Amazing X-Men #2 annotations
AMAZING X-MEN #2
“A Duel of Truths”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: Mahmud Asrar
Colourist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: The Darkchild, with the X-Men as prisoners.
PAGES 1-7. Cyclops accepts the Darkchild’s challenge.
We’re picking up directly from the end of issue #1, where the X-Men teleported into Providence apparently as a result of a teleporter accident. In X-Men: Age of Revelation #0, we were told that Magik died when the X-Men broke Fabian Cortez out of jail, but “the Darkchild did not”; and that Juggernaut quit the team soon after. The AoR X-Men basically confirm that account here (and throw in that this happened just one year into the future, relative to the mainstream titles). Apparently, Illyana literally died in this attack but was magically revived in some way, with just the Darkchild persona remaining. We’ll come to how that squares with the recent Magik series.
Juggernaut has been demonically transformed to some extent, which Darkchild ascribes to his role as “my demon knight”. He’s very protective of Illyana and gets frantically upset at the suggestion that she might be dead, something that doesn’t seem to bother Darkchild herself at all. It’s unclear whether he simply refuses to believe the story or whether he’s convinced that she fully returned from the dead. There’s a definite implication here of Cain being, at the very least, puppyishly loyal to Illyana, which we haven’t really seen in the present day.
In the previous issue, Illyana described Providence as “a colonial holding of Limbo”; she explains here that she keeps the human population in a state of sustainably mundane misery, which can be harnessed for Limbo’s purposes. Either for her own amusement or for magical reasons, she wants the humans to choose to remain with her; therefore, life in Providence has to remain preferable to the alternative of being kicked out into the Revelation Territories. Fortunately for Darkchild, this is a low bar.
An interesting point here is that Darkchild’s magic is unambiguously able to hold the X-virus at bay. That raises the question of why Earth’s other magicians haven’t been able to stop its spread. Come to think of it, we haven’t really seen much of them, despite the event going out of its way to update us on the likes of the Avengers. Hmm.
Darkchild refers to mutants as “witchbreed”, a term occasionally seen in the mainstream Marvel Universe (though it originated back in 1602).
Animalia displays a much wider range of animal forms than we’ve seen from her in the present day.
Psylocke‘s presence here is noted as an oddity but not explained. She was in the cliffhanger of the previous issue as well. In X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture, Revelation sent her to kill Bei, who told her something we didn’t get to hear; we find out later in the issue that it’s something about a plan to destroy the world. That still doesn’t explain what she’s doing in Providence; was she just trying to take refuge in Limbo?
Cyclops is remarkably unbothered about the stakes of choosing one of his colleagues to remain in Limbo – he’s either absolutely confident that he can win (despite not knowing the rules yet), or simply desperate for a way to Philadelphia.
PAGES 8-17. Cyclops and Darkchild’s duel.
Look, it’s an issue with basically two scenes, okay?
Darkchild’s contest involves them attempting to wound one another emotionally with uncomfortable truths. She clearly has some sort of insight into Scott and the X-Men, which she no doubt believes gives her the advantage. (Is Psylocke maybe being forced to help here?) But other than that, she does seem to be playing fair – the magic that translates her barbs into physical attacks works just as well for Scott.
“These X-Men think you’re a joke.” Cyclops was told in Overture that he had been brought to the future because the X-Men needed their greatest leader to take on Revelation, and their Cyclops had been turned into a Babel. The actual behaviour of the other X-Men towards Scott in the previous issue didn’t suggest that they were that impressed by him at all, though, and this story confirms they were lying; the actual point of this is whole mission, as far as they’re concerned, is the “Days of Futures Past” bit where their Cyclops goes back in time to change history. From their point of view, this whole event is the B-story where the characters in the future babysit Scott for a bit, although ideally it would be nice to send him home and minimise the damage to the timeline.
Both Cyclops and Beast have figured this out already; Cyclops is simply not willing to lie down and give up, even if his future self has. Beast’s position is more interesting. Animalia is clearly surprised that he’s figured out what’s happening, so he’s evidently not just an AoR Beast faking it. However, there have been some oddities in his dialogue – the previous issue suggested that he barely knew Animalia, when their relationship is already under way, and Beast has a line later in the issue that he’d “almost forgotten how good [Cyclops] was at this”, which doesn’t really make sense if he’s the Alaskan X-Men’s Beast. Is he a Beast from a different point in the timeline? Or possibly a different version of the Beast?
“Your failure of leadership allowed Revelation to take power…” On the face of it, thit is a bit harsh, since Xorn’s version of events in Age of Revelation #0 had Revelation using his powers to influence Cyclops. It’s possible that Darkchild’s statements only need to be “true” in Scott’s estimation.
“You abandoned your wife and child without a second thought.” This is X-Factor vol 1 #1, where Scott pretty much dumps Madelyne as soon as he learns that Jean is back. It’s a clumsy exercise in reuniting the original X-Men which was widely considered damaging to the character. Scott accepts this as a completely valid criticism.
“The Darkchild exists to protect Illyana Rasputin.” This is a key point of the first arc in Magik, which frames the Darkchild as a personality created by Illyana as a defence mechanism during her traumatic childhood in Limbo, and involves Illyana coming to terms with it as an aspect of her. Obviously, that sits rather awkwardly with the idea that the Darkchild has survived without Illyana, but this scene squares that off by essentially telling us that this is a shadow of Illyana, a surviving fragment of her personality after the real Illyana has died.
PAGES 18-20. Cyclops gets the X-Men on side.
Naturally, the X-Men are persuaded by Cyclops’ inspirational speech. Psylocke is also persuaded to come along.
“Do you think I don’t know that it was you who killed Topaz, Glob?” In X-Men: Age of Revelation – Overture.
“I learned something that Revelation would – and has – killed to keep a secret.” Presumably, this is what she was told by Bei in Overture (and Bei is the person who Revelation killed to keep the secret, in the same issue).
If MacKay is hinting that this Beast isn’t the current-day X-Men’s Beast, as many believe, Hank’s line in this issue about Scott would seem to prove that it’s not simply Krakoa-era Beast or Dark Beast. Neither of them would have “almost forgotten how good Cyclops was as this”. Dark Beast doesn’t have the same background with Scott as 616-Beast, and I doubt that Krakoa-era Beast would have forgotten Scott’s abilities within the past couple of months.
“An interesting point here is that Darkchild’s magic is unambiguously able to hold the X-virus at bay. That raises the question of why Earth’s other magicians haven’t been able to stop its spread.”
I think the idea is supposed to be that Providence is an extension of Limbo and since Limbo is a different dimension, the virus doesn’t spread the same way it does on Earth.
“Cyclops is remarkably unbothered about the stakes of choosing one of his colleagues to remain in Limbo ”
It’s possible Scott’s already figured out the Beast is an Evil Beast and doesn’t mind leaving him in Limbo.
For a crossover with very few main story issues, this was extremely low on plot.
@Chris V- According to MacKay, one year passed between the Fall of Krakoa and the Hellfire Vigil. It’s possible Krakoan Beast forgot Scott’s abilities over the course of a year.
We’ve already seen a bunch of scenes with Illyana and Cain together, so it’s not hard to extrapolate a future where they’re basically bonded in some magical fashion. Especially since Cain has a long history of partnering with bossier people/serving demonic masters. I can buy him being susceptible to Darkchild’s influence or just being loyal to her. He’s long had that desire for companionship.
I’ll laugh my ass off if, after three months and 2 dozen spinoff issues, this is all resolved in a single issue where we actually see Future!Scott in Present!Scott’s body laser Doug’s face off to prevent the AoR from happening.
A time travelling Cable shows up and shoots Doug, “It’s done.”, then time travels away.
I haven’t read the issue and am only going by Paul’s review, but I don’t know that “almost forgotten” is meant to be taken literally. It could just be a compliment suggesting that Cyclops doesn’t often get a chance to show off, like “Every now and then Summers, I remember why you’re still in charge.”
It was only a matter of time before the random cover generator gave us “Illyana bondage cover” just not in the way people would have expected.
If there’s one thing MacKay has proven in his run, it’s that he knows how to keep the “Cyclops was Right” fans eating well. And as one of those fans, I loved this issue.
I also enjoyed that Schwatzchild is seeming more and more like a pretty reasonable guy who just fell in with the wrong crowd. If he’s going to leave someone with Magik, it’s hopefully Glob, who’s done nothing but complain the whole time
Re: Beast forgetting
Did Krakoa Beast have a single scene during Krakoa with Cyclops? He was off running his CIA while Cyclops was rebuilding the X-Men, and before that, Cyclops was busy being dead, and before that, he was estranged from Beast following his choices leading up to Utopia (with the asterisk of Time Runs Out, but I feel like that was retconned). With the exception of their time in the factory, I really think it has been more than a decade since Beast and Cyclops worked together.
Re: Spending an issue on this
I think this was worth the interlude because it did a rug pull on the big reveal being that bringing Cyclops here wasn’t the point and the real story is that we’ll get back in the past. Now that we know, and we know everyone knows, we get to see the X-Men still try to win when they didn’t care about it before.
Beast says he “almost forgot how good Cyclops was at this.” which compels me to think that Hank hasn’t been around Scott at all for years, rather than them not working together. Cyclops was the Captain Commander in charge of the “great captains” on Krakoa and, as head of their intelligence agency, Hank would be familiar with what was occurring on the island. It’s just implicit that if Scott is given a prominent military position by the Krakoan authorities that he must be good at his job.
Another data point for Wrong Beast: this Hank figured out the real plot but seemingly couldn’t be bothered to see if Scott knew. Or Hank was lying about not knowing if Scott for some reason.
Is Cain’s protectiveness of Illyana just him trying to protect people he sees as kids, or is it an echo of Piotr’s time as Juggernaut affecting him?
If I were in that dark future, I wouldn’t bring Cyclops to my time to try to defeat Doug Ramsay. I’d bring the Ani-Mator.
@ Chris V
I don’t think you’re meant to take it literally that he forgot that Scott was a good leader.
Depending on who this Beast is, it could mean anything from “I haven’t been around him in a while and seeing him in action is bringing it all back to me” or “I’ve taken for granted how good he is, but pausing and really appreciating it in this moment is renewing my respect for him.”
I didn’t mean that Beast had amnesia, no.
My interpretation is the same as your first choice. I mean, if my close buddy is a whiz at drawing comics, if I haven’t seen him for a year (at most) my reaction isn’t, “Gee, I almost forgot just how good you are at drawing.”; that would be my reaction if I hadn’t seen him in five years or something.
Although, granted, the second could be how it’s meant to be read. I just don’t see it being Krakoa-era Beast or Dark Beast based on that comment.
I am among those who think we should not take Beast’s comment too strongly. It is a statement of admiration, simple as that.
I, on the other hand, didn’t think before that this Beast is anyone other than who we were told, but after this issue I’ve changed my mind.
Also, the way it’s drawn, with full attention on Beast in that panel, makes me think it’s supposed to be a big clue.
Anyway, I liked this a lot. I guess I am one of the Cyclops Was Right crowd (you can go too far with that, as Mike Carey did, making him a literal war criminal in the Secret Invasion tie-in).
Also, a magical duel of cutting remarks is a change of pace (and genre) that completely took me by surprise. In a good way.
One thing that I like in this story is what it shows of Scott’s way of dealing with his leader role and the serious insecurities that come with it.
MacKay writes a very good Cyclops, a true leader who keeps an eye on the trust of his team and another on the actual situation at hand – and will rarely miss an opportunity to tell you upfront that he is all too aware that loyalty is earned and should not be presumed.
Beast has in some occasions shown a particular affinity for appreciating this trait of Scott’s. IIRC it happened in Bob Harras’ “X-Factor #1” back in the 1980s, as well as in the story that brought the time-displaced original X-Men team to the then-present – was that by Brian Bendis circa 2012 or so?
I rather like the current take on Scott as the leader who knows that he will have to keep proving himself and Hank as the one who notices each time.
Come to think of it, that is the perfect combo to face Revelation and Apocalypse, both of whom use an understand of leadership as that is much more brutal and therefore much more fragile. What I did read of MacKay’s Doctor Strange makes me hopeful that he took note.
@Luis Dantas- Bob Harras didn’t edit X-Factor 1. That was Mike Carlin, who left after 1 issue.
(Bob LAYTON wrote that issue.,)
Comparing Providence to Carol’s home town and how the Darkchilde is inevitable, given that they released on the same week. Carol is bad at keeping people safe while the Darkchilde has people begging to stay.
I didn’t take Beast’s “I forgot how good he was at this” as anything in particular. Scott converted antagonistic people to his side with a heartfelt speech. That feels like something we haven’t seen Cyclops do in a long time.
Acknowledging that they got the chocolate of Days of Future Past in the peanut butter of their Age of Apocalypse and failing to show any part of the events occurring on Present Marvel Earth seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of the Days of Future Past aspect. Not as fundamental a misunderstanding as the Celestial Madonna storyline from the 70s being turned into the birth of a galactic genocidal warlord (another Tom Breevort edited story), but it’s up there.
“I think this was worth the interlude because…”
I just don’t think a story where it seems like almost none of the tie-ins are part of the main story can afford a full issue interlude for anything. Being generous and including the zero issue, the actual story here is only six issues.
@Sam- the problem with the Celestial Madonna story is Values Dissonance. The Celestial Madonna story was considered one of the greatest Avengers stories ever. But the idea of raising a female child to serve as a bride for a manis now considered creepy. And the idea that the Priests abandoned her in the middle of a war zone with the result that she became a prostitute and told Taurus information that he used to theaten her life just makes it creepier. So what we have is a cycle where one writer suggests that the Cotati or Mantis’s son are evil and the next writer undoes it. The rewritten ending of West Coast Avengers 39 had the Cotati steal Mantis’s son but Englehart had the Cotati help the Silver Surfer a few months later. The Crossing suggested that Mantis’s son became a villain but Busiek revealed that was a trick of Immortus’s in Avengers Forever. And then there’s Empyre.
I liked this issue. Cyclops isn’t my favorite character, but I like how McKay’s been using him. The duel was fun, and I continue to like the work of every artist who works on McKay’s X-Men comics not named Ryan Steadman.
Can the story afford to spend an entire issue on one incident? My attitude is “wait and see.” Hopefully, we won’t be stuck with another rushed, unsatisfying conclusion.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Beast in this story is possessed by John Sublime. Given the white fur and odd behavior, it’s possible. Or maybe it’s Mystique? I haven’t been following most of the tie-ins, has she shown up or been declared dead?
@Mike Loughlin- Mystique is appearing in Expatriate X-Men.
If I was Animalia, Schwartz, or even Glob, I wouldnt be impressed by past Cyclops either. They knew him between a couple weeks & a couple years before Revelation. So for 90+% of their careers, he’s been doing nothing but losing.
@Michael: Thanks! I read and liked that issue, too. It’s probably not her, then, as it might be hard to coordinate extra-legal actions while going on a road trip with the X-Men.
“Witchbreed” made sense in 1602 because people at the turn of the 17th century didn’t know about genetic mutations and, yes, had a tendency to blame all Weird Stuff on witches. It was, in fact, used by people who were ignorant about mutants and magic. Why it’s now being used by people with an understanding of both those things, who should be well aware that they’re completely unrelated, is beyond me.
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