The Hellfire Gala continues as some titles thrive and others stumble hard. This week we have SWORD #6 by Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia and Ariana Maher, Wolverine #13 by Benjamin Percy, Scot Eaton, Oren Junior, Matthew Wilson and Coret Petit, and Way Of X #3 by Si Spurrier, Bob Quinn, Java Tartaglia and Clayton Cowles.

SWORD #6

Nola Pfau: It feels like it’s been a weirdly long time since we’ve done one of these. When was the last issue of SWORD again?

Zach Rabiroff: You’re asking me? I haven’t had a coherent sense of time since late 2019. All I know is, there’s a party going on back on earth, but we’re about to go hang out with the space crew. So let’s get to it.

Doomstrolling

Zach: We open this issue where many of these comics have ended, with a little scene in the aftermath of the Gala, as some of the human attendees wrestle with the fallout of the mutants’ big announcement. This one is focused on a little two-person dialogue between Captain America and Victor Von Doom, between whom there hasn’t historically been a lot of love lost. And while I’m sure we’ll have several things to say about this, the first and most important on my list is this: there is simply no greater act of aggression that Al Ewing could have perpetrated in his first three pages than making it very clear that, upon being thawed out of ice in the modern age, Captain America was handed a goddamn iPhone. I have checked with my physician, and I am 20 years older than before I read this comic. But Steve Rogers adorably trying to describe the magical Tony Stark phone screen aside, Nola, what are your first thoughts on this dialogue?

Nola: Zach, it’s right there in the text, it was a handheld cinema. Little tiny silver screen, a bunch of seating rows, tiny models of children crying an inappropriate moments or sticking popcorn up their nostrils. Steve was amazed by it because in the 1940s all there was to play with was like a single wooden block. They hadn’t even invented stacking them yet, I’m pretty sure.

Honestly though, there’s been a lot of flack thrown Cap’s way for his attitude toward mutants in the past, and I feel like this was a really thoughtful, measured approach to the character. This is a guy who’s actually thinking about the context and the way that people outside of the mutant community are going to react; he’s focusing on the bigger picture in a non-incendiary way. All the same, I still really liked his little disappointed, “I just hoped we’d all look for it together.” That’s believing in the dream, right there.

Zach: I mentioned in this month’s Immortal Hulk discussion that for a Veddy British Writer, Al Ewing sure knows how to write a fine Captain America. And that’s even more true here, in what I completely agree is a conversation that gets to the heart of what makes Steve Rogers a sympathetic, if flawed, hero. Cap’s problem here, as it has been so many times in the past, is that he’s a fundamentally good-hearted human being whose assumptions about the world are nevertheless rooted in the New Deal optimism of the Roosevelt generation. He truly wants to be a friend to mutants, but the friendship he imagined was one in which both sides transcended (and, therefore, in some sense abandoned) their distinctively separate identities. It’s an outlook born, though he probably doesn’t even know it, of someone gifted with automatic privilege in any number of demographic categories.

Which isn’t at all to say he’s not sincere in his desires: Ewing’s dialogue in this scene is more than a little heartbreaking in the way the good Captain’s pain of failure shows through. But even his choice of quotation when looking out at the moon reveals the limits of his political imagination: “For all mankind.” It’s a line that, to modern ears, feels slightly antiquated in its gendered terminology. And in the context of the Marvel Universe, it implicitly fails to include mutantkind as well. The fact of the matter is, a happy cultural melting pot between humans and mutants isn’t going to happen. It probably never would have, even if human forces like the Avengers hadn’t actively helped to keep the two peoples apart for the past decade and change. And now Captain America is just going to have to live with the weight of that defeat, while mutant history marches on without him.

But how about that ominous last word from our man Doom, hmm?

Nola: Ah yes, “it.”

Honestly I really loved Doom walking out in his own personal flashy teleport bubble, wearing a cloak and a suit of medieval armor equipped with laser gloves, and trying to imply that HE’S not showy. Like okay, buddy. Sure. Suuuuure. 

His speech overall is really interesting to me, because as much as Cap speaks for that outdated and privileged concept of togetherness that he was born in, Doom here is really talking like a man who expects a war. It gives me shades of the way the X-Men have talked about it in days (of future) past, but for someone as conquest-minded as Doom, it’s entirely more intimidating.

Zach: Intimidating indeed. Doom certainly sounds like someone who not only fully expects a war between humans and mutants, but has every confidence that when it does, he will be the first and only choice to lead the homo sapiens contingent. Unfortunately for him, though, he’s not the only one with that thought, and I’d be remiss if I let this conversation pass without mentioning the cameo appearance from that fucking guy himself, Henry Peter Gyrich, seen here making a pitch to a very shaken James MacDonald to join team ORCHIS. Gyrich has only lately lost control of Gamma Flight over in the pages of Hulk, and here he is making racist lemonade out of conspiratorial lemons by recruiting one of the more mutant-uncomfortable members of Gamma’s spiritual predecessor. I’ll emphasize the obvious by saying: there’s no way this ends well.

