Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control part II: Ghosts In The Machine

When we last left the X-men in Marvel Fanfare # 33, the team had been surprised by the appearance of the alien Chief Examiner, a character from Marvel's shortlived 1984 videogame tie in Questprobe. The Examiner was on Earth to assess the abilities of superhumans in order to use their powers to defend his homeworld of Scadam from the invading Black Fleet.

After turning most of the team to statues, the Examiner somehow took over Magneto's mind and attacked Rogue who came to the party late. But as she escaped from this cage, Rogue was in for one more surprise...

"Suddenly got an itch to... va-MOOSE?!?"

After hitting the Chief Examiner's trademark dark portal, Rogue suddenly manifested the strength of the She-Hulk, the agility and spider sense of Spider-Man and the flame powers of the Human Torch. In earlier Questprobe issues, the Examiner copied their powers and apparently Rogue's mutant absorption gifts were able to tap into that as well. But while she fought a dressed up Magneto, the actual Erik Magnus Lensherr was somewhere else...

"Where... am I?! What am I?!? Not my living self, in any organic sense. I seem to have become a pattern of energy."

Gotta love that organic sounding exposition. We all narrate our own lives to ourselves in the third person, right? But Magneto found himself trapped inside a matter-energy egg with a chap called Durgan. He's the brain behind the Chief Examiner, who is revealed to be merely a computerised construct that. Wait, I could type up paragraphs of dry exposition, or I'll have Durgan tell you the same boring story himself... with pictures!

"I am master of magnetism. All electronics are vulnerable to my powers. Obviously, I disrupted the circuitry of your device and created a scramble feedback loop that trapped both our consciousnesses in its mnemonic system."

... Yeah, obviously.

Durgan and Magneto were trapped inside the Chief Examiner's operating system. But who was running the show then? 

"I felt another essence replace mine as I was drawn here. But whose...?"

So, if we can trust the omniscient narrator's explanation... Durgan didn't realise the seemingly decorative artifact he'd placed right next to his invaluable creation, was actually a sentient evil gem bent on taking over the Chief Examiner computer and use it for conquest and all that fine stuff. Ah, comics...

So how did Magneto escape? Simple. By convincing Durgan he was boss and demanding control of the device back. 

"I feel myself regaining control of the Chief Examiner, whatever force opposed us is now gone."

Now, isn't that might convenient? Whatever evil presence inhabited the Examiner or the gem it came from is just gone. And with Magneto back in his body, the Chief Examiner is ready to go on looking for suitable superpowers. But not before saying goodbye...

"Bozo's crazy"

When the mass murdering mutant master of magnetism starts quoting Ghandi and Jesus...  Worry. Or snicker. Or do a trademark Liz Lemon eyeroll. Whatever feels most appropriate.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief ánd common sense... this wasn't the last appearance of the Chief Examiner. The late great Mark Gruenwald, ever the champion of little known or used characters, brought in the Examiner during his run on Quasar. Still looking for super powers to poach, he homed in on Kayla Ballantine who had just become the unwitting host of the New Universe's uberpowerful Starbrand.

He asked to siphon this energy source and Kayla willingly agreed, figuring she'd be better off without them. It didn't go quite the way either one of them planned...

That's what you get when you try to make 1984 computer equipment compatible with anything more challenging than Pong.

Game over for Questprobe, but at least the Chief Examiner went out with a bang.

Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control part I: If I Mae Ask, Is That A Joystick In Your Pants*...

Today's entry couldn't be any more 80s if it tried... Consider this: what did just about every 80s kid love beside Marvel comics? Why, videogames of course!

So, why not combine the two and rake in the dough. Nowadays, with the Marvel movies dominating the cinema, having superheroes star in their own games is a no brainer. But it all started back in the mid 80s with Questprobe, a videogame series that incorporated actual Marvel heroes... in all their kinda 8-bit glory...

The guy in the middle with the purple gown and the Mysterio style headgear is the Chief Examiner. First appearing in comics in August of 1984, the Examiner's deal is to test Earth's heroes in order to determine whose powers are best suited for the defense of Scadam, his recently invaded home planet. By pitting hero against hero or villain and copying the victor's powers, the Examiner planned to form the perfect army.

As origin stories go, you could do worse. But if the Chief Examiner had truly investigated Earth's heroes, he'd have noticed their uncanny ability to lend a hand to just about every other race that came looking for help. Why not take everyone you can find?

Still, that tidbit of logic didn't stop Marvel from launching the Chief Examiner into his own series... It only lasted a handful of issues, yet he observed fights between Hulk and the US Army, the Human Torch and the She-Hulk and Spider-Man and his lookalike Mysterio. 

And then the series got cancelled. Because, well... having heroes and villains fight isn't that original and if you wanted to see most of the then current crop of bad & good guys duke it out in 1984, you'd just be better off buying Secret Wars. But no one told Chris Claremont, June Brigman and Terry Austin who produced an issue of Questprobe that never saw print. That is, until editor Archie Goodwin decided to run the story in 1987's Marvel Fanfare # 33.

By then, the status quo of the X-men and New Mutants had significantly changed. On the run, severly wounded after the Marauders and the Morlock massacre... Seeing them in their relatively carefree 1984 surrounding, on Magneto's Bermuda triangle island, was a welcome change of pace. Apart from the mind control, of course...

Yeah, such relative peace and tranquility never lasts too long. But even in 1987, it's nice to revisit the relative innocence of those three, short years gone by. Shadowcat and Colossus were still an item, as were Magneto and boat captain Aletys Forester, despite her ever so brief fling with Cyclops that led to her first meeting with the mutant master of magnetism.

If a story's called Shadows On The Soul, things tend to get weird fast. For instance, when the Chief Examiner appeared out of nowhere with his abduction portal all raring to go. Here we have Claremont indulge in some pretty hot tentacle porn featuring Storm... It left her hard as rock...

"She's petrified, a living stasis... suspended animation."

Unfortunately, Storm wasn't the only X-man who fell prey to this. Magneto watched helplessly as Colossus, Kitty, Wolverine and the others were turned to statues as well. Luckily, Rogue wasn't on the island when all this went down... That's why she was on hand to do this...

"Free! Miracle of miracles... at long last. I... am...free!!"

Somehow, the Chief Examiner had been able to gain control of Magneto's mind. What better way, after all, to defeat the cybernetic creatures dominating your homeworld than by possessing a mutant capable of controlling, disrupting or bending all things metallic to his will. 

Unfortunately for the Examiner, Rogue was still there, ready to stop him. But she didn't really have the best of luck...

So, after hitting the portal Rogue involuntarily took on the shape of the She-Hulk, unknowingly absorbing part of the jade giantess' essence already 'borrowed' by the Chief Examiner...

And that's just when the fun really began. Check back next time for part II of Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control: Ghosts In The Machine.

* Free after Mae West's infamous line from the 1933 movie She Done Him Wrong.

Post 200: Failure and Mind Control Are Always An Option At Xavier's...

"Welcome child, to my school for gifted youngsters... and to the New Mutants."

And welcome to the 200th blog post as well. What better way to celebrate this surprising milestone than by flipping the script. This entry won't feature any mind control at all... A refreshing change of pace after the past several blogs on just how insidious and callous professor Charles Xavier can be when it comes to respecting the sanctity of other people's minds... especially his students'. 

New Mutants # 13 was all about Amara Aquilla's first days at school and more importantly: it showed the most powerful telepath in the world had morals and knew restraint, even when he had every reason to meddle and muddle.

For instance, he just took in an insecure, emotional girl who involuntarily causes earthquakes whenever she gets even the slightest bit upset...

"Until I've established the parameters of her ability... I'd best maintain a constant, light rapport with her. That way I can monitor her emotional state 

and prevent any accidental tectonic catastrophies."

Now, sure, having Charles decide on his own to form a psychic connection with a young girl may seem wrong... But what choice did he have? If he'd told Amara flat out he'd be inside her head as a safety precaution, she might have flipped out completely, which would have triggered a massive earthquake.

In fact, later that same day Amara loses it during a welcome barbecue thrown in her honor. Emotional after Cannonball accidentally spilled grape soda on a dress that belonged to her deceased mother, Amara generates tremors, fissures and lava spouts...

But Charles doesn't use his newly formed rapport to calm her down. In fact, all he does is gently check in on Amara as she's all alone, sobbing in the woods.

"The night's getting chill. As soon as she's asleep, I'll have the mutants put her to bed."

Again, Xavier could have taken over Amara or gently nudged her to return home 'for her own good'. Instead, he goes out of his way to give her as much leeway and personal freedom as possible... And he isn't even lusting after one of his underage students for a change. His heart and soul belong to princess Lilandra, who was half a galaxy away fighting to retake her throne, alongside the Starjammers.

And just in case you figured Charles only treated newcomers this well... Here he is the next day teaching computer science to the entire team. Now, computers in early 1984 were huge, cumbersome and anything but user friendly... that's why some New Mutants had great difficulty mastering its intricate complexities... 

"How can Rahne think that? It just isn't so. But how do I convince the poor girl?"

Charles is a virtual saint... He could have saved everyone a lot of time by simply using his telepathy to teach Sam and the others all they needed to know about computers. He used this instant mass-learning telepathic technique before, when he taught all the non-English speaking X-men and New Mutants the language in their sleep.

Instead, he takes the time to give Sam step-by-step instructions, allowing the boy the satisfaction of mastering the tasks on his own... And as for Rahne Sinclair's latest ignorance fuelled rant, when the professor overheard those strong, negative thoughts, he genuinely wants to convince her of the opposite. A subtle mind control whammy would have cleared all that suffering right up...

Later that same day, it's time for Amara's first trial run in the Danger Room. After handing her a uniform and the codename Magma, Charles wants her to burn through a metal beam to get a handle on her abilities. Magma is hesitant, to say the least...

"I will not be lied to! 

And I am not a slave to be paraded about and made to perform on command!"

Poor Charles... all he wants to do is help her, but Amara basically accuses him of using her a slave for his own amusement. Gee, I thought her mutant powers involved tectonics, not precognition? Still, she was way out of line, something she realised later that night when she couldn't sleep.

"He could have forced me to his side... but he has not. That counts for something."

Amara makes some rather valid points here, even though she spent most of the issue crying herself to sleep. Professor Xavier cán seem a bit creepy, considering his powers and their unspoken implications... Also, being bald, stuffy, stern and a teacher doesn't usually win one too many popularity contests either.

Plagued by all these doubts about the professor, her powers and presence on the team, Amara decided to go for a brief stroll when she spotted the lights were still on in Charles' study...

"Why is he up so late? Is it because of me?"

It's really difficult to remain sympathetic to Magma in this issue, when she so systematically acts like a spoiled brat who thinks the entire world is supposed to revolve around her... Which, with her seismic abilities and a little training...it actually might. But to answer your question Amara, no... the professor wasn't thinking about you. He was having an intergalactic Skype chat with Lilandra...

"If need be, from the gates of hell itself. I'll be waiting. Farewell, my love."

Charles could have very easily picked up Amara's approach and either erased this personal meeting from her memories, or simply have 'ordered' her to return to bed. He didn't do any of these things, he actually opened up to her, revealing a bit of his private life and feelings in order to gain the trust of his newest student.

And it worked.

"Have you ever failed with a student?"

...

Yeah Charles, have you? Let's review...

... Well, think positive: two out of four survived...

...

... Whaddayamean he can't fly? He's called Thunderbird, isn't he?...

...

... Evil Xavier's first crime is one against fashion...

...

... When his evil counterpart took over, Charles developed an unhealthy appetite for the young...

...

... Ah, she'll be back. Resurrection's her thing...

...

... Don't worry Peter, I'll make sure you won't feel a thing while the acid eats you alive...

...

... What can I say, those televangelists can be ver-ry persuasive...

...

..."Hey kids, don't let my new look traumatise you too much... Oh, and kill me, please?"...

...

... When the most serene of X-men starts throwing knives at you, rethink your teaching methods...

...

... "Save Angel's life? But I'm already in my pyjamas" ...

Have you ever failed with a student?

