UNCANNY X-MEN #238: Gonna Be a Revolution

The X-Men go talkin' 'bout destruction, but don't you know that you can count me out (in)

Originally Published November 1988

We begin in the deepest reaches the subconscious.

What we are seeing is footage(?) of the telepathic interrogation of Madelyne Pryor, of late prisoner of the Genoshan Government (via projection of the telepath handling the questioning, here transmogrified by Pryor's mind into the image of the Genegineer.)

Madelyne herself is represented as an innocent flower-picking child, humming to herself a song called "Gone to America" by Steeleye Span, which, hint hint, you should Google right now, listen to, and learn more about.

Immediately, the interrogator and his cronies sense there is something not right about this perfectly innocent-not-at-all-creepy little girl, and soon their line of questioning turns downright hostile.

Unfortunately, in the battlefield of the mind, the Genoshans soon find themselves out of their depth, like Washington Generals-level outmatched, as Maddie erupts into a kind of incendiary member of the avian kingdom. A bird of fire, so to speak.

Soon, all of Inception-Genosha is a smoldering pit, leaving only the Interrogator and Maddie, who has made some interesting wardrobe selections for the both of them.

Vampire Geneticist Realness

She offers a warning to the Genoshans not to go carelessly striking matches just to light their way without considering the possibility that they may start... well...

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Now, this is shocking to see from the even-tempered Madelyne we've come to know over these past years. Sure, she's been in dire straits and emotionally been stripped of everything that means anything to her, and now is being violated and possibly enslaved by a foreign nation that has seen fit to invade her private thoughts, but really now, is that any reason to be rude?

Genegineer admonishes our favourite Magistrate operative Wipeout for not properly deactivating this woman's powers, to which he befuddedly answers that she isn't supposed to have any powers to erase!

Face it Wipeout, you're all wet!

Genegineer pivots to the other problem, that her mysterious cohorts have managed to escape, and they have limited time before they escape the island and get somewhere they can spill the horrible secrets of what they've seen on Genosha.

Gene goes directly to her cell for some IRL question time, but finds her no more forthcoming in the waking world, preferring to talk about the hypocrisies and atrocities perpetrated by the Genoshan government on the daily.

Dr. Moreau prepares to engage in a full-throated defense of the Genoshan way of life when Magistrate Anderson arrives to remind him not to engage with a troll, giving a watery "ours is not to reason why" type of tip. More pressingly, it seems his son has turned up somewhere unexpected...

Phillip has arrived, alongside Logan and Carol, at the "home" of the mutants of Genosha, which is to say, a concentration camp on the far side of the Ridgeback mountains that bisect the island of Genosha. This child of privilege is surprised to learn that this conscripted worker caste does not share many of the comforts he does.

Remorsefully, Phillip acknowledges some of the propaganda he's been fed as a Genoshan since birth -- like keeps to like, mutants want to live apart, separate but equal, happy and productive members of society, etc etc. 

Unfortunately, this breakthrough is interrupted by the arrival of some Magistrates -- real ones, and trigger happy, who have twigged to the fact that Logan and Carol and phoney fakers, betrayed by the fact that on the security monitors it looks like David is walking alone.

In fairness, when she cast this enchantment, Roma literally said "I'm new at this."

Deep in the bowels of the Citadel, Maddie offers some words of hope to her fellow prisoner Jenny Ransome, noting that she's faced some hardship in life. I wouldn't take anything away from Maddy (certainly not now) but I'm not sure this is a one-to-one comparison.

Even if Maddie had the best advice in the world, Jenny probably won't remember it after her reconditioning/brainwashing.

Elsewhere in the same building, Phillip and his X-friends come face to face with the Genegineer. Phillip reveals that he's seen the Mutant Camp and now knows more about the conditions there. David repeats his line how mutants are not like us, and if we gave them a chance they'd be running the show, it's us vs. them, so he chooses us.

Magistrate Anderson steps in to note that ignorance was bliss for Phillip -- now that he knows the truth, he's going to have to carry that burden in silence or face the consequences.