Peak Performance

Zach: Who doesn’t love rolling from a fancy dress party straight unto a work meeting? Abigail Brand sure does, which is why (even though she’s still bedecked in some very good Callisto cosplay) she’s pulled together a council consisting of representatives from all the major galactic powers for the purpose of recognizing Arakkan sovereignty over the Sol system. This long sequence, which is really the meat of the entire issue, is interesting to unpack for a whole lot of reasons, but before I get into my own thoughts on this, I want to know what you thought of this newest turn for S.W.O.R.D., Nola.

Nola: Look, I never thought I’d say this but Abigail who? My focus this entire scene was on Frenzy. She’s always been such a good, fascinating character and in Ewing’s hands that’s really hit a new level. Not only does she look fab in her gala wear, but the way she just effortlessly dismantles some of the grandstanding from their visitors was a delight to read. It’s easy to take a character like this and just make her strong and angry, to fit her name, but Frenzy’s more calculated than that. It’s a lot of fun to read.

Zach: Frenzy puts on a real show, both in style and in attitude, though fashion-wise, I’m partial to the Kymellian Nymbis Sternhoof in his…tweed dinner jacket and nehru-collared shirt, I guess? I don’t even know, but I love it. This may be Valerio Schiti’s swan song on this title, but at least he gets to go out doing what he does best: drawing some damn slick outfits.

And there are other memorable details about this council session that stand out: the return of the Rigellian mutant Mentacle, late of Ewing’s collaborative stint on Avengers. The exchange of memos between Paibok and the Kree/Skrull Emperor Hulkling around whether the Krakoan exclusion of the Emperor’s mother is an insurmountable affront (Teddy, ever the level-headed one, urges restraint). The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda appearing unimpressed with the sturm und drang of Planet-Sized X-Men (our colleague Jude Jones very astutely points out the symbolic importance here of an African nation having no need of offered foreign aid, as their own wealth and accomplishments are far beyond what other powers can offer). Any other bits that stand out to you?

Nola: I’m glad you recognize all of these sources, because I have not stepped outside of X-books in a minute. I really loved Wiz Kid’s look—the all red, with the earrings and the matching lipstick. It’s very dashing. I’m also curious about the Orbis Stellaris? That’s not a thing I’m really familiar with, but it puts me in mind of the Powers of X ascension plot. Are they related?

Zach: Orbis and the Galactic Rim Collective are another recent product of the Ewingverse, this time from Guardians of the Galaxy, where we met most of the folks on this new Galactic Council and where, in this month’s issue, Richard Rider took on his reluctant duties of Krakoan negotiation [Ed. note: More to come today on that]. So if there’s a tie to HoX PoX notion of collective intelligence, it’s one we haven’t yet seen explored.

So I enjoyed this Council scene, but if I have a disappointment here, it’s in the resolution to the long-simmering mystery over the cosmic and heaven-seized Mysterium, which is revealed at last to be…a big old MacGuffin. Explicitly so, in fact, since Brand points out that the mutants themselves don’t even have a use for this slightly-sub-adamantium technology. Instead, this is really just a tool to gain trade leverage over the other powers in the galaxy, and, perhaps, even establish a mutant-controlled standard currency that would make Krakoa/Arakko the economic powerhouse of the Milky Way. It’s interesting and troubling to see the mutant nation once again using the methods of cutthroat capitalism to strike back against their former bullies. I realize there’s a sense of poetic comeuppance here, as the mutants get to show off that they can turn the tools of their enemy to their own advantage. But there’s also a part of me that blanches every time I see the grand plan of Krakoan politics to be something as coldly familiar as prescription drug patents or commodities trading. 

I don’t love the fact that a centerpiece of the X-Men line right now is a book glorifying the sexy escapades of corporate executives, and (speaking personally) I think it might reveal more about the imaginative limits of the books’ creators than of the mutants themselves. And after so much anticipation about the “fire from heaven” captured in the first issue of this series, I’d be lying if I said this sequence didn’t fall just a little flat. Nevertheless, I think you’ll agree it wasn’t even close to the biggest surprise of the council session.

Nola: It sure wasn’t! I agree with you that the mysterium thing was a big let down. Then again, this is Ewing, so it’s entirely possible that this is merely a delaying tactic, a bit of a red herring to throw readers off the scent of what he’s planning with it. Paired with what happens next, it’s definitely an effective distraction, as Doom walks in, fresh out of his completely un-dramatic exit from Steve Rogers, and completely un-dramatically demands that he speak to whomever is in charge. I have to say I really liked this—we talked earlier about how Ewing really seems to get Captain America, not just as a character but as a man of his time, and it really feels true with Doctor Doom as well. His imperiousness here is equal parts delightful and riling, as he postures in front of everyone and feels the need to prove how smart he is. 

