Chris Claremont: Mindcontrol Central

Like unto a thing of... mind control

2009-03-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

So, remember when Claremont used to do Iron Fist? A few years before Chris Claremont and John Byrne would team up for their classic run on Uncanny X-men, they partnered for the last couple of issues of Iron Fist. It would turn out to be an enjoyable, productive run... Pitting Iron Fist against foes like the Wrecking Crew and even introducing that villain of villains Sabretooth (or Sabre-Tooth as he was called in issue 13). Yet, even back then Claremont couldn't help himself as he used mind control to create his tales. In the first panel, a mystic crystal is used to cloud the mind of martial artist and lawyer William Hao. Just call it a simple case of Hypnosis: Murder. Iron Fist survives but then there's this next scene...

Poor Colleen Wing! I guess associates of the Iron Fist just can't catch a break. Colleen was working on a case in the Arabic state of Halwan when she was kidnapped by the criminal mastermind known as Master Khan. He deemed Colleen as a useful asset in his plans to destroy Iron Fist, but first she needed to be conditioned to do his bidding. In order to break Colleen, Khan called upon the services of Angar the Screamer. This mercenary employs a unique variety of vocal powers that cause his victims to see illusions and hallucinations with devastating effects to their psyche... Angar tries to break Colleen and get her to join with Kahn to destroy Iron Fist.
Just look at Byrne's creative ways to show the growing madness inside Colleen... Sheer genius!

Reed is Doom, Doom is Reed, we all mindcontrol together!

2009-03-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

Reed Richards and Victor von Doom haven often been considered two sides of the same coin. Not hard to figure why: both are brilliant and gifted scientists, but their different characters ensure that their genius takes them down very different paths. But what if Doom would be a force for good and Reed was the evil madman? Its an interesting notion, one Stan Lee and Jack Kirby tackled wayyyy back in Fantastic Four vol. 1 # 10.

After his most recent defeat, Doctor Doom was lost floating in space where he was picked up by an alien race known as the Ovoids. Doom soon learned the Ovoid were basically immortal thanks to a mental technique that allowed them to switch their minds between bodies. The good Doctor persuaded the Ovoids to teach him this technique as well and as soon as he was back on Earth, Doom switched minds with Mr. Fantastic. As Reed, he devised a scheme that would kill the rest of the FF, but Reed-Doom convinced the others the real tin-plated tyrant was actually Mr. Fantastic and he managed to cast Doom back into his own body. Imagine that: prologue, setup, plot, climax and resolution all within 22 pages? Nowadays getting to the end would cover two tradepaperbacks.

So what does this have to do with Chris Claremont and his pet peeve of mind control? Well... Nothing really, just trying to provide a proper historical perspective. But still, the final mind control story Claremont introduced during his FF-run, starting in issue # 25 does seem at least partially inspired by the old Lee/Kirby tale of mind switcheroo.

By this point, no one had seen Doctor Doom for over two years. He had disappeared at the end of the Heroes Reborn: The Return storyline that launched the current FF-series. So, his return to the Marvel Universe was celebrated in a big way with a series of Claremont-penned DOOM oneshots. The books filled us in on what Doom had been up to. We'll get to that eventually, but in a nutshell: after the heroes left the Earth they'd been on, it became a mess. Doom was the only one left to restore order and so he did. And Doom finally came back in # 25 of Fantastic Four in which Doom showed up with an army and several superpowered beings to confront the Dreaming Celestial.

Alongside the Fantastic Four, Doom and his Generals manage to stop the Dreaming Celestial's evil schemes for both Earth and Counter Earth. But not before the Celestial plays a cruel trick on Reed and Doom. Unbeknownst to everyone, the Celestial casts Doom out of his armor and encases Reed inside it. Talk about a twist you didn't see coming... When the dust clears, everyone believes Doom is still Doom and Reed quickly realises he has to act like Doom otherwise his Generals would start to mutiny and they might decide to invade Earth with their armies. So, Reed-Doom plays the part of Doom, orders everyone around and proclaims he's taking his place with the Fantastic Four, even claiming the 'widow' Sue Storm as his new wife. Of course, the FF themselves quickly get wise and Reed informs them of his situation: he's stuck inside Doom's armour and he can't break the locks.

This leads to the rather unusual situation of Doctor Doom leading the Fantastic Four, which makes for some very funny and unusual storylines. The entire Marvel Universe is shocked when Doom and Sue announce their marriage to the world. Also, having Doom as part of the team is enough for hardened villains like the Frightful Four's Wizard to stand down without a second thought. But its not to last: Sue quickly learns Reed is being influenced by the armour, his demeanor becomes more and more like Doom every day.

As it turns out, Doom's technology is rewriting Reed's brain synapses to respond more like Doom would in an attempt to optimise performance... It basically is rewriting Reed's mind into a copy of Victor von Doom. Sue is understandably desperate but hasn't the faintest idea how to solve this, then she gets contacted in her sleep by the real Doctor Doom via... dream time.

The Celestial didn't kill Doom, but threw him back to Counter Earth where a naked Doom found himself in the middle of a scorching desert. Still, this is DOOM! DOOM, YOU HEAR! And DOOM SURVIVES EVERYTHING! DOOM CONQUERS AND DOOM... Ow, you get the idea. The exploits of Doom in the desert are covered in a rather excellent Doom miniseries by Chuck Dixon and Leonard Manco that came out around that time. In case you didn't read the last panel: Doom offers to help out Sue, but she has to help him get back to Earth so he can claim his armour back. You think she'd help her biggest enemy and betray her own husband? No? Well... take a look at the cover of Fantastic Four # 31...

Does that answer your question? Well... in the end, Doom gets his armour back and Reed's himself again... in a way. With that, we've reached the end of Claremont's FF run, mind control wise. He only wrote one issue after that, but that was a rather enjoyable tale about Sue and Namor who get chased around by the last of Doom's Counter Earth Generals still free... Dorma, the Warrior Queen of Atlantis.

Next up: probably some more X-related mind control messes!

Controlling Cerebellums at the Comic Con!

2009-03-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

Its been said that writing a story, any story, pretty much boils down to choosing from a limited amount of plotpoints and then recycling them. The scenarios and conflicts you can subject your characters to aren't infinite, but when your name is Chris Claremont you do learn to improvise when it comes old storyideas. Take his tale from Fantastic Four # 22-23 for instance. Former FF-member She-Hulk gets ambushed by her archnemesis Titania and her husband the Absorbing Man.

Now, the She-Hulk-Titania conflict goes back to the first Secret Wars. On Battleworld, it was Shulkie who handed the brass and overconfident Titania her first defeat and she's been looking for payback ever since. But not this time around, the pair has been hired by an unknown mastermind to slip the She-Hulk a mysterious drink that turns her evil. Pretty soon, She-Hulk joined Titania and Absorbing Man in trashing New York City, that is... until The Thing shows up to take care of business... Only to get tricked into... Well, you can read, right?

Yup... That's two FF-members mindcontrolled by a simple drink. So, before the issue is over the Invisible Woman knocks both Ben and Jennifer out and kicks Absorbing Man and Titania into the nearest jail cell. That still doesn't solve the problem though: what has them acting so weirdly? Leave it to Claremont's new favourite character Valeria Richards to come up with the answer to that: both Thing and She-Hulk are swarming with microscopic nannites that inhibit their free will, apparently that drink they took was laced with them. By following the energy patterns used to command the nannites, the FF track the main baddie to... The San Diego Comic Con?

This revelation neatly sets up issue 23, "Chaos At The Comic Con!" A fine old busy mess gueststarring the Avengers who happen to be present at the Con. The unsuspecting team gets doused with the same nannites, now operating in easy to employ gas form! By now, Reed Richards has come up with a defence against the nannites' influence so the FF is immune to the gas. So, not surprisingly, the Fantastic Four duke it out with some of Earth's mightiest mind controlled heroes for a few pages while Reed devises a way to disable the nannites once and for all and then... we're pretty much on the last page of the issue. Think we got it all wrapped up, right? Ok, well, next issue the universe is coming to an end, and... Ow, wait, what's that? Who was BEHIND the nannites... Whoops, silly me, almost forgot! Take a look...

Well, wouldja believe it, the Red Skull of all people... He had recently 'acquired' the SHIELD Helicarrier after a storyline in (a coincidence, I'm sure) Uncanny X-men. Now the Skull was just hanging around, toying with the various lethal weapons one tends to have on board a flying battlefortress like the Helicarrier. So, that was basically it: two issues of mind control, fighting, a guestshot of the Avengers and even a cameo by Claremont and Larocca themselves... Only to have the Red Skull pop in for a panel or two to take the credit and cackle the equivalent of "Owww, me so evil, me so bad... bye bye now!" Weird. Just. Weird.

There's nothing like mindcontrolling Paris in springtime...

2009-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Lets start off with a positive comment regarding Claremont's writing: he never considers himself too good to use characters or plots he didn't create himself.

Case in point: Fantastic Four # 20, which features the FF's triumphant return to the 616, after being stranded in the Negative Zone for weeks. The team reappears in Paris and its a good thing they showed when they did because the capital of France is suffering from major mystical problems... All because of The Ruined, a band of interdimensional beings Scott Lobdell introduced back in Fantastic Four vol. 3 # 1. Back then, the team was just in time to stop the Ruined from changing our dimension into theirs, converting people and matter alike. Mindcontrol on a universal level, a first!

But now, the team is a little too late. The transformation's already begun. What to do? Well... turns out there's still a whole lot left to do. The FF manage to reverse the dimensional shift... no harm done. But their presence in Paris leads to the meeting with Margali Szardos (whee-hay! Another character from the X-men mythos... Who's keeping count, anyways?)

The FF get detained in Paris, so lets skip ahead to issue # 21, which features a mind control centered appearance by everyone's favourite Norse Goddess of Death, the ever divalicious Hela!

