Tag: chris claremont

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Comics People’s History of the Marvel Universe

People’s History of the Marvel Universe, Week 22: Anti-Mutant Prejudice and Mutant Rights in the Longue Durée

Great question!

This is a difficult question to answer, because Chris Claremont was very much of the “torture your darlings” school of comics writing, believing that the way to wring endless drama out of your characters was to keep piling tragedy on tragedy on top of them before finally giving them a moment of catharsis. This was especially true for how he handled the mutant metaphor from as far back as X-Men #99, where even when the X-Men saved the day, it would only seem to further fan the flames of anti-mutant prejudice.

That being said, Claremont didn’t present an unchanging portrait of anti-mutant prejudice constantly getting worse and worse – after all, the very beating heart of dramatic structure is variation, without which even the most grimdark tragedy becomes numbing and monotonous. So there are definitely key moments in the Claremont run where the X-Men are able to score a victory for mutantkind.

Perhaps the first and most famous instance of the mutants notching a win comes in the climax of God Loves, Man Kills – Claremont’s first great Statement Comic about bigotry. After having foiled the Reverend Stryker’s plans to exterminate mutantkind by kidnapping Charles Xavier and using a Cerebro-like device to project lethal strokes into mutant brains across the world, the X-Men confront Stryker on live T.V – again, part of Chris Claremont’s endless fascination with the power of media to shape our minds that would recur in Fall of the Mutants – fighting him on the level of ideology and rhetoric. Kitty Pryde is able to bait Stryker into attempted murder in front of the television cameras, ending his crusade of hate:

(I’ll do a full in-depth analysis of God Loves, Man Kills and how it both codifies and reveals Chris Claremont’s approach to the mutant metaphor in a future issue of PHOMU.)

The next big moment of victory I’ve already written about in PHOMU Week 20, was Fall of the Mutants. In this storyline, the X-Men face off against Freedom Force and the Registration Act and ultimately sacrifice their lives to save the world in Dallas – once again, using the power of rhetoric and media to strike back against discrimination and oppression.

After that, Claremont’s next (and arguably last) big victory for mutant rights came in the “Genoshan Saga.” (I’ll also be doing an in-depth analysis of Genosha in a future issue of PHOMU.) Beginning in UXM #235 and winding its way through Inferno and the X-Tinction Agenda, the fictional nation of Genosha was Chris Claremont’s big Statement about apartheid South Africa. An island nation off the east coast of Africa, Genosha seems to be a utopia free of poverty, crime, and disease – but its entire society rests on a foundation of mutant slavery, where mutants are press-ganged, mind-controlled, and genetically-manipulated to serve the human ruling class.

After a series of clashes between the X-Men and the Genoshan Magistrates, the X-Men defeat Genosha’s anti-mutant military and their cyborg ally Cameron Hodge. But whereas most superhero comics end with the heroes foiling the evil plan of the supervillain and restoring the status quo, this time Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson went a step beyond the norm and had the X-Men carry out a political revolution that brings lasting structural change – toppling the Genoshan government and abolishing apartheid.

Under the pen of later writers like Joe Pruett, Fabien Nicieza, and (most enduringly) Grant Morrison, the island of Genosha would be refashioned as a mutant homeland, a prosperous and advanced nation of sixteen million mutants ruled by Magneto. (Yet again, a topic for another issue of PHOMU.) Arguably ever since then, the story of the X-Men has been the story of the struggle to restore mutantkind to the position it was in before Cassandra Nova ended the first mutant nation-state, culminating in HOXPOX and the foundation of Krakoa. (A topic we’ll be covering next year when FOTHOX/ROTPOX writes the final chapter in the Krakoan Era.)

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Comics People’s History of the Marvel Universe

People’s History of the Marvel Universe, Week 21: X-Men Blue Origins and the Power of the Additive Retcon

(WARNING: heavy spoilers for X-Men Blue Origins)

Introduction

If you’ve been a long-time X-Men reader, or you’re a listener of Jay & Miles or Cerebrocast or any number of other LGBT+ X-Men podcasts, you probably know the story about how Chris Claremont wrote Mystique and Destiny as a lesbian couple, but had to use obscure verbiage and subtextual coding to get past Jim Shooter’s blanket ban on LGBT+ characters in the Marvel Universe.

