Notes on the cruellest month

Not only the title, but the underlying ideas and structure were inspired by The Waste Land by TS Eliot. The quotes were heavyhanded at times, forced at others... usually, the poem was meant to sit underneath the project or in the back of my head as I wrote. I honestly can’t remember what spurred the connection. Sometime in March, I was thinking about Uncanny X-Men #394 and the poem and something clicked and I went for it. The entire month-long project was not meant to be a replication of Another View despite being in the same mould. It was a bit more serialised, a bit more freeform. The eventual shift into other issues from the run was unexpected/unplanned and, really, if I were to actually adhere to the structure of The Waste Land, it would have been five issues. I realised too late that doing a fifth issue, either issue 400 or the annual, would have rounded things out a little more and not left, from my perspective, a bit of a gap.

Despite my education in English literature (four years of undergrad, two of grad school), I’ve never been a big poetry person. I’m too literally minded. I struggle to think in metaphor at times. I don’t always have the patience. And, yet, I’m very quite fond of TS Eliot. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is my favourite poem and the first one that I encountered, which is probably a little unsurprising. Upon doing that poem in a first year class, I went out to the campus bookstore and bought a nice little Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets edition dedicated to him. “Prufrock” remains my favourite, though I’d concede there’s more to The Waste Land, obviously. Some of the connections I found as I went...

1. While I loved the title, I loved the little graphic that I made with some pencils by Ian Churchill from Uncanny X-Men #394 and a snippet from The Waste Land from a picture of one of the early printed editions. I never did go back to find where that “listen until you figure the song out” theory came from. This was a purposefully unusual (for me) to start the project.

2. The theory that Joe Casey’s work is about what comes “after” has been a personal contention for years.

3. I never saw it through, but it was here that I considered really focusing in on the influence of Casey’s Uncanny run on Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run, and the way that Casey seemed to set up a number of story/plot/character beats for Morrison. That could be a coincidence, Morrison being quite good at taking existing ideas and integrating them (like X-Corps), or even Casey aware of Morrison’s plans and foreshadowing some of them. In the end, I chose to shy away from an in-depth comparison, preferring allusions and snarky insinuations that Morrison ripped off Casey, because that amused me.

4. Karl Jirgens.

5. Aside from attacking Cape Citadel, I was struck by how little similarities between Uncanny X-Men #394 and The X-Men #1 actually were present. Given the time period, unless Casey had a copy of the first X-Men Marvel Masterworks, there was a very good chance he had no actual reference material to that comic. He had the equivalent of what Warp Savant has: a new report/summary of events taken from a distant point. Casey seems to use the very broad framework of the idea of Magneto attacking the base and goes from there.

6. Most of the quotes from Casey or anecdotes about the making of the run were taken from his newsletter. In the lead-up to Weapon X-Men, he did a multi-part breakdown of his run, going issue by issue (or by chunks) to give some context and insight – and backwards perspective. He’s pretty honest about the run’s failings and I’d say a bit too hard on himself. Despite the good humour he writes the ‘recolleXions’ with, you can tell that this run is still a sore spot, both creatively and professionally. It was a pretty spectacular failure on both fronts. An interesting failure, I’ve long contended and full of more depth than people give it credit. After a while, I gave probably a bit too much attention to advocating for it, I suppose.

7. Casey mentioned the ‘penis arm’ on Wolverine on the cover and I’m not sure if I’ve ever quite seen it. I think I have?

8. Logan is kind of a shitty dude in this issue.

9. The inclusion of Warren in the first issue was a bit fortuitous and possibly an indication of some ideas bubbling under the surface for Casey. I think I found some compelling reasons for his inclusion – his past crush on Jean was one of those ideas that I thought of as I was writing the piece.

10. It’s definitely possible that Unreal City was the connecting point between the comic and the poem. Unfortunately, the label on the fence is City Hell. I wish my note for 5 was something I thought of to include here. Alas...

11. Was Warp Savant Bugs Bunny or more like Daffy Duck? I mentioned Bugs because of the kiss, but Daffy was always the more antagonistic of the two. If you had to pick a ‘villain,’ that you root for in Looney Tunes, it’s Daffy Duck. Later, when I made this reference again, I made sure to include Daffy as a result.