Read the panel? So, who is Valeria, you ask? Well, she appeared to be the extradimensional second child of Reed and Sue, the daughter they thought they'd lost back in 1984 after a very sad and unfortunate miscarriage. This Valeria all of a sudden 'time-danced' into Pier Four, the FF's base of operations, while the team was still presumed lost in the Negative Zone. Valeria's older (but because she time-shifted also still younger) brother Franklin and his nannies were dumbstruck by her appearance, but Valeria proved her worth soon enough.

Before they had a proper chance to say hello, FF Headquarters was invaded by the Bacchae, a group of old enemies looking for revenge. Valeria got Franklin's Inhuman puppy to teleport them all to safety, but 'safety' apparently included the domain of Hela... The Goddess of death took a keen interest in Valeria and proceeded in an attempt to mindcontrol her... Before she succeeded, Puppy 'ported the group away again, in their quest to locate the Fantastic Four... Of course, before issue's end they all got reunited again. Talk about a happy ending.. That is, until the next issue featuring earth's mightiest mind control!

----

By the way, on a completely unrelated sidenote: when he took over FF, Claremont had planned to introduce none other than Kitty Pryde to the team. This of course, would have made using other X-men characters more than extremely easy. Kitty was supposed to serve as a big sister to Franklin and her natural genius would make her click with Reed. Even Sue would be hard pressed to not regard her as part of the family. Marvel Editiorial decided against that, judging Kitty's place was with the X-men. Sooo... We got Valeria. In all fairness, not the worst character in the world, still her timetravel/teleporting shenanigans do resemble the early Rachel Grey and teenage Illyana Rasputin arcs.

The long and winding road... leads me to your mind control!

2009-02-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

Dear readers, please be aware: the following post will be a long and hopelessly convoluted one, dealing with different types of mind control that tend to combine into one rather difficult to grasp mess. I considered chopping it up, but hey... that would distract from the fact that Fantastic Four issues # 13-18 are really a gawdful rollercoaster ride filled with stale plots, cheap pastiches and... urgh, here we gooooo...

Issue #13 mainly serves as buildup to a confrontation with the Kree Accuser Ronan on the Moon. The actual fun starts in issue # 14 when Ronan decides to enlist the Invisible Woman, after having easily warded off attacks from the FF and guest stars Iron Man and X-men Z-lister detective Charlotte Jones (...For those of you keeping count: Its been 10 issues since he started on the book and Charlotte Jones is the 5th X-universe character Claremont blatantly inserted in the book).

So... Sue's body is being taken over by an alien parasite with the snappy nickname Mannequin. Mannequin? As in 'genitalia-lacking-doll-you-model-clothes-on'? Wow... Well... I'm sure all the other good names were taken. But hey, all kidding aside... the pink, blobby Mannequin is an actual threat. Sue is completely under Ronan's spell and attacks her former teammates. The Mannequin quickly turns Sue's body into something quite horrific. Becoming more monstrous by the minute, her thoughts are becoming more savage and predatorlike as well. And the worst part is: there's no way to reverse the process, Sue is stuck like this forever...

Now and here's when it gets hopelessly complicated. Being the strongwilled woman she is, Sue breaks free from the Mannequin's mental control. She then helps out to kick some Kree butt. All's well that ends well? Not quite... one) she's still turning into a monster and two) she's turning into a monster in the Negative Zone of all places! Yes, at the end of their battle against the Accuser, one of Reed's dimensional teleportation gizmos malfunctions, causing the FF to get stranded in the Zone... desperately teleporting blind, hoping to get home...

In their quest to get home, the FF fight several different not very interesting foes, including Kree Avengers and the alien Brood (another X-men villain!) and then... its time for a visit to Shadow City, featuring Lockdown and Rosetta Stone!

Okay, here we go: Shadow City is a virtual reality construct, created by a society on the brink of extinction. In order to survive, they locked themselves away inside a virtual reality universe where they could leisurely sit out whatever is threatening their world. Problem is: no one seems to remember they are in a VR-world in the first place! The Fantastic Four arrive on the scene by accident, quickly get knocked out by robots that guard and monitor the VR-systems (yah, I know... believable) and soon, they're plugged into the Shadow City simulation as well.

In Shadow City, the FF is actually a team of villains known as the Tetrad. You got your Stormy Sue, you got your Matchstick Johnny, your Richard Reed and of course Grim Ben. The Tetrad is continuously thwarted by the hero of Shadow City... Lockdown and his young ward Rosetta Stone.

Dark protector of a corrupt city filled with dangerous villains no one else dares stand up to? Battling evil with gadgets, martial arts and his own genius intellect? Cruising the streets with his high tech car? Remind you of anyone... Nana-nana-nana... copyright violation!

Anyways, the Tetrad aren't the only villains in Shadow City, Lockdown also had dealing with an all female team known as the Twisted Sisters. Their superpowers compliment each other... The girls Helix, Coil, Ringtoss and Gyre are able to completely transform a person into their own image... Twisting and changing their bodies and personalities into whatever they please. Here, take a look at how they try and change Sue...

So... Lets see what's happened to Susan Storm-Richards in the space of five issues... Got her body taken over by an alien parasite that changed her into a flesh hungry monster... Only to get mind controlled by a Virtual Reality System that made her believe she's the Shadow City criminal known as Stormy Sue... And then to top it all off, her essence is molded into Torque, the latest Twisted Sister!

In short: the mind controlled victim of an alien parasite is digitally remastered and then mentally recast in an SM-like tramp with teeth for shoes? Chris, Chris, Chris....CHRIST!

Crucible's crucial mind control menace

2009-02-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

And then there was the time the Fantastic Four got mindjacked right out of their bodies! In an astonishingly creative change of pace, Chris Claremont recycled the ol' mind control trick in a stale storyline that ran through Fantastic Four # 10-12. The story? Reed Richards got kidnapped by the Genoshan government (another one of Claremont's creations by the way) and the team races off to the former green and pleasant land. Their Pogo Plane gets shot down and when they awake, they see... themselves?

Yes, while they were out the Genoshans used advanced technology to switch the mind of three mutates with those of the Fantastic Four. Why exactly the Genoshans did this or why they were after Reed isn't really important. All it does is give Claremont an excuse to show a Fantastic Four unfamiliar with their own powers, "Thing" doesn't know his own strength, while "Invisible Woman" effectively blinds herself when she turns invisible... Soon, the real Johnny, Sue and Ben get their own bodies back, free Reed and go on to face the real villains: Crucible and Ayesha.

Who are they, you ask? You really wanna know? Well... Ayesha is actually Her, the perfect female, created by the mad scientists of the Enclave. And Crucible, ah, tis will take some 'splainin'... You see, before Claremont took over with the fourth issue, writer Scott Lobdell was in charge of Fantastic Four. Lobdell introduced Crucible in the first issue of the relaunch, planning to build the character into a major big bad. He was supposed to be a mad, evil genius with ties to the FF's nemesis Doctor Doom. So far, so good... but Lobdell left after the third issue and Claremont had to deal with Crucible. So... Crucible fought Reed Richards in # 5. Mr. Fantastic was able to beat him, but Crucible did manage to steal Reed's creative genius. At first no one noticed this, but after a while it became apparent Reed was no longer able to come up with any new, innovative approaches. In subsequent issues, we got treated to little teases regarding Crucible's identity and his big, brilliant schemes... And now, in issue # 12 we finally find out who's behind the mask... You ready? Its none other than ageing-almost-a-joke Maris Morlak, of the Enclave!

Crucible/Morlak (the graying one with the cane on the far right) reveals he had leeched away Reed's creativity to add to his own considerable intelligence... Now, lets review this motive for a second... First he drains Reed's mind... then, he decides to order the Genoshan Pressgang to kidnap him, thus incurring the wrath of the entire Fantastic Four AND undoing their entire scheme! Why was in necessary to bring Reed to Genosha when the Enclave had already reached their goals by the end of issue # 5? My mind boggles... and its not even being controlled...

Ow yeah: check out the first picture to see another one of Claremont's writing tics on display: characters proclaiming who they are "I am CRUCIBLE!". I dunno, Chris... Somehow having your characters wear nametags seems a lot easier and a whole lot less silly.

Ow Selene, learn to control your own mind!

2009-02-26T12:21:00.001-08:00

Ah, Fantastic Four Annual 1999... Famous for several things: first it featured magnificent artwork by José Ladronn, it also introduced us to the sensational character find of 1999: Mechamage... Who? Erm... just google. This two-fisted tale of terror ended with the founding of the Shadow Hunters... Who? Sigh...Don't bother, they're never heard from again, but they were meant to be a new demon-hunting team consisting of Daimon Hellstrom, Margali Szardos, Alyssa Moy and the Mechamage...

Anyways, the story so far: Claremont decides to use another of his favourite old X-men characters: Selene. The former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club is now in league with the demonic entity known as Blackheart. As part of a plot too dense to even begin to explain, Fantastic Four associate Alyssa Moy gets blown into a mystic coma which causes the FF to seek out powerful magic wielders to remedy Moy's condition... But Selene has dark servants working for her... take a look...

Ahhh, 'stolen his soul'... a mind control classic! Before the annual was done, the Fantastic Four themselves almost get taken over by demonic entities... Of course, it wouldn't be a Claremont penned tale without that!

The Fantastic Forces of mind control!

2009-02-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

Since we've now officially run out of Uncanny X-men clips, its time to move our attention to Claremont's mindcontrol motif to some of the other comics he wrote for Marvel. To have a little break from X-men territory, lets focus on Claremont's Fantastic Four first. Chris wrote the third volume of the series from issue # 4 'til # 32 and spearheaded the relaunch of Marvel's First Family after the Heroes Reborn debacle.

Now, truth be told, his Fantastic Four wasn't all bad. A little dry, maybe a bit too much exposition but certainly not terrible. Still, one of the main points of criticism was Claremont's tendency to reintroduce some of his old X-men creations into the series. Characters who didn't necessarily need to be there... Take for instance Claremont's first actual arc as writer.

In issues 6, 7 and 8 the Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne sends out the interdimensional bountyhunters known as the Technet to capture Franklin Richards. Saturnyne is worried about young Franklin's growing reality warping powers. This actually makes sense, *I* would be worried too if a kid capable of creating entire sub-dimensions was roaming around unchecked. Of course, the Fantastic Four don't take too kindly to Franklin's capture and fight to get him back. During the fight in issue 7, the first instance of mind control occurs... take a look...

