I'm back in defiance of popular demand, aw yeah!
Alright, here we go with X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain. I'll try to be a little more informative for people not familiar with X-Men lore this time around, and in general offer more takes on what I think was and/or was not done well.
Okay. We begin with a newsreel on a Senate hearing regarding the inhumane conditions at the US extraterritorial prison in Genosha Bay. Two things - One, the very first character we see is a guy at the hearing wearing a mask that makes him look like early Spider-Man/Daredevil villain the Masked Marauder. I have no clue why. Second, this sort of bothered me the first time I read it. You're really going to introduce a present-day political commentary by bringing up the Guantanamo Bay issue?
Anyway. Senator Robert Kelly (I guess I was wrong about the policeman in the first issue of the original series; this guy is obviously Robert Kelly) defends Genosha's methods, saying that eugenics has determined these men - and a few women - to be the worst of the worst sociopaths captured on foreign soil. These psychos can't be rehabilitated and can't be cured, and any means necessary must be used to keep them in line.
The reel's narrator says that this may prove a moot point, since even those advocating Genosha Bay's closure refuse to have any of its inmates transferred to prisons in their districts. "'Not in my backyard', eh, Congressman?"
Moving on, Professor Xavier has been released from Riker's, since after the events of the previous series everyone who could testify against him is dead. Xavier maintains his innocence in that matter, saying that Chief Magnus was a good friend of his and, with the help of his daughter Wanda, he vows to bring his killers to justice. He promises that he'll find the "Angel" and his gang, no matter where in the world they try to hide from him.
I'd like to point out that Xavier has, by this point, stopped wearing glasses, meaning that he now resembles Patrick Stewart's portrayal of Professor X in the movies exactly. Additionally, I'm embarrassed to admit that in reading the original series I'd never noticed Xavier was already wheelchair-bound. They only showed his chair in one panel, upon looking back, but it's still something I should have taken note of.
Cut to the jungle of Madripoor, where we find Tommy and Logan wading through the brush. They come upon some sort of old statue, with some mysterious language carved at the base. Tommy recognizes it: Vedic Sanskrit, and translates for Logan's convenience. "You approach the mighty temple-slash-city-slash-tomb of the God-King Cyttorak." It warns that trespassers and grave robbers will be crushed by "the Unstoppable One", "The Lord of the Universe"... "Jagganath", or "the Juggernaut."
Logan says he doesn't even know why he bothers asking - Tommy knows everything. Well, except whether they took the right fork in the path. Tommy's pal Cain Marko traded a pound of heroin for the map they're using, but Logan doesn't place too much faith in it. Tommy insists that Cain knows the island better than any white man ever has, fighting as a mercenary in Madripoor through three colonial uprisings and one world war. And Tommy's known him since Welfare, where Cain taught him and his brother how to fight. Besides, he was in the pen for bootlegging, so Logan should see him as a kindred spirit. Logan says he does - and that's why he doesn't trust him.
Logan raises a decent point when he asks why Marko isn't here himself if his info's so unimpeachable, but Tommy reminds the good captain that they really need the money for this job. That's when they realize they're surrounded by natives. Tommy thinks this is a good sign - if there was nothing to see, these guys wouldn't be protecting the place. At least now they know they were going the right way.
Logan puts his hands up and delivers a classic line: "Now I don't know what you boys have heard... but we are most definitely not looking for the priceless Crimson Gem in your sacred Temple-Tomb of Cyttorak. Not us. Nosiree bub." One of the natives fires a blow-dart, but Logan hits it out of the air with his claws. Thankfully, they've got a good eye watching over them - Cyclops snipes two natives from up in a tree. However, he can't get them all, and it only seems to have made the remaining locals angry.
We get a flashback to Marko's "step forward and greet him" spiel from issue #2, with a little extra this time. "Even if he's as tall as you are, Mr. Marko?" "Especially if he is." Marko gets a little sentimental, talking about being abused by his father when he was a boy. He says he could've used lessons like these back then... or at least somebody in his corner, like Tommy has with him.
I didn't think this was a significant detail before, but Logan and Tommy had a yak with them earlier that tore off into the jungle when the fight broke out. As it turns out, it had made its way to the temple-city-tomb of Cyttorak, and it's got a little surprise in the basket hanging from its side: Eugene, Captain Logan's first mate who happens to be a dwarf. He steals the Crimson Gem and all of a sudden we're back in the city.
Tommy gives the boys a lowdown on the Kunlun amusement center. In mainstream Marvel, K'un Lun is one of the Capital Cities of Heaven. Anyway, the Kunlun amusement center has five levels of attractions. People go there on payday, going higher and higher and spending more money on each new temptation. Their life saving spent, they hurl themselves off the top. Eugene says Tommy's better than the World Book encyclopedia, but Cyclops remarks that the World Book shuts up now and again.
