Saturday Splash Page #18

 

"Terrigen's a Helluva Drug," in X-Factor: The Quick and the Dead, by Peter David (writer), Pablo Raimondi (artist), Jeromy Cox (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer)

Near the tail end of my time buying X-Factor, Marvel released a couple of one-shots focused on specific characters. There was Layla Miller, charting her life in the dystopian future she was stranded in as a result of Messiah CompleX, and this one, where Peter David started to drag Quicksilver out of the toxic waste dump writers had shoved him into since House of M.

Quicksilver spends most of the issue in a jail cell, hallucinating. It is the after effect of having the Terrigen crystals (he somehow internalized after stealing them from the Inhumans) pulled out of him? Or is he just concussed after he took a shot to the skull chasing Layla Miller through a merry-go-round? Probably a little from Column A, and a little from Column B.

I did a whole long-winded post about all the conversations Pietro has with Crystal, Magneto, Wanda and Layla in his head, which you can read here. The point seems to be that Pietro needs to stop trying to excuse or justify the shit he's done, but that he also needs to stop beating himself up or it and wallowing. That if he wants to be better, be the person the people who care about him think he can be, he needs to get off his ass and actually be better. Which does not include using the Terrigen mists to jumpstart depowered mutants and cast it off as God's will it they die horribly from it.

Endgame is, Pietro has somehow gotten his mutant powers back. He leaves jail, saving a woman from an abusive boyfriend in the process, then takes a nice little run around the world. Not long after this, he joins the roster of Dan Slott's Mighty Avengers run and within a couple of years of that, was one of the instructors in Christos Gage's Avengers Academy. Unlike Wanda, I think Pietro's mostly avoided backsliding into Crazy Town, or being forced to constantly re-litigate his past fuck-ups. Must be nice!

Saturday Splash Page #17

 

"Rictor's Dropping Out," in X-Factor (vol. 3) #1, by Peter David (writer), Ryan Sook (penciler), Wade von Grawbadger (inker), Jose Villarrubia (color artist), Cory Petit (letterer)

Apparently there was a 4-issue X-Factor mini-series in the early 2000s, written by some Entertainment Weekly writer, mostly just involving regular X-Men characters. That's why this post-House of M run is volume 3.

During Grant Morrison's stint writing New X-Men, it was established there was an entire mutant neighborhood, borough, something in New York. Bishop acted as sort of a cop there in District X, I think that was where X-23 got introduced in NYX. In 2004, Peter David and Pablo Raimondi established Jamie Madrox set up a detective agency there with Strong Guy and Wolfsbane. In late 2005, David got an ongoing series to play with the premise, complete with a ready made mystery for them to investigate: What happened to all the mutants?

He expanded the cast, adding Siryn and Monet, the latter in particular serving as team asshole to spark conflict, plus Rictor as a mutant who lost his abilities and struggled with that. Then David brought in Layla Miller, who actually knows what happened to all the mutants, but is trying to keep X-Factor from finding out, while giving the appearance of helping by 'knowing stuff.' David did his level best to run that bit into the ground, but it at least felt appropriate for a kid to annoy the hell out of adults.

Ryan Sook was the initial artist, but a monthly schedule is not something he can keep. He was already sharing artist credit by issue 2, and before long the book was being drawn mostly by Dennis Calero and Renato Arlem. Those two had a photorealist style that matched certain aspects, like the emphasis on people talking and doing detective work. They weren't so great at fight scenes or drawing more unusual stuff like the cast member who is a werewolf.

The first issue of X-Factor came out the month prior to this blog's creation, and I reviewed it and the second issue the first week of the blog's existence. It was the one X-book that held on through the first two years of the blog. The first year was the strongest, with X-Factor trying to learn what we already knew, but dealing with the company Singularity not only trying to stop X-Factor from learning the truth, but keep them from undoing the Scarlet Witch's actions. They should have been more concerned with stopping Cable from protecting Hope, obviously. Madrox struggled to actually pick a course of action, Rictor struggled with his change in circumstances, Siryn struggled to accept her father actually died in Brubaker's X-Men: Deadly Genesis, Quicksilver showed up acting messianic/insane.

The second year started out well. Pablo Raimondi came on as the mostly-regular artist. David had established that Madrox sent duplicates around the world to learn and experience new things, and decided Jamie decided if he brought them back, it would make him whole and maybe make things a little clearer. That got waylaid by a story involving some guy called the Isolationist, who Raimondi sometimes drew to resemble John Cena. It at least led to a change in Rictor's status, and David played with the notion that with so few mutants left in the entire world, the mutant neighborhood was falling apart.

Then Messiah CompleX happened. While David had been able to integrate the two-issue Civil War tie-in into what he was already doing, it was a little harder with 4 issues of "everyone hunts the mutant baby." The fallout didn't do the book any favors, either. Layla was lost in the future, Wolfsbane left to join Cyclops' Stabbity Kill Team (the Clayton Crain-drawn X-Force book), Jamie became grim and angry. David tried to roll with it, integrate the feeling of disintegration and uncertainty into the book, but it didn't work so great. He did a storyline with Arcade and I hardly cared. Never a good sign.

The final straw was when I picked up an issue with the triple whammy of being a Secret Invasion tie-in, a She-Hulk (which David was also writing) crossover, and Larry Stroman as the new artist and in dire need of a stronger inker. That was enough and I pulled the ripcord. Same time I finally gave up on Ultimate Spider-Man, actually.

Volume 3 ran 113 issues all told (not counting annuals and special one-shots, one of the latter we'll look at next week), David writing it the whole way, albeit with a long string of different artists. By the end the team was getting involved in wars over control of Hell of all things, and Pip the Troll was part of the cast. Yeah, I don't know if that means I should have given it another chance, or that I did the right thing staying clear.

Saturday Splash Page #16

 

"Death Down Below," in X-Factor (vol. 1) #10, by Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (penciler), Bob Wiacek (inker), Petra Scotese (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)

Does it make sense to go with a splash page that not only doesn't feature the title characters, but they aren't even mentioned? Probably not. But the other options were one of Freedom Force trying to arrest Rusty and Skids (with Mystique cosplaying as Uncle Sam), or Joe Quesada drawing Wolfsbane and Feral as Ren & Stimpy. So, go with Walt Simonson drawing the Mutant Massacre in the biggest sewer I have ever seen.

I've never owned many issues of X-Factor. Probably because it never seemed like a cool X-book. You either have the Original 5 X-Men, and the only one of them I'd define as cool is the Beast, and that's mostly when he hangs out with the Avengers. When it's not them, it's the bunch that worked for the government, and anyone who's read Marvel Comics knows working for the Man isn't cool.

It isn't like the book has a great start. Far as I can tell, Marvel wanted more X-Books than just Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants, and someone got the bright idea to reunite the original team. Sure, Angel, Beast and Iceman were on the Defenders, but they can cancel that easily enough. More difficult were Cyclops and Jean Grey. Cyclops for being a husband and father, Jean for being dead after committing genocide. 

Jim Shooter apparently decreed no bringing Jean back as a hero unless they could wipe the murder of the broccoli people off her ledger. So that's how we get the notion of Phoenix creating a facsimile of Jean, while Jean's slumbering in an energy cocoon at the bottom of a bay. As for Cyclops, Uncanny X-Men #201 made it pretty clear to everyone, including Maddy Pryor, that he wanted to keep being an X-Man, and his responsibilities as husband and father were of, probably not even secondary importance. He loses the fight against Storm for leadership of the X-Men one month, and the first issue of X-Factor came out the next month. It was 13 issues before he even bothered to go back and try and check on Maddy or little Nate.

How anyone on the X-Men listens to that deadbeat, I will never know. I mean, Gambit's an inveterate scumbag, but he's also not typically trying to give orders.

