Wolverine throws down with Marrow at last!
Originally Published February 1998
We begin with a somewhat inaccurate botany lesson from Marrow, who believes that shadows and sewage are the best environments in which to grow strong.
She is, of course, speaking metaphorically, having graduated from literary studies at Morlock University's satellite campus in the kooky alternate pocket dimension where time works differently. She's philosophizing to Wolverine, who is just about out of patience, of which he never had much in the first place. They both know that giving Marrow a straight talking-to isn't going to inspire her to change her ways. And we've all been sold on the idea of a Marrow-Wolverine Smackdown based on the cover of this issue, so... ?
Shall we?
But more pressingly, we check in -- I'm sorry to say -- with Israeli Ambassador and onetime grooming victim of Charles Xavier Gabrielle Haller, who is currently writing to Senator Kelly on behalf of her former Doctor/partner, looking to get Charles freed from his imprisonment (which, at the very least, is within the United States.) Upon finishing her composition, she is interrupted by a mysterious individual hovering outside her door.
Back at the mansion, Sam Guthrie considers checking in on Marrow, by whom he finds himself oddly intrigued, but is rebuffed by Storm, who reminds him that Marrow is a terrorist actually and we don't like her or want her here, so don't be nice to her. It's not like the X-Men have ever had a previous foe in their midst.
After Cannonball flies off in a huff and we check in briefly with Cecilia and Maggott, it's back downstairs where Wolverine and Marrow are parrying and thrusting their way through a philosophical debate, with Logan insinuating that Marrow took the Morlock cause too far.
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| Right, those child-kidnappers really knew where to draw the line |
In Israel, Sabra -- ugh, whom we are apparently not done with -- is at Gabrielle's house to inform her that Magneto is not, in fact, Erik Lehnsherr, but that this identity was a falsehood concocted by renowned forger Georg Odekirk.
I seem to have missed a bunch of stories that establish that it is somehow important what Magneto's real real name really is. I've only written 450 of these flicking posts, you know.
Elsewhere, Joseph thinks about how mysterious it is that he seems to have a connection with Maggott, and Cannonball decides to go have words with Storm after all.
But most importantly, in Romania, Magneto Magnus Lehnsherr, whatever is name is, pays a visit to his old friend Georg.
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| It is not true that the average issue of X-Men has 900 subplots. Elsewhere Georg, who lives in a cave and goes on tangents all day, is an outlier and should not be counted. |
Back at the fight scene, Wolverine pushes and pushes and pushes Marrow.
But after pummeling her some more, Wolverine reveals that he does not want to kill Marrow. He believes that she wants something better, which is why she came to the school, so he's going to let her live to find out what that is.
And in gratitude...
Wolvie lets out a scream that rattles the entire mansion. But more importantly, back in Romania, Sabra and Gaby arrive too late to find anything but Georg's lifeless, white-eyed corpse.
Back at the mansion, Sarah stands over her fallen foe, summarizing her worldview thusly: weak people get hurt. Unfortunately, the she didn't quite finish the job.
Marrow is only saved by the arrival of the only X-Man she has any kind of positive connection with.
Whatever Sam's feelings for Marrow and her awkward flirtation style, he dresses down his co-workers for forgetting to believe in second chances and whatnot. Marrow scampers off back to the tunnels where she feels more wanted.
Meanwhile, somewhere nearby, an ersatz Frances McDormand examines the trail of death left by some kind of monster that seems to be heading toward the Xavier School... or so contextual clues might suggest, since there's nothing definitively said about it one way or the other.
Further Thoughts:
There's an air of feeling obligatory to this whole confrontation between Wolverine and Marrow, this sense that "We know we want to do a Wolvie-Marrow throwdown, so let's get to it without delay." It doesn't have the sense of something that's been building for a long time or that Wolverine was out of options to bring Marrow to heel no matter what he and Storm keep saying about her. The question of why Marrow doesn't simply leave, if she is not wanted and does not want to be there, is never addressed. She's in this comic because she's supposed to be, and she fights Wolverine because she's supposed to, not for any in-story reason but because we wanted them locked up on the cover and it was going for an iconic moment.
On the one hand, I get it -- there's an ideological difference there that could and should lead to conflict. My problem is that these X-Men are absolutely stuck in a quagmire of internal conflict that the writers seem uninterested in writing their way out of by having the characters, I don't know, thwart a bad guy together or help each other out in some life-or-death situation. The history of X-Men is littered with great issues like that: Rogue helping Wolverine in Japan springs to mind.
Each of the new characters has some potential but each is bogged down in different ways that are not generating really compelling stories. Despite a plethora of subplots building all around (of varying levels of intrigue) the X-Men are stuck squabbling for squabbling's sake, issue after issue. I'm hoping we've got it out of our system now.
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