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May 4

Immortal X-Men #11 annotations

Posted on Thursday, May 4, 2023 by Paul in Annotations

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

IMMORTAL X-MEN #11
“Part 11: A Hard Reign”
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Lucas Werneck
Colour artist: David Curiel
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White

COVER / PAGE 1. Well, that’d be a picture of Storm in a tree, wouldn’t it?

PAGE 2. Data page. Our opening quote is presumably alluding to the circular arrangement of the Quiet Council meeting chamber, presented as the arena of (political) game-playing. Much of this issue is about the effort to keep up the appearance of the Quiet Council while attempting to prevent the abuse of its rules – with spectacular lack of effect, whatever the X-Men might think.

Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) was a pioneer of cultural history, who was interested in the role that art and culture played in society. Homo Ludens (1938) argues that play is an essential feature of culture. The term “dyutamandalam” just means “gaming circle”. The quote here is from a section which indirectly inspired the modern use of the term “magic circle” in the gaming context to mean (broadly) a place in which the rules of the game supplant the rules of the normal world.

PAGES 3-4. Professor X, Exodus, Hope and Emma are released from the Pit.

Storm is the most senior trustworthy X-Man left on the Quiet Council, so it makes sense that she’s taking the lead here. It’s interesting, though, that the rest of the Council aren’t present, and instead the newcomer Rasputin IV is being entrusted with this task. She explains on page 11 that she is trustworthy because Sinister created her explicitly to be free of his influence, in order to make sure that the other Sinisters couldn’t control her. This is true – see Immoral X-Men #2.

Cypher is translating for Krakoa so that the correct prisoner can be fetched from the Pit. Curiously, Cypher is still drawn with techno-organics on his right arm. He was separated from Warlock in Legion of X #9-10, and he’s depicted in those issues with a normal right arm. This week’s X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X seems to confirm that these events still happened in the post-Sins of Sinister timeline – certainly Warlock’s soul has still wound up in the hands of Nimrod – so this is probably an art error.

“I was happy and loved in a place where I was needed, and he dragged me out to help save his project.” Giant-Size X-Men #1, where Professor X recruits Ororo into the X-Men. Previously, she was acting as a goddess for a remote African community.

“He came and told me that my life caring for a people was a lie. Because I wasn’t a god. He accused me of hubris.” He doesn’t say that in terms in Giant-Size X-Men #1. What he says in the original story is: “You have a land, Ororo, and people who adore you. I offer you a world – and people who may fear you, hate you – but people who need you nonetheless. The world I offer is not beautiful, but it is real – far more real than the fantasy you’re living now. You are no goddess, Ororo. You are a mutant, and you have responsibilities.”

Of course, on most modern interpretations of Professor X, Storm is basically right in accusing him of hypocrisy and hubris – particularly as, per House of X, he had grand schemes of Krakoa in mind all along.

“Where I’m from, your words were a brand burned into trillions of minds.” In the “Sins of Sinister” timeline.

“We went voluntarily to the Pit.” In Sins of Sinister: Dominion. An interesting question not touched on in this issue is what experience the four compromised Council members actually had within the Pit, and how it relates to anything that we’ve seen in Sabretooth and the Exiles. (That might be part of the reason for sending them there, only to bring them straight back again.) Later in the issue, he calls it “a purgatory”.

PAGE 5. Recap and credits.

PAGE 6. The compromised Council members are plugged into Forge’s machine.

It’s not entirely clear how many people have been told about this incident. Forge and other “science brain[s]” have clearly been told. The X-Men might have been, but Forge is a special case because of his powers. Several random Legionnaires know about it in X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X but… well, that issue has a bunch of continuity problems, so who knows if they’re really meant to be aware.

“You know I’ve got experience cleaning up when science goes bad.” The obvious example here being the period in the 80s when Storm lost her powers thanks to a Neutraliser device that Forge had created. They were a couple off and on from the mid 80s through to the early 90s.

The Krakoan on the large eye-screen-thing reads “DANGER”.

PAGE 7. Data page. Basically, Forge has figured out what Sinister did, and knows how to reverse it. Kind of.

PAGES 8-11. The compromised Council members are marginalised.

