ONCE UPON A TIME…

MUTANT X #12 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, a year’s worth of storytelling comes to a head, as Havok faces down his wife, the Goblin Queen, and the status quo takes a shift in “Once upon a time…”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #12 is a special double-sized issue, cover dated September of 1990.  It was written by Howard Mackie, with pencils by Cary Nord, and inks by Andrew Pepoy.

The Watcher Uatu presents the reader with the backstory of the Goblin Entity and how it came to be entangled with Madelyne Pryor. After devouring some of the most powerful forces in the cosmos (including the Phoenix Force and Galactus), the Entity is imprisoned by the Fifth Host of the Celestials, only to be set free when Maddie bargained for Scotty’s life years prior. In the present day Maddie is consumed further by the Entity, taking on outwardly demonic traits. As the X-Men rally for the oncoming battle, Victor von Doom arrives at the UN to offer his services leading the forces going into the war to end all wars. Alex, Brute, and the X-Men depart for battle in the Blackbird, and Scotty stays behind with Elektra. Before departing, Alex kisses Elektra goodbye (officially making the subtext proper text), and Scotty telepathically imparts a piece of knowledge in Alex’s mind, before finally calling him “Dad”. Doom and his army arrive in New York, and are joined by Alex, Magneto, and the Sub Mariner. Their combined forces engage Bloodstorm, Ice-Man, and Fallen. Alex is able to break through to Bloodstorm and Ice-Man, freeing them finally of Maddie’s control. Fallen is well and truly revealed to be acting entirely of his own free will, and attacks the others. Alex recalls his death once more, in the darkness, but is pulled back by Scotty, or at least the portion of him that Scotty put in Alex’s head earlier. Together, they encounter Maddie and the Goblin Entity. A fearless Scotty faces down the Entity, and sends it away. Alex awakens again, with the real Scotty beside him. Maddie has gone away but promised to return some day, and the Goblin Queen’s forces disappeared. Scotty appears to have forgotten the whole ordeal. The assembled heroes pledge to rebuild, but first Alex decides to tell the others where he really comes from. In an epilogue, we’re treated to scenes from this universe’s alternate history (drawn by some classic Marvel talent to boot), as Alex narrates, discussing how to rebuild the Six.

There’s been a lot of lead up to this issue.  I mean, I guess, really, the whole thing has been lead up to this issue, since the original plan for the run was just for it to be a 12-issue mini-series.  It’s initial success turned in into an ongoing, and some of the plans changed.  This issue is the first to really reflect both of those points.  I wraps up the loose threads up to this point, but doesn’t *quite* put a bow on it at the end, so that there’s enough room to tell more stories.  And now, the whole team knows Alex’s secret, the four not evil members have re-united, and we can go back to some more world building and character development beyond just “on the run from Madelyn in between bouts of fighting Madelyn.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This issue is one of the ones I had as a kid, picked up at a drugstore while on a trip with one of my aunts.  It’s also one that I remembered decently enough, though largely I remember the beginning and end.  The actual resolution didn’t stick with me quite as much originally.  I was pretty excited for this one going in, and…well, it wasn’t quite what I expected, but I also did still quite like the pay off.  And now, I get to read all the post-Madelyne stuff, which actually really excites me.

Anyway, I’m going to be taking a week off to catch my breath, and then I’ll be back here for year 2 of Mutant X!

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.