Wolverine isn't quite ready to let go
Originally Published May 1999
We begin in Genosha, where Wolverine is somewhat unwilling to let bygones be bygones.
The ol' Canucklehead is, for some reason, still holding a grudge against the man who mutilated his body and took him to the brink of death a few short years ago (our time -- in Marvel time it's probably been about two and a half months.) he makes it as far as Magneto's sitting room, but his crusade goes no further...
Because not only is he no match for the Master of Magnetism, he is also interrupted by Storm, calling down from the Danger Room control room. This has all been a simulation, training for the real thing.
Ororo reminds him that they are still a team and share a common purpose, but to Wolverine, some of us are more purposeful than others, you dig? He's nothappy that everyone is just willing to go along with this whole "Magneto Rex" thing.
In New York, Charles has a meeting with the Special U.N. Advisor on Mutants, Dr. Alda Huxley, who actually intends to be around and do the job, unlike her predecessor -- Charles Xavier.
The Prof wants to know what's the deal with giving Magneto (a violent terrorist) his own country. Huxley wants to know what's the deal with Charles Xavier, nominally a powerless human, palling around with the X-Men when she arrived in the arctic.
This is where it becomes a little headache-inducing to try to figure out what is known about Charles -- the X-Men are known to exist, but he's avoided being tied to them, except when he is. And some people know he was Onslaught and some people know he's a mutant, but the information isn't widely available. It's just hard to keep track of who knows what at which level, which is why superheroes are normally very public and very private, and it's about time someone cut that knot.
Which of course isn't happening today.
Charles wheels away dissatisfied.
In the air above, Magneto prepares to arrive at his new homeland. When he sees news footage of one protester comparing him to a certain German Chancellor (and I don't mean Helmut Kohl) he loses his cool somewhat.
Back at the mansion, preparations are underway for Joseph's Celebration of Life. rogue is particularly in her feelings given the strong bond she had with with the Master of Magnetism's lookalike, and Gambit is in his feelings about that.
Several other X-Men have come to pay their respects as well, but Wolverine declines -- he never cared for Joseph, and isn't about to fake it out of some supposed "social convention."
Charles gives Joseph the hero's eulogy he deserves for, you know, saving the entire planet, using his powers to share the nobility of Joseph's final moments.
Which extends all the way down to South America where Sister Maria receives a psychic notification of Joseph's demise (also apparently, she's moved her orphanage from Guatemala to Brazil and now speaks Portuguese.)
After the funeral, several X-People go to confront Wolverine about his reckless "kill Magneto by any means necessary" plans. They come to something of an ideological loggerheads about it.
But before they can resolve the debate, they are interrupted by what else but a funny alien guy who whisks them away to dimensions unknown.
The debate will have to wait!
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| Surprising? Sure, but impossible? This is like the third or fourth time this has happened. |
Further Thoughts:
Not much to this one.
In the grand tradition of cooldown issues after a big event -- or just a long series of stories -- this is certainly one of them. It's nice that Joseph gets his due and that Rogue's complicated emotions are observed. They could have probably been forgiven for just skipping over all of it, but they did their best to make use of the material they have to work with.
So we throttle back and let the events of Magneto War breathe for a moment. The business of Magneto setting up shop in Genosha will be handled elsewhere as we abruptly shift gears to something else, back to somewhat normal superhero adventuring rather than getting into the weeds of geopolitics. It's a choice. What I like, however, is the hard push of Wolverine's conflict with the others, as he has his own perspective on Joseph, on Magneto, and on what the X-Men are and do.
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