Astonishing X-Men #5

OK, so the title of all these issues has to be from the first one, so it’s “Gifted, Part 5”

Timeline

Immediately following Astonishing X-Men #4

The Sitch

If you didn’t heed my warning about last issue, do it now. If last issue was a jaw-dropper, this one will leave you speechless. Issue five picks up right where four left off with Cyclops lying on the floor and hallucinating about his X-team and Jean while Emma is trying to keep him conscious.

Back at the mansion, Wing is being healed by another student while the Stepford Cuckoos (Emma’s girls) and Hisako discuss the situation with the X-men. Wing is revived to discover that he has been cured. Beneath the steel fortress, Kitty sits opposite Colossus, catching her breath and making sure he’s not a shapeshifter or some other doppelganger. In a surreal moment, Peter thanks her for carrying “his” ashes to Russia for burial.

Peter explains that his body was revived after his death from curing the Legacy Virus years ago. He was kept in the room by Genetech and Ord, experimenting on him. Ord himself was the one who brought him back. Peter is also gratified to discover that his sacrifice worked. There is no legacy virus. And with Kitty’s touch, he knows he’s not a ghost.

Back in the lab, Dr Rao has walked in to discover the massacre. She immediately makes the guards stand down and debates her actions with Emma while trying to help Scott. Hank grabs her by the throat and demands to know whom else she had been experimenting on. He tells her that they have the mystery DNA on file. Unknown to the guards and everyone else, Scott has regained his senses and is telepathically communicating with Emma.

Emma patches in Hank and Wolverine. Wolverine lets them know that he’s been waiting on them and that he’s fully healed. The guards are blown back by a blast from Cyclops’ visor and Wolverine cuts the mental suppression units from their ears, ears included. In perhaps one of the more memorable moments of this book, Emma sends the guards to a hospital with the lifelong mental block that when they hear ‘parsley’, ‘intractable’ or ‘longitude’, they will uncontrollably vomit for 48 hours.

Scott, noting his girlfriend’s strangeness, congratulations the X-Men for their performance. Wolverine recommends burning the place to the ground, which Emma notes is a good plan, but tells him that she and Scott give the orders. Dr Rao tells them it won’t help since she’s sent out “Hope” to hundreds of teams around the world.

As Wolverine prepares to call her bluff, Ord explodes through the wall. He pushes Dr Rao aside and prepares to cut the X-Men open. The three X-Men prepare to fight back but are stunned silent. Ord is both pleased at their apparent fear and fearful that Lockheed the Dragon has returned. Their fear is amazement, though, as Kitty has phased Colossus into the room. Ord tells them it’s time to finish it. Wolverine, stunned from what he is seeing, agrees.

Ord gets a crushing blow to the spine. Ord turns to find Colossus behind him and strikes back immediately. Ord doesn’t particularly care IF Colossus is made of steel. Colossus tells him that he isn’t made of steel; he’s made of rage. Wolverine tells him to finish it, but is stopped short…by Nick Fury.

…You ain’t gonna win this day.

End of Issue Five

Thoughts

What are you made of?

I’ve heard that question posed a lot of different ways and with a lot different answers. Heck, I’ve had a lot of different answers myself. I think that we all come to moments when we ask it of ourselves. And we’re almost assured that the difficulties we encounter as we go through our days will bring us face to face with it. So, what are you made of? Right now, this moment.

Got that one answered? OK now that you know what you are, what do you become when you’re exposed to a firestorm in your life or long-standing, non-relenting pressure? Coal becomes diamonds under pressure. Iron becomes steel in the fire. What does steel become under both? Rage. It was that one sentence that struck me as the core moment of this issue and a favorite theme that Joss uses in his writings.

The transformative effects of cataclysmic events, whether they be a single moment or sustained pressure, can push a person towards an unexpected direction, change you completely or bring out what has always been there.

The case of Colossus is probably best filed under the “change under prolonged pressure” category. Peter’s cataclysm didn’t just start with his “death” either. A constant set of losses (that sound familiar to Joss) beset Peter Rasputin – the legacy virus’ toll, the loss of Kitty’s companionship and most dramatically, the death of his younger sister, also to the legacy virus.

