{"id":4955,"date":"2020-01-11T21:04:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T21:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=4955"},"modified":"2020-01-12T07:47:44","modified_gmt":"2020-01-12T07:47:44","slug":"the-complete-moira-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=4955","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Moira: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last time we covered Moira’s history before the recruitment of the X-Men.<\/a> This time, I’m going to go through her appearances from there through to her first published appearance, near the start of the Claremont run. This is, if anything, even more piecemeal than part 1 – that’s largely because these are mostly one-off stories published in no particular order. It settles down once we get to her debut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classic X-Men<\/a><\/em> #43 (back-up) by Chris Claremont, Mike Collins & Joe Rubinstein<\/a> (“Flights of Angels”, January 1990).<\/strong> This is the back-up strip which appeared alongside the reprint of X-Men <\/em>#137, the climax of the Dark Phoenix Saga. The first page has a montage of flashbacks to the life of Jean Grey. They include an unexplained panel of young Jean Grey protecting Charles Xavier from an unseen attacker, while Moira bundles him to safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ties into the vexed question of what on earth Charles and Jean were doing together before Jean joined the X-Men. X-Men <\/em>#1 (1963) shows Jean arriving at the school with the rest of the team already formed, and seemingly not knowing much about it. Claremont established a back story where Xavier actually met her first<\/em>, long before the other X-Men, and helped her to control her powers. What he didn’t establish was any good reason for the two of them to conceal that fact from the rest of the team. But occasionally he hinted at some sort of secret pre-X-Men adventuring career for Charles and Jean, which presumably contains the answer – and this flashback seems to be part of that. The most explicit reference is in Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #381 (2000), where Jean talks about finding a secret cave full of treasure “before the founding of the X-Men, during a period when Charles Xavier and I worked alone.” It remains an undeveloped part of continuity, but apparently Moira’s involved in it somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Uncanny X-Men<\/a><\/em> #273 by Chris Claremont and various artists<\/a> (“Whose House Is This, Anyway?”, February 1991)<\/strong> Along similar lines, this story has a brief flashback in which Jean recalls Charles showing her Cerebro for the first time. Jean looks like a child. Moira is there, and for some reason she expresses doubts about the wisdom of the whole exercise – both the concept of being able to track mutants anywhere in the world, and the decision to involve young Jean. This scepticism about Cerebro seems odd in the light of the Hickman retcon, but maybe it’s all for Jean’s benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men: Origins – Emma Frost<\/a><\/em> by Valerie D’Orazio, Karl Moline & Rick Magyar<\/a> (“Will & Love”, May 2010).<\/strong> There’s room for debate about whether the X-Men: Origins<\/em> one-shots are actually in continuity. Most of them fit well enough, but a couple of them are completely haywire. Emma Frost <\/em>doesn’t pose any massive problems, though. It includes a scene of Moira and Charles visiting teenage Emma at home, shortly after her powers emerge, and trying to recruit her as a student. She tells them to get lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncanny X-Men<\/a><\/em> #300 by Scott Lobdell, John Romita Jr & Dan Green<\/a> (“Legacies”, May 1993).<\/strong> This has a flashback in which Charles recalls discussing his newly-formed X-Men with Moira. He insists that it’s a school; she calls them a “mutant strike force” and teases him about naming the team after himself. He also tells her about three possible future X-Men that he’s already identified – Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler. Moira then tells him that Interpol has learned that Magneto is investigating the security arrangements at Cape Citadel (which he attacks in issue #1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This fits with the common take on Moira as a sympathetic sounding board who’s sceptical about the superhero trappings of the X-Men – broadly, a supportive ally on the topic of the dream, but deeply unconvinced about the wisdom of dressing up in funny costumes and fighting people. Under the Hickman regime, this may be because she’s seen Charles going through the superhero team route before, and she’s waiting for him to realise that it doesn’t work. Quite why this flashback has scientist Moira relaying Interpol intelligence is a bit of a mystery. The HoxPox<\/em> retcon may help to explain her gathering information that her role wouldn’t otherwise seem to justify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s some vagueness as to how much involvement Moira had when it came to recruiting the original X-Men. Xavier’s recruitment drive is shown in a series of 1960s back-up strips, and since she’s not in them, any role has to be backstage. This flashback suggests that Moira is only just finding out who the X-Men are, but she ought to at least recognise Jean. The Emma Frost<\/em> one-shot has her actively helping recruitment. And in Chaos War: X-Men<\/em> #1, Claremont has Moira’s ghost say that she vetted all of the X-Men except for Jean – but obviously, HoxPox <\/em>has retconned away Moira’s afterlife appearances. (Hardly the first time this has happened. But we’ll get back to that.