For those of you who care, Sue's manifested heart's desire was being Namor the Sub-Mariner's royal consort, a proud and strong Atlantean warrior queen. Clad in fierce battle armour and kelp that looked a lot like leather... Sigh...

Next up: some more old X-men villains show up to cause trouble for the Four.

And one more mind control for the road

2009-02-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

Seeing as this is the final X-men related mindcontrol posting I have to offer, I figured a scene from the 2000 limited series X-men: Black Sun was appropriate. This was written during Chris Claremont's return to the X-books and he was supposed to be on fire... Unfortunately, editorial quickly killed his tenure on the book after a little over a year and a half... During that time, he produced this limited series in which the N'Garai resurfaced to threaten mankind once again. I picked this panel because it shows pretty much all the new X-men that got recruited to fight Krakoa back in 1975... You have your Banshee, you have your Sunfire and of course the usual longtime members like Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler... But an added bonus: it features the N'Garai, a breed of demons Claremont introduced in his second issue as X-men writer... Back then, the N'Garai called Kierok just attacked the team, no mention of mind control whatsoever... but in this book, the N'Garai took over the X-men's minds and used them to... I guess you can piece together what happens, right? This was issue 2, by issue 6, it was all taken care of... Not unlike the Uncanny X-men clips!

Lights, camera, mind control!

2009-02-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

We're nearing the end of Uncanny X-men clips showing Claremont's mind control antics, but before we completely run out... Lets review this scene from Uncanny X-men # 260, starring the light manipulating mutant Dazzler. Allison Blaire always dreamed of being a singing sensation. After years of working the disco circuit, she met people like Frank Sinatra analogy Roman Nekobah who launched her career. She became an overnight success, but couldn't foresee celebrity would result in her receiving... the wrong kind of attention.

Meet Eric Beale, he was a Hollywood producer who jumped at the chance to produce a movie about Dazzler's life. He invested a lot of his own money into the project which inevitably tanked when it was revealed Dazzler wasn't just a sensational singer who used light effects...

His life destroyed, Beale swore revenge on Dazzler, making sure she'd pay for his misfortune. He finally got his chance in this issue, tracking Allison down and knocking her out, ready for some payback. And here's where Claremont's supposed fetish really shows. Suppose you are so mad with a person you're ready to commit murder... Hey, it happens... But, after you've knocked her out, would you go to the trouble of dressing her in the exact same outfit she wore when she inadvertently hurt you... And would you cover her head with a tight bag? It just screams SM fetishist... Especially the end of the issue where Dazzler manages to use her light powers to... ow read it yourself...she uses light to calm him down and he drops to the floor, crying and worshipping her bound and gagged female form... Hey kids, comics!

Hell hath no fury like a Sage mind controlled...

2009-02-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

So, we covered Chris Claremont's third Uncanny X-men run a post or two back... But its worth revisiting as even Claremont's first storyline features a prime example of rehashing the old classics. Claremont and artist Alan Davis pitted the team against an old Captain Britain enemy known as The Fury... A supposedly undefeatable killer robot from an alternate dimension. No matter what you throw against it, the Fury will adapt and recover. And apparently, it can also invade minds... The X-men's resident mentat Sage was taken over by the Fury, via the team's cybernetic sunglasses (as seen in Uncanny X-men 446).

As a Fury controlled puppet, Sage disabled the Xavier institute's defences and residents before being able to somewhat rid herself of the creature's influence. She remained susceptible to The Fury, as was shown many years later during the X-men: Die By The Sword miniseries in which the Fury reappeared to cause trouble all over again... Still, aren't Sage's sunglasses cool?!

Neo Villains Old-o mindcontrol-o

2009-02-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Back in 2000, Chris Claremont made his triumphant return to the X-universe. After several years marked by dwindling sales and general apathy, Claremont was brought back in to get the franchise back on track. He took over the reigns on both Uncanny X-men and X-men and started a brand new storyline concerning a new group of bad guys: The Neo.

Introduced as the next evolution, these uber-mutants were supposed to be mother nature's real successors to mankind... Mutants, or so Claremont led us to believe, were just a trial run, failed experiments... The Neo were in essence the future.

The X-men were confronted by the Neo who themselves had split up in several different factions... Apart from the actual Neo, led by the female warrior Domina the different X-men teams also fought other groups of Neo called The Lost Souls, the Crimson Pirates and... the ones who started it all: The Shockwave Riders.

Back in Uncanny X-men 381, Claremont's first issue, we learn that six months have passed since the previous issue. Cyclops is still presumed dead, having sacrificed himself in final combat against Apocalypse. And now a new team of X-men comprised of Jean Grey, Storm, Cable, Gambit and Beast are looking for their former leader. Their quest brings them to the Italian town of Venice where they get assaulted by the Shockwave Riders....

The Shockwave who? Well... I told you they were Neo. Still, this is a problem pretty much all the Neo-teams suffered from. They appeared out of nowhere, quickly yelled out their roll call in true Claremontian fashion but other than that... they were pretty bland and empty characters. Also, all the different Neo-factions shared a penchant for mind control gadgets and schemes. Take the Shockwave Riders, they used their powers to enter Jean's mind to steal some memories...

The Shockwave Riders' reason for invading Jean's mind were never made clear, as the team was soon on the trail of Tullamore Vogue, an outerdimensional slaver who used the powers of a young mutant known as Sketch to take over innocent victims so they could easily be sold into slavery... *SNOOZE*... All in all, the Riders were pretty forgettable but they're actually the only faction of Neo that, to date, have returned in comics... They recently reappeared in an issue of the Claremont-penned GeNext. Which is more than can be said about the Lost Souls, a band of Goth-like Neo Claremont introduced soon after the Shockwave Riders... The Lost Souls sure loved mind control as well, taking over the minds of their victims. They apparently have the mental powers to take control of other people's mind but they still insist on using slave collar technology... Why? Well... I guess in Claremont's world it just doesn't count as proper mind control unless the victim has a big metal band around their necks choking the life out of them...

In the end, the Neo and the Lost Souls teamed up against the X-men and a big crossover fight ensued with the mind controlled X-men squaring off against their colleagues. Needless to say, everyone came to their senses before the end of the crossover and fought against the Neo... but not before we were treated to unforgettably awful scenes like this...

BEHOLD... DIRGE!
BEHOLD... LAMENT!
BEHOLD... REQUIEM!

BEHOLD... Incredibly lazy, tired writing!
BEHOLD... Claremont's second Uncanny and X-men run cut short pretty quickly!
BEHOLD... The next post where Claremonts third Uncanny run brings even more mindcontrol!

Old mind control habits die hard

2009-02-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

Who says you can never go home again? Chris Claremont proved poet Thomas Wolfe wrong at least twice so far...During his third stint as Uncanny X-men writer, he and long time collaborator Alan Davis created a Savage Land storyline in which the X-men were pitted against a long lost race of saurids. These evolved dinosaur mutants were every bit as powerful and dangerous as the X-men and they had plans to take over the world. During the course of their schemes, the Saurids managed to capture Rachel Grey, aka Marvel Girl... They succeed in freeing her inner dinosaur, and reverted Rachel to a Saurid... thus controlling her mind and making them one of their own...

Which is slightly ironic, considering the X-men once travelled to the Savage Land before in a Claremont penned tale involving the Savage Land mutates and Brainchild... who used his machinery to revert mutants into sub-human barbaric versions of themselves... Years later, Brainchild used the same technique in yet another Claremont created tale over in an Xtreme X-men limited series:

During the course of that same limited series, we were introduced to a 'new' Savage Land inhabitant known as Leash... She is able to mind control people, which is signified by a mental leash appearing around their necks. Leash controlled Beast and now, both Brainchild and Leash were at it again in the Claremont/Davis run in Uncanny... take a look...

... Ow mind control, when will you go out of fashion? Well, considering this is a land that time forgot, not anytime soon... Of course, mind controlling of the Saurid Raiina was key to winning the day and all the players involved lived to tell the tale... but this was one arc that showed just how heavily Claremont relies on one simple and tired storytelling device: mind control!

Hi, I'm Rogue, thanks to mind control also known as...

2009-02-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

So, little known fact: the character of Rogue was created by Chris Claremont (first appearance: the Claremont written Avengers Annual 10, 1981). Basically, Rogue is Claremont's mind control fetish with legs and a nice pair of boobies... Rogue is a mutant who takes over a person's spirit, memories and feelings if her bare skin touches theirs. No matter how brief the contact is, Rogue takes over their entire being, in fact becomes the person...

This became a bit of a problem when Rogue was forced by her foster mother Mystique to hold on to Mystique's nemesis Carol Danvers, better known as Ms. Marvel. Rogue took over Carol's mind, personality and memories permanently, leaving Ms. Marvel a mindless shell. In the years that followed, the Carol Danvers personality would often struggle to gain dominance... Mind control within the mind of an unwilling mindcontroller... Its certainly a unique concept. Time and again, Carol Danvers would manage to 'come out' on top... One of those instances is shown above, Rogue and Wolverine were captured by the Genoshan Magistrates and Rogue was rendered powerless by the powers-blocking mutant Whipe Out. In her cell, Rogue was confronted not only by the sadistic Magistrates but also by her own inner demons... Literally.

As it turns out: whenever Rogue touches someone, she retains a small part of their essence permanently. All those ghost images of her past victims haunted her, including Thor, Loki, a Dire Wraith or two, Captain America, Spiral and teammate Nightcrawler... But Ms Marvel (being the only 'complete' presence, I suppose) came to Rogue's aid and took control... Beating the guards outside her cell, freeing Wolverine and kicking ass generally.