They go in and sit at a bar on the ground floor, where they meet up with Cain Marko. Tommy hands over the gem, Marko gives him a briefcase. Marko notices that the others don't seem to trust him. Tommy says they don't know him like he does, but he would like to know about Cain's buyer, since they went through so much trouble for the gem.
Instead of answering his question, Marko tells Tommy that he picked him because he knew he could pull the job and come out alive. He taught him well. He tells Tommy not to come looking for him, because he's made some bad people angry. It'll be hard, but Tommy has to trust him.
Some policemen come in after Marko, saying he's under arrest for crimes against the kingdom of Madripoor. Tommy looks in the briefcase and sees torn-up newspaper. The cops want the "X-Men" to come quietly, figuring them for accomplices (which, technically speaking I suppose they actually would be). Cyclops isn't in an accommodating mood, opening his coat to reveal four holstered handguns and saying he's more the "come loudly" type before he starts firing Guns Akimbo. The cops, thinking the gem is in the newspaper bag, go after Tommy, who instructs the guys to regroup at the ship. Cyclops says he's not sure if he wants to work with Tommy anymore after all this, a position Tommy can understand.
Tommy starts heading up, ascending the levels of Kunlun for whatever reason. He passes such attractions as acrobats, gambling, fireworks, mask makers, acupuncture, sleazy whores, a ballroom, ice cream, sleazier whores, peep shows, a shooting gallery and more as he reaches the top... and takes a leap of faith to escape.
Now we're in Tokyo, where a white man called "Mr. Gabriel" buys some American newspapers at no small expense from a local vendor. It turns out our "X-Men" have been laying low here for two weeks, in a dingy little hole-in-the-wall, and it's been driving Cyclops mad. Logan insists that Prince Baran of Madripoor has a long reach, and they really need to sit tight until the heat dies down. Tommy comes back, and it turns out he's Mr. Gabriel. Cyke tells him he's going stir crazy, and that they should be looking for Marko so they can settle the score. Tommy says someone beat him to it as he shows the Daily Bugle's story on a "Mysterious Death in Genosha Bay."
It's Marko, and is body is described as "crushed beyond all recognition" - they only got an ID because he had one in his billfold. Eugene isn't happy to hear this: he thinks this is the work of "the Juggernaut" the statue warned them about. Cyclops thinks the more pressing matter is something the article doesn't mention: The gem. "Where's our goddamn gem?" Eugene is still feeling bad about this. He's the one who physically stole the gem, and even mocked Cyttorak. He's mumbling with his face in his hands, utterly consumed by worry and despair.
Logan tells his old buddy to grow a pair, and asks Tommy if he believes this Juggernaut crap. He doesn't, but whoever whacked Marko thinks somebody will. Meaning they know the legend... meaning whoever did it has the gem. Cyke thinks Logan's nuts if he still wants to follow this trail, but Tommy says this is his cross to bear. He got them into this, so he'll get them out - by himself.
Cyclops just wants to cut his losses and go home, but Tommy says he owes it to Marko to find out who killed him. He wasn't joking earlier when he said Marko's training saved his life many times over, and he's not going to forget that just because of the one time he did him wrong. He'd do the same for Logan. Logan says he'd never ask him to, but Tommy points out that Marko didn't ask him, either.
In any case, Logan's skeptical. Genosha Bay is the highest security prison in the world, and it's right next to an army base. How is he going to get in there? Tommy just smiles at him. Logan makes a face and says "Fucking Thomas Halloway... you are one crazy son of a bitch."
Soon, the "Tokyo Thought Police" enter the room, having received an anonymous tip. There they find Tommy, in his Angel costume, and arrest him for the murders of everyone who died in the previous series. Eugene, Logan, and Cyclops watch from the shadows as they take him in.
Cut to Genosha Bay, where Tommy is introduced to the warden - Emma Frost. Since he was apprehended on foreign soil, and due to the severity of his crimes, he is now her guest without trial, without appeal, indefinitely.
In one of the towers, Wanda tells Professor X that the man who killed her father is here. She asks him what he's going to do about it. Flanked by a skinny man in a blue devil mask (Nightcrawler), a giant flat-topped muscle man (Colossus), and a young woman with a white mohawk (Storm), he says "Something new, I think. Something... different." I'm really disappointed at how poorly I described that, because it's probably my favorite moment in the entire series. We're introduced to the most famous members of the All-New All-Different X-Men, with a new twist on that classic line to boot.
In general, I think I did a very poor job with this issue, but whatever.
