Powers of X #6 *spoilers*

[JKtheMac]

Not bringing back Destiny or precogs is stupid. Without a precog they are going into the future blind when they don't have to.

Part of this is a new philosophy for the writers. An unknown future. The big inevitable future that held back everything was always that seen in Days of Future Past and equivalents. That became a kind of default future that was acting a little like a self fulfilling prophecy for the writers.

Hickman appears to have strong views on how mainstream comics should be. In this story so far he has pushed against a focus on alternative futures, a multiverse, duplicate characters or anything that distracts from his central thesis. At some point we will probably get a precognitive character story, most likely Destiny because she was so pivotal in this one, and at that point Hickman will explore the issues.

On the other hand he kind of explored this already in his S.H.I.E.L.D. book. so we kind of know that asserting an inevitable future is anathema to Hickman.

On a basic real world level, inevitable futures trap comics into dated analogies.

[Killerbee911]

Quick Thoughts

- In reading Pox 6, I think Sinister secret 5 could be about Moira and Wolverine

- I thought about nno mutant precogs that would need to be taken off the board( think about it) Marvel only really has Madam Web who matters

[Electricmastro]

Part of this is a new philosophy for the writers. An unknown future. The big inevitable future that held back everything was always that seen in Days of Future Past and equivalents. That became a kind of default future that was acting a little like a self fulfilling prophecy for the writers.

Yeah, as much as I like Claremont's writing, in retrospect, I suspect that many of the later X-Men writing were writing the stories as if they were meant to gravitate towards that (along with perhaps other elements from the 80s), which may largely had to do with limiting what kinds of stories the X-Men could be involved in as the years went by.

[JKtheMac]

In many ways PoX is the book that develops the ongoing themes of the new direction. To tease out a few oppositions:

Mechanisation v Nature
Individuality v Conformity
Directed Evolution v Natural Selection
Coexistence v Conflict


There is a clear assertion that conflict is inevitable. That some of these oppositions can’t be resolved, but that is usually the case at the beginning of a story.

[Su_Whisterfield]

Quick Thoughts

- In reading Pox 6, I think Sinister secret 5 could be about Moira and Wolverine

- I thought about nno mutant precogs that would need to be taken off the board( think about it) Marvel only really has Madam Web who matters

Yep, I think so too.

[JKtheMac]

Yeah, as much as I like Claremont's writing, in retrospect, I suspect that many of the later X-Men writing were writing the stories as if they were meant to gravitate towards that (along with perhaps other elements from the 80s), which may largely had to do with limiting what kinds of stories the X-Men could be involved in as the years went by.

I wouldn’t ‘blame’ Claremont, (not that you were) and anecdotally he wasn’t actually as keen on the future part of that story as Byrne was.

[People Of The Earth]

Quick Thoughts

- In reading Pox 6, I think Sinister secret 5 could be about Moira and Wolverine

- I thought about nno mutant precogs that would need to be taken off the board( think about it) Marvel only really has Madam Web who matters

Blindfold. Gateway. Legion. Cable. They all are mutants beyond Destiny who manifested this ability, and I'm sure there are some others I'm forgetting... Some of them won't be tolerated on Krakoa. Others won't get to be resurrected, for fear of having the castle fall appart as a result.
Heck, even Franklin Richards showed precognition in the past. Was Cyclops aware Franklin would be a problem to Moira when he extended an invitation to him?
And that's not even counting all the other precogs who live in the rest of the MU. What's stopping mutants to interact with Madame Webb? With Ulysse of the Inhumans? Or any other seers out there? Paranoia and fear won't allow Kraked to exert control over those ones I suspect. Xavier, Magneto, Moira: they are deluding themselves into thinking they can control or supress precogs like that. It's a ticking time-bomb.

[JKtheMac]

As inevitably happens with new directions involving mutants, a discussion involving what mutants are and their humanity has been provoked. Looking at them as if they are equivalent to random mutation is not meaningful.

Mutants are clearly supposed to be a sub-species of humanity. They all share the same genetic variation, the X-Gene, but that gene is not the same order as a gene that expresses blue eyes for example. The X-Gene is expressed in weird and wonderful ways but those individual expressions share the same genetic variation. It is a complete red herring that this variation is handled as a recessive gene and that humans can give birth to mutants. Those who express the gene are clearly and markedly different from humanity. That analogy is important when it comes to the various metaphors that mutants can represent.

We are never supposed to get hung up on the science because it doesn’t hold up to that kind of thinking. Even in PoX the questions are not really about evolution as a theory. Instead, evolution itself is seen in two oppositional ways, natural selection and technologically directed evolution.

Even Sinister’s chimeras are looked at askance, as another potential threat. A misstep in the arms race.

Deep down the story isn’t about mutants vs humans, even though that is the overt topic. To complain that mutants are humans too is to miss the point that whomsoever opposes the mutants are themselves analogies for forces that oppose humanity in our culture. We are not supposed to endlessly obsess about the past and the circumstances that got us here. Each well written story will give us the part of the past that it is addressing.

Krakoa is not the same as previous mutant nation stories because the underlying analogies are not the same. This story is not obsessed with the past. Krakoa is not reactionary it is proactive.

[Electricmastro]

I wouldn’t ‘blame’ Claremont, (not that you were) and anecdotally he wasn’t actually as keen on the future part of that story as Byrne was.

Well whoever you want to credit more, I’d agree with the assessment that it was that kind of storytelling, as well-written as Days of Future Past was, that held everything back and more or less locked the X-Men into a stalemate of “the mutant hate will ramp up into a extremely lethal doomsday scenario for all the mutants, except that the X-Men are the main characters, so we can’t permanently kill them off.” Even the explanation the mutants being mutant to represent the experiences of real-life minorities can only go so far before one starts to question the handling of the writing itself.

[BitParallel]

Quick Thoughts

- In reading Pox 6, I think Sinister secret 5 could be about Moira and Wolverine

- I thought about nno mutant precogs that would need to be taken off the board( think about it) Marvel only really has Madam Web who matters

But how? Who is she married to?

[JKtheMac]

Well whoever you want to credit more, I’d agree with the assessment that it was that kind of storytelling, as well-written as Days of Future Past was, that held everything back and more or less locked the X-Men into a stalemate of “the mutant hate will ramp up into a extremely lethal doomsday scenario for all the mutants, except that the X-Men are the main characters, so we can’t permanently kill them off.”

Indeed, that is part of the trap, and something Hickman appears to be moving away from. Inevitably some commentators will see every mutant story through this lens but I believe Hickman is choosing to do something different.

He is still Hickman though, and naturally he will explore comics themselves in his writing. That is just in his nature. So far it feels like Charles and Eric represent the old ways of thinking about the conflict. They are shaped by the past just as Moira is shaped by destiny.

Even the explanation the mutants being mutant to represent the experiences of real-life minorities can only go so far before one starts to question the handling of the writing itself.

It can also be a trap yes. Deep down part of the point of X-Books is their reflection of the adolescent experience. The discovery of ourselves, our individuality and how we are different or the same as people around us. The idea of a chosen family or tribe. That for me is equally important to any other metaphor that they present.

[Killerbee911]

But how? Who is she married to?

The married is the shaky part, But the kid part is shaky with Jean as well. Unless Jean is Madelyne Pryor see what I did there pivot and throw out another shaky theory. Basically I don't know it just a guess.

[BitParallel]

The married is the shaky part, But the kid part is shaky with Jean as well. Unless Jean is Madelyne Pryor see what I did there pivot and throw out another shaky theory. Basically I don't know it just a guess.

I thought it’s Logan/Madelyne/Scott/Jean. Don’t mind me, I’m so bad at this.

[tuck frump]

Jean has Rachel and Quentin.

[Veitha]

Blindfold. Gateway. Legion. Cable. They all are mutants beyond Destiny who manifested this ability, and I'm sure there are some others I'm forgetting... Some of them won't be tolerated on Krakoa. Others won't get to be resurrected, for fear of having the castle fall appart as a result.
Heck, even Franklin Richards showed precognition in the past. Was Cyclops aware Franklin would be a problem to Moira when he extended an invitation to him?
And that's not even counting all the other precogs who live in the rest of the MU. What's stopping mutants to interact with Madame Webb? With Ulysse of the Inhumans? Or any other seers out there? Paranoia and fear won't allow Kraked to exert control over those ones I suspect. Xavier, Magneto, Moira: they are deluding themselves into thinking they can control or supress precogs like that. It's a ticking time-bomb.

What do you think the rules for Resurrection are? I mean, who gets to choose which mutant gets resurrected? If there was a chance of resurrecting a loved one, I think most mutants would insist like Mystique or even try to rebel against the order of Resurrection.

About other precogs... Destiny was clearly the strongest of them all since she could see forward past multiple Moira lives. I don't think the others except for Blindfold and Ulysses (and they're out of the picture) are that strong.