A SINISTER THREAD

MUTANT X 2000 ANNUAL (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!

And we’re back, this week with an issue that I totally didn’t just miss when I was supposed to read…look, guys, the Annuals don’t actually have the cover date printed on them, and they’re not worked into the actual narrative, so it’s easy to miss them and not realize it. So, I’m gonna fix it now, and take a look at a Gambit and Bloodstorm-centric story. Oh goody. My favorites.

THE ISSUE ITSELF

The 2000 annual of Mutant X was “cover dated” April 2000. It has story and art by Howard Mackie, Colleen Doran, Scott Elmer, Andrew Pepoy, Rod Ramos, and John Czop.

Bloodstorm and Gambit break into a facility, as the captions set the timeline as shortly after Ororo left the X-Men. The two banter as they make their way through traps. They open a large door and discover The Fallen behind it. The Fallen reveals to Gambit that Ororo is a vampire, and introduces the pair to War. They do battle, and Gambit and Ororo get away, moving further into the facility. As they move forward, Ororo recalls her transformation into a vampire. They arrive at their goal, a room where two young children are kept in stasis. The Horsemen catch-up, and Gambit is fatally wounded. Ororo turns him into a vampire to save his life, and they escape with the children, ending the first “part.” In the second part, Gambit wrestles with his new vampirism, and runs off, after wishing Ororo had let him die. In the French Quarter, a pair of thieves attacks a young woman, who reveals herself to be a member of the assassins. It was a set up, and the other Assassins attack. The Assassins are taken out by Gambit, who then attacks the woman. Gambit reconvenes with Ororo and the children. Ororo departs, and Gambit meets with the man who hired him: Sinister. Sinister takes the boy, and orders Gambit to dispose of the girl. Gambit refuses, and takes her himself, while Sinister addresses the boy as “X-Man.”

The last annual focused on building out the universe a little further, and built up a handful of new characters. This one is a lot more retread. We get another look at Ororo in her early days of being a vampire, who seems to be pretty much the same as her present counterpart. There’s also some things that don’t seem to line up with her last flashback issue, since this one portrays her as being on good terms with the X-Men when she departed. What she and Gambit are doing is ill-defined, as is their relationship to each other. We get another appearance of the Fallen, who, like Bloodstorm, seems to be in about the same spot as presently. The story’s two-part structure is odd, because part two just picks up moments from where part one ended, making it feel like the whole separation was unnecessary. At the end, we get a clearer explanation of why Gambit is a vampire, and where X-Man and Raven came from…sort of. The coolest part of the whole thing are the “alternate history” covers we get at the end, showing off some events from prior to Havok’s arrival, but they seem jarringly placed at the end of a book that is otherwise very focused on one thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

 I had a lot of trouble getting through this one. It was equal parts boring and confusing for me. It certainly doesn’t help that Bloodstorm remains a character I just don’t get the hype behind, and that this is the second time in a year she’s gotten a flashback issue. The information provided by this story is minimal, since it’s dealing with stuff that we largely already knew, which makes me feel like it wants to be a character study, but there’s very little actual character growth or interaction. So, it’s ultimately an extra length story about how Gambit got turned into a vampire, and did we really need that?

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.

THE GIFT OF FEAR!

MUTANT X #23 (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, Havok runs into Cyclops…but like, not the one you’re thinking of…or the other one.  It makes more sense in context, in “The Gift of Fear!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #23 is cover dated September 2000 and has story and art by Howard Mackie, Tom Lyle, Andrew Pepoy, and Cliff Rathburn.