And then we have this scene: the mind controller about to be controlled! Taken from X-men Annual 2001, we have Rogue in battle with the Prime Sentinels, a 90s creation Claremont very gracefully worked into his stories... The Prime Sentinels were normal humans who got outfitted with robot Sentinel parts that caused them to turn into mutant hunting cyborgs, capable of infecting both mutants and humans with nannites that turned them into Sentinels as well... Of course Rogue wasn't infected, thanks to Psylocke's timely intervention, but look at the implied S&M fantasy here: the subdued female, forcibly held against her will, about to be dominated by the agressor who is ready to stab her with a penis shaped object... How very, very subtle Chris!

God loves, but mind control kills...

2009-02-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

One of the pivotal tales Chris Claremont told about the X-men can be found in the 1982 Marvel graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills... In it, we meet the reverend William Stryker who uses the word of God to launch a crusade against all mutants. Aided by a band of mercenaries called the Purifiers, Stryker whipes out mutants left and right... But Stryker's main goal is capturing Charlex Xavier... He wants to use Xavier and his Cerebro machine to identify mutants and... as the picture shows... whipe them out.

The threat turned out to be so urgent, the X-men were forced to ally themselves with their archenemy Magneto against the common enemy... In a fine display of cooperation, Magneto lifted the dome of Madison Square Garden where Stryker was busy delivering a mass sermon.

Backstage at the Garden, Stryker had Xavier ready to scan all the audience members and if they turned out to be mutants... Of course, Charles being the way he is, he doesn't exactly volunteer his services in this endeavour so Claremont rolls out his then-not-quite-so-tired mind control routine...Bombarding Xavier with heavily religious symbolism, Stryker manages to control the X-men's founder and he eagerly mindblasts his students to kingdom come... Of course, they turned out fine, because this is 1982 and Xavier wasn't secretly evil back then...

Once more, oh green and mind controlling land

2009-01-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

So, lets review, shall we? What do we know about Genosha? Tiny island nation off the coast of Madagascar, gained incredible wealth by manipulating mutants into mutates capable of mining the country's mineral riches... And what do we know about Chris Claremont? Not so tiny writer of comics who frequently uses mind control as an excuse to manipulate characters to act like caricatures of themselves in order to get a fat paycheck.

In this scene, we see how the Genoshan Magistrates control the mutates: not only are they reduced to demi-human state, forced to wear a skintight suit and branded with a number instead of a name... They are also instant S&M slaves. One word from the Magistrate in command and they revert into willingless toys...

And yes, during the early 90s X-men crossover X-Tinction Agenda Chris Claremont subjected his favourite X-man Storm to the Genoshan mind control technique. Or, Storm... please refer to her as Mutate 20... No, this young black preteen has no will, no name, no way to defend herself from your depraved, sick wants and whims... please be kind... or not... *SIGH*... Now I feel dirty, I need a shower...

Let the mind control games begin!

2009-01-24T14:13:00.000-08:00

Ow, how time flies. Excuse the long delay in posting (but, judging from both the number of page views and the comments not too many of you noticed I was gone. Its 2009 and Chris Claremont is still writing comics. Oh well, there's something to be said for consistency in the universe. So, to celebrate the new year, lets look back at a comic Claremont wrote back in 1999. These are scenes from the sequel to Contest of Champions, a miniseries from the early 80s.
Contest of Champions only came to be because the Americans withdrew from the 1980s Olympics. Say what? Ow, its quite simple... Marvel Comics had planned to celebrate the 1980 Summer Olympics in Soviet Russia by releasing a limited series in which international heroes competed against each other in a big game. Sounds Olympic enough, right? But then tragedy struck: Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and the US reacted by not competing in the Games.

A nice symbolic gesture, to be sure... But Marvel had about 40 pages of art and story done. So, now what? The answer came when Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald decided to revive the project, using the cosmic gamesman the Grandmaster as impetus for the heroes to fight. When Contest of Champions was released in 1982, it was a big hit... So, it took 17 years for a sequel to be made and who better to write it than Chris Claremont?

Claremont's basic premise: a previously unknown band of aliens known as The Coterie come to Earth and recruit many heroes to prove their mettle against each other. The winners win... wel, something. As it turns out, The Coterie don't actually exist... the real instigators are the Badoon and the Brood, two alien races with a score to settle...

In true Claremontian fashion, the heroes are duped into fighting each other thanks to nannites... a very post modern way of mind control. The second they got kidnapped, they were exposed to mind altering microscopic nannites that made them more agressive and careless.

And ow yes, the Brood wanted to implant the winners of the matches with Brood eggs so they could breed the perfect, unbeatable warriors... Of course, they failed... Hey, the good guys still win.

Psylocke learned mindcontrol from the best

2008-12-18T11:36:00.000-08:00

I suppose its inherent to the nature of telepaths, but most of the X-men's telepathic members have used mind control at one point or another. Back when Stan Lee was writing the team, Xavier used his powers to make Beast's parents forget all about him. Talk about a doozy, but while Claremont was writing, team telepaths made the mind their personal playground. Jean Grey, as Phoenix, was guilty of manipulating Kitty Pryde's parents for instance. But near the end of his run, Claremont had Betsy Braddock, aka Psylocke, commit several mindcontrol transgressions against members of her own team! Lets review some of the highlights...

After returning from a mission to the Savage Land, Psylocke sensed that the cyborg criminals known as the Reavers had invaded their Australian homebase. Knowing they were severely outmatched, Psylocke decided to give the team an easy way out: the Siege Perilous. This was a gift the X-men had received a while ago from the otherdimensional ruler Roma. The gem shaped device turned into a portal to the afterlife. Whoever entered through it, was granted a new leash on life, providing a form of instant reincarnation. Prefering this over certain death, Betsy used her mental control to convince her fellow X-men to enter the Siege as the Reavers approached to finish them off. Certainly a powerful moment, but also remarkable as she gives the other X-men no say in the matter. They have to die, because Betts says so. Doesn't really seem right, does it?

Still, Betsy also used the Siege and was got reincarnated. Sort of. I'll spare you the convoluted history of early 90s Psylocke, but basically: she didn't reincarnate into a new form at all. An amnesiac Betsy appeared on an island near Japan. There, she was recovered by Matsu'o Tsurayaba, a businessman who had close dealings with the crime syndicate known as The Hand.

One of their best operatives was the female assassin Kwannon. This minor telepathic hitman got severly injured on assignment, which gave Matsu'o a brilliant idea: lets combine the two women! He got his wish, thanks to the outerdimensional villain Spiral and her Body Shoppe. Spiral placed Betsy's mind inside Kwannon's body, much to Matsu'o's delight.

Also, because this storyline ran during Marvel's Acts of Vengeance crossover, in which heroes fought villains they were unfamiliar with... for that reason alone, the Mandarin showed up in X-men. One of the Mandarin's ten rings of power lets him control minds and... well, I suppose you can see where this is going, right?

"Next: Lady Mandarin!" Ow, next issue blurbs... sometimes you ARE downright profetic. Yes, I suppose because of the Acts of Vengeance, Claremont had Psylocke 'retrieve' the Mandarin's rings, binding her ever closer to his will. In a startling dream-like sequence, Psylock was forced to kill her fellow X-men and her brother Brian Braddock. They all had one of the Mandarin's rings. Once she completed the set, she was under his complete control, allowing for the transformation into Lady Mandarin. But in her new form, this Psylocke really was into mindcontrol. Lets see what she does when she encounters her former teammate Wolverine and his sidekick Jubilee...

"I am Lady Mandarin"... *SIGH*... I suppose I could fill another blog with THIS particular writing tick of Claremont's. At one point or another most of his characters feel the need to enter the scene shouting their own names. I get why he started doing this, its a great way to introduce new readers to the often confusing array of characters running around any given X-men comic, but still... its hardly realistic. Yet, 'Lady Mandarin' had 'nailed the kid', but her real target was Wolverine. The Hand wanted to forcibly recruit him as their new assassin. Mind you, this was in 1990, a good 15 years before Mark Millar introduced the same concept during his Wolverine run.

Yup, its mind control at its finest... using her telepathic powers, Psylocke tried to brainwash Wolverine, in an attempt to get his primal, violent urgings to work for the benefit of The Hand. It seemed to work for an instant or two, but Logan broke free. So, if at first you don't succeed... try, and try again... In her new body, Psylocke fought Wolverine and used her psychic knife, the manifestation of her mental powers, to get the job done.

Awww, Betsy Braddock... Once, your telepathy floated like a butterfly, now your knife stings like a bee-yotch!

Shadowy Charley: mindcontrol Xavier-style

2008-12-15T12:14:00.000-08:00

So, where had Charles been while the King was busy conquering Earth? Well... long story short... A while ago, Xavier got pretty seriously injured during a mugging. He would have been fine, thanks to the Morlock healer but Charles kept pushing himself too hard, finally resulting in what would have been a fatal heart attack back in Uncanny X-men 200. He was saved by advanced alien medical technology, courtesy of his ladylove, Shi'ar empress Lilandra and the Starjammers. But Charles had been unable to return to his X-men, because the stargate to Earth had been destroyed.

The X-men were cut off from their mentor in their time of need. But as luck would have it, another crisis brought the X-men and Xavier together again. Lilandra's terrorist sister Deathbird asked intergalactic teleporter (and singing sensation!) Lila Cheney to bring the team to her. Lila complied and after a brief struggle, Deathbird told the X-men what was wrong. Well, take a look below. She wasn't kidding: something was very-very wrong indeed...

Professor Xavier, using his mental powers to enslave the Imperial Guard and the Shi'ar empire entire? Surely, it can't be? Yet... take a look at this next panel. Not only does Charley manipulate the mind and actions of Gladiator, nigh omnipotent leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, he also tries to gain control of the X-men!

"The X-men are mine", eh? Surely, this can't be the real Charles Xavier... and quite right you are. More than 15 years before Secret Invasion, Claremont revealed this Xavier to be... well, a Skrull. A cunning and ruthlessly manipulative Skrull determined to carry out his plans to destabilise the Shi'ar empire by... well... mindcontrolling anyone in his way... case in point... Forge.