Likewise, you’re probably also familiar with the story that, when Chris Claremont came up with the idea that Raven Darkholme and Kurt Wagner were related (a plot point set up all the way back in Uncanny X-Men #142), he intended that Mystique was Nightcrawler’s father, having used her shapeshifting powers to take on a male body and impregnate (her one true love) Irene. This would have moved far beyond subtext – but it proved to be a bridge too far for Marvel editorial, and Claremont was never able to get it past S&P.

This lacuna in the backstories of Kurt and Raven – who was Kurt’s father? – would remain one of the enduring mysteries of the X-Men mythos…and if there’s one thing that comic writers like, it’s filling in these gaps with a retcon.

Enter the Draco

Before I get into the most infamous story in all of X-Men history, I want to talk about retcons a bit. As I’ve written before:

“As long as there have been comic books, there have been retcons. For all that they have acquired a bad reputation, retcons can be an incredibly useful tool in comics writing and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Done right, retcons can add an enormous amount of depth and breadth to a character, making their worlds far richer than they were before. Instead, I would argue that retcons should be judged on the basis of whether they’re additive (bringing something new to the character by showing us a previously unknown aspect of their lives we never knew existed before) or subtractive (taking away something from the character that had previously been an important part of their identity), and how well those changes suit the character.”

For a good example of an additive retcon, I would point to Chris Claremont re-writing Magneto’s entire personality by revealing that he was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. As I have argued at some length, this transformed Magneto from a Doctor Doom knockoff into a complex and sympathetic character who could now work as a villain, anti-villain, anti-hero, or hero depending on the needs of the story.

For a good example of a subtractive retcon, I would point to…the Draco. If you’re not familiar with this story, the TLDR is that it was revealed that Kurt’s father was Azazel – an evil ancient mutant with the same powers and the same appearance (albeit color-shifted) as Kurt, who claims to be the devil and is part of a tribe of demonic-looking mutants who were banished to the Brimstone Dimension, and who fathered Nightcrawler as part of a plot to end this banishment.

I don’t want to belabor Chuck Austen, because I think that Connor Goldsmith is right about his run actually being a camp cult classic in retrospect. However, I think we both agree that the Draco was a misfire, because of how the retcon undermined Kurt’s entire thematic purpose as established in Giant-Size X-Men that Nightcrawler was actually a noble and arguably saintly man who suffered from unjust prejudice due to the random accident that his mutation made him appear to be a demon, and because of how the retcon undermined the centrality of Mystique and Destiny’s relationship.

X-Men Blue Origins

This brings us to the Krakoan era. In HOXPOX and X-Men and Inferno, Jonathan Hickman had made Mystique and Destiny a crucial part of the story in a way that they hadn’t been in decades: they were the great nemeses of Moira X, they were the force that threatened to burn Krakoa to the ground by revealing the devil’s bargain that Xavier had struck with SInister (and Moira), they were the lens through which the potential futures of Krakoa were explored, and they ultimately reshaped the Quiet Council and the Five in incredibly consequential ways.

This throughline was furthered after Hickman’s departure, with Kieron Gillen exploring the backstories of Mystique and Destiny in Immortal X-Men and Sins of Sinister, and both Gillen and Si Spurrier exploring their relationship with Nightcrawler in AXE Judgement Day, Sins of Sinister, Way of X, Legion of X, Nightcrawlers, and Sons of X. One of the threads that wove through the interconnected fabric of these books was an increasing closeness between Kurt and Irene that needed an explanation. Many long-time readers began to anticipate that a retcon about Kurt’s parentage was coming – and then we got X-Men Blue: Origins.

In this one issue, Si Spurrier had the difficult assignment of figuring out a way to “fix” the Draco and restore Claremont’s intended backstory in a way that was surgical and elegant, that served the character arcs of Kurt, Raven, and Irene, and that dealt with complicated issues of trans and nonbinary representation, lesbian representation, disability representation, and the protean nature of the mutant metaphor. Thanks to help from Charlie Jane Anders and Steve Foxe, I think Spurrier succeeded tremendously.

I don’t want to go through the issue beat-by-beat, because you should all read it, but the major retcon is that Mystique turns out to be a near-Omega level shapeshifter, who can rewrite themselves on a molecular level. Raven transformed into a male body and impregnated Irene, using bits of Azazel and many other men’s DNA as her “pigments.” In addition to being a deeply felt desire on both their parts to have a family together, this was part of Irene’s plan to save them both (and the entire world) from Azazel’s schemes, a plan that required them to abandon Kurt as a scapegoat-savior (a la Robert Graves’ King Jesus), and to have Xavier wipe both their memories.

Now, I’m not the right person to write about what this story means on a representational level; I’ll leave it to my LGBT+ colleagues on the Cerebrocast discord and elsewhere to discuss the personal resonances the story had for them.

What I will say, however, is that I thought this issue threaded the needle of all of these competing imperatives very deftly. It “fixed” the Draco without completely negating it, it really deepened and complicated the characters and relationships of both Raven and Irene (by showing that, in a lot of ways, Destiny is the more ruthless and manipulative of the two), and it honored Kurt’s core identity as a man of hope and compassion (even if it did put him in a rather thankless ingénue role for much of the book).

It is the very acme of an additive retcon; nothing was lost, everything was gained.

I still think the baby Nightcrawler is just a bad bit, but then again I don’t really vibe with Spurrier’s comedic stylings.

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Conventions

The Harvey Awards Hall of Fame Inductees for 2023 revealed

The Harvey Awards have revealed this year’s inductees into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame in advance of the ceremony taking place at New York Comic Con. The 2023 Harvey Awards include six renowned creators being honored: Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, Marv Wolfman, the late George Pérez, and Bill Griffith.

The Harvey Awards Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized at the 35th annual awards ceremony on Friday, October 13, 2023, during New York Comic Con.

The Harvey Awards Committee is co-chaired by Nellie Kurtzman, John Lind, and Chip Mosher. Chris D’Lando and Camilla Di Persia of ReedPop and Eden Miller coordinate the awards.

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Comics

Chris Claremont celebrates 50 years of Wolverine with Wolverine: Madripoor Knights

For 50 years, he’s been the best there is at what he does, and starting in January 2024, Marvel celebrates the milestone anniversary of Wolverine with a berserker’s rage worth of excitement, including Chris Claremont’s return to the character this February in Wolverine: Madripoor Knights!

Having defined the character for decades in his legendary work on Uncanny X-Men and helming the character’s first solo adventures, there’s no better creator to kick things off, and Claremont will mark the occasion by following up on the events of one of the his most beloved Wolverine tales: Uncanny X-Men #268. Featuring iconic artwork by Jim Lee, this blockbuster issue is a hallmark of 90s X-Men. The saga includes Wolverine’s earliest meeting with Captain America during World War II as they team up to rescue a young Natasha Romanoff and connects it with a present-day Wolverine adventure where he fights alongside Black Widow in Madripoor. It’s a one-issue masterpiece of epic storytelling, and now fans can experience a long-awaited sequel to this undisputed classic!

The five-issue limited series will be drawn by acclaimed artist Edgar Salazar, who got his claws bloody in the recent X-23: Deadly Regenesis series. Together, Claremont and Salazar will pick things up where Uncanny X-Men #268 left off as Captain America joins Wolverine and Black Widow in the dangerous streets of Madripoor to hunt down a planet-threatening weapon and…the multiple enemies looking to control it!

CLAREMONT, CAP, WIDOW, and WOLVERINE—TOGETHER AGAIN! When a secret weapon brings Captain America to Madripoor, the trio team-up you’ve been waiting decades for will finally come to pass as the mission brings Logan and Black Widow into a race against time, against a multitude of foes, including the Hand!  You’ve been waiting for this one…and you’ll never guess where it goes!

Check out Philip Tan’s cover for issue one below and stay tuned in the coming months for more Wolverine 50th anniversary announcements including a variant cover program, new series launches, and more!

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Comics

Russell Dauterman spotlights the greatest love story in mutant history in a X-Men Blue: Origins #1 cover

Since his earliest days with the X-Men under writer Chris Claremont, the circumstances of Nightcrawler’s birth have been the subject of rumors, half-truths, and heartbreak—until now! This November, Si Spurrier, the writer who’s masterfully guided the character through the Krakoan age, will clear away all the lies to tell the definitive Nightcrawler origin story in X-Men Blue: Origins #1! With art by Wilton Santos and Marcus To, this special one-shot will deliver a rousing saga that spans mutant history with revelations that X-Men fans have longed for.

You think you know the tale of Mystique and Azazel’s devilish affair, but what role did Mystique’s true love, Destiny play? Their beautiful romance has steered the course of mutantdom throughout the century, and when they reunited on Krakoa, they became two of mutantkind’s most prominent leaders. Now, with FALL OF X spiraling around them, it’s time to spill their biggest secret! Fans can celebrate this pivotal moment for this iconic Marvel couple with Russell Dauterman’s new X-Men Blue: Origins #1 variant cover. The gorgeous piece blends the passion and doom of their storied relationship spectacularly and is perfect for what is sure to be one of the most talked about issues of the year!

And X-Men Blue: Origins #1 is not the only chapter of Nightcrawler’s Fall of X transformation! The one-shot will spin out of his adventures in Spurrier and Lee Garbett’s Uncanny Spider-Man limited series. After the devastating events of the Hellfire Gala, Kurt Wagner is on the run – and having the time of his life?! On the darkest of days, he is the spark in the shadows! Swashbuckling about NYC in disguise, the Uncanny Wallcrawler sets aside his mutant angst and dedicates himself to the hero’s life: saving civilians, hanging with fellow wallcrawlers, battling baddies, and hunting down the best pizza on the planet. But he can’t ignore the mutant plight forever…  Between X-Men Blue: Origins #1 and this joyful series, Nightcrawler will be shaken to his foundations – and have a hell of a good time doing it!

Check out Dauterman’s breathtaking cover below and learn the truth behind Nightcrawler’s birth once and for all in X-Men Blue: Origins #1 this November. For Nightcrawler’s full journey through Fall of X, pick up Uncanny Spider-Man #1 on September 20!

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Conventions

Chris Claremont is coming to Baltimore Comic-Con 2023

Come to the Baltimore Comic-Con this September 8-10 at the Baltimore Convention Center in the Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Baltimore Comic-Con has announced the return of one of comics’ most influential writers, Chris Claremont. Get your tickets for the show online now.

Writer Chris Claremont has encountered more success than most writers ever dream of. He is a NY Times best-selling author, been awarded the prestigious Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters by Bard College, his alma mater, Italy’s Yellow Kid life time achievement award, and been inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards Hall of Fame. His papers are collected in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University, New York.

Chris’s stories are trend-setters for the industry. Although best known for his work on Marvel Comics’ X-Men series where he created the characters of Legion, The New Mutants, Dark Phoenix, Rogue, Gambit, Sabretooth, Kitty Pryde, and Mystique amongst many others, he has also written seminal characters such as Batman and Superman, originated Wolverine, The New Mutants, and Captain Britain for Marvel, and written several creator-owned series. Chris is published world-wide in many different languages. He has authored nine novels. He has spoken at Princeton, MIT, U Penn, and Columbia University, has taught at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, and has appeared on television in the US and abroad. He is the subject of monographs and documentaries. His work has touched millions.

Chris’s initial unbroken 17-year run on Marvel Comics’ The Uncanny X-Men is the stuff of industry legend. During that tenure, he took a lackluster series and transformed it into the dominant, best-selling title in the industry. His run culminated with the launch of the new title, X-Men. The first issue sold over 7.9 million copies. No one has come close to breaking this record. It is a conservative estimate Chris has sold in excess of 750,000,000 comics world-wide.

Chris’s work on the X-Men has brought resounding creative success. The story arc “Dark Phoenix,” with its radical treatment of the story’s central character, paved the way for the reinterpretation of superhero mythos throughout the comics industry. The graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills examines morality in all its guises, adding a sophistication to comics theory, and is the subject of academic papers. He has made Wolverine a household name.

Chris is well known for his progressive treatment of women in a genre that oftentimes relies on stereotype. Active, intelligent, courageous women characters such as Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, Mystique, Rogue, and Storm have made Chris’s X-Men as popular with women readers as men, a rarity in the comics field.

Chris is equally well-known for his ground-breaking stories that fight prejudice and speak out for inclusivity for all, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. These themes are highlighted in the “Genosha” story arcs in The Uncanny X-Men, and the “Mekanix” and “Intifada” story arcs in X-Treme X-Men.

Chris embraced mutants as a metaphor for all who are viewed as outsiders by the majority. Such daring real-word topics are rarely tackled in the conservative mainstream comics industry. Chris took this on at personal and professional risk.

The Summer of 2000 saw the release of the feature film X-Men, based largely on material created by Chris. The second Wolverine movie is based on the graphic novel Wolverine by Chris and Frank Miller. The X-Men movie Days of Future Past hews to his story arc. The trend-breaking TV series Legion is based on his characters, as is the movie The New Mutants. Chris’s stories are responsible for billions in movie profits.

Chris’s new work for Marvel out in 2021 include a Gambit-Storm five issue miniseries with art by Sid Kotian, and a Night Crawler special issue with art by Rick Leonardi.

Chris is especially proud of his creator-owned work, which includes the historic fantasies The Black Dragon and Marada, the She-Wolf (artist: John Bolton) and the comic book series Sovereign 7. Chris’s prose novels include the science fiction High Frontier series First Flight, Grounded!, Sundowner, the fantasy series Shadow Moon, Shadow Dawn, and Shadow Star (co-authored with George Lucas), and the dark fantasy Dragon Moon. Chris is hard at work on new projects for comics, prose, and film.