12. Whenever I’ve done a project like this, there inevitably comes the piece where I think I’ve completely wasted the day. By the end, there are several. This was the first one. It’s not only that my mindset is so far removed from these hypothetical new readers, it’s that I don’t respect the concept. I can’t even pretend. I set myself up for failure – and wound up making a point that I thought was much needed about the issue. There have been too many movies at this point for anyone to care, but the idea of making comics to appeal to ‘regular’ folks who saw the movies was such a prevalent idea at one point and it always frustrated/infuriated/disgusted me. I grew up with comics in my house and was a newsstand kid who’d pick up whatever looked interesting. I always followed along just fine. These ideas are, at their core, insulting. They assume that non-comics readers are too stupid to understand most comics and that most comics are too impenetrable for non-comics readers. It’s basically a “comics suck, but people are too stupid to get them anyway” mentality that I never understood. You literally didn’t need to have read any past X-Men comic to understand Uncanny X-Men #394. Liking it was a whole other idea...

13. “starless inscrutable hour” is from “Whoroscope” by Samuel Beckett. On the bookshelf next to my bed, right near my pillow, I have the four volume Grove Centenary Edition of the complete Beckett, edited by Paul Auster. While waiting for my wife to get ready for bed, I often pick up volumes and I had picked up the fourth volume some time before this piece, which contains the poems, short fiction, and criticism. “Whoroscope” is a poem clearly influenced by The Waste Land and seemed like a suitable place to take the title as I jumped to a new issue. I had the idea for a few days before doing so and I think the twelfth edition pushed me over the edge to do it. It meant finding a suitable line to use for the title, a suitable image, and to do another graphic. I don’t recall if I knew right then that I would do more than this. I don’t believe so. I remember wanting to discuss Chamber since he was, initially, a big part of Casey’s conception of what his X-Men run would be about... and, then, he wasn’t...

14. I always thought Chamber was from Australia for some reason. He’s actually British.

15. I tried to address issue titles, but found them oddly worthless (aside from “Rocktopia Part 8 of 5” of course). I worked in the title to issue 395 in this piece rather hamfisted. I did like the idea of mutants as God’s nepobabies as the real reason why they’re so hated.

16. 

17. I don’t like the title “Playing God.” I don’t think it suits the issue at all. I tried to make it work. What I never found a place for and did want to discuss at some point was the title page of the issue. I really hate that page. The text choices and layout are both terrible. The visuals are fine with the blood cells making a double helix and the little circle headshots. But, the title over the X-Men logo followed by the combining the name/bio of each character with a creative credit was clunky and confusing. Easily the worst part of the comic.

18. The Waste Land lines 128-130.

19. “Whoroscope” lines 66-67.

20. Part IV of “The Waste Land: FiveLimericks” by Wendy Cope. I was oddly proud of the idea of discussing the influence of Chris Claremont on these issues by rewriting parts of the poems that I took the titles from. At whatever point I decided to do more than the two issues, I went looking for further Waste Land-influenced poems and came across Cope’s Limericks, where she does five limericks, summarising each part of The Waste Land. Hilarious and clever, I love them. “In April one seldom feels cheerful;” is how she begins the first Limerick, so it seemed like a natural choice to play off “April is the cruellest month.” The text over the eyes was harder to find here and was taken from some project where people wrote out poems by hand. Sizing was an issue, but I figured, by this point, clarity wasn’t essential.

21. Settling old business.

22. I was initially unimpressed with Warren’s speech and this piece was me talking myself into thinking it was actually really clever and well done.

23. Why Adventures of Superman #612 and the rest of Casey’s final year on the book matters so much.

24. I shied away from Jean’s privilege and the ways that she may or may not encourage Logan’s feelings towards her. I had a paragraph half-written that touched on the Susan Richards/Namor thing, too, another trope that I’ve always hated. I took it out because it didn’t feel right, particularly in what happens this issue – and how the issues between her and Scott actually play out in New X-Men.

