The Everyman Thor: Eric Masterson in Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz’s Thor and Thunderstrike

Does Thor need a ‘secret identity?’

Of the many questions I’ve pondered over the years about the Thunder God, this is the one that I tend to be the clearest about: no. No, Thor does not need a secret identity. Now, to clarify, I’m referring specifically to Thor Odinson, the Asgardian price and God of Thunder specifically, not other people who take up the hammer like Beta Ray Bill or Jane Foster. While sharing the powers of Thor and similar trappings, they’re different enough to stand apart. What I’m referring to is the idea that this Asgardian should share an existence with a mortal being as he did when first introduced. It’s an idea that’s never sat right with me.

 
I understand that, in the Marvel Universe, the point is that it’s like our world, after a fashion. Most of the heroes are some version of a regular person, either given powers through an accident, the luck of genetics, or their own ingenuity and skill. Thor is the exception. He’s the god amongst mortals. To counterbalance this, when he was first introduced, it was as a transformation that Dr. Donald Blake underwent when he struck a specific stick against the ground. Blake, suffering from a disability in addition to a general frailty, was the opposite of Thor’s impressive physical skills. The nerd becomes the jock. Originally, Thor was Blake, retaining his mind after the transformation while gaining some innate awareness of Thor’s life and world. Gradually, over the course of a dozen or so issues, Blake’s influence as Thor lessened and Thor morphed into the version of the character we’re familiar with. While a link between the two remained, they became more like two separate people rather than a single mind housed in two different bodies that change places. After a period, Blake was so unimportant that you’d be forgiven if thinking he had been written out permanently.
 
As Jack Kirby’s influence over Thor grew, so too did the unearthly side of the character. Asgard was developed further, Thor went out into space, and Blake wouldn’t appear for an entire year at one point. The idea of a god as man faded in favour of the stories of a warrior god superhero. Donald Blake wasn’t much of a character and the initial love triangle between him, his alter ego, and his nurse Jane Foster didn’t exactly rival the Clark/Superman/Lois one. Kirby and Stan Lee pushed it as far as they could until it became just a Thor/Jane relationship and even that ran its course fairly quickly after she refused elevation to an immortal and joining Thor in Asgard. After that, Blake never went away, but he was no longer relevant unless a story specifically called for his presence. Unlike Spider-Man’s adventures which were driven by Peter Parker’s personal life often with his superheroing acting as another complication, Thor was the central focus and Blake was the distraction.
 
That is, until Walt Simonson took over Thor in 1983 and, in his first four issues, wrote Blake out. Already revealed long before as a creation of Odin meant to teach Thor a lesson in humility, Simonson clearly saw that the character was unnecessary baggage and used the enchantment that transformed Thor into Blake and vice versa, and gave it to his creation, Beta Ray Bill, allowing him to transform between his original form and his warrior form. It was the best use of Donald Blake in years. Simonson introduced a human alter ego for Thor, Sigurd Jarlson, which was really just the Asgardian with a ponytail and glasses, a gag built on the Superman/Clark change in appearance. Jarlson worked construction when the story called for it and it gave Thor something to do while on Earth, while also lacking the substance of an existing life that allowed for him to abandon it when needed. Jarlson was just a name and a look to allow Thor to make believe as human when it suited him. It was an acknowledgment that he didn’t need a human identity so much as wanted one, sometimes.
 
When Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz followed Simonson on Thor, the first year to year and a half on the title had Thor maintain his Asgardian status quo. He fought Celestials and uncovered a scheme by the Egyptian God of Death, Seth, culminating in a huge confrontation that had both Odin and Surtur return. They also had Sigurd Jarlson return briefly and, in the process, introduced architect Eric Masterson. The architect of the building that Jarlson was working on, Masterson was a divorced single dad and didn’t jump out as anything more than a supporting character with a modern-for-the-1980s backstory. After the Seth story culminated, Masterson was kidnapped by the villainous Mongoose to draw out Thor, leading to a trip into space and, upon returning to Earth, a confrontation with Mongoose left Masterson close to death. Thor called upon Odin’s assistance and the All-Father tied to the life essence of both men together. Basically, Eric Masterson became the new Donald Blake.
 
That status quo of Thor and Eric sharing a life persisted until Thor seemingly killed Loki and was banished from existence by Heimdall (filling in for Odin). However, as the world still needed a Thor, he gave that power to Eric and, suddenly, Thor was actually a mortal human. Eric transformed into Thor ala Blake, but retained his mind in the godly body. He slowly learned how to be Thor, took the real Thor’s place in the Avengers, got mixed up in Asgardian schemes and, by the end of the DeFalco/Frenz run, brought the real Thor back. Originally given Mjolnir by the Asgardian to continue acting as him on Earth, that arrangement didn’t work and, instead, Masterson was given a less powerful mace dubbed Thunderstrike. While Thor continued on his comic, DeFalco and Frenz continued telling Eric’s story as Thunderstrike in his own title. Eric was the main character of the run despite not appearing in it for the first year.
 
This slow introduction and transition is one reason why my usual hesitancy about Thor having a human identity doesn’t come into play. DeFalco and Frenz take the transition in stages, telling regular Thor stories, adding Eric as a supporting character, then pairing him and Thor in what reads as an organic change for both and, then, when another story-driven change occurs, Eric takes over as Thor himself until, finally, transitioning to Thunderstrike. Each period is given a good amount of time and space so it doesn’t feel like a rush from one to next; and, at each change, it never feels arbitrary or forced. It’s all driven by story and character choices. Too often, the addition of a human identity, like Jake Olson or the returned Donald Blake, don’t work is because they’re dropped right into the story from the beginning with no build or reason save the desire of the writer. Eric, on the other hand, was able to linger in the background a little and feel like a small part of the comic before becoming the star. When he took over as Thor at the end of issue 432, it didn’t feel like he was pushing Thor out of his own story. Thor made a choice to kill Loki and faced the consequences of that action – the addition of Eric becoming the new Thor was the twist. There was no evil scheme in the plot to make a mortal the new Thor... it’s just what happened.
 
Eric as a character was more developed than ciphers like Blake and Olson. The former was literally revealed as an invention created by Odin, while the latter was given a sense of a larger life, but, as the reader was dropped into it with Thor, it had a harder time landing. It’s the difference between a brand new character taking over as opposed to an established character stepping up into a more prominent role. There’s a better sense of what you’re getting with an established character and the various new conflicts are logical ones, arising from already known factors. When Thor and Eric are merged, we know that Eric has a son and a will they/won’t they thing with both his assistant and his professional rival. Rather than those things complicating Thor’s life, Thor is the addition that complicates Eric’s already full life! And that last point is a subtle one that helps this status quo. Thor remains, largely, Thor and it’s Eric who suffers from suddenly having a godly alter ego. And we care about that!
 
Eric, more than simply fitting into the Marvel tradition of the regular guy whose life is complicated by his newfound powers, is positioned as the inverse of Thor. Thor is the headstrong son who does as he pleases, sometimes ignoring his responsibilities at home. Eric is the responsible father who increasingly finds himself dragged away from the responsibilities at home that he wants to be his priority. Prior to the union with Eric, DeFalco and Frenz’s Thor was also a fairly stripped back, basic version of the character. As much as I love the character, he can, sometimes, default into generic warrior hero, which is a reason why writers keep trying to make the human alter ego thing work. Again, this is one reason why giving Eric that role after 18 or so months was a smart choice. DeFalco and Frenz got as much mileage out of Thor solo as they could and changed things up before it got stale.
 
Eric provided depth and conflict (both internal and external) to Thor. While Thor remained the same do-good hero, he had a little voice inside his head that nagged him about Kevin Masterson or a blown deadline at work. Giving Thor some personal stakes in what happened on Earth was a benefit, particularly when Kevin was placed in harm’s way – or that Thor and Eric sharing a body gave a reason for Hercules to suddenly become Eric’s roommate. All of which is the broad goal of giving a character like Thor a human identity. Part of the problem with other human identities is that they either were paper thin (Blake), retreads of previous identities (Olson), or nostalgia wanks (Blake again). Eric succeeds, in no small part, because he isn’t like any other Thor identity. While meeting Thor and having his life saved by merging with Thor dramatically changes the course of his life, he had a life. That’s the point. Eric could have stayed a sometimes supporting character like Sigurd Jarlson’s boss Jerry Sapristi and been a great addition to the Thor comic as just that. His function outside of Thor’s alter ego makes placing him in that role additive.
 
Prior to taking over Thor, DeFalco and Frenz worked on Spider-Man and Eric is definitely a hero in the mould of Peter Parker. At a time where Peter was newly married and the idea that he may be settling into a life of juggling Spider-Man and a family, Eric was the matured, divorced single dad trying to make a go at being a hero. He showed how relatable an adult Peter Parker with adult problems could be (despite what many at Marvel would have you believe). In fact, I would argue that Eric’s best moment comes from being a father in Thor #421 when, after continual threats to Thor have put his son at risk, he gives up custody in the middle of a heated legal fight with his ex-wife. It’s the best four pages of the entire DeFalco and Frenz run, full of emotion and phenomenal storytelling by both men. Frenz composes his pages perfectly for maximum impact, while DeFalco chooses the words incredibly carefully, often opting to let silence and the art carry things. Eric’s decision to give up his son is heroism at his finest – unconditional love and self-sacrifice put into action better than almost any other example I can think of. It’s a choice that puts his son’s wellbeing above all else and is one that affects Eric until the end of Thunderstrike. It recalls Thor’s decision to share his life with Eric; not an easy sacrifice that is over and done immediately like laying down one’s life. It’s a hard choice with lasting consequences that must be lived with.
 
That decision to give up Kevin is also the moment that cements Eric as devoted to being a superhero. At several times, he’s given the chance to walk away. From the time that Thor is exiled and Eric is given the cane to transform into Thor, he always has the option to put it down and walk away. At first, he thinks he owes something to Thor, to take his place and, hopefully, find a way to bring him back. So, he does that – and, then, when Thor is returned, Eric is ready to keep Mjolnir at the Thunder God’s request. And when that is no longer a possibility, he accepts the gift of the enchanted mace and assumes the identity of Thunderstrike. Eric’s heroism is a choice. It may have began as the only way for him to survive a deadly encounter with Mongoose, but, pretty soon into that time, he begins making choice after choice to give up his own desires and any chance at a regular life to do good. He sacrifices his personal desires – living with his son, having a steady job, having a relationship – to be like the hero that saved his life.
 
Eric’s desire to be like Thor is yet another element that makes him so compelling as Thor’s alter ego and replacement. He isn’t Thor – he isn’t controlled by Thor or driven to do what Thor wants out of obligation or guilt. He is genuinely inspired by Thor and wants to be like him. He’s that guy who is saved by a hero and actually gets to make right on that debt – and he never stops trying. Eric’s time as the new Thor is one of continual humiliations and setbacks. He’s called a fourth-rate fake by pretty much everyone he encounters – he fails as often as he succeeds – and he keeps going. And does it his way. One of the best running subplots throughout the run is the way he gives Crusher Creel the Absorbing Man chance after chance to make a life away from crime. Something about Creel’s desire to settle down with Titania and live a quiet life gives Eric a blind spot for the villain. It immediately separates Eric from most heroes as he is always willing to talk things out and find a peaceful solution – a bit of a change from a hero who finds that everything looks like a nail to hit with his hammer.
 
Eric’s journey as a hero is one that leads him to becoming more and more like himself. He starts as the other side of Thor, then gets all of Thor’s power, and, then, loses that identity and some of the power to be the sort of hero he wants to be. It’s a downward slope in that he goes from Thor to replacement Thor to Thor knockoff, but each step allows him to shape the sort of hero he wants to be. Sharing a body with Thor, he’s more of a passenger than a driver; as Thor, he has a certain reputation and obligations to live up to; as Thunderstrike, he gets to decide what that identity means. The comic itself struggles in its first year to come to a decision and, while it makes for some uneven reading, when you look at it as part of the whole, there’s charm in watching both the character and creators cast about a little, trying to figure out what Eric’s idea of a superhero is.
 
What they all settle on is “THE EVERYMAN AVENGER” as becomes the tagline above the logo beginning with Thunderstrike #19. His struggles as an Avenger were pretty much legendary by this point, but he had grown into a respectable role within the team, often bringing that ‘average person’ perspective to things. He was cast in opposition to the stuffy, arrogant beaurocracy that could make the Avengers seem out of touch at the time. He was the guy who would gawk when he finds himself in the Shi’ar throne room or think outside of the usual hero box. It a role that other Avengers occupied before him (Hawkeye was great for being that voice of dissonance) and, by the time his book (and life) ended, he seemed to finally be getting the hang of it.
 
Even Eric’s death was a choice. Faced with the returned threat of Seth (DeFalco and Frenz going back to the beginning of their run), he made a choice to take up Bloodaxe and give himself over to its power to ensure he would be able to stop the Egyptian god. He knew that it was a dangerous move that he may not come back from – and he didn’t. What it also showed was the trust he put in his hero, Thor, to step in and put him down if it needed to be done. Those final two issues of Thunderstrike show that, even though Eric grew into the role of a seasoned hero, he never lost those defining characteristics that he had from the beginning. He never stopped choosing to be a hero no matter the cost; and he never lost faith in the hero that saved his life and acted as a constant inspiration.
 
If there’s one thing that Jason Aaron took from this run, it was making Jane Foster loving being Thor... just as Eric did. He was so easy to root for and see yourself in, because, like those of us reading Thor comics, he looked up to the Thunder God. He was the everyman Thor.

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 12 – Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1

I was wondering if that was going to happen. Well, not specifically that, but that reveal. After all, a key part about Dominions is that, once one exists, it has always existed. Sort of a chicken/egg thing, right? Fate. A Dominion exists, therefore everything that happened to create it will occur, therefore the Dominion exists. Ouroboros. So, if Sins of Sinister were to feature one of the Essexes reaching the state of Dominion, then that would mean... they’ve always been Dominion. The end goal was reached before the quest to reach it began. Kind of makes the whole thing feel a little futile, doesn’t it? I’m left wondering if it even matters which of them reached Dominion because they’ve always been Dominion and that has not mattered thus far (that we’re aware of).

Like Age of Apocalypse before it, Sins of Sinister is the story that never really happened, except that it did. It doesn’t ‘matter,’ except that it does. Nothing has changed, except that things have. It’s kind of funny the way stories like this work. They’re like the regular sort of events, but stretched to extremes. The actual story doesn’t matter in continuity because it didn’t actually happen; yet, what little touches the ongoing continuity of the comics hits hard. It’s almost the definition of the destination mattering more than the journey. In many ways, you could actually skip Sins of Sinister. Jump from Immortal X-Men #10 page 1 panel 2 to Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 page 28 panel 3 (not counting the two credits pages – or, because the first two panels of those pages are repeats, from the end of Immortal X-Men #9 to Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 page 28) and you’re with the characters. You haven’t lost anything except your ability to read in a perpetual state of dramatic irony. All of the important conclusions/results from the Sins of Sinister story get fed to you. Most events are all about the end change to the status quo, but like to pretend that the journey is essential to understanding that; in a story like this, the journey is literally erased. This is the point where we steer away from endlessly debating what the ‘purpose’ of stories are and what does ‘counting’ really mean... Let’s just leave it at the obvious-but-kind-of-interesting-to-think-about point that: Sins of Sinister can, for the most part, be ignored between the two points that I indicated if all you care about is the strict continuity of the specific X-Men comics universe that we’re reading.

