Subtle Brooding part II: Embry-whoa! 'tcherdoin' there?

When we last left the X-men, professor Charles Xavier had just woken up from a long, self induced coma... seemingly looking none the worse for wear.

"Professor, you're awake! You're all right!"

If only they knew that Xavier had been overcome by the very reason he put himself into a coma: the Brood egg growing inside him.

In fact, the only reason he woke up at all was the fact the alien embryo had gained control of Charles' mind. As would be revealed in later issues, a Brood zygote had superior regenerative abilities. So if Charles' coma had purely been the cause of a physical or mental injury, it would have cleared it right up. Since Xavier went into a voluntary coma, the fact he woke up with the embryo still inside him was definitive proof the Brood was running the show.

Speaking of the Brood being in control, a few days after the professor woke up, the Shi'ar royal cruiser Z'reee Shar appeared in orbit over Earth to take Lilandra home. But before she returned to challenge her sister Deathbird, a banquet was held on board the vessel to thank the X-men for their help.

Charles was still too weak to attend (which also ensured there would be at least one Brood still on Earth). But the other X-men and their houseguest Carol 'formerly Ms. Marvel' Danvers attended...

"We're among friends, so why am I on edge?!
I keep spottin' traces of familiar scents, but I can't place 'em."

Turns out Wolverine had every reason to be suspicious when Lilandra suffered a seizure halfway during her speech...

Sheesh, looks like the princess can't hold her liquour...

"Your courage does you credit, Cyclops... but your cause is lost."

And Deathbird wasn't kidding. A hidden explosive device took out the entire team, leaving them vulnerable to whatever the Brood were planning...

"Satisfied, clan master Ram'n'ehan?"

That Ram'n'ehan was, and then some... He promised the X-men would serve as host-forms for the spawn of their blessed ruler, the 'mother-of-us-all'. The Brood Queen by any other name... And when they came to in Uncanny X-men # 162, they were decidedly being mind controlled, thinking they were on the Shi'ar throneworld.

"Sleazoids! The Brood... we're their prisoners!"

Chalk it up to Logan's healing factor overcoming the effects of the mind control, but he got brief flashes of what was really going on. His fellow X-men and Carol Danvers were mostly oblivious to the actual reality of the situation, and even his partial clarity didn't save him from suffering this fate...

"Look into my eyes, hear my voice... am I truly so terrible to behold?"

And with that, the corruption of the X-men was done...  

Shi'aring the mind control

Ah, love... it truly is a many splendored thing.

Remember how professor Xavier used to have a thing for Lilandra Neramani, the now deceased ruler of the starspanning Shi'ar empire? Theirs was a love both long distance and improbable. And ow yes, fraught with mind control.

Before her first appearance in Uncanny X-men # 105, Lilandra's presence was felt through the many intense nightmares Charles Xavier had been experiencing. The one constant in all his vision like dreams was a human creature dressed in an advanced, alien spacesuit. At first, Charles dismissed all of it, chalking them up to mere fatigue... But alien astronauts become kind of hard to ignore once they actually beam in for coffee...

Notice how Xavier instantaneously knew the alien's name was Lilandra? A lucky guess, you say? Well, not quite. Claremont actually tied this arc to a storyline from the original X-men run in the late sixties that featured the alien menace known as the Z'nox.

Back in the late 60s, Charles became aware of this warlike, psychopathic race that was totally devoid of love, empathy or mercy. Worse of all: The Z'nox were gathering their forces to invade Earth. In an early example of Professor Xavier is a jerk! syndrome, Charles decided to keep sitting on this information (no wheelchair pun intended). He became convinced he alone was capable of warding off the Z'nox so he faked his own death and went underground for months to prepare and a plan.

Eventually, he devised a way to defeat the psychopatic, unfeeling alien race. Using his massive telepathic talents, Charles contacted every sentient being on the planet at once, explaining the situation and asking them to focussing on all that is good and noble about mankind.

He then focussed all these thoughts and emotions in what can only be described as a 'decency beam' that he fired straight into space towards the approaching armada. All these 'good vibrations' caused the Z'nox great pain and forced them to abandon their invasion plans... The 60s, everybody!

Right before Charles Xavier fired off his mental love rocket, Shi'ar princess Lilandra Neramani had just escaped her pursuers. As the disapproving younger sister of the mad Shi'ar emperor D'ken, Lilandra was rather unpopular with both D'ken and the military. They all planned for Lilandra to have a little 'accident'.

But she survived, as this Claremont written issue of Classic X-men shows... Only to be caught in the backlash of Xavier's Z'nox attack.

Falling victim to an unwanted wave of alien emotions, Lilandra scrambled to her feet. But... Were they hers, really?

In a flash, she not only saw Charles Xavier's life pass before her eyes... Somehow, she connected to his very being and got mind controlled by it...

" I am human. But humanity is a state of mind..."
Speaking of state of minds... it wasn't long before Lilandra got Charles' entire mind forced upon herself...

"Yet (...) even in that first, terrible moment... her mind... trained to repel the slightest psychic invasion... and her spirit, which since birth has reveled in its defiant, unviolable solitude, untouched and untouchable... do no resist this alien intruder but (...) welcome him."

For what were supposed to be basic Classic X-men back up strips, Claremont sure gave his readers their money's worth.

Two minds, fighting over just who is in control. Wonder how that'll play itself out...

"She doesn't like it..."

To be fair, who would enjoy waking up one day to find yourself violated by what can only be generously described as a chimpansee's mind?

As unfair as this may sound, that is how humans must appear to the Shi'ar, a race of avian (!) aliens that rule large chunks of the known galaxy. And to have one of the ruling cast fall hopelessly in love with a mammal? An invalid mammal hailing from a backwards, backwater little world that hasn't even mastered basic interstellar travel?

That'd be like the daughter of the president shacking up with a peg legged duck. Both unheard of AND uncalled for. Still, its what happened once Charles and Lilandra met up.

And not long afterwards, we learn just what Lilandra was running from before she got herself accidentally mind controlled by her one, true love.

Meet the big meany, the one thing Lilandra fears above else... Even D'Ken himself doesn't disturb her half as much as this...

Its a Soul Drinker, an outer dimensional creature that enjoys sucking down on the soul of D'ken's enemies... still, how hard would it be to avoid the creature? Why not run away from it?

Having an alien, mind controlling creature coming for her soul... Threating to suck it out and forever make her a part of itself made Lilandra feel very scared indeed. Yet... isn't Charles Xavier every bit as much an alien creature trying to control and consume her mind? And you share your bed with him!

Yeah... the irony slaps you in the face about as hard as the soul sucking Shi'ar creature.