Sabretooth #5 Review & Spoilers

[PyroFN]

Yep. Toad still being down there is a BIG fumble... it makes Wanda, Magneto, Xavier, Doug, Polaris, Legion, Proteus (and most probably the rest of the Five too) monsters... they all know the truth, and they left Toad in the Pit that, let me remind you, keeps people "immobile, but conscious..."; that's a horrible form of torture, and Xavier and Magneto are leaving people there for weeks for minor infractions, or for no infraction at all...

No they don’t. Only Wanda and Magneto know the truth. They literally conjured this plan in secret. Wanda even went so far as to make it look like foul play so that Hope would allow for her to be resurrected.

[Hulkout42]

I just the follow up has the same level of quality.

[Dream Boy]

Ended up one of my surprise favorite series of this era.

Is Magma officially Xavier's first student to so openly defy him this new era?

Bring on the Exiles!

[Habis]

No they don’t. Only Wanda and Magneto know the truth. They literally conjured this plan in secret. Wanda even went so far as to make it look like foul play so that Hope would allow for her to be resurrected.

Polaris, Legion and Proteus helped Wanda with the ritual to create the Waiting Room. At the very least they should have suspected something...

As for Doug, he knows everything that happens in Krakoa.

And I think there is no way Xavier didn't read a few minds and realized the truth. At the very least, he should have read Toad's...

[Kingdom X]

Polaris, Legion and Proteus helped Wanda with the ritual to create the Waiting Room. At the very least they should have suspected something...

As for Doug, he knows everything that happens in Krakoa.

And I think there is no way Xavier didn't read a few minds and realized the truth. At the very least, he should have read Toad's...

That ritual didn’t really have anything to do with the murder culprit though. If anything they should have suspected that something was going on with Moira because Proteus had to be there.

[Glio]

"This has damaged Xavier's reputation" has been said so many times that it has totally lost its meaning. I think that he doesn't even care anymore.

[Saturius]

"This has damaged Xavier's reputation" has been said so many times that it has totally lost its meaning. I think that he doesn't even care anymore.

Hell, do the readers even care anymore? How many "Xavier is an asshole" stories do we need? He's getting up there with Beast when it comes to overkill with dumping on the character. It's getting old. They need to write him having his big fall then start his redemption arc or something because this is getting tiresome.

[WildR]

Birdy seemed to appear in the last Legion of X's astral plane, idk if it indicate she'll be completely off the Sabretooth franchise or Si has plans etc

[Frobisher]

What's worse is that Magneto left Toad down there all this time.

It felt to me like Toad, Nanny and Orphan Maker had pretty much all just got there, though I might have misconstrued the intent - Toad was hiding, after all.

As with Knights and Legion Of X there didn't seem to be any point in rebooting with a new name and #1 except to boost sales with collectors and annoy everyone else. They did it with the X-Cellent too, which is already like this weird niche thing that probably only appeals to Generation X ironic deadniks like me.

[Ulysian_Thracs]

Convinced by Mole of the cause, Magma causes an undersea volcano to erupt, weaking Krakoa and knocking out everyone near Nanny Cove, allowing Sabretooth to escape and move without witnesses. He had no intention of helping his comrades escape with him.

Mystique and Destiny catch up to him. But Destiny sees a vision of Sabes leading an army of Exiles, and says to Mystique that he could do the right thing and save a lot of lives. So they let him go.

He steals Bling!'s boat and rides off. However, Orchis manages to get ahold of him, and are planning on throwing him in with their new mutant prison program.

Meanwhile, Cypher says that Sabretooth left his throne in the Pit. He can't let anyone sit on it and make Krakoa a Hell like Sabretooth did. So everyone, including Nanny, Orphan-Maker, Toad and Hellion, are brought to the surface. They're given a mission to wrangle Sabretooth in by throwing some weird skull thing at his feet. What it will do, we don't know. But it's apparently worse than death.

Xavier, meanwhile, has lost the faith of some Krakoans. People know what he did and his reputation is tarnished. No outright rebellion yet though. Maybe next LaValle book.

Is Hellion really in this one? I haven't read Sabretooth yet, but I would start it if any of the core New X-Men we don't normally see make appearances.

Also, I don't recall why Oya is in the Pit. Can someone tell me please.

"This has damaged Xavier's reputation" has been said so many times that it has totally lost its meaning. I think that he doesn't even care anymore.

Why would he care when he could just silence dissent with his TP and no one would even know it? (Which is what I always thought might be happening anyway. Old friends Charles and Eric are something of controlled oppositions for each other, and I've always thought Charles does whatever he wants and lets his telepathy silence most of the dissent in his own ranks.)

