X-MEN #112: A Call to Arms (Eve of Destruction Part Two)

Cyclops and Wolverine infiltrate Genosha

Originally Published May 2001

We begin in Genosha, where Magneto rallies the troops around the newly-obtained symbol of his new genetic war.

In the crowd but not necessarily among the adoring public is Amelia Voght, former paramour of Charles Xavirer and sometime Acolyte of Magneto, who never really wanted to be caught up in this deadly conflict of ideals. But as Rush sang, if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.

Below the streets of Hammer Bay, Cyclops tries a little tenderness.

He and Wolverine have arrived to join the resistance -- that is, the human side. Why are these famous mutant heroes aligning themselves with the former oppressors of Genosha? Well, maybe they just love an underdog. As bad as the people of Genosha were, they don't merit genetic cleansing. 

They rendezvous with Polaris, who has flipped from being the power behind Magneto's throne for whatever reason. Logan notes for our benefit that Scott is a changed man since his merging and disentanglement with Apocalypse. He's a little more in touch with his emotions, which might be good for his soul, but less so for his leadership capabilities.

The plan: get as many human refugees as they can to Genosha's coast where they can be evacuated. The transit route takes them through the sewer system, where our heroes knock out a meager amount of resistance from Magneto's agents...

...in the form of Blob, who has joined up surprisingly quickly since he was a member of an entirely different faction last week, and Random, whose presence, true to his name, is indeed somewhat arbitrary.

As they pass under Magneto's personal Nuremberg Rally, Cyclops notes the bitter irony that Magneto, once a victim of the Holocaust, is now preparing to visit the same level of atrocity on someone else. Wolverine opines that it's just human nature.

After Wolverine jokes that he's "going in" after the thousands of soldiers present and Cyclops maybe-seriously offers to back him up -- Logan asks Cyclops about his state of mind, what's going on behind that ruby quartz visor of his. Cyclops notes that in all their years together, he never pried into Wolverine's personal business so insistently, so what's the difference? Logan has an answer for that:

Thanks for sharing.

They encounter some members of the Homo Sapiens Liberation Army, who, despite their gratitude for trying to evac the hostages, would rather not bother, since the sick, wounded and dying are liabilities. Woof, with fellow humans like these, who needs mutant enemies?

Scott takes them out with another crazy bankshot.

Meanwhile, back in the states, the Blackbird takes off, carrying the secret weapon... a Z-list team of would-be X-Men who were recruited that morning!

Even "Z-List" is a bit kind. I'm not sure Paulie Provenzano belongs in the alphabet.

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Further Thoughts:

Sometimes I think, "Man, that Scott Lobdell can really write when he wants to." But then again, maybe it's just those big, contemplative Leinil F. Yu panels that make this issue feel like a tightly-coiled viper ready to strike. My conspiracy theory is that Yu had reached a point where he just wanted to get through the assignment with a minimum of effort, so he started making his panels as big and airy as possible, requiring less time at the drawing board. Whether that's true or not it has a positive effect on the mood, as the comic feels appropriately tense and thoughtful as we slide closer to the big showdown with Magneto.

This gives us lots of time to contemplate Cyclops in particular, and while the book ultimately doesn't give us a lot concrete to chew on -- there's a lot of saying Cyclops is different but less demonstrating -- it successfully conveys the idea that you are looking at a Scott Summers who is somehow different from how he was before, who has come through the other side of his ordeal with Apocalypse a changed man, maybe for the better and maybe for worse, but at any rate in a way that startles his normally-unflappable colleague.

It's a strong comic, and whatever I think about the mad dash toward this conflict with Magneto (and the silly-willy team of X-Men drafted to fight in it,) I keep thinking of something I've said before, how even a lot of bad X-Men stories are quality works because they are generally built on a solid foundation of themes and humanity that has been laid there by the creators that came before. In particular, Magneto's actions wouldn't have the kind of significance they do if Chris Claremont had not made him both Charles Xavier's former friend and a survivor of the Holocaust. 

In times like these, as always, I think about the genetic cleansing that is being committed on the Palestinian people today, and how its perpetrators trade their roots back to an atrocity that was done on them. Wolverine says it's "human nature" and he's not wrong, although it doesn't have to be. Holocaust survivors and their descendants are often the most vocal to speak out against the violence that is being done today, as are many adherents of the Jewish faith. What we call "human nature" is often just the nature of a few bad humans, inflicted on the rest of us, because it is inevitable that some will be bad, selfish, wicked, cruel, and unfeeling. The peoples of this world are not monoliths, nor are their fictional counterparts, nor mutants, nor does Magneto stand for any specific belief other than what Magneto is written to represent on today's comic page or tomorrow's. The world is a complicated, complicated place, and the X-Men comics are much better for engaging with that.