The actual initial idea for the book isn't terrible. Xavier's first students, feeling the X-Men are no longer following Xavier's ideals, what with letting Magneto hang around, decide it's up to them. I mean, it's presumptuous as hell, as I can picture Cyclops making some big speech that would make me roll my eyes right out of my head, but at least, "find and protect young mutants while helping them learn to control their powers", is a decent enough storytelling engine.

Of course, the way they go about it is fairly idiotic. They pose as a group of ordinary humans called the X-Terminators, who hunt down mutants. People hire them for this purpose, but they are constantly thwarted by those dastardly X-Factor mutants, always helping the targets escape. Granted that Angel's money is funding the whole thing (looked over by future pain-in-the ass Cameron Hodge), but you'd think their failure to actually capture or kill any of their targets would tend to make business dry up. But hell, people keep hiring Arcade to kill superheroes.

People in the Marvel Universe are stupid, is what I'm getting at.

But it also doesn't seem like a way to gain the trust of the people you're trying to help, showing up like you're going to kill them, only to then go, "Just kidding! We're here to help, but play along like my two friends in the blue jumpsuits are really trying to kill you!"

I think the whole thing got dropped shortly after Mutant Massacre, and once Louise Simonson started writing the book (with Walt Simonson drawing it some of them time), the team spent more time just fighting Apocalypse and his plans. Angel lost his wings, got the metal ones. Beast went back to being blue and furry. Future X-Forcer and NextWave alum Boom-Boom showed up. Jean and Scott took advantage of the Assassination of Maddy Pryor by the Coward X-Office to get custody of the baby. Probably some other shit I don't care about.

After a series of events like X-Tinction Agenda and *sigh* the Muir Island Saga, the series shifted to the government team, written by Peter David, with Joe Quesada and Larry Stroman as pencilers for the early stages. David wrote a team that was basically a mess psychologically, between Havok's paranoia, Polaris' self-confidence issues, Quicksilver's abrasive nature, etc,. It didn't seem like working for the government was helping any, what with the moral compromises you have to navigate when stuck following official policy.

I think this is the best regarded stretch for this volume, which is remarkable because David only wrote the book for about 20 issues, and a few of those were wasted on X-Cutioner's Song crossovers. But he established characterizations that stuck for a few members of the cast. "Pietro Maximoff Syndrome" gets a lot of play, but the notion that Strong Guy's party dude attitude is just an act is another. Though some writers handle them better than others. Matthew Rosenberg probably read some of PAD's stories with Jamie Madrox, but the conclusions he took from them are, I'll be kind and say "curious."

After that, the book went on for another 50 or so issues. Lobdell, Dematteis, DeZago, John Francis Moore, lots of writers over a 20 issue span before Howard Mackie takes over for the last 35 issues. The roster shifted as characters started dropping like flies. This is the stretch when Forge and Mystique were on the team. Not sure Forge being a headliner ever bodes well. Outside of Forge and Mystique's relationship being referenced in her ongoing series, I don't remember seeing anyone talk about this stretch of the book, not even in a "holy crap this was terrible," sense, which doesn't bode well.

Alternate Favorite Marvel Character #9 - Multiple Man

Character: Multiple Man (Jamie Madrox)

Creators: John Buscema, Chris Claremont, Len Wein. Marvel's wiki thing lists all three, Wikipedia's only lists Len Wein.

First appearance: Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4. Neither this book or the one that was my first encounter have Jamie on the cover, which is why I went with Madrox #1.

First encounter: X-Factor #81. It's not a great issue as an introduction. Jamie and Quicksilver had been off on a separate mission, that wraps up in time for them to show up for the big fight with the group the rest of the team was fighting. Jamie had been twisted around by some blue woman with an entrancing music power, and was pretty sour about having to put her in jail.

Definitive writer: Peter David. I would say almost all the appearances of Madrox I've read were written by Peter David. He spent a lot of time exploring the idea of what those powers would mean for how Madrox would approach things that I found really interesting.

Definitive artist: Pablo Raimondi. He tends to give Madrox this attempt at cocky and laid-back (or maybe slovenly) air that suits the character. Jamie is trying for cool, noir look, and sometimes he even makes it. But he's also frequently a dope, and Raimondi captured that cluelessness well when he needed to.

Favorite moment or story: X-Factor (volume 2) #9. This is a Civil War tie-in, and Jamie is confronted with his greatest foe: making decisions. Whether to go along with Registration Act or not. Whether to let Pietro with his weird Terrigen-infused powers stick around or not. The X-Men show up, swinging their dicks around to add to the problems, and should Jamie let Pietro be their problem?

Jamie doesn't know what to do, because if he makes the wrong choice, it could be a disaster. There are people looking to him for leadership (you think they'd know better), people he cares about. So he can't screw this up, but he also can't afford to do nothing. With a nudge from Layla Miller, commits to a path. It was the right decision, morally, although there was a question of whether it was the smart decision for him and his team.

What I like about him: I often struggle with making decisions, mostly because I worry about wasting time. I only have so much of it, so should I read tonight, play a game, write, draw, waste time on the Internet (that one's easiest, so it wins frequently)? Is the possibility of having fun with friends worth the chance the evening is going to be an irritating mess? The paths not taken tend to cycle in my head.

Jamie Madrox is interesting to me because of the opportunity his power affords. If Jamie can't decide whether he wants to go out and party or not, he can send a duplicate to do it for him. The dupe comes home eventually, Jamie reabsorbs him, and he gets the experience of having gone out on the town (and the altered brain chemistry that comes with it).

He can send a version of himself to study law, another for religion, a third to seek enlightenment, or become the world's greatest detective, without having to fret about missing out on the rest of his life, or the chance to learn those other things. It doesn't extend his life, but it does broaden it. Provided he's willing to wait long enough for the duplicate to return. Assuming the duplicate does return.

Of course, if you subscribe to the theory it's the journey and not the destination, you could question if Madrox isn't missing out on the most important parts by letting his duplicates do all the work gaining these insights, while he goes on with the rest of his life. He gains the knowledge and their experiences along the way when he reabsorbs them, but I wonder if it's the same thing. Considering absorbing a duplicate that's near death can put him into shock, maybe it's close enough. Jamie's admitted once the duplicate's memories are in his head, he can't always discern which memories are things he did versus which are from duplicates.

That's always intrigued me, that he could have two (or more) entirely different sets of memories of the same time period, and know they're both real. He stayed home Friday night to watch a movie, and he went out and got hammered drunk Friday night. Trying to piece together the timeline of his life would be a challenge.

Although I notice when he decided to marry grown-up Layla Miller (I know she aged while trapped in the future, but that still felt dodgy) and become a farmer he didn't leave that to a duplicate. Still, it feels like he's trying to keep life at one step removed. Let other Jamies go out and do interesting things, and he can hear about it later. It isn't unusual for one of his friends to talk to what they think is the original Jamie, only to learn it's actually a duplicate and Jamie is off somewhere else. He'll learn about the conversation one way or the other, eventually.

Still, knowing you can always find another pair of hands when you need it is a useful power. Someone to help you run errands, have your back in a fight, rush you to the hospital after unfortunate accidents with fireworks. There's a quote of his, from X-Factor #75: 'I can be pretty self-reliant, especially when I have other selves to rely on!' I always liked that idea. You can't always be sure anyone else is going to be around when you need them, but you know you will be, for better or worse.

Jamie's tendency to be his own worst enemy, in a literal sense, is a side effect of his powers that plays out well. Jamie has, for most of his existence, regarded his duplicates as nothing more than pawns to be used. Extensions of him. It isn't him splitting into multiple bodies, each an equal part of the original. He's the original, they're knock-offs, that's how he sees it. He wants to learn Russian, guess what, some poor sucker of a dupe is going to Moscow for the winter! Even when he learns that he can't reabsorb a duplicate that has died, which certainly questions the accuracy of his perspective. If he weren't a comic book character, I'd expect he might stop using duplicates, because he'd think it was wrong for them to function as potential cannon fodder. Calling them "dupes" takes on a new light.

