{"id":10210,"date":"2024-07-10T20:41:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10210"},"modified":"2024-07-10T20:41:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T19:41:00","slug":"x-men-1-annotations-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10210","title":{"rendered":"X-Men #1 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 7 #1 <\/strong>
\n\u201cFire-Baptised Species\u201d<\/strong>
\nWriter: Jed Mackay<\/strong>
\nPenciller: Ryan Stegman<\/strong>
\nInker: JP Mayer<\/strong>
\nColourist: Marte Gracia<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Clayton Cowles<\/strong>
\nEditor: Tom Brevoort<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been in the post-Krakoa era for a month now, but in the form of a sort of season break. Unless you count the Free Comic Book Day one-shot, which was more of a teaser, this is effectively where the \u201cFrom the Ashes\u201d era begins.<\/p>\n

THE X-MEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or one group of them, anyway – there\u2019ll be another group over in\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em>. But in this book, we\u2019re interested in Cyclops\u2019 group. The field team is Cyclops, Juggernaut, Kid Omega, Magik, Psylocke and Temper, with the Beast, Magneto, Xorn and Glob Herman back at base. Because of the time jump from the previous issue, we don\u2019t yet know how this particular line-up came together.<\/p>\n

The group are openly operating as the X-Men, from a former Sentinel factory in Merle, Alaska, on which they\u2019ve daubed an enormous X logo – it looks like we\u2019re calling this place the Factory. They moved in in the epilogue to X-Men<\/em> vol 6 #35. The Factory was smashed up by the Avengers in Avengers<\/em> #12, a tie-in to Fall of the House of X. The X-Men have invited\u00a0local police chief Paula Robbins to see the facility, in what seems to be a broadly genuine attempt to set up relations with the local community – although as we\u2019ll see, they also seem to have chosen the location to send a message.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The field team\u2019s aircraft is referred to as the Marauder – it\u2019s the vehicle formerly used by Christian Frost in\u00a0Marauders<\/em>, which Kate Pryde renamed the New Marauder<\/em> in\u00a0Marauders Annual<\/em> #1. We last saw it in\u00a0Marauders<\/em> vol 2 #12.<\/p>\n

Cyclops<\/strong> is, on the face of it, back to being the hyper-efficient team leader version of the character. Jean Grey is not here, because she\u2019s off in space in her own book; more interestingly, she doesn\u2019t even get mentioned. Nor is our attention drawn to the fact that Cyclops is Alaskan, and the only character in the book with a specific connection to this location. Cyclops doesn\u2019t talk much about his inner life without Jean around to prompt it.<\/p>\n

He claims to want to normalise relations with Merle, yet at the same time he\u2019s keen to leave the defunct Sentinel looming over the town to remind the humans of where they stand. He\u2019s trying to ride two horses here, or at least has been left with a very cynical view of what he needs to do in order to deal with the humans.<\/p>\n

Kid Omega<\/strong> died in Wolverine<\/em> #50 (the last part of \u201cSabretooth War\u201d), but evidently he was part of the mass resurrection in\u00a0Rise of the Powers of X<\/em>. Broadly in keeping with his depiction in\u00a0X-Force<\/em>, he\u2019s whining a lot but generally trying to be a team player. This does not extend to actually listening to briefings, although he claims (probably facetiously) to have a poor memory due to past drug use. He seems to be warning Idie against \u201cplaying the good little soldier\u201d, and reminds her how often the X-Men have failed her – which begs the question of what he\u2019s<\/em> doing here. When challenged, he doesn\u2019t have an explanation for allowing her to be thrown in the Pit in Sabretooth<\/em> (which implies that he knew). He\u2019s deliberately annoying Magneto, a character he used to idolise as a schoolboy.<\/p>\n

Kid Omega was of course a teammate of the\u00a0X-Force<\/em> war criminal Beast, but we don\u2019t see him interacting with the clone version here, or find out what he thinks of working with the guy.<\/p>\n

Psylocke.<\/strong> In last week\u2019s X-Men: Blood Hunt – Psylocke<\/em> #1, she was firmly coupled up with Greycrow. There\u2019s no sign of him here, and no explanation of his absence. That doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s being ignored – after all, Jean Grey isn\u2019t mentioned either.<\/p>\n

The Juggernaut<\/strong> has a shiny new costume with a big X design on the helmet. He\u2019s very happy to be here, and to be part of an X-Men team that accepts him. He gets to punch things and be helpful! He\u2019s diligently paying attention to briefings. Magik describes him as a \u201cteacher\u2019s pet\u201d, and she might have a point.<\/p>\n

Magik<\/strong>, similarly, seems to be here to take out her anger in combat, and we don\u2019t get much more on her in this issue.<\/p>\n

