I find myself torn, unsure of how exactly to approach Sins of Sinister at this point. I keep leaning towards the high level view, focusing on the remaining Essexes and their machinations in the race towards Dominion... and, yet... those elements are but small pieces of each issue. Pivotal pieces, granted... pieces still. It’s overlooking something of the human/mutant-level drama. Each of the three issues of the +100 timeframe are steeped in that sort of personal drama. Actions are dictated by it. Wagnerine, Exodus, Storm... all driven by their personal beliefs balancing against the sheer solipsism of Mother Righteous, Mister Sinister, Orbis Stellaris... and, beyond them, more and more people each with their own motives... it’s what these issues are rooted in. Yet...
My mind wanders to thoughts of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and this episode about genetically modified people. See, they decided to add genetic modification to Dr. Julian Bashir’s character, somewhat out of nowhere. He was always skilled as a doctor, but his skill never stood out as somehow beyond human capabilities, at least no more so than any other member of the main cast of a show like this. In the Federation, genetic modification was illegal due to some rather poor experiences with it; still, it happened sometimes. Once that element of his character was introduced, it was used an excuse to bring in other genetically modified characters, at least for an episode or two. The group that’s brought to the station for Bashir to work with are brilliant, but have other social and emotional issues. After several attempts to engage and failing, Bashir finds an ‘in’ via the ongoing war with the Dominion. Details of the war spark their collective interest and they begin providing reports for Starfleet using various models to predict future events. Eventually, their models show that the best course of action is surrender, using a method that becomes more accurate the further it projects into the future, mostly by ignoring the little things, focusing on the larger movements of history. The actions of individuals get lost in the sea of actions by other individuals until you have something akin to fate, I suppose. That’s where I keep feeling myself drawn. The largescale sweep of fate, following Sinister, Righteous, and Orbis Stellaris with the actions of the Quiet Council and Brotherhood and Nightkin largely cancelling one another out.
This issue makes a strong argument against that idea, mostly by repeating the first issue’s plot. It’s actually alarming how effectively Al Ewing writes a variation/sequel to the first issue centred around the same(ish) group of people trying to steal the same thing. In the first issue, the ultimate reveal was that the entire theft of Sinister’s lab was engineered by Orbis Stellaris; here, there is no grand reveal. Yes, Mother Righteous makes an appearance as an observer, perhaps sinking her claws into a character or two; otherwise, it’s the Brotherhood with Destiny creating and executing a plan to steal the lab again (actually, Orbis Stellaris’s entire World Farm) and inserting themselves directly into these larger forces of history.
My mind wanders to thoughts of Babylon 5 and the final episode of season four, “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars.” Ostensibly the finale of the show before it was renewed for a fifth season, it jumps through time in the form of video recordings. From the ‘present’ to 100 years later to 500 years later to 1000 years later to a million years later, it shows the distortion of time and history on the events of the show that we’ve been watching. The +100 period is of particular interest. It’s an educational broadcast with some historians to mark the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Interstellar Alliance and there’s some debate between the historians that’s meant to seem laughable given that we know what actually occurred as viewers of Babylon 5 the fictional TV show that is the history they are discussing. There’s one spot where one of the historians dismissing the various stories and legends of the core cast as mythmaking, that they couldn’t have done the various things attributed to them. That history rarely turns on the actions of a few people, rather it is largescale movements by hundreds of people that produce true change. We, the viewers, know differently.
Here, Storm is that central figure that changes history. From the beginning of Sins of Sinister, she’s been the outlier, the one person able to withstand the forces of Sinister’s Quiet Council and, despite Mystique’s betrayal, the one able to steal his lab. In a way, she steps into the place vacated by Stasis as that fourth force acting against the interests of the other Essexes. She and the Brotherhood stand in for the lost humanity of this future – lost to the corruptive touch of Sinister and Righteous and Orbis Stellaris. The Brotherhood under Storm is the one group that’s truly free of their influence and control, a fourth possibility for evolution and growth outside of any Essex experiment. Move back far enough and Storm is almost a synthesis of all four: mutant with a deep humanity, believed in as a goddess, and acting as a cosmic-level power. She contains elements of all four and uses them not to further her own ambitions, but to protect and save whoever she can from the machinations of Sinister and Orbis Stellaris (she seems largely ignorant of Mother Righteous). The inclusion of Righteous briefly in this issue serves to highlight how much true faith that Storm inspires – something that Righteous struggles with, if only because she is insincere. Storm’s absolute dedication and sincerity is her true power, it’s what drives those around her to trust in her and give their all on her word. Ewing’s SWORD and X-Men Red have both largely been about this idea. To further set her apart, her final act is one of self-sacrifice, something none of the Essexes could accomplish.
Heading into this issue, the Brotherhood (and Freedom Force) was already a power unto itself, albeit a very minor one in a universe containing two rather major ones. Storm potions herself as an alternative to all four of the Essexes – effectively a synthesis of all of the best parts of their respective ideologies/approaches.
Next: Immoral X-Men #3 and the +1000 time
period.