They see it differently. So you have a duplicate Jamie that tries to kill the original so he can take over, or duplicates that actively help people trying to kill him because they think he was being the bad guy and needs to go. Beyond that, the duplicates have tended, over time, to more accurately represent Jamie's state of mind at a given moment. Which makes for an easy window for us into his psyche, but doesn't always work out well for him. If Jamie is caught up in a lot of existential navel-gazing about his existence, that may be all the duplicate is able to focus on. Which means he isn't going to be very helpful when Madrox is locked in a room.

Because Jamie knows this about his duplicates, which means they know he knows, they'll even fool him sometimes. There was one duplicate that popped up twice in the first year of X-Factor Volume 2 that called itself the part that makes Jamie sometimes do the unexpected, or the "x-factor". On both occasions, he fooled Jamie into believing he was something else entirely. The first time, that he was a positive, life-affirming duplicate to keep Rictor from killing himself. The second, that he was the terrified part of Madrox, too scared to help fight Tryp and Singularity. So he's not simply that part of us that lets (makes?) us do things we normally wouldn't, but also represents our capacity for self-deception. Sometimes we don't understand what motivates us or drives us, and other times we know, but don't want to think about it.

Going back to the idea Jamie's dupes know what he knows, when Jamie originally joined X-Factor, he was the team prankster. Dumb gags and jokes all the time. Jamie lived alone on a farm for a long time growing up. That plays into his need during that government team stint to get attention, have people around and reacting to him. The pranks were one way to do that, one he could manage without opening up to anyone, but I also imagine it would have been difficult to pull a prank on a duplicate. They'd know he was thinking about it when he made them. Getting to spend time with people who don't immediately know everything in his mind (and who don't look just like him) is probably a godsend, at least for the first few years. Then they start expecting things, wanting you to make decisions, and that's rough.

It is odd that Jamie wound up as the leader of a team, given how much trouble he has choosing a course. Jamie was on a team led by Alex Summers, who seems able to make decisions, but second-guesses himself about them constantly. Jamie second-guesses himself before he ever makes the decision, which is one way of cutting to the chase, I suppose. He just wanted to play detective with a couple of his friends, and it turned into a whole thing. It helps that most of his friends are individuals with a strong sense of their own convictions. Jamie doesn't have to give orders often, which is good, since most of the team aren't likely to listen if they disagree with him.

Madrox is used to being able to do all the things he feels like doing, because of his powers. He's no good at weighing options, so when he has to do that, he gets lost in his own mind, unable to commit. His friends have never had that option, so they actually can make decisions, and state their case for them with conviction. Which helps him gain perspective, and then he can make a choice. Because it is possible for Jamie to get duplicates that are fully on board with helping him accomplish something, as long as he's fully committed to that goal. And having people around to remind him that no, this is not one of those times he can just sit back and wait for things to resolve themselves, helps with that.

Jamie Madrox interests me because his powers are an example of the way people want to have it all, and can struggle to make a move because they worry too much about what they'll miss out on. About how a personality or psyche can be a lot of shifting pieces that don't always work in concert, and how we don't always understand what's driving us. Basically, I recognize a lot of the things I struggle with myself in Jamie's difficulties, but for him the internal conflicts can easily and frequently become external conflicts.

On a final, less serious note, given Madrox' desire to learn all sorts of things, you can use that as a way into all kinds of stories. Maybe a duplicate went into space, and is using his knowledge of alien languages to negotiate a treaty between two worlds. Maybe one is a rodeo clown, and there are murders on the circuit. Maybe one of them is studying magic. The real world is a strange place, full of things to learn, and the Marvel Universe is stranger than that.

Credits! Jamie Madrox is the Running Man, er Men, on the cover of Madrox #1, by David Lloyd (artist), and Brian Reber (colorist). Jamie shows good sense and tries to dip the fuck out of Civil War, but comes back to flip Scott Summers the bird in X-Factor (vol. 2) #9, by Peter David (writer), Dennis Calero (artist), Jose Villarrubia (color artist(, Cory Petit (letterer). Jamie gets all the pain of drinking without the fun, calls in the cavalry, and engages in locked room navel-gazing in Madrox - Multiple Choice, by David (writer), Pablo Raimondi (penciler), Drew Hennessy (inker), Brian Reber (colorist), and Cory Petit (letterer). And finally, Jesus, Jamie's '90s hair is even worse when there's two of them in X-Factor (vol. 1) #87, by Peter and Shana David (writer), Joe Quesada (artist), Al Milgrom (inker), Marie Javins (colorist), Richard Starkings and Steve Dutro (letterers).

Maybe the Other Danvers Was The Shadow

I had a post last week about the Carol Danvers psyche inside Rogue's head. Over the weekend, I came across a discussion of A + X, which apparently had a story where Carol willingly let Rogue borrow her powers. This being the Internet, a long discussion ensued about whether Carol would agree to such a thing, and what was the actual status of their whole relationship.

The key point is one of the comments had a link to a page on Uncanny X-Men dot net, and the way they describe the situation made me want to revisit the idea.

They way it's described there, the Carol within Rogue's mind is the real deal, her 'true essence' as they put it. I'm not sure what this means for the memories in Carol's physical body. Are they just a copy Xavier made from what was in Rogue's head, or were they stored somewhere within Carol's mind, a backup of sorts?

I vaguely remember reading somewhere (I think it was an Avengers comic), that while Carol got some of her memories back, she didn't feel any emotional connection to them. They might as well have happened to another person. Which is in stark contrast to the Carol in Rogue's mind, who quite clearly still felt things with regards to her past. We see it in the mourning of her brother, her concern for Logan during their time in Genosha. Those past events still mean something to her.

It's interesting, because it suggests Rogue took more than just Carol's memories and powers. She took some vital emotional aspect that couldn't be restored along with the memories. Carol lost more than just the raw data of her experiences, she lost the personal aspects that color that data. The flavor, if you will. Maybe it was the writer's use of the word "essence", but it makes me think she took Carol's soul as well. That would raise the question of whether Carol Danvers herself is running around without a soul, which doesn't seem to be the case.

I guess if we were going to discuss souls, we'd have to try and define the term, and I don't know really how to get into that. Fortunately, we're discussing it a comic book sense, so we can fudge things a little, maybe. It's something separate from life force. Layla Miller was able to resurrect Strong Guy, but he's minus a soul. I believe he's shown a somewhat concerning lack of empathy for people outside their group, but other than that, seems to be getting along just fine. There's also the fact that when Rogue went through the Siege Perilous, she and Carol were separated. Which meant there were two Carol Danvers out there for awhile. But Rogue and the Carol inside her found they were still sharing a life force, one which was insufficient for two bodies. Magneto ended up stepping in and saving Rogue, and I guess that means that Carol "died", for whatever that means.

So I think we can differentiate between souls and life force in Marvel comics, at least. You can still be up and moving around without the former, but not the latter. I don't what it means for the Carol Danvers who was Binary. Her situation wasn't precisely the same as Guido's. She could still feel things (like anger at Rogue, or the X-Men for protecting Rogue), but didn't necessarily feel any connection to her restored memories. It could be a case where the absence of a soul affects everyone differently, or it could be a matter of the circumstances. Guido died and was brought back. I'd guess his soul is in the afterlife somewhere, not unlike what happened with Oliver Queen when Parallax Hal brought him back to life. If we go with the idea Carol's soul was in Rogue, then hers was ripped out of her, while she was still alive.

There's also a question of what happened when Magneto killed the life-force sharing Carol. Did her psyche/essence/whatever, find it's way back to her original body. It doesn't seem to have gone back inside Rogue's mind. Whatever remnant of Carol is in there was depicted as being no stronger than any of the other shadows left behind. Of course, Carol was still talking about lacking a connection her past long after that (the Avengers comic I mentioned was post-Heroes Return, Mags killed Carol a year or so after Acts of Vengeance). If her soul made it's way back to her, it took its sweet time.

