Powers of X #6 *spoilers*

[Huntsman Spider]

All I can say about this issue is COTDAMN!!! I didn't bother to think that the mutates that we know (Spidey, FF, Hulk, etc.) would be the precursors to the Techno-Human things humans evolve into in Year 1000. I also like the revelation of Sinister being a chimera, himself and the implications on the other chimeras we may or may not see down the road. I'm also loving the buildup to the second island (Krakoa Atlantic) and the emphasis of Moira being a fixed point in time and the rest of the MU revolves around that revelation.

I'm hoping that we get to see consequences that are grand in scale concerning the rest of the MU regarding the fallout of HoX/PoX, specifically regarding Spider-Man and Hulk books (I'm aware of the seeds planted in Absolute Carnage regarding Mutantkind, the Immortal Hulk and the One Below All). I also hope that Hickman and other writers will continue to pick up on other story threads such as the issue with Franklin Richards and the confrontation between the X-Men and the FF.

On another note: Something tells me that a great deal of the Mutant Nation's success will depend on whether or not Chuck and Magneto will keep their promise (I doubt it) to Mystique. I know that Moira is VERY paranoid about precogs and how they could potentially destroy everything they built, seeing that Krakoa is standing on a house of cards at the moment. I'm thinking that Mystique will get the impression that X and Mags will double-cross her, somehow and she would do something as drastic as free and sic Creed on them and the other X-Men. Also, the whole dynamic between Moira and Logan, adding Mystique, Destiny and the shadiness of Charles and Magneto leads me to believe that Schism II: Electric Bogaloo is on the horizon.

Same here, and let's consider that Spider-Man's more recent adaptations and retellings have delved into, or at least dabbled in, transhumanism a fair bit, reinterpreting the spider that bit Peter Parker as a deliberate product of experiments in human enhancement that got loose and bit some random high school kid and many of Spider-Man's rogues as products of similar experiments. Come to think of it, there's hardly anything stopping 616 from going the same route and perhaps even tying Spider-Man to Weapon Plus in the same way that Venom and the symbiotes were. On the latter subject, considering that even post-humanity reaches the limits of its ability to evolve on its own eventually and turns to the Phalanx as a possible game-changer . . . what if symbiosis was their means to overcome their evolutionary limits?

[Jness]

I kinda assumed the plan was to get on Chimeras and engineered mutants ahead of schedule. After all, if the ultimate victory of man over mutant is due to genetic engineering, why not just beat homo sapiens to the punch?

But, yeah, I think a mutant biotech Nimrod will come around too.

I still hold that biotech mutant Nimrod has already come around, wearing a mysterious giant X helmet on his head that never comes off.

[Electricmastro]

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.

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.

And in any event in a future comic that the X-Men lose the nation and are back to having a humble old mansion or something along those lines, I at the very least hope that the future writer changing up the status quo once again doesn't make out the mutants like an ant on the run from a dinosaur. People can argue about how the X-Men are meant to represent outcast minorities all they want, but I'll still have my opinions and I don't think I should feel shame in having them the way I do. The last 15 years in particular have basically been tirelessly running in circles and I don't care to see that type of tone in X-Men anymore, and makes me all the more glad Hickman is coming along to help break out of that.

[Havok83]

Wait, do you mean Betsy Psylocke or Kwannon Psylocke?

Kidding. :-)

I will NEVER call that imposter, Psylocke

[Londo Bellian]

Give Kwannon another code name. What suits you?

[JKtheMac]

Thats pretty much been confirmed at this point

It is still a spoiler. Just because the modern machinery of comics encourages creators to tell us what happens in the future doesn’t mean it isn’t a spoiler. Just because a huge part of an issue discussion thread was taken up with the confirmation of this doesn’t mean it is common knowledge.

[JKtheMac]

And in any event in a future comic that the X-Men lose the nation and are back to having a humble old mansion or something along those lines, I at the very least hope that the future writer changing up the status quo once again doesn't make out the mutants like an ant on the run from a dinosaur. People can argue about how the X-Men are meant to represent outcast minorities all they want, but I'll still have my opinions and I don't think I should feel shame in having them the way I do. The last 15 years in particular have basically been tirelessly running in circles and I don't care to see that type of tone in X-Men anymore, and makes me all the more glad Hickman is coming along to help break out of that.