The Six and their allies face down Xavier and the newly arrived Sinister.  The protoplasm that made up the facsimile of Galactus has broken apart and is forming around the heroes.  The heroes are separated from each other, with the protoplasms each taking on a unique form for each hero.  Captain America faces a Red Skull that mocks his mutant heritage and tells him he’ll never be as good as the original.  Ice-Man is confronted by his racist father.  Bloodstorm is attacked by Dracula, which is witnessed by Gambit, who is himself faced with the last of the Assassin’s Guild.  The Brute’s encounter turns inward, as he his mocked by two prior versions of himself, who decry his buffoonery.  Magneto shakes off the first wave of visions, but is dragged down by a more vague abyss of mutants calling out for his help.  As Alex tries to help Magneto, he is cut off by a vision of Cyclops, who calls Alex an embarrassment.  Alex is saved by Jean and Apocalypse, who tell Alex he is the only one who can bring down Xavier.  Since Alex is new to this world, Xavier hasn’t been able to fully get a hold on his mind.  As Alex and Xavier face off once more, Xavier reveals one upper hand: Scotty, who, alongside Gambit’s daughter Raven, is being held captive by Sinister’s latest creation, this universe’s version of X-Man.  Xavier reveals that his plan relies on the Summers’ genetic stock, which Scotty, Raven, and X-Man all possess.  He will use the three as batteries, allowing him to have the power to unite the entire world into one single unified mind.  Sinister, unaware of the full extent of Xavier’s plan, rebels, and Xavier kills him, turning X-Man to the other side in the process.  Apocalypse takes a blast from Xavier, allowing Alex the chance to unload on Xavier.  As Apocalypse succumbs to the blast, Xavier lets out one more in Alex’s direction.  Brute dives in the way of the blast, and Xavier disappears.  Two weeks later, Hank recovers in a stasis tube, as Alex and Scotty discuss why Scotty and Raven must go with Magneto to join the other X-Men on the Moon.  As the Six discusses their next move, Alex’s mind wanders.  They are all interrupted by the arrival of Brute, who has seemingly regained his intellect once more.

Once more, we get a pretty direct continuation from the prior issue, and one that finally brings some closure to the Xavier arc that’s been running for a while here.  In contrast to much of the run, all of the members of the team finally get a little bit of focus, even if it’s just a one page sequence each.  Despite its prominent place on the cover, Cyclops’s appearance winds up surprisingly brief, but it, like all of the other hallucinations, are really effective at selling what’s going on in everyone’s heads.  We get some interesting yet brief world building, with the reveal that Raven is part of the Summers lineage, as well as the somewhat anticlimactic reveal of X-Man.  And it all ends with a rather compelling cliffhanger, while still wrapping up the overall story.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This issue is one of the few that I vividly recall from the original run.  My dad bought it for me because it had Cyclops on the cover, and I actually remember reading it, almost in its entirety.  It’s an issue I was looking forward to when I began my re-read, but was worried I wouldn’t enjoy as much as I’d hoped as I got deeper into the run.  I was happy to discover that it’s actually just a rather solid story.  It wraps things up, but it’s also a pretty nice little stand-alone issue.

And with the next big plot-line wrapped up, I’m gonna break here for a week, and be back in two weeks with more Mutant X fun!

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.

TREMBLE BEFORE HIS MIGHT

MUTANT X #22 (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, the team faces off against Galactus…except that they don’t? Let’s check out the weirdness of “Tremble Before His Might.”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #22 is cover dated August 2000 and has story and art by Howard Mackie, Tom Lyle, Dusty Abell, and Andrew Pepoy.

Xavier does battle with The Six in an attempt to capture Scotty. Havok decides their best strategy is retreat, heading south towards Antarctica. The go to Apocalypse’s ship, meeting up with Magneto, who reveals his survival to the rest of the team, also confirming the survival of the rest of the X-Men in the process. Magneto takes Havok and Captain America to come up with a strategy for attacking Xavier. While the others wait, Ice-Man complains about Cap’s inclusion in the planning, since he’s not even a mutant. Scotty laughs and confirms that Cap actually is a mutant. Apocalypse’s horsemen, led by the Fallen arrive, and an altercation breaks out. Havok breaks it up, but Fallen pushes back, before being put in his place by Apocalypse. Apocalypse reveals that Xavier’s plan to take over the world requires him to create a simulacrum of Galactus, so that he may feed off of the panic of a world that fears being devoured. The Six and the Horsemen travel to New York to battle the fake Galactus. They cause this Galactus to melt into a green goo, revealing him to be a creation of Sinister, who manipulates the goo into several smaller, unfinished creatures.

