Astonishing X-Men #16 and #17
Who says that whining doesn’t pay off? Yesterday’s exercise has made the great good likeadeuce provide me with the latest Astonishing X-Men. I think stoic dignity is overrated. It also reminded me that I haven’t reviewed the previous issue yet, because I bought it in London and had no time etc. So, two squees for the price of one:
Firstly, re #16, the moose thing will never stop being funny. You think Joss is cruel to Scott, Emma etc? Nah, the one he’s really got it in for is Logan. Wolverine will never live that down. (And sure, Hank wouldn’t give him away, but you know, Hisako was treated to a looong while of Master James’ company now, and do you think she’ll keep quiet forever?) Also, when he called Hisako an “Oriental” it reminded me of a minor aspect of AXM which might or might not be connected to a reasonable criticism made of our Mr. Whedon - to wit, that in Firefly you have a culture which is supposed to have emerged from a mix of Chinese and Western/American, but no Asian actors in important speaking parts, though Simon and River Tam would have been the obvious choices (to cast with Aisan actors; well, I suppose Summer Glau has a non-Caucasian ancestor somewhere, given her last name). but Because it’s noticable that in AXM, his original human characters, i.e. the one he invented and added to the X-Men universe, are: Dr. Kavita Rao, Indian (and I might add a great sympathetic antagonist in the “Gifted” arc, because she’s presented as idealistic and no-nonsense at the same time, vide her dressing down Ord, and rapport with Hank), and Hisako, whom I really hope will be kept once Joss’ run is over. Hisako being Japanese ties into the way her mutant power expresses herself and was used to great effect in her exchange with Logan before Cassandra turned him into James again (which was also a good continuity use - even I with my spotty canon knowledge am aware comics!Logan spent significant time in Japan and I think was even married to a Japenese for a while). There is also Wing (white) who is the first one to die, and Agent Brand (white and either an interesting villain or an ambigous character with strong villainous tendencies, depending on your definition). No idea whether those were deliberate choices, but I noticed.
Anyway. Back to the story. I like how issue #16 prepares you for the big end relevation by the mirror sequence - sure, that is about Kitty’s big action moment as well, but it’s also foreshadowing by letting Emma ostensibly talk with her mirror image. And suddenly you think: we’ve seen Emma standing in front of windows an awful lot through Joss’ run, starting with the end of the Gifted arc. Sure, you observe people through windows, but what else do you do? You see yourself reflected in the glass. Your other self. Your doppelganger, as it were.
Said big revelation - Perfection throws up her disguise and reveals herself as The White Queen, looking exactly as Emma did when first introduced in the Dark Phoenix arc (as opposed to Emma’s current look) - is impossible to talk about without bringing in the next issue, yet another reason to be glad I could read it now. Earlier on, Emma tells Kitty the Hellfire Club currently consists of Cassandra Nova, Sebastian Shaw, Nagasonic Teenage Warhead and herself. No other. Of course, Emma could have simply been lying as to not give away Perfection’s presence, but I don’t think so, due to the way things play out in #17 and Cassandra’s words near the end which do make it clear Nagasonic and Shaw at the very least were in fact created by her and aren’t the genuine articles. So the big question is, who or what is Perfection? (I’ll stick with the name in order not to confuse anyone.) One could guess that all three - Perfection-as-the-White-Queen, Shaw and Nagasonic were taken from Emma’s mind by Cassandra. They all have an obvious connection to her - Nagasonic as has been pointed out (and as the girl herself mentions near the end of #17) is in fact dead, Emma’s student in Genosha whose dead body she was found with after Cassandra’s attack. Sebastian Shaw was her confederate in the Hellfire Club. The White Queen was who Emma used to be.
.
Except that I see a pointed difference between Perfection/The White Queen and the other two. Because Perfection does not submit to Cassandra’s authority. In the first issue of the current “Torn” arc, we saw Sebastian treating Perfection, not Cassandra, as leader. In #17, Perfection tells Cassandra “..and you are the one who has the most to loose, so don’t pretend you are in charge here”. Perfection also says she wouldn’t care if everyone perished, to which Cassandra replies with “everyone - even your, how shall I put it, better half?” While we see a panel - the only one in this issue - showing us “our” Emma currently trapped underground where Kitty left her, Perfection replies “her most of all”.
