Monday 12 August 2013

X-Men Re-read: X-Men: Deadly Genesis

comic musings

The Great X-Men Re-read

X-Men: Deadly Genesis

Collects: X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker
Penciller(s): Trevor Hairsine

Fresh off his retcon in Captain America, that gave us the Winter Soldier, Ed Brubaker turns his hand to the events of the seminal Giant Size X-Men #1, which this cover is a homage to.

Quick Synopsis
I think Kitty said it best back in Uncanny #168:

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. At the end of House of M, a large amount of mutant energy was released and this release awoke a dormant mutant called Vulcan. Vulcan is an angry sort and goes on a revenge rampage, leading to the death of Banshee who goes out saving a passenger plane.

It turns out that Vulcan is making these attacks to draw out Professor X who has been MIA since House of M, and is revealed to be among the depowered mutants.

In the final battle, Vulcan reveals that he and three others (Sway, Darwin and Petra) were despatched by Professor X to Krakoa to rescue the original X-Men before and slightly during the events of Giant Size X-Men #1. This also wraps up the long standing mystery of the third Summers brother as it emerges that Vulcan is Gabriel Summers, brother of Cyclops and Havok.

When Vulcan is confronted by the X-Men he flees into space to take his vengeance on the Shi'ar, which leads into The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. Darwin who also survived (and enabled Vulcan to survive when Jean Grey blasted Krakoa into space) stays around on earth and also goes into the next arc.

So why is Professor X a jerk (this time)? Well not only did he send Vulcan and the others to Krakoa, when it all went pear-shaped he simply wiped everyones mind of the incident, including making Scott forget about his brother. Angsted at Professor X's jerkery, Cyclops banishes him from the mansion.

Best Bit
Charles' face when Cyclops banishes him from the mansion or Banshee's death.

Final Words
X-Men at it's best, building on and expanding past events to build to a more interesting future.

Essential X-Men
9 / 10

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