This year’s confirmed guests for the show include: Dan Abdo (Blue, Barry & Pancakes), Arthur Adams (Longshot), Sarah Andersen (Sarah’s Scribbles), Mirka Andolfo (Sweet Paprika), Art Baltazar (Yahgz), Jeremy Bastian (Dune: House Harkonnen), Marty Baumann (Pixar artist), Carolyn Belefsky (Curls), Brian Michael Bendis (Action Comics), Jon Bogdanove (The Death of Superman), Judy Bogdanove (Steel Annual), Russ Braun (The Boys), Dan Brereton (Nocturnals), Harold Buchholz (Sweetest Beasts), Mark Buckingham (Fables), Greg Burnham (Tuskegee Heirs), Jim Calafiore (NED, Lord of the Pit), Chris Campana (Death Dealer), Joe Carabeo (Black Magic Tales), Richard Case (Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror), Castillo Studios, Howard Chaykin (Time Squared), Jo Chen (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jim Cheung (Young Avengers), Frank Cho (Harley Quinn), Amy Chu (KISS: The End), Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men), Brian Clevinger (Atomic Robo), Steve Conley (The Middle Age), Katie Cook (Nothing Special), Nick Davis (Night Guardians), Deans Family (Crass Fed), Mike DeCarlo (The Simpsons, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Vito Delsante (Stray), Abby Denson (Uniquely Japan), Todd Dezago (The Perhapanauts), Derec Donovan (Adventures of Superman), Jan Duursema (Star Wars: The High Republic), Garth Ennis (The Boys), David Finch (Moon Knight), Tony Fleecs (Stray Dogs), Chris Flick (Capes and Babes), Scott Fogg (Phileas Reid Knows We’re Not Alone), Tana Ford (LaGuardia), Trish Forstner (Stray Dogs), Franco (Fae and the Moon), John Gallagher (Max Meow), Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez (DC Nation), Ron Garney (BZRKR), Joe Getsinger (Finding Jack Kirby in a Pile of Zinc), Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules!), Mike Grell (Jon Sable), Dawn Griffin (Zorphbert & Fred), Chris Gugilotti (Teen Titans Go!), Gene Ha (Mae), Laura Lee Gulledge (Page by Paige), Bob Hall (West Coast Avengers), Cully Hamner (Blue Beetle), Bo Hampton (Batman: Castle of the Bat), Brian Haberlin (Spawn), Scott Hanna (Amazing Spider-Man), Tony Harris (The Whistling Skull), Dean Haspiel (Covid Cop), Mike Hawthorne (Deadpool), Marc Hempel (Sandman), Greg Hildebrandt (Star Wars), Morry Hollowell (Old Man Logan), Jamal Igle (Superman), Mark Irwin (Green Lantern), Klaus Janson (Daredevil), Geoff Johns (Geiger), Dave Johnson (100 Bullets), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Alien), J.G. Jones (Wanted), Kata Kane (Altar Girl), Chris Kemple (Artist Alley Comics), Tom King (The Penguin), Barry Kitson (Amazing Spider-Man), Jae Lee (Inhumans), Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer), Nate Lovett (Dungeons & Dragons), Matthew Loux (Prunella and the Cursed Skull Ring), David Mack (Kabuki), Kevin Maguire (Justice League), Tom Mandrake (Spectre), Laura Martin (Nubia: Queen of the Amazons), Mariano Brothers (Claire Lost Her Bear at the World’s Fair), Ron Marz (Green Lantern), Jason May (LEGO Club Magazine), Mike McKone (Red Goblin), Bob McLeod (New Mutants), Adriana Melo (Action Comics), Pop Mhan (Gears of War 3), Al Milgrom (Spectacular Spider-Man), Karl Moline (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Mark Morales (Thor), Trevor Mueller (Re-Possessed), Sarah Myer (Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story), Jamar Nicholas (Leon: Protector of the Playground), Jason Patterson (Blue, Barry & Pancakes), David Pepose (Savage Avengers), Andrew Pepoy (Simone & Ajax), David Petersen (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen), Brandon Peterson (Uncanny X-Men), Richard and Wendy Pini (Elfquest), Ed Piskor (Red Room: Trigger Warnings), Joe Prado (Superman), Tom Raney (Green Lantern), Afua Richardson (Omni), Christopher Ring (Seamus (the Famous)), Don Rosa (Uncle Scrooge), Peter Rostovsky (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force), Craig Rousseau (The Perhapanauts), Arsia Rozegar (Shahnameh For Kids), Steve Rude (Nexus), Jim Rugg (Hulk Grand Design), Andy Runton (Owly), Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man), Stuart Sayger (The Joker), Alex Simmons (Archie), Louise Simonson (The Death of Superman 30th Anniversary Special), Walter Simonson (Thor), Matt Slay (Equilibrium), John K. Snyder III (Suicide Squad), Sozomaika (DC Power: A Celebration), Mark Sparacio (Omega Paradox), Joe Staton (Dick Tracy), Jim Starlin (Dreadstar), Brian Stelfreeze (Black Panther), Philip Tan (Web of Carnage), John Timms (Superman: Son of Kal-El), Peter Tomasi (Batman and Robin), Gus Vazquez (Sunfire and Big Hero Six), Emilio Velez Jr. (The Dodgeball Teens), Dexter Vines (Civil War, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Wade von Grawbadger (Justice League), Adam Wallenta (Punk Taco), Todd Webb (Mr. Toast Comics), Lee Weeks (Batman), Scott Wegener (Atomic Robo), Joey Weiser (Ghost Hog), Mark Wheatley (Skultar), Emily S. Whitten (The Underfoot), Bob Wiacek (All-New Wolverine, courtesy of Hero Initiative), Keith Williams (Thor the Worthy), Marcus Williams (Tuskegee Heirs), Rich Woodall (Electric Black), John Workman (Wild Things), Caitlin Yarsky (Black Hammer Reborn), and Thom Zahler (Love and Capes).