Forge explains that he’s solved the problem he could find, but isn’t sure he’s got everything. Since Forge’s power is basically defined as the ability to build a machine to solve any problem, you could argue that he ought to be able to be more definitive. But Forge’s power is to get there in the end – there may be a whole load of hoops that he needs to jump through first.

Storm seems to imply that resurrection will be continuing “at a reduced rate”, and acknowledges that nobody who is resurrected can be trusted any more. This ought to mark the end of the mutants treating resurrection as a get out of jail free card – but of course, making that too explicit would essentially advertise to the Krakoan population the very problem that Storm is trying to keep under wraps.

“She is a true believer in Krakoa. We’ve seen where that can lead.” Storm might be thinking of Beast.

Exodus and Hope are presumably upset about Exodus killing Hope in Immoral X-Men #2.

“We can’t be seen to publicly dismiss another four members.” Storm is probably meant to be referring to Mr Sinister, whose banishment obviously has to be public, and Nightcrawler, who quit the council in X-Men: Before the Fall – Sons of X. However, as covered in the annotations for that issue, the timeline is screwed up, and that issue looks like it has to come after this story (or at least between the main story and the epilogue).

“What has happened while we’ve been gone? The Moiras?” This is a slightly odd question, since the Moira Engine was destroyed in Sins of Sinister: Dominion before Xavier and co consigned themselves to the Pit. Maybe he just wants to know if anything further has been learned about Sinister’s thwarted scheme and its existential implications.

PAGES 12-14. Storm, Professor X and Destiny.

From what we’ve seen in previous issues, Destiny is basically telling the truth when she says that she didn’t expose Sinister’s machinations with the Moira Engine because she feared that he would simply reboot time to stop her. She may also be telling the truth when she says that she was trying to engineer scenarios where that would no longer be a threat. But we know from “Sins of Sinister” that Destiny was attracted to that timeline primarily because it was a world where she got to be with Mystique for as long as possible, irrespective of the damage to the rest of the universe.

“In that future, you tricked me into stealing the Moira engine.” In Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants #1.

“You know how to deactivate the X-Gene, as you did with the real Moira.” In Inferno #4, though Storm is being slightly unfair: Destiny and Mystique removed the original Moira’s powers using a device that was supplied to them by Emma.

“I remember visions of Ororo’s future self believing that we couldn’t access the Moiras without risking activating them…” In Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants #2. Presumably these are events in the far future that Destiny was able to foresee before the Sins of Sinister timeline even started.

“I saw some timelines where after a reset the Moira engine would be destroyed.” That begs the question of why Destiny couldn’t see these as possible futures, and could only see the limited possibilities allowed by the Moira engine. Maybe those options only opened up once somebody actually travelled back in time and did it.

PAGES 15-16. Mystique and Mother Righteous.

The message that Mother Righteous delivers to Mystique is the one that Destiny left for Sinister in Immoral X-Men #3. The rest of the message, which Mystique presumably goes on to listen to, is quite long and I’m not going to type it out in full. Basically, however, if she got the full message, Mystique learns the following information:

  • Destiny told Mr Sinister that if he managed to reboot the title, then they could form an alliance.
  • Destiny says that she is trying to save Mystique, who is doomed to die in all possible timelines.
  • Destiny specifically says that she pursued Sinister’s “nightmare timeline” because it was the one in which Mystique lived longest – and that she is only interested in rebooting the timeline now that Mystique has died.
  • Mr Sinister’s eventual goal was to become a Dominion, and he does not succeed.

Clearly, Mother Righteous is trying to drive a wedge between Mystique and Destiny. Note also that Mystique makes the usual mistake of offering her thanks to Mother Righteous, making her subject to Righteous’s influence.

PAGES 17-19. Hope and Exodus.

Hope is understandably angry at Exodus. But note that while Professor X is horrified by what he say in the future timeline, and Exodus is at least somewhat repentant, Hope’s primary response is to beat up Exodus.

“Your god gives and your god takes away.” A paraphrase of Job 1:21. The King James version is “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.”

PAGES 20-21. Storm and Emma.

“Don’t you want to talk about Max?” Magneto – though I’m not sure why Xavier would be motivated to talk about that now. Are we meant to still be really close in time to “Judgment Day”?

“No thrones on Arakko.” Storm’s line from X-Men Red #1, purportedly rejecting a role as queen – but as Emma says, she’s basically still wound up in that role.

“You were yourself every second of that future, and it was five years until you realised anything was wrong.” In Sins of Sinister #1. Emma’s basic point – that Storm is overcommitting herself and not fulfilling her responsibilities – plays into a recurrent them in X-Men Red that Storm is all too often in the wrong place when she’s needed.

PAGE 22. Sebastian Shaw and Mother Righteous.

Shaw and Mother Righteous were in discussions in issue #6. Shaw (almost certainly correctly) suspects that the writing is on the wall and is already more concerned about maximising his position for whatever comes next.

PAGES 23-24. Storm appoints Colossus as her proxy.

Unfortunately for Storm, Colossus is currently under the influence of Mikhail Rasputin and his Chronicler, in a long-running X-Force storyline. Colossus also holds a proxy from the absent Nightcrawler, until such time as his seat is filled.

This means that the voting members of the Quiet Council now comprise Storm, Kate Pryde, Colossus (with two votes), Destiny, Mystique and Sebastian Shaw. On the face of it this still leaves the Council equally split between heroes and villains, with Colossus’ second vote giving the heroes a majority. In practice, it means there are only two reliable votes on the Council, falling to one if Storm is elsewhere – though at least Mystique is probably still motivated mainly by the good of mutantkind.

PAGE 25. Trailers.

Bring on the comments

  1. Jon R says:

    I enjoy the (presumably deliberate) irony in Storm reacting to the timeline in which she was too distracted to notice her friends being suborned by… giving her voting proxy to the friend no one has noticed is suborned.

    In the same vein, I like the tragedy as it’s unfolding. The entire point of Krakoa is that everyone is meant to drop old rivalries and put the good of Krakoa and mutantkind first. But.. the Council keeps failing at that.

    Shaw’s looking out for #1, but flies beneath the radar probably because the polite thing to believe is that everyone is for Krakoa first. Why would anyone sell out paradise?

    Destiny and Mystique are totally for it… so long as the other is there. Their first loyalty is to each other and it leads to them both playing games. Usually for good reason, but not working well with others.

    Xavier’s pride keeps driving him past the good of the nation.

    Even when it’s put in her face, Storm can’t admit that she needs to step away.

    Nightcrawler had real personal issues, but wouldn’t stay long enough to nominate or push forward a replacement and didn’t seem to understand that it was a really bad time for this. I can’t say I blame him with what he went through, but it combines badly with the rest.

    Colossus is… uh.. there. Yes, he’s certainly there.

    For the rest.. Emma has pride problems but does actually seem to usually belong there. Hope has had definite skin in the game. Exodus and Kate are fine? Kate has some distractions but they’re not as much in the way now. But that’s still half of the council that for all their strengths, are not the people who should be in charge right now.

  2. RaoulSeagull says:

    It did seem strange to me that Storm would reference Magneto’s death when it was 7 months ago publishing time but I guess there’s not really been a chance to acknowledge it between them yet. I think the idea is that this happens essentially right after Judgment Day? So Sinister checks his Moira clones first chance he gets, goes to kill the council, they get resurrected and then he makes a save point.

    I do agree the continuity between the three writers seems to have gotten a little muddled, pretty weird since that should be the one thing that’s really clear on an event like this, the final issues of all three miniseries were basically one continuous story so I assume they were working together pretty closely.

  3. Luis Dantas says:

    Test

  4. Luis Dantas says:

    Gotta love that Storm, of all people, accuses Xavier of having too much hubris. It is a deliciously glaring lack of self-consciousness from her. Loved Emma’s repart as well.

    These two issues really could use a footnote or two – or better yet, full panels – acknowledging that Kurt and Ororo are not aware of each other’s choice of proxy. It does not make a lot of sense that they would not involve Kate instead of bundling it all on Piotr.

  5. K says:

    This issue made me realize that seeing more of their reactions to watching the horrible future would have been illuminating.

    Imagine a different execution of the Sins of Sinister issues: everything is just the movie that the council are watching. The data pages are their live reactions.

  6. GN says:

    Luis Dantas > Gotta love that Storm, of all people, accuses Xavier of having too much hubris. It is a deliciously glaring lack of self-consciousness from her.

    Was she not right?

    Xavier is a American man who went to an African teenager, living in an African community where her mutant identity was accepted and deified, and told her that this was the ‘wrong’ way to live.

