X-Men #14 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #14
“Search and Rescue”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Ryan Stegman
Inkers: Ryan Stegman & JP Mayer
Colourist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE X-MEN
Cyclops. As in issue #1, he’s keen to have good relations with the town, and seems to trust Chief Robbins anyway – he offers the X-Men’s help to her before she’s explained what the issue is. He asks her to call him Scott.
Kid Omega. He doesn’t seem terribly worked up about Piper going missing, though he takes the task of searching for her seriously enough. He’s more concerned about Idie’s reaction and tries to make supportive noises about how it’ll all be fine, though he acknowledges that he isn’t good at this. Then he gets shot out of the sky and presumably spends the rest of the issue unconscious.
Temper. This issue is a sequel to issues #6-7, where Temper insisted on helping out local girl Piper Cobb. In that issue, Piper believed that she was a mutant and secretly asked for help given her otherwise loving mother’s anti-mutant attitudes. Tests showed that Piper wasn’t a mutant after all, and Temper took her back to her mother, given that there was no real reason to do otherwise.
On learning that Piper has gone missing, Temper decides that the X-Men as a whole have let her down by “sen[ding] her back to her crazy, mutant-hater mother” – a decision she agreed with at the time, but she clearly regrets now. She still accepts that Piper is a regular human, though. When the Marauder is shot down, she prioritises completing the rescue of Piper (completely reasonably, because she has an exact location and her teammates are looking out for Quentin – but see below).
Psylocke. She seems to be taking on a deputy leader role (consistent with how she acted when Cyclops was out of the picture during “X-Manhunt”). Scott looks to her for advice on how to deal with Idie, and seems to accept her guidance.
Magik. She’s outraged that Idie wants to rescue Piper rather than search for Quentin, even though Idie has explained that she has the exact location. For Magik, Quentin takes priority simply because he’s a teammate. She only has second thoughts about this when Juggernaut points out that Quentin might be dead and there’s no need to force Idie to hunt for her ex-boyfriend’s body. He seems somewhat more empathetic to Idie’s position but he views it in terms of extenuating circumstances – it doesn’t seem to occur to either of them that rescuing the child might be a reasonable priority for a superhero team.
THE SUPPORTING CAST
Paula Robbins. She comes to Cyclops to ask for help in searching for Piper. She addresses him by his codename and broadly treats him in a respectful and professional way; he’s trying to be more friendly than that.
Piper Cobb. Parts of her body have undergone reptilian transformations, as we saw at the end of issue #7. This is apparently because she’s possessed by a mutant twin who she consumed in the womb, and who now hopes to use the body of the dead Acanti (from issue #12) to construct a permanent body for itself. This back story seems suspiciously similar to Professor X and Cassandra Nova, which is unlikely to be a coincidence given that Cassandra is one of the main villains of the run.
Piper did mention in issues #6-7 that she was continually hungry, which is presumably because she’s eating for two. She also said that this had only come on recently, but that might be something to do with the consumed mutant twin emerging from latency at puberty, I guess?
Jen Starkey. As the only flyer in the cast, she’s sent out on her first actual mission to fly around and hunt for Piper. She has instinctive knowledge of how to use her avian body.
The Beast. Shows up briefly to tell us how Jen’s powers work.
Ben Liu. As in previous issues, he’s very keen to use his powers to help the X-Men. He still seems to assume that his powers are simply to summon up UFOs, but figures that they might be able to help with the aerial search.
Ben considers that he was always an outsider, as a gay Chinese American, albeit one that protected himself in his previous life by acquiring wealth. He seems to have fully embraced being a mutant, even one created by 3K, as something which is consistent with his outsider self-image, and provides a defensive power of another sort – if only he could figure out how to control it.
Magneto. Given Ben’s power and enthusiasm, Magneto is keen to harness him for mutantkind. He claims that he has “been trying, with limited success, to take you under my wing”. I’m not sure we’ve seen much of that on panel. Their on-panel interactions seem to be issue #6 (where Magneto made a speech about how created mutants were equally valid and welcome), issue #10 (where Magneto tried to send Ben and Jen away from the fight with O*N*E) and last issue (which was a cameo).
