The final issue issues of the run are dedicated to wrapping up a story that Casey began in Annual 2001 with Ashley Wood where the Vanisher was reintroduced as a drug kingpin, supplying a drug based on mutant genes that temporarily give the user their own mutation. If I recall, that idea would show up in the Bendis/Maleev Daredevil. Here, it’s about ending the Vanisher’s little crime empire. And does it happen with a big brawl, the X-Men all in their leather bomber suit costumes, the Vanisher in that ridiculous headdress or whatever it was, surrounded by low level villains not even worth recruiting to the X-Corps? Of course not, because we’re beyond that now.
Picking up on Warren Worthington III’s speech to the G8 in issue 402, by this point, his suit is... well, a suit. His plan is simple: he has Stacy X use her powers to keep the Vanisher is in a two-week bliss coma and, during that time, he buys out the entire crew. From one end to another, the Vanisher comes out of it thinking he’s still on top and finds that money is the real superpower. Or, as Warren puts it:
“FIRST RULE OF THE NEW MUTANT ECONOMY... / ...OWNERSHIP.”
Of course, he then has Bobby Drake freeze the Vanisher mid-teleportation. Because, you know, money is only so powerful. There’s power and there’s power, and Warren, in this issue, is finally beginning to learn to tell the difference between them.
These final three issues of the run are separate from what came before, even if they flow from it. For one thing, Sean Phillips does the line art completely, finally bringing the Wildcats team onto the title the way it probably should have been from the get go. It’s a weird thing with superhero comicbooks where a writer will make their name, impress lots of readers and editors, be given a huge assignment... and paired with an artist nothing like the one they were working with when they impressed everyone so, and, then – then! – everyone wonders why they’re so less impressive. Here at the end, the Powers That Be finally relented and, if you wanted Uncanny X-Men done like Wildcats (usually, the other way around), you’ve got it. It’s hard not to watch the scene in the restaurant with Warren, the Vanisher, and Bobby, and not see Jack Marlowe and Cole Cash. (You’d think Wolverine would be Grifter here, but... actually, he kind of is too...)
Casey is fully into exploring different ways that superheroes can behave by this point. Wildcats shifting into Wildcats Version 3.0 to explore what it means when a corporation, legally treated like a person, is put towards being a superhero. Automatic Kafka where former superheroes keep living on well past the final issue. Adventures of Superman where the most powerful being on the planet, a hero known for always punching out the bad guy, dedicates himself to never throwing another punch. And, Uncanny X-Men, where the idea of ‘post-humanity’ lends itself to wondering how exactly mutants would begin to inherit the Earth, if not through the existing systems. During his meeting with the Vanisher, Warren makes a reference to running for political office, giving some indication of where things may have headed.
The issue begins with a clear statement of the new order (at the end) as Wolverine makes it clear that he doesn’t like Warren’s plan, preferring to go in claws popped and do things the usual way. Warren indicating that those methods don’t always work draws the response, “PLEASE. / GIMME AN EXAMPLE WHEN THEY HAVEN’T. / AND WHO’S GOT THE TRACK RECORD HERE...?” It’s an interesting point, that the usual superhero comicbook stories do always end the same way. Wolverine has always won by popping his claws, leaning on his healing factor, and seeing a little red. But, that doesn’t mean that Warren can’t win by flashing a little green...
What it also means is that the end point is still the same and never really in doubt. Casey’s got an inherent criticism built in from the beginning, that it’s still superhero comicbooks. Good versus bad, the former always winning. Do the methods actually matter? Is it just lipstick on a pig? I’d argue the opposite. If the results are always the same, then they’re irrelevant; all that matters is the means. Otherwise, why bother at all?
I sat upon the shore
Fishing,
with the arid plain behind me
