Sunday Splash Page #322

 

"Schizophrenic Conversations," in Madrox #3, by Peter David (writer), Pablo Raimondi (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Brian Reber (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)

A precursor to David's second X-Factor run, which places Jamie Madrox front and center as a private detective, in this case, investigating his own murder.

David had already started the idea of Madrox's "dupes" as beings of their own, with thoughts and desires that might not match the "prime" Madrox in that first X-Factor run. Here he expands on that theme. On the one hand, Madrox has been sending duplicates out to learn different things, or even just to go out and have a fun night at the bar if Jamie can't decide whether he wants to or not.

(Which also ties into an issue being decisive David really hammered on in the first couple years of X-Factor, that Jamie's ability to pursue any option via his duplicates left him unable to actually make a decision when he needed to.)

But Madrox ends up in Chicago after a duplicate he sent there to have fun, ended up stabbed to death. So Jamie has to investigate his own murder. It involves a beautiful woman, of course, and her husband, who is a major crime boss. And there's a hired gun with powers like Jamie's, who Jamie still manages to generally outflank in the best noir tradition of tough-talking, soft-chinned goons.

Pablo Raimondi's work is stronger on the facial expressions and body language than the action sequences, though he has a tendency to use photo-references for characters. A reporter friend of Madrox's, for example, is very obviously Steve Buscemi. Raimondi also has this tic of drawing characters with their heads tilted down, but looking up at you. Usually with a raised eyebrow, which just makes it feel like someone trying too hard for an effect. What effect, I'm not sure. To look cool?

I could see it with Madrox, who is trying really hard to give off the "private eye" aura, but it's usually characters like Bishop (who was in his District X, cop of Mutant Town, era). No man that wore a mullet is concerned about looking cool. Point is, it makes Raimondi's art seem like a stiffer Kevin Maguire at times. He does a nice job, when Madrox absorbs a homicidal dupe from a distance, of making the act look freaky. The dupe being stretched out into noodles colored like a person or their clothes, a brief panel of a big, frightened eye.

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!

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).

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.