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Yup – I agree that Xorn definitely killed those guys – in fact if I find out he didn’t kill them next issue I’ll be sorely disappointed. And although it jarred on first reading, it somehow feels like a summing up of how far Grant is willing to push his vision (or re-vision) of the new–X-men, and what I had first read as out-of-character now seems like a natural progression for both Xorn and the book as a whole.
In a lot of ways that single page finally ties together a number of strands that have been floating around for a while, in that the defining line between good/evil, Charles/ Magneto has been blurred or erased so completely that the whole fabric of the “dream” has been altered, and not simply by relying on Wolvie to snikt a few bad guys while everyone looks away. Rather it seems that everyone has, as Flyboy mentioned earlier, become much more ambiguous in terms of their personal morality – as Emma stated way back in the 2001 annual, it’s not always about "Good" and "Evil".
Instead, the Institute and its satellites around the world now seem to be developing an ideosphere defined by much more elastic parameters where no one is to be made to feel imprisoned by the dichotomy that once defined the team and its goals. As has been stated before, Xavier now offers the only real mutant alternative now that Magneto and Genosha are both gone.
This broadening of scope is also evident in the recent actions of two of the longest serving characters - Jean allowing Fantomex to escape in the tunnel, and Scott's ongoing psychic affair with Emma. – and further crystallized in the Headmasters Office scene last issue, in which the teaching staff tried to debate and define a way forward on the issue of QQ, rather than merely reverting to set rules and opinions, or bowing to Xavier’s omniscience. So does this point to a lack of moral fortitude and leadership, or does it point the way to a more inclusive philosophy where a number of disparate mutant philosophies are able to co-exist and flourish?
The recent influx of so many new characters has also allowed Grant to define this new line of thinking. Xorn and Fantomex in particular represent this revision most completely where, in contrast to the historical weight of the Shi’ar or the old X-Gen characters or The Weapons Programme (which make up the background to the last few arcs), Grant presents a man locked away for the entire decades-long history of the X-Men phenomenon, and a mutant who engineers his own continuity, complete with his own Aunt May clone, secluded mountain lair and ludicrous symbiotic UFO.
Mr Morrison is both having great fun and making a point here, offering us sophisticated and ornate super-mutants capable of existing out-with the constrictions of the established Marvel-Universe/Mutant continuity, and operating independently below the radar of over-scrutinising fanalysis (without resorting to indiscriminate Ultimisation). These characters are playing to new rules and through them Grant seems intent on enriching the rest of the mainstream X books by refusing to play the accepted/ tired roles that they have represented for years. Look at Beast and see a dull and lifeless x-drone transformed/ mutated into (for me anyway) one of the most compelling characters in the team. Look at Professor X hijacking both Jamie's nervous system in the Channel tunnel and those terrorists on the plane to Mumbai, while Jean casually wipes memories and brainwashes a violent mob with a wave of her hand. Look at Emma's resurrection as a prime mover in this new direction, shaking up the status quo and pushing the game forward into new territory. And finally look at Scott, who for me was always one of the most banal and drone-like characters in Marvel U, now truly heroic and playful, finally waking up from Claremont's endless "Myth of Jean".
In this way the secondary mutation idea is not simply a physical, or power-related one. It goes deeper into the core of the book, transforming the ethics of the long-established dream into a sometimes questionable but ultimately active principle which reaches out into the world rather than retreating from it (the various X-Corp offices which have sprung up in major population centres, Hank and Charles on the covers of magazines, Jean and Charles reporting to the outside world on television and opening the doors of the school to non-mutants). Indeed the mutant phenomenon no longer seems to rely on an “X-gene” at all, with bands and designers instead pushing “X-brands” onto the masses, human and mutant.
But there are questions too, of course.
How ethical is it for Xavier to impose his “mutant justice” on the outside world? Does it represent a much-needed revision of current ideological thinking, or will its principles degenerate into militancy when opposed (see Xorn this issue) Is this the first real stage of pluralism, empowerment and evolution needed to create a single, united race of Homo Superior (human and mutant), or are we simply seeing a new vision of genetic elitism and dominance? |
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