Sabretooth #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
SABRETOOTH vol 4 #2
Writer: Victor LaValle
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colourist: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Cory Petit
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. Angry Sabretooth in jail.
PAGE 2. Opening quote. This is a quote often attributed to the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass (1817/8-1895). It’s been circulating in his name for decades but those online sources that actually check these things seem to agree that it’s apocryphal.
PAGES 3-5. Sabretooth’s fellow prisoners are banished to the Pit.
This is a flashback which leads in to the end of the previous issue. It doesn’t really fit with any of the other times that we’ve seen people sent to the Pit, in which the whole Quiet Council was present. The previous examples are Sabretooth in House of X #6, Toad in X-Men: Trial of Magneto #5, Orphan-Maker and Nanny in Hellions #18 and X-Men Green in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #12. Krakoa let them go, but it’s not obvious what happened to Toad – given that he was being set up by Magneto and Scarlet Witch, maybe he was quietly smuggled out too.
The numbers above the five prisoners appear to indicate which law of Krakoa they broke. Nekra and Oya have broken law number 2 – “Murder no man.” Nekra confirms this later in the issue (at least for herself); Oya tells us here that she would do the same again; and Xavier suggests that Nekra and Oya were working together.
Madison Jeffries and Melter have both broken law 3 – “Respect this sacred land.” Again, Melter confirms this later. Third Eye, the one completely new character, has a number 1, indicating that he broke the “Make more mutants” law. Quite what would amount to breaking that law is unclear – it’s hard to imagine the X-Men being shown to have criminalised any of the obvious possibilities, such as contraception, celibacy or abortion.
Then again, they’re being written to believe that the Pit is a good idea, so who knows.
“You said there would be no prisons here.” In House of X #6.
“Long ago, I nearly overthrew the United States government.” In Daredevil vol 1 #109-112.
“I’ve felt just as sure of my choices in the past. I wasn’t always right.” Irony klaxon.
PAGE 6. Recap and credits.
PAGE 7. Oya and Madison Jeffries on the run in “Hell”.
“I always thought, deep down, this is where I’d end up.” This was a recurring theme of early Oya stories.
PAGE 8. Nekra and Melter on the run.
Self-explanatory.
PAGE 9. Third Eye sees the truth.
Which is presumably his power.
“Fear is a noose that binds until it strangles.” This is a quote from Jean Toomer (1894-1967). Specifically, it’s from his collection of aphorisms, Essentials (1931).
PAGES 10-12. The new arrivals confront Sabretooth.
Watching from above are the three Sabretooths we saw acting as a “council” of sorts last issue (with the fourth seat apparently belonging to the cat).
Madison claimed on page 7 that he couldn’t use his powers in Hell, but apparently he can control the plastic inside Sabretooth – or believes he can. It’s all illusion, of course. Maybe there’s a degree of dream logic here, or maybe he just didn’t have this sort of use in mind when he was speaking earlier.
“I prefer Easy Rawlins.” Easy Rawlins was an African-American private investigator who appeared in a number of stories by Walter Mosley; the best known is probably Devil in a Blue Dress, which was adapted into a film in 1995.
PAGES 13-15. Third Eye contacts Mole.
Third Eye is evidently able to think his way out of the illusion – whether that’s due to his powers or just plain mental discipline isn’t entirely clear, but he’s clearly a psychic of some sort.
The flashback at the top of page 14 is the final panel of X-Factor vol 1 #53, which obviously implied that Sabretooth was about to kill Mole.
PAGE 16. Data page. Mole recaps how he survived his encounter with Sabretooth – essentially, he used his tunnelling power to escape.
“I tried to compete with the Angel for the attention of a lady named Opal Tanaka.” That’s an error – it was Iceman. Oddly, this error gets repeated later in the issue, despite the fact that it’s part of the plot of X-Factor #53 – but the book’s not available on Unlimited, so it’s maybe not the easiest to research.
Chicken Wings was another Morlock who survived the initial Morlock massacre. Sabretooth killed him in X-Factor vol 1 #51.