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men: Legacy<\/a><\/em> vol 1 #208 by Mike Carey and various artists<\/a> (“From Genesis to Revelations”, February 2008)<\/strong>. <\/strong>Among its many flashbacks, this has a scene of Charles showing Moira the blueprints for the Danger Room. Again, Moira expresses concern that Charles isn’t really training young mutants but developing a private army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moira has very limited interaction with the X-Men during their 1960s run (unsurprisingly, since she hadn’t been created yet). But X-Men: Deadly Genesis<\/em> reveals that she opens a facility called Muir-MacTaggert Research & Development, a few hours from the X-Men’s school; Charles helps to design it. This is the home of the Mutant Genome Project (or “Project: Mutant”), where Karl Lykos briefly worked before becoming Sauron. Lykos’s involvement doesn’t seem to affect the plot of Deadly Genesis<\/em> at all, so presumably it was just an attempt to nail Muir-MacTaggert onto a previously-mentioned part of Xavier’s back story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deadly Genesis<\/em> suggests that Moira is spending extended periods at Muir-MacTaggert in New York, which begs the question of who’s looking after poor Kevin back at Muir Isle. It seems unlikely that she just locks him in his holding cell on his own for weeks at a time, but you never know. We never hear of any other staff from this period; maybe something awful befalls them at the hands of Kevin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deadly Genesis<\/em> #4 says that “right after” the X-Men find Alex Summers, Moira helps Charles to do some tests on him, which is when she first meets Cyclops\/Scott Summers. Their encounter is removed from Cyclops’ memory after Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1, but we’ll come to that. Alex first appeared in X-Men<\/em> vol 1 #54, in which Scott has already met him and already knows that he’s a mutant – something Alex doesn’t discover until later in the story. Presumably that was established in the tests mentioned in Deadly Genesis<\/em>. Alex’s visit to Moira must take place before issue #53 (since after that, Xavier is meant to be dead, and he remains absent for the rest of the Silver Age run).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men: The Hidden Years<\/a><\/em> #10 by John Byrne & Tom Palmer<\/a> (“Home is Where the Hurt is…”, September 2000)<\/strong>. Jean has recently been to space and had a first brush with Phoenix, so Charles takes her to Muir Isle for Moira to run some tests. Jean worries about why Muir Isle is being kept secret even from the other X-Men, and Moira gives her the usual arguments about security that you’d expect from a story that’s taking this at face value. We’ll come back to the question of what’s so secret about Muir Isle in future instalments. For now, suffice to say that this doesn’t quite<\/em> contradict Deadly Genesis<\/em>, since that story makes Cyclops aware of Moira, but not of Muir Isle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men: Deadly Genesis <\/a><\/em>by Ed Brubaker, Trevor Hairsine & Kris Justice<\/a> (November 2005 to May 2006)<\/strong>. <\/strong>This miniseries contains a string of flashbacks and back-up stories, in which Moira recruits a group of her own students and brings them to Muir-MacTaggert Research & Development: Petra, Darwin, Sway & Kid Vulcan. For those who aren’t familiar, Vulcan turns out to be the third Summers brother, and a pretty important character; Darwin has later stints in the X-Men and X-Factor; and the other two are cannon fodder. Moira runs training sessions with her four students, and Kid Vulcan is particularly keen on the idea of being a superhero one day, but for whatever reason she keeps them separate from Charles’ X-Men. Maybe she’s thinking of them as spares; or maybe she just doesn’t want all her eggs in one basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles visits to watch one of the training sessions, and Scott is brought along to train with Kid Vulcan – again, Scott’s memory of this will be wiped later. One of the back-up strips also shows Charles and Moira having another stab at recruiting Emma Frost. By this point Emma has left home and become a Hellfire Club dancer. Once again, she tells them to get lost, and Charles erases her memories of the encounter. Moira is generally a bit disturbed by Charles’ casual track-covering (though it’s in character for him in the Silver Age time frame), no doubt because on some level she just has to trust him to keep his word to stay out of her mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll return to Deadly Genesis<\/em> shortly, but first…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men<\/a><\/em> vol 2 #2 by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee and Scott Williams<\/a> (“Firestorm”, November 1991). <\/strong>This has a flashback in which Magneto – who was de-aged to infancy in Defenders<\/em> vol 1 #16 – is handed over to Moira’s care on Muir Isle. Moira finds indications of an instability in Magneto’s central nervous system, suggesting that his powers may cause mental illness. Moira hopes to modify Magneto’s DNA to eliminate the instability, and then use the same process to cure Proteus. Note that while this idea only becomes central to the plot in 1991, Moira actually talks about it as soon as Muir Isle comes on the scene in the late 70s – but more of that in the next post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men<\/em> vol 2 #1-3 establish that Moira does indeed try to use this process on Magneto, and also that it doesn’t work (or at least not for long). Those issues are ambiguous as to whether Moira already knows that the process is ineffective, but the plot only really makes sense if she finds out during the story. If so, the next few years – including the entire stint when Moira and Magneto first become allies – takes place when Moira privately believes that she has done something to alter his mind and make him more rational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men Unlimited<\/a><\/em> vol 1 #2 by Fabian Nicieza, Jan Duursema and various inkers<\/a> (“Point Blank”, September 1993). <\/strong>As an addendum to the previous entry, this has a brief flashback of Moira reading a book while toddler Magneto plays in a rockpool. The emphasis is slightly different