[Jackraow21]

Birdy seemed to appear in the last Legion of X's astral plane, idk if it indicate she'll be completely off the Sabretooth franchise or Si has plans etc

My hope is Sabretooth comes for her. Not sure she adds much to the LoX book as just another generic psychic, but as Sabretooth’s “fix” for his rages I think she could be an important plot point in Sabretooth & The Exiles or whatever the book is going to be called.

[BobbysWorld]

I wouldn't put this in the same vein as Knights, etc, because for months LaValle has been stating that he always pitched this story as a triptych of three linked miniseries. Each part has a distinct premise that's all built into each other, but it was meant to read as a trilogy from day one. A three act structure unfolding with each act as its own miniseries. I think that's a very clear narrative/stylistic choice on his part, versus REstructuring a story in order to bring about a sales bump, which is what it sounds like with the other examples.

Anyway, I loved this and think its a highlight of the entire era for me, and I can't wait for the next mini in October. But aside from just general excitement for what comes next, I'm REALLY excited that we've caught up timeline-wise, as evidenced by Nanny, Orphan-Maker and Toad's presence here. It makes me think that by the time this story continues in October, it'll be set at a point that's able to factor in the events of the upcoming Hellfire Gala, and possibly Judgment Day.

But its specifically the Hellfire Gala events I want to see play into the next miniseries....one likely event in particular: and that's the possibility that Moira crashing the Hellfire Gala will result in ALL mutants finding out the truth about Moira, the foundation of Krakoa, and various other things like....the former ban on precogs.

Because I definitely agree that this mini and premise was well served by focusing so much attention on not just any mutants, but three black mutants in particular, Oya, Third Eye and Nekra, given that this was all about topics of prison, who gets punished in societies, rehabilitation, etc.....

BUT so far we haven't seen what I think is one of the pivotal factors in including Third Eye here in particular.

Because as much as the conversations about Third Eye's 'crime' are timely because of how they tie into Roe v. Wade and various related topics, I think its very important for this particular premise, and LaValle's continued examination of the flaws and corruption at the core of their new nation.....

That Third Eye isn't just a black mutant. He's a black PRECOG.

I think it could easily be argued that the reason Xavier and Magneto gave for sentencing Third Eye to the Pit, that he'd violated the First Law of Krakoa in some way....was simply a pretext, because they couldn't admit to their real reason for exiling him. In bringing the future of the Bowery babies to the attention of the whole island, this presumably unknown-or-unfamiliar-until-that-point mutant also happened to bring to the attention of its shadow triumvirate (Xavier, Magneto and Moira).....that Third Eye's powerset also happened to include the ability to see into the future.

And THAT was what they couldn't abide, given that this sentencing clearly took place pre-Inferno and Destiny's return, when the (secret) rule of the land was still: No precogs on Krakoa.

So how else do you get rid of a precog who slipped through the cracks, because nobody had thought to wonder before then if this mutant with other powers or power usages might ALSO be able to use his power to divine the future?

Ever since Destiny's return (as well as Ruth's, etc), this is the fallout I've really been waiting to see addressed, but so far we've gotten nothing beyond a couple of Quiet Council members going tsk tsk at Xavier and Magneto, like, you boys have been naughty.

Its like umm no, actually what they did there is a much bigger deal than just that.

For a time, this nation that was publicly founded as a refuge for ALL mutants from the persecutions of the human world (remember how often we've heard the line "Krakoa is for ALL mutants").....like, thanks to Xavier, Magneto and Moira's secret agreement....quite LITERALLY institutionalized discrimination against a specific group of their citizens or potential citizens: the precogs.

One of the things I like about the current era IS the focus on nation-building, and like yeah, Krakoa absolutely has flaws and corruptions just like EVERY country does, because countries are just made up of people and people are flawed.....but part of the appeal for me is that rather than be just like 'oh this was a mistake, throw the whole island out with the trash' lol, its relative newness means there's so much more opportunity to explore how these flaws can be addressed and the still-young structures of this nation shifted to account for areas they initially fuck up, and find ways to do things better.

But for that to happen, the flaws have to actually be ACKNOWLEDGED and ADDRESSED.

I really hope the second mini in this triptych follows up on the idea that post-Moira reveal, Third Eye might reflect on his 'crime' and wonder if he was actually ever even sentenced for what he DID or was it always about what he IS.

