rXtrospective: Sins of the Father

Welcome back to the (apparently) bimonthly dive into the lives of the X-Men of one decade ago that I still, for some reason, insist on calling rXtrospective! This time, the focus is on X-Men Legacy #211-214 by Mike Carey (script), Scot Eaton (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Frank D'Armata (colors), and Cory Petit (letters). In addition, Brandon Peterson, Mike Deodato Jr., Ken Lashley, John Dell, Dave Meikis, Paul Neary, John Rauch, Rai Beredo, and Edgar Delgado all contributed artistic talents to one or more issues during this story.

I have to start by pointing out the obvious, most disappointing thing about this story; this is not an X-Men book. This is a Professor X book. Since I'm trying to cover these comics semi-chronologically, this story also takes place shortly after the events that led to Cyclops disbanding the team, so I know that technically there are no X-Men. Despite this fact, as I already described in the last rXtrospective, the Uncanny X-Men series still managed to tell a story about "former" members of the X-Men working together. This series makes no attempt to do so. There is one protagonist in these four issues, and it is Charles Xavier.

Having said that, this is actually a pretty good story. After my initial disappointment at the realization that this supposed team book is really a solo adventure, what I got was an interesting look at Xavier's past, and an unlikely but entertaining team-up. Had this book been called Professor X, I would have been nothing but pleased with the result. Obviously, a book called Professor X is going to sell far less than a book with X-Men on the cover, so I guess I understand the misleading book title.

"But Keith, didn't Xavier die at the end of Messiah CompleX? Isn't that, along with the destruction of the School for Gifted Youngsters, the reason Cyclops disbanded the X-Men in the first place?" Good reader, you are absolutely correct. Kind of. Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men believe Professor X to be dead because they saw Bishop shoot him in the head right in front of them. In a world of time travel, magic, and super powers, however, even that doesn't mean he actually died. The villain Exodus teleported Xavier's body away immediately after his apparent murder and used his never-well-defined powers to rebuild Professor X's brain. This worked surprisingly well, with the only downside being some memory loss.

And that's where we find the professor at the start of this story: Sins of the Father. He is trying to regain his memories by traveling to the location of his father's death. Brian Xavier worked at a nuclear facility in Alamogordo New Mexico along with Kurt Marco (who became Xavier's step-dad after Brian's passing), Alexander Ryking, Irene Adler, and Nathan Milbury, or that's what he was led to believe. In actuality, the facility was a secret genetics laboratory run by Milbury.

Xavier traveled to a hospital to visit Ryking's son, Carter, who was institutionalized there. After reading Carter's mind, looking for memories of his own childhood from the vantage point of an old friend, Xavier made a shocking discovery. For some reason, Carter was able to see something about Milbury that was invisible to the other children at the lab: a red diamond on his forehead.

Xavier recognizes immediately that Milbury must have been the alias of Mr. Sinister. He intends to come back the next day to visit Carter and get more information, but that night Carter dies suddenly and mysteriously, as "every blood cell in his brain simultaneously burst." WHAT!?

That same night, assassins converge on Xavier's motel, only to be thwarted by the unexpected arrival of Gambit! (See, this is a team book after all!) Gambit's connection to the assassin's guild in New Orleans had allowed him to discover that a bounty had been placed on the Professor's head. Even though Gambit had believed Xavier to already be dead, he was pleasantly surprised to find Xavier alive and well. He shows Xavier the hit list, and the Professor sees that his name appears on the list along with his step-brother Cain Marko, Carter Ryking, and supervillain/deposed leader of the Hellfire Club Sebastian Shaw. Confused by Shaw's presence on the list, he first rushes to the hospital to discover Ryking's grisly fate.

Sensing that this is all connected to Sinister's work with his fathers, Xavier and Gambit head to the Alamogordo facility. They are ambushed by more assassins on the way, and this time it coincides with a severe mental attack on Xavier. While Gambit is occupied fighting assassins, a semi-conscious Xavier is captured.