25. I was never prouder than discovering the line “April is the coolest month” in “The Waste Land” by John Beer. His poem is part parody, part sequel, part its own thing. It’s much larger and funnier than Eliot’s poem. I couldn’t find a great image for the text, so I highlighted it and used that, giving the fourth graphic a bit of a pop. I really do love the title “Rocktopia Part 8 of 5,” but discovered something odd: when Casey wrote about the issue in his newsletter, he referred to it as “Rocktopia Part 5 of 8,” and had a picture from the comic showing that. I had to doublecheck the issue for myself and mine shows 8 of 5. I think that I gave a pretty good explanation for the numbering, too. 8 of 5 is far superior. I guess it was meant to be 5 of 8 and was corrected after the fact or someone changed it thinking the numbering was a mistake, and Casey doesn’t remember the original.

26. Jack Kirby and Sean Phillips, fuck yeah.

27. I fully intended to push the idea of Nightcrawler as the mutant missionary in Casey’s run and the way it prefigured his role in Krakoa and it never felt right.

28a. The Waste Land lines 27-30.

28b. The Waste Land lines 108-110.

28c. The Waste Land lines 301-302.

28d. The Waste Land lines 385-390.

The idea of doing a single post jumping between the four came earlier and it seemed like a logistical nightmare to pull off well if kept in a single post. Doing four posts, all with the same number, based around a singular theme was much better. I wrote these somewhat as a single piece, albeit more like parts of a single piece. As always, I ignore the art and that seemed like a logical place to bring the four issues/titles together, particularly under the argument of how the art impacted the idea and execution of Casey’s run. Ian Churchill is so associated with the run, but he didn’t do three full issues. Ron Garney only did two. Sean Phillips did the most and, yet, he’s not really thought of as the artist of this run for obvious reasons.

29. I used the term ‘comicbooks’ throughout the project, because that’s Casey’s preferred way to write it. The idea that this run was actually part of a larger tapestry/tradition came late, well after the idea that it was the precursor to Krakoa in many ways. I almost leaned into that idea hard, but eased off for whatever reason. I referred in passing at some point to misquoted lyrics because Warp Savant quotes from the song “Black Diamond” by Kiss (off their eponymous debut) but gets words wrong. He sings “Darkness will fall on the city... seems to fall on you, too,” but the lyrics is “seems to follow you, too.” I debated writing about that for an edition at one point. It seemed a little unseemly to focus on Casey shoving in a line from another piece of art somewhat randomly and incorrectly...

I don’t know if this piece – or the project as a whole – works. It did what it need to for me. But line 252 from The Waste Land does sum it up nicely.

one seldom feels cheerful 28

I can connect

Nothing with nothing.

After Ian Churchill left the title, having done two-and-a-halfish issues, Uncanny X-Men went through a bunch of artists doing bits and pieces starting with issue 396. Oddly, the most consistent artist through issue 400 was Ashley Wood, probably not anyone’s first pick for one of Marvel’s franchise titles from a commercial standpoint. Issue 400, in particular, seemed to push the boundaries of an artistic jam that would decidedly not appeal to X-Men fans. Never mind the Sienkiewicz influence and his landmark work on New Mutants, placing Wood in the tradition. But, hey, there was also Cully Hamner and Eddie Campbell in that issue. Following that, Casey was paired with another popular headliner sort of artist, albeit one that matched up with him creatively better: Ron Garney. Their first issue together was the silent issue as part of Marvel’s ‘Nuff Said month where every comic had no dialogue or captions. That allowed Garney to ease in by dominating the book.

Uncanny X-Men #402 was the first ‘proper’ collaboration between the two where both had their hands untied. Garney’s line work isn’t quite as distinctive or flashy as Churchill’s but he’s surprisingly adept at establishing mood – and the final X-Corps designs are perfect. There’s a bit of visual alignment with Casey’s collaborators on Adventures of Superman, Mike Wieringo and Dustin Aucoin. A kind of blockiness to the forms. Garney isn’t quite as animated as Wieringo or as rough as Aucoin... he kind of delivers a middle ground between the two, still in continuity with two artists Casey was working well with.

