Sinister Neglect Credits: John Francis Moore (writer), Steve Epting (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Starkings/Comicraft (lettering), Glynis Oliver (colorist)
Summary
Cyclops, Havok, Northstar, and Aurora track down escapees from Sinister’s pens. As Cyclops fights their leader, Havok comes from behind and kills her, telling Cyclops he’s gone soft. Sinister watches the events from his hidden lab inside a giant statue of Apocalypse , which took the place of the Statue of Liberty years ago. Havok meets with McCoy, called “The Beast” by the prisoners, to discuss Cyclops’ recent personality change. The Bedlam Brothers join Havok for an evening out at Angel’s nightclub, Heaven, where they later stop a human insurgent. Backstage, Havok continues his illegal affair with the human lounge singer, Scarlet McKenzie. When they return home, Cyclops asks his fellow Prelates to help him break into the missing Sinister’s private lab. They discover that Sinister trashed all of his equipment and extensive research data before abruptly leaving. With Sinister gone, Cyclops reluctantly takes command. Meanwhile, Sinister sets off an auto-destruct sequence in his hidden lab inside the statue of Apocalypse.
Continuity Notes
The continuity between the various titles gets dodgy with this issue. An enraged Apocalypse already discovered Sinister’s trashed lab in X-Men Alpha. A much calmer Apocalypse received news that Sinister was gone from Rex during a brief scene in Astonishing X-Men #1. In Weapon X #1, Cyclops reports to Apocalypse that Sinister is gone and has likely turned against him. Weapon X #1 explicitly takes place before this issue because Havok’s mishap with the Sentinel hand is referenced here. Actually, Apocalypse is told about Sinister’s defection and Havok’s incident with the Sentinel in the same scene in Weapon X #1, which makes this issue’s ending even harder to fit into continuity.
The Pens are prison camps that provide “genetic stockpile of human and mutant alike”. Sinister explains that Apocalypse wants the next generation of homo superior to be created “not by accident, but by design”.
The Infinites are created with a “patchwork protein of mutant DNA” developed by breaking mutants down to “protoplasmic soup”. Havok comments to McCoy that they can’t survive for more than a year.
Cannonball and his sister, Elizabeth Guthrie, are revealed to be guards in the Pens. Sinister says that their sister, Husk, refused his “sponsorship”. Elizabeth Guthrie is described as a “teenaged Amazon” who can increase her size and mass. I have no idea if she showed up in the regular continuity, but I’m afraid to think about what Chuck Austen might’ve done with her.
The mutant Bedlam Brothers, Terrence and Jesse Aaronson, appear for the first time. Terrence can create mental confusion in others while Jesse psionically disrupts machinery.
The escapees from the beginning of this issue are Artemis, Phantazia, Pyro, Avalanche, and Newt. Artemis is apparently this world’s version of Callisto, although she seems to have chameleon powers here (EDIT - actually, didn't Callisto show up in X-Calibre?). Pyro is shown with the ability to create flames, which contradicts his ability only to control fire in the mainstream continuity (a fact the movies surprisingly got right). Since all of the characters have been experimented on by McCoy, it’s possible that his powers have been altered, though (it’s established here that creating the fire hurts him, so it’s possible that Moore did this intentionally). Newt resembles Jack Kirby’s original Toad design, which implies that the Toad in X-Man might not be Mortimer Toynbee (the X-Man character more closely resembles one of the new Dark Riders introduced a few months earlier in Cable). Was there ever a comprehensive list of all of the alternate versions of the established characters during the AoA?
Review
Like most of the other AoA first issues, this issue is more concerned with reintroducing the cast and establishing the new world than telling a specific story. Aside from setting up various plot threads for this specific series, there’s also a lot of time spent covering material the other X-titles have already dealt with. I understand that Cyclops needs to have a dramatic realization that Sinister has abandoned him, but the scene obviously needed to be better choreographed between the titles. That’s really the only distracting aspect of the story, as the rest of the issue is dedicated to establishing the world of the Pens and the relationships between the Prelates. Most of the setups are pretty interesting, although the future conflict between Havok and Cyclops is telegraphed way too obviously. At the very least, this seems to be a better fit for Moore than the regular X-Factor series turned out to be. Steve Epting’s art suits the dismal mood very well, even though it wasn’t slick enough for my tastes as a teenager.
I remember this as my absolute favorite AoA series when I was 13. I found it so daring: a series about the equivalent of SS officers. It was also the first time that was excited about the X-Factor title ever, a feeling that would dissipate very quickly in the well-documented post-AoA disaster that this book became.
ReplyDeleteI agree, this has always remained one of my favourites. There was something intriguing in the premise of Cyclops, Havok, Beast, Cannonball, etc. suddenly being sadistic prison guards. And Epting's art is excellent throughout. It's basically the swan song of X-Factor, which rides on the strength of Epting's art for a handful of issues after AoA, then becomes completely unreadable for thirty issues. Of course, as a loyal X-fan, I still bought all of them.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Artemis supposed to be the AoA version of Fatale who gets introduced to the 616 post AoA?
ReplyDeleteThis was also my favorite of the AoA titles, largely on the strength of Eptings art and the focus on Cyclops (and the fact that it reiterated that deep down inside, Cyclops will always be a good (or at least, better) guy).
ReplyDeleteI remember being really confused by the Bedlam Brothers, trying to figure out who they were in the 616 continuity until I realized they had been created for AoA. Thus, I was fairly excited when they were introduced in X-Force a few months later.