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.

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?