    He instead brought her to over to America to act as a superhero to the American people, who feared and hated everything she represented.

    Luis Dantas > It does not make a lot of sense that they would not involve Kate instead of bundling it all on Piotr.

    Nightcrawler actually gave his vote to Storm when he left, which was before Storm’s meeting with Colossus.

    As to why Storm would choose Piotr over Kate,
    Kate is simultaneously Storm’s daughter figure and someone who is currently aligned with Emma Frost, whom Storm has problems with.

    Colossus is Storm’s brother figure, her comrade-in-arms since the Giant-Size days. In the absence of Jean Grey and Nightcrawler, and without the knowledge of the Chronicler’s reality warping, Piotr is a perfectly reasonable candidate for a reliable proxy.

  7. Michael says:

    I’m not liking the idea that there’s no way to be sure they cured Xavier, Emma, Hope and Exodus. Can’t they just dig Sinister out of the Pt and have every telepath on Krakoa except for those four read his mind? Sinister’s psychic defenses can’t be THAT powerful, especially since he had a Villainous Breakdown after learning about the Dominion. And while they’re in his mind, they can see that he was telling the truth about the Dominion.This and Ruth’s disappearance seem like contrivances to keep the heroes from learning about the Dominion.
    I’m also not liking the idea that Exodus’s redemption ends because Hope and Storm turn upon him because of what he did in a future that will never happen while under the influence of Sinister. After everything Bishop did to her, Hope is literally the LAST person on the planet who should be judging people based on what they did in a future that will never happen.
    I wonder if Mother Righteous deleted the part in the end about the Dominion from the tape. If she were smart, she might not want Mystique to find out that there’s a Dominion and one of the other Sinisters probably created it at this point.
    I’m also wondering- did Mother Righteous just try to drive Mystique and Destiny apart to advance her plans? Or did she have other reasons? Remember the original Nathaniel Essex wanted Destiny by his side and she refused him. Does Mother Righteous have those memories?
    If Hope was able to shut down Exodus’s powers, then why couldn’t she just do the same to Orphan Maker? What was the need for his armor? Do Exodus’s powers only stay shut down temporarily or if he’s close to Hope?
    Hope claims that as an Omega, her ability to manipulate powers has no limit but that in the Sins of Sinister timeline Exodus killed her by staying out of range. Isn’t a range limit, by definition, a limit?
    Storm has a history of not noticing anything’s wrong with her friends. She was leading the team during the Outback period and failed to notice Maddie’s transformation into the Goblin Queen. And of course, the X-Men spent years ignoring that, so Storm never learned not to repeat her mistake.

  8. GN says:

    Test

  9. GN says:

    Gillen has been building this ‘Storm is divided between the QC and the GR’ plot thread in the background for some time now, so I’m glad to see it forefront in her focus issue.

    In Judgment Day, Storm was on the Quiet Council when Uranos attacked the Great Ring. In Sins of Sinister, Storm was on the Great Ring when Mr Sinister attacked the Quiet Council. Both times, she was in the wrong place at a critical time. This is clearly not sustainable, and I don’t think the Colossus proxy solution is going to work out.

    When Judgment Day happened, I was actually reminded of the Morlock Massacre, particularly how the Arakkii were a modern version of the Morlocks and Storm’s leadership role in both communities. But I had forgotten the circumstances in which Storm joined the X-Men in the first place, so I’m pleased Gillen brought it up.

  10. Luis Dantas says:

    @GN

    In this instance, no, Storm was very much not right. Xavier had a very reasonable point and years after the fact Ororo’s ego can’t accept it. That, mind you, after she has developed her own rather impressive history of serious mistakes with blood prices.

    She is about the least entitled person imaginable to accuse Xavier of Hubris, particularly at this point in time.

    Kurt giving Ororo his proxy vote only works if he hasn’t actually talked directly with her and she hasn’t been told by the time that she speaks with Colossus. Both her and Kurt are experienced enough to realize that it is just not wise to rely so much on Piotr when Kate is a perfectly acceptable second (or first) choice.

    Particularly when Ororo is very explicitly worried about the possibility of mind control of Council members and Kurt has just gone through a traumatic period of not being in control of his own faculties.