This issue picks up pretty much directly from the last one, dumping you more or less right into the action. It’s a rather uneven issue, a point really driven home by the drastic shifts in style between Lyle and Abell’s pencils. They seem to have each taken pages at random, so there’s just these sudden jumps where characters suddenly look like completely different people. Most notably, Alex’s hair length varies by several inches from one page to the next. The Fallen’s role also remains ill-explored at best; early stories indicated his nastier persona was the result of a darker history in this universe, but with the change-up to make Apocalypse a less villainous character, this doesn’t fully track. Here, even *he* doesn’t seem to understand his motivations, and his presence seems largely to be about reminding readers the character still exists. He pops in and pops back out about as quickly. We do at least get an official confirmation of the X-Men’s survival this issue, but they still don’t make an appearance. Likewise, we get a reminder of the Starjammers in the form of the imaginary Galactus’ imaginary Heralds, but no proper appearance from them either.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Last issue was a lot of exposition, and this felt like…more exposition. Not really even different exposition. Just more. I did like getting more time with Ice-Man for a change, but the Galactus plot feels kind of extraneous. But, we’ll finally get to the wrap up next time!

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.

THE GOOD…THE BAD…AND THINGS GET UGLY!

MUTANT X #21 (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, Havok gets a *lot* of exposition thrown in his general direction in “The Good…The Bad…And Things Get Ugly!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #21 is coverdated July of 2000, and it has story and art by Howard Mackie, Bart Sears, Tom Lyle, and Andrew Pepoy.

Jean has taken Havok to see Apocalypse, revealing to Alex that it is Xavier, not Apocalypse, who is the current threat.  Havok struggles to accept Apocalypse as an ally, but is swayed by arrival of Magneto, who it turns out was *not* killed when the X-Mansion was nuked back in issue 14.  Magneto and his X-Men were saved by Apocalypse, who has been keeping them shielded from Xavier since.  Magneto explains to Alex that Xavier started out much like his main universe counterpart, but was changed by an encounter with the Shadow King.  Xavier emerged from the encounter more ruthless.  The unintended death of Moira MacTaggert leads to a falling out between Magneto and Xavier.  Magneto threw himself into building up the X-Men, while Xavier disappeared, supposedly tracking down and turning every mutant telepath he could find, allying himself with Mr Sinister in the process.  Magneto in turn allied with Apocalypse, whose goals remain consistent with his mainstream counterpart, but have placed him opposite Xavier and Sinister.  Magneto and Jean warn Alex that Xavier wants something with Scotty, so Alex returns home.  He confronts Xavier to protect Scotty.  Xavier fights back, first attacking Elektra.  Alex pushes him back, and is aided by the Six, before Xavier rallies, armoring himself and preparing for further battle.

There’s soooooo much exposition in this issue.  It’s not bad, but it does sort of come out of nowhere, since we haven’t really been doing as much of that as of late.  That said, the series kind of needed it.  It was nice to re-check where we are.  I was also glad to see that Magneto wasn’t *really* dead, because his sudden death did feel like a bit of a waste.  I do look forward to Apocalypse potentially being an actual character of his own, rather than just the plot device he is currently, but we’ve got time for that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

We’re again getting back into some of the territory I was already familiar with from back when this was new, since I picked up around the wrap-up to the Xavier stuff.  It’s interesting to see how it actually builds up.

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.

EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW…

MUTANT X #20 (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, Havok finds himself going all Inception, with an alternate world within an alternate world in “Everything You Thought You Knew…”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #20 is cover-dated June of 2000, and it has Howard Mackie as writer, Jabier Saltares, Tom Lyle, and Billy Patton as pencillers, and Andrew Pepoy, Cliff Rathburn, John Czop, and Jay Leisten as inkers.

Havok falls through the Nexus again, remembering his death once more (don’t worry, he remarks on how frequently this has been happening).  He wakes up in a room with The Six, in their original line-up, Madelyn and Fallen included.  The others don’t remember anything after the Sentinel blast that happened in issue #1.  Havok thinks to himself about all the things that have happened in the last 20 issues, wondering what’s reality.  He is descended on by Jean Grey.  Jean tries to tell Alex something, but Madelyn attacks her, chasing Jean away.  Alex is joined later by Xavier, who goes into Alex’s mind, showing Alex his past from this world.  As Xavier delves into Alex’s mind, an apparition of Jean arrives, warning Alex not to listen to him.  Xavier and Jean do battle, and Xavier takes the advantage.  Suddenly the team are at Apocalypse’s citadel, where Xavier wants Alex and the others to kill Apocalypse.  Jean appears again, and Xavier orders Alex to kill her.  When Alex hesitates, Xavier begins to unravel, and reveals that he has created this false world to keep Alex trapped.  Jean pulls Alex out, and he awakes in Apocalypse’s lair, where Apocalypse asks Alex to help him take down Xavier.