Xorn and Glob Herman have cameos.
VILLAINS
3K. They’re carrying out some sort of “test” near Merle, which involves a “subject”. This is interesting, because the obvious implication is that the subject is Piper. But if it’s her, then either they’re branching out beyond created mutants, or the back story we’re given for Piper in this same issue isn’t true.
They refer to their meeting place as the Great Table. It is indeed absurdly large.
Cassandra Nova. 3K refer to her as the Zealot – a title rather than a codename, it seems. She openly looks down on her teammate the Means because he’s a mere weapon and not “even a mutant”. The Means is…
Wyre. He claims that 3K “needed someone who knew how to kill mutants bad enough you offered a seat at the Great Table”, and adds that “the Legacy Virus has got nothin’ on me.” He doesn’t explain why he wanted to be a member.
This appears to be the same Wyre who was a regular character in Simon Furman’s Alpha Flight run between 1992 and 1994, and never appeared anywhere else. That character looked similar and also had tendrils emerging from his body – though they’re now red and seem to come from a single point of origin on his chest. On the other hand, the Alpha Flight Wyre’s back story involved him being given powers by the Secret Empire and made into a killer until he eventually snapped and turned on them. His career as a Secret Empire assassin ties into the back story of Wild Child, which seems to be as close as he gets to a history of killing mutants. He eventually winds up hanging around with Alpha Flight as an ally without ever officially joining the team; his role in their book doesn’t obviously connect with him wanting to be a member of 3K.
OTHER FOOTNOTES
Page 1 panel 3: “I know things are difficult with you and the federal government right now.” Paula is presumably referring in particular to the stand-offs with O*N*E from issues #3 and #10.
Page 5 panel 2: “She [Piper] asked us for help. And we didn’t give her any. Sent her back to her crazy, mutant-hater mother.” Issue #6, though this isn’t entirely fair (see above).
Page 5 panel 4: “Corsair’s jetbike.” From issue #11.
Page 7 panel 4: “Youlaid siege to a city without even fully comprehending what you were doing, Ben.” Issue #2.
Page 9 panel 2: The Legacy Virus was a mutant-killing virus from a long-running 1990s storyline.
Page 9 panel 3: “No one has more mutant blood on their hands than I do, Means.” Cassandra is referring to the destruction of Genosha by her Wild Sentinels in New X-Men #115.
Page 12 panel 4: “I’m bad at comforting people. It’s one of the reasons we broke up, remember?” Um… not really? Their break-up was in Wolverine and the X-Men vol 2 #6 when Quentin quit the school.
Page 19: “The dead Acanti.” From issues #11-12.
Illyana seems to have settled into this mean girl persona along with her friendship with Cain, which is both wholesome and unexpected. I do wonder if this is to play up her demonic side/lack of soul, since she used to be nicer. Maybe it’s the absence of all of her traditional friends from the New Mutants.
I wonder when Ben’s real power set is, since I doubt it’s to summon fake alien invasions. Reality warping? Psychic broadcast? Illusions with tactile components? It’s oddly vague.
As for Wyre… talk about a deep cut. A third-tier Alpha Flight associate not seen in thirty years. I wonder if his appearance will be tied into/related to the recent Alpha Flight storyline, or the fact that his former “student” Wild Child is one of the Greymalkin trustees. I’d like to think there was a larger plan beyond “hey, here’s someone no one’s used from the ’90s and Brevort likes him, so why not.” Otherwise, it’s just random and MacKay is better than “here’s random stuff…” He usually has a plan.
Piper Cobb’s situation is also similar to Haven (from the JM DeMatteis X-Factor run), who seemed to have a mutant healing power, but was actually perpetually pregnant with a foetus, which was the mutant.
Also, it’s the same situation as a character in Philip K. Dick’s Dr. Bloodmoney novel.
