rXtrospective: X-Men Divided We Stand

It’s a week late, but I’m finally back with another edition of rXtrospective! This week we have only 2 issues to dive into, but a whopping 10 stories! That’s because this week I’m talking about X-Men: Divided We Stand #’s 1 & 2. This is a two-part anthology series exploring the immediate aftermath of Messiah CompleX as it relates to some of the X-Men who aren't getting attention in the ongoing X-books. I’ll recap all 10 stories briefly, discuss my impression of each of them individually, then express my opinion of the series as a whole.

First up, we have “Danger Room,” by Mike Carey and Brandon Peterson, with colors by Justin Ponsor. Cory Petit does the letters for this story, as well as the next four. This story features Cannonball returning to his hometown right after the dissolution of the X-Men. He was previously on the X-Men roster led by Rogue, who was betrayed when the seemingly reformed criminals on the team, Mystique, Lady Mastermind, Sabretooth and Gambit betrayed the rest of the team at the behest of Mr. Sinister. Also, during Messiah CompleX, his younger brother Jay was murdered by the mutant-hating Purifiers, so he’s been having a very rough time lately.

Cannonball, AKA Sam Guthrie, is a member of a very large Kentucky family. There is apparently a rival family in the area, the Cabots, who are essentially the Capulets to Cannonball’s Montagues. At Blue Grass Airport he’s greeted by his sister, Paige (another former X-Man), and immediately decides to take a detour to a bar frequented by members of the Cabot family. After one drink, three Cabots promptly begin, and lose, a bar fight with Cannonball. When Paige confronts him, asking why he was compelled to go looking for trouble, Cannonball fires back at her that just because he’s no longer an X-Man, he can’t afford to get soft. People will always hate and fear mutants, and he won’t be caught off-guard. Stating that coming home was a mistake, he flies off to parts unknown.

This story felt slightly out of character for Sam, who generally holds himself together under pressure. There are many X-Men for whom a bar fight seems a natural way to relieve stress, but Sam has never been one to look for trouble for trouble’s sake. He also has been shown to care deeply for his family, so leaving without even visiting seemed strange. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that his grief over his brother’s death made it too difficult to face his mother. Unfortunately, his death is never mentioned by either Guthrie in this story. It’s a glaring omission that would have helped justify a fairly out-of-character Sam story.

Next, we have “Home,” by Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, and Sana Takeda. This story follows young X-Man Nehzno as he returns home from the X-Mansion to Wakanda. His mutant power gives him great strength, but causes him great pain and may eventually kill him. He wears vibranium tattoos that keep his powers in check. A rather serious teen, he never felt like he fit in with the fun-loving young mutants on his team.

Upon Nehzno’s return, he is reminded that he is treated as an outsider in his own country. His father was Russian, and the xenophobia common among Wakandans’ carries over to distrust of the children of outsiders. The Black Panther and Storm (who is currently the queen of Wakanda) try to comfort him, but most Wakandans won’t be seen with him. A small boy tries speaking to him until his mother, across the street, yells at him for doing so. Running back across the street, he doesn’t see an oncoming truck. Nehzno intervenes, using his power to stop the truck before it collides with the boy. Ungrateful, the boy’s mother grabs him away from Nehzno, who suddenly realizes that this woman is actually his own mother. She quickly corrects him, clutching her younger son and stating that he is no son of hers. Later, Nehzno reflects on his time at the mansion, and how his frivolous teammates always accepted him and included him better than his actual family ever has.

I liked this story a lot more than the Cannonball one. Despite Nehzno’s stoic nature, I really felt for him and the emotional pain he was going through. It was also cool to see early art by Sana Takeda! I love her work on Monstress, and while I think her coloring has come along way (everything is a little too bright and shiny here) I think that her ability to convey emotion through facial expressions added a lot to this story.

Third, we have “Blend In,” by Scottie Young, with Jean-Francois Beaulieu helping with colors. This story is entirely a conversation between veteran X-Man/Alpha Flight member Northstar and 16-year-old/former-student Anole. Anole is a mutant that can not pass as human, with green, scaly skin and a gigantic deformed right arm.

It has been three months since the X-Men disbanded and Anole has been unresponsive to the attempts of any of the former X-Men to contact him. Cyclops asks Northstar to find and talk to him, probably because Northstar is one of the few mutants who can travel cross-country at supersonic speeds. Cyclops also likely contacted Northstar because Anole is gay and Northstar was the only openly gay adult X-Man, hoping that Anole would listen better to someone who shared similar experiences. Unfortunately, Northstar has never been the sensitive type. He came expecting Anole to express frustration with being thrust back into human life as a gay mutant, but his tone is more aggressive than comforting. To Northstar’s surprise, Anole’s woes come not from his minority status, but from PTSD. After numerous attacks on the mansion while he attended school there, including the death and maiming of many of his teammates, he had extreme difficulty adjusting to civilian life. A simple dropped coffee mug resulted in him attacking his own father because he thought he was under attack. He tells Northstar that he’s running away from home, and Northstar, continuing to show poor judgement, allows him to.

This is not the only X-Men story to address the ill-effects of children living the lives of X-Men, but it’s infrequent enough that I am always glad to see the subject revisited. This is a short story showing a realistic conversation between a damaged teen and a cocky adult who honestly has no business mentoring children. The characterization is on point, and Anole’s unique physiology lends itself well to Young’s exaggerated art style. Good stuff.

On to number four, “Belong,” by Chris Yost and David LaFuente with colors by Guru eFX. Julian Keller, one of Nehzno and Anole’s former class/teammates, wakes up from a coma he was in ever since he was nearly killed by Lady Deathstrike during Messiah CompleX.

Emma Frost is present when Julian wakes up and gives him the bad news that the X-Men, and the school, are no more. Julian is furious and feels completely abandoned. With no more friends, no team, and no family, he searches for one man who can help give his life meaning again: Magneto. Magneto lost his powers as a result of the Decimation that erased the X-gene from most of the world’s mutants, but Julian still sees him as both a mutant-rights leader, and as the X-Men’s greatest enemy. Magneto reveals that he will not mentor Julian, because he knows that Julian is only coming to him out of a perverse desire to hurt those he loves most. Neither will he kill him, because with the reduced number of mutants in the world Magneto could not bring himself to reduce that number further. Magneto leaves Julian alone and directionless.

This story serves mostly as a “previously on X-Men” for anyone who didn’t read Messiah CompleX, and there’s not much plot or character development. Julian ends the story as he began it; he’s still a lonely, angry, directionless teenager. The best part is getting a brief moment with Magneto, reminding us that he’s still out there, and giving us a glimpse of his current head space. Even powerless, he is fully in control of his conversation with an extremely powerful telekinetic teen, but he’s not interested in either pointless violence or training Julian as a mentor.

Story number five: “Migas,” by Matt Fraction and Jamie McKelvie, with colors by Guru eFX. This story shows a disguised Nightcrawler confronting Scalphunter, one of Mr. Sinister’s Marauders, in a diner in the middle of nowhere out in the American West. Scalphunter is the latest of a series of clones with the same name, memories, and powers, all of whom work for, and were created by, Mr. Sinister.

Disguised as a Catholic priest, Nightcrawler repeatedly orders migas from Scalphunter, who is the sole cook and presumably owner of the diner. During his meals, he remarks on Scalphunter’s ability to create an identical meal every day, musing on whether or not there can be art in something that is so perfectly, almost mechanically duplicated. He is obviously trying to get a rise out of Scalphunter by alluding to his status as a clone. Eventually, he attacks Scalphunter in his trailer, saying that he originally tracked him there with the intent to kill him. He has decided that doing so would be pointless; there will just be another identical clone to replace this Scalphunter. He remarks that this Scalphunter will live an empty, meaningless life, unless he chooses to see the divine in his own existence. Only through the Lord can Scalphunter find meaning. He then leaves, and the next time we see Scalphunter he is wearing a gold cross on a necklace around his neck.