Zach: It’s a great moment, because Ewing gives Doom the demeanor of someone who is absolutely sure that he’s just pulled off a phenomenal diplomatic checkmate, demanding access to the no-doubt simperingly inadequate sovereign of Sol. And then…there she is, Storm herself, tempest-tossed in full double-page splash glory courtesy of Schiti and Gracia. The X-office has been hinting for the better part of a year now that something huge was cooking for Ororo Monroe, and here we are at last: I think it’s fair to say that the regent of Arakko/Mars and sovereign spokesperson for the solar system lives nicely up to the hype. Though it also raises the question of where, and in what book, and under which creators, we’re going to follow her story from here. Because there’s really two ways this can go now. 

In the best case scenario, Storm’s political office becomes a source of character complexity the way it has for T’Challa, allowing us to watch her grapple with the ethical and strategic demands of office. In the worst case, it becomes another excuse for writers to use the character’s regality as a reason not to give her depth of character and emotional agency – the way they too often have for far too much of her history. What do you think about this big turn?

Nola: The struggle with a direction for Storm has had the result of her fading into the background pretty much since the days that Claremont let go of her. Even Marauders could not find something to do with her, given that her mission statement from the start of the book was “I do not approve of this.” And like you say, while regality has sat well on T’Challa, giving him complexity and intrigue, in the past it didn’t sit well on Ororo. Part of that is because the move was to put her in T’Challa’s shadow, and another part, I think, was how easy it was to simply not think about her. Storm is an X-Man, and a mutant, and she needs to be present in those stories. I think my worry here is the situation you described secondly—is this a move that will put her at the forefront of a book? Will she be a leader again? Or is this a move that will shunt her off to the backpages or data pages, only popping up when faces are needed for Galas or Contests of Swords? Either way, her entrance here is a hell of a move—Storm is perhaps the only person in the entire MCU that can stop that man in his tracks with a word. No one else has ever been able to do it, but he (like the rest of us) is undone by her.

Zach: I agree with everything you said here about the possibilities and drawbacks of putting Storm (again) in a potentially distancing role like this. But seeing her emerge as the public face of mutants to other worlds makes me think about what, in the end, the planet Arakko is all about. So far over the course of these Gala issues, we’ve encountered three distinct perspectives on why a mutant planet needs to exist. First was the view of the shellshocked human attendees emerging from the announcement: to them, generally-speaking, Arakko was a soft act of mutant aggression; an implicit statement that mutants intend to expand and surpass mankind both figuratively and literally. To the mutants themselves, in Planet-Size X-Men especially, Arakko is a refuge, an outlet, and a chance to make a paradise in an unoccupied world: a safe home for the newly re-arrived ancient society of mutants that joined with Krakoa in X of Swords, and a home for all mutants without the looming threat of human oppression or intervention.

And here, we get a third angle, and one that’s been hinted at since Abigail Brand first gestured toward an unspoken secret mission behind the S.W.O.R.D. organization: Arakko as an outward-facing political institution, allowing mutants to engage and bargain on a level playing field with the great galactic powers of Cosmic Marvel. It is, as we say in Yiddish, a phenomenally ballsy move. But enough about the sun. It’s time to talk about the daughter.

What Is a Pretender If Not an Editorial Mandate Persevering?

Nola: Whew, this scene. This scene is rough. It’s beautiful, it’s emotional, it’s heartbreaking. Wanda sneaks into the festivities, knowing the potential consequences, to speak to her one-time father, about the past, the things she’s done, and the inability to move past it…let’s say I felt that one. I felt it deeply. 

The framing, too, of Magneto versus his helmet really affected me; I couldn’t decide at first if he was reminiscing with it on the table there, or if it was a deliberate clue that he was having a conversation with someone mentally. I think perhaps both, but the germane bit here is the discussion of his past, the idea of what he’s wrought as Magneto, and what it means to be who he is. When he embraces Wanda here, it’s a tender, touching moment, but then he goes and says he’ll do what must be done. It’s a bit like Doom’s closing lines in the first scene; for some it might be viewed as a soft promise of reconciliation. For Magneto, it’s a warning.

Zach: Ah, but is it? That’s the big question. Since the first issue of this series (and, in a larger sense, even earlier in Hickman’s X-Men), we’ve been seeing hints of a coming encounter between Magneto and his erstwhile daughter Wanda Maximoff. When Brand first made reference to the Scarlet Witch, and Mags responded with a quiet, “Ah, yes. Wanda. The Pretender,” it was clear that another Checkhov’s gun had been locked and loaded.

I recall some disagreement among fans and critics about just how Magneto intended that line, though. For some, it was a statement of quiet, betrayed aggression, and payback to come. But I thought I read something else beneath those words: a feeling of painful loss, and a bridge that, in this new Krakoan era where Wanda is a declared public enemy, may never be crossed again. And while it’s entirely possible that Magneto is plotting something sinister here, I choose to read that same sentiment in this scene. What Magneto has done – telling Wanda about his lost daughter Anya; confessing his struggles and failures to be a good father to the children he discovered late in life; taking on his own shoulders the shared weight of her burden – is in some way the most profound act of redemption this character has ever undertaken. It is, for me, an affirmation of that notion on which Krakoa, and the X-Men, have always been built: the idea of found family, and that the bonds of culture, love, and family transcend the determinations of society. “You are my daughter, Wanda,” he tells her, “You will always be my daughter.” And we know immediately that it’s true, whatever the past half-decade of comic stories may have insisted to us. But then again, maybe he’s just hoodwinked me, too. In any case, Nola, do you feel like Wanda earned this forgiveness – whether or not it’s really real?

