{"id":6696,"date":"2021-05-13T22:35:42","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T21:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6696"},"modified":"2021-05-13T22:35:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T21:35:42","slug":"x-corp-1-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6696","title":{"rendered":"X-Corp #1 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-CORP #1
\n“Simply Superior”
\nby Tini Howard, Alberto Foche & Sunny Gho<\/strong><\/p>\n

X-CORP.<\/strong> This is the first X-Corp<\/em> series. X-Corporation was introduced in the Grant Morrison run, specifically in the 2001\u00a0New X-Men Annual<\/em>. As described in the newspaper article on page 34, it was originally a sort of nonprofit organisation which existed to support mutant rights, rather than a corporate business as such. It was largely closed down after M-Day, but we’ve seen it mentioned from time to time during the Krakoan era. (Interestingly, it wasn’t mentioned in the data page in X-Force\u00a0<\/em>#4 that catalogued Xavier’s business assets.)\u00a0Warren and Monet were shown running it in\u00a0Empyre: X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong>\u00a0Well, it’s vaguely pharmaceutical-packing themed, but it’s also got corporate graphs and charts. Broadly, you’ve got Monet and Warren in businesswear, casting a shadow which shows themselves as Archangel and Penance.<\/p>\n

With the corporate theme, mock branding and stylised colour palette, it’s very reminiscent of some of the early covers from\u00a0Wildcats Version 3.0<\/em>, which also did the superheroes-go-corporate angle.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.<\/strong> Warren and Monet film a promotional video.<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s not exactly clear who this video is aimed at – it’s all vague aspirational corporate-speak, the idea (I suppose) being that we’re meant to take it seriously because it’s Krakoan. But who is X-Corp marketing itself to? The only product it has in this story is Krakoan drugs, and from the sound of it it just manufactures those; if it’s also selling them, what’s Hellfire Trading for? It’s odd that the relationship between those two entities isn’t really explained here – it\u00a0is<\/em> the premise of\u00a0Marauders<\/em>, after all.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The island is the new X-Corp base, which I suppose is meant to evoke Google-type corporate campuses; it comes across more as a cross between Krakoa and the SHIELD Helicarrier.<\/p>\n

Visible in the montage are Forge, Sunspot, Madrox, Jumbo Carnation and Bishop. Sunspot’s been involved in X-Corp in the past but has now relocated to live mainly in outer space (hence, presumably, his panel being accompanied by “reach for the stars” lines). Madrox’s role is addressed later in the issue (and the “best version of yourself” bit is obviously ironic). I have no idea what Jumbo and Bishop have to do with anything, given that they’re so closely associated with\u00a0Marauders<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.<\/strong> Recap and credits. The recap tells us that X-Corp is planning to move beyond pharmaceuticals into other areas of business, but we don’t really see that in this story, which is all about the drugs. The small print for X-Corp reads “Krakoa is for closers”, riffing on the “Krakoa is for all mutants” line.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.<\/strong>\u00a0Warren and Penance finish their filming.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sofia Mantega\u00a0<\/strong>(Wind Dancer) spent time in the Mojoverse over in\u00a0X-Factor<\/em>, and has apparently picked up some film making skills along the way – though the version of the Mojoverse that we saw her in was more of a social media streaming set-up.<\/p>\n

Monet’s<\/strong> “simply superior” slogan is understandably not approved by the PR department because it’s clearly just going to annoy people. Part of the tension here is between Warren being reasonably constructive towards anyone who’ll deal sensibly with him, and Monet (somewhat in line with her established character) being rather more superior – on a group level as well as the traditional personal level.<\/p>\n

Quite\u00a0why<\/em> Monet is in this role isn’t entirely clear. Warren at least has some experience of running the family business, even if he delegated it most of the time. Monet has no relevant experience, but perhaps somebody thought she’d be the toughest negotiator not already tied up in Hellfire Trading.<\/p>\n

PAGES<\/strong>\u00a07-8.\u00a0<\/strong>Warren and Monet meet with Professor X.<\/em><\/p>\n

Professor X\u00a0<\/strong>is meeting them in the Council chamber for non-Council business. It’s maybe worth noting that we’ve very rarely seen his private quarters in the Krakoan era, and certainly not with guests.<\/p>\n

Again, the dynamic here seems to be that Warren is broadly conventional in his approach, and Monet is much more abrasive and seems to relish aggravating people. It’s good cop \/ bad cop.<\/p>\n

PAGES 9-11.<\/strong> Trinary is recruited.<\/em><\/p>\n

This kicks off a series of gathering-the-team scenes.<\/p>\n

Trinary<\/strong> was introduced in the short-lived\u00a0X-Men: Red<\/em> title with much fanfare, and hasn’t done a huge amount since. The crime that she committed in that series was a Robin Hood-style hacking incident of transferring money from wealthy CEOs to ordinary working women; it might have been an idea to spell that out here for new readers, since it makes the point that Trinary is a completely counter-intuitive choice to be on any sort of corporate board. By appearances, Monet selects her as much as anything because she’ll annoy the sort of people that Monet is quite happy to annoy. Warren seems less than thrilled about her recruitment when he learns about it on page 20.<\/p>\n

In the past, Trinary was portrayed as simply being able to control technology with her mind. She seems to be less powerful here, able to talk to computer programs but not necessarily control them. She doesn’t seem to regard it as particularly unusual to encounter a program that she can’t override.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-15.<\/strong>\u00a0Warren meets Jean-Pierre Kol.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jean-Pierre Kol.<\/b> Kol is one of the ambassadors who received a tour from Magneto in\u00a0House of X<\/em> #1. According to the Stepford Cuckoos in that story, he “actually is an ambassador, but he bought it with his private-sector pharmaceutical money. He’ll agree to Xavier’s terms if we allow him special access to our drugs.”<\/p>\n

Kol says here that he was already dealing with Professor X even before Krakoa (and he’s presumably telling the truth, since Warren could easily check). Apparently he was breeding mutant horses or something along those lines. Kol offers Warren a somewhat garbled analogy that doesn’t make a lot of sense: by creating a race that only mutants can win, they also make it boring for spectators, who will go off and do something else instead. And… what on earth is that supposed to mean in terms of the real world? If winning the race is mutant economic domination, then why should they be worried that capitalism will lead the underclass to seek something else? None of this makes any real sense to me.<\/p>\n

Apparently Kol sold his business to Xavier, and has now come up with an idea to demand more money by threatening to take the mutants to court. Well, sort of…<\/p>\n

PAGE 16.<\/strong>\u00a0Data page: a request from Noblesse Pharmaceuticals, apparently in the form of a resolution by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, requesting an advisory opinion on whether the Krakoan flower processing facility in the Savage Land is against international law.<\/p>\n

Noblesse Pharamceuticals is presumably Kol’s business (or his current business). It was the company in Paris that Warren and Monet were about to meet with in\u00a0Empyre: X-Men<\/em> #1, until they got dragged away. The name seems to refer to\u00a0noblesse oblige<\/em> (broadly, the idea that the nobility have social responsibilities such as charity).<\/p>\n

Article 96 of the UN Charter<\/a> does indeed allow the General Assembly or the Security Council to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. In the real world, there are various treaties which prevent development in Antarctica. In the Marvel Universe, the Savage Land in particular is now an internationally protected wildlife preserve, complete with gift shop. Honestly. It was in\u00a0Unbeatable Squirrel Girl<\/em> #22. So, yes, marching in and building an industrial farm there was pretty unambiguously illegal.<\/p>\n

The “L”, “I” and “M” drug names were given back in\u00a0House of X\u00a0<\/em>#1, and haven’t really come up since then.<\/p>\n

PAGES 17-19.<\/strong>\u00a0Madrox is recruited.<\/em><\/p>\n

This actually makes some sense as a choice, since Madrox seems to be directly involved in X-Corp’s actual manufacturing activities, and he can easily be in more than one place at a time. He’s played unusually straight in this scene, though the idea that he’s developed a particular interest in botany comes somewhat out of the blue.<\/p>\n

PAGES 20-23.<\/strong> Monet refuses to pay the ransom.<\/em><\/p>\n

So apparently Kol’s plan, if he doesn’t get paid, is\u00a0both<\/em> to blow up the facility\u00a0and<\/em> to whistleblow its existence, so that the mutants will get blamed for polluting the wildlife. There’s\u00a0meant<\/em> to be a kind of dialogue here between Warren as the conciliator and Monet as the uncompromising one, but it doesn’t entirely work. Warren comes across as a complete wimp – “it’s not extortion” is not a credible reaction to ransomware for anyone. Monet, on the other hand, hasn’t really been positioned in a way to take the moral high ground. And none of this really has all that much to do with running a corporation. This is an\u00a0X-Force<\/em> plot, surely?<\/p>\n

Brazil is an anti-mutant nation which doesn’t have established Krakoan gates. The idea – which isn’t very well set up in the dialogue – is that Kol has arranged the meeting in Brazil precisely to isolate Warren from back-up.<\/p>\n

Having told us that her telepathy doesn’t work in Penance form, Monet continues to talk in telepathic thought balloons for half a page after becoming Penance. She doesn’t seem to get any reply, but nor does she notice. It’s… confused.<\/p>\n

PAGES 24-25.<\/strong> X-Corp set off in their new HQ.<\/em><\/p>\n

It can only teleport to the location of Krakoan gates, so it can’t go direct to Brazil. Monet initially plans to go to the Savage Land, but changes her mind on getting what seems to be a message from Warren. There are storytelling problems here again. I\u00a0think<\/em> the idea is that Warren pressed the signal button at the end of page 21; that Monet didn’t notice because she was so busy being angry Penance and trying to conduct a telepathic conversation anyway; and that… for some reason it’s taken another three pages for the phone to start ringing. No, it doesn’t really work.<\/p>\n

PAGES 26-27.<\/strong>\u00a0Kol gloats about his plan.<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, if this guy is a one-dimensional evil rich guy, why was Xavier dealing with him in the first place?<\/p>\n

PAGES<\/strong> 28-33.\u00a0<\/strong>X-Corp rescue Angel.<\/em><\/p>\n

They use the gate in the hidden city of Nova Roma in the Brazilian jungle – though again, if you don’t already know that that’s what Nova Roma is, you might find this confusing.<\/p>\n

Monet is spectacularly unsympathetic to the deaths of Madrox’s dupes, and even Madrox seems to view them mainly as lost research data. This isn’t really in character at all. Madrox has always taken the deaths of his dupes more seriously than this.<\/p>\n

X-Corp makes its big public debut by… just kind of appearing over Brazil, and Warren escaping. I don’t really buy this as being the massive public impact that the story says it is.<\/p>\n

PAGE 34.<\/strong> Data page, including some recap that attempts to explain why X-Corp only showed up somewhere during the Krakoan era; broadly, it’s been interposed as the holding company for all Xavier’s interests, perhaps to avoid the awkwardness of the entire economy of Krakoa being owned personally by Professor X.<\/p>\n

PAGE<\/strong>\u00a035.\u00a0<\/strong>Trailers. The Krakoan reads NEXT: HELLFIRE GALA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-CORP #1 “Simply Superior” by Tini Howard, Alberto Foche & Sunny Gho X-CORP. This is the first X-Corp series. X-Corporation was introduced in the Grant Morrison run, specifically in the 2001\u00a0New X-Men Annual. As described in the newspaper article on page […]<\/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-6696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696","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=6696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6698,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6696\/revisions\/6698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}