{"id":7564,"date":"2022-02-04T22:16:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T22:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7564"},"modified":"2022-02-04T22:16:14","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T22:16:14","slug":"sabretooth-1-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=7564","title":{"rendered":"Sabretooth #1 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>SABRETOOTH vol 4 #1<\/strong>
\n“The Adversary”<\/strong>
\nby Victor LaValle, Leonard Kirk & Rain Beredo<\/strong><\/p>\n

SABRETOOTH.<\/strong> If you’re wondering, volume 1 was the 1993 miniseries, vol 2 was a 1998 one-shot, and vol 3 was a 2004 miniseries. This is another five-issue miniseries.<\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> A grinning Sabretooth in hell, with Krakoa visible behind him.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-5.<\/strong>\u00a0Sabretooth is consigned to the Pit.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a reprise of Sabretooth’s “trial” and banishment at the hands of the Quiet Council in\u00a0House of X<\/em> #6. Sabretooth’s narration is new and replaces most of the spoken dialogue. But what remains is taken directly from that issue, except for Sabretooth’s final line: “No prison can hold me. I’ll be free before you even notice.” In fact, that issue came out in October 2019 and we haven’t seen him since.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Xavier’s line “It’s distasteful, I know…” originally continued “…this business of running a nation.” The emphasis here is much more on the personal treatment of Sabretooth.<\/p>\n

We do get Sabretooth’s almost universally contemptuous views on the members of the Quiet Council. He has a point about Magneto’s hypocrisy, and Apocalypse is the only one he actually respects. He sees the three outright heroes as children, and dismisses Emma and Sebastian as costume drama (which is more a reflection of his style than hers).<\/p>\n

If “the Rainbow Gang” refers to anything specific, I don’t recognise it.<\/p>\n

Sabretooth refers to Mystique as “Leni”; Leni Zauber was the cover identity she was using during the brief relationship that led to their son Graydon Creed.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.<\/strong> Data page. Someone reflects on what the Pit actually is. The obvious candidate is Sabretooth, but it doesn’t really sound like his voice. Could it be Cypher (imagining how he would answer the questions in italics)?<\/p>\n

The wildlife factoids are accurate.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong> Recap and credits. The small print reads “Destiny of X”, “The Pit” and “Cast into Exile on X”.<\/p>\n

The recap covers Sabretooth’s involvement in the plot of\u00a0House of X<\/em>. I’m not sure it was previously stated that he had been resurrected on Krakoa, but it was strongly implied, since he was one of the many characters to get killed on panel during Matthew Rosenberg’s run – specifically, he was beheaded by Magik in\u00a0War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #3.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-13.<\/strong>\u00a0Creed imagines himself killing the X-Men who have come to recapture him.<\/em><\/p>\n

Like apparently almost all of this issue, this scene is in Sabretooth’s mind, so there’s not much continuity to be explained here. Much like Wolverine, Sabretooth imagines himself retreating to the wilderness to hunt. Unlike Wolverine, he imagines himself sadistically killing the X-Men.<\/p>\n

PAGES 14-18.<\/strong>\u00a0Cypher strikes a deal with Sabretooth.<\/em><\/p>\n

We established during\u00a0Inferno<\/em> that Cypher and Warlock know much, much more about what’s going on on Krakoa than previously thought; we’ve also seen in\u00a0X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic<\/em>\u00a0#12 that they’re prepared to ignore directions to put people in the Pit. Clearly, it’s Krakoa (rather than the Quiet Council) who feel that this punishment is too harsh; that’s consistent with Krakoa’s refusal to countenance putting Nature Girl in the Pit for murder. Note that Cypher insists that “nothing like this will happen to another mutant again” – he implies this is Professor X’s decision, but it may well be Krakoa’s. It may also mean that Krakoa’s attitude to Nature Girl wasn’t based on her own actions, but on a general objection to the Pit. And it begs the question of what happened to the Toad after he was taken into the Pit in\u00a0X-Men:\u00a0<\/em>Trial of Magneto<\/em> #5.<\/p>\n

Plainly, even before Sabretooth accepts Krakoa’s deal, he is not experiencing what Xavier told him to expect – “alive but immobile… aware but unable to act upon it”.<\/p>\n

PAGE 19.<\/strong> Another data page about the nature of prisons – and again, this doesn’t sound much like Sabretooth’s voice.<\/p>\n

PAGE 20.<\/strong>\u00a0Sabretooth indulges his dreams of slaughter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Obviously, the first victim is Professor X. Next is\u00a0Iron Fist<\/strong>, billed as an “old acquaintance” because Sabretooth started off as an\u00a0Iron Fist<\/em> villain. And the next panel is a bunch of wolf-type rivals –\u00a0Feral<\/strong> is clearly recognisable, and that looks like\u00a0Wolfsbane<\/strong> near the front.\u00a0Wild Child<\/strong> is on the right, with an echo of the collar worn by his Age of Apocalypse version. The others might be\u00a0Wolf Cub or some of the wolf-themed Dominant Species mutants from Chuck Austen’s Uncanny X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 21.<\/strong>\u00a0Sabretooth reflects.<\/em><\/p>\n

Imagining killing people gets boring after a while. Might this experience actually force him to… do something else?<\/p>\n

PAGES 22-23.<\/strong>\u00a0The Feral Council meet.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is Creed’s parody of the Quiet Council, obviously. Sabretooth appears here in his traditional costume, in a suit which he sometimes wore in the 90s, and as the bloody child from some origin flashbacks. Note that there’s a fourth seat which remains unoccupied.<\/p>\n

The multiple Sabretooths decide that the solution to being bored with murder is to increase the scale.<\/p>\n

PAGE 24.<\/strong>\u00a0Sabretooth as “Creed the King”.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a Conan parody, obviously.<\/p>\n

PAGE 25.\u00a0<\/strong>Sabretooth as the Starjammers. All of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sabretooth is playing the roles of Corsair, Hepzibah, LIlandra, Ch’od (with Cr’reee), Raza and Binary – it’s a late 80s Starjammers line-up, basically. In Sabretooth’s version, they bring down entire civilisations. Note that “Corsair” is wearing the same “Mark of Creed” that was used as a brand by “Creed the King” on the last page.<\/p>\n

The races Sabretooth mentions are all established in the Marvel Universe. The Acanti are space whales who were enslaved by the Brood; the Shi’ar are longtime X-Men fixtures; the Centaurians’ best known citizen is Yondu from the original Guardians of the Galaxy; and the Kymellians are the horse-like aliens who feature in Power Pack’s origin story.<\/p>\n

PAGES 26-27.<\/strong>\u00a0Sabretooth starts to manifest on Krakoa.<\/em><\/p>\n

Krakoa seems well aware of what’s happening, and not to have an issue with it. That’s worrying.<\/p>\n

The blue violinist on page 27 is\u00a0Rhapsody<\/strong>, a minor character from Peter David’s\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> run. The barman in the Green Lagoon is\u00a0the Blob<\/strong>, as usual. The guy being threatened by Corsair seems to be\u00a0Mole<\/strong>, a minor Morlock from\u00a0the Simonsons’\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> run who also appears in their issue of\u00a0X-Men Legends<\/em> this week. He was killed by Sabretooth in\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> vol 1 #53.<\/p>\n

PAGES 28-32.<\/strong> Some outsiders arrive in Sabretooth’s Hell.<\/em><\/p>\n

Probably? Or maybe they’re illusions. We’ll find out next time. Anyway, Sabretooth is blissfully torturing an imaginary Quiet Council when this unusual selection of characters shows up on his doorstep:<\/p>\n