{"id":9774,"date":"2024-01-24T22:33:15","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T22:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9774"},"modified":"2024-01-24T23:00:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T23:00:59","slug":"x-force-48-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9774","title":{"rendered":"X-Force #48 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>X-FORCE vol 6 #48<\/strong>
\n“Game Recognizes Game”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Benjamin Percy<\/strong>
\nArtist: Robert Gill<\/strong>
\nColour artist: GURU-eFX<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Joe Caramagna<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Mark Basso<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1:<\/strong> Beast in a forest, leaping towards someone who’s looking at him through the scope of a sniper rifle. Quite a loose interpretation of the actual story.<\/p>\n

The first half of this issue is pretty much self explanatory, by the way.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.\u00a0<\/strong>The Beast breaks into the Greenhouse.<\/em><\/p>\n

X-Force set up their new Greenhouse base last issue, and Beast showed up at the end of the issue with his gun. From the look of it, whatever it is that he fires at Omega Red is meant to incapacitate.<\/p>\n

That’s Aurora and Northstar on page 4, who also arrived here last issue.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits. We’re expressly told that this comes before the current\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> storyline, and also before\u00a0Fall of the House of X\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Rise of the Powers of X<\/em> – all of which was clear from the last issue of\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> anyway, but there’s no harm in making it clear in this book too.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PAGES 6-8.\u00a0<\/strong>Beast steals a suit of Krakoan battle armour and escapes.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I’m dreaming about a nice stiff drink.”<\/strong> Sage’s alcoholism was a subplot in earlier issues.<\/p>\n

PAGES 9-10.\u00a0<\/strong>Sage reveals her Beast clone.<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ve seen Sage’s No-Place Tumour before. In issue #44, she was using it to store a ring created by Mikhail Rasputin. According to her, the Tumour serves as a “quiet room” and “deaden[s] most electric and telepathic transmissions”, so it’s a good safe place to hide things.<\/p>\n

“When we salvaged the wreckage of his HQ…”<\/strong> Beast’s mobile base, crewed by clones of himself, was destroyed by X-Force\u00a0in Wolverine\u00a0<\/em>#35. In the epilogue to that issue, Sage told Wolverine: “We destroyed the mobile base along with its arsenal, resurrection technology and most of the clones. Most\u00a0<\/em>of them. Three Wolverines remain missing. Along with, most frustrating of all, Beast Prime. And the Cerebro Sword.”<\/p>\n

With hindsight, that’s very cleverly worded (or reinterpreted, if it wasn’t the original plan). She said outright that some of the clones had survived. She strongly implied that she meant just the three missing Wolverine clones, but she didn’t actually say so. It’s highly misleading but it’s technically accurate.<\/p>\n

PAGES 11-12.\u00a0<\/strong>Sage argues for activating their own Beast.<\/em><\/p>\n

We established in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #31 that Beast is able not just to clone himself but to restore them from backups of his mind with apparent full personality. Quite how that fits with Krakoan resurrection being a special thing is, shall we say, unclear, but to be fair it’s not that far out of line for Marvel Universe technology generally. For the most part you can argue that the clones are just that – clones – but Beast did seemingly resurrect himself after being killed by Wolverine at the end of\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #30. Perhaps there are some shenanigans there involving the Five contributing at an earlier stage.<\/p>\n

At any rate… the Beast we have here is a duplicate, because the “real” Beast is still out there somewhere. Or, if you prefer, he’s just as real as the real Beast, who has himself been restored from back-up. We’ll see where they go with it, but if this is the back door to rehabilitate Beast, then “he’s a copy who has to live with the knowledge of what the original did” might be a more satisfying way of doing that.<\/p>\n

“That strategy has repeatedly failed.”<\/strong> Sage is presumably referring to Wolverine’s pursuit of Beast in\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #31-35, although Wolverine didn’t do\u00a0that<\/em> badly.<\/p>\n

MGH.<\/strong> Mutant Growth Hormone, a drug derived from mutant biochemistry which sometimes gives people temporary powers, depending on who’s writing. I’m not sure what it’s got to do with Beast. It was previously cited as something Beast had done wrong back in issue #39, though.<\/p>\n

The Legacy<\/strong> Virus.\u00a0<\/strong>This was on the issue #39 list too, and again, I don’t really understand why. Beast came up with a cure for the Legacy Virus which (for contrived plot reasons) required someone to die to activate it. That was the best he could manage. It’s silly, but why is that his fault?<\/p>\n

Threnody.<\/b> Also on the issue #39 list. In X-Men<\/em> vol 2 #27, Beast leaves Threnody in the care of Mr Sinister because he might be able to use her to cure the Legacy Virus, and therefore it serves the greater good. This\u00a0is<\/em> a legitimate early example of Beast’s current “ends justify the means” persona.<\/p>\n

“His alignment with the Inhumans.”<\/strong> Another one from issue #39, and another bad example. During the period when the Terrigen Mist was poisoning mutants, in Uncanny Inhumans <\/em>#1, Beast went to work with the Inhumans to try and find a cure, and with Storm’s agreement. He did<\/em> warn the Inhumans that the X-Men were planning to attack them, in\u00a0Inhumans vs X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“The Illuminati.”<\/strong> Beast became a member of the Illuminati when he inherited the Infinity Gem and some files on the Illuminati group from Professor X (who was dead at the time) in\u00a0New Avengers<\/em> vol 3 #2. This was during the period when the Illuminati were trying to build weapons to destroy other worlds in order to save their own.<\/p>\n