What Makes A Memory Yours?

If you remove the emotions associated with a memory, is it really your memory any longer?

There was something Jamie Madrox said early in the current volume of X-Factor, that he didn't remember whether it was him or a duplicate that got a law degree, because all the memories mix together inside his head. He added it wasn't so different from anyone else, that when you try to remember something, you reconstruct the past out of a jumble of memories.

But when you do that, there's no guarantee you'd reconstruct events properly. You might forget something, or your perception might be altered by your state of mind at the moment you're attempting the reconstruction. And how you proceed can be impacted by how you reconstruct your memory of whatever it is you're trying to recollect. If a person you have spotty history with asks for a favor, you might think back over that history. Maybe you're in a bad mood, and forget some kindness they showed you. Or you're feeling good and only remember the good times, or minimize the significance of the bad times.

All this come to mind because of Faith going to Drusilla and asking for the Lorophage to draw out all the pain and hurt she's had*. What interests me is the idea of identity, and what makes a person who they are. Certainly our experiences, the effect they have on us, and how we react to them are a part of it. If you take away emotions associated with an experience, be they good or bad, that changes you. That's the whole point of why these people come to Drusilla. They can't handle the pain, they need it excised to go forward. Having done that, do the experiences that brought about the emotional distress play any part in making them who they are any longer?

It puts me in mind of that line from that Bruce Lee movie. 'What is this, an exhibition? You need emotional content.' If you remember something, but feel nothing when you remember it, does it have any impact on your life? It might as well be a story you heard about someone else, or a movie you watched. It's life at a remove, and how much of that can you make of your past before you're unrecognizable? Every change made produces a shift in the person as a whole. Enough little changes, and are you even the same person anymore?

Well that's what Faith's shooting for, obviously. She doesn't want to be this person who can be manipulated by her desire that just once an authority figure would actually care about her for who she is, not what she can do for them. But law of unintended consequences and all, what if she loses parts of herself she likes? That's the trick, it's not so simple to determine what events, and what emotions are connected to what personality traits. Your significant other cheats on you and you break up. This produces a more cynical outlook in you, which makes it difficult for you to trust others. Removing the trauma of that breakup might change that, but you might also learn that while you found it difficult to place trust in others initially, once someone had earned it, you would trust them implicitly. What if that's lost in the process, because you don't have that moment when it was so clear to you how important people you can really trust are?

Which goes back to whether someone who changes like that is really the same person anymore, or are they someone entirely new standing where that old version did. Is there a line, some percent of the total parts of a person that once changed, equals a new person? Or is it something that varies with the observer, each one comparing this version of their friend to the one they think they know, all coming to different conclusions?

* I think it might be a ruse, that Faith needed a way to get close to the demon without arousing the suspicion of Dru or her followers. Something about her tearful, kneeling posture seems so over-the-top. She knows Dru's history, how she thought her gifts were a curse (and how Angelus played on that). Faith might figure a young woman with powers which carry a terrible burden would be someone Dru would instinctively want to help, since no one helped her.

He'd Take Speed Dating To A New Level

Has Quicksilver been in any relationships other than his marriage to Crystal?

Near the end of Avengers Academy #20, he came across Pym and Tigra 'behaving like two animals in heat', and complained about it, as he tends to do. My initial reaction was either "Oh, like you've never had a public display of affection" or, "Jealous, Pietro?" Then I realized I couldn't think of anyone he'd been in a relationship with.

Then my brain kicked back on again and I remembered he'd been married, had a kid, all that jazz. However, I couldn't think of anyone else, Madrox' jokes in X-Factor about Pietro and Rictor aside. Which in of itself seemed kind of strange. Admittedly, Quicksilver seems to spend about half his time being evil, or crazy, or misguided by messianic notions, which is perhaps not the ideal time to be starting up relationships. The remainder of the time, he seems focused on either protecting his sister, or trying to be a good father and husband.

Even then, he and Crystal aren't really together all the time. At least, not judging by Crystal's relationship with Dane Whitman (the Black Knight). But Pietro doesn't seem to show any interest in finding someone else. Which is interesting. It we go by his "Pietro Maximoff Syndrome", then it's because he's so easily frustrated by how slow everyone else is compared to him, though I'd think the time he spent depowered might have altered his outlook in that regard. But his frustration could overwhelm any attraction he might feel towards someone.

Then again, he does spend a lot of time out of his mind. Someone who tries to destroy his sister because he doesn't approve of the man(droid) she married might not be seen as much of a catch. Though being a periodically evil jackass hasn't hurt Namor's sex appeal, but he also walks around shirtless most of the time, which might have something to do with that. I'll defer to the ladies on that one.

Maybe Pietro doesn't think he's worthy of it? That's certainly something he's struggled with from time to time. That might have been the big reveal of that first conversation with Doc Samson in X-Factor #87, that he holds everyone to an impossibly high standard they don't meet, including himself. By that measure, with all the times he's been manipulated, lost his mind, or not been there for Luna or Crystal, it might be he doesn't think he should get involved with anyone, because he hasn't earned the right. Kurt Busiek addressed it, in a way, while he was writing Avengers, as Pietro would confess that he enjoyed combating evil, because it was where he felt like a success. I'm pretty sure Quicksilver referred to himself as a failure as a husband and father on at least one occasion.

Is it a conscious decision on his part to not get that close, because he thinks he'll let whoever it is down?

My Wheels Grind Slowly

For a reason I can't recall, I was thinking about X-Factor #28 this morning. That's the post-Messiah CompleX issue where Rahne leaves the team. I was thinking about the scene where we see Jamie react to Rahne letting him know she's leaving. Jamie freaks out about it, and says something about having thought she was his friend, but he guesses he was wrong*.

That gets Rahne a little riled, and so she explains the vision Tryp the Eldest hit her with back in X-Factor #11 (12?Either way, she told us, through Doc Samson, what it was in X-Factor #13). The vision where she killed Jamie and Layla on their wedding night**. So she's sure that Layla (at that time lost in that crappy future) will be back, and she needs to get away from them so it won't come true.

After she lays this all on him, Madrox has an internal monologue where he decides that she's still hiding something, that this vision isn't the only reason she's leaving. I can't recall whether my initial reaction to his suspicion was befuddlement as to what else it could be, or doubt that Madrox was correct. Sure, Jamie is supposed to be a private eye, but he never absorbed the duplicate he sent out specifically to learn how to be the world's greatest detective, so I had my doubts as to how good he actually was.

Anyway, I didn't really give it much more thought, choosing to read on and focus on Madrox picking fights with those bigots, and Rahne's various goodbyes. Then I guess it just fell to the recesses of my mind. Today, for whatever reason, it finally hit me, the thing she was withholding was her joining X-Force. That's it, isn't it? For whatever reason, I had just assumed while reading the story that the other characters knew that's where she was going as well as I did. But I'm not sure how many X-Men know about the Stabbity Kill Team, and given how little love Cyclops has for Madrox, there's no way he'd let Rahne spill the beans about his assassination squad.

Well, it's good to know that all I needed was a shade under sixteen months to put that together. Go me!

* I don't have the issue in front of me, so I'm working off memory. That was the gist, he was mad she would leave, and she didn't seem to care enough to explain why.

** Jamie and Layla's wedding night, not some other combination of the three characters.

Longwinded Quicksilver Analysis Post

I said I wanted to discuss the interactions between Pietro and his hallucinations, and here it is. The first thing I notice is that his cellmate explains to his recently incarcerated buddy that Pietro has been huddled in the corner, muttering the same names over and over. So I wonder whether he's had the conversations we see several times already, an endless, pointless cycle of guilt, self-loathing, etc. Except this time, for whatever reason, what his mind is telling him sinks in, like Thor breaking the Ragnarok cycle at the end of his last series. It would be fitting since Pietro has seemed to endlessly cycle between villain and hero, being a dutiful son and hating his father, wanting to be a good husband and father and being absent from their lives, thinking he can dictate how others live their lives, only to be left with regrets when it blows up in his face. Hmm, that sounds like meta-commentary on the cyclical nature of serial character's personality arc (see: every writer ever deciding they'll be the one who matures Johnny Storm/Bobby Drake, only for it to fall apart later).