This issue has a premise that’s intriguing in concept, but not quite so in practice. The idea of Alex sort of “resetting” back to day one in this alternate reality feels like it should allow for more exploration than it actually does. Furthermore, the reveal that it’s Xavier causing the altered state leaves you questioning why exactly Xavier would trick Havok into thinking he’s in an altered version of this reality, as opposed to some version of his home reality. Instead, we get more of Havok stumbling through being confused again, with little growth for the other characters. Then he wakes up, and he’s apparently been with Jean and Apocalypse this whole time? Also, what about Jean working for Sinister?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I do like the shift away from the very similar to the main reality depiction of Xavier from last issue, I’m not sure this one quite sells the turn to villain as well as it could. Again, I knew where it was headed, so I suppose that removes some of the surprise, but it felt a little unexciting here. I do like the heroic Apocalypse angle though, and I want to see where that goes.

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.

…AMERICA’S FUTURE!

MUTANT X #18 (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, Nick Fury steps up his recruitment, and the Six become supporting players in “…America’s Future!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #18 is cover dated March of 2000.  It has Howard Mackie as writer, Cary Nord and Billy Patton on pencils, and Andrew Pepoy on inks.

We are introduced at the start to Jack Lang and Dianne Davidson, two recent recruits to the Children of Humanity, Nick Fury’s anti-Mutant movement. Fury gives a speech to his new recruits as a montage is shown of Jack and Dianne’s training. Meanwhile, Alex, Brute, and Bloodstorm guard a young mutant boy. The Children of Humanity send out reinforcements to track the boy down, and Jack and Dianne encounter the boy, Harry, in the woods, alone. Dianne is dead set on following orders to deal with Harry, but Jack is hesitant after encountering him in-person. As they debate, they are set upon by Bloodstorm, followed by the other two. Dianne bursts into flames, revealing she is a mutant, something missed by the CoH’s screening. A shocked Jack calls for back-up, but before it arrives, a hooded woman steps out of the shadows and warns that someone is coming. The group is attacked by Frank Castle and his Punishers, and escapes thanks to a diversion from the hooded woman. Back on their plane, the woman reveals herself as Jean Grey. Meanwhile, Jack sits and thinks, his eyes reflecting a Punisher skull.

In a notable narrative change-up for the series thus far, Havok winds up a minor player, as the story shifts to Jack and Dianne, giving us a look at the other side of the human/mutant conflict. In contrast to the extremist bigots of the last issue, these two seem like nice, well-meaning people at the surface. In true dramatic irony, it is Dianne, seemingly the more hateful of the two, who discovers she herself is a mutant, while the seemingly friendlier Jack finds himself pushed more into fanaticism. It offers up some interesting current parallels as well, given the use of Frank Castle and the Punisher skull to symbolize Jack’s slippery slope. Where the last issue felt too close to the main universe, this feels more properly removed, giving a less cut and dry look at human bigotry, in contrast to the main universe’s cleaner lines on such things. At the end, even with his nicer demeanor, Jack is still the villain of the piece, more closely resembling real world bigotry, and also showing the darker turn of this particular universe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed a lot of the anti-mutant subplot in my original reading, so I didn’t know quite what to expect of it. After last issue, I felt they were losing some of their alternate universe angle, but this one again refreshes things. It’s not a *fun* issue, but it’s a solid one, and I liked getting a different perspective for a change.

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.

THE WAKE UP CALL

MUTANT X #17 (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, the Cyclops of this strange alternate reality returns in “The Wake Up Call!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #17 is cover dated February of 2000.  It has story and art by Howard Mackie, Javier Saltares, and Andrew Pepoy.