So. If Perfection isn’t Cassandra’s creation/reanimation, who is she then? Not Emma Frost. In the #16 cliffhanger, Perfection tells Kitty “...but Emma Frost was never a match for the White Queen!” On the other hand, we’re not dealing with a female version of Jekyll and Hyde here - the two exist at the same time, and we saw them interact.
(Which brings up another interesting question: in that little chat Emma had with Perfection before the mindfuck with Scott in #14, the only conversation between them where no one else is present, Perfection says Emma loves Scott Summers, Emma admits it, and then goes in. But where does Perfection go off to during that entire conversation? Because we didn’t see her walk away or disappear.)
One more thing: Cassandra says “you can’t imagine what it’s like to be trapped in that” - meaning the artficial body(trap) (now I’m downright glad I read “Imperial”, because I recognized it at once) Emma in “Imperial” tricked her to accept, and Perfection replies “of course I can”. So I propose we’re not dealing with a case of clones either. My current speculation ties back to the revelation at the start of the “Torn” arc - that Emma’s secondary mutation, her ability to turn into diamond form, which allowed her to survive Genosha, was created for her by Cassandra Nova for Cassandra’s own purposes. So, here’s my current guess: at that point, and perhaps in connection to the big genocide, a second entity was created, of Emma and Cassandra both - Perfection (a Cassandra derived name if ever there was one), The White Queen. Perfection is also what makes it possible for Cassandra to exist out of her current body, which is why Cassandra can’t just melt her.
While I’m speculating: in #16, we saw Blindfold communicating with someone telepathically once Emma was imprisoned by Kitty, saying “I heard you before, but I wasn’t sure it was you at first”. In #17, Blindfold again communicates, and then gives the reawakened Peter his “instructions”. And of course there is the big cliffhanger of Scott’s reentrance, about which more in a second.
So, further speculation: all this takes place once Perfection and Cassandra are both busy, first with brainwashing Kitty, then with the spectacle of Cassandra’s (current) body, retrieved by the brainwashed Kitty from Xavier’s vault. So, again, current guess: the person Blindfold is communicating with is Emma, who had to wait until this point when the two other (superior) psychics were occupied. Blindfold is the one who awakened Scott after Emma told her how.
Before I get to the final panel: two more issues. First, the whole brainwashing-Kitty-sequence. Which was Joss at his sadistic worst, as he’s wont to be with characters he loves. (It’s also interesting to compare this with the Emma/Scott mindfuck from #14 because I think it highlights a difference between Perfection and Emma - Emma dragged out all of Scott’s vulnerable points, but she did not hypnotize him or create a false reality for him. Perfection, otoh, basically does a Hard Times on Kitty (HT: DS9 episode in which O’Brien experiences twenty years in prison in his mind), and wow, is that false reality ever a master stroke. Also fascinating in regards to what it says about Kitty.
Standouts: the current X-Team - all of them, including Emma (note: Emma, not the White Queen) - is called her “crazy family” by Kitty. (Oh, and she - or Perfection - lets Scott call Emma “Ems”, which amuses me to no end.) The shape of Xavier looks female - i.e. like Cassandra - at first, then male, and it brings the first threat. All the X-Men are in uniform once they start to turn against Kitty, whereas they’re in “civilian” clothes when she’s still happy and unthreatened by them. Kitty’s way of threatening Peter.
Speaking of Kitty and Peter, the other big revelation from #16, that Colossus was the future “Destroyer of Worlds”, was an “of course” moment for me. Because Kitty and he were a happy couple the last few issues before the Hellfire Club/Cassandra struck. What do we know about happy couples? That’s right. Mind you, after what Perfection put Kitty through, I doubt she’ll be able to pick up her relationship with Peter where she left it off anyway. Yep. Whedonian sadism at work. Can’t wait for more!
