{"id":9497,"date":"2023-10-11T23:02:49","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T22:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9497"},"modified":"2023-10-11T23:02:49","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T22:02:49","slug":"x-men-red-16-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9497","title":{"rendered":"X-Men Red #16 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 #16<\/strong>
\n“The Fall of Prometheus”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Al Ewing<\/strong>
\nArtist: Yildiray \u00c7inar<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Federico Blee<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Ariana Maher<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Jordan D White<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> The Horsemen pose in front of Port Prometheus.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.\u00a0<\/strong>Craig Marshall’s ship approaches Arakko.<\/em><\/p>\n

Craig Marshall\u00a0<\/strong>was last seen in issue #14, with the two kids Loolo <\/strong>and\u00a0Kobb<\/strong>. In that issue, he was simply wondering about leaving his part of Arakko for Port Prometheus, where Peter Corbeau had offered him a posting. Evidently he either accepted that posting, or otherwise made contact with Corbeau once war broke out. The fact that Kobb hasn’t talked since\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day<\/em> was mentioned by Craig in issue #11.<\/p>\n

Peter Corbeau<\/strong> makes his first actual appearance in\u00a0X-Men Red<\/em> here; he’s a NASA scientist who had some minor appearances in early Claremont X-Men. I don’t think he’s been seen on panel in years. He’s still wearing his yachting cap, which is nice.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The woman who “paints with truth” is Fisher King’s daughter Weaponless Zsen<\/strong>, who we last saw helping Cable in issues #8-10. She left Arakko to work as a mercenary (though we saw her as a child in Fisher King’s origin story last issue). Historically she’s tended to portray her mutant power as useless (and as something likely to present traumatic images), so it’s a change of pace for her to use it helpfully like this.<\/p>\n

The other two mercenaries are\u00a0Blackjack O’Hare<\/strong> and\u00a0the Prince of Power<\/strong>, both of whom were hanging around with Zsen when Cable recruited her in issue #8. Al Ewing previously used both characters in his\u00a0Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em> run. O’Hare started off as a Rocket Raccoon villain, but aside from the bit where he’s a humanoid rabbit, he’s a basically normal mercenary. The Prince of Power is a complete moron and a comic relief character, although he’s also the current keeper of the Power Stone (of the Infinity Stones), which makes him massively powerful. He’s basically well meaning but so dim as to be a liability in most situations. You’d have to be absolutely desperate to call him in, but then they are. His back story, which he references here, can be found in the 2021 Guardians of the Galaxy Annual<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.\u00a0<\/strong>The Horsemen destroy Port Prometheus.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Horsemen are part of the invading force that Genesis brought to Arakko last issue. As pointed out in the comments for the last issue, in\u00a0X-Men: Before the Fall – Heralds of Apocalypse<\/em>, there were only three seeds for the Arakko gate (which allowed travel even without a pre-existing gate at the other end). One was used by Genesis at the end of that issue to travel to Arakko; Apocalypse kept one; and the third was used by Genesis to bring her army to Arakko. That’s why she had to engineer a complex plan involving a sea monster in order to get the thing to Port Prometheus.<\/p>\n

The second panel at the top shows the Red Lagoon, Sunspot’s bar, in flames.<\/p>\n

PAGE 6.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.\u00a0<\/strong>Syzya recovers the Uranos trigger.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’re clearly meant to pick up on the similarities between Syzya and Nightcrawler here, though what significance that might have is anyone’s guess. As for the Uranos trigger…<\/p>\n

PAGE 8.\u00a0<\/strong>Data page: Xilo’s history of Arakko continues.<\/p>\n

During the\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day<\/em> crossover, the Eternals (then led by Druig) set Uranos loose on Arakko for an hour, and he caused absolute devastation. Xilo describes Uranos’s motivation as “his own interpretation of the Eternal Principles”; more precisely, a key theme of Kieron Gillen’s\u00a0Eternals<\/em> run is that the Eternals are bound by certain principles laid down by the Celestials, including the destruction of Deviants who have become excessively deviant, and have no power to break those principles, although they do have some freedom of interpretation. Uranos is a fundamentalist who believes that basically everything <\/em>is excessive deviation which needs to be destroyed. The reason why this might matter is that, although Uranos says later in the issue that he will attack everyone other than Storm’s faction if he’s given an hour on the loose, it’s not at all clear what’s keeping him to that rule or why he would care. After all, it’s inconsistent with his interpretation of the Principles.<\/p>\n

At the end of the story, as part of making amends, the Eternals (back under normal leadership) give the Arakki the ability to do the same thing at some point. This data page expands on the question of quite why the Arakki accepted this rather odd offer, not least because of their aversion to accepting help. The Arakki appear to have rationalised that it’s the best offer of amends that the Eternals can make within the confines of their programming, and that the Eternals can’t actually be destroyed without destroying Earth (to which they’re connected), which isn’t really a fight that the Arakki are up for.<\/p>\n

Lactuca seems to have been particularly keen on this point, which is interesting, since Lactuca rarely takes an active interest in anything that isn’t cosmically significant. Whether that’s because Lactuca wanted to avoid a war with Earth, or make sure that Arakko had access to Uranos, or both, isn’t clear.<\/p>\n