    We have to assume that, given the opportunity, either would rather choose to split the voting duties more evenly between Piotr and Kate. But the stories as published make it entirely possible, even likely, that both are acting on incomplete information. Ororo may have given Piotr proxy rights before learning of Kurt’s departure, and Kurt may have left without giving Scott any clue of how to authorize Storm to pass Kurt’s proxy voting rights forward.

    Of course, we don’t even know that is any established protocol for proxy votes in the first place, let alone that it will be followed through. Somehow I doubt it. It may well be that Piotr will not even have the chance to try to make a difference, regardless of his own compromised situation. It would be a nice swerve to find out that at some point he became his own person again; it has been a fair while since we last saw Mikhail or the Writer.

  11. Mike Loughlin says:

    I made a comment earlier, must have gotten eaten…

    In Uncanny X-Men 273, Forge is frustrated because he can’t figure out how to undo the Genoshan mutate process. I think his power has a limit, something like he can’t invent a piece of tech to solve a problem beyond his knowledge and understanding. He found one way the “Sinisterization” happened and solved for that, but he can’t be sure he missed a step that was beyond his comprehension, hence his not being able to declare that the “de-Sinisterizing” process was complete with 100% certainty.

    Storm has definitely made mistakes (most notably, taking leadership of and then ignoring the Morlocks), but Professor X has the potential to become a bigger threat than anyone, all in the name of his version of the greater good. As much as the Krakoan era has tried to make the Omega mutants seem like equals, Xavier or another Omega telepath could take over anyone and wreak havoc above anyone short of a reality warper- and it’s conceivable that they could overtake someone with that power set.

    “Xavier’s not an Omega”- fine, he’s a notch below and more experienced than almost any of them, same threat level.

    Speaking of Omegas, I thought they were the most powerful mutants possible within their power sets. Hope could be an Omega power manipulator but still not omnipotent or able to easily shut off any power. Orphan Maker’s power might be too much or too out-there for her to handle.

  12. Chris V says:

    Xavier’s entire characterization from the Krakoa era is that he is flawed by his hubris. Moira made this point very explicit in House/Powers. Yes, this was an overt example of lack of self-awareness as if there was one person suffering from greater hubris than Xavier, it was Moira. That doesn’t invalidate her point though.
    Even at the end of “Sins of Sinister”, that far in the future, we still witness Xavier driven by the conviction that he can force his dream to work.

  13. Michael says:

    @GN- Uncanny X-Men 102 states that Storm was 24 when Xavier asked her to leave Africa- a grown woman, not a teenager.

  14. Douglas says:

    “Are we meant to still be really close in time to ‘Judgment Day’?” We are! Remember, Immortal X-Men #9 opens very soon after Judgment Day (since #8 was all set in the past); on the first page, Kate says “Xavier still wasn’t talking about Erik. No one had any idea about why Kurt had grown horns, and he wasn’t telling.” Given Sinister’s time resets, #10 starts just a few minutes later…and that’s the moment that the reset in SoS: Dominion takes us back to. And then this issue is very shortly after that.

    Ah, but what about the giant Wolverine/X-Force storyline in which “weeks” pass, some time after Judgment Day? We only see the Quiet Council in Wolverine 32 and X-Force 39, and neither Sinister nor Kurt is present! So that’s all happening after this.

  15. Jon R says:

    It’s also probably more natural to give your proxy vote to the members of the same court. So Colossus is the natural choice to end up with the proxies for both Storm and Nightcrawler, even if otherwise Storm might default to Kate intead. And.. well, a more functional government would have already learned from Apocalypse and Magneto leaving and have a bench of established adjuncts ready to vote over and quickly replace Sinister and Nightcrawler. Another problem of their own making.

  16. Alexx Kay says:

    While I think it very likely, by economy of narrative, that Rasputin IV *is* free of Sinister’s influence, I find it ludicrous that the Krakoans are taking her freedom at face value. Especially since, not 10 pages later, they won’t extend that level of trust to the Quiet Council.

    “She is a true believer in Krakoa. We’ve seen where that can lead.” — I think it likely that this is in reference to the just-witnessed Sins story, in which, at least for the first several years, the Council (especially Charles) still believe they are helping Krakoa.

    Are we meant to still be really close in time to “Judgment Day”? — I think so, yes. Although it’s been months of publication time, the story in Immortal X-Men #11 seems to happen very soon after IX#10, I would think within a single-digit number of days.

    Colossus has a vote in his own right, in addition to the two proxies, for a total of 3. As I commented elsewhere, Gillen seems to be setting up something similar to the election shenanigans in his Eternals run.

  17. Jon R says:

    @Alexx: Yeah, all that Mother Righteous needs to do to win the items on the list she gave Shaw is to make sure that Storm is gone and get influence over Colossus. The council has seven votes currently. His three plus Shaw’s mean anything she wants passes. Since she has influence over Storm, I wouldn’t be surprised if she gave a little nudge on setting this up.

    If she wants permanent control then she has them vote two new members that she controls (or is one of) to replace Nightcrawler and Sinister. She’d have to do both votes while Storm was gone unless she gets someone else on her side too.

    If she first replaces Nightcrawler then the council stays 7 votes, with Colossus as 1 or 2, Shaw having one, and new person having 1. She has a majority of 4 still so long as Storm isn’t there, otherwise loses if no one else votes for her proposal.

    If she first replaces Sinister, then the council is 8 votes, with Colossus as 2 or 3, Shaw having 1, and new person having 1. She has a majority of five if Storm isn’t there, otherwise a tie if no one else votes for her proposal.

    With both positions filled we’re back to 8 votes, Colossus as 1 or 2, Shaw with 1, and her two new members. So that’s 4 votes for her, 5 if Storm is gone. Back to a potential deadlock, but at worst she controls exactly half the council and everything seems more stable without people being suspicious of how much power Colossus holds.

  18. Jon R says:

    Ack, my math was wrong above somewhat. I forgot Nightcrawler’s proxy is in Storm’s hands, not Colossus directly. It doesn’t change things much, it just means that until Nightcrawler is replaced, Mother Righteous has even more reason to keep Storm away from any of the votes she cares about.

  19. GN says:

    Let me try this comment again:

    Gillen has been seeding this ‘Storm is divided between the QC and the GR’ plot thread in the background for some time now, so I’m glad to see it forefront in her focus issue.

    In Judgment Day, Storm was on the Quiet Council when Uranos attacked the Great Ring. In Sins of Sinister, Storm was on the Great Ring when Mr Sinister attacked the Quiet Council. Both times, she was in the wrong place at a critical time. This is clearly not sustainable, and I don’t think the Colossus proxy solution is going to work out.

    (Part 1 of 2)

  20. GN says:

    When Judgment Day happened, I was actually reminded of the Morlock Massacre, particularly how the Arakkii were a modern version of the Morlocks and Storm’s leadership role in both communities. But I had forgotten the circumstances in which Storm joined the X-Men in the first place, so I’m pleased Gillen brought it up.

    So we have the rule of three here:

    1. When the choice arose between her African community and the X-Men, Storm chose the X-Men.

    2. When the choice arose between the Morlocks and the X-Men, Storm chose the X-Men (and the Morlocks paid for it).

    (Part 2)

  21. Si says:

    I hope that one day they have a story where they show a flashback of Colossus suddenly breaking free of the Russian influence, and he turns to steel with a great metallic ringing sound effect: UKRAINNNNNE!

    Ahem. Anyway, I think the view of Storm being dragged from happiness is mean-spirited. She went from saving the crops to saving the universe. And she could have gone back any time she wanted. I can’t recall her ever regretting becoming an X-Man, and she’s probably had the longest continual membership, after Cyclops and Wolverine. She’s just the wrong character for that kind of story.

  22. Krzysiek Ceran says:

    Considering she’s never been dead and only left the X-Men to be a queen in Wakanda…

    Wasn’t Wolverine dead for longer than Storm was married to T’Challa? Maybe not… But Logan had multiple leaves of absence – when his ongoing first started, when he lost his adamantium, when he was Death… I’m not convinced he’s been an active X-Man longer than Storm. I haven’t done the math, though.

  23. Sam says:

    I remember a time when characters were given a pass for doing things under mind control. I can only hope that Madelyne Pryor is laughing her head off in Limbo.

    Acknowledging that it would be very disruptive to replace 4 members of the QC at the same time, so maybe replace them one by one over a period of time? Isn’t that a much better solution rather than what happened in this issue?

    I am happy that the resurrection process has been taken off the table. I appreciated it as a piece of metacommentary that nobody really dies in superhero comics, but it was particularly abused in this era and became boring.