Let’s keep that in perspective. The individual tastes of long term readers are not the main priority of Marvel. It is very easy to set ourselves traps in the way we appreciate media by giving the creators almost unconscious ultimatums. To use the old Harry Enfield sketch:

“Oh yes, I do admire the X-Men with their nuanced analogies and their inclusive agenda for positive change, BUT if Xavier came round my house and stated setting up a school in my living room, encouraging all those random powered kids to run through my walls in their high jinx games. Scorching my pot plants with their fireballs, I’d say Oi! Professor! No!”

It is always better to just enjoy what we have in front of us rather than worrying about a future we have no control over and can’t predict. We certainly shouldn’t create the circumstances of our own future anger or frustrations.

In a recent example of this I nearly didn’t read Age of X-Man because I perceived it as filler and probably a rehash of older stories. But when I did eventually read it I enjoyed it. Some of it was better than other parts and some I wouldn’t recommend but it was fun in its own context.

[Electricmastro]

It is always better to just enjoy what we have in front of us rather than worrying about a future we have no control over and can’t predict. We certainly shouldn’t create the circumstances of our own future anger or frustrations.

I give things a chance, as I usually do, but at the end of the day, either I enjoy something or I don't, and in the worse case scenario I don't really end up liking the new X-Men related volumes, instead of wasting energy getting angry, I can just happily look back through the older issues and discuss them with other readers. I suppose that I'm better off spending more time talking about something I like than on something I don't.

[JKtheMac]

I give things a chance, as I usually do, but at the end of the day, either I enjoy something or I don't, and in the worse case scenario I don't really end up liking the new X-Men related volumes, instead of wasting energy getting angry, I can just happily look back through the older issues and discuss them with other readers. I suppose that I'm better off spending more time talking about something I like than on something I don't.

Nothing wrong with that part. It’s just the assumption that they will eventually drop this status quo and rehash. There is a subtle form of cynicism in that. A cynicism that has been encouraged by Marvel but no less so for that.

Put it in context. We have a radical new shiny direction right now that is generating a lot of buzz precisely because it isn’t a rehash, and yet you look towards a less innovative future we may never see.

[king of hybrids]

So the great truth is: Man hates, Machine kills, Mutants die; and mutates... sit back and prosper

It is fortunate that through Selene, Gorgon and Hellfire the mutants now have the connections and leverage to squeeze the ‘heroes’ until the pips squeak

[JKtheMac]

So the great truth is: Man hates, Machine kills, Mutants die; and mutates... sit back and prosper

It is fortunate that through Selene, Gorgon and Hellfire the mutants now have the connections and leverage to squeeze the ‘heroes’ until the pips squeak

So lucky. Is this what happens when a dream dies? Mutants, the world changed while you were sleeping off your hangover.

[CoCoBandz]

Give Kwannon another code name. What suits you?

Needless Ninja Thot.

[useridgoeshere]

I like the direction, but this just hit me. At its core, this is just a take on the same extinction plot we’ve been living with. Mutants are fighting for survival. I think the execution is shiny, but it’s fighting against decimation.

[CoCoBandz]

I like the direction, but this just hit me. At its core, this is just a take on the same extinction plot we’ve been living with. Mutants are fighting for survival. I think the execution is shiny, but it’s fighting against decimation.

This is my biggest dislike with the entire thing and it's too in the face to get over which is why I kinda fell away compared to when the events started. Kinda let down.

The entire Powers series could have been erased and I wouldn't care less if I'm being honest.

[JKtheMac]

I like the direction, but this just hit me. At its core, this is just a take on the same extinction plot we’ve been living with. Mutants are fighting for survival. I think the execution is shiny, but it’s fighting against decimation.

Not how I see it at all. For me it is specifically not about mutants fighting extinction. That very notion is being split apart and examined. The fact that in life 6 mutants survive until the day before the world ended, combined with the incompatibility of mutants with the technology of the Phalanx challenges the very notion of extinction.

Everything has been reframed in the context of humanity becoming something other. The fight is for the survival of the human spirit, not mutant kind. The wider mutant metaphor has shifted to one of nature over artificiality. A challenge that mutants need to face first before taking the good fight to humanity.