What I’m left with is yet another reversal... Mother Righteous’s plan worked thanks to Moira. All of her accumulated knowledge got sent back to the point where the universe reset. I guess it wasn’t entirely small thinking like I said last week. And Moira’s role is a difficult one to wrap one’s head around entirely, mostly for what it means going forward. She eliminated the Moira Engine, inadvertently helped Mother Righteous while executing her own plan, ensured that all Sinister learned was the final insight about the Dominion, and sent Rasputin IV back. Except, one detail that may be important: Rasputin IV came from a clone program called “Moira.VII.1.RPIV.” That’s not just Rasputin IV in there... is Rasputin IV now, somehow, a six-mutant Chimera? Or something different? Is it just a clone of Moira or is the SoS +1000 Moira in there somewhere as well? I love that, like Age of Apocalypse, Sins of Sinister is having some strays stick around.

So, where does this event leave the X-Men comics with its story that literally happened between panels? Sinister in the pit; Xavier, Hope, Emma, and Exodus in the pit; Rasputin IV (with Moira?) in the present; an Essex is Dominion; Orchis is not in shambles, meaning Stasis is still active; Mother Righteous has knowledge of events and regrets, and, now, the thanks of “every mutant on Krakoa.” She looks like the early favourite for the Essex most likely to establish Dominion—

—I want to point out that I’m struggling a little with that just occurred to me: where does the most recent storyarc of Legion of X fit with all of this? It showed Nightcrawler further mutating beyond the horns, which he has in Immortal X-Men #9 and Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1, and, at the end of Legion of X #10, Mother Righteous comes to him looking to make a deal. She and Nightcrawler interact briefly here and there doesn’t seem to be an awareness there. Moreover, in Sins of Sinister, she spent years trying to break the spell that mutated Nightcrawler and other mutants while he became more and more of a beast. And, if this means that that story didn’t actually happen, what about the Legion/Xavier interaction? That wasn’t Sinister Xavier, was it? I’m sorry, this is a little difficult to line up, maybe the Sons of X one-shot will clear this all up—

—but Orbis Stellaris still has the Worldfarm and Stasis still has Orchis. That last point seems particularly worthwhile in that the SoS timeline was the only one we’ve seen thus far where the machines lose. My running joke about that is that it’s Moira who always loses since she finally switches from mutants to machines and, immediately, the mutants manage to overrun the universe. There’s a bit of a joke to the idea that Moira is the one to end that timelime and does send back knowledge... we just don’t know if it’s to herself. We don’t know if she’s mixed in with the Rasputin IV that’s now in Krakoa. Is Moira now both mutant and machine? Hell, did she somehow get mixed up with Mother Righteous in the process, too? If that’s the case, then Orbis Stellaris seems on track to win... I guess we shall see.

But not here.

This is the end of Custom Kitchen Deliveries, an extension of Them Guys Ain’t Dumb... which is meant to be something of an examination of Kieron Gillen’s event comics. It speaks to the quality of these comics in how they continually sidetracked me from that goal. A writer going back-to-back like this is rather unusual. Sins of Sinister felt like an extension of Judgment Day in an odd way. Of the collaboration with Al Ewing and Si Spurrier that we saw a little taste of there, now on a story where things were split more evenly, but Gillen still took the lead. It was an event without an event book to act as the spine. It was all tie-ins with the bookend issues remaining (because the best issues of an event at the first and last ones) with the dragging middle cut out. More than that, by taking place exclusively within the realm of the X-books, it provided a stronger payoff at the end, one that impacts things going forward. More than anything, that comparison point shows the limitations of Marvel Universe-wide events at times. Unless you’re a Brian Michael Bendis sort of writer who is willing to anchor the MU moving forward, it’s hard to do one that actually leaves a lasting, quantifiable impression. Post-Judgment Day, Gillen has only been writing Immortal X-Men for Marvel, while the rest of the line has been doing its own thing. That’s not a knock against Judgment Day’s quality; it means it’s more Age of Ultron than Siege, you know? Even on Immortal X-Men, Judgment Day felt like a minor detour after the fact... too big and about too many larger things to leave a concrete impact at the end... Sins of Sinister, on the other hand, already made a big impact in changing the course of things on Krakoa. Not that ‘impact’ and ‘mattering’ is all there is with a story... it is important for an event, at least at this stage.

But I digress...

“This is not an exit.”

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 11 – Nightcrawlers #3

Well, I was way off, wasn’t I? For those who didn’t read last week’s edition, I dove head first into wild speculation about the grand plans of Mother Righteous in relation to the narration of Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #3. I knew I wouldn’t be right, but why not have a bit of fun and swing for the fences in the art of exposing one’s ass publicly? (To be clear, my speculation that Jon Ironfire killed Lodus Logos is still a valid guess until proven otherwise...) That’s fine. I’m happy to look the fool sometimes. I guess I didn’t expect to be proven wrong by Mother Righteous’s true plan being so less ambitious. I definitely overestimated what she was aiming for...

It’s actually pretty funny how, throughout this event to this point, there’s been a sense that Mother Righteous was lurking just beneath the surface, ready to steal away Dominion from Orbis Stellaris and Mr. Sinister. Building up thank yous and regrets, sinking her hooks in, and amassing magical objects, all to step in at this moment and become Dominion while her ‘brothers’ watch, horrified. Instead, all of her work was to... create a slightly more complicated version of Sinister’s plan...? Well, consider me fooled. I thought that she was somehow a different breed from the other Essexes... something smarter or more ambitious. Nah, just the same sort of simplistic solipsism. Use people in the laziest way possible to get a slight leg up in the next go ‘round and, maybe, after you try that a few hundred times, you may actually get somewhere... You just have to laugh.

What hit home in this issue – and I feel like a bit of a fool for not picking up on it more before this – is how misleading the part numbers given to each issue are in this event. I’ve been so focused on the larger story of the Essexes and the playfulness with Powers of X that the obvious-from-the-beginning connection that I’ve mentioned, but not really discussed so far kept getting overlooked: Age of Apocalypse. If you’re not familiar with AoA, it was a 1995-96 X-Men story that began when Legion went back in time to kill Magneto before he and Charles Xavier had their falling out. He assumed that, without Magneto to act against his father, Xavier’s dream would happen easier. With only ‘good’ mutants in the public eye, the Dream would be achievable. Of course, it all goes wrong and Legion accidentally kills his father. This leads to a four-month period where the entire X-line of books are replaced with the alternate present where the lack of Xavier allowed Apocalypse to rise much sooner and conquer North America. Every book in the line became a new title (Uncanny X-Men was now Astonishing X-Men, X-Men was now Amazing X-Men, X-Force was now Gambit & The X-Ternals, Cable was now X-Man, etc.). It was bookended by Alpha and Omega issues and was a lot of fun. As a 12/13-year old, I loved it. I loved seeing all of these changed, alternate versions of characters that I knew, picking up on little details about their pasts, maybe where each of them veered off from the story I already knew, and I spent a shocking amount of time looking at the map of this new world.

The important part here is that it told one big story through individual titles that each told their own stories that added to the larger story. It wasn’t a linear story where you read the comics in a specific order and needed to read every single one (while my dad read comics and bought the entire line, I only got all of the first issues and, then, focused in on X-Man specifically as the book that I wanted to follow). There were details that crossed over (the Sentinel airlift launched in Weapon X #1 became a major plot point in Amazing X-Men) and there was a cumulative effect so that, by the time you reached that Omega issue, all of the various books’ plots smashed into one another for the climax. Skip some of it and you were fine. Even now, you can go back and read it all in pretty much whatever order you want – read all four issues of each series in succession or the mixed up order that the omnibus has or even figure out your own – because it wasn’t a story told in a specific ‘correct’ order. The actual story of Age of Apocalypse was one of those ‘more than the sum of its parts’ things where it existed outside of the actual comics to a degree. Each reader created their own version of the larger story.

