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“The Future Has Not Been Written. There Is No Fate But What We Make For Ourselves.”
John Conner – Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The X-Men universe continues to move in every direction at once with this weeks newest title Dead X-Men. If you’ve been following along with all the goings ons in the X-Men universe, I still wouldn’t fault you for being a little confused. If you haven’t been on the X-Men train lately (or at all), well…God help you.
DEAD X-MEN #1 BY Steve Foxe, Bernard Chang, Jonas Scharf, Vincenzo Carratù, Frank Martin and Cory Petit (Marvel Entertainment)
The Doctor once said “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint – it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly… time-y wimey… stuff.” Now at the time it was a funny, witty way of saying that none of The Doctors time travel hijinks have any real concrete effects on any one timeline. Little did I know then, that the X-Men would put that theory to the ultimate test with a story and timeline that has in fact become quite a “big ball of wibbly wobbly time-y wimey stuff”.
***Spoilers Ahead For Dead X-Men #1***
Where Are We On The Timeline Exactly?
As The Fall of X and The Rise of the Powers of X explore two separate timelines, both of which do not turn out well for organic life, Charles Xavier has taken up residence in Moira’s “No-Place”, which exists outside of time and space. It’s here that Professor X has assembled his own small team to find away to prevent the Dominion or Enigma from ever coming to be. Cypher, Rasputin IV, and two other unmated mutants are searching every timeline for answers to their problems, and after several attempts to stop Nathaniel Essex from claiming Dominion as the AI overlord Enigma, Charles’ final ultimate solution is stopping everything from the beginning and killing Moira MacTaggert before her mutant powers manifest in her 10th lifetime.
It’s a lot, I know. And if it sounds vaguely like the plot to every Terminator movie…it is. With all of that behind us, we can move on to the reason we’re all here, Dead X-Men #1.
Mission Impossible: Dead X-Men
The issue opens with five X-Men, last seen dead after the disastrous Hellfire Gala, arriving at The Treehouse in New York. Cannonball, Dazzler, Jubilee, Frenzy, and Prodigy stand in a post apocalyptic New York, smelling of “fire and brimstone”, and are immediately attacked by Ilyana Rasputin, now the Lord of All Hells. Prodigy reads Magiks memory and sees that everyone in this timeline has been killed by her, making this timeline a lost cause to their mission and jump immediately back to Krakoa that is currently being held in the White Hot Room.
It’s here that they regroup and are contacted by Askani, AKA Rachael Summers, from The No-Place. It’s here that we learn that Rachael personally chose to resurrect them for a “one in a million” mission: Find a timeline with a human version of Moira MacTaggert and get Prodigy close enough to her to get a mental map of all her past selves without alerting Enigma to their whereabouts.
To The Ends of the Earth and Back
Their next jump and possibly their last chance is 15 years AFTER the end of the Earth. They arrive and immediately cannot breath. As a dark figure notices them from afar, they are teleported away to a living spaceship version of Arakko houses this timelines last hope, the X-Men. The Dead X-Men are met by Abigail Brand leadsing a group made up of Random, Blink, Armor, and Rootfire, all seeming a little hostile towards allies that they know to be, well…dead.
Prodigy immediately picks up on Abigails memory of Orbis Stellaris vaporizing Krakoa, destroying 92% of life on Earth, and simultaneously striking Arakko to prevent revenge.
The future X-Men want answers, but the Dead X-Men fear creating a paradox and keep their mission secret. In the middle of their conversation their ship is attacked by the Technarchy, and Abigail informs them that they are carrying the last cache of mutant made metal Mysterium. Orbis Stellaris rushes to join the fight as he is need of the metal.
During the melee Prodigy senses the memories of a human Moira close by. Just when a new team of Starjammers led by Lockheed and Sunspot arrive to help, Prodigy is overcome by the mind of Moira MacTaggert as she draws closer. As the battle escalates, the Mysterium explodes, shooting a single shard into Prodigy’s chest. To his surprise, it doesn’t hurt, nor does it affect his breathing, but Moira arrives and Prodigy sees everything. All of her memories, All of her timelines. With the information they need, the Dead X-Men make an escape back to Krakoa leaving the battle behind.
As Abigail Brand locates the Mysterium she’s attacked my Moira, claiming the metal for herself. MacTaggert reveals that it’s part of a special weapon, built from various resources that have been harvested from a few powerful mutants, that will give her the advantage in winning her own war.
The Keys To The Comic
We get an intriguing and fun story from writer Steve Foxe. Steve has made it known that he is working very closely with other X-Men universe writers to keep everything tight and consistent. It’s revealed in the story that these 5 mutants were picked for not only their experience and toughness, but also because they’re not quite powerful enough to be noticed by Enigma. I love the situational thinking with that and I believe Foxe put together a fun and refreshing X team.
Jonas Scharf, Bernard Chang, and Vincent Carratu provide the art work via penciling. There’s a lot of action and dynamic scenes to display in this book and they did a fantastic job of keeping everything fluid and consistent. There are some great panels in this issue that you come to expect with X-Men comics. All of which are brought to life by the color work of Frank Martin. There’s some great contrast between each of the 3 X teams and the dark, imposing Phalanx on the desert like setting of Arrako. Everything pops as it should.
Everything Points to 7.5/10
As someone who has kinda gotten tired of the Moira MacTaggert schtick in the X-Men universe, and welcomes the soon to come retcon, I have to say that Dead X-Men #1 went above my expectations. Time travel can get really convoluted, really quick, but this book did a great job of laying everything out straight forward. There would obviously be some context needed for anyone picking up this issue, but I feel like this could be a good jumping off point for interested readers.
