The Karma Conundrum part V: The Big Blubbery Brain Breacher's Bee-zare Bye Bye

In the fifth and final chapter of the Karma Conundrum, we're still dealing with New Mutants # 34 and the question on everyone's mind: what's been eating Karma? Or, better put: who's been eating as Karma?

The answer is provided by Magik and Warlock, who teleported into the past to get some answers. It turned out Karma had been taken over by Amahl Farouk, an evil telepath who once fought professor Xavier to the death and lost...Wait, wait, I'll have the kids do the talking, they're awfully good at it...

"I have a plan. And you funnybunny, are the key! Consider it your chance to play the hero."

Funnybunny? Really? Following the masterplan of someone who talks like an eight year old girl just fills me with hope and confidence of a positive outcome. Still, Warlock agrees and they both teleport away to start planning the rescue of their teammates... They'd better hurry though...

"You are the strongest, most stubborn of my toys.
Your spirit must therefore be the first to be tamed."

Man, the mental humiliation shtick is getting pretty tiresome. For a change of pace, Karma temporarily releases Storm so she can speak her own mind for the last time. After Ororo is done yelling obscenities at Farouk, yes she knew who he was straight away, Kar/mahl confirms and reveals the suspicions about how he survived ánd what he has planned for revenge...

Yup, the real Karma is still alive, trapped inside her own body. And after he's done reconfiguring Ororo and the New Mutants, they'll unwittingly serve as Charles Xavier's executioners. He'll never see it coming. A brilliant plan, really... speaking of brilliant strategists...

"I don't want to end up like these mutants. So I accept."

Last time, we covered how Magik allied herself with Karma and now she wants to formalise their working relationship into a permanent partnership. Sealed with a handshake and a kiss. Only, Karma actually wanted to get close so she could possess Magik too. During their struggle, Illyana's light circles quietly teleport Storm and the other captives. How she can do that while fighting Karma? Simple... She's not exactly Illyana.

"Bismallah... You are not human!"

Not human? Look who's calling the pot a disembodied mental entity.

Magik's ruse worked like, erm, magic... and teleporting Karma's victims to Limbo freed them from her possession. Reunited, the team attacked their former teammate who tried to do the whole mind control thingie again...

"Look out, he's nabbed Rahne again"

Yeah, looks like... but when Dani Moonstar used her powers to scare Farouk with his biggest fears, she expected to see professor Xavier again, just like last time. Instead, she manifested an Vietnam war era American chopper raining bullets and death. Which meant one thing: Xi'an was in possession of her own body again. But where did Farouk go then?

Let the games begin...

"Our suspicions have just been confirmed... Farouk is masquerading as one of us. He struck down the child because he feared her wolfen instincts might detect him."

Yeah, that makes sense... Unless you actually stop and wonder why if he was so afraid of Rahne, he didn't hide in her... Instead, he took up residence inside Storm. Or did he?

"Come Farouk... face your slave. Instead of catching her by surprise when she was weak and wounded... let us see how formidable you truly are."

Dems fighting words, Xi'an... unfortunately, all those months imprisoned inside her own mind, had left Karma's mental self as bloated and ineffective as her physical form, as Farouk tried the same trick he did when he was inside her head: pacify Xi'an with all the extatic comfort she could wish for. And she almost gave in too, if not for Storm and the New Mutants who showed up... as bees.

 Yes... truly bee-zare.

In spite of all that, Xi'an finally realises her own innerstrength and breaks out of her self imposed shell in an actually inspiring sequence. Restored and ready to fight, Karma makes short work of Farouk, transfering all the mental bulk she shed to his form and sending him on his way. Shocked, Farouk fled and sought refuge once again on the astral plane.

All's well that ends well, right?

"I will not be his slave... better death than such a fate. Go, my friends... let the flames claim me."

Sheesh Karma, you're such a Debbie Downer sometimes... You just beat an aspect of the Shadow King... Mon dieu, that's reason enough to celebrate. Here, have a cookie, feel better. Or don't, cos, while her astral form shed the pounds, Karma's physical form was still morbidly obese after months of excessive indulgence in food and drink. Which is actually a nice way of showing the kids that victory doesn't necessarily include a happy end... or that there are no prices to be paid.

"You have all earned a rest... and I know the perfect place. An island in the Aegean called Kirinos. There, for a time, you can be happy"

The Karma Conundrum ends with Storm setting up the events of the X-men and New Mutants adventures in Asgard by taking them on a holiday to the Greek island of Kirinos...

And here's where we hit a bit of a snag in regard of Storm's presence in the story. As great a character she is, it becomes clear she's really just standing in for Charles Xavier. The Evil Karma storyline would have worked even better if Warlock had sought out the professor, after all he was the one Farouk was really after.

Ongoing storylines like the second Secret Wars and Charles' injuries after his mugging in Uncanny X-men most likely prevented the professor's presence. A shame, really... Having Illyana betray her mentor to Karma instead of Storm would have packed a real emotional gut punch. And heck, it becomes even more obvious Charles was meant to be there when Storm brought up Kirinos.

She'd never been there, it was Xavier who visited the island after returning from 'the war'. A fact he also revealed back in Uncanny X-men # 117. At the time, that war had to have been the 1950 - 1953 Korean conflict, but by the time New Mutants # 34 came out, it would have been Vietnam.

"I went a little crazy, then I became a nomad, bumming around the mediterranean. Eventually, I came to the isle of Kirinos. The people there needed my help... In return, they gave me the care and love I needed to burn the psychic poison out of my system."

It only makes sense that he'd take his traumatised students there, hoping Kirinos would do the same for them.

Let's see how that went...

"SEE what that devil Farouk has done to me! I am a freak... un monstre!"

... Looks like there's a lot more to do on the island than just burning psychic poison. 

Seducing Storm part I: Marilyn's got nothing on Munroe

Ever noticed how hot Storm is?

Chris Claremont certainly has. In many ways, Ororo Munroe can be described as Chris' dream woman... Not only is she a strong, independent individual... Ororo also makes it a point to fight naughty evildoers in skimpy black leather outfits held together by either a choker or a slave collar... That's enough to make any SM-enthusiast pant and wince with excitement.

An awful lot of X-men villains found Storm to be totally irresistible. It goes without saying she wasn't too happy about all that unwanted attention. Luckily for those spurned yet smitten supervillains, there's always mind control...

Wait, wait... Lets not jump the gun, even though after this two parter who wouldn't be temped to jump in front of one? Sit back and lets review the seductors of Storm, starting with this sweaty, Morocco Mole cosplaying charmer...

Storm caught the lusting super villain's eye pretty young in life. As a little girl on the streets of Cairo, she survived as a pickpocketing thief under the tutelage of Achmed El Gibar. Unbeknownst to her, Cairo's master thief had promised the young girl to the crimelord Amahl Farouk... who was little more than a host for the psychic monstrosity known as the Shadow King.

The King sensed Storm's mutant potential and intended to groom her. Yet, he wasn't able to make good on his plans after he accidentally got his host body killed when Amahl Farouk was foolish enough to challenge a visiting Charles Xavier to a fight on the astral plane.
For more on that, click here. 

Half a lifetime later, the Shadow King had just recently acquired a new host when he came across Storm, and wanted a second chance. He failed, of course... and would try again later in Joe Kelly's 1997 run on X-men when he'd pose as the African goddess Anansi. Oh, and for the record, the reason Storm looks so young is the result of a mind control heavy story featured here.

Being inherently evil isn't the only way to Storm's heart. Sometimes just being a monarch will do too, as Arkon the Imperion found out in 1981's Uncanny X-men annual. Arkon rules over Polemachus, an extra-dimensional world that derives its light and power from a series of orbital energy rings.

Unfortunately, these rings regularly tend to lose their charge. Whenever that happens Arkon comes to Earth looking for help. That is, if by 'looking for help' you mean forcibly taking what or whoever you want. In this case, he figured Storm's lightning could recharge the rings, but sparks flew and young love soon was a fact. No mind control here, though it'd be pretty hard to resist the ruler of an entire world who also has a pretty big... quiver... he just dangles there for everyone to see.

Speaking of half naked rulers of all they convey... When the X-men were in the Savage Land, Storm and the others were captured and subjected to mind control experiments. But only Ororo caught the eye of Brainchild, the leader of the Savage Land Mutates...

Despite his boorish behaviour, its hard to feel threatened by someone like Brainchild. So, lets move on to true villainy... Storm was even able to melt the armor clad heart of Doctor Doom.

While her fellow X-men were fighting for their very lives, Doctor Doom invited Storm to dinner and the two of them actually had a good time making googly eyes at one another... That is, until Doom felt it was time to earn his keep as a villain and a dastardly deed was called for...

You see, an added aspect to most of the flirts Storm enjoyed with the bad guys, involved them wanting not only her heart... cos that would have been too easy...  No, every single one of them made it a point to exclaim their desire for her heart, body and soul... forever!

In this case, Doom turns her into a living statue... not just to imprison her, but also to preserve her beauty for the ages. As far as torture goes, that actually sounds somewhat poetic. Still, all a statue does is take up space and look pretty and even the good doctor knows a talented woman like Storm is capable of doing much more than that... So he improvises...

Imprisoning the original and building a robot double to use as your houseslave? Hardly behaviour befitting a king. At least Storm's next baddie beau had more class and a straightforward approach...

Yup... that's Vlad 'Dracula' the Impaler alright... He was so taken with Storm that he decided to make her his bride. Making an African American woman the princess of darkness just seems wrong or at least slightly superfluous. Moving on...

The Brood?