In narration, Havok recounts nightmares he’s been having since the team went on the run from SHIELD.  in them, he sees The Six, Scotty, and Elektra all killed by some unseen force.  Alex awakens from his latest recurrence of the dream and goes on a walk to clear his head.  He’s ambushed by a figure hiding in the bushes, who reveals himself to be Cyclops, there to protect his brother from some unseen force.  The force, who is a shadowy figure different from the one in Alex’s dreams, attacks, and Alex fights back, revealing….Mysterio, Spider-Man, and that one kid from the Daily Bugle who is on non-specific drugs…oh, wait, sorry, that’s the third part of the anti-drugs thing.  Good thing they don’t ruin the momentum of the story telling, huh?  Anyway, Alex is knocked unconscious and awakens strapped to a table in a lab, right next to his brother.  Cyclops recounts what’s happened since we last saw him, revealing that he and the Starjammers were attacked by this shadowy figure days earlier.  The Starjammers were taken out of commission and Scott fled, feeling in his gut that he needed to protect Alex.  Based on context clues, Alex is able to piece together that their captor is an alternate universe version of Mr. Sinister.  The alternate Sinister arrives, and explains that he needed the two of them for their genetic code.  With that gathered, he intends to keep them hostage for further study.  The two escape and destroy his lab.  Cyclops leaves for space once more, believing they will both be safer if they are separated.  Sinister watches footage of the lab’s destruction, as Jean Grey enters and asks if he intends to let them go.  He does, and remarks that he can’t wait to unleash his “X-Man” on the world.

The return of this universe’s Scott Summers wasn’t an unwelcome one, but ultimately, it doesn’t feel as fresh or different this time.  Not a ton happens in this issue, and what does feels like a rather generic Mr Sinister plot, which doesn’t really require the alternate universe setting.  Dispensing with the Starjammers in flashback is also a bummer, because I liked their dynamic in Scott’s first appearance.  At the very least, it’s nice that they weren’t actually killed off the way the X-Men were.  Also, after building up the newly re-formed Six line-up, they get sidelined for the issue, which continues to be frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really enjoyed Cyclops’ first issue, but this one was…I mean, it’s not bad. But, it’s also not quite as thrilling.  There’s a lot more build-up to other stuff, and a lot more Havok just sort of wandering around.  I did like the angle of Havok knowing Sinister based on his encounters in the main universe, but Sinister then being pretty much exactly like his mainstream counterpart feels like a waste.

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.

GOD AND MAN

MUTANT X #16 (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, the team takes a trip to New Orleans, which pretty much makes it a lock for a Gambit appearance in “God and Man”!

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #16 is cover dated January of 2000.  It has Howard Mackie as writer, Cary Nord on pencils, and Andrew Pepoy on inks.

A young mutant is chased through a playground in Savannah, Georgia.  His pursuers, a group of heavily armed mutant haters, are halted by the arrival of Captain America, who is quickly joined by the rest of The Six.  The Six make quick work of the group, leaving them frozen in place, where they are discovered some time later by Nick Fury and SHIELD, who are now using Bastion-model Sentinels to track mutants.  The Six walk the streets of New Orleans, tracking mutants that Cerebro has gotten a read on.  They are attacked by members of the United Guilds of Thieves and Assassins, who take them to see “The Boss,” who is revealed to be Gambit.  In this reality he is married Bella Donna, and they have a daughter, Raven, both of whom he keeps around to prevent him from making rash decisions.  Gambit remarks he knows most of the group by reputation, only having crossed paths with Bloodstorm directly.  His debt to Ororo is what kept him from killing the others, but now he wants them out of his town, so as to avoid troubles with SHIELD.  While Gambit and Havok engage in a heated argument, SHIELD’s new Sentinels attack, and Gambit believes Havok has deliberately led them here.  When it is revealed that Raven is the mutant the Sentinels are after, The Six assist Gambit and Bella Donna in protecting her.  Bella Donna is fatally wounded during the battle, and her brother Julien is revealed to be the traitor.  Cerebro reveals that Raven has powers that are off the charts, which is why SHIELD wants her.  The Six and Gambit attempt to stop Julien and the Sentinels from taking Raven, but fail.  With his wife dead and his daughter kidnapped, Gambit joins the Six to rescue his daughter and seek out vengeance.