Gambit is saved, however, by the unlikely appearance of none other than Sebastian Shaw! Shaw had been investigating a strange object his father had left him, which also led him to Alomogordo. He was unaware of the hit-list with his name on it, but once Gambit shared that information with him Shaw was more than happy for a temporary Marvel Team-Up.

Here's where the plot twist and climax come in, so

SPOILER ALERT!

Anyway, Charles was brought before the woman who hired the assassins: Amanda Mueller! Wait, who? Apparently, Mueller is a mutant with the power of immortality, and the first mutant Sinister ever met. The problem is that she still ages; she gets old, but doesn't die. She inspired Sinister's research into immortality, and now she is planning to use his research to regain her youth.

Apparently, Sinister, as Nathan Milbury, had employed Sebastian Shaw's father in rounding up people who had potential to pass the X-gene on to their offspring. Brian Xavier, Karl Marko, and Alexander Ryking were all recruited for this reason. Milbury then subjected their children (including Shaw's) to a series of injections with the goal of subtly rewriting their DNA to include a duplicate of Sinister himself. Upon his death, his Chronos machine would activate and trigger the dormant DNA in one of the children, causing them to transform, body and mind, into Mr. Sinister.

When Sinister died toward the end of Messiah CompleX, the machine began preparations to trigger the dormant DNA. First, it targeted Sebastian Shaw, but he was protected by a device his father had built. Next it targeted Cain Marko, the Juggernaut, but his mystical helmet protected him from all mental attacks. Third, Carter Ryking was targeted, but he was no longer a mutant and his lack of an X-gene caused his dormant DNA to malfunction, resulting in his gruesome demise. Last, the machine targeted Xavier, and was the cause of the mental attack which subdued him during the assassin ambush.

Amanda Mueller had attempted to assassinate all of Sinister's intended host bodies and cause his machine to target her for transformation. She had secretly altered her own DNA with a copy of Sinister's, but with one major improvement; she would retain her own mind. After doing her best villain monologue, she shot Xavier several times in the chest and awaited the next cycle of the machine to target her. What she didn't count on was that the mental attack on Xavier during the ambush had already worked.

Gambit and Sebastian Shaw arrive just in time to see Professor X completely under control of Sinister's implanted DNA. They are quickly subdued by a combination of Sinister and Xavier's powers, and Mueller is the next target of Professor Sinister's attack. Suddenly, Xavier's mind begins to fight back. His body is paralyzed as a battle for control takes place in his mind. Gambit and Sebastian Shaw take this opportunity to use a unique team-up move. Gambit has the power to charge any object with kinetic energy. Shaw has the power to transform kinetic energy into strength. Knowing this, Gambit charges Shaw's body with kinetic energy, which Shaw unleashes as raw power, destroying Sinister's machine. Without the aid of the machine, Sinister's battle for control over Xavier ends, and Mueller slinks away in the shadows.

His goal complete, Shaw takes his leave before the heroes decide to turn on him. Gambit offers to go have drinks and catch up with Xavier, but Xavier refuses; he needs to talk with Cyclops as soon as possible.

And then there's the epilogue, which I dare not omit. We see Shaw having dinner and describing this latest adventure to a mystery companion. He remarks how funny it is that this plot for immortality was planned so long ago, long before Sinister mastered the art of cloning, which would have rendered his need for host bodies obsolete. Only then do we see who his companion is:

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this story. I do not find Professor Xavier to be the most compelling character, but I think the intrigue of the story, combined with Sinister's ridiculous but terrifying plot and an unexpected but effective team-up made for a very good story. This was probably my favorite of the three that I've covered so far, since the only complaints I have are the X-Men Legacy title and the coloring conventions of the time. (Why is everything and everyone so shiny!?) I would recommend checking this story out if you are a fan of any of the four major characters here: Xavier, Gambit, Sinister, and Sebastian Shaw.

Next time, on rXtrospective: