Thoughts

Although Kitty Pryde joined and Angel rejoined the team in the same issue – its pretty clear which character Claremont and Byrne are interested in. Just a few issues in, and we’re being told the tale of Kate Pryde – her future self – a warrior who has spent a lifetime fighting for mutants when the world has gone to Hell.

Just as readers were getting to know this young teenager, it’s a brave choice to introduce her much-older self. It runs the risk of alienating the audience from seeing her as an identification figure. She’s the newest X-man, from seemingly a normal life, suddently discovering the world of being a superhero. So far, so conventional.

But now we’ve got this whole new angle. She’s a hardened warrior. She’s a proven hero from a strange future in the far off year of (ahem) 2013. She’s the Sarah Conner of Terminator 2, just a few issues after introducing her as a quirky teen Sarah Conner of Terminator.

But Claremont makes it work by focusing the story on the friendships. It’s less a convoluted time jump story, as a sudden window into a future Kate who misses all her friends and has a chance to see them alive again. Not only is that relatable, but I think it adds an element of wish fulfilment to the story. We learn that Kitty Pryde, despite her current awkwardness, is going to be great friends with all these heroes. Which is exactly what many readers want when they like heroes.

This means that despite the bleakness, this story doesn’t really belong within the eighties trend of comics becoming grim and girtty. The underlying story of a dark future is there – but the heart of the story is friendship.

Fun Panel

Wolverine actually dying! There’s a thrill in any What If story it getting to see the final fate of an icon.

Any Googling

Mystique’s appearance in these two issues sets up where she first appeared. Designed as a character by Cockrum, Claremont saw the drawing and dubbed the character Mystique and she appeared in Ms Marvel. After a few appearances of Ms Marvel villainy, she’s reinvented into the new leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Where even at this early stage, Claremont mines the fact she looks like Nightcrawler.

It’d be interesting to find out what Claremont’s plans were at this point. Later Claremont was to imply that Mystique was Nightcrawler’s father, with Destiny the mother. One of the worst things of the post-Claremont era was the way that this was wiped over with a much less interesting origin for Nightcrawler. Honestly, if I had the money to buy Marvel Comics, and write whatever title I could, not only would it be the X-men but I’d very quickly retcon Nightcrawler’s origins and bring it back to Claremont’s plan.

Obviously I don’t have that kind of money, but I’d happily buy Marvel a slap up dinner somewhere fancy if they promised to do it anyway. Come on Marvel! You can name the restaurant!