"Ow, yes... but that will never stop me trying!"

God bless you for that, Charles Xavier... and God help all your students past, present and future. You just might be the end of all of them. 

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...  

Subtle Brooding part I: Controlling Banzai Charlie, Comatose Suicide Commando

In today's entry, the X-men are about to meet the alien parasitic race known as the Brood, but before that, they have to deal with Charles Xavier. He isn't doing so well.

That's an understatement, if ever there was one. Back in Uncanny X-men # 158, Charles tried to telepathically contact Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler when he discovered something was wrong deep inside himself. At the time, no one knew he had sensed the growing Brood queen embryo, a creature so vile and horrifying touching its mind was enough to throw Xavier into a coma.

Back then, no one knew much about the Brood. They had served as Deathbird's henchmen in a plot against her sister Lilandra. The Brood fought the X-men and kidnapped Charles and Lilandra, probably implanting the egg behind the scenes in issue # 156.

"How's the professor?"

But because no one knew they were about to do a sequel to Alien without Sigourney Weaver, the X-men took Charles to their base in the Bermuda triangle. There, in spite of Moira MacTaggert's best efforts, he remained completely unresponsive to any and all outside stimuli.

In the old days, Jean Grey would have been able to telepathically connect with him, but she died on the Moon. That's why, in a clever piece of writing on Claremont's part, Shi'ar princess Lilandra called in the help of Oracle, the Imperial Guard's chief telepath. 

"Nothing much happens... as Oracle picks her way, cautiously, carefully... into Xavier's mind."

Ignoring the fact that Dave Cockrum basically gave Oracle the same face, hairdo and headband as Storm... the alien telepath soon made a connection with Charles' mind and the images she was bombarded with were a bit more... intense... than she might have bargained for.

"A curious duality to the man's psychic aura. A sense of hunger... insatiable, predatory, alien... coupled to so foul and evil a presence that the moment she perceives it... She denies it, forgets it."

In retrospect, it seems so clear that Xavier was turning into a Brood. But remember, the gruesome truth of this already rather obvious picture wasn't known. And having Oracle instantly forget what she'd learned, kept the others in the dark as well.

Plus, they had another threat to deal with anyway... Oracle herself.

"She's under his control! He's adding his power to hers, using the psibolts to attack the medical unit... and himself!"

Realising he was fighting a losing battle, Charles used his psychic rapport with Oracle to take over the young telepath's mind and force her to attack his helpless body. In effect, he was committing suicide, prefering death over eventually turning into a host body for the Brood.  

So, just like he'd done once before during the X-men & Micronauts limited series and years later in Grant Morrison's New X-men, Charles is ready to kill himself for the greater good. 

Also, having the mind controlled Oracle scream "KILL! To live... Must kill...I!" While it's generally assumed this was Charles' desperate attempt to tell his students what he was doing, consider this: it might also have been the Brood embryo pleading its case. In order to live, it had to kill as well.

Whoever was behind the wheel didn't succeed anyway. Wolverine's adamantium claws rather conveniently severed the mental connection between Oracle and the professor. Xavier slumped back into his coma for three more issues, finally waking up in # 161 after reliving his memories of meeting Magneto and fighting Baron Strucker over his nazi gold.

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

The fact he woke up at all is a clear sign the Brood egg had gained the upperhand. Charles put himself in a coma to protect himself and his students. Waking up while the embryo was still inside, indicated he had lost and didn't even know it himself.  

Unfortunately, that was just the start of unknowing X-men with Brood embryos inside them, as we'll see in part II of Subtle Brooding: Embry-whoa! 'tcherdoin' there? 

Professor Xavier's A-Jerkin' Your Mind part II: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

In the first chapter of Professor Xavier's A-Jerkin' Your Mind, the New Mutants were at long last reunited with their old mentor. Charles had been in deep space with the Starjammers for months, after a destroyed warpgate made it impossible for him to return home.

But thanks to Illyana Rasputin's teleportation powers, he was virtually back in Westchester already...

Yet, as always, there were a few problems he had to deal with. For instance: last issue the Starjammer was damaged in the fight against Magus... And being in orbit of a planet that self destructed in the aftermath of that confrontation didn't help either.

