"...And I Fear Winter."

[numeronone]

"When you realize that you’re spending more and more of your life just trying to prolong your life, there’s something wrong. Right? It should be about something."

― Dr. Barbara Ehrenreich

"I think most people get that they're gonna die, but I don't think what most people get is that the fact that they're going to die is the most important thing that will ever happen to them. Humans are one of the few creatures that understand death, and understand -- live -- live their whole lives with the knowledge of their deaths. And so it's this conflict within us. We live in these shitty, decaying bodies, but we feel so special and we feel so important. So how do you reconcile those two things? It's hard to reconcile them, so you have to create, you have to transcend. You have to have religion, you have to have communities, you have to have art. Those are created by our -- our fear and our strange, difficult, weird relationship with death."

― Caitlin Doughty

"Why, it is she that has got all Narnia under her thumb. It’s she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!"

― 'The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe', C. S. Lewis
 

Magneto sits in the Seat of Loss.



MEANWHILE: for those of you who haven't been reading Marauders: Empress Xandra Neramani of the Shi'ar is dead, at the hands of the Crimson guard. She displayed a psychic message of her death and her DNA sequence to the world at large in her death throes, and hence her lieutenant, Oracle, has summoned the other Allied Space Heads of State to Neutral Space Ground to discuss.



(Meanwhile, back at the ranch:)

Comments

[coldfury]

I'm a little surprised they killed the new Empress already. I guess maybe they'll bring her back anyway, somehow, but if not this really feels like a waste. All the galactic powers in the Marvel U have had rotating doors on their leaders for forever, and it feels like every time they start building some character to them they just kill them or depose them and then it's an 'all new exciting status quo'.

Which sure that's a fun story, but it's really feeling like it's the only story the Marvel writers can be bothered to tell about these cosmic empires that have spanned the eras, which is really sad.

[numeronone]

Oh, it's not featured in these scans, but she's back already. Storm correctly guessed that Xavier - being still human, so to speak - could not help but bring back his own daughter if the opportunity became available.

And how will that sit with his ol' buddy Erik, who left the Krakoan Quiet Council precisely because that opportunity was not available to him?

[scorntx]

Well, it's either Empire X has an All-New, All-Different leader who has a major grudge against the heroes for whatever reason, or just BLOW IT ALL UP!

Think the Nova Corps have been wiped out forever at least three times in the last sixteen years.

(It is very worrying that most comic writers seem to default to BIAP as their response to pretty much everything...)

[icon_uk]

Wait, didn't Xandra just show up in Marauders as alive, well and a complicated part of a plot involving the Kin Crimson?

I'd have wanted a darn sight more proof she was actually dead, and not just taking after her father and faking it, before I'd have thought a clone was activated.

[cygnia]

...so, has anyone told the universe what the Earth's Eternals can do to cheat death too yet?

[numeronone]

There...is an event book coming up...

[dan_ingram]

Given that the Celestials did their thing on every planet, it'd be hard not to know. There are skrull and Kree eternals, after all.

And speaking of immortals ruling an empire, that gold ball seems to have forgotten that the Supreme Intelligence ruled the Kree for millions of years. So his complaint is a little late

[cainofdreaming]

Oh, just noticed that Forge has joined the ranks of the omegas.

Also, who is the golden ball?

[numeronone]

Orbis Stellaris. Diplomatic envoi of the Rimworlds and alleged arms dealer.

[blues32]

Uhh...did Storm consent to this? She doesn't seem to be present.

[numeronone]

She states that she trusts Magneto to act on her behalf.

Besides which, I don't think she has a long track record of dying. Too competent.

[iamrman]

Last time I saw Xandra was alive and well in Marauders. Or did I miss something?

[morallyambiguousscience]

At the end of the most recent issue of Marauders she took a laser to the chest.

[mindsweeper]

This issue was soooo good. Loved Storm's mic drop at the end (despite missing her new catchphrase, "okey-dokey"), update on Rockslide and hints he'll be joining the book, and Nova's cameo. Whole book is sweet.

[starwolf_oakley]

There's a previous examples of Magneto's "I am not afraid of death" idea. "God Loves, Man Kills" had Magneto saying the X-Men would rule the world after Magneto dies.

Magneto says when he rules the world, he will solve hunger, poverty, disease and war. The freedoms lost will not be noticed.
Cyclops: Anyone can create Utopia for a single generation, Magneto; the trick is making it last. Who preserves your dream after you're gone?
Magneto: You, of course. Cyclops. And the X-Men. Why do you think I want you at my side?

[gnarll]

I think that was "I, Magneto" in X-men 150 actually. And how nerdy is it that I remember that offhand?

[lordultimus]

Well, I guess we know who Charles's favorite kid is.

[scorntx]

Legion's just standing off to the side glowering.

"Seriously? Seriously?!"
"Well, maybe if you had a job I'd care more."

And then a passing Cyclops walks past, and just takes a sip from his coffee.
"Huh. So that's what it looks like from the outside."

[scorntx]

Given Orbis was working with Abigail Brand as recently as two issues ago, their objections to Xandra getting a res might not be for the reasons they're giving.
Not to mention the attempt on her back in S.W.O.R.D.

Very hmm...

(also, it's not in the scans, but it's nice someone's picking up the thread of Notslide.
Be nice if he'd gotten interaction with one of the New X-Men, but...
... I'm sorry, don't what came over me just there.
Two of the New X-Men interacting.
What a crazy idea.)

[numeronone]

[mastermahan]

Orbis is also an arms dealer. A Shi'ar civil war would be great for business.

They have a point that an immortal, permanent ruler would be bad, but we're talking about the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar government is unstable as a house of straw built on jello. In the past Marvel Time decade, they've been ruled by D'ken, Lilandra, Deathbird, some Skrulls, Lilandra again, Vulcan and Deathbird together, Gladiator, and now Xandra. Not one of them died while on the throne. Krakoan resurrection doesn't mean an eternal Xandra administration.

[bruinsfan]

I think this issue is my favorite X-Men story in a LONG time.

[numeronone]

Can't disagree there! Ewing has...a lot of thoughts about longevity/immortality/legacy, and you can tell he's done his homework on them. I'm glad writers like him and Gillen are finally onboard to interrogate such concepts.

[mastermahan]

What do you suppose the average alien thinks about Earth? Ten years ago they were a backwater planet you only heard about because they somehow managed to drive off Galactus. Now humans are dominant species in known space. The Kree and Skrulls are ruled by an Earth-raised emperor with a human husband. The Shi'ar were conquered by a human and are now being ruled by a half-human. The humans have a 2,000 year old intergalactic empire you're sure didn't exist a year ago. Somehow even the standard currency is human derived now.

[numeronone]

So on a cosmic scale, Earth is now 17-1800s Great Britain.