Sins of Sinister is based off that idea... kind of. Unlike Age of Apocalypse, we’re given a specific reading order from the getgo with a much smaller ‘line’ of books participating. Sins of Sinister takes the loose idea of Age of Apocalypse and turns it into a weekly series. There are advantages to that as specific effects are created, like propelling the story forward through specific successive issues (Sins of Sinister #1 ending with Sinister finding his lab stolen leading right into Storm & The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants #1 showing the theft) and creating a sense that every issue is essential to the larger story. But, thinking about it, it’s also misleading in that it implies a much more coherent and structured story than it delivers (or intends to deliver). There isn’t a linear story exactly, yet the existence of story numbering on each issue implies a more coherent story that each issue of the event advances. Some plot points begin in one part and pick up in the next (the +1000 time period is the most cohesive chunk of the event where each issue does lead to the next in a much more direct manner than the previous time periods), but, now that all three mini-series have been released, their specific structures are much clearer. Like Age of Apocalypse, each of these ‘substitute series’ tell their own stories that contribute to the whole:

Immoral X-Men is of Sinister’s struggle to stay alive long enough to regain his lab and reset the universe with a subplot about the progression of the Sinister-infected Quiet Council over time.

Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants is about... well, the titular characters fighting against the prevailing Sinister forces. As the Sinister-infected mutants become more and more powerful (more the status quo), the Brotherhood (with Storm both a part of and apart from the group simultaneously) are the ‘evil’ mutants rebelling and trying to overthrow that new status quo.

Nightcrawlers is about Mother Righteous’s schemes with a specific focus on her manipulation of the Nightkin.

Each of these series tell those stories in shockingly straight forward, linear ways. None stand alone completely, of course, but they come damn near it in a few cases. I don’t know how many titles would have needed to be part of this story to escape the idea that it’s a linear larger story much more akin to past X-line crossovers that has similar part numbering schemes. Five? Six? Enough to break free from the one-a-week release schedule, I suppose. But, with only three titles and each issue numbered as a specific part of Sins of Sinister, the idea of the larger implicit story of the event looms larger than it did in Age of Apocalypse. AoA was so big that, as a reader, you knew you wouldn’t get it all, even if you read every issue. It was a miniature version of trying to keep the ongoing story of the Marvel Universe straight in your head in real time with every week’s new releases. While there are some fools crazy enough to try, most of us know that it won’t happen and accept that we’re only ever going to know a piece of it and move on with our lives, hoping that we know enough for everything to make sense in the end (it never ends).

Sins of Sinister’s structure and release gives the impression of a specific story being told (and the cycling of the order of the three titles in each time period (ABC, BCA, CAB) played into that idea of a very specific order/structure)... and I’m not sure that’s the right takeaway. While there is a story told by Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Si Spurrier, I’m convinced more and more that it’s much looser than we (I) may have imagined. It took until Nightcrawlers #3 and seeing the end goal of Mother Righteous to have that particular bubble popped. If you look at only Nightcrawlers #1-3, then her plans don’t take on the same implied epic scope as they do when you add in her other appearances. Her appearing as a vision to Jon Ironfire or dropping off her book with Sinister... they helped create a larger myth for the character than the self-important fake-it-til-you-make-it false god of Nightcrawlers. Her pettiness is a key limitation of the character and was lessened by her appearances outside of this series... All of which pointed toward a larger plan – a larger payoff. Instead of a race to Dominion, we get a race to remembrance... And, make no mistake, the release structure purposefully downplayed Mother Righteous’s pettiness and made her seem more important with that four-issue gap between Nightcrawlers #2 and 3.

I guess what gets lost in the larger story approach are the little stories that, while not necessarily as prominent in the grand scheme of things (not as... fun and alluring as the schemes of the Essexes). The stories of Wagnerine, Jon Ironfire, and Rasputin IV all play a role in the (for lack of a better word at the point) metastory of Sins of Sinister, but are all much more prominent in their specific series (and, as I haven’t developed the idea but want to get it out there, let me just mention how interesting it is that Orbis Stellaris doesn’t get the same prominence as his siblings... Storm gets that role and that seems important in ways I haven’t thought nearly enough about). Wagnerine (and the Spirit of Variance!) plays a rather key role in thwarting Mother Righteous in this issue... but that seems like a crucial moment delivered by a minor player when you look at the metastory. Read exclusively through the lens of Nightcrawlers as a series, it’s a major moment from a main character! The release structure of Sins of Sinister de-emphasises those series-specific elements in favour of speculation on how they play a role in the metastory... last week’s Custom Kitchen Deliveries is a clear example of reading this event in that manner gone awry.

And, of course, I hit this realisation right before the final bookend issue that will firmly conclude the Sins of Sinister metastory. Alas. Hindsight and all of that.

Next: Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 10 – Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #3

Who is the poet narrator of Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #3?

This is the question that vexes me. Done in the font/word balloon and poetic style of Lodus Logos, it sent me hunting for any reference to Arakko’s poet in Sins of Sinister thus far, coming up empty. Perhaps I missed an offhand reference. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t appear anywhere. Any art depicting the fall of Arakko doesn’t include him – rather a mix of the Arakki we know and some of the returned Arakki that were still with Genesis and Apocalypse when this story began. And, right there on the first page, in the second balloon, it states “Sing as Great Lodus sang, in days of old before the Diamond,” suggesting that he died somewhere between the beginning of Sins of Sinister and the fall of Arakko. In Sins of Sinister #1, very little attention is given to Arakko save the Eternals war and its eventual fall to the forces of Sinister. No mention is made of the rejoining of the Arakki tribe that stayed behind. In the previous issue of this series, Jon Ironfire is visited by the image of Mother Righteous who assures him that she is nothing more than a daydream he won’t remember. As he participates in the raid on Orbis Stellaris’s Death Sphere, she asks if he has any regrets, and he responds, “...The Genesis War. I made a mistake – took a life that haunts me still. My faith... it’s a penance. Because I didn’t have faith then. I didn’t trust the Storm.” Maybe you’re ahead of me here, but, as I sought desperately to answer my question and indulge in a bit of diving too deep to make connections, I came to the following conclusions:

Jon Ironfire killed Lodus Logos in the Genesis War. Mother Righteous learns this fact, one that is tied up intimately with his desperate need for faith in Storm to atone for his action. Mother Righteous uses this knowledge to craft “The Song of the End” and engineer both the destruction of the Red Diamond Queen and the downfall of Arakko by intertwining Ironfire’s regret and faith. What we witness is not narration, it is causation.

The first clue that the song/poem narration interacts with the story comes early on when it says “Sing me the Storm System... and the king who ruled there, last of his line, Jon Ironfire his name.” To which Ironfire responds “‘The Storm System.’ How many still know what means?” suggesting that, on some level, he can hear the Logos-esque poetry. He follows this up with a reference to telling Righteous of his one regret... why think of that conversation at that moment? It folds into a discussion of trust with Khora, yet, I wonder if the voice he can vaguely hear reminds him of admitting his regret... before it turns to them discussing putting faith in Sinister in order to bring Ororo back to life.

