Sabretooth 4 spoilers: Capital Crimes On Krakoa I.E. PITiable

[EldonMaguan]

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Also Mole becomes an apologist for his would-be killer LOL
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And Sabretooth gaslights everybody
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[Master of Sound]

So what happened in this issue? A review would be nice.

[Saithor]

So, we start off from Three Eyes persepctive, he's musing about viewing the astral plane and issues with his father. He tried to catch his dad in the astral plane when he died, but failed because he was too young. Three eyes doesn't really regret it because his dad was a prick who did train him to be an arcane assassin, something he doesn't do anymore. This is leading into the revelation that Melter fucking with Creed last issue caused Creed to lash out and kill them all. Or at least their counciousnesses. But now that Three eyes is older he grabs ahold of them and brings them back, although he considers leaving Melter behind.

Meanwhile while recovering from this and making sure the others don't pass, he's keeping an eye up above where he sees Jean and Charles plugging in Wolverine for X deaths, which does mean technically there should be others down in the pit but that's not important. Jean almost spots him and he astrally leaves before she can spot him, but he does note they are distracted. We then get a quick recap and title page.

We then cut to Bling! and Shark Girl near a boat. They are trying to modify a boat, presuamably for the escape plan, with Bling! asking Shark Girl if she still believes that Bling! saw Nekra and Oya. Shark Girl is pretty hesitant in answering yes, and Bling! tells her to just finish modifying the rudder.

We then cut to Skin talking to Blob, where they discuss Skin seeing Jefferies. They also talk about the weird stuff that's happened to them, from Skin being crucified to Blob being turned into a baby once. They both discuss how good it is to have people you can trust, a Brotherhood.

Three Eyes comments on how Creed is the hardest to hold onto and bring back because he's so used to death and his body has shoved him inside his own memories while he heals. We see Sabretooth wandering around a ruined city before coming onto a bloodied gun and bird before starting to scream while Three Eyes comments on how he was probably looking for someone he knows and trusts, and a bit of commentary about how sabretooth kills everyone around him and how needing isn't the same as loving. On the beach a screaming sabretooth forms out of the vegetation.

Mole and Magma are talking in a cave there while Sabretooh is listening in. Mole is protesting Sabretooth being thrown in the pit because he believes it was a council set-up, half the x-men have probably killed as many people as him, and so on. He wants Magma's help to bust them all out.

We then cut to Creed walking into a basement where a bunch of different aspects of him are sitting around a table. There's a bestial creed, a sharp-dressed creed, a kid creed, and a cat. They tell him he has a place at the table. The sharp-dressed creed comments that Beast Creed has gotten wild recently, and that this place is too small for him. Sabretooth says he's got a plan to get them out, based on how the talk in the cave was going, and how it's gotten him thinking.

We then cut to Three Eyes helping pull the others out of a lake onto a pier. Melter is now shiny and chrome after going through the veil. Creed invites them to his house, since his dad never had guests over. He comments he still thinks apart tearing them apart in the hell he made but now he needs to keep his eyes on the prize.

They all sit back down and Melter is no longer shiny and chrome, and Sabretooth invites them to dig into some food. They all thank Three Eyes for saving them, while he just says he didn't want to be lonely.

Most of those present start commenting about their relations with their parents after Sabretooth mentions never really escaping his dad and how he can never beat him. Three Eyes mentions how his dad raised him for a cause that ruined both him and his father. Oya talks about accidentally burning her family to death and how she can never forget the screaming, while Nekra mentions the struggles over her albinism and how it caused her father and mother to take out frustrations with each other out on her, but how these days she focuses on the good instead of the bad, memories of eating food at her grandparents and playing with cousins.

Creed then gives a speech. About how they all came to Krakoa because they thought it was a good place they deserved, but then about how doing a job for them for free the Council all unanimously voted to throw him in the pit, both the good and the bad. About how they say they are better than humans but in the end their solution for dealing with him is no different than what humans choose to do to him. He then says thanks to all of the people here, they have friends on the outside who are going to get them out.

We then cut to a data page where Three Eyes talks about what them got sent to the Pit. On Oya and Nekra they killed pirates violating krakoa's waters coming in to attack the nation, but "They hadn't been picked for the work, weren't given a spiffy team title" so they became lawbreakers." Melter is there for reasons already stated but everyone in the Pit thinks it's really because he dared to want a bigger position for him on the island than he had. Jefferies got thrown in because he tried to build a home for Danger on the island and it proved too artificial for the island. In addition both the Council and Krakoa rejected Danger and Jefferies got thrown into the pit for his troubles.

And oh boy, why is Three Eyes in here. He violated the first law. It's not pretty. So, Jefferies saw the same thing that Stacey X did. Except he looked into the future to see it. A future where mutants have so many kids so casually none of them get parenting or are valued and are piled up like old shoes. He showed prospective parents what kind of life their kids were going to lead as a result with his power. Little love. parental abandonment. Barely noticed. As he put it a generation of monsters in the making. It's especially hard for him because it's the kind of upbringing he himself went through. So he shared with parents these visions of how their kids would end up. Birthrate dropped by a quarter. And Jefferies got thrown in the pit.

Imma pause real here to say that holy ****, that's fucked up, and especially at this time in real life. I guess you better be sure not to open an abortion clinic on Krakoa or your ass is grass, courtesy of the Quiet Council.

We then cut to Doug and Creed in a mental prison meeting location between attorneys and inmates. I'll leave it you to guess which is which. Doug is upset with Sabretooth for breaking his promise, while Sabretooth is pissed that Doug let all this happen to begin with. Sabretooth makes it clear he's going to make Doug an offer and he will accept. Doug asks why when suddenly the mental construct begins to shake. Creed tells him people up top are beginning to realize what's going on and are digging to find out the truth, and they are going to keep on digging. Doug agrees, and then we cut to the final two pages. We see a lone hand break out from underneath Krakoa's roots before Creed rises, free of the pit, while the narration says "He is risen!"

And that's the fourth issue of Sabretooth. First ever issue recap how I do?

[Devaishwarya]

I'm really enjoying this LS. The data page as to why they are all in the pit was...deep. And telling.
My only question would be...how do you make the QC see the error in their thinking and reasoning behind the decisions they made to send these individuals into the pit? And if they do see the error, how will they adjust? Will they adjust and rethink? Or...

Will Creed **** it up royally again and this time really earn his punishment in the pit and make it worse for everyone else?

[Saithor]

I'm really enjoying this LS. The data page as to why they are all in the pit was...deep. And telling.

Very timely too, in the case of why Three Eyes was thrown in. I’ve been saying it for years folks. QC be evil unelected oligarchs.

Just a question, is the pit votes unanimous? Because I remember at least the silhouette of the entire QC being there when the current group were consigned to the pit, and if Kate, Kurt, and Ororo signed off on throwing them in that’s….interesting

[Covetous_One]

Very timely too, in the case of why Three Eyes was thrown in. I’ve been saying it for years folks. QC be evil unelected oligarchs.

Just a question, is the pit votes unanimous? Because I remember at least the silhouette of the entire QC being there when the current group were consigned to the pit, and if Kate, Kurt, and Ororo signed off on throwing them in that’s….interesting

Doug pointed out it was just Charles and Erik there. The two of them felt like since the QC made the laws unanimously that there only need to be two “judges” for the sentencing as the theme for those two was they spoke for the entire council and no one else needs to be there

[Saithor]

Doug pointed out it was just Charles and Erik there. The two of them felt like since the QC made the laws unanimously that there only need to be two “judges” for the sentencing as the theme for those two was they spoke for the entire council and no one else needs to be there

I might have misremembered the first issue, thanks. Although that does make Charles look even my hypocritical over in Immortal

[Devaishwarya]

This is where I might have an issue with the overall plot of this story. The entire QC voted on Sabretooth and yes, it was done as a warning example to anyone else deciding to blatantly break the laws it was still very contrived and stupid (one of Hickman's many early narrative missteps, imo) and if it was just Charles and Erik there at subsequent hearings and sentencings then the final judgment call should be invalid as we do not know the arguments put forward nor how the other QC members would have voted. It just seems like there's a wide gap in between how the QC as a 'judiciary' would/should respond based on what we've read in other books and the picture that LaValle has painted in this limited series.
I know the QC has generally acted in blatant self-interest since inception but those decisions mostly applied to themselves and immediate connections and interests. To consign Nekra and Co. to the pit for those reasons as Third Eye explained seems very...harsh and unnecessary.

[Kingdom X]

I love this series and I really hope it gets a follow-up. It’s a critique of Krakoa, but not the obtuse, “see those mutants got too uppity!” It shows how certain systems are inequitable by design and how those in power can easily abuse them.

