{"id":8087,"date":"2022-07-21T22:54:58","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8087"},"modified":"2022-07-21T22:54:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T21:54:58","slug":"knights-of-x-4-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=8087","title":{"rendered":"Knights of X #4 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>KNIGHTS OF X #4<\/strong>
\n“The Seat of the Self”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Tini Howard<\/strong>
\nArtist: Bob Quinn<\/strong>
\nColourist: Erick Arciniega<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Ariana Maher<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller<\/strong>
\nEditor: Sarah Brunstad<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Betsy walks towards an (empty) Siege Perilous, surrounded by shards with images of the rest of the cast.<\/p>\n

PAGE 2.<\/strong> Arthur’s forces continue their attack.<\/em><\/p>\n

PAGES 3-4.<\/strong> Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGES 5-6.<\/strong>\u00a0Jim Jaspers makes a portal to Mercator for the remaining Knights of X.<\/em><\/p>\n

The sacrifice.<\/b> We established last issue that Apocalypse’s grimoire predicted that a sacrifice would be required in order to get into Mercator; Rictor spent most of last issue thinking it could be him, until Gambit got killed in action instead. As Meggan reminds us, we established during “X of Swords” that mutants who die in Otherworld can’t be resurrected, except as rebooted blank slates.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Meggan<\/strong> is the only character who shows the conventional no-man-left-behind superhero reaction to a teammate dying. I pointed out back during issue #1 that she seemed to show up for the team gathering alongside Gambit, but she’s also just the most straightforwardly nice of the group.<\/p>\n

Kylun<\/strong> thinks for some reason that the Siege Perilous offers the best chance of helping Gambit, but quite why is anyone’s guess. Maybe he figures that the Siege is used to reboot people in new lives (as seen in 1989\/90\u00a0Uncanny<\/em>), and so that potentially interacts with Otherworld’s resurrection rules… somehow?<\/p>\n

PAGES 7-8.<\/strong>\u00a0Arthur’s forces pursue them through the portal.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mercator.<\/strong> This is the first time we’ve seen Mercator, which is apparently just the Siege Perilous writ large. The idea that “the Siege forces you to contend with your deepest, innermost self” is broadly the theme of the various Claremont-era reincarnations. The man in the suit is\u00a0Absolon Mercator<\/strong>, the reality-warping omega mutant who runs Mercator.<\/p>\n

PAGE 9.<\/strong> Data page – a letter from Arthur to Merlyn. Despite Absolon’s dismissal of Arthur in the previous scene, Arthur comes across rather better here, turning away from Merlyn’s agenda and stressing his perceived duties as king and father. So who knows, maybe Arthur will come out of the Siege Perilous in better shape than Absolon expects.<\/p>\n

PAGE 10.<\/strong>\u00a0Rictor in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’re now going into a series of one-page vignettes of each of the cast members in Mercator, which is a pretty sketchy way of having them confront their “deepest, innermost self”. This book has one more issue to go and I can’t help feeling this was meant to play out over a much longer timescale.<\/p>\n

Anyway, since Rictor’s powers are a kind of earth-moving, it’s ironic for him to be stuck in mud. He’s still loudly proclaiming his willingness to be the sacrifice, and being told by “Apocalypse” to stop aiming for a heroic demise that is no longer possible in Krakoa. (Um, except in Otherworld.) Rictor’s Apocalypse claims sole credit for Krakoan resurrection, despite actually having little or nothing to do with the technology.<\/p>\n

PAGE 11.<\/strong>\u00a0Meggan in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

Meggan’s scene involves a Brian who veers from affection to disdain; despite her insistence that “My Brian would never silence me like that”, there was always an uncomfortable power imbalance in their relationship, particularly in\u00a0Excalibur<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 12.<\/strong>\u00a0Mordred in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ve barely got to know this guy, and the fact that we’re racing to some sort of reconciliation with his father really feels like this was meant to come in six issues’ time. Anyway, Mordred’s vision involves him fighting his father, who tells him that they have to become friends.<\/p>\n

PAGE 13.<\/strong>\u00a0Betsy in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Captain Britain Corps show up to deride Betsy’s dreadful performance as a team leader; apparently she sees them, and the Captain Britain role they represent, as a symbol of duty. She “lost Gambit” last issue, and “gave up Shogo” in the sense of leaving him in Roma and Saturnyne’s care in issue #2. There is, obviously, something a bit odd about berating her “search for the Siege” when she’s literally just succeeded in it.<\/p>\n

Betsy says that she’s “been here before”, referencing\u00a0Uncanny X-Men<\/em> #251 (1989). That’s the issue where she enters the Siege Perilous in order to escape the Reavers; we didn’t actually see her inside the Siege before she emerged in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

PAGES 14-15.<\/strong>\u00a0Saturnyne and Roma with Shogo.<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, this feels quite abbreviated. As in the previous issue, Saturnyne and Roma are claiming that experiencing loss is somehow an essential stage in Shogo’s growth. Apparently it’ll allow him to change from a dragon into something a bit more practical. This seems to be something else that Gambit’s sacrifice opens the way for. In the meantime, they all head off to join the finale.<\/p>\n

