X-Men #10 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN vol 7 #10
“Brinkmanship”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colourist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE X-MEN:
Cyclops. Naturally enough, he was expecting retaliation for the X-Men’s attack on Graymalkin over the last two issues. His solution to this problem is, as he says, brinksmanship: he hires the Hellions to wreck O*N*E’s resources, and openly threatens mutually assured destruction unless O*N*E back off. He literally says that if he’s killed then the X-Men will slaughter the US government, and that Phoenix will probably raze the Earth in revenge.
How far Cyclops is bluffing is open to debate – the message he wants Lundqvist to take from this is that he’s demonstrating the amount of damage that a fight between the two sides would cause, and that he’s giving Lundqvist the arguments he needs to back off. He’s certainly exaggerating the risk of his death driving Phoenix mad – when Quentin asks him about it, he simply says that “I can’t rule it out”, which is a lot less definitive than his threat to Lundqvist, and feels like a “well, I wasn’t completely making it up” justification. But does he have plans for a retaliatory strike on Washington? Possibly – he’s certainly selected a team of X-Men relatively likely to be on board with such a plan. Then again, when Quentin asks him “Is it true?”, Scott has to ask him to specify which bit, which implies that the whole speech was news to Quentin. (In contrast, Quentin clearly does know about the Hellions.)
Kid Omega. Quentin is genuinely worried about the prospect of the Phoenix going crazy if Cyclops dies. Cyclops blithely tells him that in that event the X-Men will have to deal with the problem – and that Kid Omega is on the team precisely because they need an omega telepath and former Phoenix host for the job. Scott might be winding him up, but Quentin seems alarmed at the thought.
Magik, Temper, Psylocke, the Juggernaut and the Beast appear briefly when the X-Men return home, but don’t have much else to do.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:
Magneto. When he thinks that O*N*E are going to attack the Factory before the X-Men return, his plan is for himself and Xorn to hold them at bay while the non-combatant mutants get to safety. He clarifies that his condition has cost him control of his mutant powers – he can still use them for uncontrolled devastation. Clearly, what he has in mind is a suicidal last stand. He draws the line at calling the Avengers for help, and Ben plausibly argues that Magneto is looking for an excuse to go out in a blaze of glory. Cyclops seems to agree.
Glob Herman. He quite reasonably suggests calling the Avengers, and is ready to try and defend the Factory with a frying pan.
Xorn. He regards it as entirely Magneto’s decision whether to fight O*N*E in a suicidal last stand. He never says directly whether he’d have been willing to join the fight as Magneto wanted, but he certainly doesn’t demur from it.
Ben Liu. He’s worried about O*N*E finding out that he’s alive (after his death was faked in issue #2), but even more horrified at the thought of Magneto sacrificing himself. When Magneto won’t back down, Ben declares that he’ll stay and fight – pretty much the first active decision that he’s taken in this series. He seems to believe that his power is specifically to manifest the alien invasion we saw in issue #2 (or possible that’s the only thing he knows how to manifest).
Jennifer Starkey still doesn’t even know what her powers are.
The Hellions. Apparently a mercenary group hired by Cyclops to smash up O*N*E’s resources. It’s the first appearance of this incarnation of the Hellions. For the most part, they teleport around O*N*E facilities wrecking records and equipment. The group comprise…
- King Bedlam. Chris Aaronson previously appeared in a handful of issues of X-Force in 1998-99, also leading a group called the New Hellions. He seems to attach some significance to the name. His back story involved him having some connection with Tarot of the original Hellions, and having turned down a chance to be in that group. He had a plan to hold the USA to ransom, which failed, and then he just never showed up again. New Avengers #18 listed him among the mutants depowered on M-Day, but presumably he went through the Crucible on Krakoa. His power is to disrupt other people’s minds – all those O*N*E staff gibbering on the ground will be fine once he’s left. He holds back from using lethal force because Cyclops stipulated it in the contract. According to Cyclops, King Bedlam’s price for this job was “a very specific head” – it’s not clear whether he means that literally, but Cyclops also refers to delivering “it” (not “him” or “her”).
