Exceptional X-Men #2 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #2
Writer: Eve L Ewing
Artist: Carmen Carnero
Colour artist: Nolan Woodard
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE MAIN CAST:
Kate Pryde is still “Kate”, despite giving her name to Trista as “Kitty” in the previous issue. She doesn’t want to get dragged back into the mutant world by mentoring Trista, and when she stumbles upon some more mutant teenagers, she decides that the solution is just to introduce them to one another and leave them to get on with it. Such is her enthusiasm for the mundane world, she actually wants to go and watch a complete stranger’s high school soccer game. When asked about her own interest in sport, she defaults to talking about dance, but awkwardly acknowledges “some martial arts stuff”.
Kate does step in to calm the situation and get Thao and Alex to safety when a fight breaks out, but immediately gives Thao a dressing down for escalating the situation.
Trista Marshall is pestering Kate to remain friends with her, and seems to be looking for a mutant mentor.
Thao and Alex are the two new members of the core cast, making their in-story debut (though they were on the cover of issue #1). Thao is playing in the Senn High School soccer team – remarkably, this is a real school, shown in its actual colours, although they stopped short of using its bulldog logo. She’s unwilling to tolerate Alex being bullied, and starts frantically making the “Midnight M” sign at him. When he doesn’t respond – and doesn’t seem to want her help – she charges in anyway to fight the bullies. This is apparently fairly normal behaviour for her.
Thao seems to have phasing powers somewhat similar to Kate’s, although she turns invisible when phasing, and can apparently get stuck in an object at least for short periods without harm. She can’t control her powers.
Alex apparently doesn’t go to the school, but has come to watch his friend Dani play. He’s a visible mutant thanks to his skin and eye colour, which seems to change from page to page – but less commonly from panel to panel. A pale gold skin tone seems to be his default state. He’s an empath who just wants to be left in peace, but his powers cause some people around him to start uncontrollably rambling about their inner lives and hang-ups.
Alex seems to have no interest in the mutant community, and doesn’t recognise the Midnight M sign (which he takes to be some sort of gang sign). He seems to broadly agree with Kate that Thao caused a pointless fight. He used to play chess, but quit when he became a visible mutant – it seems like he doesn’t go out much, though he’s more socially isolated than actually afraid to be seen in public.
The basic dynamic is fairly clearly set up on page 21 when the three teenagers meet for the first time. Thao wants to be an activist. Trista wants a mutant social circle. Alex finds being a mutant a bit of a nuisance. All three wind up going back to Kate anyway.
Emma Frost shows up at the end of the issue – after briefly looking in on Kate a couple of times during the story – to take the teens off Kate’s hands. But other scenes suggest her main interest is actually in roping Kate into some project. Still, Emma’s interest in training young mutants has generally been played as sincere since the 1990s, so it’s probably not just a means to an end.
THE SUPPORTING CAST:
Nina is Kate’s date – the same girl she failed to meet last issue when she got the date wrong. She mentioned last issue that she was working on the date they’d agreed, which is why they’ve rescheduled. Nina takes Kate to watch her cousin Grace play high school soccer, which is tremendously useful in terms of getting Kate to the plot but, um, is this something people actually do in America?
Dani is the girl that Alex came to watch play football. She’s broadly minded to leave Alex to deal with things his way.
Lulu’s Tavern has another barman who we didn’t see last issue, and doesn’t get a name.
OTHER REFERENCES:
Page 5. Kate is apparently monologuing to camera again, as she did twice in the previous issue.
Page 7 panel 1: “Vamos otra vez… peleano con el puño al aire…” “Let’s go again, fighting with our fists in the air.” This is the song Alex is listening to:
Page 17 panel 3: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” From Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Alex seems unimpressed by Thao quoting it at him.
