Mind Control On The Toad To Nowhere

Today's short but sweet entry serves as both a prequel and a dovetail to the previous God Loves But Mind Control Still Kills threeparter. 

After his initial return to the X-books in 2000, Chris Claremont was asked to incorporate the events of the first X-men movie into mainstream comics. The bulk of the work was taken care of by Fabien Nicieza who penned X-men Forever, a continuity heavy limited series that featured Phoenix and Iceman teaming up with established baddies Juggernaut, Mystique and the Toad.

By the end of the mini, the events had miraculously *cough* caused Mystique and Toad to transform from their ever familiar form in comics to the look of their movie counterparts.

So... how did the reimagined Mystique (now with 80 percent more scales and spikes!) and the new model Toad for the 2000s go over? Well, the fact yours truly has to remind you they ever existed ought to tell you enough. Still, Claremont tried to work with the new status quo when he set up a subplot with them in X-men # 106...

Yup, the new and improved Toad is no longer interested in taking orders from his bald broterhood bootcamp trainer and he uses his newly discovered, chemically rich tongue to the best of his abilities... first by forcing Mystique to reveal her true form and then, just to prove this is still a Chris Claremont comic, by adding a little hot mind control to the mix... 

Toad's attempt to control her with his newly discovered pheromone powers suitably impress Mystique, earning him a spot in her new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants after all. But let's review the panels without the dialogue.

For one thing, apparently that single lick caused the disappearance of Mystique's new, spikey template host (only a matter of time, considering how complicated a look that would be to keep consistent from panel to panel).

But more importantly: judging from the art, it seems there might have been a last minute change of plans. Consider Mystique's submissive kneeling position, head held down and eyes closed, while Toad triumphantly stands next to her grinning all the way.

Still, all that alledged mind control went nowhere. This particular incarnation of the Brotherhood (including a new Crimson Commando and a speedster called Sabre) is never seen again. Mystique and Toad next appear as the Brotherhood a few months down the line when all that nutty forced movie adaptation was over and done with...

... Or maybe not.

I Vant To Control Your Mind (... and suck a lil blood as vell!)

For today's entry, we'll remain in New Exiles territory. During the team's first real adventure together, they visited an alternate Earth that had been ravaged by a meteor storm 50 years earlier. This cataclysmic event caused massive changes in both climate and power balance which slowly tilts to all out global warfare.

Sabretooth picks Psylocke, Mystiq, Rogue and Sage to go in and help him prevent this. No small order, especially considering that upon arriving they almost immediately run into Black Dog and the Bloodforce, a super powered group from Wakanda determined to stop them... And succeeding.

Just who Black Dog is, not to mention the other Bloodforce members, is never reallyexplained. Luckily this is still a Chris Claremont comic, so alternate Earth or not, chances are pretty decent everyone will yell out his or her codename sooner or later. So lets have the mysterious woman Sabretooth is punching take care of her own introduction...

Ahhhh yeah... Bloodwitch turns out to be a vampire who decides to feast on Creed. Or maybe she isn't, after all its daytime and she doesn't seem affected by the sunlight, despite being pale and half naked in the desert. But who has time to waste on such minutiae? Luckily, his teammates have his back.

"Oh bloody hell...!"

Ya gotta love the continued stream of vampiric puns. It seems Claremont managed to tap a... rich...vein... of and the comedy, it flows... like blood.

Ignoring all conventional notions on how a vampire's control over his victims are supposed to work, Bloodwitch proved able to mind control Creed with a single bite... As he obediently follows her instructions and attacks Psylocke. 

But right before Bloodwitch can claim her second victim of the day, the blackening skies erupt in a furious thunderstorm, courtesy of Queen Ororo, archenemy of the Black Panther.

Figuring any enemy of the Panther's might be a potential ally, Ororo invites the Exiles to her palace in Alexandria to plan their next move. There, Psylocke and Sabretooth realise Bloodwitch's influences isn't as easily shaken as they'd hoped  judging from the way they suddenly can't seem to keep their hands off each other. 

Try and ignore the dialogue straight from a dimestore romance novel as we try and find out what's really going on here...

"GOTCHA! I tagged your leader, little Psylocke and through him Bloodwitch's fangs have bitten deep into your soul! Both of you now belong to ME!"