“The genocide in Terra Verde.”<\/strong> This is the storyline from two years ago where Beast uses telefloronics to take over the entire nation of Terra Verde, something that was stopped at the first Hellfire Gala, and which we’re supposed to believe the entire country agreed to keep quiet about. “Genocide” is pushing it a bit but it’s certainly some sort of crime against humanity.<\/p>\n

“The telefloronic space prison.”<\/strong> Issues #34-35. It was a secret prison where Beast was experimenting on the inmates.<\/p>\n

“The poisoning of Jeff Bannister’s daughter.”<\/strong>\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #30.<\/p>\n

“The assassination – and rebirth – of Wolverine.”<\/strong>\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #26-27. Beast uses it as an opportunity to shut down Wolverine’s mind for a time and turn him into a weapon.<\/p>\n

PAGES 13-14.\u00a0<\/strong>X-Force wake their Beast clone.<\/em><\/p>\n

“When Beast went rogue, he wiped all of his files in the Cerebro cradles. Except one.”<\/strong> Wolverine<\/em> #31. According to Sage in that issue, “All resurrection backups of Beast since the founding of Krakoa are gone, along with a good deal of what precedes them. Curiously, Beast did leave all files from the time period in which he joined the Avengers untouched. He must not have viewed anything about that version of himself as important or compromising.”<\/p>\n

Technically Sage contradicts that here, saying that only one of Beast’s back-ups remains. She also assumed in the earlier issue that Beast had left those files deliberately, while this time she acknowledges the possibility that it was an oversight.<\/p>\n

The New Defenders<\/strong> was a version of the Defenders that Beast organised as a more formal team than previous incarnations. The team also included Angel and Iceman. The book was renamed New Defenders <\/em>on the cover with issue #125, apparently changed name officially with issue #140, and was cancelled with issue #152, when it was basically replaced by X-Factor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“I remember he was committed to mutant rights. I remember, too, that he seemed happy.”<\/strong> This is footnoted to “Circa\u00a0New Defenders<\/em> #142″, which is 1985. It’s an interesting choice, since it’s a middle issue. It’s a story by Peter Gillis and Don Perlin in which Beast visits a college campus and does some campaigning for mutant rights. Student Adrian Castorp accuses him of being “a mutant Stepin’ Fetchit, a clown, when the world needs an advocate, a defender of mutant rights”. Castorp is a mutant with completely useless powers – he can see in infra-red, \u00a0he has six fingers on each hand, and he has a degenerative nerve condition which kills him at the end of the issue. The story ends with a suitably chastened Beast giving a more serious talk in which he publicly backs \u00a0a grass roots mutant rights campaign group called MONSTER – Mutants Only Need Sensitivity, Tolerance and Equal Rights.<\/p>\n

It’s possible<\/em> that Percy has singled out this story as a turning point where Beast experiences a political radicalisation that sets him on the wrong course – after all, practically the next thing he does is to join the dodgy mutant-hunting first incarnation of X-Factor. (A much better “what the hell was he thinking” example than some of the ones actually given in this story – but then Scott and Jean were involved too, and Jean’s a saint, so we can’t go there.)<\/p>\n

“He was then who he is now.”<\/strong> Sage naturally points out to Wolverine that his whole character arc is about the possibility of redemption.<\/p>\n

“I killed Beast before. And he’d booby trapped his body to attack everything in its kill zone.”<\/strong>\u00a0Wolverine<\/em> #30-31.<\/p>\n

PAGES 15-17.<\/strong> Beast II tries to escape and gets talked down.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sage’s pitch to Beast – that he’s been de facto <\/em>brought forward in time to deal with his corrupted older self – is a direct echo of Beast bringing the Silver Age X-Men to the present day in Brian Bendis’s\u00a0All-New X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Beast’s body has changed significantly since 1985, so the poor guy should also be a bit disoriented over that.<\/p>\n

“Oh my stars and garters”\u00a0<\/strong>was Beast’s catchphrase back when he was a cheerful character.<\/p>\n

PAGES 18-21.\u00a0<\/strong>Beast II escapes and learns what his future self has done.<\/em><\/p>\n

The idea seems to be that Beast’s clones, as potential future host bodies for himself, already had access to the Krakoan tech built in. It seems remarkable that Sage didn’t think to cancel Beast’s access, but her competence fluctuates pretty wildly depending on plot requirements, something we can chalk up to her being stressed (and\/or, in earlier issues, drunk).<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Hawthorne<\/strong> (1804-1864) was an American novelist, probably best known in the UK for\u00a0The Scarlet Letter<\/em>. The quote here comes from his diary, published as Passages from the American Notebooks<\/em>, rather than one of his novels.<\/p>\n

PAGE 22.<\/strong> Trailers. The Krakoan reads BEAST HUNT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. X-FORCE vol 6 #48 “Game Recognizes Game” Writer: Benjamin Percy Artist: Robert Gill Colour artist: GURU-eFX Letterer: Joe Caramagna Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen Editor: Mark Basso COVER \/ PAGE 1: Beast in a forest, leaping towards someone who’s looking […]<\/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-9774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9774","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=9774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9777,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9774\/revisions\/9777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}