Nola: The tricky thing about earning forgiveness is that there’s really only one person who can make that call—the person wronged. Magneto has been…mercurial, since the start of this series. He nods and smiles and gladhands, but he has none of the naked passion we have historically known him for; the portrait painted here is of an old man who has played many roles, and will continue to play them as suits his needs. More than anyone on Krakoa, he’s embraced the idea of mutant fashion, with the various eras of his costumes represented at significant points; he doesn’t wear the red and purple on a lark, for instance. 

There’s also the question of what forgiveness means to him. He might forgive her, but that isn’t absolution. White is generally his color for temperance and mercy, but a tempered Magneto is still…well, Magneto. A quick death to a suffering soldier is also a mercy, sometimes.

Zach: Indeed. And seeing him gaze portentously at his white helmet…well, there’s a reading of this as Magneto’s solemn farewell to the Hero of Krakoa he’s been for these past months, as he readies to take on his next shade. And what you say about forgiveness and absolution has a whole lot of truth, especially when consider that it’s not just (and not even especially) Magento who’s been hurt by Wanda’s actions: it’s the entire mutant people, the vast majority of whom were stripped of their powers and identity as a result of her decisions, however much a victim she herself was at the time. And Wanda herself was a victim of the tyrannical abuse of her father during her teenage years, which she spent as a child soldier in his wars against mankind. So there’s a lot going on here, and a lot of potential readings about what Magneto is doing and why.

But for now, for this moment, I choose to see it for what it appears to be: a man and a father overcoming the metanarrative restrictions of retcons and corporate mandates to say simply and plainly that he chooses love.

Nola: Indeed. I suppose we’ll see the shape of that soon.

Wolverine #13

Tony Thornley: So Pierce, it’s nice to see you all dolled up for the Gala. I had to pull my tuxedo out of storage and let me tell you, the years have not been kind.

Pierce Lightning: Tony, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I’m going into this one in a crop top, pair of basketball shorts, and a bag of Cheetos. Let’s chop it up.

Oh No, Consequences

Tony: So coming directly after X-Force two weeks ago, things are going to shit with the Terra Verde ambassadors “going rogue.” However, it’s very quickly clear this isn’t going rogue. This the Terra Verdeans reclaiming their independence and ooooooooooh boy.

Look, this plotline had to happen. Terra Verde’s hostile takeover required a response. We had to know what happened to these people. However, what Beast did wasn’t just wrong. It was a war crime. No amount of justification can explain his actions. He enslaved an entire damn country, and now it’s starting to backfire. That’s good. What follows is bad. Unfortunately, it appears that the whole “Hank has to face the consequences of his hostile takeover of a small Latin country” plotline is simply an action beat now?

Pierce: Yeah, I don’t love that Wolverine seems to oversimplify what seems like a much larger beat across the line. But I’ll argue that this title has been the least “Wolverine” as it seeks to insert itself into the larger Hellfire Gala narrative.

We see this sort of thing often happen when there are in-line events. While I’m glad there are no more vampires (at least for now), the solo title has lost its voice. I hate to harp on that Maverick arc again, but that was Percy telling a story that felt unique to Logan and stood out from the rest of the line in a meaningful way. But here, Percy uses the Wolverine solo title as an X-Force add-on rather than a place to give us a perspective we weren’t getting elsewhere. Again, that’s something we should come to expect amid a line-wide event, but it’s still a little disappointing. 

Tony: I agree. Logan was barely in the issue, though he does get the most prominent action beats. Beast, Quentin and Domino all get the same page time as the title character. There is no narration, no point of view from Logan. Without a peek into Logan’s head, it’s just a second X-Force issue in the event, not a Wolverine issue. I wanted to see Wolverine respond to what was happening around him. What was he thinking and feeling about Hank? I mean, anything. It would have made it feel more like a Wolverine issue instead of just a second X-Force issue. It’s frustrating.

Oh, THAT Guy

Tony: Then Deadpool saves the day with sigh a bazooka he pulls out of his ass. Why do we have to see the lowest common denominator EVERY TIME this guy shows up on page?

Pierce: I think Benjamin Percy is a good writer. However, Deadpool just doesn’t work sometimes. I think he’s got potential. I think he’s got more than a handful of fun appearances. Unfortunately, in this book, he’s not doing any favors.

Tony: I dislike Deadpool. It’s because he’s usually written like this broad, over-the-top violent Bugs Bunny, no matter who is writing. He can be a good character, but many writers just use him for Looney Tunes antics that it wears on me.

