{"id":9062,"date":"2023-05-10T22:51:43","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9062"},"modified":"2023-05-10T22:51:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T21:51:43","slug":"x-men-red-11-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9062","title":{"rendered":"X-Men: Red #11 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN: RED vol 2 #11<\/strong>
\n“A Storm on the Horizon”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Al Ewing<\/strong>
\nArtists: Stefano Casselli & Jacopo Camagni<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Federico Blee<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Ariana Maher<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1:<\/strong> Storm, surrounded by grasping, needy Professor Xs with Xs for mouths.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-6.\u00a0<\/strong>Storm’s date with Craig Marshall.<\/em><\/p>\n

Craig Marshall<\/strong> previously appeared in issue #6, where he was introduced as a soil scientist working for NASA who had spent the last month on Arakko studying the Krakoan terraforming process. He helped to save some children during Uranos’s attack on the planet as part of the\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day<\/em> crossover. Loolo was named in that issue; Kobb is named for the first time here. In\u00a0Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants\u00a0<\/em>#1, set in the Sins of Sinister timeline, Loolo shows up as “Loolo Marshall”, so apparently in that timeline he adopted her.<\/p>\n

Saucier<\/strong> is a background character from\u00a0Marauders<\/em>; he’s a mutant chef, though it’s unclear whether that has anything to do with his powers. He’s been somewhat condescending about humans in the past, but either he’s toned it down a bit, or he’s just being professional here.<\/p>\n

Arakko<\/strong> was terraformed in\u00a0Planet-Size X-Men<\/em> #1, though I can’t imagine many of you need to be told that.<\/p>\n

“The last person I had dinner with was Doctor Doom.”<\/strong> In\u00a0S.W.O.R.D.\u00a0<\/em>vol 2 #7. This seems to be the same location.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sobunar<\/strong> is the Great Ring member with aquatic powers, who spawned the entire aquatic biosphere of Arakko in\u00a0Planet-Size X-Men<\/em> #1.<\/p>\n

Argyre<\/strong> is an actual location on Mars – it’s an impact basin in the southern highlands. It’s named after an island from Greek mythology that was supposed to be made of silver.<\/p>\n

“Fisher’s way. You can’t heal it if you don’t say the pain aloud.”<\/strong> The Fisher King gives a speech to this effect in issue #1, though he presents it there as a typical Arakkii attitude.<\/p>\n

“I got my briefing from Commander<\/strong> Brand…”\u00a0<\/strong>Abigail Brand consistently run down Arakko in the early issues of this series, generally presenting it as the one-dimensional place that it… well,\u00a0was<\/em> in a lot of previous stories. She was obviously trying to engineer conflict.<\/p>\n

“What happened to her?”<\/strong> Abigail’s plans were exposed in issue #9 and she fled. She teleported to an unidentified secret location where Fisher King was inexplicably waiting for her. He appeared to be promising (or threatening) some kind of re-making of her personality. Storm is either lying about Abigail’s whereabouts or, more likely, unaware of Fisher King’s involvement.<\/p>\n

“I was always a Night Thrasher fan myself.”<\/strong> The mention of Nova prompts Craig to remember Nova’s teammate in the New Warriors.<\/p>\n

Professor X\u00a0<\/strong>claims that he’s calling Storm for an urgent meeting but there’s no real sign in the rest of the issue that this couldn’t have waited.<\/p>\n

“When I was young, Charles Xavier inserted himself into my life to tell me what I was not.”<\/strong> In\u00a0Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1, where he recruits her into the X-Men.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong> Recap and credits. The lengthy “special thanks” credits are for the original creative teams on the comics panels used on page 16, I assume.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-11.\u00a0<\/strong>Sunspot, Nova and Kobak.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sunspot<\/strong> and\u00a0Nova<\/strong> presumably need no introduction. As usual in this series, Nova is convinced that everything depends on him. He even keeps his helmet on in the hot tub, though he does claim that it’s serving a practical purpose in controlling his powers. Kobak <\/strong>first appeared, challenging Storm for a seat on the Great Ring, in a cameo in S.W.O.R.D.\u00a0<\/i>#9. He was hanging around with Sunspot in issue #1.<\/p>\n

The Proscenium<\/strong> is a diplomatic hub introduced in\u00a0Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em> vol 6 #7 (in 2020), which served as the Guardian’s headquarters for a while. I believe this is the first mention of it being destroyed, but no doubt it’ll play into storylines over in\u00a0Guardians<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“Rogue Brood.”<\/strong> Referring to the current\u00a0X-Men \/ Captain Marvel<\/em> storylines about Brood acting outside Broo’s control.<\/p>\n

