X-Men Red #3-4 - "Loss"

[laughing_tree]

At some point, I was going to have Magneto and Abigail full-on banging. Instead, I went for sad Magneto. -- Al Ewing



















Issue 4:

Comments

[iamrman]

Tarn the Forgettable, welcome to die!

[blues32]

He is Magneto! Master of magnet!

[iamrman]

Arakko chicken!

[icon_uk]

Gotta say, given how absurdly powerful Isca the Uncaring is, I love how Roberto defeated her.

[numeronone]

For Isca, it was more of a symbolic defeat. The object was to beat Tarn, which he did with aplomb.

[icon_uk]

Very true, in this case she was being used as someone's else's weapon to defeat Tarn, and that really has to grind her gears... as Roberto also found out and likely will continue to find out as I suspect Isca can REALLY hold a grudge.

[cainofdreaming]

She might have approved of getting rid of Tarn, actually. I mean, she has to always win but nothing in her powers makes her have to take every wager, right?

[morallyambiguousscience]

I find it funny that an amoral psychopath on Arrako's council is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with, but all those on the quiet council can just be ignored.

Side note, it is really nice to see Isca get taken down a peg, of the smug and generic warrior culture arrako mutants, she is the most generic smug and warrior culturey.

[numeronone]

When it comes to that first point, Ewing is familiar with the fact that the best kind of character to get a big satisfying comeuppance is one that has not garnered a wide fanbase but can be seen as a stand-in for a villain in real life - e.g. Dario Agger/Minotaur, or the Golden Skull, both of whom were easily retooled as Trump analogues. Tarn could easily represent any number of real-life individuals in gross positions of power, which they did not win fairly or democratically, who use that power to terrorise and bully people they don't like.

(And having a legendary Jewish freedom fighter landing the killing blow can only help.)

And sure, you could make similar arguments about all of the Quiet Council, but the difference is that they're not expendable (metafictionally). Morrison found this with their disastrous "Planet X" arc - as much as they argued that Magneto is "a mad old terrorist t***", analogous to the leaders of Al Qaida etc., they were still arguing from the minority position against what they recognised as the majority - i.e., at the time most people were associating the name with the sweet, cuddly form of Ian McKellen.

As to the second point...I don't think Ewing has ever run into a character he didn't want to add some extra dimensions to (even if, as argued above, those dimensions are Bad). Isca suffers the same problem as most of Hickman's original female characters - let's call it Black Swan Syndrome - wherein they establish how cool and aloof they are by repeatedly stating how cool and aloof they are, and how meaningless and stupid everyone else is, at length, in as edgy a tone as possible.

Whereas what makes Ewing's takedown of her so well-written is that he allows her some vulnerability - not shown in these scans, alas - where her anger against Roberto isn't framed in terms of "I NEVER LOSE, HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME LOSE, RARRR" but in terms of "Tarn might be a monster but he's still one of the closest things I can call a friend, and it's deeply fucking hurtful for you to use my powers to kill him, without my consent".

(See also Sam Sterns/The Leader in "Immortal Hulk", where instead of just portraying him as the generic mad scientist as has so often been the case, he contrasts Sterns' grandiose plans with his deeply relatable guilt, shame, and existential terror.)

[laughing_tree]

Whereas what makes Ewing's takedown of her so well-written is that he allows her some vulnerability - not shown in these scans, alas - where her anger against Roberto isn't framed in terms of "I NEVER LOSE, HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME LOSE, RARRR" but in terms of "Tarn might be a monster but he's still one of the closest things I can call a friend, and it's deeply fucking hurtful for you to use my powers to kill him, without my consent".

What's interesting is, if you listen to the podcast linked in the quote, Ewing says that was a happy accident. In that Caselli turned in a much more emotional reaction from Isca than Ewing pictured, which got him to thinking why she'd react so strongly and adjusting the dialogue to match the new ideas it launched.

[dianakingston]

All of Arakko are amoral psychopaths so it's probably harder to stand out in that way

[mastermahan]

I think it was less that Tarn was an amoral psychopath and more that he was an unpopular amoral psychopath.

Arakko has a lot of nutball warrior assholes, but he wasn't Arakkoan. He was one of the last remnants of Arakko's time being occupied by Amenth. He got to keep the seat because, I don't know, warrior code and stuff.

[gnarll]

It is good to see Magneto get some respect. I enjoy it when a battle subverts expectations.

[scorntx]

Brand's little moment before the fight, the quiet "you can do this" is an interesting moment.
Especially for a manipulative so-and-so like her.
Is she rooting for him because it's part of The Plan, or is it something else, some sort of attachment beyond simply needing his utility?

Certainly, all her notes through here and S.W.O.R.D. have made clear her underlings are totally dispensable for the long-term plans, but at the same time some of them are too useful to throw away immediately.
It's always interesting when the villain shows interest in the underlings beyond "do what I says or I kill you".

Though probably not.
Or in the case, it's an example of Brand backing the absolute worst possible horse. Not just one that bites jockeys, but would tear them in half given the chance.


(also: Marvin Flumm is operating out of Mars. So wouldn't that make him Marvin the Martian?)

[iamrman]

Mentallo just wants his Earth-shattering kaboom!

[numeronone]

Also, though he could easily recreate it (I guess), I like the symbolism here that Magneto has sacrificed the protection of his helmet - i.e., for the good of Arakko, he's now an open book.

[blues32]

Given how the X-Men once faced Cassandra Nova wearing a bunch of Magneto helmets, I don't think he sacrificed anything. He could probably repair the one on Tarn as easily as he damaged it. Just needs a good scrubbing to get the blood and brain matter out.

[blues32]

Ah, what a pity. Is Tarn in the Cerebro data base? He certainly seems dismissive about the resurrection concept. Perhaps he regrets that choice.

Good god, Brand. You pay Mentallo to do something, he gives you a report and you ignore the advice given? He said that MAYBE he could beat Tarn...but most likely he'd need to have his full power unlocked and that would be extremely dangerous for everyone.

I don't think Vulcan's going to take dying well. His constant denial of ever having died suggests it's something he NEEDS to be true. So how will he respond to coming tumbling out of one of those eggs? Will he be sad? Enraged? Go into denial and repress the whole thing?

[donnblake]

I don't recall this being explicitly stated, but my impression is that for whatever reason, Arakoans are not being resurrected.

[megaspork]

I took this as her taking Mentallos advice actually.
It depends on Vulcans next appearance. If he does appear again. Brand pushed him forward to be "dealt with".

[xammax]

Ok... so Roberto is gonna make a move on Isca again isn't he?

[cainofdreaming]

Who isn't Roberto going to make a move on? Again or not.

[lordultimus]

So if you dared Isca to kill herself, would she be forced to do so because refusing would be considered losing?

[numeronone]

I guess not losing her life supercedes not losing the dare.

[blues32]

It's always fun to come back to a post to find new scans added. Now we know that, yes, the Arrakoans do not want to be resurrected. And we now know that Magneto and Storm have erased themselves from the Cerebro unit. An interesting turn of events that will ultimately mean nothing because resurrection cue or not, important characters don't stay dead.