On to the actual conversations.

Scarlet Witch: Figures Wanda would be the first. Before everyone else, before he knew who his dad was, starting off that generally wild cycle of love and hate, he had his sister. Pietro's ready to give up, and she appears, telling him that the hardship is almost over, and he's passed the trials. Pietro doesn't believe he could be found worthy, given his current state, but Wanda assures him that he's always acted out of concern for the greater good of those he cares about. Yet, Pietro isn't buying it. This is the sister he hasn't seen since he lost his powers, but he makes no attempt to embrace her. He stays on the floor, and Wanda has to stoop down to talk to him, and try to reassure him that he did mean well, but there's still no contact between them (other than her touching his chin which started the whole thing). She's another attempt to justify the things he's done, and he is finally at the point where that won't work, as everything he's done has dawned on him. Using his unstable sister to remake reality, being willing to kill for the power of the Terrigen crystals, even stealing them from his wife's family, taking no responsibility for the people who died because of the powers they received for them, because it's "God's will". Finally though, he's recognized he isn't an instrument of God's will, that he's just been screwing up a lot.

Magneto: Not surprisingly, Magneto opts for a different approach. Rather than gently trying to excuse Pietro's actions, Mags begins barking commands and judging him. In every panel they share, either Magneto occupies more of it, or he looms over his son, even as Quicksilver rises to his feet. Magneto turns his back on Pietro in the first panel of page 6, but by panel 4, Pietro is the one with his back turned. The problem is, he misses what might be a smile on his father's face as he discusses Pietro's mother. I think it emphasizes that to Quicksilver, his father was more abstract concept than actual person (notice Magneto only refers to himself as "Magneto" or "your father", and Pietro is strictly "Quicksilver"). In the majority of the panels, either Magneto's face is in shadow, or Pietro isn't looking in his direction. They don't appear to make eye contact after the first panel. Pietro doesn't really understand Magnus, and that's why Pietro felt himself superior to his father. He doesn't understand the reasons for the choices that were made, nor does he understand his father did care for him. Now they've each made mistakes, hurt loved ones because they thought they were doing good, and it's notable that in the last two panels both of their faces are in shadow. Of course, in the last panel, Pietro's face is partially in the light, and that probably refers to the next section.

Magneto has no time for Pietro's comparisons of himself to Hitler, or his self-pity. The first is overblown (Pietro may be partly responsible for millions of mutants being depowered, but he lacked intent), and the second is useless. Pietro was born, can't change that now, just have to live with it. It's not a surprise, though. Magneto was never much for self-doubt, and even when he was, he didn't allow it to paralyze him. He moved, in some direction, any direction. It's part of Quicksilver telling him that he can't hide behind good intentions, but he can't fall to "woe is me" either. I wonder about the birds in panel 5. One's mostly black, one mostly white and smaller, but with its shadow in the panel as well. Is the white one Pietro, the other Magneto, and does the shadow mean Quicksilver is more like his father than he realized? Probably.

Crystal and Luna: Unlike Magneto, Pietro does still have family, and here they are, something to keep him out of the dark, if he'll let them. They show up as Pietro admits to feeling trapped under the weight of expectations. At least he's standing up now. These two he probably owes more to than Wanda or his father, under the "you can't pick your brothers, but at least you can pick your bros" theory. He's related to Wanda and Magneto, like it or not, but he fell in love with Crystal and married her, with all the implications and promises that brings, and they had a daughter, who he has responsibilities to as well. When he sees them, he tries to hide himself, allegedly on account of how bad he looks, but Crystal points out they only care about what's inside, which I think Pietro knows, and that's what scares him, because he hasn't been doing so well in that department either. He stole from Crystal's family, put them at war with the U.S., took his daughter without really letting anyone know first. But his family goes to him, and Pietro actually responds to contact from them (Wanda touching his face didn't get much of a reaction from him). I think at this point he's realized that even without his powers he was still pretty well off, being the husband of a member of the Inhuman royal family, and he finally had all sorts of time to spend with his daughter, and he misses that. It's kind of harsh his cellmates had to come along and remind him of the reality of his situation, but he's not going to get anywhere stuck in a dreamworld.

Layla Miller: This is the first time where Pietro really seems like himself. The only denial is his attempts to pretend he really wanted to kill Layla. He's more clever, bantering with Layla and taking a humorous attitude to his current state of affairs. It helps. He almost seems relaxed as he sits against the wall and listens to her talk about butterflies. Layla doesn't deny any of the stupid stuff Pietro's done, she just helps him to try and find a positive, that he found his limit when he didn't kill her. He suffered a bit more for the attempt, but he's past that, and it's time to do something. I don't think it'll be to make amends, because that seems to lead to him making decisions for others without consulting them and we've seen where that gets him.

What's curious is that at the beginning of the story I was sure that Pietro had accepted his fate, but it doesn't seem that way now. He had to talk with some of the people he'd wronged, his sister for using her. His father, to at least try and settle some of their myriad issues. His wife and daughter, who he frequently is separated from. And a young girl he tried to kill because she helped screw up his attempt to use his sister to change the world. I don't know what conclusions he might have come to inside his mind. His sister was completely supportive, but he didn't seem accepting of that, so he may have steeled himself for an unpleasant meeting down the line. I think he'll look at his father differently after this certainly, maybe with understanding, but not in the sense of "Oh, I see why you had to do that, but I wouldn't have to resort to such methods". I don't think they'll be close, though. Hopefully he's more invested in being a husband/father now, assuming Crystal and Luna didn't die in that Silent War mess (how does that fit with Secret Invasion? Does it? I'm so confused). As for Layla, if/when she comes back, I could see Pietro trying to help her through any post-traumatic stress she experiences from being trapped in your typical hellish X-Future. Not saying she (or X-Factor) will accept the help, but I believe he would want to offer it. The critical point would be whether he would back off if asked to, or if he would insist on helping. If he tries to force the issue, he's back on the same path. If he's willing to leave it be, he might have actually learned something.

That's just my speculation, though.

Perhaps Jamie's Not As Rare As We Thought

I believe this started with one of Googum's post where he discussed his lack of interest in the younger mutants that we've been told are just the coolest thing ever over the last 20 years or so.

I kind of like Artie myself, because I think that talking in pictures is a cool power. The power doesn't make Artie cool, or necessarily interesting, but the actual point of this post came to me as I started to think about the one comic I have with Artie in it.

It's X-Men Unlimited 14, Post-Onslaught, and Beast brings Gambit, Storm, Artie, Leech, and the recently orphaned Franklin Richards back to his parents' farm. I guess they wanted to get Franklin away from the city, and the memories, I'm not sure why all the others came along. Ultimately, Franklin is convinced that Magneto's responsible for his parents being gone, and attacks Joseph (who he teleported from the Institute to Illinois), to try and make him bring them back. At the end, Franklin nearly killing Joseph is averted, and he and the other two kids play ball instead.

And that reminded me of the little revelation about Madrox we got back in the current X-Factor. How Jamie is slightly different from your average mutant, because his powers developed in childhood, rather than adolescence, so he's a throwback to an earlier form of mutants. Well, the trio of Artie, Leech, and Franklin were all little kids too, and all of them were mutants with already functioning powers (though Reed's always trying to keep Franklin's locked down, because reality-altering, threaten the universe, blah, blah). So would that mean they're throwbacks as well?