“Some narcissistic billionaire in a fancy suit.”<\/strong> Iron Man, but Sunspot pretends Nova is referring to him.<\/p>\n

Soccer\u00a0<\/strong>was Sunspot’s favourite sport in the early issues of\u00a0New Mutants<\/em> vol 1.<\/p>\n

“Did I hear Firestar was on Krakoa now?”<\/strong> She’s joined the X-Men. Firestar was another member of the New Warriors, and so she has a closer connection with Nova than she does with most X-characters.<\/p>\n

Calderak<\/strong> is the big lava guy who challenged Storm in S.W.O.R.D. <\/em>vol 2 #8. The tournament to fill the vacant seats is prompted by the deaths and \u00a0resignations of various Great Ring members in\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Lycaon<\/strong> is a new character, but he’s named after a character from Greek myth who was turned into a wolf by Zeus.<\/p>\n

Idyll<\/strong>, the Great Ring’s seer, was killed in issue #5.<\/p>\n

The External Gate<\/strong> was created by Apocalypse as part of his efforts to make contact with Arakko in the run-up to “X of Swords”. Sunspot appears to be anticipating that Apocalypse himself might be returning.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-20.\u00a0<\/strong>Storm and Professor X.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Nurturing the crops of the people who gave me a home and support when I had neither.”<\/strong> In other words, what Storm was doing in\u00a0Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1 before Professor X recruited her. The flashback at the top of page 13 is a direct repeat of dialogue from that issue. The story\u00a0is<\/em> somewhat disdainful of the importance of the African community that Storm was living in, though Professor X does also have a point that she wasn’t achieving her potential by using her powers only on such a local level. I’ve never liked the Storm recruitment scene, which has always struck me as condescending.<\/p>\n

“The greatest good for the greatest number.”\u00a0<\/strong>Utilitarianism, in other words.<\/p>\n

“My X-Men were dying… My children – and I was alone!”<\/strong> In Giant-Size X-Men<\/em> #1 as originally published, Professor X recruits the new X-Men because the original team have been captured by Krakoa. The\u00a0Deadly Genesis<\/em> miniseries muddies this picture considerably, since at the very least is shows that Moira was available to him as a source of support – but it’s very hard to reconcile with the current interpretation of Krakoa and looks to have been politely consigned to We Shall Not Speak Of This Again. At any rate, Professor X’s insistence that he had no one else to turn to is clearly intended to echo his current position on Krakoa, which in turn links back to Magneto’s dying concerns about him (see below).<\/p>\n

Magneto’s names.<\/strong> Magneto’s real name was originally given as Magnus, and got retconned to Erik Lehnsherr in the 90s. It was then retconned again to Max Eisenhardt in\u00a0X-Men: Magneto – Testament<\/em> in 2008, which (after a while) stuck. Professor X is essentially acknowledging here that he knew Magneto, who he regards as his oldest friend, under aliases which kept some degree of distance between them.<\/p>\n

“When Magnus died, I was engaged in psychic warfare on a scale you cannot imagine.”<\/strong> This is true; the Krakoan psychics were locked in battle with the Eternals at the time.<\/p>\n

“Now, I am sole captain of the ship of state.”<\/strong> An interesting comment given that\u00a0Immortal X-Men<\/em> #11 has Professor X essentially marginalised in terms of his votes on the Council. Even though he accepted this, Professor X seems to think that his symbolic value still outweighs it.<\/p>\n

“This business with Sinister… how he infected me with his psyche…”<\/strong> This is the plot of “Sins of Sinister”. As of\u00a0Immortal X-Men<\/em> #11, Professor X is meant to be free of Sinister’s influence, and he wasn’t actually under it for very long at all in the mainstream timeline.<\/p>\n

Magneto’s last words<\/strong> are basically as described by Storm. The scene is in issue #7. Magneto’s actual last words were to talk about his daughter. As Storm notes, though, he finished his speech about Charles by telling Storm to “watch him”. Whether distancing herself from him, and telling him not to come to Arakko again, really meets the spirit of that request, may be open to doubt.<\/p>\n

Page 16\u00a0<\/strong>is a montage of Storm’s memories, mostly either involving her asserting her authority, or Professor X undercutting it. As best as I can figure:<\/p>\n