The Ord-Danger team-up: you’ve got to love it when villain 1 pleads with villain 2 “help me save the world!” and absolutely means it. So we’ve got (nearly) all the players assembled, and Ord just wants to take out Peter Rasputin, but whom will Danger side with, ultimately? I’ve got a feeling Danger’s body might just be what Cassandra ends up with, either finally or for a while, unless Joss has permission by Marvel to kill her off.
And now, at last: Scott Summers makes a come-back. You know, after I got likeadeuce to read Astonishing which changed her mind on Scott, I teased her that this was because AXM Scott with his stubble and his issues and his semi-evil/highly ambigous girlfriend and the other dead/unavailable woman in his life resembles a certain W. W-P she’ s a weakness for. Well, Scott’s “as you said, I don’t have claws” moment definitely had Wesleyan overtones, down to the use of a gun. Also? I’m gratified I guessed right (look it up) that Scott, once he gets up, will be able to walk around without his visor after Emma’s, err, radical idea of a therapy for that one.
So: Scott shoots Perfection/ The White Queen. Which immediately begs the question.
a) Is she human or human enough to die from that one? Unless of course I’m completely wrong about my speculation as to her origins.
b) Will this affect Emma, and while we’re talking of Emma, is she still down in that cave? Granted, Kitty is out of comission, but there are some other possibilities of how she could get out.
c) Will it affect Cassandra? Again, see speculation as to why this might be the case. And if it does, it would make sense for Scott to take out Perfection first, because if Cassandra is unaffected, she could reduce him to a vegetable at once after.
d) Does Scott know Perfection is not Emma? On the one hand, he adresses her as “Emma”, on the other hand, and does have some practice in confronting girlfriends-gone-evil to get over the hesitation part by now, on the other, I do think she woke him up via Blindfold and that in any case, tactician that he is, and leaving his feelings for her completely aside, he would have taken out Cassandra first (Cassandra being the most powerful telepath the X-Men know of) if someone - i.e. Emma - wouldn’t have told him there was a very good reason to go after Perfection.
So, how long until the next issue?
Firstly, re #16, the moose thing will never stop being funny. You think Joss is cruel to Scott, Emma etc? Nah, the one he’s really got it in for is Logan. Wolverine will never live that down. (And sure, Hank wouldn’t give him away, but you know, Hisako was treated to a looong while of Master James’ company now, and do you think she’ll keep quiet forever?) Also, when he called Hisako an “Oriental” it reminded me of a minor aspect of AXM which might or might not be connected to a reasonable criticism made of our Mr. Whedon - to wit, that in Firefly you have a culture which is supposed to have emerged from a mix of Chinese and Western/American, but no Asian actors in important speaking parts, though Simon and River Tam would have been the obvious choices (to cast with Aisan actors; well, I suppose Summer Glau has a non-Caucasian ancestor somewhere, given her last name). but Because it’s noticable that in AXM, his original human characters, i.e. the one he invented and added to the X-Men universe, are: Dr. Kavita Rao, Indian (and I might add a great sympathetic antagonist in the “Gifted” arc, because she’s presented as idealistic and no-nonsense at the same time, vide her dressing down Ord, and rapport with Hank), and Hisako, whom I really hope will be kept once Joss’ run is over. Hisako being Japanese ties into the way her mutant power expresses herself and was used to great effect in her exchange with Logan before Cassandra turned him into James again (which was also a good continuity use - even I with my spotty canon knowledge am aware comics!Logan spent significant time in Japan and I think was even married to a Japenese for a while). There is also Wing (white) who is the first one to die, and Agent Brand (white and either an interesting villain or an ambigous character with strong villainous tendencies, depending on your definition). No idea whether those were deliberate choices, but I noticed.