Magik does not currently lack a soul, but she has always been – since her first New Mutants time – one to act rather pragmatically.
Wasn’t it usual that people whose mutations are externally induced (instead of genetically conditioned) were referred to as “mutates”?
It’s weird that none of the team is questioning Scott’s judgement after X-Manhunt Omega considering that his panic attacks caused him to lose control of his powers and zap Rogue’s team. Or are we supposed to believe that getting stabbed by Logan magically cured Scott’s panic attacks?
Note that Cassandra Nova seemed to be implying that the other members of 3K’s leadership were mutants. I think that the leaders of 3K are as follows:
The Zealot- Cassandra Nova
The Doctor- Astra
The Means- Wyre
The Chairman- Doug
Benjamin Liu’s story seems to mirror Doug’s own. Liu wanted power so he could be protected. Doug was the only New Mutant with powers that were useless in battle and in fact he was killed protecting Rahne. Doug probably thought he was doing Liu a favor by having Cassandra experiment on him.
Note that Kwannon isn’t a powerful enough telepath to handle psi-comms for the entire team once Quentin is unconscious.
I like that Psylocke is portrayed as a bit crap at telepathy because she’s too busy ninjing to practice. It’s refreshing. Like the antidote to Storm being perfect at everything she does.
I liked Midnight Suns video game Magik, who was basically Teen Titans Raven,
@Paul: In his introduction, Wyre was killing mutants like Wildchild that the Secret Empire enhanced with his genetic material. Not enough to make Xavier’s list in HoX though.
@Claus: The current definition is if the subject has a specific x-gene, whether born with it or inserted later like Sinister.
A lot of mutations where activated by external circumstance traditional. Your Father gets trapped in a mine cave in you spontaneously become a human rocket to save him, for example. You get to excited with a Proustite you accidently set her on fire.
That Magneto is inclusive to what maybe classified as a mutate is not surprising. Not just his experience in ruling Genosha, but also his creation and leadership of the Savage Land mutates, who he treated no worse then the Brotherhood which is as close a silver age Magneto get to respect.
Having a latent X-gene which is activated by an external cause is different than being born a Homo Sapiens Sapiens and getting exposed to a genetically engineered spider or radiation which gives you a spider’s powers or the ability to turn into a giant green monster.
If you’re sleeping with a prostitute and you suddenly manifest fire power, it doesn’t mean that the prostitute gave you the fire power (unless he or she’s radioactive, of course, in which case the fire power is caused by a radioactive STD rather than having the X-gene, meaning a person was never a mutant). That’s the difference between a mutant and what was once referred to at Marvel as a mutate. A mutant has the X-gene, unlike Peter Parker or Bruce Banner.
I think this terminology might have been quietly changed with Krakoa and Hickman, to an extent, with what were once referred to as “mutates” now being examples of post-humans.
The idea of “created mutants”, like Sinister, is that they specifically were given the X-gene.
If he could have blamed the sex worker the Rusty may never had been thrown out the navy.
I don’t think Peter parker is every thought of as a mutate that term only seems be used in x-books, but outside genosha and the savage land it does not have much meaning.
@Chris V: I agree, I don’t think 3K is activating latent mutations, I think they are inducing X-genes into random humans. This is probably what the Sugar Man subplot is about. The 3K gene bomb is a homage to Magneto’s Mutant Conversion Machine from the first X-Men movie, which was also going to be used to turn humans into mutants. MacKay’s X-Men Year 1 will presumably end with the bomb going off and a large influx of humans-turned-mutants.
Hickman solidified Morrison’s idea that mutants (Homo superior) naturally branched off from humans (Homo sapiens) due to environmental pressure. Mutants are to humans what the Cro-Magnons were to the Neanderthals. Mutant allopatric speciation probably occurred when they were geographically isolated on Okkara. I think “mutates” are super-humans, who are still human but act as an intermediate stage for engineered evolution. The post-humans (Homo novissima) in POX came after dozens of generations of mutates and machine hybrids. They were a distinct species on their own.