Page 22. This is a flashback to Uncanny X-Men #129 (January 1980), Kitty’s first appearance and the first time she met Ororo. Specifically, it’s an expansion of a conversation that appears in three panels of that story on pages 13-14. The actual dialogue is new, but the original scene does feature Storm telling Kitty about the X-Men, and then cuts away to Peter and Logan for a while, so this fits in quite happily.
“Nina takes Kate to watch her cousin Grace play high school soccer, which is tremendously useful in terms of getting Kate to the plot but, um, is this something people actually do in America?”
Only if the cousin has drugs to sell. Otherwise, no.
Alex is a mood ring version of the 2013 movie Horns?
Just like last issue, Ewing seems to forget that Kitty doesn’t have a secret identity any more. Nina doesn’t seem to know who Kitty is, judging from her questions about sports and non-reaction when Kitty mentions martial arts. And Thao doesn’t recognize Kitty when Kitty phases and walks on air.
Kitty’s really not being responsible when it comes to the kids. If Thao gets stuck in an object while phasing she could starve to death- she needs training. If she doesn’t want to train them themselves, she could just give them Scott’s or Rogue’s numbers.
Emma Frost shows her genuine care for children by causing Kitty to freeze up while driving and endangering all the other cars on the road.
Come to think of it, why DID Emma cause Kitty headaches and paralysis when she read Kitty’s mind? She’s been able to read minds without side effects since her introduction.
A lot of readers didn’t like that Storm’s hair in the flashback was curlier than Byrne drew it.
Emma deciding to mind-control the kids into leaving with her seemed to have no purpose than to create conflict with Kitty.
Small sample size, but I have gone on dates to sporting events. But it was either a sport I knew she liked or it was during college and probably free, since it was not a revenue generating sport like basketball or American football.
I am liking the characterization in this series. Kate/Kitty sounds more like a human being than I am used to see. So does most everyone else. I will keep an eye on Eve Ewing’s books.
I think going to a younger family member’s sporting event is a plausible date idea. Not traditional, but if you’re looking to avoid the standard coffee/drink/dinner it makes sense, especially for two people in the food/beverage industry looking to meet in the daytime. High school sporting events can certainly be community events/social occasions in the US.
A high school soccer game is not where any normal person would even consider taking someone out on a date. Not if they’re actually hoping to get laid in the near future. Suggesting this to someone as a date activity is more likely to yield a response along the lines of, “You know what? I just remembered, I already have a thing that day. Maybe some other time.” followed by that person losing your number.
@Ward – I don’t know why you’d assume that someone working in the food & beverage industry would prefer to avoid restaurants in their free time. I worked in that industry for thirty years. You know where you’re most likely to find restaurant and bar staff on their days off (assuming they’re not staying at home)? Other restaurants and bars. Even in the daytime.
So this basically had the same plot as the first issue. Kitty tries to go to a date, interferes in a low stakes fight, picks up mutant teenager(s). I still liked it though.
@Michael I didn’t read it has Emma causing headaches/paralysis, just that Kitty was distracted by the unexpected messages and lied about a headache/took her eyes of the road. Though one would expect Kitty to be pretty used to telepathy, I think this makes more sense than Emma being clumsy or malicious.
Even if Kitty doesn’t have a secret identity, how famous is she supposed to be? I mean there are loads of low level “celebrities” I would not recognise by name nor sight. And things like Kitty being a martial artist trained by a demon ninja would probably not be known either way.
@Bengt It’s definitely Emma causing the headaches, it happened two times in this issue and once in the previous one.
The question is why, I don’t remember this ever happening before when she – or another telepath – is reading someones mind. Not often enough to be memorable at least.
Either it’s just how the writer has chosen to depict telepathy now or it’s some kind of plot point. Have to wait and see.
This is quite good. Not what I expected, but fun, and I’m much more interested in these three newbies than the kids over in Uncanny X-Men. It definitely helps that they’re written as core cast, while in Uncanny they’re still some people who the core cast met.
It’s definitely a slow burn, but I’m interested to see where it goes.