Anyway. Back to the story. I like how issue #16 prepares you for the big end relevation by the mirror sequence - sure, that is about Kitty’s big action moment as well, but it’s also foreshadowing by letting Emma ostensibly talk with her mirror image. And suddenly you think: we’ve seen Emma standing in front of windows an awful lot through Joss’ run, starting with the end of the Gifted arc. Sure, you observe people through windows, but what else do you do? You see yourself reflected in the glass. Your other self. Your doppelganger, as it were.
Said big revelation - Perfection throws up her disguise and reveals herself as The White Queen, looking exactly as Emma did when first introduced in the Dark Phoenix arc (as opposed to Emma’s current look) - is impossible to talk about without bringing in the next issue, yet another reason to be glad I could read it now. Earlier on, Emma tells Kitty the Hellfire Club currently consists of Cassandra Nova, Sebastian Shaw, Nagasonic Teenage Warhead and herself. No other. Of course, Emma could have simply been lying as to not give away Perfection’s presence, but I don’t think so, due to the way things play out in #17 and Cassandra’s words near the end which do make it clear Nagasonic and Shaw at the very least were in fact created by her and aren’t the genuine articles. So the big question is, who or what is Perfection? (I’ll stick with the name in order not to confuse anyone.) One could guess that all three - Perfection-as-the-White-Queen, Shaw and Nagasonic were taken from Emma’s mind by Cassandra. They all have an obvious connection to her - Nagasonic as has been pointed out (and as the girl herself mentions near the end of #17) is in fact dead, Emma’s student in Genosha whose dead body she was found with after Cassandra’s attack. Sebastian Shaw was her confederate in the Hellfire Club. The White Queen was who Emma used to be.
.
Except that I see a pointed difference between Perfection/The White Queen and the other two. Because Perfection does not submit to Cassandra’s authority. In the first issue of the current “Torn” arc, we saw Sebastian treating Perfection, not Cassandra, as leader. In #17, Perfection tells Cassandra “..and you are the one who has the most to loose, so don’t pretend you are in charge here”. Perfection also says she wouldn’t care if everyone perished, to which Cassandra replies with “everyone - even your, how shall I put it, better half?” While we see a panel - the only one in this issue - showing us “our” Emma currently trapped underground where Kitty left her, Perfection replies “her most of all”.
So. If Perfection isn’t Cassandra’s creation/reanimation, who is she then? Not Emma Frost. In the #16 cliffhanger, Perfection tells Kitty “...but Emma Frost was never a match for the White Queen!” On the other hand, we’re not dealing with a female version of Jekyll and Hyde here - the two exist at the same time, and we saw them interact.
(Which brings up another interesting question: in that little chat Emma had with Perfection before the mindfuck with Scott in #14, the only conversation between them where no one else is present, Perfection says Emma loves Scott Summers, Emma admits it, and then goes in. But where does Perfection go off to during that entire conversation? Because we didn’t see her walk away or disappear.)
One more thing: Cassandra says “you can’t imagine what it’s like to be trapped in that” - meaning the artficial body(trap) (now I’m downright glad I read “Imperial”, because I recognized it at once) Emma in “Imperial” tricked her to accept, and Perfection replies “of course I can”. So I propose we’re not dealing with a case of clones either. My current speculation ties back to the revelation at the start of the “Torn” arc - that Emma’s secondary mutation, her ability to turn into diamond form, which allowed her to survive Genosha, was created for her by Cassandra Nova for Cassandra’s own purposes. So, here’s my current guess: at that point, and perhaps in connection to the big genocide, a second entity was created, of Emma and Cassandra both - Perfection (a Cassandra derived name if ever there was one), The White Queen. Perfection is also what makes it possible for Cassandra to exist out of her current body, which is why Cassandra can’t just melt her.
While I’m speculating: in #16, we saw Blindfold communicating with someone telepathically once Emma was imprisoned by Kitty, saying “I heard you before, but I wasn’t sure it was you at first”. In #17, Blindfold again communicates, and then gives the reawakened Peter his “instructions”. And of course there is the big cliffhanger of Scott’s reentrance, about which more in a second.
