Under
the brown fog of a winter noon
An area of Uncanny X-Men #394 that I’ve been pondering well before I ever conceived of this examination of the issue is Warp Savant’s powers and his methodology in attacking the Cape Citadel military base. His powers have always been like an itch that I can’t scratch, mostly in how it relates to Magneto, The X-Men #1, and the entire concept of reliving that moment in time. The ability to teleport/absorb matter inside his head isn’t akin to magnetism at all and it’s always kind of bugged me. Okay, I know, I know, the answer is that Joe Casey thought the idea was cool and there was no deeper meaning. But that’s not how we play ball here, my friend. Yesterday, I compared his powers to the absorption of random comicbook knowledge by hardcore fans and his attack as a declaration of adulthood. In the literal sense of what he says and does, though, I’m curious what we can find...
The issue opens with the caption “THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY...” and Warp Savant at his computer, smoking. When he comes across a Daily Bugle article about Magnet’s attack on Cape Citadel, he leans forward, eyes wide, big grin, and says, “SWEET.” The next night, he’s at a club and tells some girls that “COME TOMORROW... / ...I’M GONNA BE CELEBRATING. / BIG TIME.” In the club, he seems bored. The three scantily-clad girls barely cause him to react. He absorbs a bottle of beer using his powers. What effect does that have on him? He’s bored with his life. He’s been sitting on these powers and while his scene thinks he’s cool, he’s stagnating.
The attack on Cape Citadel reads more like a Looney Tunes cartoon than anything. He comes in, begins absorbing everything, yelling stuff like “OUT COME THE FREAKS! AND WAR’S NEXT ON THE AGENDA! / I’M A MUTANT AND I’M EVIL!” His response to a clichéd general (spouting phrases like “What’s your major malfunction?”) is to salute him, mock him, and give him a kiss on the forehead before using his powers on him. That Warp Savant seems more like Bugs Bunny than Magneto is an odd choice for Casey. It almost recalls and mocks Magneto haughty self-importance in The X-Men #1, opting to treat the entire exercise as a farce. As he continues, he muses about his motives:
THE DIRT FARMERS
AND THE POLITICIANS... THEIR FEAR IS
OUR GREATEST WEAPON!
IF BUCKET-HEAD WON’T SHOW HIS FACE TO TEAR IT ALL DOWN, I’LL TAKE THE HEAT, BAY-BEE!
I’LL GIVE ‘EM AN INCIDENT THAT’LL DIVIDE OPINION!
I’LL SHINE THE WORLD--!
At this point, he’s interrupted by Wolverine’s appearance from the sky. His little rant suggests he’s actually got a motive and a goal. To shock humanity? To scare them? To burn the world down? It’s hard to parse where he’s going exactly, except that, here, he’s completely in line with Magneto who never revealed his actual plan when he attacked Cape Citadel. It was the first phase of a plan to show off his power to make humanity bow before him and all mutants somehow. He never does much prior to the X-Men defeating him, similar to Warp Savant here.
One idea is that Warp Savant, by taking people inside his head, literally shows them his perspective. He’s the living embodiment of empathy in action, except the inside of his head is a war zone called City Hell (a play on Citadel) or childish nightmares. It’s all so much like a child smashing toys together. It’s interesting that only Jean and Logan seem to have true agency inside Warp Savant’s head. Maybe because they’re mutants? They understand and can navigate his world. It’s not entirely clear and Warp Savant’s all over the place behaviour doesn’t help.
Part of the problem, according to Casey, lies in his writing: “I think the imagery I was conjuring up in my mind when it came to the ‘virtual space’ where victims of Warps powers would find themselves was 1) bizarrely misguided creatively and 2) asking Ian Church to draw something that didn’t quite come naturally to him.” I think it’s refreshingly honest to take the heat completely, including absolving Churchill for not executing those parts of the issue as well as, say, Ashley Wood may have; what I’m intrigued by is the “bizarrely misguided creatively” part. I think I know what he’s getting at, yet the idea of a psychic plane where characters are transported isn’t new to an X-Men comic. What is new is how ambiguous the whole thing is with Warp Savant not actually in control of the environment in his head. It’s a shifting reflection of his inner world but outside of his direct influence.
Heading down this line of thinking, his act of seeming suicide could be an effort to ‘find himself’ now that he’s out in the world. Or is it the final act in his attempt to shock and divide? What’s truly missing and actually undercuts the issue is that Warp Savant is treated like almost nothing once he’s gone. The focus shifts to the Jean/Logan melodrama and it’s like Warp Savant was never there. Gone forever so far, which is rare in superhero comicbooks.