It’s a rare person who can undergo extreme pressures and not come out changed from it on the other side. How could the peace-loving, poet-farmer Colossus be anything else but be made of rage after enduring years of torture from Ord and Benetech piled on top of years of loss and pain?

This theme has been repeated a LOT in the Jossverse. The powerful slayer bound to protect the whole world reduced to personal weakness and not caring whether those closest to her were in danger. The mousey computer/book nerd transformed into an uber-being filled with power and bent on destroying the world. The brash sergeant bent on defending his troops to a cold captain, though still willing to protect his people, very reserved and cold.

In Buffy’s case, I suspect that her transformation was bringing out something that was always there –melancholy. There’s probably a whole essay on a melancholy side to Buffy and her attraction to Angel as a result of that, but I digress. Psychologists (maybe just pop psychologists) tell us that the people who fly the highest can sink the lowest. When they’re up, they’re really up. When they’re down, they’re really down. How much higher can you get than heaven? If your cataclysm is as big as being expelled from the highest point in your life, what is left behind?

Where this story interests me most is where we go from here. We know where Buffy wound up – finally understanding that life is wonder and wanting to share that. Where will Colossus go? Will he adapt? Will the rage consume him? Only the next few issues will tell.

And a few other notes. Very pleasing in this issue was the usage of the Stepford Cuckoos. They’ve been an interesting set of characters since they were introduced a few years ago during Grant Morrison’s run on the book. As a whole, the girls have been an extension of Emma Frost. Emma’s history has led her to the point that she can wield her powers and a sharp tongue with some sense of responsibility (some).

Emma’s powers have been tempered by a family history that left her destitute and in the streets and perhaps realizing the error of her ways through the loss of her team of teen mutants, the Hellions, during the 80s. The Stepford Cuckoos have the same wit and powers as Emma (sans the diamond skin), but they don’t have the emotional maturity to back them up.

So far, this aspect of the girls has not been explored, but Joss has opted to sharpen their tongues through his razor-like wit. The description of Emma’s thoughts about Scott in class were hilarious.

Now, for me, here’s the two big questions that this issue leaves begging. First, why would Peter retain his steel if Ord and Rao were experimenting on (curing) him? Ord has the capability to remove mutant powers, so why did he leave Peter’s intact? Do the powers not work on everyone? Is there a secondary reason why Peter was allowed to keep the armor? Does it have to do with the secondary mutations that mutants are experiencing everywhere?

And the second question - is Joss sucker-punching us with Colossus? Kitty even voices this question to Colossus in the basement. Joss has led us in one direction just to hit us while we’re not looking, so I’m not convinced yet. I will, however, be exceedingly disappointed if this isn’t the real deal. I told you in my last review how much I liked this character. If Joss is being sly here, I ain’t gonna be happy.

Cover Art Like the explosive punch that was his return, the cover for AXM 5 is simply Colossus’ fist slamming through the logo. Simply brilliant…

What's My Line?

Ability-to-hop man, here…

Her thoughts about him during class are often sweaty and inappropriate.

Peter Rasputin died and I know this because I carried his ashes to Russia and scattered them myself.
You did?Thank you.

Two words. Left ear.

You will go straight to a hospital and remember nothing of this place. And every time you hear the words ‘parsley’, ‘intractable’ or ‘longitude’, you will vomit uncontrollably for forty-eight hours. Nice work, X-Men. My girlfriend is very weird.

Then maybe it’s time we finished this.
Okay. Yeah. Why don’t we do that?
What are you all looking--- Oh no. Is that Dragon thing behind me?

I am not made of steel.
Rage.
I…am made…of RAGE!

Rating:
4.5 of 5

Main Credits (as listed in the issue)

Writer - Joss Whedon
Artist - John Cassaday
Colorist - Laura Martin
Letterer - Chris Eliopoulous
Assistant Editors - Stephanie Moore & Cory Sedlmeier
Editor - Mike Marts
Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada
Publisher - Dan Buckley

Published June, 2004