So, further speculation: all this takes place once Perfection and Cassandra are both busy, first with brainwashing Kitty, then with the spectacle of Cassandra’s (current) body, retrieved by the brainwashed Kitty from Xavier’s vault. So, again, current guess: the person Blindfold is communicating with is Emma, who had to wait until this point when the two other (superior) psychics were occupied. Blindfold is the one who awakened Scott after Emma told her how.
Before I get to the final panel: two more issues. First, the whole brainwashing-Kitty-sequence. Which was Joss at his sadistic worst, as he’s wont to be with characters he loves. (It’s also interesting to compare this with the Emma/Scott mindfuck from #14 because I think it highlights a difference between Perfection and Emma - Emma dragged out all of Scott’s vulnerable points, but she did not hypnotize him or create a false reality for him. Perfection, otoh, basically does a Hard Times on Kitty (HT: DS9 episode in which O’Brien experiences twenty years in prison in his mind), and wow, is that false reality ever a master stroke. Also fascinating in regards to what it says about Kitty.
Standouts: the current X-Team - all of them, including Emma (note: Emma, not the White Queen) - is called her “crazy family” by Kitty. (Oh, and she - or Perfection - lets Scott call Emma “Ems”, which amuses me to no end.) The shape of Xavier looks female - i.e. like Cassandra - at first, then male, and it brings the first threat. All the X-Men are in uniform once they start to turn against Kitty, whereas they’re in “civilian” clothes when she’s still happy and unthreatened by them. Kitty’s way of threatening Peter.
Speaking of Kitty and Peter, the other big revelation from #16, that Colossus was the future “Destroyer of Worlds”, was an “of course” moment for me. Because Kitty and he were a happy couple the last few issues before the Hellfire Club/Cassandra struck. What do we know about happy couples? That’s right. Mind you, after what Perfection put Kitty through, I doubt she’ll be able to pick up her relationship with Peter where she left it off anyway. Yep. Whedonian sadism at work. Can’t wait for more!
The Ord-Danger team-up: you’ve got to love it when villain 1 pleads with villain 2 “help me save the world!” and absolutely means it. So we’ve got (nearly) all the players assembled, and Ord just wants to take out Peter Rasputin, but whom will Danger side with, ultimately? I’ve got a feeling Danger’s body might just be what Cassandra ends up with, either finally or for a while, unless Joss has permission by Marvel to kill her off.
And now, at last: Scott Summers makes a come-back. You know, after I got likeadeuce to read Astonishing which changed her mind on Scott, I teased her that this was because AXM Scott with his stubble and his issues and his semi-evil/highly ambigous girlfriend and the other dead/unavailable woman in his life resembles a certain W. W-P she’ s a weakness for. Well, Scott’s “as you said, I don’t have claws” moment definitely had Wesleyan overtones, down to the use of a gun. Also? I’m gratified I guessed right (look it up) that Scott, once he gets up, will be able to walk around without his visor after Emma’s, err, radical idea of a therapy for that one.
So: Scott shoots Perfection/ The White Queen. Which immediately begs the question.
a) Is she human or human enough to die from that one? Unless of course I’m completely wrong about my speculation as to her origins.
b) Will this affect Emma, and while we’re talking of Emma, is she still down in that cave? Granted, Kitty is out of comission, but there are some other possibilities of how she could get out.
c) Will it affect Cassandra? Again, see speculation as to why this might be the case. And if it does, it would make sense for Scott to take out Perfection first, because if Cassandra is unaffected, she could reduce him to a vegetable at once after.
d) Does Scott know Perfection is not Emma? On the one hand, he adresses her as “Emma”, on the other hand, and does have some practice in confronting girlfriends-gone-evil to get over the hesitation part by now, on the other, I do think she woke him up via Blindfold and that in any case, tactician that he is, and leaving his feelings for her completely aside, he would have taken out Cassandra first (Cassandra being the most powerful telepath the X-Men know of) if someone - i.e. Emma - wouldn’t have told him there was a very good reason to go after Perfection.
So, how long until the next issue?