Temper<\/strong> is Idie Okonkwo, formerly Oya. Since she spent most of her time on Krakoa in the Pit, and then abandoned the island along with the other Exiles, she has no particularly fond memories of the place. She claims to be here in order to keep the X-Men straight (and Cyclops says that\u2019s why he invited her).<\/p>\n

The Beast<\/strong> describes himself as the \u201cbase director\u201d. This is the clone of the Beast from the final arc of Benjamin Percy\u2019s\u00a0X-Force<\/em>, who was given the memories of\u00a0New Defenders<\/em>-era Beast. As such, he remains bouncy, cheerful and unfailingly constructive in his dealing with the local authorities. He talks about being an Avenger as if it were still a major part of his back story. He doesn\u2019t directly explain his rather complicated back story in this issue – new editor Tom Brevoort has made fairly clear in his weekly newsletters that he prefers not to clutter jumping on points with long explanations that aren\u2019t directly relevant to the plot – but our attention is drawn to the fact that this Beast has no memories of Krakoa, and has no emotional attachment to it. Note that almost everyone on the team is new to this Beast – he\u2019s only met three of his teammates before, and two of them were villains when he last saw them. He seems willing to accept that they\u2019ve both reformed, though he finds Magneto\u2019s aggressive approach to diplomacy exasperating.<\/p>\n

Glob Herman<\/strong> is happily devoting his time to hydroponic agriculture, and greets the police chief cheerfully.<\/p>\n

Xorn<\/strong>, for those keeping track of such things, is Kuan-Yin Xorn, the one from the original Grant Morrison stories. (As much as anyone is – Morrison\u2019s intention was that Xorn was just a false identity used by Magneto.) During the Krakoan era, Kuan-Yin Xorn generally hung around with his brother Shen Xorn as they shadowed Legion together, but there\u2019s no sign of Shen here.<\/p>\n

Xorn is billed as a healer (his ostensible role in Grant Morrison\u2019s stories), and he greets Paula quite politely.<\/p>\n

Magneto<\/strong> has a floating hoverchair, which obviously echoes Professor X. No reason is given for it, but doubtless we\u2019ll find out.\u00a0In line with the recent Magneto<\/em> miniseries, he claims that his role as villain provided a challenge that forged the X-Men into the heroes they became. He evidently sees a bit of good old fashioned threatening as an essential piece of balance when dealing with humans. He says that \u201cThese are my<\/em> children of the atom\u201d, though it\u2019s not clear whether he means mutants in general or the inhabitants of this base in particular.<\/p>\n

All the non-human-looking X-Men are staying at home and the field team is, well, prettier. The Beast assures us that this is just a coincidence and reflects their respective strengths, but it is possible that Cyclops really has gone for a photogenic, superhero-friendly team here. (He\u2019s done something similar before, in the Joss Whedon run.)<\/p>\n

GUEST STAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wolverine<\/strong> is not a member of this team, but he\u2019s agreed to go on a mission to investigate the new Fourth School faction. He isn\u2019t interested in joining Cyclops\u2019 faction and pursuing grand agendas of mutant politics – he just wants to focus on more personal things. 3K were hoping to buy Wolverine from Fourth School, but we don\u2019t find out whether that\u2019s because he has any special significance to them, or simply because he\u2019s a high profile mutant.<\/p>\n

MERLE, ALASKA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paula Robbins<\/strong>, the police chief, is the only local we actually see in this issue. She\u2019s somewhat uncomfortable around mutants with unusual appearances, but mostly because she isn\u2019t used to them. Generally, she seems to be making a good faith effort to form a working relationship with the newcomers.<\/p>\n

The Factory. <\/strong>Merle\u2019s economy was built around the Sentinel factory. People lost their jobs when Orchis automated the place, and now that the X-Men have moved in, it\u2019s clear that the jobs aren\u2019t coming back. Some people aren\u2019t very happy about that. A giant disabled AI-Sentinel still looms over the city (presumably left over from Fall of the House of X<\/em>, though it\u2019s not something we specifically saw). There\u2019s a definite suggestion that the X-Men are here to send a message, rather than for any practical reason. Paula outright flags that this is a ludicrously inconvenient location for a superhero team, and gets a rather hazy answer about refugees being driven to such places.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not told what right the X-Men have to occupy the Factory, which presumably belonged to somebody. Paula doesn\u2019t seem to question them being there, though. If the Factory was being used to build Sentinels by Feilong, then possibly Stark International had some interest in it, and Iron Man has handed it over.<\/p>\n