Well, yes... Storm and her fellow X-men were selected by the Brood Queen herself to be hosts for her daughters, she personally implanted them with the embryo of a Brood princess. As a side effect of that implantation, the X-men spent a few cosy, slightly dazed days with what they thought were Shi'ar... It wasn't until Wolverine's healing factor broke the conditioning that it became clear the team was being kept on the Brood homeworld, waiting for the eggs to hatch.

So, a monarch wants Storm to be hers and uses mind control to achieve that goal? I'd say the Brood qualify...

The X-men finally managed to escape the Brood homeworld on board Lilandra's royal space cruiser Z'reee Shar. Wolverine was the only one who knew what was going on after having defeated his own Brood egg, Storm was second to realise something was wrong.

After discovering her infection, she took one of the Shar's shuttlecrafts and fled. In the vastness of space, she managed to become one with the universe itself (don't ask)... An act that burned the Brood egg to a crisp, but also destroyed the shuttle... seemingly condemning Storm to die. Yet, she turned up alive and sort of well by next issue...

"The Acanti and I... Are one."

Ah, yeah... this one's going to take some 'splainin'... The Acanti are a sentient race of massive, brown and pink space whales that the Brood have hunted for ages. But the young leader of the Acanti, the so called Prophet Singer, has managed to stay free which is the one piece of good news.

Unfortunately, its mother fell victim to the Brood which left her child virtually defenseless. Enter Storm: the Acanti encountered her dying form in space and decided to kill two birds with one proverbial stone by placing her inside the Acanti for safe keeping. This allowed her mind to act as a mothering influence to the child leader of his ancient race.

And to be fair, she never looked better doing it...

Next time, Seducing Storm part 2: Ororo gets a mohawk and the supervillains keep on keeping on.

The Bachelor: Shadow King Edition

Would you date this man?

The Shadow King has been portrayed in a variety of ways over the course of Chris Claremont's involvement with the character. Yet, all the King really wants is to love and be loved back. But finding romance can be tough, especially as he started out as a corpulent and sweaty, sitting in a Cairo cafe in Uncanny X-men #117...

The King as a fat, fez wearing Egyptian not really your type? Well, no worries... You see, Shadow King is actually a mental presence without a permanent physical body. He can hop bodies as he sees fit... So, if you like him to be a domineering woman, its his pleasure!

Well, of course she's a big girl... Hey, more to love, right?

Or maybe you prefer your dream man to be, well, a man.. A man who is less bloated,  slightly more caucasian and proves his manhood by growing a beard? Shadow King can manage that... And it makes all the ladies swoon and sob a little too...

Yet... all of these loves seem to involve a fair amount of mind control. Now, don't get me wrong, when you're a highly evolved disembodied telepathic presence, you'll find very little wrong with some old fashioned brain tampering, but... is that really how one finds Ms. Right?

No, of course not... And any ol' bachelor usually has his mind set on one particular gal. In this case, there's a certain mutant mama he's been gunning for all along...

Ah, no, no, sorry. Sure, Chris Claremont established that the Shadow King and Storm share a long history, going back to when she was a street urchin girl in Egypt... It seems her mentor Achmed Al Gibar promised the young Ororo to the King, but having a middle aged man force his will upon a minor just won't do.

In fact, its probably safe to say the Shadow King is spoken for. He knows who he really wants and it makes a lot of sense. He loves taking over minds, so who better to welcome as his Shadow Queen than Rogue, a woman who forcibly takes over another person's mind just by touching them.

Ahhh... Its the old story... Disembodied boy meets and mind controls power leeching girl and *BAM*, magic starts to happen.

Still, before anything substantial came out of this sensual seduction scene from Uncanny X-men # 278... Xavier and his X-men defeated the King.

But, wherever evil exists, the King lives...And he doesn't just forget about his love interest. This explains these scenes from X-treme X-Men annual 2001 when Rogue found herself face to face with the Shadow King again...

Ah yes... take the time to read this dialogue. Its Chris Claremont basically stating all that's been happening to Rogue over the past decade and a half is actually part of the Shadow King's plan. 

He wanted her by his side as his consort, the Shadow Queen, but she had to be properly groomed for that, so Shadow King influenced everyone around her... From the precog Destiny to Mystique, even Charles Xavier was unwittingly roped along so Rogue would become...

The Shadow Queen. Yet, Rogue declined his suggestion and broke free not long after that. So, if anyone out there wants to date a man who isn't too eager to let you escape his shadow... and will probably beat you severly if you dare eclipse his greatness... step right up.

... Ow Rihanna, what *ARE* you doing here, girl?

Shadow King's Shtick part 1: King Control

Shadow King.

If there's a single villain Chris Claremont created that served his penchant for mind control during his tenure as writer on Uncanny X-men, it has to be him.

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 had mysteriously disappeared . 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 actual 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 posing 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 one detective Reisz.

In that guise, he would plot one of most audacious (mind control) gambits yet. More on that next time!