Friday, March 15, 2013

Do I Kar-if-Ima-Restored To Normal?



Owww dear.

Bless Chris Claremont for at least being consistent with his mind control.

Meet Karima Shapandar, an Indian police woman who was turned into a Prime Sentinel during Claremont's 2000 run on both X-men and Uncanny X-men. Claremont introduced Karima as future X-man Neil Shaara's love interest who, during the course of her investigation into Neil's brother's disappearance, ran into Bastion... the villain recognised her potential and decided she would make for an ideal Prime Sentinel. 


So, what happened to Karima? Eventually her Prime Sentinel programming took over, yet she still remained in control somewhat. See.... 


But that was in the final pages of X-men Unlimited # 27, the Karima Prime Sentinel wouldn't be seen until she attacked Xavier and the others in Excalibur vol. 2, issue # 4. Karima's initial assault proved ineffectual as Magneto hit her with an electromagnetic blast so powerful it caused her to plunge into the waters of Genosha's Hammer Bay... And that's where professor Xavier and Magneto met her next...



Disabling Karima clearly took a lot out of Magneto, who was struggling to keep it all together. But there was still more to come...


Magneto was willing to sacrifice his own life to end the existence of this creature. But Xavier opted for another solution. It was clear he saw a way to redeem Shapandar. This offers up an interesting junction within Claremont's writing...Naturally, Chris was the one who subjected the character to mind control... and yet here he is having Magneto and Xavier argue over whether to kill her or not... See what they decide on.



Both of them make valid points, while the air almost runs out and they're forced to act... All the while delivering a more than overwordy exposition on what's going down...


"She's been infected by nannites. Their task is to rebuild her on a cellular and genetic level. At the same time they "rewire" the organic wet-ware of her brain. Overwriting her innate character with Sentinel operational protocols".

So, there's very little left for the professor and Magnus to do... They might as well use their powers to end Karima's imprisonment... But how will they pull this off?


 "I'm the master of magnetism, yes? I'm also a living M.R.I.
And here's a real time picture of
Karima's brain."

Using an extremely localised electromagnetic pulse, Claremont effectively had Magneto lobotomise Karima so she would abandon her core Prime Sentinel programming. Chris broke his own mind control and the Prime Sentinel was all the better for it. 

Sometimes the enemy of my enemy's mind control is my friend... even if it is the exact same writer...


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