When X-Men #33 begins, things are pretty dire for Beast’s Science Team 3K’s gravity-welding mutant Schwarzschild has lost control of his abilities due to a “booby trap” in his brain, and is generating a series of gravitational anomalies that threaten to rip apart Canada. With lives on the line, the X-Men face a difficult choice. Do they continue to work to save Schwarzschild? Or do they use lethal force to solve the problem?
It might not surprise anyone that Magneto is the first mutant to consider murder as an alternative, positioning a shard of metal over Schwarzschild’s neck as a “fail-safe” in case things go wrong. It’s a great way to showcase that, despite choosing to follow Charles Xavier’s path of bringing mankind and mutants together, the Master of Magnetism still retains his bloodthirsty tendencies. It also provides some great conflict for Beast, who is still trying to handle the situation scientifically and, most importantly, peacefully.
However, the real meat of the issue boils down to Quentin Quire and Ben Liu. Quire is frantically attempting to telepathically “disarm” Schwarzschild, and Ben is still grappling with the fact that a man who was part of the organization that captured him and experimented on him is right in front of him. As he puts it, he had a life before 3K stole it away – why should Schwarzschild continue to have his? Jed MacKay turns in some fine character work in these scenes, digging deep into Ben’s pain and Quire’s past to deliver an unexpected ending. It’s an approach that hints at continuing in future issues, which bodes extremely well for the title.
Marvel
These moments hit as hard as they do thanks to Tony S. Daniel’s artwork. Daniel makes great use of the idea that a psychic landscape can yield striking visuals, delivering plenty of eye-popping imagery in the process. A key moment shows the inside of Schwarzschild’s brain, with wires and dials similar to those of a bomb embedded in it. When Quire pulls the wrong “wire”, he and Ben are engulfed by a pile of worms, hinting at the return of the Black Bug Room that Cassandra Nova torments her victims with. This isn’t limited to the mental plane either; Daniel seems to have a blast drawing Magneto hovering in the air, with his signature red-and-purple helmet lending him a regal air.
The colors in X-Men #33 are also something to behold, as Fer Sifuentes-Sijo peppers the darker-hued backgrounds with bright red and purple for Magneto and blue for Beast’s fur. Of particular note is the way Quire and Ben appear in a mindscape, as the latter is dark blue while the former is ringed with bright pink. This extends to their words, which Clayton Cowles depicts in lowercase; it’s as if MacKay’s script is leaping from their minds to the printed page. Of all the different ways I’ve seen telepathy represented in comics, this might be one of the coolest.
Here’s hoping we get more spotlights put on the Science Team, as it makes for a different kind of X-Men adventure.
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