X-Men Red #13 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN RED #13
“The Annihilation of Arakko”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Jacopo Camagni
Colourist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. A symbolically giant Genesis attacks the Great Ring with the Annihilation Staff.
PAGES 2-3. Lycaon makes his first appearance at the Great Ring.
Lycaon makes his first appearance here, but he was previously mentioned by Sunspot in issue #11: “They’re a little more imposing than poor Idyll was. Imagine an Omega Wolverine. And then double it.” Apparently, Sunspot meant the “double it” literally, since this guy is apparently a two-headed werewolf centaur.
Lycaon clearly considers himself to be the main character of this story, and is decidedly put out by the fact that nobody else agrees. He perceives his two heads as a symbol of reasoned objectivity and balance, something which is entirely lacking in anything he does in this issue; he seems unable to tell the difference between reasoned compromise and just splitting the difference with anyone who walks in. (In fairness, he’s probably being affected by Annihilation for much of this story, so maybe he lives up to his billing a little better in normal circumstances.) He doesn’t clarify what his powers are, other than mentioning a healing factor.
The Great Ring are now sitting at a single table in a circle of skulls and bones in the middle of a desert – Arakko itself is no longer present. When we saw this set in issue #7, the table was a full circle, but evidently the Night Seats are not participating once again.
The eight members of the Great Ring, from left to right, are now:
- Kobak Never-Held, Sunspot’s friend from earlier issues.
- Lycaon
- Storm
- Lactuca
- Lodus Logus
- Sobunar
- Ora Serrata
- The character once known as Xilo – the recap page still calls him that, but the dialogue later on indicates that he’s changing his name to something yet to be decided.
“You’re not the first newcomer Lodus has tested.” Lodus chucked a knife at Storm in the same way at her first meeting, way back in S.W.O.R.D. #8.
PAGE 4. Jon Ironfire addresses the Great Ring.
Jon is basically recapping the plot here. Oddly, Sobunar seems surprised to learn that Annihilation still exists after the destruction of the Annihilation helm, despite the fact that Saturnyne quite explicitly turned it into the staff in X of Swords: Destruction. Apparently that isn’t universally known. Jon explains (consistently with Destruction) that the staff influences people more subtly than the helm did.
PAGE 5. Genesis arrives to address the Great Ring.
Genesis arrived on Arakko on her own in the previous issue, somewhat to the surprise of her ally Marianna Stern, who was expecting an army. But, as Jon says, the Annihilation staff goes about things in a subtler way than the staff. Evidently Genesis (or perhaps Annihilation) intends to sow some discord here, rather than just launching an attack which would unite everyone against her.
This whole issue consists of the Great Ring imploding under Genesis’ pressure, in what seems like a deliberate parallel of Immortal X-Men.
PAGE 6. Recap and credits. The title, “The Annihilation of Arakko”, is obviously a double meaning.
PAGE 7. Data page. This is another extract from The New History of Arakko, a page from which also appeared in the previous issue. Another extract appears later in the issue, where the author identifies himself as the former Xilo – here, he refers to himself in the third person as “That-Which-Was-Xilo”. Xilo lost most of his memories when parts of his body were destroyed during A.X.E.: Judgment Day, hence his attempts to write a “new history” reconstructing what has been lost.
“Kobak, more than most, was not afraid of a life that ends.” This refers to the recurrent theme of the Arakki rejecting the Krakoan option of resurrection. Kobak holds the Seat of Victory, replacing Isca; she in turn took the seat when Genesis left Arakko to remain in Amenth at the end of “X of Swords.” So, as Xilo says, Kobak is sitting in Genesis’s old seat – Genesis did not hold the seat formerly held by Storm, and now by Lodus Logos, with the extra casting vote. Evidently she didn’t need it.
Lactuca evidently takes the cosmic-scale view that none of this really matters because the universe will go on regardless.
Lodus Logos‘ thoughts are recorded in his usual poetic form. He’s been one of the Great Ring stalwarts most receptive to Storm’s more co-operative ideas and immediately realises that Genesis isn’t going to like any of this at all. Genesis’ purpose here is basically to confront the Great Ring members who have evolved in their attitudes over the course of Al Ewing’s run with someone who embodies the way that they started out.
Ora Serrata “had made a number of mistakes recently.” This refers to the opening storyline in Legion of X where Ora Serrata was trying to foment chaos and was revealed to be under the thumb of Mother Righteous.
“Survival requires a fusion…” Xilo is considering finding a new body to merge with. In “Sins of Sinister”, we saw that he had merged with Cable.
PAGES 8-12. Genesis lectures the Great Ring.