Pierce: More than anything in this issue, Scott Eaton’s work feels stiff and uninspired. The Gala feels small. The characters feel posed more than fluid. I don’t think he’s a lousy draftsman – for the most part. The characters look on model. That said, I couldn’t tell you who half the cameos are supposed to be outside of one Akira Yoshida. It feels like this is a different party than the rest of the Gala.

Tony: I have to agree. Eaton’s work is better here than the previous series issues, but it’s very stiff.

Oh, No Consequences 

Tony: That brings us to the end of our night, with the country of Terra Verde freed from Beast’s control, Sage showing Hank how dangerous she is, and Wolverine shares a beer with the person they had just enslaved an hour before.

Yet, the only consequence Beast faces is a stern talking to Emma Frost. At the most generous, he staged a coup of a foreign country without the knowledge of his government. At worst, he enslaved an entire Latin-American country. Yet, his punishment is a slap on the wrist?

I am not happy about this.

Pierce: I’ve been waiting for the “It was Dark Beast all along” retcon writers have almost seemed to be implying for the better part of my life, but I doubt we’ll ever see it. That said, we’ve got to come to expect that Beast will never have his feet held to the (hell)fire by the folks who have allowed Charles Xavier to run roughshod over their lives.

But I hear you. I’d like to see Hank taken to task for his actions, but it also feels like it needs to happen in a more major title to the line. It’s exciting to see the X-Men line return to the more sprawling expanses of years past. But you can almost count titles like this one will seem like more of an afterthought. I am getting that feeling here.

Tony: Yeah, it feels like it’s that or Percy wasn’t quite ready for Hank to face the consequences. Still, a slap on the wrist isn’t okay here. It definitely should have been more than Emma glaring at Hank on the balcony. Maybe that’s coming soon in X-Force, though. I don’t know.

Way Of X #3

Jude Jones: So I’m going to start this with an admission: I didn’t want to write this week. There is a lot going on in this issue, and not a lot of it is positive. I’d argue that the issue is (spoiler alert) really bad, in the worst way something can be bad: under the guise of high-minded good intentions. 

And because this is bad, so bad, in ways that may be specifically harmful to queer readers, I thought maybe I should cede my space to a queer femme writer. I do not want to be the one to talk over other voices who are specifically hurt, and I want to ensure that that damage is wrought out as completely and candidly as possible. So I was all but ready to step aside. 

But. 

As my co-conspirator Anna reminded me when I broached the subject, part of being an ally is speaking up when things are bad. It can be tiring to talk about the same injustices over and over; and often, because those injustices you talk about over and over directly affect you, too many people find it easier to tune out your voice. 

Ask me how I know. 

I’m not used to viewing myself with privilege, even though I encompass a bevy of privileged positions (straight, male, educated). Thus, as I want and need others to speak up for me when I’m not around or available to speak for myself, I must speak up for others in the same way. 

So here I am. Excuse me if I’m inarticulate; please correct me if I’m wrong. But allow me the honor of amplifying thoughts too many others are clearly ignoring.

Anna Peppard: I did want to write this week. Because if I didn’t, I’d probably explode, but also – I want to help give our readers a safe space to work through the anger I know they’re going to have about this issue. This is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad comic.

I don’t pull the academic card very often, but in this instance, it’s perhaps worth mentioning – superhero sexuality is kinda my specialty. I earned my doctorate by writing a PhD dissertation on representations of gender and sexuality in Marvel comics, and I’ve published an academic anthology called Supersex. You know who I thanked on the dedication page of that book? My family (obviously), and the book’s other writers. I also thanked Nightcrawler, within a list of references to superheroes who helped inspire me to spend years writing about loving superheroes. I thanked him because he’s one of the most sex positive male superheroes in comics. This is a fact, proffered by someone with the credentials to say so. I have literally delivered university research talks on this subject. 

I like to jokingly describe myself as “Kurt Wagner’s (unofficial) PR Manager.” Yet I take this joke job very seriously. I spend a lot of time and energy writing and talking about this character. I do it because I love and identify with him, and I love and identify with him because of his sex positivity, and because in a genre that’s historically hated women, he doesn’t, and never has. He’s my beacon of love in the dark.   

I’ve read every single one of Nightcrawler’s comic book appearances. Even the team-up with Crystar the Crystal Warrior —I’ve read them all [Ed. note: That one kinda rules]. And I don’t recognize the version of Kurt Wagner that appears in this comic. Reading this comic, I was hurt, appalled, and baffled. And angry. For myself and on behalf of every Nightcrawler fan I’ve ever met, many of whom have discovered their diverse sexualities through him—I am so fucking angry.

And that’s just the Nightcrawler stuff! There is so much to be angry about in this issue, including an appalling scene featuring Loa, Mercury, and Legon, which we’ll discuss in due course. Let’s get to ranting.  

This is not ok. 

Jude: So, let’s just jump into the thick of things. Our boy is at the gala. He is nervous. He decides to get a drink from a Madrox to calm him down. Then another. And another. Soon he’s embarrassing himself, slurring state secrets and stirring up old emotions (see: Meggan Puceanu). Luckily (?), no one knows that his incoherent rants were maybe a bit more thoughtful than his inebriated state would suggest. 