PAGES 17-18. Mole tries without success to raise the alarm.
Surprisingly, Apocalypse makes his first appearance on Krakoa since “X of Swords” (assuming that this story is indeed meant to be taking place right now). He appears to be here to deal with something about the High Lords (the Externals). I’m guessing that that’s probably a reference to a story that hasn’t started yet.
PAGES 19-24. Sabretooth enlists his fellow prisoners to help him escape.
Sabretooth seems to be both playing the role of Professor X and appearing as one of the prisoners in the cell.
Melter claims to have been sent to the Pit for damaging a boulder, which apparently constituted damaging Krakoa. This seems odd – we’ve seen people do this sort of damage in training before, and Oya registers that this doesn’t seem like a complete explanation of what he’s doing here. Still, whatever exactly he did, Melter seems pretty adamant that it was a mistake.
Sabretooth’s quotation of Xavier comes from House of X #6.
PAGE 25. Trailers. The Krakoan reads NEXT: PRISON RIOT.
Paul> This is a flashback which leads in to the end of the previous issue. It doesn’t really fit with any of the other times that we’ve seen people sent to the Pit, in which the whole Quiet Council was present. The previous examples are Sabretooth in House of X #6, Toad in X-Men: Trial of Magneto #5 and X-Men Green in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #12. Krakoa let them go, but it’s not obvious what happened to Toad – given that he was being set up by Magneto and Scarlet Witch, maybe he was quietly smuggled out too.
And Orphan Maker in Hellions #18 (Nanny went too, after she threatened to kill a lot of people, such as Pryde’s mother, to ensure she “qualified”)
Of course. I’ll fix that.
I think Apocalypse’s inclusion point to the story starting before X of Swords – after all Sabretooth’s been in the hole since day one and time in the Pit must be passing weirdly. That would explain why there’s no Toad, Nanny or Orphan Maker here – they haven’t been sent to the Pit yet.
But that’s just a guess. As we’ve recently seen, the well-planned interconnectedness of the Krakoan x-titles seems to be slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Or maybe it’s just that the Inferno to X Lives / Deaths pipeline is a mess.
It feels very like the writer doesn’t know or care about the plot of any recent comics except the one where Sabretooth is sent to the Pit…
I also read Apocalypse’s appearance as an indication that this issue takes place shortly before X of Swords, when Apocalypse is dealing with (and then betraying and killing) the High Lords. The costume matches what he was wearing in those issues. Also, half of them are dead now. Returning from Amenth to talk to Selene, Gideon and Absalom doesn’t really seem worth his time.
I really enjoy this book because it’s one of the few non-Hickman Krakoa comics which points out the hypocrisy and irony of the mutant supremacist ideology.
It does a better job of doing so than any other writer so far, outside of Hickman.
I get the feeling that Apocalypse’s appearance is meant to take place prior to “X of Swords”. It doesn’t matter when this story takes place in Krakoa’s chronology. The one thing I did not like is that Apocalypse is not implicated in the Pit. It’s as if the Pit is being blamed on Xavier and Magneto. Apocalypse was a member of the ruling triumvirate when the Pit was unveiled and was sitting next to Xavier and Magneto when thru sentenced Sabretooth. Why would Mole feel that Apocalypse, of all characters, would have any ethical qualms about the Pit?
It would have been better if Apocalypse was not used in that scene.
I definitely do not think it occurs after Apocalypse returns. First, Marvel will probably make that a big event. Also, this book was originally supposed to ship earlier but was delayed, so this issue wouldn’t have been published post-Inferno with its original shipping date.
The Apocalypse inclusion has to either be a mistake or a nod to the fact the comic is happening pre X of Swords. I think it would be really cool if there was a time skip and Nanny, Orphan Maker, and Toad were introduced in later issues – maybe giving the prisoners the sway to break themselves free.