While the rest of the X-Men arrive in the guise of Magistrates, Wolverine defiantly states he will not be made a slave and intends to go out in a blaze of glory.

While the rest of the team mounts an offense against the Magistrates, Havok goes in search of Madelyne, only finding Phillip, who has come in search of Jenny Ransome. They agree to search together.

At that moment, Madelyne is walking her own path, having rescued the Most Wanted Mutant Infant and found her way down to the Creche, the place where mutant babies are artificially birthed. Something about this baby factory seems awfully familiar to our Maddie...

Maddie and the Genegineer have a tense standoff. The simplest thing for him to do would be to pull the trigger, but we saw what happened when Maddie was psychically "killed," so what might be the outcome if someone tries it in real life? 

David is a little spooped at the prospect.

 But before he can do his duty...

As Havok comforts Madelyne, Phillip demands to be taken to Jenny.

Outside, the mutants are victorious, but at a cost. Wolverine has basically asskicked himself to death.

Luckily, our heroes have custody of Wipeout, which means that using Psylocke's powers, they can compel him to restore all the deactivated mutant powers, including Wolverine's healing factor and Rogue's inability to touch others (win some, lose some, the narration shrugs.)

With the day saved, that just leaves the tiny matter of the destiny of the entire nation of Genosha. Wolverine says to tear it all down, but Phillip -- who has a bit of affection for the place where he was born and raised -- thinks there's a better way. 

And so, Storm makes a big proclamation. Two paths stretch ahead of the Genoshans -- Phillip's and the X-Men's. If they don't try to make their society a kinder, gentler place, well...

That's right, Havok is demonstrating his awesome power by destroying the Citadel, obliterating the literal seat of Genoshan power, as a way to jumpstart their new beginning.

That's all well and good, but then Havok realizes -- where's Madelyne? Oh man, she wasn't in there when I blew it up, was she??!

Oh... phew.

The loose ends are all tied up, although when Havok asks Maddie where the baby went she just shrugs "Don't worry about it." Storm bids Phillip to come along and make his case from overseas where the Genoshan's can't grab him, although they've certainly shown no compunctions about nabbing someone from inside foreign territory before. 

David makes one last appeal to his son: why destroy this great country they all love so much and has been good to you, specifically?

And with a final threat, the X-Men part, onto their next adventure!

Further Thoughts:

This is a work of fiction that acknowledges that there are no easy answers, and not just because the creators want to use Genosha as an antagonist again in the future. Claremont and Silvestri really do try to suss out what would be the best way forward for a nation in crisis like this, and what are the realistic prospects for that actually happening. It's not always satisfying but it's frank and real.

The bad guys certainly aren't thwarted because the X-Men punched them hard enough, because the badness is in a society, in a people, and we can think to ourselves that this is not us, but it's close enough. There's no easy blueprint for fighting injustice in our world, but we see it every day. There are good people out there doing their work to push the cause of human compassion further against a seemingly indifferent or hostile world. This month happens to have been a very tough one, with my home country's own RCMP illegitimately arresting Wet'suwet'en elders, land defenders and journalists in the name of advancing the interests of an oil company and a supposed nation with no proper claim on the land, to the acquittal of a literal murderer whose crimes were committed in the name of upholding a racist, fascist regime. Every gain feels like it is matched by losses but inch by inch we can only try to press on.

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The story marries strangely well to the arc of Madelyne, who has clearly undergone some changes recently since her encounter with S'ym. It's clear that her recent circumstances have catalyzed lately and turned her from a grieving woman left alone to a vessel of fiery vengeance. The Genoshans just happened to be in her way, but appropriately so because we'll see, with the babynapping and the genetic monkeying there appears to be some real triggers there for Maddie. The emphasis on her POV provides a strong backbone for this story and a springboard for the next one.

Marc Silvestri, with Green and Oliver, does some of his best work yet in drenching the Genoshan story in shadows that indicate the darkness in characters souls, and their confinement, such as when Maddie is in prison or when the Genegineer confronts her. The art team on this book is really hitting a stride, especially in these quiet, personalized moments. It's expressive and evocative and really adds value to an already-great story.