God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills part II: Haven Knows I Tried To Control You!

In the second part of God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills, Chris Claremont is hard at work crafting a sequel to his classic 1982 graphic novel. Originally intended to somewhat tie in to the second X-men movie, ol' Chris lost track of that when writing this story.

The reverend Stryker was freed from prison by his associate Lady Deathstrike, who intentionally made sure the blame was placed on the X-men. At the same time, Stryker and Deathstrike kidnapped Kitty Pryde because the reverend felt she'd be instrumental for his mission in the mysterious town of Mount Haven.

However, before Stryker could make his move, an unknown entity from Mount Haven controlled the body of Deathstrike and forced her to chase after Stryker. He cleverly escaped with Kitty by donning adamantium laced body armors and forcing her to phase them to safety by, well, let's have Chris explain this.

However, this process is apparently extremely disruptive to the Earth's energy fields because of the adamantium armor they're wearing. And that's where the X-men come in, because Storm goes completely ballistic when she's caught in the backlash of the trauma Kitty's phasing is causing the Earth. After calming their leader down, the X-men figure out a few things thanks to Sage.  

Believably explaining the connection between Stryker and Lady Deathstrike, Claremont also has the team realise Kitty is involved which only increases the urgency of their mission. Storm uses her powers to follow the trail of destruction left after Kitty's joyride, figuring that she has to be somewhere near where the devastation stops. As they get underway, Kitty wakes up...

Yes, Kitty had managed to lose Stryker along the way but was so exhausted she was almost run over by a family who were on their way to bring their mutant son to... Mount Haven. Which is exactly where Kitty finds herself...

Obviously taken by the charismatic minister calling himself Paul, the confused Kitty follows him on a tour of Mount Haven... which at first glance appears to be the realisation of professor Xavier's dream: a town where mutants don't have to hide who or what they are. However, halfway through the tour, Kitty suddenly falls ill.

It's interesting to note that while Paul dressed Kitty in an outfit that's a cross between elitist WASP and naughty schoolgirl, he didn't bother to remove the armored slave collar Stryker had placed around her neck.

Still, that is of little importance as Paul rushes Kitty to an underground facility in the opening pages of X-treme X-men # 28, where a healer called Cybil tries to treat her. However, Shadowcat is so delirious, she phases through the mutant feline... which leads to several gruesome discoveries.

For one thing, Cybil dies on the spot because Kitty phased through her. Also, the underground clinic is actually part of a bigger lab complex, filled with people who seem to have died instantly... This partially answers Kitty's question why, apart from minister Paul, Mount Haven only seems to be populated by young mutants. But before she could get some answers, the armored form of reverend Stryker pops up out of nowhere, knocking out Paul and going on an extensive rant about the mysteries of Mount Haven... 

Meanwhile, the X-men have arrived in Mount Haven and soon find themselves mind controlled...

After encountering some young mutants, the cold and calculating Sage was suddenly all smiles... which was a dead give away for her fellow teammate Bishop that she wasn't quite in her right mind. Easily taking her out, he soon finds out she wasn't the only one compromised... the hard way.

And there was even more mind control fun to be had... As Wolverine encounters Lady Deathstrike, hot on the trail of Stryker and Kitty. 

Yuriko's cybernetic body was still being controlled, but that didn't exactly dull her fighting instincts. And heck... she didn't mind sharing the experience as she gave Logan some sage advice after a two page spread of bloody battle.

"Embrace Mount Haven as your new home. And Paul as your saviour."

'Savio-u-r'? Never knew Deathstrike was British. Ah well, the cat's out of the bag now...minister Paul is the big bad of this arc. Just how big a threat he is, will become clear in the third and final part of God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills: Mind Control Is The Opiate Of The People

God Loves, But Mind Control Kills...

One of the most pivotal tales of the X-men is 1982's graphic novel  God Loves, Man Kills... Chris Claremont brilliantly mixes mutant hate with religion when he introduced the reverend William Stryker, a popular televangelist who uses the word of God to launch a crusade against all mutants.

Stryker employs a band of vigilantes called Purifiers who kill every mutant they can find in the name of the lord. Leaving their corpses for anyone to see, in this case by tying the young children to the swing on the playground. Such horrifying, cruel acts cannot go unpunished. Enter... Magneto.

The mutant master of magnetism was drawn to the Purifiers' anti mutant crusade. He swore to avenge all the senseless deaths they had caused. But Stryker wasn't attacking mutants at random, far from it. The reverend had a plan in mind to kill all mutants and it involved Charles Xavier.

Through unrevealed means, Stryker had learned about the X-men and specifically their telepathic leader. After arranging to appear with Xavier on ABC's Nightline to discuss mutants, the Purifiers led Xavier, Storm and Cylops into an ambush on their way back home. Making it appear like a car accident, they left three charred bodies in the burnt out wreck... which didn't fool Wolverine's senses.

But the X-men were still unaware of Stryker's involvement, let alone his plans with the professor. The reverend wanted to use Xavier and his Cerebro machine to identify and destroy any and all mutants that came to his sermons. This way, he could filter out the true and pure believers from his flock.

Naturally the professor would never agree to any of this, so Stryker ordered his will broken. In a truly inspired, utterly horrific unending virtual reality loop, Stryker assaulted Charles by having demonised versions of the X-men brutally attack and mutilate him.

There is so much going on in these panels. From the obvious comparisons to Christ on the cross to the utter depravity of the demonic X-men. Not to mention Brent Eric Anderson's striking art work and the moody coloring job that only uses blood red and pitch black to intensify the horrors on display. Unfortunately for Stryker, all of that still didn't get Xavier to crack.

One has to admire just how methodical they were about it, keeping progress reports and everything. Naturally, they had no chance of breaking the professor. He's a man of great moral fibre, the idea he would ever succumb or use his powers to hurt his pupils? Madness...

Right, well... moving right along...

During his inquiries into the Purifiers, Magneto encountered the X-men who were looking for their missing team members. Deeming Stryker too big a threat to ignore, Magneto allied himself with his most hated enemies.  

In an impressive display of force, Magneto kicked off the final confrontation with Stryker by disrupting his sermon. How did he achieve this? Ow, by simply yanking the dome off the venue... the friggin' Madison Square Garden.

Backstage at the Garden, Stryker had Xavier ready to scan the audience for possible mutants. If he found any, he was forced to... deal.... with them.

Xavier was used as a machine to fire intense psychic energies at any suspected mutants. If you even had a little bit of mutant potential, you'd start bleeding from the ears. Lots of people did in the Garden, including Anne, field leader of the Purifiers and loyal Stryker subject.

When Stryker, fired up by religious fervor, realised Anne was a mutant he tossed her off the canticle. Falling at least two dozen feet, Anne died right before the rolling cameras. To add insult to injury, they also shot Stryker's final conclusion with the team that had him pointing a gun at 13 year old Kitty Pryde... right up until the point a security guard came to his senses and ended the menace of Stryker by planting a bullet straight in the reverend's heart.

Xavier was freed, no one was too seriously hurt and the X-men and Magneto soon returned to Xavier's school. Magneto politely declined the X-men's offer to stay with them and left soon afterwards, just as Charles was getting a little misty eyed...

Apart from the emotional, if not slightly overwrought ending, this graphic novel is a showcase of how to tell a compelling storyline that, despite dealing with familiar subjects, still manages to feels refreshingly original.