X-MEN #66: Start Spreadin' the News...

Dr. Cecilia Reyes is dragged kicking and screaming into action!

Originally Published August 1997

We begin at the South Bronx's Our Mother of Mercy Hospital, known colloquially as "No Mercy" because, well, the South Bronx is a pretty tough place to live. Like much of the United States, the staff here is overjoyed that those nasty mutants are finally getting what's coming to them thanks to Operation: Zero Tolerance.

Shiny Happy Collaborators

One person who can only barely feign enthusiasm for this nationally-sponsored pogrom is Dr. Cecilia Reyes, who seems to be nursing some kind of personal enmity toward OZT and its actions.

You don't think she could be... y'know... that way?

But, this being an emergency room in one of the most dangerous parts of the city, there's work to do as a patient (one Lance C. Gwynn) comes in with multiple stab wounds, including a severed femoral artery, which I know from recently binge-watching Dexter is not a good thing.

Come on, Doc, that's just unrealistic

Unfortunately, despite Reyes' best efforts, the patient codes, time of death 3:02 AM. But just as they're getting ready to start the paperwork, Gwynn does an Undertaker-style sit-up. Seems he's got some unfinished business.

Business which entails opening fire on the mutant that walks among the staff -- Dr. Reyes!

As Gwynn-bot encroaches, he prepares a deathblow, but gets a bit more than he bargained for--

Yes, if Gwynn had done the research, he might have known that Cecilia's power is specifically a forcefield that protects her against blasts just like that.

Prime Sentinels start coming out of the woodwork, disguised as patients and staff alike. If they can't get Cecilia, they'll start threatening innocents -- like any good fascist would.

Unfortunately, Cecilia literally can't comply -- the forcefield doesn't have an off-switch. They open fire again, but just as it looks like Reyes' defenses will be taxed beyond their limit, she receives a cool, refreshing burst of relief.

Unfortunately, Cecilia does not want to be rescued. She wants to be left alone.

I would say that happened before Iceman got here, Doc.

Cecilia continues her misplaced tantrum by explaining that she was approached by Charles Xavier three years ago (which, I would love to know when "three years ago" was for this comic) but she declined to join up, preferring the comparatively low-stress job of Bronx E.R. doctor. 

They elect to continue this conversation away from the now-frozen Sentinels, burrowing into the tunnels that Dr. Reyes did not know were under the Hospital.

And executing a fabulous Neal Adams tribute in the process.

Down below, Reyes rages on, giving her backstory about how after losing her father at a young age, all she ever wanted was to become a Doctor, and now that dream -- and nineteen years of her life -- have been taken from her.

Cecilia, you're breaking my heart

Cecilia sobs that Xavier had promised to respect her wishes and keep her out of this whole "coming race war" thing. Iceman astutely notes that "Yeah, uh, I don't think it works like that."

Iceman notes that he can't undo what has happened to her today, but if she comes with him, perhaps they can figure out a way to save tomorrow. Reluctantly, she agrees, and forms a bond with him -- a dare I say it chilly one, but a bond nonetheless.

On they go, down the Morlock tunnels, maybe hoping to stumble into someone who can help.

Meanwhile, at Hulkbuster Base in New Mexico -- currently on loan to OZT, Bastion pays a visit to his star prisoner, to show him a holographic image of his latest collector's items...

Gotta catch 'em all!

To be continued!

Further Thoughts:

The setting of this comic -- and urban Emergency Room -- underscores an implied point of Operation: Zero Tolerance. Mutants aren't responsible for every bad thing in the world, and hunting them down like monsters is not going to stop people from getting stabbed on the sidewalk. It's a convenient distraction from things that actually affect people on a day-to-day basis. Once again, this comic manages to be all-too real.

After growing up on the 1992 series and diving into the comics in the second half of 1995, I furiously consumed X-Men (and Spider-Man) comics throughout 1996, including relatively recent back-issues that my brother procured. My fandom peaked with the Onslaught crossover, that mega-massive-sweeping epic that saw all of Marvel's heroes that I didn't happen to care about wiped off the map thanks to the big psionic being that may have been part Xavier and part Magneto. 

With that climactic battle done, returning to the more human scale of the X-Men battling oppression and fighting for their rights did not really stoke my 10-year-old imagination and my interest in the X-Men -- and comics in general -- waned. Even more, I was not enthused by the introduction of new characters into the X-Men. I just wanted the X-Men to be the cartoon characters that I loved from the early-90's, and never really stray from that formula. The idea of Dr. Cecilia Reyes, a relatively normal person who just happens to have a mutant power, palling around with Storm and Rogue and Gambit did not interest me in the least, especially since she openly did not want to be an X-Person or a mutant in general. That makes for a pretty underwhelming action figure and trading card!

That was very much the correct opinion for 10-year-old Scotto to have, given his reasons for reading and enjoying comics. Even as much as these comics featured robots blasting away at the X-Men and various X-Men adjacent people, you could not get me excited about Operation: Zero Tolerance. It was too cerebral for my young brain. Mid-to-late-thirties Scotto, on the other hand, sees it rather differently. These are exciting, well-made comics with themes that resonate decades later because holy crap, have you read the news lately?!?!?! Not only do they speak to my adult concerns about the world around me, they satisfy my somewhat more refined tastes and open-minded approach to what subject matter I want in the comics.

Who's to say what's right? The audience at any point is going to be a much greater proportion people just seeking an in-the-moment thrill than those with a taste for social commentary in their escapism who are willing to read pretty much anything as long as it's good (according to their/my considered standards.) The marketplace of ideas can be pretty unforgiving.

As far as Cecilia goes, it really is interesting to see get caught up in this superhero action who really feels like she doesn't belong and doesn't want to be there but it stuck with this lot nonetheless. There are a lot of people who probably wish they could just go on living their lives but have nevertheless been dragged into a never-ending fight for their very existence. Although not as extreme (Cecilia wants to be a non-combatant, not a turncoat) I am reminded of articles I've read lately about Latinos for Trump feeling betrayed that Trump is doing exactly what he said he would to Latinos, or the Police Unions that supported Trump feeling betrayed that he is doing exactly what he said he would by pardoning the January 6 insurrectionists who killed Capitol police, or Caitlyn Jenner, who sides with Trump against trans people like herself. Ultimately, it's possible compliance will save you some of your privilege, but at what cost? And what if it doesn't?