PAGE 16.<\/strong>\u00a0Rachel in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rachel sees the woman from the previous issue who identifies her as Askani, but since she’s apparently fully aware of her surroundings and making contact with the outside world at the start of the issue, it’s not desperately obvious why she needs the prompt. She’s sent to go and help Betsy but… really, if she’s in a position to monitor events with Shogo, shouldn’t she be paying attention to her own teammates anyway? And in fact, Betsy doesn’t seem to be in any particular need of help – it’s the rest of the team that Rachel rescues.<\/p>\n

PAGE 17.<\/strong> Data page: Rachel as the Askani.<\/p>\n

This massive infodump is simply a recap of material that was being alluded to in previous issues, and which the book hasn’t had a chance to cover in any other way.<\/p>\n

Earth-811<\/strong> is, obviously, the Days of Future Past timeline.<\/p>\n

Variant Rachels.<\/strong> The idea that there are no variants of Rachel was repeatedly stressed in\u00a0Excalibur<\/em>, particularly “The Cross-Time Caper”. While an obvious explanation might have been that these other worlds lacked a Rachel because she was a time traveller who wasn’t native to the era – i.e., their local Rachels simply didn’t exist at that point in time –\u00a0Excalibur<\/em> made it abundantly clear that Rachel was unique and that this was in some way meant to be significant. The problem with this idea is that it contradicts other stories (most obviously issues of\u00a0What If…?<\/em>) in which alt-Rachels do appear. This page attempts to square that point off by claiming that these alt-Rachels are not strictly versions of the same Rachel; they’re very similar-looking sisters who happen to have been given the same name.<\/p>\n

“Rachel bravely took Captain Britain’s place when he was condemned to reality exile…”<\/strong> This is\u00a0Excalibur<\/em> #75 (1994), an issue which isn’t on Marvel Unlimited and is only really remembered for being an unskippable part of Rachel’s Askani back story.<\/p>\n

“A far distant future…”<\/strong> This is the far-future timeline where Cable grew up, but we’re not particularly concerned about that here. It’s a little unusual for this book to go out of its way to remind us of storylines where Apocalypse was a horrific tyrant.<\/p>\n

“In her travels, Rachel gathered followers…” <\/strong>This, including the supposed meaning of “Askani”, comes from\u00a0Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix<\/em> #1 (1994). However, the Askani’s goal as stated in that issue was not to “defend mutantkind” or to help mutants to thrive; on the contrary, Rachel (as Mother Askani) describes the apocalyptic world around her as one in which Apocalypse has already imposed mutant superiority. Originally, their main agenda is just to overthrow Apocalypse, but the idea that they’re also keen on altering history to prevent Apocalypse’s rise presumably comes from Cable’s return to the present. But that too was more about stopping Apocalypse. Basically, presenting them as some sort of specifically pro-mutant utopians is a retcon.<\/p>\n

“Rachel Summers’ unique ability of chronoskimming…”<\/strong> The term comes from Alan Davis’s\u00a0Excalibur<\/em>, but it alludes to the time-travel elements that were always present in Rachel’s abilities – her main role in “Days of Futures Past” is to send future Kate’s mind back to the present, after all.<\/p>\n

PAGE 18.<\/strong>\u00a0Shatterstar in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

He’s fighting Spiral and Adam X in the arenas of Mojoworld, referencing their battle for social media domination in\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> #3. Judging from this scene, Shatterstar seems a bit conflicted in his feelings about Rictor, who comes across as decidedly threatening.<\/p>\n

PAGES 19-20.<\/strong>\u00a0Bei in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is a callback to Bei and Cypher’s arranged shotgun wedding in\u00a0Excalibur<\/em> #14, as part of the absurdist “X of Swords” tournament, which Saturnyne randomly declared a win for both sides. Presumably, it’s a “compromise” in Bei’s mind because she married a total stranger who doesn’t accord with Arraki standards of heroism, though she seems genuinely affectionate towards him.<\/p>\n

PAGE 21.<\/strong>\u00a0Kylun in Mercator.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kylun is revisiting his exploits on Ee’rath, the alternate earth where he grew up after being transported by Widget in\u00a0Excalibur<\/em> #2 (1988). Sat’neen, the local Saturnyne, was his love interest, and evil sorcerer Necrom was his arch-enemy (who went on to fight Excalibur themselves). Sat’neen was killed by Necrom in\u00a0Excalibur<\/em> #46 (1991).<\/p>\n

PAGES 22-23.<\/strong>\u00a0The team reunite.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Rachel\/Betsy relationship has been fairly clearly foreshadowed in the last few issues.<\/p>\n

PAGE 24.<\/strong>\u00a0Shogo, Roma, Saturnyne and Merlyn arrive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Because there’s only one issue left…<\/p>\n

PAGE 25.<\/strong> Trailers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. KNIGHTS OF X #4 “The Seat of the Self” Writer: Tini Howard Artist: Bob Quinn Colourist: Erick Arciniega Letterer: Ariana Maher Design: Tom Muller Editor: Sarah Brunstad COVER \/ PAGE 1. Betsy walks towards an (empty) Siege Perilous, surrounded by shards […]<\/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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8087","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=8087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8089,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8087\/revisions\/8089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}