You just gotta love that Claremont over-explanationism. "You've disrupted my pattern... triggered a partial reversion to my base form"... Well, gee, we have eyes, ya know. But still, Forge's battle with the Skrull formerly known as Xavier/Psylocke marked the end of the battle for domination of the Shi'ar empire. Professor Xavier was told about the Shadow King threat and decided to return home to deal with the crisis. And take a look at how he went about to counter the King...

That's Charles, dressed in Shi'ar battle armor (hence the triangular helmet), mind controlling a group of Scottish soldiers to hand over the Blackbird jet the X-men used to fly around in. Charles was on a mission to gather information on the Shadow King and his plans. Something the King was very much aware of. In fact, he sent someone very close to Xavier to take care of the professor. The King mind controlled Peter Nicholas to confront Charles when he was at the X-men's former headquarters in Salem Center. Peter who? Remember how Colossus got sucked into the Siege Perilous? No? Well, it was one of his better deaths (I'm looking at you Joss Whedon!) Colossus died and reincarnated as Peter Nicholas, a New York artist who looked a lot like Peter Rasputin. Of course, once the Shadow King found out about him, Nicholas was forced to attack Xavier and Stevie Hunter. Close to death, Xavier found himself with no other alternative than this...

Yup, that's Charles Xavier for ya... Destroying an entire person (a soul, if you will) to save his own life. He erased Peter Nicholas and brought back the original template of Peter Rasputin, who Shadow King didn't control. Talk about character suicide... Still, it worked and the Colossus we knew and love was back in the game... And did we need him! Shadow King finally revealed himself to Xavier... take a look.

Ow yeah, the King meant business. He had taken over the mutants on Muir Island: Legion, Strong Guy, Multiple Man, Siryn, Rogue and Moira McTaggert as his personal strikeforce. His 'Islanders' had already taken out most of the X-men, but Xavier alongside X-Factor managed to defeat the King. However, it turned out to be a costly victory, as Charles' body was once again crippled by the Shadow King during the final battle... This brought Claremont's last big Uncanny X-men story to a close, but he would return later on for two more runs, which we'll cover next time!

Beating it to death: Shadow King's shtick part 2

2008-12-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

Just imagine for a second you were a powerful but disembodied psychic entity... Trapped on the astral plane, looking at a world you can no longer directly influence. I'm sure after a while you'd get pretty pissed off, right? That's basically the entire reason for the Shadow King acting the way he does (apart from being pure evil for, well, evil's sake I suppose).

When police detective Jacob Reisz died of an appearant heart attack, the Shadow King took control of his body and started recruiting people for his cause. No, he didn't really need a physical presence in this world, he could easily influence folks from afar.

But hey... your heroes need someone to punch, so the Shadow King recruited Lian, a woman (dressed in black leather, in true Claremontian style) who acted like his second in command. He also gathered a bunch of footsoldiers known as Hounds, who acted like wild animals and were dressed in... ow, you guessed it.

So, what was the Shadow King all about this time? Ow, the man had a big plan! He wanted to feast on all the hatred and bad feelings of humanity. You see, negative emotion is like a drug to the Shadow King. He feeds on it, so he does everything he can to fan the flames of intolerance and hatred.

It was never explained on panel, but I guess that's why people around Polaris suddenly started acting crazy. She had lost her powers in the Savage Land, but all of a sudden Lorna was superstrong and had some kind of uncontrollable negative emotional pull on people. Which was bad news in itself, but then the Shadow King showed up on Muir Island where Lorna had been residing. He took control of Xavier's son Legion and started pulling the strings behind the scenes. Take a look...

That's Legion, shown here in his Jack Wayne persona, pleading Carol Danvers for forgiveness. Carol had come to Muir Island after she got seperated from Rogue (its a long story involving the Siege Perilous, the Reavers, Magneto and more). Once she got to the island, Legion and the King tried to take her over. Poor Carol didn't really stand a chance. Not that her former mind-partner Rogue fared any better when she came up against the King...

... Hmmm, well, if you can't beat them, join them I suppose. But where Rogue joined with the King semi-willingly, there were others who offered more of a struggle. You see, Shadow King was also busy controlling the American government. In such an undertaking, there's one government official you just can't ignore: the ever ready willing and not very able Valerie Cooper. Val fell under the King's influence too, but at least she felt a little bad about it...

Owww snap and all that... But the King still wasn't without his pet peeves. He carried a particular grudge against Storm, who he considered a prize possession that had gotten away. He was hell bent on getting her under his control. Storm, by that time, had been reduced to a preteen by Nanny and was running around New Orleans with the (in those days) mysterious and exciting mutant thief Gambit. Shadow King tried his darndest to get to Storm.

The road to Storm went through the ragin' Cajun but the King and his hounds were very eager to add him to the list of mental accomplices as well. The big win for Shadow King was Storm herself however and, like he tried so many years before, the Shadow King once again attempted to control the weatherwitch.

Of course, Storm broke free and got away with Gambit (hey, this is called the X-men not Shadow King... the bad guys still always lose). Yet, the King and his flunkies remained a thorn in the X-men's side and they even expanded their targets to include the other X-teams like X-Factor. Here, original X-man Jean Grey gets blindsided on the Astral Plane by the Shadow King and Lian, his Queen.

Jean was saved by (early 90s bad ass) Psylocke, but by then it was obvious: the Shadow King was a problem that had to be dealt with. So, who you gonna call? Yup... the man who originally took care of the King: Charles Xavier. In part 3: we find out getting Charles back also involves some mind control and the professor is revealed to be a fan of 2 can play that (mind control) game!

When you say Claremont, you say mindcontrol and when you say mindcontrol you say...

2008-12-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Shadow King.

If there's a single villain Chris Claremont created that served his penchant for mind control during his tenure as X-men writer... its undoubtedly the Shadow King. Who is the King? A malevolent psychic entity with no physical form who delights in causing pain, trouble and mental suffering. His main foe is Charles Xavier, who he met many years ago when the Shadow King inhabited the form of Egyptian telepath Amahl Farouk. Check out this page from Uncanny X-men 117. A young Charles meets Amahl in Cairo and senses his innate evil.

Charles and the Shadow King fight, the villain wants to destroy Xavier's mind and leave him an empty shell, ready to be corrupted by the King's evil presence. This is basically his entire shtick. But Shadow King severly underestimated Xavier's mental powers. Charles defeated Fahrouk, which forced the King to flee the Egyptian's body, basically condemning the entity to a life on the astral plane. This ensured the Shadow King's vendetta with Charles Xavier.

Yet, for the longest time (Uncanny X-men 117 was released in the late 70s) the villainy of the King wasn't much more than just another part of Xavier's origin... Just like Charles had been buddies with Magneto or had his legs crushed by the villain Lucifer... That was, until New Mutants came along and the King resurfaced again.

Xi'an had every right to be frightened. After a fight against Viper and the Silver Samurai she disappeared mysteriously. She'd presumedly died in a big explosion only to resurface months later... Not quite herself... Well, lets just say there was more of her to love.

Yes, this is Karma, friends... The Shadow King had taken control of her mind, still in his 'Amahl Farouk' persona. Using Karma, the King finally had an outlet for his physical urges again. He liked to indulge himself with food and drink, causing Karma to become hugely obese (as Farouk had been). But don't be afraid, good always triumphs over evil in the end. No matter how obese...

Begone fattie, be goooooone... Ah, if only weight loss was that easy. Still, this wasn't the last time Amahl 'Shadow King' Farouk would plague the team.

A couple of years later, Shadow King was back. This time, the X-men had disbanded and the mutant inventor Forge was trying to locate the team. On the astral plane, he came face to face with the King (again disguised as Farouk). Forge had to fight for his very life, because the King planned to consume his mind and take over Forge's body... All in an attempt to once again gain entry to the physical world. Forge managed to beat off the Shadow King, but in the end the entity accessed our world through the corpse of a detective Reisz. In that guise, he would plot one of most audacious (mind control) gambits yet. More on that next time!

Polaris just can't catch a break

2008-11-29T13:37:00.000-08:00

Uncanny X-men 255... A sequel to issue 250, of sorts. A recently depowered Polaris was making her way to Muir Island where she discovered she had some new powers. She now was superstrong and built like a brick house for some reason. That didn't offer much protection against Pretty Boy, a member of the murderous band of cyborgs known as The Reavers. They attacked Muir Island in an attempt to kill off the remaining Morlocks and other mutants. Why? Well, just cos...

Anyways... Pretty Boy used his mental powers "rewriting the mental wetware of the brain" to get Polaris to switch sides. Fortunately, Banshee was there to sever the connection just in time. Still... poor Polaris, before long she was exposed to this...

Ah yes... THIS storyline then. After losing her magnetic powers, Polaris went to Muir Island where she noticed people started acting strangely violent whenever she was around. This made her a perfect recepticle for the machinations of the Shadow King. More about his huge evil scheme next post, but the Shadow King took over Charles Xavier's son Legion and used him to practically enslaved all the super powered folks on Muir... Starting with, you guessed it, Polaris...

Mindcontrol is not a thing of the past

2008-11-29T12:29:00.001-08:00

Now, for the past few months I've been making fun of Chris Claremont's past efforts in the field of comics. Of course, it might appear I'm just picking on a side of his writing that's long since a thing of the past. Well... just to prove that Chris still can't resist a good mind control plot, I give you this scene from Big Hero 6 issue 3, released last week.

Honey Lemon, the woman with the magic purse, gets attacked by a mysterious villain with a mind controlling whip... And before you can say 'plotdevice done to death and beyond'... Honey Lemon belongs to the bad side.

*YAWN*

Back to some older comics?

Savage land, savage loss of any mental control

2008-11-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

Uncanny X-men 250! A nice round number waranting a big anniversary issue. Claremont decided to celebrate by taking the (by that time severely thinned out) team to the Savage Land again. There, they faced off against Zaladane and a new band of Savage Land mutates. One of them was Worm, whose power... well... You can see what he does. Coating his victims with self produced jelly, basically turning them into his slaves...

