Wolverine #18: "Auction of Secrets"

[alliterator]

"I've always felt that Wolverine was a close cousin to me. That as a hairy, smelly, grumpy, flannel-clad, cigar-chomping, whiskey-swilling loner who lives in the frozen north, it's never been hard to occupy his imaginative space. Despite the fact that I lean towards the shadows in my work, I'm also a dad. I will play pretty ponies with my daughter. And I will spend hours every day driving my kids to dance and theatre. And I will shed the occasional poisonous tear when they do something that makes me proud. I guess that's my way of saying that Logan and I have a spiritual connection."
-- Benjamin Percy

Previously: CIA agent Jeff Bannister befriended Logan and helped him shut down an enemy to Krakoa. Recently, Bannister found a bug made from organic technology hidden in a diner that the head of the X-Desk in the CIA frequents...and it's a bug connected to Krakoa. After taking the bug, everyone in Bannister's division is killed and Bannister went on the run with his young daughter.

The mutant mercenary Maverick found them, however, but Logan managed to help them escape:


Oh and here is one of the recordings the bug took:

(Okay, this is just a funny in-joke, since Newsarama once mistook Black Tom for Dracula on the cover of X-Force #1.)

Finally, Wolverine and Bannister are forced to give the bug to Maverick, who takes it back his employers, Legacy House:

Comments

[akodo_rokku]

Maverick's selling out Krakoa rather than living in paradise? Seriously?

[alliterator]

Yep. He's got problems.

[tinygaylaura]

"Why live in an immortal sex paradise full of hot bad asses with no death, no capitalism and no anti-mutant racism when instead I could live a miserable life of fear and debt in a racist hellhole, working shitty jobs and having to do things I hate just to afford a crappy appartment?"

I think Maverick got hit on the head once too often on those missions of his

[armycat23]

I'm not entirely up to date on him....but doesn't he no longer have mutant abilities?

[mastermahan]

He's still depowered, yes. He could fix that with a quick ritual murder, but he's been presented as too suspicious of Krakoa.

This is pretty out-of-character for him, honestly. He's a merc, yes, but he's generally presented as pretty heroic. This version of Maverick tried to kill a teenage girl with a grenade.

[tinygaylaura]

Maverick: I just can't trust Krakoa

So I'll work for this elderly wealthy white man from America because historically, people like that have always been totally trustworthy and kept their word

[mastermahan]

I mean, elderly wealthy white man from America fits Xavier perfectly, and he's not much for keeping his word these days.

I'm not sure why Maverick doesn't just ask Krakoa for work. They're filthy rich and aren't spending that on imports or anything.

[tinygaylaura]

I mean yes but it definitely doesn't fit anyone else on the Council besides I guess Sebastian Shaw

Wait

Was Shaw born in America or is he from England originally?

He does look and dress like he stepped out of a Dickens novel but that could just be the Hellfire Club's love of LARP-ing

[mastermahan]

Wikipedia says he was born in Pittsburgh. Which is odd, given that he's modeled after British actor Robert Shaw, and that the Hellfire Club was inspired by The Avengers, but no, he's American.

So yeah, I'd say it's a cosplay thing, like how Emma is from Boston and fakes a posh British accent. No wonder a Holmes cosplayer like Mastermind hooked up with them.

[scorntx]

Hey, Emma only sometimes does a fake posh British English accent. Sometimes, it's a Mid-Atlantic accent, the I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-An-English-Accent.
(So she'd sound like a evil Rarity.)

[tinygaylaura]

Please don't give the Bronies ideas I've already seen things I can't unsee

[tinygaylaura]

I've always assumed that Emma does the accent because she knows exactly how fucking hot it sounds coming out of a gorgeous blonde woman in dominatrix gear

Knowing Shaw comes from Pittsburgh makes his whole aesthetic even more mind blowingly extra

[jgraygaming]

See, I want more of stuff like with the kids A book about daily life in Krakoa. There's so little we really know. What do people do all day? Are there regular jobs beyond being a member of X-whatever or a direct part of the government infrastructure? We already know there's a shocking lack of schooling for the kids but how does the economy work? Everyone just gets whatever they want? What if they want stuff from outside the world, like a subscription to Netflix or the latest PS5 game?

There's been a distinct lack of backbone world building.

[alliterator]

There's a lot of stuff with what teenagers are doing in Vita Ayala's New Mutants.

[starwolf_oakley]

So, not that different from a Star Trek episode.

"Wait, this handful of extras is supposed to be a whole society of an entire planet?"

[beyondthefringe]

I agree.
I'd adore a series that was nothing but actually exploring the logistics and realities of building an eco-friendly mutant-centric society from scratch, including infrastructure, utilities, government, legal system, economy, and so forth. WAY too much has been overlooked or handwaved--Krakoa is less sustainable as a society than your average season of Survivor.

Seriously, for a society of anywhere from several thousand to several million people (or more, but I'm just spit-balling) where residents hail from every corner of the world and come from every possible background, experience, and demographic, we're seeing ridiculously little of how it even functions. And to ignore the fundamentals of world building is just criminal.

I guess if it all burns down in Inferno, it'll be a moot point.

[alliterator]

"I guess if it all burns down in Inferno, it'll be a moot point."

We know that's not going to happen, since there's still books set in Krakoa next year.

And while a book about all the logistics and economics and realities of a nation island (on a living island to boot) would be fascinating, I think it's also something that's a bit too far that Marvel isn't willing to do. They need an actual character/team to focus a book around, generally someone that is popular or that they hope to become popular. (Hence why there are so many books with Wolverine in them.)

