The Land That Mind Control Never Forgot Part III: Savage Send Offs

The X-treme X-men are still in the Savage Land, which would explain why this particular four part mini series is called X-treme X-men: Savage Land.
Issue # 4 opens with the Black Bird landing in the village square, piloted by Bishop and Sage, and filled with the Saurid children believed lost when the plane crashed. Fortunately, Sage had been able to restore the plane's flight capabilities and now the X-men and Saurids were reunited once again. All seemed right in the world until the Savage Land Mutates attacked the village... led by Storm.

Luckily, there was still some additional mind control to be had...

Losing the spikes around her slave collar for some reason, Leash mind controlled Thunderbird, forcing him to kill Bishop... and while the future X-man did indeed seem to perish, trying to wound an energy absorbing mutant with plasma isn't exactly lethal.

In the end, Rogue took the fight to Brain Child himself who was more than ready for her...

Unfortunately, Brain Child was aware of Rogue's inner turmoil and used his powers to cause a shooting war inside her head between herself and everyone she ever took over. By the by, Rogue never imprinted comedienne Roseanne Barr but sheesh... the visual similarities between Roseanne and Rogue in this mini are striking...

Instead, Rogue literally had to fight everyone she ever touched, which made for an interesting splash panel to say the least...

While Rogue is busy struggling against her inner demons, Beast finally managed to break free from Lupa's mind control... right in time to save the helpless Rogue from the still feral and blood thirsty Storm who now acted as Brain Child's bodyguard. Rogue only managed to free herself when Storm throws Beast on top of her and she took over his form and abilities...

Speaking of people taking over other people... Let's see what the supervillain Leash is up to...

Leash had the misfortune of running into the X-men's mentat Sage... A cold and calculating woman who knew exactly what the mind controlling mutate was planning: win the day by forcing the captives in Brain Child's slave pens to help out. Still, Leash merely considered Sage a temporary inconvenience.

"Before Leash is even aware of what's happening her attack is reflected back on her. Instead of being the mistress... she finds herself the slave."

Leash was now under someone else's control and the sly Sage cleverly used her new slave to take over Brain Child, thus ending all the hostilities... However, the aftermath proved rather intense for Storm who remained in her feral form for quite some time afterwards. Luckily the Beast had some choice advice.

"And I have no answers. I wish to hell I did. I'm sorry."

That is some status quo shake up. Not only did Brain Child revert her to a murderous, savage state... he also  made it stick. Even when she regained control of her faculties, Storm still longed for the urges provided by the inner demon she had willingly embraced under Brain Child's thrall.

Yet, the final panels provided a hopeful message.

"But you're not alone in this, Ororo. We are FAMILY.
And with that on your side... EVERYTHING... becomes possible!"

Everything becomes possible indeed... such as Storm abruptly forgetting this mind and life altering event altogether when the X-treme X-men series continued. Hey, Henry *DID* say that éverything was possible.

Speaking of impossible dreams, this concludes the 150th Chris Claremont: Mind Control Central post. It's been a bumpy ride, but let's continue on to # 200 and see where it ends up... Should be fun!

The Land That Mind Control Never Forgot Part II: Savage Is The Controlled Mind

When we last left the X-treme X-men, they had travelled to the Savage Land along with a band of  American born reptile people who wanted to start a new life there. Unfortunately, the team ran into some old enemies as Brain Child and his Savage Land Mutates caused a cave in that crashed the X-men's Black Bird jet.

Brain Child decided to stir up conflict between the human settlers of the Savage Land and their Saurid neighbors, hoping to benefit from the ensuing war and grab control. But he wasn't above personal vendettas considering he kidnapped Storm to settle some old bets and use a little mind control to boot.

Storm was valiant and defiant as always, but Brain Child's promise to have her betray everything she ever cherished in favor of loving the passion and cruelty of murder wasn't exactly an empty one... Just look what being subjected to the primeval genius' experiments can do to you...

"There will be MURDER. There will be WAR! Thanks to my emissary... Storm!"

Yup, in a move reminiscent of his first run in with the X-men back in 1982's Marvel Fanfare, Brain Child had used his machinery to devolve the X-men's leader to a more primal, bloodthirsty warrior version of herself. Dressed in war paint, with claws and featers for hair... the pierced Storm was now evil and that means dressing up in black leather and wearing a slave collar... 