Even still, the fit wasn’t perfect from what I could tell. Casey was progressing towards figuring out the title and characters, highlighting the trio of Nightcrawler, Iceman, and Archangel more, treating Chamber and Stacy X as supporting, ‘junior’ members, and leaning more into a thoughtful approach by the team, even if they come off as overly judgmental and reactionary in this issue. Instead, it’s X-Corps that provides the action for Garney to flex those muscles and show off. His action art is crisp and clean, never confusing. It flows better than Churchill’s panel to panel work, but is able to pull off some of those dramatic angle changes better. There’s a more natural storytelling logic to Garney’s art. One of the small details that I enjoy is that he always has the Blob break the panel borders.

Like Churchill, though, Garney didn’t last long before fill-ins took over (this was his last issue with Casey), and Sean Phillips became the de facto regular artist, completing the transformation into a Wildcats copy. There was, once again, no chance to find a groove and good working relationship. The X-Corps story would be finished by Aaron Lopestri and Phillips.

one seldom feels cheerful 23

The rot was there from the beginning for the X-Corps. At the end of Uncanny X-Men #402, Sean Cassidy goes to a secure room in some sub-basement and there’s Lady Mastermind held in a tank, forcibly awake, and Cassidy says, “TIME TO TEST YOUR LIMITS, LASS... / DON’T LET ME DOWN.” There are few moments in superhero comicbooks that so disappoint me. I’ve read many, many worse comics, sure. To disappoint is to fall short of expectations. In this case, the premise of Sean Cassidy starting up an alternative to the X-Men that could, at least, begin to actively challenge the hegemony of Xavier’s group, was enough. There had been other rival mutant groups, but none that were meant to be so explicitly an alternative. It was a hint of a step into something beyond the usual X-Men bubble where everything is X-Men or junior X-Men or violent X-Men or evil mutants. And, after less than a full issue devoted to the idea, it’s evil mutants. Again.

It often feels like one step forward, two steps back, doesn’t it? What bothers me is how unnecessary those two steps always seem, to me. I don’t see the point, the up side. If Casey were writing Deadpool as part of the cast, I’m sure we’d get a meta joke about ‘genre conventions’ or something equally witty and quippy meant to be cover up how bland and clichéd a creative choice it is. Cowardly is actually my preferred term for the choice. After an entire issue of setting up the X-Corps, facing hypocritical judgment from the X-Men, and seemingly overcoming them, it’s all undercut immediately. Immediately. It’s so goddamn cowardly and unoriginal and boring.

This comic came out a week or two after Adventures of Superman #612, an issue that showed more conviction and courage in the way it didn’t shy away from the ‘Golden Age’ Superman that appeared. A Superman that cared about social justice, not only supervillains. He took on crooked cops, abusive husbands, saved innocent men from death row, and was a reminder that, once upon a time, Superman was much more radical. At the end of the issue, as the fictional ‘Champion of the Oppressed’ is undone, he asks the real Superman to remember him and what he stood for, and the hero says he will. It’s a promise that doesn’t flinch or walk itself back.

The real problem with Uncanny X-Men #395 is that it doesn’t have any juice. Chamber saves a popstar. The X-Men encounter some mutants in the sewers. A bigot tries to kill them all. Compared to what came after Poptopia, this issue feels two-dimensional, like Joe Casey is writing on autopilot, waiting for real inspiration to strike. Throw together some stuff about ‘pop eats itself’ and X-Men comicbooks are about X-Men comicbooks, and maybe it will add up to something. Squint hard enough and you can find something, I’ll admit. Chamber is the perfect character, meandering through the issue, finding himself in a position for something big and not really trying.