[beyondthefringe]

I can dream, though. I know they need to sell the four-color funny books about hairy men stabbing each other and saving the world...

But I live for sourcebooks and handbooks and if they wrote The Official Handbook To Krakoa and it was nothing but blueprints and infographics and entries on how the island society works, I'd read it in a heartbeat.

Yeah, I was the sort who loved the old-school Official Handbooks and Who's Who's with the detailed stuff, even the one that was about weapons and paraphernalia. (Eliot Brown was the master of those...)

I just want the world building details which make Krakoa viable.

[alliterator]

I totally want a Krakoa sourcebook. We know Tini Howard loves RPGs (she's currently writing a comic for Vampire: The Masquerade), and Hickman loves himself some blueprints and infographics, so let's just have them all make an entire Krakoa era RPG sourcebook, dammit.

[jgraygaming]

The new Marvel Multiverse Roleplaying Game, written by a team lead by Matt Forbeck, is on its way. Maybe they'll do a Krakoa expansion!

[tinygaylaura]

They should I always like learning cool background information and lore :)

[cygnia]

Jut keep the RPG book away from some wangst-addicted GMs and I'd be all for this.

(one of the online games I met my husband on was a freeform X-Men game. SO MUCH WANGST! SO MUCH POWER PLAY BEHIND THE SCENES!)

[jgraygaming]

X-Control!

[cainofdreaming]

Well, as far as streaming services go they do have access to Mojovision. Dunno if I'd let kids watch it, tho.

[mastermahan]

It was a whole plot point in his latest mini that Cain Marko isn't allowed on Krakoa, but I'm willing to ignore that for Protective Boyfriend Juggernaut.

[akodo_rokku]

I believe he gets in for Spurrier's follow-up to Way of X.

[mastermahan]

He's confirmed for the cast of Legionaires, but that hasn't happened yet.

It could also be Black Tom just decided to ignore Xavier and let Cain in anyway.

[beyondthefringe]

Why not? Wolverine was able to get his journalist buddy and daughter onto the island without any problems.

At this point, Xavier not letting Juggernaut on is just him being a petty asshole.
Which is hardly surprising.

[alliterator]

I mean, Juggernaut did torment Charles as a child. He was a huge bully. But he's changed, so yeah, he should totally be let on the island.

[tinygaylaura]

He definitely went through a period of character growth

Which was then undone by writers who decided that actually no he's going to be evil again now which was then later undone by writers who were like "No that's stupid he's reformed now"

But that's just comics in a nutshell really

[tinygaylaura]

"You can't stooooooooooooop hiiiiimmmmm

Woooooooooaaaaaaaaahhhh-ohhhhhhhh-ohhhhh-ohhhhhhhh

You can't stooooooooop

This motherfucker"

[alliterator]

Protective Boyfriend Juggernaut is the best, yes.

[tinygaylaura]

I'm glad him and Black Tom are still together :)

[donnblake]

Seeing the fine feathered lad here reminds me- have we seen Beak lately? I think he was my favorite new character from Morrison's run, and given his somewhat mixed relationship with his mutation, I'd be interested to see him, Angel, and their kids on Krakoa.

[deh_tommy]

He and his family featured in an early arc for New Mutants. He didn’t want to go to Krakoa initially because he had to care for his dementia-addled father, but they changed their minds after Krakoan medicine cured his condition. Unfortunately, both of Beak’s parents were subsequently murdered by an anti-Krakoa cartel before they could get anywhere, and then everyone had their memories rewritten by those twins from Extermination so they’d think the parents died years ago and they already went through the grieving process.

[donnblake]

Aww, poor Barnell.

[mastermahan]

Barnell, Angel, and the kids are on Krakoa. The poor guy had already been repowered by that Mothervine nonsense, and apparently so did Angel and the kids.

Angel's also still using her Tempest name and gauntlets, and has been one of the trainees in New Mutants.

[alliterator]

"Angel's also still using her Tempest name and gauntlets, and has been one of the trainees in New Mutants."

I believe she was helping the trainees, but wasn't one of the trainees herself. She's already an adult, while the trainees were all teens.

[beyondthefringe]

And how weird is it that Angel is using human technology obtained while she was depowered, while on Krakoa? Okay, I guess she's still depowered and honestly, her mutation wasn't exactly one I'd rush back to reclaim... (human-fly hybrid and all that...)

Wow, it already feels like forever ago that New Mutants was trying to explore the nature of young mutants on the island and hunting down missing ones like Beak and now it's... um... something something Shadow King?

[alliterator]

The current New Mutants run is amazing. The Shadow King plot is about how Amahl Farouk cannot accept the peace of Krakoa, so is determined to force the children into being warriors, even against their will. And the book still finds time to do a bunch of other interesting things.

[jgraygaming]

Which is sort of fascinating because that was always Apocalypse's gig. Making sure only the strongest mutants survived.

[tinygaylaura]

Vita Ayala is fantastic on the book and their run is definitely better than any of Ed Brisson's crap was in every way

[beyondthefringe]

I'm still banned by Laura, so this is a reminder to her that Vita Ayala is trans and non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns.

[blues32]

Yeah, some mutations are better left lost. If I remember right, Beak said something along the lines of, "not again" when the mothervine virus changed him back. So here's hoping Angel remains depowered if it's what she wants.