So the morning after the gala, at the after, after party on Mars…err, Arakko, our boy, deep in the throes of thinking about making more mutants, comes across our old friend Stacy X who’s handing out post party favors – contraceptives. At the same time, Legion finds himself, at the invitation of Pixie, attempting to “help” two female mutants, Mercury and Loa, be intimate, as their physical gifts make physical interactions hard. 

Now I know this was a bit expository heavy; I get that you likely read the work. But I wanted to give all that background because from here on out, we are going to be very explicit in why everything we just talked about is, well, fucked. 

First, I’m in a minority here, but as a relative to people with drinking problems, seeing drunkenness played off for laughs is frustrating. I get it – the stoic one needs a drink, laughs ensue – but this is also a harmful coping mechanism for way too many people, a coping mechanism that causes addiction and pain. I know that’s kinda killjoy-ish. I know that’s maybe hypocritical for someone who’s not a “dry” person (I am from New Orleans.) But still.  

And the anger from me grows from there. 

Implying procreation is inherently heteronormative is, to be clear, fucked. It’s not, to my knowledge and understanding, a belief in the LGBTQIA+ community; in fact it’s literally the opposite of what my queer friends, who’ve gone through hell and high water to have children feel. This one panel, in and of itself, is wrong, dangerous, disingenuous, a trash talking point of the religious right (of which I’m wondering if I’m supposed to assume Kurt is a part of now?) it’s…just plain bad. 

And it might be only the 4th worst thing about this issue. 

Anna, you want to describe what Legion is doing here and why so many, including myself, were livid at it?

Anna: As others have pointed out- for all its supposed liberation and sexy inclusiveness, Krakoa has been, to this point, disturbingly bereft of on-panel depictions of women who love women. It’s been a disappointingly straight world in general, but physical affection between women has been virtually absent. The scene in this comic involving Loa and Mercury having psychic sex could have helped address a glaring absence. Instead, it’s exploitative, gross, and even actively harmful. 

To be clear: it’s not the threesome element or the psychic sex element I have problems with. I’ve read plenty of wonderful X-Men fanfiction featuring these things – bring on the supersex! The problems here are in the execution and the results. Let’s start with execution.

Legion being the conduit for Loa and Mercury’s hookup is creepy. It just is. You can argue they’re all relatively the same age due to sliding timescale shenanigans, but any reader who remembers Legion from the 80s or 90s is going to perceive him as substantially older than the teen girls whose intimacy he’s facilitating and observing. Then there’s the way the scene is visualized.

The visualization prioritizes Legion’s subjectivity while objectifying Loa and Mercury, giving him agency while denying theirs. The close-up of Legion’s face smiling an odd smile before the long panel at the bottom of the page where the girls writhe on the ground for our amusement sutures us into Legion’s perspective. He’s our POV character; we’re being encouraged to look with his male gaze at Loa and Mercury’s bodies as they arch, tense, and wriggle in his grip. This is followed by a mindscape page that is actually quite lovely, featuring Loa and Mercury’s bodies twisting and merging (though given the desperate dearth of sapphic content on Krakoa, making the characters’ embrace a little less metaphorical might be nice). 

But it’s the conclusion of this scene that’s the actively harmful part. As CXF’s own Zoe Tunnell discusses in her review over at Women Write About Comics, having Loa’s first same-sex experience end in trauma, rage, and regret, is awful. It’s really, really awful. Homphobic culture peddals this kind of bullcrap to warn kids away from being queer. I don’t know what a real-life fifteen-year-old girl who loves girls is supposed to make of this scene. Neither do Spurrier or Quinn. Honestly, I don’t think they care. If they did, this scene wouldn’t exist. Regardless of where the story goes from here, this scene will remain harmful.                  

This is not who he is. 

Jude: Back to our boy Kurt. It seems Stacy X is doing more than handing out prophylactics. She’s also created a community where people can be intimate. Using her powers of seduction (which, given she was sex worker, could feel either very appropriate, on the nose, or exploitive – I’ll let you guess how it reads here), she’s created a community where people can sit with their partners, with their emotions, and just be. 

I want to pause here to state, unequivocally, that sex work is real work. That sex workers deserve respect and support (and a Union). Maybe that’s idealistic. Maybe it’s too progressive for some. It, again, feels like this is all too much for Kurt here. And we haven’t even gotten to the kicker:

Mutants are apparently abandoning babies en masse. 

I hate this. 