Warp Savant is more appealing as a character. He’s a little shit, but he tries. An 18-year old does something foolish, seeing no real future in anything that Xavier’s crew has to offer. He paints a picture of some essential truth about Casey as he struggled to find his way into a gig that he just fell into. It’s not that he was too good for it or too cool or didn’t even have a problem with the X-Men. If he hated the title, that would have meant something with energy and feeling. Instead, it was sort of a big shrug and a resigned work his way through. Who knows what it was like behind the scenes. Does it matter? We have the comicbooks and the end result is tepid, at best, until half a year in. Do the comics get a lot better? No. But, something changes. There seems to be some nugget of interest and truth in them. What seemed like fumbling around becomes a larger theme...

Do the X-Men understand Warp Savant? No, and he ‘dies.’ Do the X-Men understand the mutants in the sewers? No, and many of them die. Do the X-Men understand the X Ranch? No, but they try a bit harder. Do the X-Men understand the X-Corps? No, and... they’re proven right. Do you see the problem? There’s a progression of the X-Men encountering something outside of their comfort zone, something new, and not knowing what to do with it. And they fail and keep struggling through. Would they have had to agree with Cassidy’s thinking behind the X-Corps? No. It could have been something as simple as a guarded respect without endorsement. Instead, it was evil mutant bullshit, Cassidy getting played, and Grant Morrison taking the name for their own purpose in New X-Men. Pop eats itself, eh?

I’ll give Casey credit. Even though it’s a dagger in my heart, in a way, the direction that the X-Corps story goes, he doesn’t give up. “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose” as it were.

one seldom feels cheerful 22

As much as I appreciate the concept of the X-Corps as a non-X-Men entity working towards advancing mutant interests in a cooperative manner with humanity, there’s a scene in Uncanny X-Men #402 that holds greater importance. Call it a baby step towards where Joe Casey’s time on the title would end – and a sign of things to come well beyond. It’s a rather basic scene, one might even call dull by modern standards. It’s barely more than a gesture, honestly. We take what we can get.

Checking up on Sean Cassidy’s new X-Corps venture isn’t the only reason for the X-Men to be in Europe; they’re also there so that Warren Worthington III can address the leadership at a G8 Summit in Rome. Blue skin, wings out, nice suit on, he steps up in front of the leaders of the most powerful Western nations and begins by saying, “MY INTEREST HERE TODAY IS NOT AS A BUSINESSMAN... BUT AS A MUTANT.” Along with Charles Xavier outing himself as a mutant in New X-Men, this is a powerful moment towards progressing the concept of mutants in the world. It’s a far cry from the days of X-Factor where the original five X-Men posed as humans.

The idea of Warren going to the G8 Summit and using his position as owner of a large multinational corporation to actually speak on mutant issues is a bit more progressive than it may seem at first glance. We’re used to seeing the odd scene where Superman addresses the United Nations or Captain America speaks in Congress – the idea of superheroes temporarily entering the political realm for a quick word isn’t new. In this world, mutants are meant to be outcasts, feared and hated, legally hunted down in many cases. The genocide of Genosha is barely in the past. World leaders sitting and listening as a mutant talks about mutant issues is no small thing. And Warren using his considerable resources towards that end is a hint of where Casey would take both this title and Wildcats, exploring what it would mean to treat a corporation as a superhero.

The substance of Warren’s speech is actually fairly benign. A lot of attempt to calm down the world leaders, let them know that the X-Men are on the side of peaceful coexistence and not looking to upend the status quo. You could call is weak, particularly when set next to Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse’s meeting with world leaders... Yet, there are some more progressive ideas in the speech than appear on first glance. It’s very calculated as a first step to position not just the X-Men as the ‘reasonable’ mutants that can be worked with, but Warren specifically as the key person to work with. His initial emphasis that he’s a businessman, for example, is there to not-so-subtly remind everyone that he’s incredibly wealthy and of a certain social class. He may have blue skin and wings, but he’s also already part of the club. He can be thought of the same way they’d think of any owner/CEO of a multinational corporation. There’s a level of trust and comfort in Warren being the face of mutant politics.