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Comics History Spotlight

The Burden of the X-Men’s Cyclops

One of the most striking aspects of Chris Claremont‘s early run on X-Men is the characterization of Cyclops. I want to focus on the first three issues after Giant-Size X-Men and the insight it gives us into the mind of Cyclops. The defining character trait of Cyclops in those early issues is his sense of duty and his commitment to the life of a hero above all else. 

In X-Men #94, the members of the pre-Giant Sized team leave. Angel, Iceman, Havok, Polaris, and Jean Grey decide they have outgrown their role as X-Men and that it’s time to finally graduate from Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters. Cyclops decides to stay with the team, he feels an obligation to the life of a hero, a sense that if he doesn’t lead the X-Men what would happen? What is the cost of failure? 

Cyclops drives the new team hard and himself harder. He puts them through rigorous training to shape them into a well-oiled machine. However, he butts heads with fellow X-Man Thunderbird. Thunderbird is hot-headed and has a desire to prove himself. While the two are arguing they are called away on a mission to stop Count Nefaria from unleashing a nuclear holocaust on the world. During the ensuing events in X-Men #95 Thunderbird dies taking down Nefaria. The X-Men are devastated but no one more than Cyclops.

Cyclops personally blames himself for Thunderbird’s death. As the X-Men’s leader, he holds himself accountable for the loss. He tortures himself and goes over the events again and again in his head. He holds himself to an unrealistic moral ideal and when he fails he takes it personally. For as hard as he is on the X-Men ultimately he does it because he cares deeply for them. 

It’s become somewhat of a joke in the current Krakoa era of X-Men that Cyclops has a plan for every contingency. Here a similar obsessiveness is present but played much more seriously. He prepares because if the X-Men fail it means death, and the consequences of failure are dire. Cyclops has something almost akin to Catholic guilt. He holds himself up to an unrealistic moral ideal and beats himself up when he inevitably fails to maintain it. But even when he fails Scott Summers doesn’t stop, he needs to still be Cyclops, and he needs to still be a X-Man. Because if not him, who else? Because Cyclops is the X-Men.

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Comics Previews

Preview: X-Treme X-Men #5 (of 5)

X-Treme X-Men #5 (of 5)

(W) Chris Claremont (A/CA) Salvador Larroca
Rated T+
In Shops: Apr 19, 2023
SRP: $3.99

X-TREME MEASURES!
As the battle between the wounded X-MEN and mighty GALÉRER reaches a deadly climax, the anti-mutant PURITY demonstration boils over into unbridled chaos! Can the mutants save the innocent civilians and stop the villains at the same time? And at what cost – to themselves and the city of Chicago? The epic conclusion to Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca’s latest chapter of X-TREME X-MEN!

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Comics Previews

Preview: X-Treme X-Men #4 (of 5)

X-Treme X-Men #4 (of 5)

(W) Chris Claremont (A/CA) Salvador Larroca
Rated T+
In Shops: Mar 22, 2023
SRP: $3.99

RAGING STORM! The X-TREME X-MEN have suffered a major loss, and nothing will contain STORM’s unbridled rage! But when an anti-mutant scheme leaves the team without powers, can they survive the onslaught of PURITY and the GALÉRER, or will they be done in by the agents of hate and fear?

Categories
Comics Previews

Preview: X-Treme X-Men #3 (of 5)

X-Treme X-Men #3 (of 5)

(W) Chris Claremont (A/CA) Salvador Larroca
Rated T+
In Shops: Feb 15, 2023
SRP: $3.99

THE Galérer ATTACK! OGUN’s psychic attack has led the X-TREME X-MEN into conflict with a mysterious cabal called the Galérer! But what sinister aim is this group after, and how does it play into Ogun’s plan? It won’t matter if the team falls before the vanguard attack of BEASTYBRUTE!