So much of this issue centres around the idea of Ororo as goddess, an object of faith and worship – in opposition to Emma Frost who, Sinister now for 1000 years, has set herself up as a self-proclaimed goddess of her own empire of subservient worshippers. Ultimately, this issue is a battle of the gods, one secure in her solipsistic belief in herself, while the other is strengthened by the faith of others. At one point, Emma strikes out in rage after hearing Araki whisper “...Ororo protect us,” proclaiming, “You’ve broken my first commandment. Praying to another goddess?” The struggle between the two becomes a proxy battle between Sinister and Righteous despite Sinister seemingly on the side of Arakko. All that Emma draws upon is her self-assuredness and belief in her own supremacy... and that takes her far. The resurrected Ororo, on the other hand, is given all of Khora’s power and is the physical embodiment of Arakko’s last hope, borne out of Ironfire’s memories, an embodiment of a single man’s faith. Ororo is the purest form of the sort of power that Mother Righteous has sought to tap into throughout the story. A pure vessel that faith is poured into... While Emma cloaks herself in a giant robot, something that recalls a living statue, Ororo flies free and without protection, secure in her power and the faith entrusted in her. Emma is an empty goddess propped up by tyranny... something like a pharaoh who declared himself a living god simply because he happened to rule. Emma is a goddess because she says so; Ororo one because others say so. Ororo’s triumph is a clear victory for the sort of power that Righteous covets and seeks to cultivate, while Sinister’s genetic solipsism cannot stand... it’s a lonely sort of power.

All of this happens against a backdrop of a universe divided into kingdoms of faith where Sinister’s genetic empires have risen as singular religions by this point. Each member of the Quiet Council is either powerful enough to stand as their own focal point, acting like a god, or is subsumed into one of the other’s religions. Arakko stood apart and, now, has its own goddess returned only to die (eliminating another rival goddess in the process). After 1000 years of amassing objects of power and planting her seeds of gratitude and faith (and regret), is a universe where the ruling class are indistinguishable from deities what she wanted? In a universe primed for faith, is she poised to take all of that religious energy and redirect it her way, using it to ascend to a higher form of godhood – Dominion?

Her absence in this issue is the other thing that troubled me. While she hasn’t appeared in every issue of this event, her role has grown and her appearances important no matter how small. Despite Orbis Stellaris seeming like the true rival to Sinister at first, she’s been the one slowly and methodically spreading her own sort of influence. Stellaris has been too insular and isolated – so focused on building up his World Farm as the power base to launch his plan for Dominion that, when the Brotherhood stole it, he’s seemingly dropped off the map entirely by the time we reach +1000. Sinister, we know: he’s given up the hope of Dominion in this reality, focused on reaching a Moira and killing it. That leaves Mother Righteous as the seemingly only (obvious) chance for an Essex to reach Dominion.

And that leaves her “Song of the End” as she weaves her magic, drawing upon Ironfire’s regret over killing Lodus Logos to mask her magic as his power... to shape events. Is her song narrating or is it directing? The interplay of words and images in a comic aren’t always clear in this regard. When Alessandro Vitti draws a panel of Ororo holding a lightning bolt, while Al Ewing writes the words “And Ororo readied for the end... and called the lightning home,” are these two occurring simultaneously? Are the words describing the picture? Usually, we read comics that way where overly narrated comics are treated as redundant to an extent – the words telling what the art is showing. But, here, what if the words are telling a story into being? What if this is an act of incredible power and magic as Mother Righteous sings a song that helps shape the reality needed to achieve Dominion? Ororo gives her life for Arakko. Jon Ironfire’s faith is justified, realised in full glory as his goddess, the Storm, sacrifices herself again for the sake of universe. When Sinister (seemingly) shoots and (apparently) kills him... does that faith disappear? Does that form of mystical energy dissipate? Or does it go somewhere else?

All of these questions relate to the larger structure of Sins of Sinister. Everything has been building towards a specific point, much of it playing off Powers of X to some degree. In Powers of X, the X³ timeline of Moira VI was moving towards the assimilation and ascension of homo novissima into part of the Phalanx, becoming a small part of a Dominion. However, in Sins of Sinister +1000, there are no machines to fuse with humans – to be Phalanx – to form Dominion. Or, at least, none that care to make their appearance known (save a leftover non-mutant clone Moira and a broken down Doombot). All that remains is a host of homo superior that exist in such powerful form as to be akin to Phalanx, possibly even Titan. If Mother Righteous can eliminate the figurehead mutant gods and assimilate the cloned masses of followers... will that be the same as uniting 10 or more Titans? Though, in Powers of X, the ascension never actually happened as Moira was killed, secure in knowledge she hoped to use to avoid that fate for mutantkind.

Will Sinister kill his Moira in the nick of time as well?

Next: Nightcrawlers #3.

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 09 – Immoral X-Men #3

Genetics aren’t enough.

We are now 1000 years from where Sins of Sinister began and the universe is a monstrous wasteland of rival factions. Things are so splintered that even Exodus and his religion has broken into dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of sects. When Destiny’s recording for Sinister tells him “I know your eventual goal is to transcend time and space to become a Dominion. You do not succeed,” my first thought was “Yeah, no shit.” It’s apparent, by this point, that the flaw in Sinister means that he is incapable of achieving that goal. Perhaps, a flaw in all of the Essexes.

As I said when discussing Immoral X-Men #1, the key component that Sinister’s genes added to the Quiet Council was narcissistic solipsism. Each and every one of them thinks themself the only true person in the universe, the only person that matters, be they original or clone or staring in the face of a thousand identical clones of themselves. It’s been the ongoing joke of Sinister where every version of him thinks that it is the real Sinister... only to have its head blown off by the next Sinister in line who assures us that he is the real deal (until...). Faced with Doctor Stasis and Mother Righteous, his first instinct is to shout that he’s the real Nathaniel Essex; as does Orbis Stellaris. That overwhelming, unavoidable idea that each of these Essex-derivatives have that they are the only one that matters. The only real person. It comes to a head in the +1000 time period as it’s a universe of single-minded empires, all convinced that they are right, they matter, and all others must be conquered, subjugated, and subsumed.

The supposed goal of the Essexes is to defeat the machines. On Earth, we saw that happen fairly quickly, almost as a throwaway footnote to this entire story. In the +1000 time period, there doesn’t appear to be any threat from the machines. The universe is overrun by mutantkind, endless combinations and variations, almost all carrying that Sinister gene. While our perspective on things is fairly limited by the narrative goals of the comic, the successful domination of the universe via Sinister’s mutants seems complete – despite it being domination without Dominion. Yet, is that any better? Nearly a dozen little fiefdoms that may have sprung from the same genetic source, but wind up mimicking any other random universe of competing interests. Dominion requires unity of consciousness and purpose, and, in +1000, there is none. All Sinister has done is trade one dominant lifeform (machines) for another (mutants) with the same dreary dystopian existence. Except a bit gooier.

In Immoral X-Men #2, when Sinister gave his convincingly insincere speech to Rasputin IV about destroying the paradise of Krakoa, I think what he was trying to get at what the shared purpose of Krakoa. Genetics aren’t enough. This has been the endless cycle of X-Men comics where mutants can never truly unify and thrive, because all that they’ve got in common is an extra gene and a world that hates and fears them. When you take away the hatred and fear and replace it with overwhelming dominance, that extra gene isn’t enough. The centre cannot hold, as it were. By accentuating the individuality of each of the Quiet Council, Sinister has both achieved universal dominance and moved away from Dominion at the same time. Think of those two goals as the X and Y axis on a graph. At the line towards universal domination moves forward, the line towards Dominion rises and rises until it peaks and begins falling until it flattens out. Perhaps, given enough time, one or more of these fiefdoms of the Quiet Council could grow large or powerful enough to approach Dominion on their own. More likely that we’ve reached a dead end. The real path forward was Krakoa, at least for the Sinister branch of the Essex family tree. A multitude brought together under a shared purpose and cause that allows growth. But, alas, even if Sinister were to kill a Moira and reset the universe back to before all of this, with “Fall of X” on the horizon, that chance may be gone, too...