Ah, yeah, so... vampiric mind control is like an STD now? Easily spread with the exchange of bodily fluids? That's going to be an interesting public service announcement in the age of the Twilight movie saga. "Kids, only you can prevent third party mind control... Go team Jacob!" 

In New Exiles # 3, the team faced off against Blackdog and the Bloodforce again and Bloodwitch was more than a little prepared...

Not to mention overconfident, as she mindjacks Sabretooth and Psylocke and plans to bend them to her will forever (... and when a vampire says something is 'forever', you can take that literally). 

But, considering this is New Exiles and not Bloodwitch featuring the Bloodforce, it doesn't exactly turn out the way she'd planned.

Defeating a vampire without garlic and overcoming mind control thanks to your healing factor... The Omniversal world of New Exiles truly is the gift that keeps on giving!

Logan, Love, Marriage & Mind Control...

In early 1998, Marvel's then editor in chief Bob Harrass approached Chris Claremont with the request to write a story arc on Wolverine, the series he helped launch in the 1987. The timing couldn't be better, considering Claremont's debut would start with the big anniversary issue # 125.

Most fans figured Claremont would use the opportunity to restore Wolverine's status quo, maybe even restore the adamantium that was ripped out by Magneto at the end of 1993's Fatal Attractions crossover. To his credit, Chris intentionally did the unexpected, unfortunately his three issue storyline was, well, haphazard at best. The anniversary issue starts out with Jubilee running from some bad guys in a scene that mirrors Kitty Pryde's escape from the Hellfire Club in Uncanny X-men # 129.

Jubes was rescued from that particular horror by, well, just guess...

Yup, that's Shadowcat and Lockheed... Looking ever so spiffy in green. But what's caused her sudden change in appearance? And for that matter, why was Jubilee being chased by those Hellfire Club goons, who by the way looked like X-women in outfits similar to Kitty's?

Bless Claremont's gift for exposition. The rather psychotic terrorist Viper, also fond of dressing in green leather, is revealed to be the big bad. Desperately trying to get at Wolverine, Viper used a special mind control poison (because that's what poisons do apparently) to recruit some of Wolverine's closest female friends and associates. Viper had managed to claim Psylocke, Rogue, Tyger Tiger, Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde and Yukio. Jubilee was about to join their ranks, if Kitty hadn't broken free from Viper's conditioning to save her.

Five of their colleagues however, weren't quite so lucky... And neither was Wolverine once the green squad tracked him down.

So why was Viper after Wolverine in the first place? Well, he once sorta promised Viper his hand in marriage in return for her aid. Its rather reassuring to know the lady might be a psychotic, mass murdering maniac, but she sure ain't forgetful!

Wolverine reluctantly obeyed his sense of honor and agreed to marry Viper, but their wedded bliss was cut short by Sabretooth who showed up to kill Logan's better half.

In a nice tip of the hat to a Wolvie wedding that that never was, Claremont has Sabretooth swear he'd kill any mate 'the runt' would ever take. Back in the early 80s, Claremont and Byrne had planned to have Wolverine and his lady love Mariko Yashida tie the knot... Only to have Sabretooth appear as the villain who ripped her apart.

And by 1998, the crazed mutant was about to fulfill his destiny after all. Yet, as the end of the second issue fast approached, even Victor Creed proved to be a mere accomplice to the real bad guy because well... Hey, why *DID* we shovel out that extra dough for gatefold covers that tell everyone what they need to know?

Yep, in the third and final chapter everyone got kidnapped and mind controlled by the Hand, leading to delicious scenes like these...

All the pain they caused Wolverine and Kitty had a remarkable effect on the erstwhile Shadowcat as she appeared like a latter day Psylocke...

But the Hand wasn't just planning on mind controlling Viper. They had a few more of those sensory depravation tanks lying around so why not stick a few more of Wolverine's women in there. In skintight outfits of course, mind control or not, there's always room for some eye candy.

In the end, all the heroes broke free to fight another day and Claremont bowed out after this three issue stint... While leaving the Wolverine/Viper marriage stand and revealing the Hand had reinforced Sabretooth's claws and skeleton with adamantium, making him a truly tough foe.

Alas, these story elements were quickly reversed by future writers who had the happy couple break up because, well, one's a sociopath with odd hair, a bad temper and connections to terrorist groups bent on imposing their views on a world that hates and fears them... and the other is Viper.*


* With sincerest apologies to Craig Ferguson