  24. Michael says:

    One more thing- what happened to Dark Beast? In issue 9, he was trapped in Sinister’s lab. Did they just leave him there? I mean he’s been trapped in there since the mutant amnesty so they can’t just throw him in the Pit or turn him over to the human authorities like Whirlwind.

  25. Moonstar Dynasty says:

    Test (system is saying I’m posting a duplicate comment put it is not appearing at all)

  26. Moonstar Dynasty says:

    Trying again

    @Paul: I don’t find Storm’s interpretation of events in Kenya problematic if we consider that any retelling of long past events as matters of different perspectives, an opportunity to update antiquated first passes, or giving additional complexity or dimension to something previously viewed as mundane or straightforward.

    @Luis Dantas: You haven’t specifically said exactly why Storm, in this instance, was very much in the wrong with Xavier, who–as has been widely noted–is the very definition and pinnacle of hubris for years if not decades now (not that you won’t have a point–just would like to hear what they are).

    @Michael: Storm or anyone being a legal, “full-grown” adult by 18 years of age or even by their early 20s doesn’t always connote having the full range of emotional maturity or mental faculties required to consider all the angles while making major life decisions, as I’d wager many of us can identify with.

    @Si: Both sentiments–Storm being upset or offended by the manner of Xavier’s offer with hindsight and her realizing and accepting that her gifts are better served in a global capacity–can both coexist and be true. They aren’t mutually exclusive statements.

    I’m enjoying the potentially thorny implications and outcomes of Storm’s mindset and decision-making here–including her possibly looming mistakes. Between this issue and the immense work Ewing had been putting in over on Red, this is easily the most interesting Storm has been in a long time.

  27. Joseph S. says:

    Logan has appeared in so many books concurrently that while he hasn’t been on the team longer than Ororo he’s certainly spent more “time” on the team

  28. […] X-MEN #11. (Annotations here.) Okay, so it undercuts the ending of Sins of Sinister: Dominion to have the four compromised Quiet […]

  29. Ryan T says:

    Jon R said:

    “And.. well, a more functional government would have already learned from Apocalypse and Magneto leaving and have a bench of established adjuncts ready to vote over and quickly replace Sinister and Nightcrawler. Another problem of their own making.”

    I think the overly involved power machinations of the Council are definitely an issue here. There’s an argument for a plan of succession but given that adding any given member tends to be a huge to-do it’s somewhat reasonable to think they’d both still throw fits about the back up to the back up and that they’re very concerned with keeping a small circle of who knows about various decisions.

    Obviously part of this is creating character drama but I’ve seen small bodies where it’s difficult to move levers in a similar way. In most cases they’re not well run orgs but there’s arguably some well intended aspects to including difficult figures into the conversation, both in gaining those people’s trust (Apocalypse and the like) but also in showing a commitment to unity. Embracing those figures brings difficulties and those difficulties are part of the problem.

    But also, it’s an oddly high turnover position for something that is held in such regard. It actually opens some of why Storm might make sense, outside of hubris, of staying: “if not me, who?” is a reasonable question.

    I do wonder how much Piotr > Kate is a matter of him being seen as less headstrong and more predictable. Kate is trusted but occasionally a bit of a wild card. (Of course that ends up as dramatic irony)

  30. Sam says:

    I will admit that a lot of the QC machinations leave me cold. It reads a lot like someone reliving their Model United Nations past from high school, only with being able to use all those l’espirt de l’escalier replies that they never got to use.

  31. Andrew says:

    Correct me if I’m wrong but it seemed odd that Magneto was referred to as Max.

    I know that’s his character’s real name but even in recent years they’ve always generally stuck to calling him Erik. Charles certainly has at the very least.

  32. Jdsm24 says:

    Who said resurrection was off the table ? Its expressly stated that it still continues , albeit at a reduced rate . And of course , there’s always the traditional cloning, espefially now that it’s canon that Cloning A Dead Person = Actual Resurrection of Original Soul

  33. neutrino says:

    Both Emma and Storm have failed without considering future timelines. They both knew Sinister was a sociopath with a passion for weaponizing the x-gene, yet they served on the Quiet Council with him and used his genetic database for the resurrections. Emma gave him knowledge of a unique x-gene (Moira’s) that could rest the universe, and Storm went along. what did they think he was going to do with it?

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