This is what happens when a certain, prolific segment of white men write. This is what always happens. They believe their norms – their morals – are the universal standard, and they apply them judiciously to others, others whose cultures, whose lives lie at the opposition of whatever morals they consider universal. I cannot imagine a country (Krakoa) filled with the disregarded, the discriminated, the lonely and forgotten, wantonly abandoning their own. Could it happen? I’m sure. A man shoots lasers from his eyes and a woman turns into a walking Diamond. Anything is possible. But I find this highly unlikely. There are ways other cultures take care of children when the biological mother is unwilling or unable to do so. That is community. And to see the faux culture of Krakoa quickly fall backwards into Victorian norms of “irresponsible sex leading to irresponsible decisions” is just plain wrong. BESIDES, I’m sure birth control exists on the island. I’m sure more than a few mutants would jump at the chance to adopt. I’m sure, more than sure, even the most militaristic of mutants would jump at the chance to mold a young mind. And I’m sure, 100 percent sure, that abortion is legal on Krakoa. [Ed. note: Not to mention time line shenanigans with the first mutant of the era born in Cable #2 and X Of Swords ending just two weeks before the Gala.]

Point being, the existence of this, while maybe good for the story, stands in stark opposition to what we’ve seen from Krakoa over the past few years; from what we’ve seen over the decades from mutants; from what we’ve seen over millennia from actual societies. Again, maybe that’s the point: not being able to die has made the mutants unnaturally selfish. That’s possible. But given the extensive history of how white men think, and given the particulars of how this white man structured this issue, I will not give the benefit of the doubt. 

I like Kurt. I appreciate him. But I can’t say I’m an expert on him. You, however, are the authority on him. And while I found his thoughts and actions strange to say the least, I know you have much stronger feelings. Care to share?

Anna: Hoo boy… where do I even start? I mentioned Kurt’s sex positivity in the intro. If you don’t believe me, read classic Excalibur. Or any X-Men comics that came before it. Or any comic from the last ten years. Really, read any comic that’s not from 2000-2003, when Kurt was, briefly, celibate, as part of a dallliance with priesthood that was retconned as an illusion perpetrated by anti-mutant hate group The Church of Humanity. Even when Kurt thought he was a priest, it was his own sexual desire and his stated belief that repressing sexuality is wrong that made him reject his calling. [Ed. note: He was very literally too horny to be a priest.] Way of X #3 is ostensibly referencing that history.

Long story short: Kurt loves sex. He loves sex within relationships, along with random hookups and bootycalls. First thing he did after falling from actual heaven back in the 2014 Nightcrawler solo? Bootycall his ex, greeting her in the famous Burt Reynolds Cosmo centerfold pose, calling back to the first time he did that, way back in Uncanny X-Men #168. In that same 2014 solo, Kurt romances an intergalactic bounty hunter named Bloody Bess, then spends an entire weekend having sex with her on a private island, an experience he commemorates with a photograph in which his prehensile tail is coiled all the way down Bess’s bare leg. When I wrote a list of Perfect 10 Nightcrawler Stories, almost every one featured Kurt romancing a woman or having casual sex, often with aliens, usually in ways that play with gender tropes, creating intriguing space for female and queer gazes. This dude was participating in multi-day orgies decades before Krakoa. (See Excalibur vol. 1 #17 for proof.)    

When I heard Stacy X was going to appear in this comic, I thought—okay, cool, this’ll be a great chance to fix a bunch of the super-problematic stuff from the past. But I’ve read Joe Casey and Chuck Austen’s depictions of priest-Kurt and Stacy X; I even re-read those issues in preparation for this review. And this? In terms of the portrayal of Kurt, this is worse. It’s actually much worse. Even when he was being brainwashed by an anti-mutant cult and written by a man (Austen) with a well-deserved reputation for immaturity and questionable choices, Kurt never judged Stacy for being a sex worker. Other X-Men did, but not Kurt. 

Where in the holy hell is this misogyny coming from? And why? Why character assassinate a beloved X-Man to score easy points on the very well-known fact that some Christians have crappy ideas about sex and contraception? Or maybe it’s a paranoid conservative take on hookup culture? There are so many bad takes and muddled messages here, it’s hard to pin down or rank them. Given how often we heaped praise on the “big ideas” of previous issues, this issue felt shockingly juvenile. Like someone read one Dan Brown novel and thinks the special insight they gleaned from it is gonna blow people’s minds once they translate it into a too-literal metaphor involving a mutant sex worker yelling at a Catholic, who’s transformed into a misogynist for the sole purpose of enabling this “critique.”       

I know I’m going really hard on the way Spurrier wrote Kurt here, but for me, this is another instance where this comic’s not just offensive, but actively harmful. Kurt means a lot to a lot of people, but perhaps especially female fans, queer fans, racialized fans, and disabled fans—people who identify with his outsiderness and visible difference, and find solace in his defining emotional intelligence, empathy, and all-encompassing acceptance. Making him sound like a representative of the religious right is going to devastate a lot of people, in ways that matter well beyond the fictional nations of Krakoa and Arakko. What am I, a thirty-something-year-old woman who’s loved Nightcrawler for most of her adult life and partly modelled her self acceptance after his, supposed to make of a comic where he’s written like someone who’d hate me?