The real problem is that the goal isn’t the survival of a species or a people. The problem is that a single man, Nathaniel Essex, came the conclusion that he will die. He can find ways to prolong his life, but, eventually, something bigger and more powerful, like a Dominion (more likely a Phalanx or something even smaller) would come along and be too much for him. He wouldn’t just die – he would be absorbed, taken in, and made part of a greater whole. Something bigger than him. The problem is that he only cares that he survives forever. Everything flows from his solipsism. So: four of him, each exploring a different path to ensure that Nathaniel Essex can never be lost – each searching for a path to Dominion. Each convinced that they are the only true Essex (or the only one that matters). Each doomed to failure because their message is not one of inclusivity, it’s of singular focus and determination, of absolute control and domination. But, that message of solipsism and singularness, when spread, only breeds new versions of that same solipsism. While the Empress of the Red Diamond may carry Sinister’s genes (Essex’s genes), it is still Emma Frost and thinks of herself as Emma Frost, not Sinister or Essex. The same goes for Xavier and Exodus and Colossus and the rest. They are worshippers at the altar of Essex’s Church of Solipsism and, as devout believers, they each think themself a god.

(To indulge a brief return to my nonsense metacommentary from earlier in this series, if Jonathan Hickman is Sinister and Sins of Sinister is the X-line after HoX/PoX, growing and changing beyond his original plans as each additive creator takes things in new, unexpected ways, deviating further and further from the original singular plan... then Hickman is a Sinister that was able to look at what their influence had wrought, smile, and walk away. Is it what he wanted to do when he began? No. Does that mean he’s unhappy with what has happened? No. You could make a compelling argument for Sins of Sinister as a repudiation of anyone who wished for Hickman to force his vision on the line going forward…)

However, speaking of gods and churches, it’s more and more apparent that one Essex has the potential to succeed: Mother Righteous. She’s the constant figure throughout Sins of Sinister, popping up here and there, planting her little seeds of gratitude, getting her hooks in as many different people as possible. While we don’t yet know the exact state of her religion playing off the Spark with the Legion of the Night, she makes an appearance at the end of this issue, offering Rasputin IV a deal. That her power base is one of belief, calling in her markers at once could, conceivably, unite enough beings to begin the road to Dominion. While the other Essexes spread themselves among the masses – she has focused on spreading herself via a focus on her. She is the singular focus of her interactions with everyone. Not her genes, not her technology, or even her despot orders. Just her, a separate being, ready to possibly enslave all she’s lured in, body and soul... even her two remaining brothers...

Next: Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #3.

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 08 – Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #2

“My Progenitors. My World Farm. All that computational power... data that would take millennia to recalculate and recompile...”

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.

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 07 – Immoral X-Men #2

This issue is the dead centre of the event and provides the twist of explicitly laying out what’s going on here: the four three Essex clones are racing against one another to reach Dominion. Kieron Gillen is even kind enough to give us a one-page synopsis of that plot, complete with a breakdown of what each clone is working with to reach this goal. It makes plain that the goal was to defeat the machines and, now, the goal is to defeat one another. We knew this already and, now, we know this for certain; so, where does that leave us heading into the back half of Sins of Sinister?

Hope narrating this issue is a convenient way to provide context for the +100 timeframe and where mutantkind has gotten in the 90 years since Emma Frost put Sinister under her boot, while also giving a secondary ‘race’ between the Quiet Council members to be the last one standing. Hope, the war-mongering messiah is the first to fall, mostly because she’s more useful dead than alive. If this timelime follows the pattern that we’ve seen previously in Immortal X-Men, then Exodus is the likely last member standing as the focal point of the mutant religion. While not all mutants appear to rally around the faith, it’s interesting to see that there is a distinct portion of mutantkind that’s entered well into the realm that Mother Righteous seeks to exploit. However, as we saw in Nightcrawlers #2, her efforts to exploit belief do struggle with genuine faith. I guess what that means is that Exodus and his followers could be a liability for Righteous to prey upon or a key to overcoming her. If they play a role in that regard at all, to be honest...

The three scenes involving Sinister intrigue me the most about this issue. By having Hope narrate, Sinister is put at a distance to an extent. The only indication of what he’s been up to during the 90 years since Immoral X-Men #1 is the brief bit of hearsay in Nightcrawlers #1 about him being almost a godlike figure within the mutant empire, actually showing up to witness his latest weapon in person. While that description from Wagnerine seemed plausible in the gleeful callousness of Sinister, it also read as heavily filtered through the Nightkin’s relationship with Righteous. The Nightkin would naturally think that Sinister occupies a similar place for the expanding mutant empire as Righteous does for them, when it’s very much the opposite. In the scenes that he appears in here, Sinister is much more the remorseful scientist who has seen his experiment escape his control and run amok, and, now, is looking for any way to put things right.

Or, that’s how he appears in scenes one and three with Rasputin. To Gillen and Andrea di Vito’s credit, you want to believe that Sinister’s confession of guilt to Rasputin at the end of the issue is genuine. Both writer and artist sell the hell out of it. In the two bookend scenes, Sinister is contrite and kind and... tired. He seems worn down by the past century of watching mutants expand and slaughter their way across the galaxy. But, he’s just selling his own self-serving story, creating his own religion of sorts for Rasputin and the crew of the Marauder to believe in as he seeks to regain his lab and the Moira clones inside, so he can undo all of this – and do it again, only properly. The middle scene with Mother Righteous makes it plain that Sinister has not changed in any way except learning to be a better actor.

His tone in that scene is Sinister-as-we-know-him with sardonic wit and a solipsistic streak a universe long. His insistence that he’s the real Nathaniel Essex, for one thing. His chiding Righteous for aping his style. Or, his final words to himself after she leaves: “This does change everything. I can use this... but I need my Moiras to really use it. And I need them before the council crushes me. Oh, Nathaniel. What did you do to deserve this?” Aside from our knowledge of Sinister, these words both undercut and set up that final scene with Rasputin. Sinister is self-aware enough to know what it is he did that resulted in the current status quo. That’s what makes his unburdening to his Chimera captain work to well: he’s not lying about most of it. He did destroy Krakoa. He corrupted it with his strain of solipsism and that created a chain of events that destroyed Krakoa, Earth, and a good chunk of the universe so far. He genuinely wants to undo that damage and restore Krakoa to the paradise-in-the-making that it was when he managed to kill Hope, Xavier, Frost, and Exodus to finally get his genes to stick. He tells Rasputin everything he did to deserve this and does it in a way that makes her believe in his cause. It’s interesting how little he has to lie in the process. The only lie is the guilt.

Another element that stood out was that Sinister’s approach to Rasputin follows that of Righteous and the Nightkin. He frees her from the Sinister gene and, then, gives her something to believe in, which is his self-serving cause. Is this a signal to the similarities between the Essexes that they can’t help but follow the same paths, or did he take this idea from the book she left him? As he thanked her (her method of gaining influence), will this put her in a position of power over not just him but Rasputin and the crew as well? And I’m reminded of something that I mostly overlooked in Nightcrawlers #1: Orbis Stellaris thanked Righteous as well... I admire the way that repetitions and reoccurring behaviours are central to this event. Much like I mentioned above with Exodus, it’s hard to tell if the overlapping of methods is an advantage or disadvantage. Is it being co-opted or is that, after a certain amount of progress, it’s not a matter of the distinct paths, it’s a merging of methods towards Dominion? Or, perhaps, it’s not so easy to separate out the different approaches when it’s the same person trying them all out. Is it truly a race to the top when the participants are all the same person?

Next: Storm & The Brotherhood of Mutants #2.

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 06 – Nightcrawlers #2

We jump ahead 90 years to the +100 time period. If you’ll recall, in Powers of X, this was the period of Moira’s ninth life – it was a world where the Earth was ruled by machines, humans clung to scraps and lived in servitude, and mutants were exiles, living under the hospitality of the Shi’ar or the small group on Asteroid K. Immediately, I noticed how much of this status quo played with those ideas.