Much of the speech is about acknowledging the possible fears, admitting that they are reasonable, meeting them on their terms, so that he can shift it to how reasonable and accommodating he and the X-Men are. He even points to the various different agendas in the mutant community and positions the X-Men as the group that will bring every other mutant in line. Even more importantly, he says “THE X-MEN ARE COMMITTED TO FURTHERING THE CAUSE OF MUTANT RIGHTS... BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE HUMAN RACE. CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION, WE ARE NOT YOUR REPLACEMENTS.” It’s a lie, as we know, given Henry McCoy’s findings about humanity dying out in a few generations. It’s a lie couched in truths that Warren believes, though; he does believe that the X-Men are the only way forward for mutants and humans to exist together in peace, as we’ve seen by the almost visceral reaction to the X-Corps, a group that operates different from the X-Men but not dramatically so.

The smartest ploy in his speech comes at the end where Warren repositions the issue to something more palatable: “I COME TO YOU AS A POTENTIAL ALLY IN AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS THAT WE MUST NOT TAKE LIGHTLY. THIS IS NOT ABOUT GENETICS. THIS IS ABOUT POLITICAL EVOLUTION... SOCIAL EVOLUTION. / THIS IS ABOUT THE FUTURE, GENTLEMAN, AND I HAVE BROUGHT THE FIGHT TO YOU.” A few things happen in a small time frame here. First, Warren emphasises himself as a “potential ally,” which continues to put himself as the face of mutant politics. Then, he begins using language generally associated with mutants like ‘evolution,’ and, then, shifts it away from genetics, reframing it as political and social. Genetics can’t be managed, they’re absolutes. Politics and social concepts, though, are what these individuals work in and know, what they feel comfortable with. If you focus on the genetic difference between mutants and humans, it’s hard not to continually run into the us/them problem. If you treat it as a political/social issue, well, then it can be whatever you want. When Warren mentions the future and bringing the fight, he’s challenging them to envision the future that they want – that they control and how they can work with him to make mutants an asset in that future. It’s all about planting the idea that the issue of mutant rights can be used to their advantage... and Warren Worthington III, a fellow rich white man, is just the person to help them.

Casey had begun a few issues previously to toy with the idea of Warren’s wealth as a means to explore some different ideas about mutants in the world, specifically with the X Ranch brothel. That was a tease that is beginning to bear out here. It’s not a coincidence that Uncanny X-Men #402 came out a week or two after Adventures of Superman #612, the first issue of that revolutionary final year where Casey wrote thehero as a pacifist, and around six months or so before Wildcats Version 3.0 and Automatic Kafka would launch. Did you think that Uncanny X-Men was really that much of an outlier?

one seldom feels cheerful 21

The specifics of what the X-Men object to in Uncanny X-Men #402 about Sean Cassidy’s X-Corps almost don’t matter except for their capacity to reveal hypocrisy. I don’t know if that was the intent. This story is one of those stories where, immediately, what I was reading and interpreting seemed to differ from what was meant. After all, this is a comicbook starring the X-Men – typically, the stars of a comicbook are not meant to be made to look like hypocrites and fools. Yet, it seems like that’s the only interpretation one could have. Maybe it’s me. But, I stand by my interpretation that this is a story, however it plays out, about exploring the possibility of an alternate method to Xavier’s that is not inherently evil. (Even though it turned out to be inherently evil and I guess I should’ve known because ACAB and all.) So, the litany:

The first sin that Cassidy commits is simply doing something different. When I say the X-Men, I’m referring to Nightcrawler, Archangel, and Iceman. While Chamber and Stacy X are both there, they’re relegated to a few mumbled comments, not direct critical conversation. Looking at the main trio, all have been part of groups that splintered off from the X-Men to approach the mutant issue their own way. Excalibur was similarly European and formed out of the seeming death of the X-Men, but, quickly, turned into a cross-dimensional magic focused sort of mutant team that wasn’t really in sync with Xavier’s mission. It didn’t really engage with The Dream until well into its run, if I recall correctly. During it’s hayday under Chris Claremont and Alan Davis, it was something else entirely. And no one told that crew that they were allowed to do what they did.

