.

Chelsea St Juniors. She hasn’t been to the Artery, but seems to know about it, from the way Alice talks to her about it.

Chelsea is also detected as a target for the Wolfpack Sentinel. We established in issue #10 that she was a mutant, but she was keeping the fact from her parents.

George. Henrietta’s driver from the flashbacks is saved by mutant healing.

Michael and Witchfire. Three people who greet Henrietta in flashback. One is Michael, a guy who looks a lot like an older Marcus and dresses very similarly – perhaps an grandparent, or a predecessor in the role. The second is Witchfire seems to be a mutant with healing powers, though we’re told she can also burn people to ash. Her real name is Annabelle, and she has no apparent connection to the Alpha Flight character of the same name. The third person is a guy with four arms doesn’t get a name or dialogue.

VILLAINS

A Wolfpack Sentinel. Apparently one of the dog Sentinels that was defeated in issue #10. Deathdream killed the organic parts of the cyborgs in that issue, so either this one slipped by him or it’s a zombie cyborg.

Once rebooted, it claims to be tracking its target by “olfactory mode”, which ought to mean scent. But, even from outside New Orleans, it can apparently tell that it’s following the train to Haven House, so let’s assume the mode name isn’t literal. More interestingly, it appears to have heard of Haven House, though it’s possible that it’s just identifying that as an address.

It may not be significant, but Marquez draws the Wolfpack Sentinel with triangular red glowing eyes that are very similar to the ones he gives to Henrietta’s golems.

The Service. Henrietta presents the Service as the contemporary version of witch-hunters (literally, in the sense that the witches were mutants). Jacob Miller seems taken aback by Henrietta – it might be because she’s unexpectedly powerful, but the vibe is more that he’s not used to mutants brushing off his authority and realises that without his social status he has no defence against her. As in the previous issue, he describes his group as “Sentinels”. He claims to be able to get “two dozen agents here by tomorrow morning”, so apparently the Service is a fairly substantial operation.

Shuvahrak. The unseen ruler of the Penumbra, unless she’s the giant shadowy thing looming over Penumbra in a splash page. Henrietta describes her as “the voice of darkness”, “a name both beautiful and terrible” and “a hurricane from the stars”. She also claims that Shuvahrak wants to go home and needs a replacement. Calico claims to sense Shuvahrak’s hatred.

What’s missing from all this is any explanation of how Shuvahrak ended up here, bearing in mind that Henrietta attributes the Penumbra’s creation to Greta. Is it some kind of bound demon?

GUEST CAST

The Man-Thing. He’s still hanging around. We’re told that he guards the graves in the Artery, though it’s not clear how that fits with the fact that he clearly doesn’t spend all his time here. Maybe he’s called back here when anyone shows up, or maybe it’s a second body of some sort. Or maybe it’s Just Magic!