Add to that the fact the Starjammers were wanted by the Shi'ar empress Deathbird, which meant bounty hunters everywhere were on the lookout. Long story short: the Starjammers needed Xavier and his telepathy for their continued survival, while Charles also felt he had to return to Earth to help out after the mutant massacre. Who do you abandon?

One heck of a dilemma, but in the opening pages of # 51, it seemed like Illyana was about to make that decision for him...

"Get out of my head and leave me alone... Or I'll teleport myself to Limbo. I mean it...
And leave you all behind forever!!"

Instead of leaving her be, Xavier had other plans for the obviously terrified girl, who just last issue risked her very life to teleport across time and space to reach him. If you don't want to listen to reason young lady, we'll make you...

"Karma, I'll give you entry to Illyana's mind, so you can "possess" her 

and make her unlock the door."

Apparently, in space... when diplomacy fails, mind control is the way to go. This is a complete break from how Claremont has written Xavier up to this point. The 1960s Xavier didn't even blink when he had to control crowds, erase someone's memories or worse: make Beast's parents forget they even had a child.

But under Claremont, the professor became a bastion of morality who flat out refused using his powers for manipulation, not even for a 'good cause'. Here he is seen pontificating that very point in Uncanny X-men # 151, right after Kitty Pryde's parents decided to transfer her to Emma Frost's school and Wolverine made a sensible suggestion...

"To deliberately manipulate a sentient mind would make me no better than the villains we oppose."

From your mouth to Illyana's mind, Charles... And hey, it's not like it'd be the first time Kitty's parents got zapped by a mind control whammy...

"Just doing what comes naturally."

One might argue that Charles had no choice in this instance. Maybe Illyana was, in fact, too unstable and mad with fear and grief to listen to reason... And yes, you might also say that Xavier couldn't risk having her freak out and bolt, because it would mean stranding the other New Mutants in a potentially deadly situation.

But all that still doesn't rationalise what happened once a possessed Illyana emerged from her room...

"An excellent opportunity to learn what prompted this outburst,
without having Illyana resist my probes or questions."

Now this is just wrong... Getting her to cooperate and calm down is one thing, but having Karma use her possession powers to drag a very emotional, extremely personal truth out of Illyana... right in front of Dani, Rahne and the others is a flagrant infraction of every conceivable code of ethical or moral conduct. 

"Satisfied!?! Got your lousy pound of flesh?!!"

Charles claimed he did it to figure out why Illyana was reluctant to return home, via Limbo. And the answer should be obvious: she doesn't want to return to Limbo where she left her darkside behind, the part of her soul that was corrupted by years as Belasco's apprentice. On the Starjammer, she's as close to being her normal self as she'll ever be and she didn't want to lose that.

But it's not like she'll have an actual say in the matter...

"I won't go back to Limbo... I can't... professor... Please, oh, please don't make me!"

And Charles was really hoping she would be pleasant and understanding about being forced to succumb to her (inner)demons again. Well, if she doesn't want to do things willingly, there's always Karma...

"I haven't the time or inclination to argue the matter, young lady."

With that, Xavier sent his children home, keeping them safe from the roving band of cloaked Shi'ar bounty hunters that were closing in on the Starjammer. He was the only one able to pick up their position by homing in on the crew's thoughts. If he'd left for Earth, the Starjammers would not have survived.

On paper, he made the selfless and right decision, sacrificing his own desire and chance to go home in order to keep everyone he cared for as safe as possible.

Still, that did little to improve Illyana's mood once Xi'an released her...

"You made me little better than a puppet"

In Limbo, she fell prey to the evil influences she had left there and was reunited with her soulsword... In other words, Illyana Rasputin was gone, now all that remained was Magik. And she was mad.

Just how she thinks its right to blame áll the New Mutants is a little weird, especially considering Dani stood up for her... But you don't argue logic with a hopping mad mistress of a demon realm who threatens to stab you in the heart.

"We're home, we're all okay... even Magik once she calms down... Our school's still intact. How bad could things be?"

... Famous last words, Roberto.