Yeah, I think the presence of Apocalypse is an indication that this takes place before X of Swords so we don’t have to wonder where Orphan Maker is (because Creed having access to a mutant who could destroy the planet if his armor was damaged would take the plot in a completely different direction).
My pet theory on Third Eye is that he’s a devout Hindu or another religion that believes in a cycle of reincarnation, based on the fact that his codename is Third Eye. From that point of view, the fact that Krakoan resurrection brings people back with the same soul could be horrifying-because unlike in religions where the afterlife is an immediate and final definition, in Hinduism those souls would have found a new home in another-and in fact the wheel of reincarnation is explicitly a thing in Marvel for devout Hindus (this rather misses the point of such beliefs, but that’s Marvel for you).
Under that point of view, the only ethical thing to do would be to sabotage resurrection to stop the Five from killing a thousand people every week.
I find it either hard to believe or highly problematic that one can be sentenced to Mutant Hell just for destroying a rock.
I have a harder time believing someone can be sentenced to Mutant Hell for not being able to procreate. By that logic, shouldn’t Wither be in there?
Obviously criticizing anatomy in a superhero comic is an exercise in futility, but every time I look at that cover I wonder how he closes his mouth. Eating must be quite the adventure for Sabretooth.
I love the absurdism of Melter being sentenced to Hell for destroying a rock. It’s the first time the truly unpleasant nature of Krakoa’s government has really been addressed. The nation is an oligarchy, but it’s been treated mostly as an acceptable condition.
I’m sure there’s more to the Melter’s story (the silent panel after he told his story leads me to that conclusion) but I could see LaVelle using it as an allegory for people being unfairly incarcerated for minor crimes or misdemeanors.
Whether this story is taking place roughly now or pre-Swords, the existence of a mass sentencing procedure seems weird. It implies a much larger Pit population than we’ve seen anywhere else, including in this series in the actual Pit. The fact that it comes with a previously unseen aesthetic element (the numbers manifesting above the condemned) suggests there’s just not much consensus in the X-office on what the Pit is about.
Maybe that’s why we only see the hundred or so important mutants, and they only have one bar and no towns. Almost every mutant is in the pit.
…WHEN did Oya kill someone?
Schism. I don’t recall the particular situation, but Cyclops tells her to do what’s necessary and she kills a unit of… Hellfire guards? Or some random goons?
It’s another one of the straws that leads to Wolverine hating Cyclops for most of the next decade.
Oya killed her entire village when her powers manifested. And a bunch of Hellfire grunts during the Schism storyline. Right from the start we saw she had this deep-seated religious self-loathing.
Well, if they’re going to toss people in the Pit over crap they did before this whole Krakoa thing started, I’m pretty sure there’s a crapload more folks who need to be in there. Mystique’s never killed anyone? Magneto? Fabian Cortez? Logan’s killed more people than some small wars, and there’s no way all of them were in self-defense or whatever.
I guess it’s a great way to show how rotten Krakoa is, for all their blather about being superior to humans, they still have a society where there’s one set of rules for people with clout, and a different set for everyone else. Pity I don’t think half the X-writers actually understand that.
I’m not sure that’s what’s going on here though. Every mutant was given amnesty if they agreed to join Krakoa.
I would think Oya did something after moving to Krakoa. It sounded as if whatever Nekra did also involved Oya.
Chris V: Well, that’s mildly encouraging, although it makes me want to know when they did whatever it was each of them did.
In particular, Third Eye got thrown in there for violating the “make more mutants” law. How does one do that? Way of X showed Stacy X handing out birth control, or contraceptives or something to that effect, and she’s not been tossed in the Pit. (As one of the 3 Stacy X fans, I’m glad of that.) How did Third Eye manage to get in trouble? I saw a suggestion he might have interfered with the resurrection protocols, would that do it?
There’s always another option. Oya may have done nothing at all and is helping keep an eye on the prisoners quietly.
@CalvinPitt: Well, those are questions we’re clearly meant to be asking and I’ll be very surprised if LaValle doesn’t answet them by the end of this miniseries.