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In which several individuals are not what they seem; John Sublime sucks; Cyclops talks Xorn down from a cosmic ledge; we meet the inimitable Beak; and Cassandra Nova makes herself (limitedly) known.
X-PLAINED:
- John Sublime
- Marvelscope™
- New X-Men 2001 Annual
- New X-Men #117
- Xorn
- X-Corporation
- The U-Men
- Ao Jun (and his super gross mutant power)
- Synchronized heists
- Psychometry vs. telepathy
- A big eventual twist
- Beak (Barnell Bohusk)
- A kiss
- Some really fucked up use of telepathy
- Some Moira MacTaggert continuity nonsense
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Well, this episode convinced me not to try rereading this run (except maybe the “Here Comes Tomorrow arc)- it seems like just about everything I hate in stories, and I don’t even like looking at it!
Sincere thanks to you both. 🙂
Just a heads up, you have the issues covered listed wrong for the two most recent episodes:
Last episode says it’s New X-Men #114-117, but it’s actually #114-116
This episode says it’s New X-Men #118, but it’s actually New X-Men #117
Good catch! Updated. Thank you for letting us know!
For years, I’d say Beast is one of my favorite X-Men and I’d get lots of side-eye. And yeah, he’s a jerk in Defenders (albeit with a cute puppy). And does some really questionable stuff in the 90s. And then *gestures at Krakoa*. I thought it was just TAS, but nope, rereading this run recently, it’s Morrison. I LOVE their Beast. He’s not perfect (oh, I can’t wait to hear Jay’s thoughts in particular on the sexuality stuff), but he’s such a lovable flawed character. I love him in this issue, I love his friendships with Jean and ESPECIALLY Emma. I kinda wish this was the factory reset in the recent past.
(Also, can I just say how happy I am that David Wynne is back for this grand finale run?)
I didn’t realize that New X-Men Annual #1 was a thing — and it doesn’t show up in a New X-Men series run on Unlimited — so for years I’d wondered how Xorn suddenly appears in the regular book. Never wondered hard enough to Google “Xorn first appearance,” though.
On the plus side, I also missed Morrison forgetting (or ignoring) Emma’s entire Generation X run.
I suppose I can see how somebody could squint and view the U-Men (never noticed the auditory symbolism of that until the podcast) as a trans allegory, though I think it’s better viewed as fetishization, a recurring theme for X-Men villains from Lady Deathstrike to Mr. Sinister.
Though I agree it’s unlikely that Morrison would offer a trans critique, in a few issues we’ll have Henry publicly posing (falsely) as gay, and enjoying a big popularity surge because of it, so the book does seem willing to play critically with ideas of LGBT identification. (It’s worth noting, though, that Beast’s attitude is declared out-of-bounds by Scott, who’s presented as the voice of reason in the scene.)
I’ll be honest: reading it this time the trans aspect struck me, but reading it in the 00s, I remember seeing it much more as a discussion of appropriation. Eminem and metrosexuals were far more in the cultural imagination of the early 00s than the TERF argument against trans people (Morrison was admittedly probably more plugged in than the average person – they created Lord Fanny, who was groundbreaking even if a little problematic – but at least from a reception aspect, it’s how I remember it). The U Men to me felt more like literalizing what white and straight people were doing to minority cultures.
Granted, I also wonder how much some of the echoes come from just reading in 2026. Johnny Sublime – a billionaire supervillain who has a weird cult of personality with incels – is very Musk-like and Sabra is gonna say some stuff in 132 that could feel like a critique of the past few years. TERF at least as a defined term will come about 7 years after this issue, though, you can find aspects of it decades before (thinking of conflict of some 70s cis lesbians vs trans women and drag queens).
I’d forgotten how viscerally violent Cassandra’s attack on Beast (and by extension, Beak) is in this story. An amaznig depiction of depraved cruelty.
Whenever Sublime comes up I keep wondering did they ever address it in relation to “That Which Endures” a prehistoric, in fact aeons old, sentient organism that showed up in Byrne’s West Coast Avengers in 1989 or so. It permeated itself into every organism on Earth, trying to find the perfect host and could take assimilate individuals relatively easily. It had also, via it’s sort of group mind, controlled the rise and fall of every major species in Earth’s entire history. It was becoming more interested in mutants as hosts, so tried to possess the Scarlet Witch, which ended badly.
So, to paraphrase Dr Heinz Doofenschmirtz, “If I had a nickel for every time a sentient infection tried to take over the world, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot (and isn’t even valid currency for me) but it’s weird it happened twice, right?