- Jesse Bedlam. Chris’s younger brother, who disrupts mechanical systems in the same way that King Bedlam disrupts bodies. He was a much more prominent character for a while, appearing in X-Force from 1998 to 2001. He was then killed off as cannon fodder in Uncanny X-Men #423. We’ve seen in him in cameos during the Krakoan era, but this is basically the first time he’s done anything major in over twenty years. He seems a little less inclined towards killing than his brother, which gets him a telling off about understanding what the Hellions name means.
- Boom-Boom. She surely doesn’t need any introduction. Cameos aside, her last major role was in the X-Terminators mini during the Krakoan era. She’s here to have fun blowing things up.
- Fantomex. Again, a major character. We haven’t seen him in any significant role since the Giant-Size X-Men one-shots in the Krakoan era. He claims to be disappointed with the lack of opportunities for shooting things, and he has guns that can inexplicably take down full-size Sentinels (something that’s specifically flagged to us as weird). Locus specifically queries why he’s there – despite him being a professional mercenary and thus the most natural person to be on the team.
- Locus. She was a teleporter from the Mutant Liberation Front in 1990s X-Force. She was killed in Weapon X vol 2 #1, but apparently she was resurrected on Krakoa.
VILLAINS:
O*N*E. They show up at the X-Men’s door and everyone assumes that they’re going to attack – although to be fair, Lundqvist does actually accept Scott’s invitation to talk first. O*N*E’s security proves to be spectacularly useless in the face of the Hellions’ attack.
Agent Lundqvist. He doesn’t get Shakespeare references. Scott insinuates that he’s likely to be familiar with the Hague Invasion Act – which might just mean that he’s up on his current affairs, but could also be Scott’s way of implying that Lundqvist is likely to end up being tried for war crimes. He starts off confident in dealing with Scott but gets increasingly angry and intimidated by Scott’s performance. Ultimately, Scott seems to break him.
Sentinel Squad O*N*E. The piloted Sentinels from the “Decimation” era still exist in some form in a O*N*E hangar – although since the originals were destroyed in Uncanny X-Men #493, these might be an attempt to recreate them. The Hellions wreck them, anyway.
FOOTNOTES:
Page 6 panel 1: The “field team’s actions at Graymalkin” are the “Raid on Graymalkin” crossover from the last two issues.
Page 6 panel 3: Ben Liu’s death in San Francisco was faked in issue #2.
Page 7 panel 2: The Beast’s recycled Quinjet previously appeared in Avengers #21.
Page 8 panel 1: Avengers #21 (also by Jed MacKay) guest stars the X-Men, and has Cyclops agreeing to help the Avengers against various upcoming prophesied threats to the world.
Page 10 panel 3: Lundqvist’s description of the “Raid on Graymalkin” crossover is accurate.
Page 10 panel 6: The American Service-Members’ Protection Act, which is basically an American tantrum about the International Criminal Court, is indeed real.
Page 13 panel 1: “The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction” is from The Merchant of Venice. Cyclops doesn’t spell this out, but it’s part of Shylock’s “if you prick us do we not bleed” speech, in which he says that his minority group will take “revenge” on their oppressors.
Page 15 panel 4: I think this is the first clear confirmation that Graymalkin is a private prison, though that still doesn’t explain where they get authority to actually arrest people – if indeed they officially have any, as opposed to just turning having a blind eye turned to their activities.
Page 15 panel 5: “You’ve pulled a knife, I’ve pulled a gun” is a paraphrase of a line from The Untouchables (1987). (“They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.”)
Page 24 panel 1: Cyclops obviously died several times during Krakoa.
Page 26 panel 5: Technically, I think Quentin has only ever hosted a fragment of the Phoenix (between Mighty Thor vol 3 #18 and Generation X #86), but it’s more than most people have, and a number of stories have shown him as a long-term Phoenix host in alternate future timelines.
This might be the only book of the relaunch that I think actually is working, more or less. Stegman’s art isn’t my favorite but I think the Cyclops portrayal here is solid.
I do think seeming Magneto resurrection plot hole is kind of an issue. But it remains to be seen if we’re to take his issues at face value.