But, bless her for trying, she still tried to resist her reprogramming...

"That's my girl!"

Some of the other X-men had been captured by Brain Child as well. But they had to deal with his female operatives, both capable of controlling minds and binding people to their wills. Here's why Leash is called Leash...  

Unfortunately, Rogue's powers made it impossible for Leash to control her. A shame... But for those of you rereading the arc, it's never explained how Rogue became a prisoner of Brain Child by issue 3 of the mini, let alone how she esacped captivity. A couple of pages after Leash's failed attempt at mind controlling her, she just shows up at the village the other X-men have been staying at without mentioning what just happened to her. Weird.

Still, doesn't it look like she borrowed some of her clothes to Brain Child when he he needed a new outfit for the devolved Storm? Speaking of primal girls in skimpy clothes, the second sexy slaver is the lupine woman called Lupa, who revealed herself to be working for the evil mastermind as well....

 "If these X-men are so great a threat why not kill them? There are four of them within our walls."

Say what? There's Storm and for some reason Rogue, but who are the other two? Bishop and Sage remain with the Saurid kids inside the crashed Blackbird, trying to get the plane operational... While Thunderbird and Beast are in the village, so that's everyone accounted for, right?

And just how Lupa manages to leave and return to the village undetected... not to mention in time to join the X-men and the human warriors in a final battle against the Saurids isn't revealed. She's just there... Shoddy writing at its worst.

Speaking of shoddy, the eventual confrontation between human and saurid warriors is tepid at best. There's a few nice panels with velociraptors tearing into whatever moves, but in the end Rogue forces both parties to settle their differences and make peace. She even has them shake on it. 

That concludes issue # 3, so with one more 22 page fun filled fest to go, let's see how all of this is wrapped up in the third and final part of The Land That Mind Control Never Forgot: Savage Send Offs
 

The Land That Mind Control Never Forgot Part I: Welcome Back To The Jungle

Back in 2002, Chris Claremont wrote a four part X-treme X-men miniseries in which the team travelled to the Savage Land to check out just why Rogue was having horrible nightmares about the team turning into ferocious dinosaurs. Believing it to be a vision and a psychic request from some unknown source, Rogue managed to persuade team leader Storm to get to the bottom of this.

However, Rogue's teammate Bishop didn't buy into this theory of psychic requests...

A valid point, Rogue *had* been a bit of a mess in those days. With her absorption powers gone haywire, she manifested the powersets of everyone she had ever touched. What if the personality of the bad guys she had taken over would suddenly reemerge and take control of her mind? Luckily, Rogue's visions were genuine as the X-men find the source of the psychic messages...

Actually, this band of intelligent dinosaurs doesn't come out of left field (well, not entirely). Delving into late 70s (!) continuity, Claremont reintroduces the Saurids... A tribe of sentient, super powered reptiles who used to live a sheltered, underground life in the American south west before Ms. Marvel ran across them in her Claremont penned solo series.

Ms. Marvel was only allowed to leave their nest alive after promising to keep the Saurids' existence a secret. It makes sense that Rogue, who still had all of Ms. Marvel's memories and powers at the time, was susceptible to the Saurid's psychic summons.

Turns out they need help: their old nest is no longer safe and the tribe wants to relocate to the Savage Land where they expect to be free from both prosecution and prying eyes. The X-men agree to take them there...However, their entrance into the Savage Land is hindered when Brain Child of the Savage Land Mutates triggers a rock slide that crashes the X-men's Blackbird jet. He gleefully picks up the prize for his handiwork...

While Storm is taken prisoner, the other X-men eventually wake up to find themselves in one of the human settlements that dot the Savage Land. Neophyte member Thunderbird (Neil Shaara) tries to reach out to founding member Henry McCoy for guidance, but the Beast appears to be... occupied...

The lupine woman calling herself Lupa shares an instant attraction with Hank... but as it turns out, that's just the way she'd planned it...

"Drink deeply as the intoxicating scent of the blood lotus combines with my own pheromones... to bind...you to my will FOREVER!"

Now surely, that might just as well be more of that typical hyperbole villains tend to spout. This leather cladvixen is undoubtedly little more than all talk, right?

Or maybe not...

So, how is Storm holding up through all this?