I’d say it still applies. Mutant is a species term*, mutate isn’t. Spider-Man is considered a human mutate, the Super-Skrull is a Skrull mutate, and Ben Liu is a mutant mutate.
*mutants are very clearly not a separate species, but that’s a whole other thing.
I had the same thought about the Magik/Cain/Idie scene. Whether to prioritize an endangered civilian over an endangered teammate is a valid dramatic point, and it’s all the scene needed. It felt weird to tack on an extra layer of “it would be too hard for Idie to see Quentin dead”.
Just a minor point, though. This is still the MVP of the line at the moment, so far ahead of Uncanny it’s not even funny. (Especially in its use of new characters)
@ChrisV, actually Haven’s own natural X-gene mutant power was psychic empathy (she and her air-bender brother Monsoon were natural-born x-gene mutants), which is a fairly common though low-key mutant power in Marvel-616, whose most visible representative is the eponymous Empath
@GN,that would be ironic , considering that its been canon in 616 that successfully inserting x-genes into non-x-gene carriers (active and latent) is too difficult that until HOX/POX and Hickman’s retcon of Sinister giving himself the X-gene AGAIN* practically nobody** else was able to actually achieve it because of how difficult it was , whose difficulty was comparable to successfully recreating the OG Erskine Super Soldier Serum
* Victoria-era Sinister temporarily gave himself time-travelling Courier’s X-gene in Nicieza’s Gambit , but this was quickly negated by Courier , and supposedly 616-Gambit is a chimeric clone of OG Nathaniel Essex with Cyclop’s X-gene , according to Claremont’s X-men: The End
** there is of course the Strucker Twins a.k.a Fenris , and the Klum siblings , Francis and Garrisson , whose x-genes weee the results of Nazi super-soldier programs
It’s kind of astounding how prominent Magik has become to the overall X-line in recent years, given her nearly 20-year absence (1988-2007). I’m sure there are other examples, but offhand I’m having a hard time thinking of characters who’ve been dead/inactive for that long, then come back and become so popular that they’re always in use. Carol Danvers, maybe? She was written out in 1980 and didn’t really come back to consistent usage until the Busiek/Perez Avengers in 1998.
Drew, The other examples of long dead and now a mainstay are Norman Osborn also dead for 20 years and Bucky dead for 50 year in print (since Avengers 5)
Ooooh, good call on Bucky. Yeah, that’s probably the clubhouse leader.
I’m split on Norman Osborn. There were plenty of replacement goblins (Green and Hob) while he was dead, so his legacy was still a regular presence. Plus as a villain, even after returning, he wasn’t an ongoing, monthly presence the way heroes need to be to really qualify. Then again, post-Civil War/Dark Reign really boosted his prominence, so maybe!
[…] #14. (Annotations here.) Gosh, there’s a lot going on in this issue – and since X-Men has generally stuck to […]
@Drew- Barry Allen at DC is probably the biggest example.
Doug Ramsey and Synch were brought back from the dead after decades (although Doug was originally suggested to be kinda/sorta/ not really Douglock before it turned out to be Warlock). I’m not sure if either of them is really that popular though.
Jason Todd was dead from 1988-2005.
Jessica Drew was killed off at the end of her series in the early ’80s and even though she was resurrected a few months later, it wasn’t until New Avengers that she became the primary Spider-Woman again.
There’s characters like Squirrel Girl and Rocket Raccoon who took decades to catch on.
I love this book so much! Mackay’s pacing and threading of so many characters and long-term stories really make this a worthwhile monthly read. So many Marvel books of the past few years have felt like one story that takes forever to play out. This one you can read issue by issue, but be rewarded overtime if you read it all.
Not sure why his balancing of a large team works here beautifully when it never clicks for me with a more traditional, sensible line-up in Avengers. I’m sure Stegman helps. Can’t get enough of his stylized version of the X-Men.
@Jdsm24:There was Hulkverine, who was given the x-genes of Wolverine and Warpath. Xperience was a drug that could temporarily give people specific mutant powers.