The tragic ballad of Paige & Mortimer, Part II

[flint_marko]

This is the follow-up to yesterday's post about the relationship between Husk and Toad in WatXM.

It's revealed that Toad has started working with the Hellfire Club in #30 when he takes Quire to join them.







In #31-35, we see Toad and Husk at the Hellfire Academy, a school where villains train young mutants on how to be evil.



Later the staff is having a meeting when Toad interrupts them.



Later, Toad sees Quire being tortured.



The narrator on this page is Idie.






















The X-Men arrive and defeat the Hellfire Academy.

Of the four Hellfire Brats, Kade Kilgore gets trapped inside the Siege Perilous and Wilhemina Kensington manages to escape, while Maximilian Frankenstein and Manuel Enduque are forced to enroll at the Jean Grey School. 



In #41, Wolverine and the X-dicks fire Toad.

As he leaves the school, Husk comes and apologizes to him.








It's Frankenstein and Enduque, who have escaped. Frankenstein creates self-replicating energy 'bots to attack the city and distract the X-Men, but Toad tracks them down.











We see that Paige is now the guidance counselor at the school.



The last page shows the two flying off the cliff in jetpacks.

Comments

[icon_uk]

So, why did they fire him?

[flint_marko]

Because of how he joined the Hellfire Academy.

[icon_uk]

One would have hoped that the about-face in the face of the assembled evil professors, and and saving several students lives would be enough to cut the guy some slack.

[shadowpsykie]

that would require logan being able to belive in second chances in anyone other than him and his pet protige at the time....

[bizarrohulk]

In fairness, Toad has been a villain (albeit a mostly ineffectual one) for most of his history. He'd been a "good guy" for about five minutes before he upped and joined the Hellfire Academy. Playing Devil's advocate, one could argue that giving him a job at the JGS in the first place WAS his second chance.

[protogarrett]

Toad: Saves the students. Fired.
Scarlet Witch: Rewrites reality. Kills a ton of heroes. Mostly forgiven by nearly everyone.

[his_spiffynesss]

But you know... she's hot and a popular character.

[shadowpsykie]

great.... now i has a sad....

[shadowpsykie]

wait... i just realized something... Did she remember how she felt about Toad? she seemed really upset. more upset than if someone just stood her up. Like, she remembered his kindness.... god that makes it even more tragic...

[captainbellman]

Man, who knew Toad was so strong? He hit Enduque so hard the poor boy turned white.

[insolent_one]

He also managed to break a chain. WITH HIS TONGUE.

[big_daddy_d]

Brings new meaning to takin a lickin.

[cainofdreaming]

Guess if he and sane Paige had gotten together French kissing would have been right out.

[skemono]

Brings new meaning to the phrase "I'm gonna beat the black off you." Or possibly the same meaning. That seems more likely.

[big_daddy_d]

Toad with a mop=Channeling his inner Toxic Avenger.

[grazzt]

Or at least his inner Ray Park.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Why does he suddenly start looking like Brian VanHoose from Knights of the Dinner Table in a bow tie?

And who/what is his pet monster there?

[cainofdreaming]

That's Krakoa. Or rather a part of it.

[grazzt]

Basically, in the first arc of Wolverine and the X-Men, the Hellfire Club grew a baby Krakoa and unleashed it on the Jean Grey Academy, along with a bunch of other threats. Quire managed to contact it, sever Hellfire Club control, and offer it a chance to join the school.

This is probably the best concept to come out of the run, with the possible exception of Broo, the nerdy Brood.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Cool, thanks for the info. =)

[selke]

Aw. I have feels.

[quatoria]

Barely half of these images will load for me at all, no matter how often I refresh them. :/ I wish I knew what was up with abeload -any time somebody uploads scans there, I can only see one or two of them, at best. :(

[flint_marko]

What browser are you using?

[captainbellman]

It's clever what Aaron's done here, leaving it for another writer to take over. On the one hand, Mortimer's "Second Chance" might be his attempt on building a criminal empire with Frankenstein only to topple it from the inside and prove his capacity for good, and make himself a better man for Paige; or his committing fully to becoming evil, even unto trying to get revenge on all the villains who treated him like crap.

Or he might just turn up in the background next time there's an X-crossover and get hit on the head by Fantomex. Only time will tell.

Maybe Simon Spurrier could recruit him to X-Force as Dr. Nemesis' lab partner? Spurrier is one of the few decent X-Writers out there, and it'd be nice for Mortimer to catch a break.

[waterfall8484]

...and now I want a standalone title for Toad, of all people. :~/

Aw.