UNCANNY X-MEN #307: Night & Fog (Bloodties Part IV)

Battles rage on Genosha!

Originally Published December 1993

Previously, in Avengers West Coast (which is like the regular Avengers, but with cilantro)...

Avengers West Cost by Roy Thomas, David Ross et al 

Professor Xavier, Beast and U.S.Agent uncovered an apparent Concentration Camp in all but name for the Mutate population of Genosha.

Meanwhile, the X-Men faced off against the Unforgiven, and found out that apparently Fabian Cortez found time to become the President of Genosha?

And the Avengers did battle with the mysterious disciple of Magneto known as Exodus.

"Do a Neal Adams page here"

And now we resume Bloodties, with Xavier, Beast and Agent battling the Magistrate Elite, who helpfully explain that this death camp is only for Mutates who are suffering from the mysterious new disease that seems to be ravaging their population. Xavier is having none of it though and fires off an intense mind-blast that settles the Elites' hash without revealing that he is in fact one of the most powerful mutants on Earth -- because there's no visual element to Charles' power, it really just looks like he's merely some random guy grimacing really hard.

Ask Magneto what a little mind-power can do -- oh wait you can't!

In topside Hammer Bay, Avenger Sersi continues the battle against Exodus as they have a battle of blasty powers to determine if an Eternal is stronger than a mysteryt mutant.

Based on the number of pages in this comic that look like this, he is not exaggerating

Back in New York, Black Widow makes an impassioned speech to the U.N. about how the Avengers are going to go on Avengering no matterwhat kind of restrictions and red tape the U.N. tries to put in their way. Yeah, you tell 'em Auntie Nat!

I guess the U.N. is just like, "yeah, okay then, go ahead and do superhero stuff, we weren't all that fussed about it one way or the other."

While the X-Men tour the island and see the carnage wrought by both sides of this racial conflict, tacitly acknowledging that the Mutates' rage is understandable if not quite condoned, and pondering how well Fabian Cortez has exploited the political strife on the island for his own gain. Cyclops even calls him charismatic, but I've been watching this guy for a few years now and I have no idea why anyone would follow this asshole.

But that's also true of certain twice-impeached former U.S. Presidents

Searching the tunnels for Luna, Quicksilver and Jean instead find...

The estranged lovers agree to put their differences aside and search for Luna, but they don't need to look very hard.

Fabian rants a bit. He's got some things to get off his chest: things would have been a lot better had Magneto stayed dead the first time. Things were great, Fabian had a runaway lead in the Upstarts' game and Magneto was more useful as a symbol. They he had to re-alive himself, and bring that "Red-Faced Demon" with him. He warns that that certain someone is far more dangerous than anyone suspects.

Silver, Scarlet, Grey and Crystal wonder wtf he is talking about, but don't have to wonder for long, because said demon appears ready to kick this thing into its final act:

NB: sometimes Exodus' face is colored in a reddish hue

To be continued!

Further Thoughts:

I like Bloodties in theory. There's a complicated interplay between Magneto, his children Wanda and Pietro, the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Acolytes, along with his rogue disciple Exodus, and it's worth exploring. Likewise, the political situation in Genosha is always worth examining and adding new complications to: it would have been unrealistic (but acceptable in a storytelling way) for Genosha to suddenly settle in for a prolonged period of peace and tranquility after the toppling of the previous government in "X-Tinction Agenda." With it also being a focal point of the Legacy Virus, it's understandable that shit is going on down there.

In practice, Bloodties resembles X-Tinction Agenda, and that is not a compliment. It's messy action without time to examine the implications of the stories being told. Cortez has abruptly become President of Genosha and seems to be manipulating both sides of the conflict -- as he has both the Unforgiven and the Magistrate Elite on his side -- but that's treated as a throwaway factoid to acknowledge his power base rather than a key plot point. The book simply doesn't have time to get into minutiae and nuance, and when it does, as in the Avengers' stand against their masters at the U.N., it's a little clunky. 

One thing you can say in Bloodties' favor is that it's moving along very briskly compared to "Agenda" at five easy-to-digest issues that don't get bogged down with so many characters. Weirdly, I think it could have gone longer but I know that if it did, it would mostly be to accommodate more double-page spreads of super-characters blasting each other and not examining the fine details of the Genoshan political situation, which for some reason I guess is not considered a big draw to trading-card-buying 12-year-olds in 1993. It's a fine crossover event to bring the X-Men and Avengers together and celebrate their shared anniversary, but if Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson couldn't crack the nut of how to juggle intricate storytelling, political intrigue and mutant blasty action without sacrificing one or the other, then the four writers behind this storyline (one of whom is the editor of this book) don't stand a chance. It's not for lack of trying though.