The Annihilation Mask is whispering throughout this scene (and the rest of the book) and presumably influencing everyone, including Genesis herself. Oddly, only Ora Serrata appears to notice this at all, and she’s rapidly persuaded to drop it.
Jon Ironfire accuses Genesis of failing to show up with her forces to help battle the demons of Amenth, leaving the White Sword and his 100 soldiers to fight them alone and rely on the Sword’s powers to resurrect them each day. Genesis ducks the criticism by pointing out that Jon is asking for help in a way that is contrary to pre-Ewing Arakkii notions of self-reliance. Jon, who has only just arrived, seems to have no objection to making this point – but then the 100 do not hold typical Arakkii values. They always believed in co-operation, and they were unfazed by resurrection.
Even so, Jon seems to be saying that Genesis was “meant to be” their reinforcements against the Amenth demons, and failed to show up for some reason – not merely that she ought to have come to help on her own initiative. He invokes the standard “I was there / where were you?” mantra commonly used on Arakko and gets no direct answer.
Sobunar tries to stand up for the change of attitude, but is also the first to openly concede that it’s a collapse of values. Maybe he was always a bit equivocal about it.
“Our mutant weapons define us.” Interestingly, Genesis seems to be giving the sort of mutant essentialist speech that dovetails with the less edifying aspects of Krakoan exceptionalism, where mutants have value simply because of their powers. But she also maintains that there have to be winners and losers, and that the Arakkii must make sure that they’re the winners. It’s a zero-sum-game worldview.
PAGE 13. Storm responds.
Storm’s point is basically that this is a pretty bleak vision for mutants to aspire to. Genesis argues that the time of peace should have been used to prepare for the next war. She appeals to the fact that the Arakkii spent millennia fighting the demons to hold them at bay from Earth (“that world – which we coddled with our sacrifice”). Instead, Genesis argues, Storm led the Arakkii to “fle[e]” to a “world of luxuries” where they all got wiped out by Uranos.
PAGES 14-15. Other Great Ring members chip in.
Genesis too invokes the “where were you” line, denying Storm’s position as a proper Arakkii leader. Her criticism of Storm for not being present when they were fighting demons in Amenth is on one level absurd – Storm couldn’t have been there – but makes the point that she’s a newcomer and cultural outsider. Her point about fighting the “Eternals of Earth” is a better one, since that’s Judgment Day, and Storm was indeed absent at a key moment – continuing the theme that Storm overcommits and is often not where she needs to be.
“The words of the Unarmed King…” Fisher King. I’m not immediately sure what line Sobunar is referring to.
“I faced Ororo in the Circle Perilous myself”. Interestingly, Kobak seems particularly resistant to Annihilation’s influence – or maybe he’s just being provoked to be contrary. Anyway, he challenged Storm in the Circle Perilous in S.W.O.R.D. #9.
“She was instrumental in caging Uranos.” In A.X.E.: Judgment Day #4. The aftermath of the battle is shown in issue #7 of this series.
PAGES 16-19. Jon Ironfire challenges Genesis, and Sobunar challenges Storm.
Storm is presumably under Annihilation’s influence too, given how angrily she responds to Sobunar. Lodus Logos does seem to recognise that they’re being manipulated, and the following data page has him claiming to be aware of the Staff’s influence – though he does get uncharacteristically emotional about it. However, Lactuca clearly understands what’s happening, and chooses directly to intervene by teleporting Kobak, Storm and Jon away. Considering that he’s already stressed his lack of interest in anything below the cosmic scale, the suggestion is that he believes this is a potentially very important event.
It’s also not obvious how Lactuca does this, because his mutant power is to know everything.
PAGE 20. Data page – another extract from The New History of Arakko.
According to Xilo, these events trigger an Arakkii civil war, in which parts of Mars are apparently going to fall under the control over various groups. The exiled Ring member Isca gets one; Tarn’s old group the Vile re-emerge to claim another.
Lodus argues that Arakkii challenge traditions are obsolete and points to the Crucible in Krakoa as an aspirational example – a pretty low bar, really. Xilo assumes that Lodus isn’t approving of the Crucible because it leads to resurrection, but rather because it’s more of a symbolic trial leading to self-actualisation (in the form of a restoration of the “true” body).
Xilo mentions that by the time of writing this history, parts of his memory have been erased – implying that he’s going to take another kicking somewhere along the line.
PAGES 21-22. Genesis backs down from Lactuca.
Lactuca has generally hung around the fringes of this series to date. Here, neither Genesis nor anyone else seems willing to take him on. Instead, Genesis tries to shrug it off and move on with her big speech. Note the irony in her referring to “my banner”, when the banner is Annihilation itself.