The more egregious group is the original X-Factor, of which Iceman and Archangel were both members. The original five X-Men pretending to be human mutant-hunters, feeding into anti-mutant sentiment to save mutants. That’s a fairly large different from The Dream. It shows a certain practicality and, upon reflection, is a fairly direct antecedent to X-Corps. (Has Casey escaped Claremont to fall under the sway of Simonson?) For them to question what Cassidy is doing, particularly on an initially small amount of information, is brash and completely unaware, at worst entitled.

The second sin is the militaristic approach Sean takes. Using Multiple Man as his one-man support staff, there’s a speedy and efficiency on display, backed up by Cassidy’s confidence and knowledge, that gives off the impression that X-Corps is quite adept at what they do. Yet, there’s little that Cassidy does that you couldn’t imagine Cyclops doing. The same decisiveness, the same no nonsense direct talk, the same efficient competence... How could an alternative to the X-Men actually be well run? (I love that Stacy X ominously wondering why all of the people working at X-Corps look exactly alike is never directly answered, leaving the very concept of Multiple Man as another criticism or suggestion of something sinister at play here...)

The third sin is that the X-Corps uses former villains as the “Bastard Squad” of field operatives. Avalanche, Surge, and Blob are all put into play with Avalanche taking the lead and saying things like “YOU WANNA LEAVE A JOB LIKE THIS TO THE PROFESSIONALS.” The X-Men express deep concerns over employing former villains as if, firstly, Sean Cassidy isn’t one himself; secondly, Emma Frost, his former co-headmaster, isn’t one also and currently a member of the X-Men in New X-Men; or, thirdly, the long, long history of villainous mutants joining the X-Men when the mood suited them or Charles Xavier. Magneto was once in charge of the school, after all. Perhaps, it’s that the villains don’t seem ideologically motivated... it’s never stated directly, but the implied reason for their presence and compliance is that they’re employees. Their stake in Cassidy’s new group is a financial one and that’s somehow less than acceptable. Easy for the beneficiaries of Xavier’s wealth – or Archangel’s own wealth – to pretend like money could never be a legitimate motive. It may be the only legitimate motive for men like Avalanche, Surge, and Blob at this point, honestly. They’ve all heard the sales pitch for The Dream and turned it down; giving them a job to be ‘good’ is the better of the available options.

All of their objections seem to boil down to the first one: who is Sean Cassidy is decide on his own direction for human/mutant relations without permission?

It actually reminds me of a trend that I noticed at DC during the late ‘90s/early ‘00s where it seems like every few years, one of the ‘Big Seven’ members of the Justice League would ‘go rogue’ and try to ‘make the world a better place,’ bringing them into conflict with the rest of the JLA. Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman... each took their turn deciding to act upon their personal morality and it was always greeted with selective amnesia of the previous times this happened, and always with a unified moral outrage that anyone could do such a thing. It’s about a collective moral adherence to the status quo, which is an external mandate from outside the world of the superhero comicbooks. That’s why it always feels like my reading of this story is wrong. I can’t believe that Marvel would want me to think that there’s a point to the X-Corps and that the X-Men look hypocritical and unaware of their own history and actions.

Early on in the issue, Nightcrawler talks about how they’re all on the ‘front lines’ of human/mutant relations and asks Cassidy, “IS THIS THE MESSAGE WE WANT TO SEND?” His response both sums up his perspective and the exact problem that the X-Men have with it: “THIS IS THE MESSAGE I WANT TO SEND.” That singular perspective that goes against the collective, against the singular influence... we can’t have that. Right?

one seldom feels cheerful 20

A writer named Claremont marked an X

Signifying hatred and violence and sex

His influence spread

What came next inbred

It is the inescapable text

We, ah, reach that awkward point in this improvisation where I admit that the work of Chris Claremont is a bit of a blind spot for me. I’ve read some, barely scratched the surface. Mostly via a subscription I had as a kid one year for X-Men Classic, the reprint series for X-Men ala Marvel Tales for Spider-Man. The bit that I had covered Uncanny X-Men #189-200, which is a helluva run. John Romita, Jr. young and energetic, Xavier in leather and fishnets, Nimrod roaming the subways, Magneto on trial... I don’t remember a lot, bits and pieces. Some other X-Men comics here and there. Had a black and white mass market paperback reprint of a two-parter with Arcade and some other issues, too. Never went back and read the whole thing. It’s so big, so influential, that you don’t need to experience it directly. And, in my experience, when you do, it’s a letdown due to just how many folks ripped it off.