I started to think about how that trait (whatever it is) wouldn't have the negative side-effects on survival now that it did in the past, since people are less likely to grab torches and pitchforks to burn the "demon child" than they were in say, the 1400s, or ancient Sumeria. So having a mutant gene that doesn't express itself until one is a bit older and better able to fend for themselves, isn't as much of an advantage as it was when Tryp was growing up. Now (at least prior to Messiah Complex), there was the Xavier Institute, Magneto, the Morlocks, Mr. Sinister, possibly the High Evolutionary, Moira McTaggert, all sorts of people and organizations that would fight to protect you.

Suddenly, being a five-year old with fish eyes, or fire-breathing, isn't the death sentence it was before. Whereas before, only a few individuals with that trait might survive to reproduce, more might be able to do so now. Given enough generations, development of powers in childhood might have become the norm. I don't know if it would have provided any decent story ideas, and they would have had to been explored in stories set in the future, but it was something that occurred to me.

It's Time To Guess That Symbolism!

So did anyone else notice that Layla Miller's shirt had "46664" written on it in last week's X-Factor? It wasn't present the whole time (it's absent when she charges out onto the platform to dimension-hop with Jamie), but it was there for a few pages.

Good ole Wikipedia informs me that 46664 was Nelson Mandela's prison number, and that Joe Strummer and Bono made a song called "46664" in honor of Mr. Mandela, and that there was an AIDS charity concerts by that name. Said concert took place on November 29, 2003, so I guess this could be a reference to that.

Wiki also says 46664 is the 44th number in the Mian-Chowla sequence, and a Smith number, which means the sum of its digits (4+6+6+6+4) is equal to the sum of the digits of its prime factorization (I get what they mean, but you better go check it out yourself, because I doubt I can explain it). I have no idea whether any of that is at all relevant, though I could see Layla sporting a shirt with those numbers just because, or it could be connected to the parallel universes somehow. How? I don't know, I'm just throwing it out there.

Confronting Mortality Again And Again

One of the things Peter David has consistently touched on with Jamie Madrox is how hard his powers make it for him to make decisions, or take any kind of first step. He can see many different sides to every issue, and that makes it hard for him to decide which side to take, or which direction to go. But this week's issue brought another part of that to mind for me, and I don't know whether David has specifically dealt with it or not, so I'll just put it out here.

Jamie's attached to his duplicates, which makes sense as they're part of him. I know in PAD's first X-Factor run, there was a point where there was a dead duplicate and Jamie couldn't absorb it, and it freaked him out quite a bit. Of course, by the end of that issue another Madrox popped up, so maybe that one wound up being the original, and that's why the freaked out Jamie couldn't absorb the dead duplicate.

Either way, Madrox can definitely reabsorb dead duplicates now. When his "x-factor" blew up Singularity, he reintegrated with Jamie. And as a result, Jamie got back some memories he'd forgotten, the ones about Tryp being responsible for the death of Jamie's parents. But here's what I started thinking about: When a duplicate dies, and Madrox reabsorbs it, does he experience the death as it was for the duplicate? Does Madrox see whatever might be on the "other side", and if so, would it be the sort of thing his mind would reject to protect itself?

Think about what that could do to someone's state of mind. To feel as though you died, to in fact, know that you did die, and yet, you didn't actually die, all at the same time. Doesn't that seem like the sort of thing that would drive you mad, if you had to live with it? Especially if it kept happening (I think it's only happened once to Jamie thus far, but it could happen again. Death is a certainty when you deal with comic books). And if a duplicate did make it to the other side, saw what lies beyond (assuming the dupes possess whatever attributes are required for that), what effect would seeing that have on someone?

She's Slipping In Her Old Age

So what's wrong with Layla Miller these days? She seems to be getting blindsided an awful lot lately. Didn't see the little French girl showing up, or hitting her with a rock, or the positive pregnancy test in the trash. Elder Tryp warned her that when two forces of chaos clash (meaning him and her), it can be ugly, and that seems to be coming true.

But it's an odd thing. At the same time that Layla seems less able to see what's coming, you've got all this other mutant-related stuff about predestination. I flipped through a copy of X-Men #202, and Mr. Sinister is making a big deal about finding Destiny's Diaries, that I guess lay out all kinds of stuff about the future. And Gambit and Sunfire were after all Cable's information about what's ahead. And Uncanny X-Men #490 introduces (or introduces me, at least) to the history of a character named Qwerty, who could see all possible choices, and what would be the result, and mapped it out for others to follow.

I do have to say I question how useful Cable or Destiny's information will be, considering all the mucking about with the fabric of reality we've had in the Marvel Universe since Destiny bought it. Cable's info ought to be even spottier, considering he's been acting on it to make the world a better place for awhile. You'd think that would start to invalidate it a bit. I guess not though, if people are still after it, since I'd think anything I could think of would be within Mr. Sinister's capabilities.

All these people concerned about what's yet to come, and one person who's still alive and was able to see such things, seems to be losing that ability. Could that be the result of other people following the Diaries, or Qwerty's writings, or the response of others to the actions of those following the predictions, somehow blurring things for Layla? I don't know, time-related stuff always leaves me dizzy.

The Things I Focus On

For some very reason, I'm hung up on the fact that Rahne Sinclair was wearing three earrings in one ear in this week's issue of X-Factor. I suppose my subconscious has given up on trying to discern where PAD is going with the larger story arc, and I've settled on trying to unravel smaller mysteries.

I suppose the reason it struck me is because I tend to associate have piercings, especially multiple piercings, as a sign of someone fairly secure with themselves. People can react negatively to lots of piercings (though that seems to be ones on the face more than the ears), and it would be a self-assured person who would wear them, regardless of other's reactions. I grant you, my basis for that is mainly that my friend Alex and most of his other friends have several piercings, and I generally consider all of them to be more self-assured than I am (but also more screwed up than me), and I've zero piercings, because I'm not a fan of letting people jab me with pointy things. So yeah, it's a weak foundation, but I think that combined with my perception of Rahne as very repressed and not interested in calling much attention to herself.

Of course, the counter to that would be that she wears a large crucifix around her neck (and now she's sporting an "X" emblem as well), but I think that's more about a reminder of her faith (and the X a way of showing what group she belongs to), less than trying to draw attention to her as an individual.

Then I noticed, upon going through some of the previous issues that this is expanding. In the X-Cell story she wasn't wearing any. OK, that was Khoi Pham, now Pablo Raimondi's back, so maybe just an artistic preference. But in the #21, she's only wearing one earring when she goes to check on Rictor. Now she's wearing three. I must say, seeing that made me feel a little better, because I feel like there's a little more substance to my noticing that (not a lot, but better than nothing).

The one thing PAD keeps going back to is that Rahne doesn't trust her wolf self; that she only lets it out when she really has to, or when she wants to hurt someone, because she doesn't entirely trust it not to go all "Hulk Smash" on an innocent person. So I'm wondering if this isn't a sign of either an inner conflict between her two halves (Which would be appropriate, given the struggles so many of the team have with themselves), or a sign that they're coming to a reconciliation. Perhaps Rahne is going to start trusting her instincts more, let loose a little, and by becoming more accepting of that half she always feared, she'll lower the danger. Being more expressive about how she feels might just act as a pressure valve, by letting that instinctual half have a little more play, instead of only turning to it in emergencies.

I guess I'll have to wait and see. And check on it when #23 comes out next month.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to prepare for Rick Ankiel's hopefully successful return to the majors - as an outfielder. I fully predict a huge standing ovation when he first comes up to bat; too many fans have (metaphorically) bled for too long, hoping he'd find his way back. Sure, they were hoping he'd return as a pitcher, but you it's not a perfect world.

Don't Say Skrull!