PAGE 23. Trailers.
Ewing is now officially my hero for finally doing a takedown of centrists in print.
But it’s not enough, by far. My dream is to publish a centrist joke book.
The book would open in the middle, not on the sides.
Re: Lactua being able to teleport people- I have to wonder if Ewing is thinking of X-Men Red 10, where Manifold needs to teleport three aliens away but can’t do it without knowing where he is. So Lactua uses his power to show Manifold where he is and Manifold teleports the aliens away. Maybe Ewing is misremembering how he wrote that issue and thinks he established that Lactua is a teleporter. As written, though, that issue raises a problem- if Lactua could teleport people and needed the aliens gone, then why didn’t he do it himself instead of showing Manifold how to do it?
Alternately, maybe the way that this issue was supposed to go was Lactua contacts Manifold and has him teleport them away but then an editor pointed out that Manifold was in stasis.
Is the reference on page 7 in Storm’s reaction to the Annihilation staff not supposed to be a reference to the Adversary? It’s in bold and capitalised (though it is at the start of a sentence).
The Adversary was built up in one of Claremont’s long plot-threads in the 80s and essentially killed the entire roster of X-Men. so it’s a pretty big deal if Ewing is making that comparison.
I thought Lactuca was female? Although I also think they’ve been referred to using “they/them” pronouns quite a bit thus far.
Minor note for clarity’s sake: “However, Lactuca clearly understands what’s happening, and chooses directly to intervene by teleporting Kobak, Storm and Jon away.” — Xilo and Lodus are also teleported away here
Paul > He doesn’t clarify what his powers are, other than mentioning a healing factor.
Lycaon Two Wolves seems to be an Omega-type Lupine, so his powers must be the bone spikes extending from his forearms and his healing factor. Presumably his Omega status means there is no upper limit to his self-healing powers.
Paul > It’s also not obvious how Lactuca does this, because his mutant power is to know everything.
Ewing established Lactuca the Knower as the Omega Mutant of Universal Shaping, so she is an Omega version of Manifold (which calls back to a comment Knull made to Eden in S.W.O.R.D.). She knows the location of everything, but she can also open/close portals, as she did during Uranos’s attack.
How hard would it be for characters’ powers to be listed with their names on the credits/recap/character list pages? It drives me up the wall when minor/infrequent characters appear and I have no idea what they are supposed to do.
That said, great issue! I like how Ewing painted a picture of how insidiously the media (represented by Genesis & the Annihilation staff) sways people, and the disastrous consequences of such actions. Genesis appeals to a sense of pride in Arakki history, shaping the narrative around previously-held values and browbeating those that follow a newer, more productive path. Naturally, she circumvents the part in which she did not participate in the “glories” herself.
@K: good point! Lycaon was hilarious.
If you don’t think that’s what’s going on in this issue, fine. I read it as an allegory for current events, which I wasn’t expecting.
@RaoulSeagull: I also felt that bit of dialogue was an intentional reference to Adversary, and immediately I thought about Bryan Hitch’s Fall of X image–itself a Fall of the Mutants homage where Adversary was a main player–that was used to promote Fall of X earlier this year: https://t.ly/bBNrm
It still feels a bit tenuous to declare that an Adversary appearance is eminent based on a tiny reference in narration + teaser image, but the ominous mysticism of Annihilation certainly evokes shades of Adversary for me.
@Jason V: My impression was also that Lactuca was coded as nonbinary or at least female.
@Mike Loughlin: Not sure our readings are the same, but I wholeheartedly agree with you on the current events takeaway. To elaborate and take it a step further: Something about Genesis’s fierce commitment to Arakki nationalism and Annihilation’s deliberate anchoring of talking points struck me dead cold (and I mean this as a positive). Her appeals to uphold patriotism, tradition, and values through violence bore an uncomfortable and uncanny resemblance to something that could have been ripped out the far right/alt-right/white nationalism playbook.
Excellent recovery from last month’s mixed bag overall. I’m happy that we’ve had Red and Immortal guiding the way for the last year plus (and giving the Krokoan era some much needed nuance and dimensions), and I’m genuinely looking forward to Fall of X and how it plays out.
Poor Sobunar. The art was perfect on showing him collapsing in on himself.
@Mike Loughlin: myself, I saw Annihilation as a reference/parody for national pride and slogans, and Genesis as a nationalist “leader”. The history I saw as a cautionary tale for the need for discernment over pride and jingoism.
There isn’t “media” as such in a literal circle of speakers.