Uncanny X-Men #402 shows the potential of the Joe Casey Uncanny X-Men run as he begins to push beyond. You can see the influence of the Freedom Force, of course. And of X-Force, but that wasn’t Claremont, was it? A challenge to the monopoly of The Dream. It actually began with the previous issue, but that was one of those ‘Nuff Said silent issues and we all know how uncomfortable English lit guys like me are with the pictures. It’s a fine enough issue and I salute the intrepid critic who would tackle those issues first and foremost... This followup to the introduction of the X-Corps lays it all out. Sean Cassidy (Banshee) has started up a new mutant police force in Europe and our Uncanny cast don’t like it one bit, willfully blind to the rampant hypocrisy behind every one of their objections. You can argue that Uncanny X-Men #394 or Poptopia or even Uncanny X-Men #400 were the failures of Casey’s time on the book, and I’d have a lot of time for those arguments. But, for me, it’s the X-Corps and the way that Casey began to look beyond the limits of the X-Men a little, venture away from Wildcats and towards Wildcats Version 3.0.

Going back to The X-Men #1, there haven’t been many challenges to Charles Xavier’s way of doing things. The primary one has always been Magneto, followed by Apocalypse. Cable’s X-Force was an alternative/evolution of the New Mutants, but, really, not that different. The Counter X titles tried to take some of the characters in different directions, as did the change from Cable to Solider X. The Milligan/Allred X-Force was definitely different, but seemed relatively divorced from the grand question of mutant ideology, focusing more on the celebrity angle. Presented here, Cassidy’s X-Corps is meant to be a different sort of very public face for a ‘good’ mutant group. Not superheroes; police. Working with authorities to handle mutant issues, arresting mutants, dispensing mutant justice... all with sanction from the EU via Cassidy’s old Interpol contacts.

The reaction from Nightcrawler, Archangel, Iceman, Chamber, and Stacy X seems to boil down to “Who said you could do this?” Before you get into the specifics of their complaints, that’s the core principle and, honestly, the only one truly worth exploring at first. Who owns The Dream? Who’s allowed to act on their interpretation of it? In the mind of the X-Men, it’s only them. Only Xavier’s chosen few can enforce The Dream. Unless, of course, they decide that Xavier himself has lost his way and, then, it’s them. Unless, of course, some of them disagree with the rest of them, and, then, it’s... er, both of them? What I enjoy most about Nightcrawler being the de facto leader of this group is that he brings the cult subtext just that little bit to the forefront. That idea of the bubble that is escapable, is infallible, that you must bend the knee to. If you are not with the X-Men, you are against the X-Men.

Can you do a mutant comicbook for Marvel outside of the X-Men?

For the first time during his time on Uncanny X-Men, Casey seems to be striving for something new. What started as ‘pop eats itself’ and X-Men comicbooks are about X-Men comicbooks has turned into what else can they be? You can draw vague similarities to Freedom Force working for the US government, including that some of its members are present as part of X-Corps, but a truly separate approach to human/mutant public interaction that is not based on antagonism, instead showing that mutants can work with humans to handle mutant problems? That feels like something worth exploring, worth seeing if it’s got some juice. It doesn’t feel as new as it is. You may instinctively say “Claremont did it!” and, while it rubs up against some stuff, as presented, a true alternate method separate from the X-Men that isn’t based on being a ‘supervillain’ is different.

It all goes to shit, of course. This is the beginning of the end, the true failure of the run. I don’t know where the blame for the rot lies exactly. Maybe it was Casey not realising what he had? Maybe it was editorial afraid of what it had? Maybe it was the general superhero comicbook reversion to the mean that is oh so frustrating. Ultimately, you can’t escape the bubble. Even the seemingly ‘good’ alternative must be ‘bad.’ It sucks and it is what it is.

“Forget it, Chad, it’s Poptopia.”