I'm leaving town for a little vacation early in the morn. So I leave you with a little puzzler to mull over while I am away: Who (or what) is Layla Miller?*

*{Note: Saying "a MacGuffin" will not win you any of the fabulous prizes.**}

**{Note: There are no fabulous prizes to be won, so don't get your hopes up.}

Pietro's weird "Super Mutant Power Overload" attack didn't work on her, suggesting she is not, in fact, a mutant. The Old Man Tryp referred to her as being a being of chaos like him, but that may have been in a general sense, rather than meaning she is actually an embodiment of chaos. Though there is a chance she a chaos sprite (like that little pink creature that was on Thanos' shoulder through most of Annihilation), just in disguise. But that's just crazy talk, so let's try and come up with a different idea. Fortunately, I have two more crackpot theories:

1) Layla is a sentient piece of the Cosmic Cube, just like the Beyonder wound up being (right?). Would explain the whole "knowing almost everything" schtick.

2) Layla is actually Cable/Deadpool editor Nicole Boose. She's made her way onto the Cable/Deadpool recap page - and survived! - so she knows how to sneak into the 616 universe. How hard could it be to get Wade to steal a holographic image projector from the X-Men for her, so she could appear to be a child? And, this would also neatly solve the "knows stuff" angle, as Marvel editors must spend their time doing something, and since they aren't editing, reading the plots for books they don't work on seems as likely a pasttime as any. Layla's rare misstep comes when PAD makes a last second change (for the sake of argument, I'm saying Monet bringing the French girl to X-Factor HQ was a last-second writer decision. It probably wasn't, but then my brilliantly crafted scenario would crumble, and I would cry, and nobody wants that, not even UnCalvinPitt, and he's still sore about getting clubbed with a chair back in April.)

So, those are my theories, you've got until I return on Friday to present yours. I expect documentation to support your assertions - or ELSE!!!!!!!

No seriously, just throw out anything that tickles your fancy. We'll have a good laugh when I come back. Until then.

What Will He Think Up Next?

If I were Quicksilver, I wouldn't plan any entrepreneurial ventures, or any trading in the stock market, because he just clearly doesn't have the gift. He tried to manipulate his mentally damaged sister into remaking the world to be better for mutants, it ultimately backfired horribly. His attempt to regain his powers has warped his mind, along with giving him different powers. Every attempt to give mutants back their powers seems to lead to those mutants dying or feeling horrible pain (not Pietro's fault naturally, they just aren't worthy). Really, you'd think all the times he and Crystal tried to repair their marriage, only to watch it crumble would have tipped him off that his plans never work.

And in X-Factor #20, once again, a scheme of Pietro's has failed miserably. Unless he defines "success" as having a)one of the people he repowered explode (Note: Exploding was not their mutant power), b) the other three vanishing into another dimension, c) even more people know the current plight of mutants is sorta his fault, d) his getting stabbed, and e) losing all the Terrigen Mist crystals he had stored inside his body. Now he's injured, running, and seemingly lacking the ability to repower any more mutants (lucky them).

All of this begs the question: What next for the Son of Magneto? Should he continue in his attempts to aid his mutant brethren, or is he better off at this point simply looking out for #1? I think he's too far gone on this "higher purpose" kick to give up on his plans to restore mutants as a viable population, but he has no more crystals, and after Silent War #6, who knows if there are even anymore left (the city got blowed up, and Black Bolt was opening his mouth at the end, so no telling what's left, assuming that mini even fits anywhere in Marvel continuity right now, as it's somewhat hard to place). Who is left for him to turn to?

The first person that comes to mind is the High Evolutionary. He and Pietro go back awhile, and he once figured out how to turn off all mutant powers, so maybe he can figure out how to undo Wanda's hoodoo (hoodoo?), at least to the extent of helping out the depowered mutant populace. If he did it en masse, without consulting those it would involve, it might make for an interesting story, seeing the mutants who liked being "normal", who had settled into everyday lives, perhaps with loved ones who didn't know they had been mutants, reacting to a return to their previous lives, especially contrasted with those happy to be back on track (the Blob or Marrow, for example).

Other than the H.E., I can't figure who Pietro could turn to. He can't ask the heroes for help, he'll just get whomped, and I don't see him being quite crazy enough to ask Dr. Doom or Mr. Sinister for assistance, so the options seem limited.

Bah, this turned all serious. It was supposed to be a funny post, where we come up with silly ideas for what Quicksilver's gonna do next, like say, become manager of an IHOP in Sheboygan (where he could contend with the Great Lakes Champions!). Or maybe he'll move to Canada and sell his soul to the Great Gods of the North (or whatever those gods that pop up in Alpha/Omega Flight are called), in exchange for them using their powers to overcome Wanda's hex (there's no way she's more powerful than all those guys combined, right? Right?).

So, you choose which way you want to go with it, funny, or more serious. Or do both. Because as I said to Delores Montenegro in Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die: 'You can have it your way, baby.'

Or did Troy McClure that said that?

Or maybe it was a Burger King commercial?

2-D Body Language

For some reason, I'm really intrigued by Quicksilver's scene in last week's X-Factor #18. So, I wanted to try and analyze his posture, facial expressions, and some of the points of view the panels present to us. Please note that my assessments are biased, as I've already discussed previously how I think Pietro is similar to Sideshow Bob, so that's sure to skew things a bit. And I know it's dumb that I'm going to discuss art without showing you the images, but no scanner, okay? It's just a matter of my ability to describe things, are your willingness to trust my description.

Or, you know, you could go buy a copy of X-Factor #18 and follow along, assuming you don't have one already.

So we first see Pietro on page 2, panel 5, listening to someone else talk. He looks a little zoned out. The panel 6 pulls back and we see it's Elijah Ross (of the X-Cell), talking about his lost mutant powers, and how he used to whomp on people who tried to pick on him. Pietro's turned his head slightly, but he still isn't looking at Elijah, and he's got his hands behind him. I think the back being turned is a sign that Ross isn't important to Pietro. If he wants his powers back, sure Quickie will help, but I don't think Elijah's explanation of how he used his powers impressed 'Silver very much. He's probably already written him off as someone who'll be found unworthy.

I don't know what "hands behind you" signifies. It's reminiscent of a prisoner, handcuffed, which could indicate helplessness. Except Pietro isn't helpless, as he'll soon demonstrate. So, I think it's a way of seeming nonthreatening, or perhaps a way of not looking at his hands, avoiding thinking about what they could do to this boy is returning his powers does go awry. Or maybe Pietro does feel trapped, in a situation that he helped create, by using his sister to alter reality in the first place. Note that on page 3, panel 1 when Ross talks about how the government did this to mutants, we don't see Pietro's face, and by panel 2, we're situated behind Elijah, and there's some distance between Quicksilver and us. He knows the kid is off-base, but doesn't want to let the truth slip out. Panel 3, zooms into a close-up of Pietro's face, and even though he's talking to a boy, someone smaller than him, his eyes are looking upward, to avoid eye contact perhaps? Towards Heaven, seeing as he feels this a divine mission for him? I remember hearing somewhere that if your eyes go up to the left, it means you're lying, because that's where your imagination is in the brain. of course, it could have been to the right, and that was The Negotiator, so it's of questionable use.

By the end of page 3, Pietro's finally brought his hands around front, offering Elijah a chance to get his powers back. Ross is reaching forward, as if for a handshake, but Quicksilver's hand is simply there, held out waiting for Elijah to grasp it. It's like he's waiting for someone to give him something. He knows it's coming, so there's no reason to reach for it. All Pietro will do is make the offer, the individual has to decide whether they want to take the risk to get there powers back. Not unlike a deal with the Devil, now that I think about it. Of course, that's when Callisto shows up to stop the whole thing, and Pietro unleashes his time travel abilities and beats her up. He's very calm about it, offering her the chance to let go before he unloads on her, and when he does resort to violence, his face is calm, almost bored-looking. He doesn't care that Callisto is angry with him, nor is he really angry with her for her actions, at least not outwardly. It's just the sort of thing he has to deal with now. The X-Men want his head, why not Callisto as well?