Overall it does feel like this era is overall a bit aimless. Both “on the run from the government” and “in an uneasy detant with the government” have been done within the Krakoa era (and in the earlier case, done to death in general). They were never going to go more high concept than Krakoa and I get them wanting a more wide open and traditional conceit at the heart of the line but it just feels messy atm.
I love the swooshing movement on Scott’s eye beams on the cover. It’s an effect we”ve seen before, as fár back as JRJr.’s first run in the 1980’s.
But I don’t recall a cover ever using it, and especially not with that dynamic pose and camera angle. Is this a truly unique cover, or is it an homage to something I don’t recognize?
Note that Beast is badly injured when he first appears in this issue. How badly he’s injured has been treated inconsistently in the crossover- in Uncanny X-Men 8 and X-Men 9 he seemed to have no problem fighting. In Uncanny X-Men 9 Juggernaut carried him out but once they were out of Graymalkin he had no problem holding back Cyclops from attacking Rogue.
Cyclops tells our alleged healer Xorn to heal Beast. This is the first time in the series that Xorn actually heals someone and we don’t even get to see it on panel.
It seems a little contrived that Scott is able to bluff Lundqvist but when Warden Ellis threatened to destroy Merle and Haven Scott felt the need to back down.
Scott claimed Xavier recruited him when he was 14. That seems a bit young- Scott was mistaken for a college student in the story where Xavier takes him in.
It also seems a little contrived that Scott expects Quentin to be able to take out the Phoenix but Quentin can’t just mind control Lundqvist and his bosses into leaving the X-Men alone.
“King Bedlam’s price for this job was “a very specific head” – it’s not clear whether he means that literally, but Cyclops also refers to delivering “it” ”
The Dark Beast was last seen as a head- it’s possible that he’s King Bedlam’s price. In which case Hank won’t like it.
“though that still doesn’t explain where they get authority to actually arrest people”
Well, it’s possible that Shaw, Omega Red, Cortez, Blob and Wild Child have arrest warrants out on them for violent felonies. And they had to turn Calico over to her family. That doesn’t explain Siryn, Jubilee or Monet though.
That Hellions group is weird mix. I figured Fantomex was in his 40s or maybe older, though maybe that’s just because of Igor Kordej’s art. Then you have terrorist supervillains King Bedlam and Locus, which is ok I suppose but not what I’d readily associate with Fantomex. And then there’s Jesse Bedlam and Boom Boom, who for all the paramilitary black ops stuff they’ve nominally been part of, really shouldn’t be mixing with the others, most of whom they’ve actively fought against.
Good to see Jesse again though, I liked him back in the day.
Are the Hellions just there to advertise for another future book or mini down the line?
@Oldie: Tom Brevoort recently presented his concept art for this cover on his Substack. He claims to have come up with the idea.
And yes, it is a nice cover.
I like the character work in this book. It seems to be working better now that it is not trying to coordinate so closely with Gail Simone’s book. This realpolitks plot is about as innovative and interesting as I could expect.
Didn’t Quentin host Phoenix or was at least considered for that role in 2005’s miniseries “X-Men: Phoenix Endsong”?
I am still a bit bummed that Quentin seems to carry no psychological change despite those odd issues of Ben Percy’s X-Force, but I feel weird in asking people to take Percy’s books more seriously. It is probably for the best if we do not.
Interesting that Scott makes no mention of Rogue’s team in this issue, and says outright that “the X-Men” have nothing (directly) to do with O*N*E*’s troubles. If nothing else, it is indication that he does not feel too responsible about that team and is prepared to treat it as an independent faction. Which is probably the correct call given the aftermath of the recent crossover.
I for one love Rightclops coming back. A minority group having the power to buck back against a hostile government is also a bit of wish fulfillment, especially these days. I have wanted a full on “X-Men vs World Governments” story for ages and we finally get it.
@Jim Harbor
Making it a bad time for One World Under Doom to intervene?
@Luis Dantas:
I am still annoyed at them for ignoring everything in Xforce. Quentin spent years in the future, came back as an old man, then swapped into a younger body. And then they suddenly started treating him ass a teenager again.
Worse, they still pair him up with teenage girls, which is gross. This was the same probem i had when they almost paired 1000 year old Synch with current Laura.
As for Scott’s threat to sic the phoenix on the planet. That sounds like a bluff. Lol, I doubt if throwing Quentin at an angry Phoenix Jean would have any effect.
The new Hellions don’t seem a bad team, Jesses is keeping an eye on his brother, much like in x-force and has brought Tabby along for support, as someone he knows who all the heroes trust if there is trouble. The odd man out is fantomax, to keep the feel of that group although he was not an x-force character maybe Random would have been a better fit.
I don’t think Quentin cant make the ONE go away it’s that he won’t he has been come much more responsible in his powers.
The sweep effect cover is really nice it is surprising it has not been used much before if ever.
I suspect that the “head” that King Bedlam wants is Trevor Fitzroy’s. They have history, and Fitzroy appeared in this book a few months ago.
@Alaistair
Fantomex _has_ been a member of two versions of X-Force, and put to good use there IMO. It happened between 2010 and 2015, in stories by Rick Remender and Si Spurrier.
@Luis Dantas,
I should have been clearer and meant a Character linked to OG x-force the x-treme teens rather then the grim dark hit squad teams which is why Fantomax stand out a bit.
I dunno, call me crazy, but maybe if I was writing a metaphor for a minority fighting back against the US government, I might have that character quote someone like, say, Kwame Ture, instead of the Hague Invasion Act, which was passed because we were committing so many war crimes in Iraq. “Look Lundqvist, just like my hero Dick Cheney got a new ticker, I too have had a change of heart.”
Fair enough. But there is something to be said about choosing language and arguments that the interlocutor is predisposed to accept as valid and convincing.
Whoever Lundqvist answers to is not likely to declare the Hague as irrelevant or invalid.
I actually really liked this. As the culmination of an arc, it worked well. I’m not sure we needed 10 issues to get to the point, but I enjoy Cyclops throwing his weight around. If the humans are afraid of mutants being living weapons, mutants may as well lean into the idea.
I still think there are too many X-books, and that they overlap in unnecessary ways. But I can’t think of how to rearrange the “core” books. Uncanny seems like a cross between X-Men and Extraordinary, so maybe it could have existed as an ongoing subplot instead of its own book?
Anyway, I hope the story continues to move in this direction.
Great issue. Probably MacKay’s strongest one yet (and he’s been one of the best of this era, the previous two issues excepted). Seeing Cyclops escalate from “Come on in and have a beer” to “I’m not trying to save my life, I’m trying to save yours” with his threats getting more and more existential was terrific. We even got some good Magneto bravado.
I also wouldn’t mind if Diaz took over art on this book going forward. That image of the Phoenix in Cyclops’s visor really underscored the mood.
The Hellions were a nice guest appearance by some deep cuts. That’s one of the things I enjoyed about Krakoa, and I’m glad MacKay dug in there to put together a reasonable squad for the Alaska team to keep in reserve for problems like this.
More like this, please.
If Cyclops is willing to go to the brink with ONE, why did he back down from Warden Ellis’s satellite threat and leave Greymalkin standing?
That is for McKay to know and reveal, I suppose, but it would seem that Scott believes to have the measure of O*N*E* with a degree of confidence that does not extent to Graymalkin.
He has years of familiarity with O*N*E* and has talked with Lundqvist before. He was in Graymalkin once and learned that the situation there is somewhat harder to parse, with multiple factions, a wild card in the form of Prisoner X, and at least a hint of inner instability. It probably doesn’t help that the Trustees are to some measure also hostages, nor that Graymalkin may perceive the X-Men themselves as divided.
Cyclops also wants Professor X locked up at this point, so may feel he needs Graymalkin at the moment.
If Graymalkin is private – and it seems to be – I would have liked thatvto be part of Scott’s argument. The government is allowing illegal kidnapping and torture of mutants which forces the X-Men to act in self defense. Makes the X-Men less of a direct challenge to the government.
Could the head in question be Paradigm’s?
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Paradigm_(Earth-616)
Yes it’s been destroyed. But comics.
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