X-Men Red #3 Review / Spoilers

[BobbysWorld]

As far as Arakkii mutants being resurrected goes, when Way of X had the threat of one of Mars' moons being about to crash into it, there were a couple panels about how - as Krakoa/SWORD/Kurt all tried to figure out ways to save as many Arakkii as possible in case they couldn't stop the moon - 'the Quiet Council hastily attempted to renegotiate Arakkii participation in the resurrection protocols, but the Arakkii just laughed at them.'

The impression I got was that Cerebro DOES in fact back up the Arakkii, same as any other mutant on Earth (there's no reason for the machinery to differentiate between an Arakkii mutant and a Krakoan one after all, and Arakko spent its first few months back on Earth before the terraforming of Mars, so even if distance was an issue, there'd be at least back-ups only a few months old, from when Arakko was sitting just off the coast of Krakoa). And now with the Waiting Room, I presume Arakkii souls/consciousnesses are drawn to the Waiting Room after death the same as Krakoan ones.

The only difference is the Arakkii over all seem to have no interest in resurrection. They like the finality of death, the meaning/urgency it gives to life. Like, they probably CAN be resurrected by the Five just as easily as anyone on Krakoa, but at some point they made it clear they have no desire as a society on the whole, to be added to the resurrection queue (per the idea that for REnegotiations about Arakkii resurrection to have happened in Way of X, an initial offer had to be first extended, and turned down by the Arakkii leadership at least). So the Five simply don't consider Arakki back-ups - though they no doubt exist - as being part of the resurrection queue, until asked to do so.

And similarly, with the Waiting Room, obviously nothing explicit has been said but I can't imagine Wanda designing it without allowing for mutant souls to have the OPTION of not waiting around to be resurrected but to simply pass through it onto whatever afterlife 'comes next.' And my assumption, until stated otherwise, is that Arakkii are drawn to the Waiting Room after they die now, same as Krakoans, they just tend to not linger and just pass on through it.

Course, just because that's the OVERALL Arakkii view of resurrection, that doesn't mean there's not going to be exceptions. We already know of at least one - in Wolverine's solo series, Solem took up residence on Krakoa and specifically negotiated with Emma to get himself added to the resurrection protocols. He doesn't give a fuck what the rest of his people think of him and he's the kinda character who's like 'eh, I would like to reserve the option to just....not be done being alive until I'm good and ready to be done with that.'

I imagine that at some point in the future, we might start to see some Arakkii individuals making the choice to use the Waiting Room to get added to the queue, and return to life, even if its not socially accepted in their own society.....they always have the option of Krakoan society instead, much like Solem. Just as there's inevitably going to be at least some Krakoans who don't actually want resurrection, like in the cases of mutants with predominantly human families, who don't want to outlive their siblings/spouses/etc and prefer to limit themselves to a lifespan comparable to the rest of their family's.

But as for Tarn, right now.....I don't think we've seen the last of him, because much like Solem, this is another guy who doesn't actually give a fuck if the rest of his society hates or judges him....and he's been very clear he's not interested in dying any time soon. He was trying to yield to Magneto the second he realized he was screwed, and he wasn't willing to risk Storm being able to kill him before he could finish off her in their duel.....nah, this is not an Arakkii who is okay with exiting stage right before HE decides he's done. And Tarn wasn't looking to die today. Not by a longshot.

Course, I don't think this means he'll end up in the Krakoan resurrection queue - we're talking about the Arakkii version of Sinister, as others have pointed out. There's no WAY he doesn't have his own failsafes in place in case something like this DID take him by surprise, or some clones of his own stashed away ready to awaken if Tarn the First happened to get Julius Caesar'd on his way to the Senate one day.

Anyway, that's just my assumptions about the current state of potential Arakkii resurrections, and Tarn's in particular.

[Mr. White]

Great issue all round. Particularly clever way of utilizing Isca as a character and turning her power into a targeted weapon.

To those asking why someone hadn't done this before? It's probably a case of Ewing just thinking about it first. A product of his creativity.

Am I the only one who thinks what happened is exactly what Brand wanted to happen? Don't ask how she could've known Mags would step in or why she would want it (no clue)...but she seems the type. #nickfurylite

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

And there’s quite a lot on the line here, so I applaud Roberto for doing it honestly. All’s fair in love and war, as the saying goes.

It was a good tactic but it'll have consequences, won't it? That woman is Apocalypse's sister in law, and she's functionally immortal. (She always wins, so death can't claim her.) She now has the nastiest grudge imaginable focused solely on the brotherhood, and her friend Tarn is loose in mutant heaven.

The previous worst case scenario was that Magneto dies and is resurrected. Now it's a lot worse, thanks to Sunspot. He always has to be the most.

[Factor]

When the dust settles from all this, I would love to see X-men Red center around Storm’s Brotherhood on Mars/Planet Arakko as kind of a counterpart to Duggan’s Earth-bound X-men team (think about them as almost X-men “Blue”, for the blue planet, and X-men “Red”, for the red planet) featuring…

- Storm
- Magneto
- Sunspot
- Khora
- Cable
- Thunderbird
- Manifold

With the Fisher King and a few others as supporting cast. That would be perfect IMO.

That would be pretty cool, but for Storm’s Brotherhood to make sense, I expect it to have more Arakki mutants on board.
It should be closer to 50/50, I think.

[Reigna]

She freaked out because Roberto stole her autonomy from her and forced her to decisively pick a side. I love Bobby, but that was a dick move and he deserved worse than what she gave him. Her power is based on choice and he took her choices away. Very ugly.

I mean her autonomy was never even hers given that her own powers turned her from a sweet caring woman to backstabbing ruthless and cruel. They even say she wept when she was forced to leave her family and loved ones to betray them. Roberto didn't really take advantage of her powers so much as he just made a bet and her powers spoke for her. It's simply seems like it's all beyond her control.

[Frobisher]

The most satisfying "thunk!" in all of comics.

[CoCoBandz]

It's gonna be Hank that finally gets Brand I'm tellin ya.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I had to reread the issue just now and experience again the awesomeness of Roberto Da Costa: "I bet you Tarn wins". This was just so fucking brilliant.

[jwatson]

The only thing that could make this book better is a data page with clear explanation about arrakki mutants' powers. They have been around for several years by now, but the powers are still too vague. Like, what exactly Isca does? If all it takes to defeat Tarn is for someone to bet with her, then why hadn't someone at the very start of war with Amenth made a bet as well: "I bet what in a war between Arrako and Amenth, the Amenth would win!" for an instant victory for Arrako? Tarn is now dead, and his powers are also vague at best, not to mention his Locus Vile. The rest of Great Ring is even more obscure. Khora the Burning Heart got better explanation about her powers compared to all the supposedly important arrakki.

I think it was more than just a bet. Berto talked to her most the battle and she offered her stance on who was going to win first, which I think he was waiting for as she already made a choice once she made the choice that tarn would win it limited the outcome giving berto the chance to take over by saying "I agree I bet tarn wins' at that point isca already had an idea who would win but berto making the bet to her circumvented that. So I don't think it's just as easy as turning her powers on her he had to steer the conversation to limit the outcomes before making the bet forcing her powers to kick in at the challenge and give mags the win.

[jwatson]

Two more things rereading issue 1. Vulcan already did the power drain thing in issue 1 when he drained berto and berto was all "i've fought without powers before." Brand just taught him how to harness it. Also there may be one more seat coming up, tin the data page on which council members voted for or against war lodos logos time is apparently coming soon. It sounds like a foreshadowed death so who would end up in the Seat of Dreams.

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[Harasar]

I think it was more than just a bet. Berto talked to her most the battle and she offered her stance on who was going to win first, which I think he was waiting for as she already made a choice once she made the choice that tarn would win it limited the outcome giving berto the chance to take over by saying "I agree I bet tarn wins' at that point isca already had an idea who would win but berto making the bet to her circumvented that. So I don't think it's just as easy as turning her powers on her he had to steer the conversation to limit the outcomes before making the bet forcing her powers to kick in at the challenge and give mags the win.

But what is exactly the thing I dislike - Isca's, and all other arrakkii' powers are too vague. A clear explanation of how they work, would have allowed all readers (and other writers) to have the same understanding, instead of letting everyone have their own theories.

Anyway, Isca's power is rather lame. All the other omega mutants have control over their power, only she can't do anything willingly and instead is controlled and forced by them. Isca in a sense is a reality warper - she changes reality around her to always win. She reminds me of Wanda in HoM, she could accidently cause disasters with her power because she can't control it. But Wanda at least have control most of the time, while Isca is completely unpredictable and uncontrollable.

[Jackraow21]

That would be pretty cool, but for Storm’s Brotherhood to make sense, I expect it to have more Arakki mutants on board.
It should be closer to 50/50, I think.

True, but no one cares about new mutant characters. In the main. Trying to keep the book from tanking sales wise. I’m sure they can come up with an in-story explanation for why the team is mostly Krakoan mutants. Or maybe they ditch the Brotherhood name and become the X-men of Mars, with the Arakki people embracing the X-men for whatever reason (e.g., they save the planet from Brand or some other threat). I’m sure Ewing can figure it out.

[raidensix]

He is an energy manipulator.

On the "Omega..." level.

Wasn't he originally non-Omega level? I think in "Deadly Genesis"(?) it was shown he, Sway, Petra and Darwin were the first victims of the original Krakoa. He accidentally absorbed the others' powers when they died and later in Decimation, he absorbed the energy from the depowered mutants which as per Emma, boosted Vulcan's powers to "Omega and beyond".

Maybe they can resurrect him to pre-omega levels and maybe even his real age.

[WallStreeter]

True, but no one cares about new mutant characters. In the main. Trying to keep the book from tanking sales wise. I’m sure they can come up with an in-story explanation for why the team is mostly Krakoan mutants. Or maybe they ditch the Brotherhood name and become the X-men of Mars, with the Arakki people embracing the X-men for whatever reason (e.g., they save the planet from Brand or some other threat). I’m sure Ewing can figure it out.

It will be a combination of both. Some new mutants like Isca are getting a lot of exposure.

But as for why Krakoans, or at least certain ones have rights to be in the council, terraforming Mars was Magneto’s idea. Storm helped with that, as did a bunch of other Krakoans and Arrako. It was a joint effort.

[PsychicHobo]

I never saw magneto's abilities as psionic. Yes he can do it with his mind but like storm his being is one with the very magnetic forces of the planet. You can't cut him away from it that easily. Same with iceman and with storm I think that's the thing with elementals.

Idk if psionic really plays a role into how in tune you are w a given element considering Storm’s powers are entirely psionic in nature. No idea about Bobby tho.