Mutants no longer live on Earth, but not because they were driven away. No, they live off-world because the Earth was too small and limited for their collective vision. (Sinister)

The Earth is ruled by aliens that attempted an invasion, but found themselves a little late to the party. (Orbis Stellaris)

The true exiles are the Nightking and devotees of the Spark, freed from Sinister’s control, and roaming space on a single ship, the Narthex. (Mother Righteous)

With Doctor Stasis and the possible homo novissima eliminated, things shift and reform, but the basic shape is the same. Mutants head for the stars, mutants find exile in the stars, and mutants are denied Earth. The reformation around the other three Essexes is interesting as, despite not appearing here, Orbis Stellaris remains the most likely opposition to Sinister. Even if Sinister as we know him isn’t at the forefront of mutantkind’s movements and decisions, it’s still Sinister. Mutantkind heads to the stars to crush all that exists in their way, absorbing what they can, killing what’s left. Nightcrawlers #2 suggests a big clash between the two powerful forces of Sinister and Orbis Stellaris without even mentioning the latter, while Mother Righteous remains off to the side, hoping to be the spoiler.

But, perhaps, I am getting ahead of myself. What is it about X-Men comics that encourages speculation and seeing little webs and developing theories?

Despite all of those details sprinkled in throughout the issue, creating a lovely backdrop, Nightcrawlers #2 isn’t really about all of that necessarily. It’s actually a pretty small and personal story for Wagnerine. One of loss. Loss of her faith, of her lover, of her child... and her loss may be a loss for Mother Righteous as well. Sorry, it led right back there almost immediately, didn’t it? That’s the way this event is structured. The small pieces point to the big ones. They suck you in with those personal stories that exist against this large backdrop and that’s what matters. The journey of Wagnerine throughout this issue provides an emotional grounding for the grandscale movement of the Essexes. All of this is the three of them operating on a massive scale as I already indicated. So large that someone like Orbis Stellaris exists through mere allusion and assumption.

The Wagnerine story is one of repetition, in a sense. And revelation. When discussing Immoral X-Men #1, I argued that the addition of Sinister to the Quiet Council added solipsism to each of them. This selfish view that only they are real. That only they matter. In this issue, we see that the same mindset afflicts Mother Righteous and how what separates her from Sinister (and almost certainly the other two) is methodology, nothing more. Instead of genetics, she uses concepts like gratitude and faith to spread herself, all in service of herself. But, like Sinister pushed too far by putting himself in mutants, losing control of the experiment, Mother Righteous’s use of the Spark ultimately puts the Nightkin beyond her control. While she may have put parts of herself – or, rather, her influence, in them all through their gratitude and faith, she also accomplished this task by piggybacking off a concept outside of herself and her control. The rescue of Nightcrawler, his attempt to stop Righteous, and her subsequent killing of him is such a central moment, revealing for all of her followers what she truly is – an Essex by any other name...

This issue is about emphasising that connection. Beyond her simmering self-serving actions to date, that side of her is laid bare at the end of the issue. Wagnerine lays it plain after she escape death: “They know she bears a rod as well as a lamp. That her Spark is a cold fire, not a warming glow. As of today? They doubt.” Righteous losing control of their faith is like Sinister losing control of mutantkind after his genetic manipulation. The addition of the pink tethers and glowing balls to Righteous’s outfit recall’s Sinister’s cape and its high strands. Even the way that the Nightkin all wear headbands showcasing Righteous’s heart symbol over their natural diamonds acts a visual play upon the Sinisters of mutantdom. Her efforts to gather various mystical and magical items is like Sinister’s obsessive collection of genetic material. While we’ve only ever had a suggestion of what a mystically-focused ‘Sinister’ means, this issue is almost a practical walkthrough, pointing to as many elements of Sinister familiar to readers.

(I will discuss his art in the larger context of the entire +100 comics, but I want to call out how overjoyed I was to see Andrea Di Vito drawing another Ragnarok for Asgard. In a comic all about various X-Men elements, that callback to the “Ragnarok” Thor arc that he drew is, by far, my favourite reference.)

While Sinister spread solipsism, Righteous mistakenly spread the Spark. She may be positioning herself as the spoiler between Sinister and Orbis Stellaris, but the Spark so far has been the only effective weapon against Sinister’s spread. The Nightking seem freed from Sinister’s influence by that residue of the Spark within Nightcrawler’s genetic code somehow – like, somehow, the soul transcends pure genetic material. Sinister’s obsession with genetics and mutation isn’t genuine. He’s not really interested in new life or new ways of being. He’s obsessed with bending those things to his will for the propagation of himself. Righteous views the Spark similarly and I’m really wondering if, by the +1000 period, she will find himself playing second fiddle to the Spark and its devotees like Sinister finds himself under the thumb of the Quiet Council. Oh, he holds an important position and role as their chief genetic weaponeer... but that makes him a servant. Will Righteous become a mystical servant for the faithful? Something that they pour their faith and gratitude into and, then, use for their purposes? If this is an inevitable point in the schemes of an Essex... what of Orbis Stellaris and the Progenitors?

Next: Immoral X-Men #2.

Custom Kitchen Deliveries 05 – Sins of Sinister +10

Powers of S

Okay, so the thing about Sins of Sinister is that it’s Age of Apocalypse for Powers of X. Not House of X/Powers of X, I would argue – specifically Powers of X. It’s more straight forward in its linear storytelling and, unless there’s a rug pull late in the game, it doesn’t play with parallel timelines the same way. What we can assume currently is that Sins of Sinister operates on a single timeline (one that will presumably be reset/wiped out at the end to return us to X⁰). That loose framework is... simplistic when compared to Powers of X, a series that juggled four different time periods across three different timelines.

(At this point, I’m going to presume that you’ve either read Powers of X or don’t care if I explain certain elements in depth. If neither of those things are true, I would advise closing the tab, and doing something else with your time.)

When Powers of X begins, the first issue shows us four different time periods:

X⁰ – ‘year zero’ where Moira approaches Charles.

X¹ – +10 years, the founding of Krakoa. Over the course of the series, that ranges from months before the official founding to a short period after.

X² – +100 years, as the last remnants of Krakoa fight against Nimrod and the machines’ rule of Earth.

X³ – +1000 years, as the eventual result of human/machine evolution (homo novissima) seeks to ascend to be part of a Phalanx

We assume that these are all the same timelines. By the end of the series, we know that X⁰ and X¹ seem to be part of Moira’s tenth life, while X¹ is her ninth life and X³ is her sixth. In her sixth life, she learned the true purpose of the machine enemies of mutantkind and subsequent lives attempted to both stop the rise of the machines, while ensuring the survival of mutantkind. Her ninth life, she finally gained knowledge of the specific moment when Nimrod came online and her tenth life (the Marvel universe as we know it) shows the (failed) efforts to prevent Nimrod from becoming active. Stop Nimrod, save the mutants. But, they failed and Moira was eventually exposed and she was stripped of her mutant abilities and she went from basic human to machine pretty quickly. Meanwhile, Mr. Sinister cloned Moira and began using her mutant ability to optimise the timeline for his goals.

Take that big chart from Powers of X #3 outlining all (but one) of Moira’s lives and you can slot Sins of Sinister right at the very bottom, except this is life... 27? 28? Something like that. It doesn’t appear that Kieron Gillen, Al Ewing, and Si Spurrier are pulling the same trick as Hickman with different timelines. When the +100 time period begins in Nightcrawlers #2, it will be a jump from these +10 issues within the same timeline. So, as I said, simpler.