[jwatson]

Great read and beautiful art. A few of the themes while universal and eternal still show how delays can hurt the impact a book makes. For instance I love the thought that went into make more mutant but at the same time I know this has already been resolved in lox via nightcrawler and the update of the laws. But still a great read non the less and very though provoking. Also nice magma cameo.

[Saithor]

Great read and beautiful art. A few of the themes while universal and eternal still show how delays can hurt the impact a book makes. For instance I love the thought that went into make more mutant but at the same time I know this has already been resolved in lox via nightcrawler and the update of the laws. But still a great read non the less and very though provoking. Also nice magma cameo.

Or are the laws truly changed?

Deep in the bowels of the earth, Charles Xavier emerges into a secret, extra quiet room in Krakoa.

"Since those ungrateful children have made it clear they will do nothing by question my superior judgment, I, Charles Xavier, am here to inaugurate the first meeting of the Quieter Council! Let me introduce each of you for no adequately explained reason! Beast!"

"It is shocking it took you this long to put me in a position of power Charles."

"Nature Girl!...Nature Girl?...Sigh someone get a statement out of her after she's done gnawing on that femur."

Gnawing noises

"Big Daddy Blue!"

"Damnit Xavier, I already changed my name once for your schemes I am not doing it again!"

"Mr. Sinister!"

"Of course!"

"Quentin Quire!"

"Why the hell did I not get my request two foot schlong when you brought me back?"

"And last but not least, Forbrush Man! Anyway, my Quieter Council, our first order of business! In defiance of the pure original version of our precious laws, the Quiet Council has allowed an abortion clinic to be established. I need a volunteer to go firebomb it! Nature Girl, how about you?..Spit that liver out when you are talking to me girl."

In the rafters above, Doug watches on "Aw damn, now I got to spend another three years debating if I should reveal this secret government's crimes to the public of Krakoa who probably should want to rise up in rebellion by now. And that's before the other secret actions of the public government!"

But yes the Magma cameo was nice. At least she looked better than she did in Trial of Magneto. Seriously, why did she look like a karen in that?

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

I love this series and I really hope it gets a follow-up. It’s a critique of Krakoa, but not the obtuse, “see those mutants got too uppity!” It shows how certain systems are inequitable by design and how those in power can easily abuse them.

Agreed. This story is haunting. I didn't expect much from this miniseries, but the themes about betrayal, disappointment, childhood neglect, and the way people escape into fantasy to escape their misery have really struck a chord with me. I thought this was going to be a story about Creed stalking a group of B-list minor leaguers in order to puff him up for another loss against more important characters; the philosophy and the righteous anger at the core of this story have caught me off guard.

[Saithor]

Huh, you know in the perspective of this interpretation of the laws that caused Three-Eyes to get thrown in, do we know which political party Charles Xavier was affiliated with back in the United States?

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

Charles was a moderate centrist leaning slightly left. He trained his students originally to fight other mutants who were acting out and making things difficult for the rest of them, not to be superheroes. There's something kind of cold about the idea of a wealthy man collecting poor people to attack their own class.

[Habis]

If these people were really thrown into the Pit for these reasons... man, Krakoa is a seriously f****d up place! Even more than it already was, I mean...

We have seen that Skinjacker guy to possess the bodies of Krakoans and make them torture their friends or mutilate themselves, and it was treated as a juvenile joke; we have seen Beast committing genocide against a human nation, and trying to spread the plague to the rest of the world, and he didn't even receive a slap on the wrist; we have seen Apocalypse kill fellow mutants and turn them into pieces of a interdimensional gate, and it was handwaved; we have seen Sebastian Shaw to try to permanently kill Kate, and he was eventually forgiven; we have seen Mystique betray fellow Quiet Councilors to Orchis, and she was rewarded for it...

But Oya kills some pirates while defending Krakoa, and she wasn't offered a chance to atone and redeem herself, she was just thrown away like trash? Jeffries was condemned for trying to help a loyal ally of the X-Men? Three Eyes was condemned for trying to warn people that they should take proper care of their babies...?

Holy f***, this is f****d up even for Xavier and his cronies's standards!

It seems the only law in Krakoa is: "If you are important, you can get away with anything; if not... the Quiet Council can arbitrarily dispose of you because they caught you picking your nose...".