@Moonstar Dynasry: thinking about it, Genesis functions as the nationalist and Annihilation the media (traditional and otherwise) repeating the sound bites, combining for the right-wing echo chamber. Given its ability to control, the staff can also be seen as the people in power who donate to the politicians and own the media that disseminates far right-wing ideology. Or I’m off-base? Either way, the feelings of dread, trashing of nuance and cooperation, and hope that people wouldn’t fall for the awful message felt chillingly familiar.
@Luis Dantas: Moonstar Dynasty had a better-articulated take, and yours sounds reasonable as well. My reference to “media,” I realized, was in terms of an idea being spread amongst those in attention. These days, that’s mostly through social media, so that’s how I saw it.
For all I know, Jacopo Camagni may be a perfectly capable of artist, but it blows my mind how many artists whose names I’ve never heard of before just get thrown onto all these random books. Presumably, Marvel also doesn’t think people are buying these books for the art, or to follow a particular art team, anyway. It also feels lately like colorists are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. I was sifting through X of Swords again, and it’s all so bland and ugly except for the coloring, which . . . doesn’t really make it any more readable, but at a distance it gives the appearance of a book with interesting visual stuff going on.
I think we’re building towards an explanation of Arakko’s lunatic “help is bad” policy. It always seemed off that a society facing an external threat for thousands of years would be so individualistic. If you’re trying to win a war, the tactical advantages of basic cooperation aren’t hard to see. Clearly the 100 didn’t have any problem with it.
But that’s if you’re trying to win. If, say, your society is ruled for millenia by an immortal god-queen who would rather maintain an endless war for the sake of her own social Darwinism – well, it makes sense that such a society would be obsessed with individual strength.
I can’t imagine the average Arakkoan is going to be happy with Genesis turning down a chance to stop the endless hellwar.
MM: Yeah, I think so too. As far as we know, Genesis (unlike Apocalypse even, who got Celestial help) has been on top of the heap since her powers manifested. How much of the rules Arakko went by were there just to keep enabling her? *She* is strong and needs no one, so anyone else teaming up is unfair. Using other mutants is unfair, but using the weapons made by the ultimate mutant weapon makers is fine since she has the second best of them. The White Sword needing reinforcements to hold the line is weak, and it just so happens that means she got to hold the safer position behind him.
Meanwhile as people pointed out a few times, she failed. She let the White Sword take the brunt of the attack, and even if you call that tactics, that seems against her philosophy. She fell to Amenth even if she tries to act as if that wasn’t a loss. She lost to Apocalypse and was freed by Saturnyne and him. And now here she is full of swagger, shouting down anyone who disagrees with her and accusing them of letting their emotions rule rather than arguing with cold hard facts.
I certainly hope that this is Ewing building up to an ultimate calling out of her hypocrisy and self-interest disguised as philosophy.
@Moonstar Dynasty
Yeah, I don’t really expect The Adversary to turn up because he was such a one and done villain that no one’s touched since. Felt more like Annihilation was the mirror of him in Amenth, or like Selene with the eXternals he’s being retconned to be part of a larger species.
Maybe establishes Amenth as a What-If? dimension where The Adversary wasn’t stopped and everything fell apart?
Oh, you wish The Adversary had never returned. He returned in a X-Factor story-arc written by Howard Mackie during the mid-‘90s. I also have a vague memory of The Adversary showing up in a X-Force comic when there were actually two ongoing X-Force titles.
He also showed up in the Coates Black Panther series. Echo supposedly killed him in her recent miniseries.
Someone was claiming that a westerner like Storm overturning another culture’s old traditions is western imperialism. https://www.reddit.com/r/xmen/comments/153blf2/comment/jsnrh5a/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
[…] RED #13. (Annotations here.) The parallels here with the collapse of the Quiet Council are presumably intentional, as we build […]
@neutrino: Interesting reddit thread, thanks for the link. I disagree with the initial poster because Storm hasn’t taken over the Arakki and hasn’t used force (outside of the leadership challenges) to bring about change. I get where the “imperialist” take is coming from (a person from an outside culture has an effect on a society) but Ororo joined Arakko, followed their traditions as established, and showed them a different way. The Arakki chose to implement some of her ideas. Given that they were a society constantly at war until very recently, I get that they’d be open to new ways of thinking.
Is Jon Ironfire somehow a Rasputin? Is Jon Ironfire somehow Colossus’ occasionally hinted-at son from the Savage Land? With metal stripes on his arms like dad and horns and blades like auntie?
No idea how he’d get to Arrako, but it wouldn’t be too hard to find a way.