PAGE 9. <\/strong>Uranos tries to tempt Syzya.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s Druig in the background, sharing Uranos’s cell, and impaled on a crystal. The end of Judgment Day\u00a0<\/em>didn’t go well for him.<\/p>\n

PAGE 10.\u00a0<\/strong>Sunspot and Fisher King fly overhead.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sunspot says that “every death here is on me”. In issue #14, he was somewhat vague about what he was doing on Earth at the time of the Hellfire Gala. (“Business on Earth – very secret. Don’t ask.”)<\/p>\n

PAGE 11.\u00a0<\/strong>Famine destroys Port Prometheus.<\/em><\/p>\n

He’s a cheery fellow, isn’t he?<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-18.\u00a0<\/strong>Storm fights the Horsemen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Famine gets downed by Storm in one shot; War does a little better. Death makes sure to tell us that neither of them is quite dead.<\/p>\n

Storm makes the point that War is appealing to their pedigree, yet they sided with Annihilation rather than Genesis when they were in Amenth.<\/p>\n

Death, consistent with his portrayal in “X of Swords”, actually takes the code of honour stuff seriously, and is genuinely appalled by the behaviour of his fellow Horsemen – to the point where he kills Pestilence for interfering. He’s also smitten by Storm, as Pestilence points out, but he does seem to be sincere in the importance he attaches to his honour – it’s what gives his life meaning and justifies his actions to himself. Honestly, it was a little odd that he was willing to join this invasion in the first place, given the way he’s been written since “X of Swords”, but let’s assume that Death’s sense of honour extends to a feeling of obligation to align with his family. What seems to finally push him over the edge is Pestilence telling him directly that the traditions he cares about are no more than a means to an end, not just for her, but for everyone else. For Death, they are an end in themselves – which puts him in a position to reject Genesis’s interpretation of Arakki tradition as corrupted.<\/p>\n

During all this, Pestilence infects Nova with her plague, but it’s not clear that he’s actually dead yet. Nova’s last words are, as usual in this series, insisting that everything is up to him – he feels the responsibility of a solo hero even when he’s actually a secondary character in an ensemble title.<\/p>\n

PAGES 19-20. <\/strong>Uranos tries to tempt Storm.<\/em><\/p>\n

Page 20 is a data page, continuing the history of Arakko. Storm’s dilemma is whether to unleash Uranos on Genesis’s forces and hope to wipe them out… or just do it herself because she’s an Omega mutant. Uranos is essentially offering her the excuse of keeping her own hands clean.<\/p>\n

PAGES 21-22.\u00a0<\/strong>Apocalypse arrives.<\/em><\/p>\n

Apocalypse is using the third seed that he kept in Heralds of Apocalypse<\/em>. The creature perched on his shoulder is an unnamed daemon who was asking Apocalypse to mentor him in that one-shot. Someone in a cloak can be seen coming through the portal behind Apocalypse, who isn’t identified. (It’s not Lactuca – her cloak covers her face.)<\/p>\n

This is the site of the Autumn Palace, Magneto’s former home on Arakko. The “sun caged below” is Vulcan, who destroyed the Palace in issue #10, after which Storm and her allies combined their powers to imprison him underground.<\/p>\n

PAGE 23. <\/strong>Trailers. The Krakoan reads APOCALYPSE.<\/p>\n

PAGES 24-31. <\/strong>This is a Sunspot & Shark-Girl back-up story which has nothing to do with the main series; it’s one of a number of team-up back-up stories that have appeared in Marvel titles this year.<\/p>\n

Shark-Girl\u00a0<\/strong>is exactly what she looks like, though this story is quite unusual in showing her changing back into her human form. She was one of the students first introduced during\u00a0Wolverine and the X-Men<\/em>. She’s Brazilian, which is presumably the point of doing a team-up with her and Sunspot.<\/p>\n

The Isle of Snakes <\/strong>is a real place in Brazil – the proper name is Ilha de Queimada Grande – and it is indeed famous for its abundant snakes.<\/p>\n

King Cobra<\/b> is a pre-existing character – this is supposedly the second King Cobra, nephew of the original, who was introduced in the 2006 White Tiger<\/em> mini. I don’t know where this story got the idea that he’s a cult leader – he’s normally just a mercenary who has cobra powers, and if there’s a story out here that’s taken this angle on him, I’m not familiar with it. Equally, the Serpent Society is normally just a bunch of snake-themed mercenary villains from Captain America<\/em>, not the Serpent God-worshipping cultists seen here. And King Cobra II wasn’t a member anyway. (He was a member of the Serpent Squad, but they aren’t cultists either.) I honestly wonder if he’s been mixed up with somebody else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-MEN RED vol 2 #16 “The Fall of Prometheus” Writer: Al Ewing Artist: Yildiray \u00c7inar Colour artist: Federico Blee Letterer: Ariana Maher Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen Editor: Jordan D White COVER \/ PAGE 1. The Horsemen pose in front […]<\/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-9497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9497","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=9497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9499,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9497\/revisions\/9499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}