here: as well as altering Magneto’s DNA, Moira hopes to simply raise him better this time around. The implication is that this is her second chance at motherhood, and a chance to avoid a repeat of Proteus – though her idea of what motherhood actually involves remains a bit suspect. Getting a second chance as a parent turns out to be a recurring theme in Moira\u2019s stories, including the undertone that this is less about Proteus and more about proving something about (and to) herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Moira isn’t in it, Giant-Size Fantastic Four<\/em> #4 (February 1975) is worth mentioning. It came out a few months before Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1, it’s by Chris Claremont and Len Wein, and it’s the debut of Jamie Madrox. In that story, Madrox is a deranged na\u00eff who has been living alone on a Kansas farm since his parents died six years ago, and stumbles into New York looking for help when his powers go out of control. (The implication is that Madrox has been completely isolated for six years, so I suppose we’re meant to take it that he’s been subsistence farming rather than selling his produce.) Charles Xavier shows up to calm him down and cart him away, promising to “cure his madness and teach him how to cope with his power”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next we hear of Madrox is in X-Men<\/em> #104, which offhandedly mentions that Moira left him in charge of Muir Isle while she was away – so evidently he was cured pretty quickly and dropped off on Muir Isle for safekeeping, perhaps because he’s more used to the isolated life of the island. X-Men <\/em>#126 mentions that he declines an offer to join the X-Men, and he’ll remain a background supporting character until he finally joins X-Factor in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men: Deadly Genesis (cont.)<\/em><\/strong> And so we reach the massive retcon of 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the regular X-Men captured by Krakoa in Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1, Charles asks to borrow Moira’s students. Despite her misgivings, she gives them the choice of whether to go (perhaps because she always viewed them as the understudies). Predictably, the hero-obsessed Kid Vulcan signs up the whole group, despite Moira encouraging him to reflect on it. Charles gives the makeshift “X-Men” psychic training which feels to them like months of work but in fact is merely hours. Moira protests about children being put at risk, but Charles insists that they need to know how to fight. Understandably, Moira is furious to learn later that her students have all apparently been killed in action, and amazed that Charles has responded by erasing Cyclops’ memory of events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moira records a tearful video diary about all this, in which she tells herself to “remember what a total and utter bastard Charles Xavier really is”, even though she knows she will forgive him. The whole story very much positions Moira as a frustrated and ineffective moral compass, and a victim of his <\/em>manipulative single-mindedness. Tonally, that doesn’t fit all that well with Hickman’s interpretation, but there’s nothing here that causes fundamental problems; she knows the kids, she’s upset that they’re all dead. (The bigger problem for the Hickman run is Deadly Genesis<\/em>‘ depiction of Krakoa, but that’s another story.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X-Men Legacy<\/a><\/em> vol 1 #217 by Mike Carey, Scot Eaton and Andrew Hennessy<\/a> (“Original Sin, part 2”, October 2008)<\/strong>. <\/strong>The first of many, many “Moira and Charles discuss the plot” appearances. This one is part of a crossover with Wolverine: Origins<\/em>. Shortly after joining the X-Men, an angry and brainwashed Wolverine tries to murder Charles, and gets subdued. Charles and Moira discuss what to do with the raving lunatic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and this is the chronologically earliest appearance of Moira’s signature jumpsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolverine’s memory of all this is presumably erased as part of the mind-wipe which Xavier gives him in another flashback, later in the storyline. That explains why he doesn’t recognise her when she shows up for the first time. But according to Chaos War: X-Men<\/em> #1, Thunderbird also sees Moira in some video calls during his brief time as an X-Man. If that’s right – and granted, it’s Chaos War: X-Men<\/em>, full of ghosts of characters who turned out not to be dead after all – then perhaps Charles wasn’t so concerned about keeping Moira herself a secret until a little bit later. More about the whole secrecy thing next time, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Classic X-Men<\/a><\/em> #2 by Chris Claremont & Dave Cockrum<\/a> (October 1986).<\/strong> This reprint of issue #94 has an added scene in which Moira crosses paths with little Rahne Sinclair (who has just missed the school bus) and then gets a telegram – yes, a telegram – from Charles, asking her to come to America and help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that leads into Moira’s first published appearance… which is where we’ll join her in the next post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last time we covered Moira’s history before the recruitment of the X-Men. This time, I’m going to go through her appearances from there through to her first published appearance, near the start of the Claremont run. This is, if anything, even more piecemeal than part 1 – that’s largely because these are mostly one-off stories […]<\/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":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moira"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955","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=4955"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5018,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4955\/revisions\/5018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}