Of course, in the same issue, Zaladane employed a form of control first used by Magneto. You see, the whole storyline began with the magnetically powered Polaris. Lorna Dane was last seen as the mind controlled vessel of the Marauder Malice, but at the beginning of the story she appeared free of Malice's influence right before she was kidnapped to the Savage Land... Where she met Zaladane who claimed to be her sister (Lorna...Dane...Zala...Dane...see?). Using some technology left behind by Magneto/the High Evolutionary/the aliens who built the Savage Land (take your pick) Zaladane robbed Lorna off her powers and claimed them for her own. This left the metallic Colossus especially vulnerable to her and she forced him to kill a young mother and her child... How cruel... (of course, they turned out fine...)

O-gunning for mindcontrol

2008-11-26T12:58:00.000-08:00

One of Wolverine's many quirks is his tendency to take young girls under his wing. He started this sidekick routine way back when Kitty Pryde first joined the X-men (as seen in Wolverine: First Class these days) and it continued on with Jubilee, his goddaughter Aniko right up to X-23 nowadays.

But Kitty was there first. She loved Logan and Chris Claremont sure loved writing about their relationship together. Of course, Chris Claremont also loves mind control so when he had a chance to pit Wolverine and Kitty against one another, he just couldn't leave well enough alone...

Its Wolverine's second limited series. Like with so many things, the sequel just wasn't as good. This time around, Logan and Kitty are in Japan where they meet Ogun, a powerful ninja who claimed to be Wolverine's mentor. Ogun wants revenge on his pupil and mindcontrols Shadowcat into becoming his willing apprentice.

In the end, Kitty managed to break free of course... Ogun forced her to kill, which was something she could never do. And all was right in the world again. Still, Ogun's red demon mask used to give me nightmares as a kid.

Nanny knows best

2008-11-15T13:18:00.000-08:00

One of the weirdest villains Louise Simonson ever came up with was Nanny. A rather misunderstood scientist who wanted to save mutants by... well... capturing and turning them into child-like robots. Of course, a form of mind control is used to do this... In Uncanny X-men 248, Nanny and her aide Peter (aka Orphan Maker) decided to save the X-men and proceeded to do so. As seen above, they first captured Psylocke. A smart move, because it gave Nanny (and Claremont) no less than two credible ways to mind control folks.

So, here we have a Nanny-controlled Psylocke taking on her teammates Storm and Colossus. Storm is able to break free, but Peter is not so fortunate. Before this scene, both Havok and Dazzler had fallen prey to Nanny... With Rogue and Wolverine gone, this only left Storm free to deal with Nanny and Peter. Which she did, by destroying Nanny's vessel... She seemingly died in that attack and the team buried her remains the following issue.

Of course, this being Uncanny X-men... no one ever really dies. A few years later, Storm turned up alive and welll. But she was mysteriously turned into a preteen. How, you ask? Well, as it turned out: Storm didn't really destroy Nanny's ship... In fact, she was captured and Nanny destroyed a fascimile of her own vessel as a decoy, so she could have her way with Storm. Look at what she did to the windrider: trying to control her mind by reverting her to a young child... But Storm is a powerful person, she fights to protect her own mind. Good for her... Makes me wonder why Claremont ever took a liking to her, though...

Maddie Pryor's prior mind control

2008-11-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

I first read Uncanny X-men 234 when I was a kid. It was a great issue, set in the middle of the team's period in the Australian outback. Madelyne Prior, the estranged wife of Cyclops, was functioning as the X-men's tech support gal, operating the computer complex in their new headquarters. So far so good... but once Maddie discovered Cyclops was alive and well... And living with Jean Grey. Understandably, Madelyne got a little miffed and in her anger, she became susceptible to the machinations of S'ym. The demon was working alongside N'Astirh... They were looking for a powerful minion on Earth and found Madelyne. S'ym convinced her to pick the dark side and began her slow transformation to the Goblyn Queen...

As the Queen-to-be, Madelyne suddenly developed several powers. Immunity to mind control for one... Quite a shocker for Claremont... AND the Genoshan genengineer who wanted to turn Madelyne in a mindless mutate in service of the Genosha. Mind control attempt failed? Ouch... that's gotta smart!

Bargain Basement: One storyline, two kinds of mindcontrol!

2008-11-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

Meet the Dire Wraiths. Back in the 1980s, these aliens were a big threat to the Marvel universe. Sort of like the Skrulls nowadays. The Wraiths were busy infiltrating Earth, sort of like Secret Invasion, only their way of replacing people was a little more... drastic. A Wraith would use its dartshaped tongue to literally suck out the victim's brain thereby assuming his or her form. Not exactly mind control... but at the very least its an other example of people acting against character in order to advance the story. No... When it comes to actual mind control, the Dire Wraith storyline gave us the following in Uncanny X-men 188...

Yup... Nazé, Forge's Cheyenne mentor had been replaced by a Dire Wraith back in Uncanny 186 and now both of them were claimed by an unseen mystic force*. Two for the price of one... Ow Claremont, talk about spoiling yourself with sweet deals like that!

* In case you care: The unseen force was the big chaos demon only known as The Adversary who would cause major trouble for the X-men somewhere down the line. The Adversary used Nazé as a puppet in his schemes to take over the omniverse. I'll save you the scans, trust me: it was mindcontrol at its finest.

Malice masters mindcontrol

2008-11-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

When John Byrne was co-plotter on Uncanny X-men with Claremont, it seemed they lit the world on fire with their innovative ideas. They bounced ideas off each other and their very different approach to and opinions of the team made for some very interesting issues. Still, this proves great minds DO think alike, sort of. Confused? Don't worry, I'll get to my point eventually.

But first, lets revisit Uncanny X-men 214, in which Storm, Rogue and Wolverine meet up with Allison Blaire, the mutant songstress Dazzler. Allison has been acting strange of late, showing off her powers on stage... Which isn't a very smart thing to do for mutants.
What got into Dazzler... Well, we soon find out its more of a question WHO... Introducing Malice, a psychic entity that takes control of minds. She basically bodyjacks her victims, as a sign of Malice's dominance her hosts manifest a slave-collar like neckjewel. Malice bodyhops around a little in her first appearance... Which causes fun scenes like this...

Ah, exciting... Wolverine attacks his teammates (what else is new?) but in the end Malice is driven out. A few issues later, we discover Malice was actually part of Mr. Sinister's Marauders. In order to be a more effective part of the team, Malice decides she wants to bond permanently to a host. Awww... Even violent psychic entities feel the need to settle down and be exclusive. Isn't that nice? Look who she picked, by the way...

Lorna Dane... Polaris of the X-men! Quite a nice reveal back in the day and one of the few instances Claremont's dabbling with mind controlled heroes wasn't quickly reversed. Malice stuck with Polaris for a good few years before she was cast out. She briefly reappeared alongside Sinister in X-factor during the mid 90s but remained mostly forgotten after that. It wasn't until Mike Carey's run on X-men that Malice popped up again, claiming Prime Sentinel Karima Shapandar uttering the immortal line "I've gone digital, bitches"*

Soo, what does all this have to do with John Byrne, you ask? Well... At about the same time Malice appeared in X-men... Take a look at who the Fantastic Four had to deal with...

Meet Malice, mistress of hate. And no She-Hulk, she's not kidding. Malice was nasty, mean, clad in black leather outfits complete with slave collars and didn't think twice when it came to kicking ass. If that doesn't sound like a typical Chris Claremont female, I don't know what does... Ow, and here's the final straw...

Surprise, surprise... Malice was actually a mind controlled Sue Richards... Ow Invisible Woman, when will your suffering end?**

* I doubt she actually said 'bitches', but it sure felt like she meant to say that.
** Not quite as sarcastically hypothetical as you'd expect, considering Millar's current run on FF is called 'The Death of the Invisible Woman"

Mind control? Not even Power Pack is safe!

2008-11-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Uncanny X-men 195... Yes, even children aren't safe from Chris Claremont's tendency for mind control. The story: the Morlock Annalee had a problem. Her children had disappeared mysteriously... So, what do you do?

You kidnap someone else's kids! It makes perfect sense, right?

The Morlocks looked for Annalee's replacement kiddies and instead of raiding an orphanage they opted to take the Power children... Better known as the Kymellian science powered Power Pack. The kids got their minds tampered with, convincing them they were indeed "momma Annalees's children". But young girl Katie Power managed to break free and informed the X-men of her situation. So, the team came down into the tunnels and set the matter straight.

Lessons learned? You're never too young to be played like a puppet when Chris Claremont is writing you... And ow yes... Annalee's children turned out to have been killed by Scalphunter of the Marauders (who would slaughter most of the Morlocks in a few months anyway)...

Phoenix, a chip off the old mind control block

2008-10-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the 80s. A decade of change, but not when it comes to X-men comics written by Chris Claremont and lets be fair... he wrote all of them. Those of you who remember Uncanny X-men 131: Jean Grey mentally manipulated Kitty Pryde's parents into sending her to Xavier's school. Like mother, like daughter... Because in Uncanny X-men 203, Jean's daughter from an alternate future tries to coerce the X-men to do her bidding as well.

Lets set the stage here. When it comes to early 80s Marvel crossovers, you just can't ignore The Beyonder. In 1984, he was the cause for the first company wide, massive crossover: the Secret Wars. The 12 issue series was such a big hit, it automatically merited a sequel. The Beyonder, a supposedly all powerful being from a different dimension, came to this universe to learn more about humanity. This led him to visit all the different superhuman groups of the day in his quest for knowledge. Which, in turn, led to Secret Wars 2...

Much like a big child, the Beyonder quickly grew frustrated with his inability to grasp the intricate complexities of mankind. In one of his temper tantrums, he decided he wanted to die. His executioner was to be Rachel Grey... He granted her Phoenix-like powers (just like her mom) and basically dared her to confront and kill him. Rachel fell for his bait and decided to destroy the entire universe by breaching the M'Kraan Crystal.

But before confronting the Beyonder... Rachel decided she couldn't do it alone. She needed more power... She wanted the minds and souls of the X-men to fuel her as she fought the one from Beyond. Now, if you ask me, that's like trying to fight drought in the Sahara with 6 extra raindrops, but I'm sure Rachel had her reasons. Some of the team gave themselves willingly, some were sleeping and other like Storm protested heavily... Nothing some mind control can't fix... The apple really doesn't fall very far, does it?