Chronologically, this is most likely the last story of these ten. Since this takes place in the American West, I assume Nightcrawler has already returned from his European vacation with Wolverine and Colossus. This story might actually take place after he meets up with Cyclops in San Francisco, a story we haven’t covered yet. My primary reason to think this story takes place so far after the rest of these is that it acts as a teaser for Matt Fraction’s upcoming run on Uncanny X-Men. This is not the last time we will see Scalphunter’s diner…

I really like the characterization of Nightcrawler here, as well as the philosophical musing on the nature of duplication. Although I may not agree with Nightcrawler’s eventual conclusion, it is one-hundred percent in line with his character to view this encounter with a religious and literary lens.

Six brings us into the next issue of the series, and a new letterer. These five stories are all lettered by Joe Caramagna. This particular story, “Lights Out,” is by Mike Carey and Scot Eaton, with inks by Andrew Hennessy and Frank D’Armata on colors. This story shows Henry McCoy, AKA the Beast, revisiting the destroyed mansion for both scientific and sentimental reasons.

It begins with Wolverine dropping him off at the ruined mansion. With Wolverine still being near the mansion, I think it makes sense for this story to take place immediately before he leaves to hunt down Mystique in his own book, and then join Nightcrawler and Colossus in Europe. Beast delves into the somewhat intact sub-basement to find his old research and other records the X-Men kept. He decides to destroy all the records pertaining to deceased X-Men, out of respect, and then salvage any of his own research that needed to survive beyond the existence of the X-Men. Disturbingly, he discovers Martha Johansson in the basement. Martha was a student at Xaviers who existed only as a brain in a high-tech jar. She is alive, and communicates telepathically to McCoy, who promises to move her somewhere safe. How awful her existence must be. Back upstairs, he collects and potentially dangerous material (such as Sentinel parts) and finds the ruined remains of his personal belongings. As he prepared to leave, he takes one last acrobatic exercise in the remains of the Danger Room before hanging a sign that says “NO ADMITTANCE” on the front gate to the mansion.

Much like the Nehzno story, this one is introspective and melancholy. It does a great job of showing McCoy alternately waxing nostalgic for the mansion’s former glory days, and scientifically preparing the grounds to be permanently abandoned. It’s another story of a stoic man trying to deal with his emotions and memories, but doubles as a trip down memory lane for the loyal X-Men reader.

Our seventh story focuses exclusively on Illyana Rasputin. “Planting Seeds” is by C.B. Cebulski and David Yardin, with colors by John Rauch. Illyana, believed to be dead, has resurfaced in the limbo dimension as her corrupted alter-ego Darkchylde.

In Limbo, Illyana reminisces about her innocent youth, before she was corrupted by the demon Belasco. Missing her soul, she is at a crossroads. She knows she can complete her soul by absorbing pieces of the souls of four other people (she already has one), but worries about what sacrifices she would have to make to do so. She decides that, despite her demonic appearance, she needs to be with her brother Colossus and her friend Kitty Pryde, and that somehow they will help her return her soul without becoming further corrupted. Teleporting to the mansion, she is horrified to see that it is completely destroyed. She returns to Limbo, determined to steal the souls of anyone who has harmed her or her loved ones.

This is barely a story, and mostly exists to remind readers of Illyana’s past, and where we saw her most recently. The strangest thing in the story, to me, is the way Illyana constantly speaks to herself, mostly spouting exposition. It’s especially strange, seeing that the story goes back and forth between using narrative captions to show what she’s thinking, and then returning to speech bubbles that she appears to be speaking out loud. There is no discernible reason for what appears in the captions and what appears as bubbles.

Eighth we have “The Hole,” by Andy Schmidt and Frazer Irving. This story shows Havok, who is the current leader of the intergalactic pirates known as the Starjammers. Unfortunately for them, all of the Starjammers are currently imprisoned in cells on the bottom of an alien ocean by Havok’s brother, Vulcan, current Emperor of the Shi’ar.

The story opens with Havok cowering in his cell, trying to ignore the screams of his compatriots, especially Polaris, his on-again/off-again girlfriend/fiancé/teammate. Suddenly, his captor’s face appears on the wall-screen. Vulcan gloats as he recounts the events of Messiah CompleX to Havok, including the discovery and loss of the first new mutant and ending with the news that not only are the X-Men disbanded, but Professor Xavier is (apparently) dead. Havok is initially in despair, but then begins laughing. He explains that this new mutant that was found, even though she was later lost, proves that the mutant race will live on. This new hope has given Havok what he needs to persevere, and he vows to eventually free himself and get revenge on Vulcan.

This might be my favorite story in both issues. First of all, the art is fantastic. Frazer Irving displays Havok’s anguish and eventual determination beautifully. Second, despite devoting most of the story’s time to recapping Messiah CompleX again, (I guess they wanted to have one story in each issue that did that.) this story makes Vulcan terrifying, Havok’s situation seem hopeless, and his final act of defiance feel cathartic. A+

Our penultimate story focuses on Forge and is called “Idée Fixe.” It’s by Duane Swierczynski and Chris Burnham, with Nathan Fairbairn on colors. In Messiah CompleX, Forge was attacked by Bishop, who was determined to kill the new baby mutant to protect the future. In the attack, Forge suffered a fairly major head injury.

This story focuses on Forge’s obsession with recreating the time machine technology brought to the past by Cable. Due to his injury, he is having incredible difficulty with the material, but also can’t stop thinking about it. After making some headway, he is attacked again by Bishop, who lost his right arm to a mutant-hunting monster during Messiah CompleX. When Forge regains consciousness, he sees that Bishop stole a powerful prosthetic arm and everything Forge had left of the time machine, along with all of his time research. Being unable to pursue the time machine proves to be a blessing in disguise. Forge begins concocting plans for numerous other inventions and gets to work.

This story primarily serves as a primer for the Cable series that began right after Messiah CompleX that show’s Bishop’s pursuit of Cable through time. Sparse on story, this chapter does a good job of getting us inside Forge’s head and experiencing the way he thinks.

Finally, we end the series with “The Sun Also Sets,” by C.B. Cebulski and David LaFuente, with Christina Strain on colors. This story features depowered mutant and former teacher at the mansion Dani Moonstar and her former student Surge. Dani is at her home in Colorado when Surge makes a surprise appearance.

While Julian Keller’s lack of direction led him to seek out Magneto, Surge’s similar desperation led her to seek out her former teacher. After Surge recovers from a much needed nap (she presumably ran all the way from New York to Colorado) she vents to Dani about how no matter what the X-Men do, things keep getting worse. Dani explains that pain is a necessary part of healing, that life is a constant cycle, and that X-Men should be prepared to use that pain when necessary. She brings Surge to a scenic view of the valley during sunrise to show her the view that gives her hope and keeps her going. Surge responds with the titular line, “But there’s one thing you’re forgetting. The sun also sets.

Sadly, Cebulski did not wow me with either story in this collection. Dani’s supposedly motivational monologue didn’t really make much sense, and the message I think she was trying to get across seemed at odds with how I expected her to advise her students. Specifically, Dani seems to suggest inflicting pain on your enemies as a way to deal with your own suffering, which seems out of character. In general, the message of this story seems less like a life lesson, and more like a lesson in storytelling; characters are much more compelling if we make them suffer before they eventually triumph. This may be true in fiction, but it’s terrible life advice, even for a superhero. Oddly enough, this story doesn’t follow its own advice. It’s just one long conversation with no stakes.

So there you have it: ten stories from two issues that took me much longer to write about than I expected. Overall, I recommend these issues. The individual quality is kind of all-over-the-place, but it’s cool to get little glimpses into how major events affect characters who may not the the spotlight of major books.

Next time, on rXtrospective: