UNBREAKABLE X-MEN #3
“Like Drowning in the Dark”
Writer: Gail Simone
Artists: Mario Santoro with Luciano Vecchio, Tiago Palma, Davide Tinto & RB Silva
Colour artist: Espen Grundetjern
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort

COVER: With Haven House burning in the background, Gambit squares off against Namor the Sub-Mariner – not something that literally happens in the story, but broadly a combination of two plot points, so fair enough.

This is the final issue of Unbreakable X-Men, with Uncanny X-Men resuming next month.

PAGES 1-4. Flashback: The Outliers vow to stop Shuvahrak.

We were told last issue that the Outliers had made a vow to stop Shuvahrak if she ever escaped. This flashback shows them making that vow, and is captioned as “present day” – presumably meaning between Uncanny X-Men #21-22, or at least shortly after the “Dark Artery” arc ended in Uncanny #16.

“Mama warned me about the goblin people.” Calico first mentioned back in Uncanny X-Men #2 that her mother compared mutants to goblins (or possibly even thought that they were goblins or demons).

“I wish you had prepared me more, mama…” Calico’s back story in Uncanny X-Men established her mother as bizarrely controlling (her father never seems to be in evidence), and as keeping Calico in isolation from the rest of the world. Calico clearly recognises her lack of understanding of the outside world and is conscious of her inability to fit in, but still perceives this as more of a parenting defect than the weird behaviour that it actually was.

“When we were in the Penumbra…” The “Dark Artery” arc, in Uncanny X-Men #13-16.

“I know what kind of revenge [Shuvahrak] wants. For being imprisoned for so long.” It was clear in “Dark Artery” that Shuvahrak wanted to escape the Penumbra. Henrietta effectively confirmed last issue that Shuvahrak is Greta, the mutant who created the Penumbra in the first place (something which had always been very strongly implied). Quite why she blames other people for her imprisonment isn’t altogether clear, but the suggestion is that she resents mutants such as Henrietta for keeping her contained in some way.

Shuvahrak’s apparent motivation now – to wipe out life on Earth and turn the whole place into an empty version of the Penumbra – bears no real resemblance to her original motivation of avenging mutants who had been betrayed by their family. Presumably, centuries in the Penumbra have driven her mad.

The symbolic splash page has an eclipse above Shuvahrak’s head, which looks extremely similar to Ransom’s emblem – whatever that may mean.

“Ember is spooked. Normally the only thing he hates is…” Calico tails off before completing this sentence. Ember was also spooked by the Penumbra in “Dark Artery”, and refused to join Calico in entering it.

“She called to us. She brought us here.” Shuvahrak drew the Outliers to Haven House in Uncanny X-Men #1, intending that one of them would replace her in the Penumbra, which in some way would allow her to leave.

PAGE 5. The X-Men watch Haven House burn.

Haven House was set alight by Shuvahrak last issue, in retaliation for its involvement in her imprisonment.

“Jitter, are you sure she’s headed for Atlantis?” Issue #2 ended with Jitter declaring that Shuvahrak was heading to Atlantis in order to go after Namor. Quite why isn’t really explained, but she was remotely woken and apparently freed by Galactus in issue #1, and he’s been lying at the bottom of the ocean since the X-Men defeated him three years ago. So presumably Galactus wants her to free him in turn… or something like that? After all, Henrietta predicted last issue that Shuvahrak’s first targets would be mutants, so it’s odd that she makes straight for the seemingly irrelevant target of Atlantis unless it has something to do with Galactus.

“I know, Ransom. Pretty much everything.” We saw last issue that this future Jitter is able to copy skills permanently, but as a result she’s taken on a lot of voices in her head. Apparently one of the people that she’s taken skills from somehow knows where Shuvahrak is heading, though quite how they’d know isn’t really explained.

“I can get us there, but my domes don’t move.” Quite what Dome’s domes actually do is never directly explained in this story, but they seem to be force fields complete with air inside, thus making them useful in small areas underwater. This is presumably why she can’t simply erect a dome over Atlantis: it would remove the water and everyone inside would suffocate.

PAGE 6. The X-Men approach Atlantis.

The future Calico’s powers apparently extend to creating multiple “horses” with abilities tailored to the circumstances. She’s also responsible for the “pressure auras” around the X-Men, as confirmed in passing on page 9. Quite how these things work isn’t entirely clear – they surely can’t contain enough air for the X-Men to breath, so perhaps they’re meant to be a short term fix until they reach the bottom of the ocean and Dome can put one of her domes in place.

PAGES 7-8. Namor warns the X-Men to leave.

Namor is about as enthusiastic about the state of the surface world as you might imagine – he’s not exactly that keen on it now – and Gambit recognises it as something similar to his own disillusionment.

The two-panel flashback on page 8 consists of a recap of Rogue’s separation into Rogue Green and Rogue Red (from a flashback in Rogue Storm #1), and a recap of Rogue’s transformation into a statue while fighting Galactus (from a flashback in issue #1). The whole two-Rogues thing was glossed over in previous issues, and isn’t really relevant to the plot of this series, but ignoring it entirely did seem a bit odd, since Gambit’s whole motivation is his despair at the loss of Rogue. Rogue Storm explained that Rogue Red was generally understood by everyone, including Gambit, to be a copy rather than an equally valid Rogue, and that Gambit rejected her in favour of the “real” Rogue.

PAGES 9-11. Gambit insists on dealing with Namor.

Everyone seems to regard this as a suicide mission, which would normally be a bit excessive when dealing with Namor. But then Gambit is blind and probably has a death wish.

Calico is particularly aggrieved at this behaviour, presenting Gambit as the father figure who helped her to escape her mother’s indoctrination and “be a person”. We’ve seen bits of this in recent issues of Uncanny X-Men.

“You told me once, you can be a mutant, or you can walk the mutant road.” Uncanny X-Men #20.

PAGES 12-14. Gambit fights Namor.

“Imperius X!” Gambit is making fun of Namor’s “Imperius Rex” catchphrase.

PAGE 15. Deathdream has an idea to stop Shuvahrak.

His proposal here is to “raise the dead”, though he seems genuinely unsure about whether this is a proper use of his powers. We’re told later that what he actually does is to trade his “eternal life” for Rogue’s return – so apparently Deathdream really is immortal, unless he chooses to give it up. Quite who Deathdream traded with is left unclear, but Death would be the obvious candidate.

PAGES 16. Sadurang arrives to help.

Gambit tries to recruit Sadurang last issue, and Sadurang refused to fight Shuvahrak. He is, howver, perfectly willing to save Gambit from Namor. As usual, Sadurang’s appearance changes to a dragon appropriate for his environment.

PAGES 17-19. Rogue returns and defeats Shuvahrak.

Rogue still has Galactus’ power (temporarily), but has escaped statue form. She apparently burns out her copied power cosmic in killing Shuvahrak, and then returns to human form.

“I talked to you. Every night, 9pm.” We saw Gambit’s routine in issue #1. Rogue claims to have heard him, which is a bit odd if she was not just a statue but actually dead. Perhaps she was hanging around as a ghost.

PAGE 20. Epilogue.

“X equals family.” Deathdream has been reciting this slogan in recent issues of Uncanny. Obviously, this is the ending where the X-Men and Outliers are stronger reunited, and get their happy ending. It’s a slightly odd thing to do in a dystopian future timeline, but then this series has pretty much ignored the concept of “Age of Revelation” entirely in favour of simply doing something set in the near future in an unaffected part of North America. Rogue also stressed that Dome was “family” when defending her from Galactus in the opening scene of issue #1, so this brings the book full circle.

Sentinel Boy was a robot X-Man who got destroyed in the fight with Galactus in issue #1. We’re told that Jitter is going to “rebuild” him, so maybe he was just a robot after all.

The “Unbreakable” monolith was a memorial to Rogue, which we first saw in issue #1.