Selene brings out the be(a)st in people

2008-10-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about Selene: her mindcontrol comes in all shapes and sizes. There's the direct approach (as seen in the previous post) and there's this... Subtle mental manipulation. Selene turns the rather chunky Black Rook Friedrich von Roehm into a mindless killing machine... Again with the slave collar and chains and black leather. Oy oy... Talk about living your fantasy, Chris... (not to play devil's advocate, but doesn't Von Roehm look a lot like 1980s Chris Claremont? Just sayin'....)

The possessed Von Roehm is taken over by Rogue, who in turn gets mindcontrolled by Selene, who immediately goes after Rachel again... And hilarity ensues...

Selene sings a single tune

2008-10-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Selene is pretty much the quintessential Claremont villain. She hits on all the cliches people have been joking about for years now. She's an ancient, powerful goddess type figure who's used to being worshipped by slaves... Her dresscode is mainly black, leather outfits... and ow yes: she likes to control minds. She established her usual modus operandi during her first appearance in New Mutants # 11. The New Mutants had come to the hidden land of Nova Roma where Selene was posing as the seductive wife of one of Nova Roma's ruling senators. The immortal mutant Selene was actually the head priestess of a dark cult that worshipped death and celebrated human sacrifice.

Selene quickly developed an unhealthy obsession for Danielle Moonstar, better known as the illusion caster Mirage. She wanted to groom Danielle, looking to turn her into a being as dark as herself. Mirage and the New Mutants managed to escape, but Selene followed their trail back to New York.

There, she quickly adjusted to life in the new world by working her way into the Hellfire Club. The position of Black Queen was still vacant after the Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix debacle and it didn't take the superpowered Selene much effort to convince Sebastian Shaw to allow her a seat in the innercircle as the new Black Queen. And be fair, doesn't she just look ravishing in black leather?

Selene thrived in the Big Apple, randomly feasting on the lifeforce of bums and other lowlifes to restore her own life and beauty. But, always keeping an eye out for new subvertable talent, Selene soon noticed Rachel Grey-Summers. In Uncanny X-men 184, Selene first tried to claim Rachel...

Rachel was able to drive the age-old vampire of thanks to the timely intervention of Professor Xavier. Of course, if at first you don't succeed... A few issues later (UX-189, for those of you keeping track) Selene gets a new chance to take over not only Rachel, but the New Mutant Amara "Magma" Acqueilla as well. They both wanted revenge and snuck into the Hellfire Club to get it. Things... didn't exactly work out (chains and a slavecollar, Claremont? seriously? why not just whip them a bit to make the fantasy complete?!)

And a few years later... Uncanny X-men 454... Claremont's back and so are Rachel and Selene! Same old motivations, same old fight... same old outcome. -Yawn-

Whose mind controls who?

2008-10-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Wellll, how to explain this one?

Remember how Rogue used her powers to take over the powers and mind of Ms Marvel? You just knew that could never end well, didn't you?

For a while, Carol's persona remained dormant, this all changed in Uncanny X-men 182.

The team just returned from the first Secret Wars. They fought Lockheed's girlfriend dragon in Japan and then Rogue flew all the way across the world back home to the X-mansion. This tired her out so much, the memories and personality of Carol Danvers (aka Ms Marvel) resurfaced in her mind and took control of her.

As Carol, Rogue raced to the SHIELD helicarrier where Colonel Rossi, one of Carol's former lovers, was being held captive. She rescued him, but was shocked when Rossi (naturally) didn't recognise the young woman. When she told him the story, he naturally freaked out and slapped her.

No way to treat a lady, Rossi... especially one who can absorb your mind when her skin touches yours... And did he just strike her with his bare hand? Ow continuity...

Diamonds are a man's best friend

2008-10-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

"Yield me thy soul... so small a price for so great a gift..."

Owww brother... now even jewels do mind control. Back in Uncanny X-men 189, the Hyborean sorceror Kulan Gath was about to make a comeback. Gath had been around to fight Conan the Barbarian. When his life seemed over, Gath used ancient magics to transfer his consciousness into a dark jewel of unspeakable evil.

In recent times, the jewel came to New York City where a briefly revived Gath fought Spider-Man and Red Sonja (don't ask) in a very enjoyable Claremont/Byrne issue of Marvel Team Up. Now, Gath was about to claim a new host: Jaime Rodriguez, an honest, hard working Puerto Rican sailor who dregged the jewel from the bottom of the New York harbour. Pretty soon, Gath started to work Rodriguez, tempting him to give into his dark desires.

Eventually Gath succeeded and transformed Manhattan into a Hyborean city of old... Controlling the minds of the Avengers and most of the X-men and New Mutants. Gath, in a shocking scene, even mutated professor Xavier and the mutant sensing Caliban into one being, thereby creating the perfect hunter.

Gath met his magical match in Doctor Strange and Illyana Rasputin who changed the timeline to make sure Kulan Gath would never be able to rise to power again. Of course, this change caused the futuristic supersentinel Nimrod to arrive in this timestream. You just can't win...

Empath and his amazing friend

2008-10-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

Say what you will about Empath, but the mind-manipulating Hellion sure had the right idea in Uncanny X-men 193. For a while, Empath was Claremont's go-to-guy when it came to mental manipulations and other mind control shenanigans. Here, he forced Anjelica Jones (aka Firestar) to not only do his bidding, but also love him unconditionially. Yes folks, it is more than a little disturbing.

Mind you, not as disturbing as the Red Queen loving, SM-enthusiast Empath who's been featuring in Brubaker and Fraction's Uncanny X-men lately, but hey... It just goes to show that Empath's always had a thing for redheads... That's not just a fetish people, in comics it also scores good characterisation and continuity points...

Meanwhile...

2008-10-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Ah, that Emma Frost! She sure kept herself busy during her days as the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. Right before the Beyonder kidnapped the X-men to fight in the first Secret Wars, the White Queen had managed to entice Kitty Pryde's best Douglas Ramsey to join the Massachusetts Academy. Ramsey, as it turned out, was a mutant translator, able to speak and understand any and all languages. Kitty was worried that Emma Frost wanted to harm Doug so she accompanied him on his visit to the Academy.

Of course Kitty was right, the White Queen WAS up to no good. Her big plan was to use Doug as bait for both Kitty and the New Mutants. Emma wanted them to join her own team of young mutants, the Hellions. With the X-men missing, it was up to the New Mutants to help free Kitty. That didn't go exactly as planned and the entire team got defeated by the Hellions.

In a remarkable display of restraint on her behalf, the White Queen actually DIDN'T use mind control to force Kitty and the New Mutants to her side. No, she actually tortured Kitty in hopes of breaking her spirit. That Emma, all class...

Masterminds merry marvel mutant mindcontrol marathon

2008-10-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

Owwww snap!

Welcome to Uncanny X-men 173, two issues before the big anniversary book and a tale filled with heartbreak for everyone's favourite claw-popping Canadian. After a romance that started when they met in Japan during Moses Magnum's attack, Wolverine and Lady Mariko Yashida had steadily been working towards their marriage. Logan beat Mariko's father Lord Shingen in honourable combat back in the first Wolverine Limited Series and now the road was cleared for the two to tie the knot. Only, on the eve of the ceremony Mariko got... wait for it... mind controlled by Mastermind, who forced her to call off the ceremony and emotionally cripple Wolvie.

Frankly, wouldn't a toaster have been a far more thoughtful gift? Ah well...

Anyway, the cancelled wedding was part of Jason Wyngarde's big revenge scheme on the team. After the debacle with Dark Phoenix, he was rendered virtually insane but eventually got better. He began plotting his comeback by manipulating Cyclops into thinking his new bride Madelyne Prior was actually the Phoenix.

Then he convinced the X-men in issue 175 that Cyclops was actually the Phoenix, forcing Scott to fight the entire team to a standstill in a somewhat confusing but very amusing romp.

"Brood her? I hardly know her!"

2008-09-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

As we have established by now... Chris Claremont sure loves mind control. In Uncanny X-men 155, he wrote about Deathbird... aka Princess Lilandra's sister. She was creating trouble for the team, kidnapping Xavier and her sister and almost getting the Earth destroyed by the Shi'ar imperial fleet. To add to the fun, she even got one of her henchmen to fire on Storm and Corsair. Apparently, it was some form of mind altering beam, which caused them to hallucinate and attack their friends. Same old, same old, you might say... Yes. But what's so interesting, the mind alteration beam was fired by a member of the Brood species. Originally designed by Dave Cockrum as a one-off character, both he and Claremont agreed that the look of the Brood merited further stories... So, we got this a few issues later in Uncanny X-men 162...

Gotta love that Dave Cockrum artwork. The Brood, as it turns out, is a parasitic race of insectoids that procreate by planting their offspring inside of other species. The eggs grow and once they hatch, they take over the host. The Brood are led by a Queen who, shortly after Deathbird had fought the X-men, had the team and princess Lilandra kidnapped and mindcontrolled. Brought before the Queen, she implanted an egg in each and every one of them. Unfortunately, Wolverine's mutant healing factor considered the Brood hatchling an infection and was able to defeat it just before he turned.

Wolverine survived and rejoined the rest of the team who were still infected with young Brood queens. Through various rather well plotted means, the other X-men (and Lilandra!) beat their own eggs and all seemed right in the world. Well, no, not really. There was one egg left, guess who that egg belonged to...

None other than the X-men's leader had become infected by the Brood. He turned, but thanks to the Shi'ar's advanced medical knowledge his mind could still be salvaged and placed into a new cloned body. Still, the Brood controlled Xavier had been busy for quite some time... gathering a new group of young mutants he planned to infect once he fully hatched. Take a look...

In New Mutants # 3, semi-psychic mutant Danni Moonstar finally discovers the source of the nightmares she's been having. Its the alien brood queen, prepping her and her teammates for the big change. The Queen would have succeeded too, if not for the timely intervention of the X-men, the Starjammers and Binary.