Is Kurt being turned into the worst version of himself by some kind of Onslaught-related mental manipulations? Maybe. But even then, I don’t buy it. Kurt is not a secret misogynist, hiding his hatred of women behind a flirtatious veneer. There is absolutely no way to rationalize this version of Kurt Wagner within existing continuity, from any era. I was devastated by Kurt’s death a decade ago. I’d rather have dead Kurt than this Kurt.     

She deserves the right to say who she is. 

Jude: We finally learn the name of the mutant previously known as Lost: Marinette. She’s from New Orleans (the greatest city on Earth…or Mars). Stacy told her story, from one who lost her powers to one who is empowered by the purpose of her position as caretaker. 

And this should feel good, right? This should be fitting. Except, once again, the Black woman is not allowed to tell her own story. She is not allowed to control her own narrative. She is privy to the whims of her observer, and her mission, her purpose, is simply that for which others can observe. This is, sadly, my nagging frustration with Storm; that Marinette, a totally different character, has essentially the same problem is rage inducing. 

And to add insult on top of injury, of course she gets taken over by Onslaught (who apparently likes hiding in the bodies of women). Of course the woman without a narrative, who last issue could not control her own body, yet again does not have control of her limbs, or her mind…or, as I said before, her narrative. 

Yes, I’m absolutely reading too much into this.  Yes, it’s just a comic. Yes, there may be a payoff at series’ end. But I’ve seen this story too many times with writers who look just like this with characters who are significantly more prominent. 

I am tired. Black women are tired. And…that’s all I have to muster about this. Your thoughts, Anna?

Anna: I can’t articulate anything more profound about Lost than what you’ve already said so well. I was similarly frustrated by the decision to have Stacy tell Marinette’s story; her silence was problematic in issue #1 and keeps becoming more so. One thing I can’t help adding about Stacy and Kurt: the last time they saw each other was in the 2018 Domino Annual, where Kurt was helping Domino run a support group for, in his words, “non-passing mutants and friends to come together and work on reducing our critically negative body images.” “The goal,” said Kurt, “is to distance ourselves from human expectations of acceptable mutant bodies.” Stacy was a member; she confessed suicidal thoughts related to being de-powered. Kurt and Domino welcomed and accepted her; they created the support group specifically to help her and others like her feel more loved and less alone. Leah Williams wrote that. She should send Si Spurrier a copy.

Honestly, we had so much to say here, we couldn’t fit it all in, but wanted to leave you with some stray thoughts.

The Stacy and Kurt conversation in “the bower” made me nostalgic for the days when Kurt used to flirt with Emma in the chapel on Utopia, exchanges which seem mind-blowingly sexy and witty by comparison. This issue made me nostalgic for Chuck Austen and Greg Land. That’s how bad things got. 

Jude: We don’t talk a lot about Onslaught here because, well, he feels like an afterthought. It’s worth noting, however, that the emergent theme here is around secrets: if they’re good, necessary, and the damage they can do. Onslaught is the secret desires of Chuck and Erik released without abandon, and we, the audience, are supposed to wonder how much harm their secrets, released into a world they created, will create. Conceptually I could like this, but all of this sloppy execution makes sorting through the bullshit joyless. 

Comics can be many things – joyless should not be one of them. 

Anna: At it’s best, Kurt and Meggan’s flirtation in the pages of classic Excalibur celebrated transformative empathy. I cannot tell you how much I loathe the panel in this comic where Meggan shies away from drunk Kurt with terror, like he’s a sexual predator. This disrespects both of them, and craps on some of the most beautifully compex portrayals of sex and romance in the history of the X-Men franchise.

Jude: Nemesis gets to be a dick, and still ends up dancing with the (notably blonde) girl, to the pushback of absolutely no one. Again, you can always tell when a white man writes something, and we also know who Spurrier’s real narrator is.

To the Dazzler fam: my deepest sympathies on your girl getting sucked into this mess. 

Anna: Did I say this comic was worse than Chuck Austen X-Men? I sure did. Does this make Way of X #3 the worst Nightcrawler comic of all time? Possibly. 

X-Traneous Thoughts

• Krakoan Reads
  • SWORD: REGENT
  • Wolverine: SOLEM
  • Way Of X: HEIRS AND GRACES
• Any Rigellian is a good Rigellian as far as I’m concerned, but O.G. Rigellian Tana Nile used to hang out with Franklin Richard and Man-Thing at the Gen X headquarters, so there is room for improvement in this choice of Galactic Council representative.
• That older couple dancing sure got a lot of page time for a throwaway.
• Is the Deadpool page the worst data page of the HiX-Men era? Probably.
• Just me, or did it feel like there were a bunch of cameos by a bunch of people I did not recognize?
• No, it wasn’t just you.
• No, I’m not ok with seeing Fabian choke out Marianette. Not in the least bit. I don’t care about context. Fuck that. 
• The Xorns as Legion’s ever-present sidekicks could be fun, but feels ever more disturbing.
• Hope everyone who’s interested got a chance to check out that Dave Cockrum Nightcrawler porn that was circulating last week in response to the “heroes don’t do that” discourse. Before deciding Anna was too angry not to write this review, she was tempted to submit that instead of words.