This issue finally points us towards a proper six-man line-up for “The Six”, so things are finally feeling a little bit more in the direction of a proper status quo.  The addition of Gambit isn’t quite as odd-ball or game-changing as Cap, since he’s already an established X-Man, but it’s similarly kind of out of nowhere.  It does seem a bit odd that The Six winds up having their numbers filled back in by two characters that didn’t appear at all prior to Madelyn and Fallen’s departure, instead of building up previously introduced characters a bit (the fact that Cerebro continues to travel along with the team but isn’t given a proper spot on the roster is honestly baffling).  It also a bit of a shame that the team is now down to a single token female.  At this point, Gambit doesn’t feel terribly different from his mainstream counterpart, but there’s certainly some room for him to grow.  The actual storyline from the issue is a bit back to basics, early run, since its another case of the team wandering somewhere and things sort of happening around them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This issue is the last one on the path to getting the group back to where they were when I re-encountered them back in the day, so there’s a degree of completeness for me that comes from that.  I don’t dislike Gambit, but I also know he’s paving the way for more Bloodstorm stuff, and that’s not my favorite.

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.

HOMECOMING!

MUTANT X #14 (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, Havok meets his long-lost brother! –well, not *his* long-lost brother, since he’s, you know, inhabiting a different Alex Summers’ body and all…but it’s somebody’s long-lost brother, for sure.  Look, the point is, Cyclops is back in “Homecoming!”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #14 is cover dated November of 1999.  Howard Mackie returns as writer this issue, and is joined by Cary Nord on pencils and Andrew Pepoy on inks.  With the whole main team gone last issue, it’s nice to see a return to form.  I’d hazard a guess that the change-over from the planned 12-issue run of the series to a full-fledged on-going necessitated a fill-in issue, hence last month’s offering.

Out in space, a Skrull ship’s crew runs simulations of destroying the Earth, as they await orders from Skrull Home World to attack the planet that spawned the Goblin Entity.  Before they can move in, they’re boarded by the Starjammers, who in this universe are Cyclops, Binary, Nova, Silver Surfer, and Lockheed.  After a quick battle, Cyclops asks what planet the Skrulls are monitoring, and who they’re monitoring on it.  The Skrulls reveal that they are monitoring Alex Summers on Earth, leaving Cyclops shocked that his brother is still alive.  Back on Earth, Alex and Scotty enjoy a day out fishing.  Alex thinks to himself of the differences between this world and his own, and how Scotty stands a chance of a normal life, given this world’s greater tolerance towards mutants.  The pair are set upon by a large space ship, which opens fire.  They flee back to the car, and find the keys missing, having been taken by Cyclops, who attempts to make a dramatic entrance, only to be foiled by Alex slamming the car door in his face and driving off. The passengers of the ship are revealed to be Kree soldiers, who chase Alex and Scotty down.  Cyclops gets a second go at his dramatic entrance, revealing himself to Alex just before the arrival of Gladiator.  Alex and the Starjammers do their best to hold Gladiator off, but as the tide begins to turn against them, they are saved by the intervention of Uatu, who tells Gladiator to go, and informs him that Alex and Scotty are under his protection from here on out.  With the battle ended, Cyclops asks Alex what he’s been up to.

After the narrative water treading that was last month’s issue, this gets back to fleshing out the world just a little bit.  The whereabouts of Scott Summers are finally disclosed, in a story that nicely parallels the introduction of Corsair in the main universe.  We do fall back a little bit into the early run “Alex wanders through this new world largely alone” story device, but it works alright here, given the addition of the whole team of Starjammers to the plot.  It’s also a pretty nice one and done story, that still sets up some further story elements for later down the line.  The cavalier swashbuckler take on Cyclops is a ton of fun, as are the new roster of Starjammers, at least what we see of them.  This issue also features the first instance of something that will run for the next four months: “Fastlane.”  “Fastlane” was an anti-drugs story that Marvel ran in eight pages segments for four months in 1999.  They did this by shoving the eight pages into the literal middle of every single Marvel comic published for those four months, which almost always wound up being this very odd break in the story, which enraged more than a few comics readers at the time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After really not being about last issue, this one was very refreshing to me.  The immediate jump into the action with the Starjammers resets the story well, and feels like the more natural jump back in point following the Goblin Queen wrap-up.  I love just about everything about this issue.  Honestly, it’s everything but the freaking “Fastlane” segment, but that’s not really this issue’s fault.

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.