THE VILLAINS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Fourth School<\/strong> make their first appearance. They\u2019re a splinter faction who spun out of Orchis after the AI contingent turned on the Orchis humans in Fall of the House of X<\/em>. This group have adopted a version of the U-Men\u2019s philosophy from the Grant Morrison run. The U-Men were a cult who wanted to harvest mutant body parts in order to give themselves super powers and thereby create a third species. The Fourth School think that AI was the third species, and that a human\/mutant\/AI hybrid will be the fourth. But otherwise, they\u2019re basically the U-Men.<\/p>\n

They wear the red Orchis uniforms, but with makeshift X logos scrawled onto the helmets. They seem to be made up of footsoldiers too dim to properly understand the powers they\u2019re dealing with, and aside from the six mutant members (see below), they\u2019re not much of a threat. The real villains of this arc are\u2026<\/p>\n

3K.<\/strong> In the main story, 3K are represented by two shadow figures, one of whom calls the other \u201cmother\u201d. They refer to 3K\u2019s mission as \u201cthe Great Work\u201d, and they take credit for having somehow given\u00a0actual (and not merely stolen) mutant powers to six of the Fourth School\u2019s members, in exchange for Wolverine (who got broken out before the Fourth School could honour their end of the deal). After they put up a mildly passable showing against the X-Men, 3K teleport them away for future use – after all, they did okay even with no warning and no training.<\/p>\n

The QR code on page 33 links to a one-page epilogue, in which four shadowy figures sit around a table with a giant X logo. They\u2019re identified as the Zealot, the Doctor, the Means and the Chairman (who seems to be wearing a Cerebro-style helmet). The Doctor is the \u201cmother\u201d from the main story, with the \u201cchild\u201d standing behind her. Basically, they have grand plans to remake the world and are arguing about whether they need to act against the X-Men just yet.<\/p>\n

OTHER SPECIFICS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Page 3: \u201cX months later.\u201d<\/strong> Echoing the post-Hellfire Gala \u201cX weeks later\u201d time jump. X-Men Red<\/em> apparently intended that time jump to be ten weeks, but others seemed to have something intentionally vaguer in mind.<\/p>\n

Page 5: Santo Marco.<\/b> This is the South American micronation that Magneto briefly conquered in\u00a0X-Men\u00a0<\/em>vol 1 #4.<\/p>\n

Page 5: \u201cPlease, Quentin. You\u2019ve died more times than any other mutant. You should be used to this.\u201d<\/strong> Kid Omega\u2019s many, many deaths during the Krakoan era were a plot point in Benjamin Percy\u2019s\u00a0X-Force<\/em>, particularly issue #17.<\/p>\n

Page 12: \u201cLook I used to do a lot of Kick, okay?\u201d<\/strong> Kick was the drug peddled by John Sublime back in Grant Morrison\u2019s\u00a0New X-Men<\/em>, and Quentin Quire was indeed a user back in the day.<\/p>\n

Page 13: \u201cWhen I kicked the ____ out of U-Men at the Xavier School\u2026\u201d<\/strong> This seems to be conflating two stories: New X-Men <\/em>#120, when the U-Men attacked the Xavier School and were repelled, and New X-Men<\/em> #136, when Kid Omega and his Omega Gang attacked a bunch of U-Men in their base. Kid Omega would have been present in issue #120, albeit off panel, but he certainly doesn\u2019t take a leading role.<\/p>\n

Page 15: \u201cYou\u2019ll have to come by the diner in town sometime, then. They do a cherry pie that\u2019ll stop you in your tracks.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>This sounds a lot like a\u00a0Twin Peaks<\/em> reference. We haven\u2019t yet seen how normal or otherwise Merle might be (though Robbins seems pretty normal).<\/p>\n

Page 16: \u201cthe burning of Mykines.\u201d<\/strong> The attack on the Hellfire Gala in the last\u00a0X-Men: Hellfire Gala<\/em> one-shot.<\/p>\n

Page 18: \u201cI didn\u2019t see my ex-boyfriend come to my rescue when they threw me into the Pit on Krakoa.\u201d<\/strong> Idie and Quentin were a couple back in\u00a0Wolverine and the X-Men<\/em>. Idie was banished to the Pit in the Krakoa-era Sabretooth<\/em> miniseries.<\/p>\n

Page 19: \u201cThe X-gene activates at puberty.\u201d<\/strong> This was the traditional normal rule through to the 1990s or so, but it hasn\u2019t really been the main approach this century. To be fair, Quentin\u2019s main point in this scene is that it\u2019s wildly implausible that six genuine new mutants could have suddenly activated their powers in adulthood, which would always have been true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-MEN vol 7 #1 \u201cFire-Baptised Species\u201d Writer: Jed Mackay Penciller: Ryan Stegman Inker: JP Mayer Colourist: Marte Gracia Letterer: Clayton Cowles Editor: Tom Brevoort We\u2019ve been in the post-Krakoa era for a month now, but in the form of a sort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10210"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10214,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10210\/revisions\/10214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}