If his fate was ACTUALLY sealed the second he made public that he can see the future, regardless of what it was he saw, or how he used or revealed that information.

Because even though the precog ban has now been 'lifted' and precogs are eligible for resurrection now, can use their powers openly....it absolutely NEEDS to be addressed publicly, IMO, with actual conversations and fallout due to the fact that this ban was ever in place at all....

As the precedent it set is one of the biggest flaws in Krakoa's still-new history as a nation.

If mutant citizens can be reduced to being seen as nothing more than just their power, with who they are as people and how they USE their power considered irrelevant compared to the fact that they have that power at all.....what happens the next time a particular powerset is deemed 'too dangerous' or some kind of threat to Krakoan stability, its government, its leaders or its future?

What's to keep the same thing from happening if someone somewhere down the line, with the position and influence and infrastructure needed TO put in place a ban against these mutants being resurrected, or sentence them to the Pit or exile without a public trial.....like, what happens if someone with those tools at their disposal decides oh, shapeshifters can't be trusted, and are a threat to Krakoan stability? Or telepaths? Or omega mutants? Or mutants who absorb life-force?

And what makes the Krakoan government regarding them as threats simply because of the nature of the power they're born with....ANY different at all, from human governments regarding ALL mutants as threats simply because of the nature of them being born with superhuman powers, period?

THAT'S the big hypocrisy that's always been at the root of the Krakoan nation, IMO, and that's what really desperately needs to be addressed and accounted for. That and pumping the brakes on viewing Krakoans as resources, period.....with the fact that they HAVE certain powers being regarded as more important than their autonomy in how they wish to use their powers, or with it being taken for granted that they're just expected to volunteer their services with those powers for the good of the nation. I don't even like Hope all that much but she did make good arguments for her inclusion on the Council in Immortal X-Men....much like I think Doug's role in this story is aimed at, though its a bit more complicated in his case and also veers into making points like 'no matter how good-intentioned you are, you can't expect to wade about in the shitfest that is prison-as-an-institution and still expect to walk away clean'.

I just mean its a point that really needs making....that mutants are people first and foremost, not just resources with specific powers that can be utilized as tools by their government. If you make certain mutants FOUNDATIONAL to your society by building the entire basis of your society-wide resurrections around them, or your ability to interact with or communicate with the living entity you're living ON and claim to be seeking a symbiotic dynamic with....you can't expect them to be completely at your disposal for their powers and treat them as essential to the functioning of your society....while acting that every thing else that's unique to them as individuals, like oh idk, their VIEWPOINT and opinions on how YOU'RE expecting their powers to be used.....is like, somehow totally irrelevant.

There's a word for 'acting like you have a right to use the labor/resources of others for your own agenda, without giving them an equivalent stake in SETTING the agenda'.

Its called 'exploitation' and it also kinda goes hand in hand with the very nature of prisons in our societies.

So yeah, I loved this first mini and am chomping at the bit for the next one, but I'm also really crossing fingers that that's where Third Eye's storyline is headed in particular: a focus on addressing that you can't reduce mutants to being just about their powers and how those powers can be exploited FOR you or how those powers might make them even a potential threat TO you, and still walk away thinking that you're any different from the human governments you claim to be protecting mutants from being persecuted and exploited by.

[Rift]

Good point about Third Eye being a precog with that in mind, him being thrown into the Pit makes more sense.

As for the mini, I really liked it. But tbh I'm disappointed that 4/6ths of the main cast had their crimes explained in a couple of sentences on a data page in the 4th issue. I needed to see those, to flesh things out and drive home the characters' plight. Or make things morr complex, like they did with Melter's case.

They acknowledged the Iceman/Angel mix-up, which is a huge relief. But any goodwill from that was decimated by the constant mentions of microplastics every time Madison was on the page. Like damn, we get it.

Batman1206: Hellion wasn't actually in the book, sadly. And Oya apparently killed some people trying to attack/invade Krakoa.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

For someone who spend the last 32 years pressumed dead and having rather low level super powers, Mole managed to have quite a small but significant impact on the social landscape of Krakoa with his actions in this series.

Which is kind of a par for the course with the Morlocks, when one thinks about it.

It really emphasizes how good a person he is that he could help Sabertooth like that, considering the role Creed played in the Morlock massacre. And how effed up it really is to have Sinister on that council.

[Saithor]

It really emphasizes how good a person he is that he could help Sabertooth like that, considering the role Creed played in the Morlock massacre. And how effed up it really is to have Sinister on that council.

Mutant solidarity. Mutant Solidarity.