Page 5 is where I think it gets really interesting. Having dealt with Callisto, Pietro listens to her complaints, then calmly responds that she probably wasn't "worthy" to regain her powers. He does admit that it might have been his fault, but what she describes as 'agony', he describes as a 'mishap', and describes it like that reluctantly, at best. But now his arms are crossed in front of his chest, which is defensive posture (if that psychiatrist on Bones was right). Why defensive? He's demonstrated they're no threat to him, but they are making him admit a mistake, just like his manipulations of Wanda were a mistake, which is why Callisto, Elijah, and he are all in this mess to begin with. This is also the point he starts to show some emotion. Maybe it's the dark eyebrows in panel 3, but he looks cold, dangerous, a lot like his dad did, when he'd be deciding whether to kill the X-Men of offer them a chance to join him.

After that, the perspective switches. Whereas before, the view was mostly level with the participants, or looking down, making the characters look small, now it's making Quicksilver look bigger. In panel 4, we're standing behind and above Pietro, looking down on Callisto and Ross as Quicksilver is, as he beings his spiel about the imperfections in the power transfer process. We can't see his face, but Ross looks awed, and Callisto sullen, face pointed towards the ground, but eye aimed up at Quicksilver. The last two panels, we're on their level, looking up at Pietro during his oratory, as he talks about how he's going to find an intermediary (I'm predicting Madrox duplicates) and make the process safer, and don't worry he's already got someone in mind.

One thing I just noticed is that in panel 5, what I assume is either Ross or Callisto is represented by a dark oval. There's no definition to who's there, it could be anyone. I wonder if that doesn't signify that Quicksilver is talking as much to himself as to them, reassuring himself that he's got this all figured out, that there won't be any more mistakes on his end, and so it really will all be about whether the person is worthy or not.

So I'm not sure what all that means, though I do think Pietro is losing his grip on reality a little more all the time. His eyes in panel 6 spook me. They seem very open, like a predator surveying a meal.

Bucking Expectations

That pretty well sums up this week in comics for me. Things did not proceed as I expected.

Like I said yesterday, I figured Madrox to spend a couple of issues as a HYDRA Agent, being brought out of their control by his SHIELD agent dupe being reabsorbed and overwhelming the control from within. But Peter David mowed right through that little story, and left Jamie having accomplished what he originally set out to do, but not feeling all that swell about it.

Switching gears to Doctor Strange, I full expected that his battle with the Marrakant Hellguard would rage for most of the issue, if not all of it. But Brian K. Vaughn has places to go, and confrontations to tell, so it wrapped up in around ten pages, maybe less (I'm typing this at the university, thus comics are not easily referenced). Even more than how quickly Strange dispatched that opponent, was the manner Strange did it in. I still don't want to spoil it, but it's not a method I expect him to use.

But the hits kept coming. Nicodemus West isn't out to get Strange, in fact his original intent was to help him, which just so happened to lead him to an opportunity to help even more people. Or so he thought.

I'd say the thing that surprised me the most was that the man who thanked West for not being able to preserve Strange's hands, Mr. Pavlish(?), didn' turn out to be a member of the Overlords. I thought for sure one of them looked like a Mr. Pavlish that had survived his illness and regained weight, but apparently not.

And really, that's a good thing. If Pavlish is a member of the Overlords, than one can argue that this whole thing with Strange is him trying to get revenge on Stephen, by ruining his chances to help Wong. Now, it's simply people making a business decision (and possibly a bigger decision than that, absed on what West said about the elixer). It's less personal, and more dangerous somehow. This isn't a new thing, these Overlords have been handling things like this for a while. They still aren't likely to be any match for Strange, but they can't be so easily dismissed either.

Emotional Multiplication

So the discussion for today: what determines which personality trait is dominant in a given Madrox duplicate?

In my head, I picture that Madrox's head is filled with all these different traits, and when he gets ready to make a dupe, there's a rush amongst to be the lead dog, the first one into that body to assert control.

My other theory is it's dependent on his dominant emotional state at the moment the dupe is created. When Monet punches Jamie in the face out of the blue in #4, the dupe is hyper-aggressive, wanting to brawl, first with Monet, then turning on Madrox, and yelling at him for being so indecisive. While shock might be a more natural response to a coworker abruptly punching you in the chops, anger is not out of the question.

#10, we learn Jamie got wasted, bumped into a wall and made a Hefner-dupe, which seduced Monet (we think). Fairly reasonable that getting wasted, probably with Siryn, put Jamie in the mood for love, and so you get a dupe with similar ambitions, but a different subject of interest.

Man, it sounds creepy when I say it like that. Let's say "different target of his affections". That sounds a little better.

When Tryp confronts X-Factor with his future, Jamie's accidentally creates a dupe. One that just so happens to remember what really happened to Jamie's parents. Not surprisingly, this dupe opts to strike back, and blows the building (and two of the Tryps) right to hell.

Finally, we have the moment in #14 when Monet confronted Jamie, and starts pounding him against he wall, trying to release the Hefner-dupe that seduced her (we think). Jamie, already spooked by Theresa's remark that she has to whisper or she'll freak out and start destroying things, is seriously worried about Monet doing him physical harm. And lo and behold, the first duplicate out of the box is apologizing and pleading for forgiveness.

Just a thought.

He Can't Hide It Long

First, let me say that I'm sorry I didn't get you a post yesterday, and Adorable Baby Panda decided to go visit the family over the holiday, so we'll have to wait until next week for panda hugs.

Yes, I saw UnCalvinPitt's post. Yes, there'll be hell to pay. No one lets penguins into my blog without suffering for it. But that's for later. For now, let's talk about Sideshow Bob, and Quicksilver.

I mentioned in my review of X-Factor #13 that Pietro very much reminded me of old Bob Terwilliger. I think it's the veneer of civilization, masking the violent tendencies. Bob tries to seem cultured, what with reading literature, despising popular TV, the appreciation for wines, the vocabulary. But he's still someone who thought the best way to frame a celebrity was to rob a Kwik-E-Mart, who tried to kill Aunt Selma for... some reason, who isn't smart enough to count his blessings for an amazingly lax prison system, and thus keeps blowing his freedom on murder attempts (well, not always, but it does eventually always come back to killing Bart). And those attempts always seem to come back to stabbing. There was the gas explosion attempt on Aunt Selma, and that was inspired, but with his main foe, he seems to resort to the common weapon of the butcher knife. Or the ax.

What about Pietro? Well, he acts very dignified now, politely offering pastries to Doc Samson, and taking small, controlled bites. He speaks very calmly about how he considers all of X-Factor friends, and how he's glad to be helping mutants. He says he knows he made a mistake manipulating his sister, but that it was with good intentions, so it wasn't truly bad. He recognizes the same could be said of his current actions, and doesn't seem to bother to consider whether he's in danger of screwing things up just as badly again. He says that whatever happens to a mutant he repowers, happens. It's not his problem, as he is just an instrument of divine will. So if people die from it, not his fault. He casually mentions, that were he given an opportunity to kill Layla Miller, he'd eargerly take it, and seems to completely ignore the ramifications that would have for him, seeing as X-Factor doesn't totally trust him, and the X-Men are dying for a reason to go after him. For all his playing at being wise, refined, and knowledgeable, he doesn't seem to recognize consequences, or else he just doesn't care. Which might suggest a suicidal tendency, but I think he got over that after the "walking off a building" thing in Son of M, so I think it's more that disconnect from reality that Samson noted.

Bob seems more inclined to let his violence (or insanity, or whatever) out, while Pietro's just slips out through his words mostly. But both seemed too locked into their personalities to stop from repeating the same mistakes. Or maybe Pietro will break the cycle, but I'm not really holding my breath. These repowered mutants are going to start wrecking stuff, and once again the world is gonna get thrown into serious upheaval because of him. The difference is, it's unlikely that the majority of the planet will be unaware of what transpired this time around.