Yet, Sins of Sinister isn’t simple. Where exactly this story is going is anyone’s guess. There have been two key moments that made for rather extensive changes from the timelines we saw in Powers of X: the destruction of Orchis (specifically Nimrod) in Sins of Sinister #1 and the death of Dr. Stasis in Nightcrawlers #1. These two events together mark a huge departure from the timelines of Powers of X where the main goal was setting up the threat of machine life as the true competing interest on Earth. It was never about homo sapiens – it was always homo novissima. In a world where Sinister had ‘corrupted’ the mutants of Krakoa, they were able to completely neutralise the main threat of Moira’s various lives. The big threat that Hickman set up is shunted aside here. In its place, lie two other potential threats to Sinister/mutants: Orbis Stellaris and his interest in alien evolution; and Mother Righteous and her interest in mystic evolution. (I use the word evolution incorrectly and loosely. I haven’t settled upon a better term for the interest of the four Essexes.) By the beginning of Immoral X-Men #1, mutants have conquered Earth, essentially. The idea that humanity – sapiens or novissima – is a threat has passed. Instead, they begin looking outward. Interestingly, despite closing off the central plot of Powers of X, the three writers do play off several elements outlined in the series, specifically Mr. Sinister’s progression of experimenting with Chimera mutants. That they didn’t go heavy-handed into deviating 100% from elements of Powers of X demonstrates the playful aspects of this story.

The time periods is another way that Sins of Sinister plays off Powers of X. In Hickman’s series, the “+10” time period was the present day X-Men comics, while the “year zero” was the past. Here, “year zero” is the present day, while +10 is the future. This story is dealing entirely in hypotheticals. We know – we know – that it will eventually reset to the present day and be undone somehow. I think it was X-line editor Jordan White who said that this wasn’t an alternate reality story and, while that’s technically true, it’s an alternate future. A future timeline that will be wiped away and knowledge gained as a result... but for what purpose? The main thing that we see here is the template for mutant domination and the defeat of the machines. It is mostly through means that the current Quiet Council would not sanction, but is something that could be useful. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if Sins of Sinister: Dominion #1 features a play off the famous scene from Powers of X that was used in the promos of Xavier reading Moira’s mind and being surprised at what he finds, except with Xavier (helmet on) and Sinister. He gets another vision of a now-aborted timeline, a picture of what could be to come, and that sets up the next stage of Krakoa.

We shall see.

The Rejection(?) of Hickman

Oh, it began as something of a joke. The idea that Mr. Sinister is a metafictional stand-in for Jonathan Hickman, forced to see his dramatic change escape his direct control and be helpless as his influence spreads in ways unanticipated. But, as Sins of Sinister progressed, I realised that it wasn’t quite that simple, though that reading doesn’t seem wrong, exactly. It also relates to what I wrote above about the defeat of Nimrod/Orchis and the death of Dr. Stasis – the progression beyond both Sinister and Stasis is a purposeful rejection of Hickman’s plans, albeit one that’s not necessarily permanent. This is a possible timeline, one almost certainly doomed to be erased and, with it, so is the destruction of the machines. The defeat of homo novissima will be undone. But, for the moment, this is a story that plays with the idea of Hickman’s influence over the X-line and seeks to move past it, while also embracing it. When you go back and read Powers of X, a lot of space is dedicated to the types of society on a universal level. A lot of space. That’s the area that this story looks like it will be exploring, though from a different perspective. Again, Nightcrawlers #1 is the essential comic in this regard with a text page that gives a brief explanation of the highest form of society, Dominion (big neon flashing sign pointing at the final part of Sins of Sinister) – and Orbis Stellaris’s Worldfarm. There are two key parts that I wish to highlight, out of order:

“Typically, Dominions comprise 10 or more unified artificial intelligences at the TITAN level (each being a Type 0 civilization on the Kardashev scale). Other routes to Dominion status are theoretically possible – albeit highly eccentric – hinging in most cases upon the utilisation of incomparably advanced circuits of power, probability and processing.”

As the domination of artificial intelligence (evolution) on Earth has been seemingly cut off, what remains are the other routes. The word ‘circuit’ jumps out as that is the term used to describe mutant powers used in concert with one another. Though, the final three Ps in that short paragraph seem to describe the specific means of Sinister, Mother Righteous, and Orbis Stellaris. While they seem to be in competition, this could allude to collusion.

But, more than hinting at the possible way we may see Dominion at the end of this story, there is this sentence that possibly points beyond Sins of Sinister and the longterm ramifications (bold and italics taken from the comic):

Irrespective of how or when a Dominion formed, having done so it has always existed, and will always exist.

If Dominion is reached, will it transcend the resetting of the timeline? Does it already exist?

I find it really interesting that, while Sins of Sinister seems to be a rejection of Hickman, it merely closes off the storytelling path that he already explored and showed us in Powers of X. If you’ve read that, you’ve seen the machines win, basically, and homo novissima on the cusp of ascension into a Phalanx. Sins of Sinister looks like it may offer an alternative path to Dominion. Possibly a circuit of Sinisters...

The Visual Cohesion of Paco Medina and Jay David Ramos

The goal, I believe, with having a single artist draw each time period is visual unity. To both the credit and detriment of artist Paco Medina (and colourist Jay David Ramos), I don’t think that goal was achieved. In an obvious way, it doesn’t work because, after the first two issues of this time period were done exclusively by Medina and Ramos (per the credits), the third (Immoral X-Men #1) featured Walden Wong and Victory Olazba on inks, while Chris Sotomayor did some colouring as well. The unified front of Medina as line artist and Ramos as colour artist was not maintained across all three books, immediately giving that third book a different look from the first two in some ways.

Except, my completely amateurish eye can’t necessarily spot those various differences. In part because I don’t have the ability. In part, because the previous two issues didn’t actually look much like one another either. I actually think that’s to Medina and Ramos’s credit, because they adapt fantastically to the different scripting styles of Ewing and Spurrier. Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1 is written in a brisk action adventure style, roughly adhering to a three-tier page structure. Nightcrawlers #1 is denser, based off a four-tier page structure with more dialogue and, despite covering a larger timeframe, it a bit slower and more methodical. Immoral X-Men is the hybrid issue, alternating between three- and four-tier layouts depending on the scene and need to speed up/slow down.

An interesting effect is that, you would think that the three-tier layouts would lend themselves to more detailed renderings. With more space, it would give Medina a chance to get really intricate and detailed; while the more cramped four-tier layouts would necessitate simpler line work to communicate information in limited space. That’s what makes sense in my logical brain... yet, I find the opposite true in these issues. The more space Medina has, the simpler his line work seems to be. If he’s meant to convey speed and action, part of that comes down to less ornate line work so readers don’t stop to linger over all of the small details. And, on the slower, more cramped pages, the detail increases to slow the reader down a little.

I think the visual cohesion of each timeline will stand out more as we get each trio of issues, as well. Right now, the only point of comparison in this story is to Lucas Werneck on the first issue of the story. I’m curious to see how the visual evolve over the next two months.

The Event Without the Event

A point of comparison that came up several times over the first four issues of Sins of Sinister is Judgment Day. I saw a few purposeful callbacks/comparisons (or what I read as purposeful, to be frank). But, Sins of Sinister is a different sort of event. Part Age of Apocalypse, part linewide crossover that tells a single story through different monthly titles with no central standalone event title, it doesn’t work in the same was as an event like Judgment Day. What I keep coming back to, though, is that it doesn’t work like linewide crossovers either. This doesn’t read like X-Cutioner’s Song or Maximum Carnage or even, I don’t know, The Black Vortex. While the story progresses through these three issues, there isn’t really a linear progression. They are very much trying to both advance the larger story and tell their own specific stories unique to their respective titles.

In essence, they read more like tie-ins to a traditional event and we’re missing the standalone series to tell the true throughline story. The beginning Sins of Sinister one-shot kind of functioned as the first issue of the event in that respect. We just don’t get Sins of Sinister #2-4, though Sins of Sinister Dominion #1 may turn out to be like Sins of Sinister #5. Though it feels like there is that event series-sized gap here, it’s hard to know what would fill it exactly.

Much like the visual cohesion of each time period, the next period will provide insight into the specific structure of this story as an event/crossover.

Next: Nightcrawlers #2.