The Brood seemed finished on Earth, but heck, you just can't keep a good race of space parasites down. A few years later, they crashlanded on Earth and began their whole game again. This time, they planned on infecting mutants only, in order to create a formidable fighting force of super powered Broodlings. Naturally, the X-men came after them, determined to exterminate them like the infestation they represent. That didn't go exactly as planned... The Brood had infected a mutant called Temptress, who was able to use her pheromones to... wait for it... mind control people to do her bidding. Temptress took over Rogue and was right in the middle of bringing her and the recently re-infected Wolverine to the Brood Queen when the inevitable happened back in Uncanny X-men # 234.

Sigh... You'd think the Brood would have caught on after the first time. You just don't infect Wolverine... Or, to use one of Claremont's pet phrases "That trick NEVER works!"

Dracula drains control... mind you!

2008-09-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

Poor Storm, in the early Uncanny X-men run, she couldn't catch a break. Emma Frost blasted her with a mind control gun back in # 152 and a mere three issues later, count Dracula shows up to start the whole spiell again. Dracula fights the X-men and manages to drain some blood from Storm who falls under the vampire lord's spell. Yes, she's forced to do his bidding, ever so slowly becoming his mindless puppet. Needless to say, she breaks free in the end but not before she fought the entire team... AGAIN!

How I long for a gun...

2008-09-27T11:17:00.000-07:00

Now this, this is Mind Control Madness at its finest. In Uncanny X-men 152, the X-men were under attack once again by the Hellfire Club. Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost had convinced Kitty's parents to transfer her from Xavier's to the new Massachusetts Academy run by Emma "White Queen" Frost. Of course, the X-men were reluctant to see Kitty go, but what choice did they have? Storm offered to drive her there, but on the way home the weather goddess got attacked by Emma Frost, who used a mind control gun to change minds with Ororo.

I'll repeat that.

I'll repeat that... because its the kind of plot point that makes your head go boom.

Emma Frost. The White Queen. One of the most powerful telepaths on the planet. Able to wipe minds, delete personas and control crowds of people at once... Needs a gun... To switch minds.

I need to lie down for a bit now.

Days of future mind control's not a thing of the past

2008-09-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

"Days of future past" in Uncanny X-men 140-141 is considered one of Claremont's high points in the series. It certainly ranks up there with the Phoenix Saga as best remembered moment in the history of Marvel's mutants. A shame Cordial Chris wasn't able to write it without resorting to a form of mind control.

In the future (the year 2014, no less... Only 6 years to go, people!) Sentinels rule America and the remaining mutants are placed in camps. The few X-men still left alive are desperate to change the course of history and decide to travel into the past, using the powers of a certain red head called Rachel. She uses her psychic abilities to send the mind of Kathryne Pryde back in time to inhabit her younger self for a while. In effect, the Kitty of 1980 gets mind controlled by Kathryn. Sure, its basically the same person but its definitely not Kitty....

Mind control, cos Jean felt like having brunch...

2008-09-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Uncanny X-men 131, just before the Dark Phoenix saga. The X-men were introduced to two new mutants who would go on to become future members of the team. First, there was the light generating songstress Dazzler and then, there's Kitty Pryde. She was just 13 years old and while her powers had begun to manifest themselves, her parents didn't want to pack her off to Xavier's... I suppose that's only understandable. Who would send their child to a private school when the creepy, bald headmaster shows up at your house, accompanied by a white haired African American woman, a small, gruff Canadian and a blushing, dumbstruck Russian?

As it turns out... the Prydes chomped at the bit. That is, after some mental convincing on Jean's part. Its because of the Phoenix that Kitty joined the team at the time. Cyclops is shocked at her behaviour, Charles is dumbstruck. And Jean? She just wanted a free lunch out of the whole deal. Smart girl!

Mastermind masterminds... mind control?

2008-09-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

Whoops, almost messed up the chronology. In Uncanny X-men 125, the seeds are laid for the corruption of Phoenix. Former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants founding member Mastermind had been propped up in a new identity as the mysterious Jason Wyngarde. Jean was being subtly manipulated to fit her upcoming role as Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. As this picture shows, she had no idea she was being molded and prepped...

Ah yes, its come to this... In a year's worth of issues, Claremont had managed to change Jean from the strong, independent woman to Mastermind's puppet. "Jean Grey belongs to the Hellfire Club, body and soul, now and FOREVER!", or so Wyngarde boasted. A couple of pages later, the Phoenix force that was posing as Jean burst free and went on to destroy the D'Bari, aka the Asparagus People.

Mutant X spells Mind Control

2008-09-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

And so we reach Uncanny X-men 127, the one where we finally meet Moira McTaggert's son: Kevin, better known as Mutant X or Proteus. Anyways: he can change reality but his mutant energies consume his physical form so he needs to body-jack others in order to survive. He takes over their bodies and consumes their lifeforce and souls. Kevin jumped from his own form to that of curmudgeon Angus McWirther, one of Multiple Man's clones and then by way of the Scottish police officer in this picture to the girl who finally led him to his father, Joe McTaggert. In the end, Colossus destabilised Proteus' energy form, dispersing and seemingly killing him.

The Proletarian Cometh...

2008-09-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

After the business in the Savage Land, the X-men got side-tracked in Japan where they fought Moses Magnum alongside former X-man Sunfire. Magnum threatened to sink the Japanese islands with his seismic powers, but the X-men managed to prevent this from happening. After that adventure, they finally got home and enjoyed a brief respite... But before long, they got kidnapped one by one by assassin for hire Arcade. He trapped the X-men in Murderworld and subjected them to psychological torture. The claustrophobic Storm was almost drowned, Wolverine was almost driven insane and Colossus? Colossus was brainwashed by one of Arcade's robots posing as KGB big wig Colonel Vazhin (the Russian's answer to Nick Fury). 'Vazhin' called Peter a traitor to the Russian people, causing the young Russian to flip his wig and turn into... the Proletarian. Ready to kill his teammates for the good of Mother Russia. Sigh...

Sauron signals swaying of the mind

2008-09-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

And here we are again. After their fight against Magneto, the X-men were trapped underneath the exploding volcano the master of magnetism had based his headquarters in. Using Cyclops' eyeblasts and Banshee's sonic scream the team carved a way straight through the crust of the planet to the Savage Land. There, Chris Claremont wrote a little homage to the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams run, pitting the new X-men against Karl Lykos, better known as the mutate Sauron. He feasts on mutant energies and ow yeah... employs mind control!

All the old tricks are new again as Wolverine's mind is clouded. Logan perceives his teammates as horrible monsters and attacks them. Naturally, everyone survives...

Mesmerizingly magnetic mindcontrol

2008-09-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Chris Claremont did not create the mindcontrolling mutant Mesmero. He was one of Roy Thomas' creations near the end of the original X-men run. In this story, Mesmero is gunning for revenge by enthralling the entire team. He first nailed Jean Grey in the train station and then forced her to lead him back home, to enslave the rest of the team. He succeeded in mindgrabbing them all and took his revenge by forcing them to work in a circus. That's where former X-man Beast found them. Mesmero tried to take over Beast as well and would have succeeded, if not for Magneto. The mutant master of magnetism suddenly showed up, wanting the X-men for himself... He kicked Mesmero out and took the X-men to his hidden base in Antarctica where he did this to them...

Yup... rescued from one source of mindcontrol, only to be subjected to another. Magneto chained them up and reduced their minds to the state of a mere infant. He's mechanically controlling their minds. Classy, especially because of the robot Nanny he created to take care of their every need. My guess would be, she'd also have to change them. Scary.

Meet Evil Xavier, he looks snappy in green

2008-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well, this is a bit of a doozy. In Uncanny X-men 106, Charles Xavier's own mind turned against him. His long supressed evil tendencies manifested themselves in a very real way, as the Evil Xavier. Think Onslaught, without the cool design. Evil Xavier created his own version of the original X-men to fight the current team. And he was winning, until Xavier finally took control again and ended the charade.

Evil Xavier resurfaced years later in the X-men/Micronauts miniseries where he threatened the microscopic heroes and the mutants alike.

2nd post, brotherly mindcontrol love

2008-09-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

And here we are again. This is from Uncanny X-men 97, one of Claremont's first stories. This tale introduced us to Eric the Red, a mysterious Shi'ar agent who used Havok and Polaris in his schemes against the team. Naturally, Alex and Lorna were coerced using mind control "It was Eric... he... my mind..." indeed.

First New X-men issue, first Mind Control

2008-09-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

Granted, this is a bit of a stretch seeing as Chris Claremont didn't even write Giant-Size X-men (we have Len Wein to thank for that)... But check it out, Krakoa used mind control on Cyclops in order to get him to lure some more mutants to the island. Naturally, this point is rendered a bit moot after the Deadly Genesis miniseries back in 2006 revealed Krakoa wasn't sentient at all and Xavier made the team believe the living island was actually a, well, intelligent living island.

Still... its an eery preview of things to come. Lets see what Chris did with the (then not quite so) Uncanny X-men in the next 16 years.

Kick off!

2008-09-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

First things first: I love Chris Claremont's writing. He's been responsible for some of the best X-men stories I've ever read. From the Dark Phoenix saga to Days of Future Past... The encounters with the Brood, or the demonic infestation of Inferno and The Fall of the Mutants... Along with some of the best artists, he defined Marvel's mutants for more than a decade.

But he's only human. I have been following Claremont's writing for a few years now and I've noted some remarkable, well, lets call 'em... recurring plotdevices, shall we?

You just know you're reading a Chris Claremont comic when someone:

a) is subjected to mind control, any type will do.

b) ... starts wearing black leather outfits afterwards for no apparent reason.

c) is being mindcontrolled and suddenly develop an eery master/slave loverelationship with the person who's controlling them.

Don't believe me? Well, read on true believers as we take a look at Chris Claremont's writings for Marvel Comics for the past few decades. As always, images and text are copyright their respective owners... please don't sue me, I'm just a fan boy with way too much time on my hands.