Kudos to Claremont for picking up on the storyline he set up two decades earlier when Brainchild captured Storm for the first time and made similar... promises....

With at least two of their own not in their right minds, the X-treme team seemed to be in way in over their heads, mind controlled or otherwise. The resolution to this four part miniseries will reveal all, so check back for The Land That Mind Control Never Forgot Part II: Savage Is The Controlled Mind

God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills part III: Mind Control Is The Opiate Of The People

In the third and final part of God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills, the mysteries surrounding Mount Haven are finally answered. Just why is the mutant hating reverend William Stryker after the inhabitants of this mountain town? How come Bishop and Shadowcat are the only two X-men who seem impervious to whatever is mind controlling everyone else and just what is the deal with minister Paul? Let's dive in...

                              

Issue # 29 opens with Lady Deathstrike standing triumphant over the unconscious body of her archenemy Wolverine. However, because her body is being controlled, lady Yuriko Oyama is unable to fully appreciate this victory...

Not that she would have had too much time to enjoy his death, because Logan's fellow X-man Cannonball races to the rescue... the sounds of which can be heard in Mount Haven, serving as a bit of a wake up call for the mind controlled Storm... However, the equally addled Sage tries to win her back...

Ah yes, when all else fails and the violent weather mirrors Storm's subconscious fighting back... Dial 'S' for either Sage or Sappho....the mind controlled mentat needed the X-treme X-men's team leader back in the game. After all, Bishop was still on the loose... So Sage resorted to this here.

Storm's near lesbian encounter had no effect on that cheerful, mindless grin on her face. In fact, it seemed prevalent in Mount Haven... all courtesy of minister Paul, as Kitty Pryde finds out in the labyrinth like catacombs of the city. 

Kitty finally realises Mount Haven's dirty secret. The place didn't exactly start out as a haven for mutants... quite the opposite in fact. The town was home to one of the largest mutant detention and research facilities in the country...Aaron Pankow, the convicted mass murderer William Ryker went to see in the opening issue of this arc, worked there and told the reverend about the atrocities in Mount Haven, causing Stryker to start up his crusade once again.

Long story short... Stryker has figured out just who minister Paul really is. Mount Haven did indeed house a government sponsored mutant R&D facility, outfitted with a top notch sentient computer system capable of sentient reasoning. During the many hours of supervising and facilitating horrific experiments on captured mutants, the 'innocent' A.I. started to see right from wrong and decided to take action. 

Taking over the form of one of the tortured mutants, Haven's A.I. used his body to reinvented itself as minister Paul. Soon, it figured out a way to protect everyone who wasn't a mutant, by unleashing swarms of nigh undetectable nannites into the air that infected everyone in town. Paul slowly killed every human within the city limits. This meant death came as an unexpected surprise to the general population and it also explained just why there were no adults, only mutant offspring running around carefree (and mind controlled). 

An apalled Stryker finally carried out his mission when he pushed Shadowcat into minister Paul. Her innate phasing abilities immediately short circuit whatever electronics they encounter... Not only did this ability make her impervious to the nannites, it also explained why the healer Cybil died after Kitty accidentally phased through here...

In this case, Kitty's phasing caused the computer controlling Paul to suffer the equivalent of a grand mal seizure, shutting down all the nannites in Mount Haven at once... Often with lethal results as Bishop discovered...

Yes, the entire town had been infected with the nannites that slowly turned their bodies into cybernetic organisms designed to be controlled by the not quite human cybernetic intelligence housing in minister Paul. When he short circuited, his followers paid the price... Only the most recent of arrivals lived to tell the tale.

In the end, Bishop was instrumental in ensuring all the X-men, including Cannonball, recovered from their bout with cybernetic mind control. In case you were wondering why Bishop wasn't infected himself... the answer is painfully obvious: coming from a future where cybernetic infestation is as common as chicken pox, Bishop was inocculated against nannites as a kid. A rather simple and effective deus ex machina... Speaking of machines of god...

'Paul' was left in a state of existential crisis. The only reason the evolved computer system did what it did was a rather silly misunderstanding. It believed the only real human beings were the ones showing 'the spark', actually meaning the energy flare indicative of mutagenic potential. Baseline human being were considered to be little more than vermin to be eradicated... after all, anything to protect the 'real human beings'.

The reverend Stryker offered a stunningly selfless solution for this dilemma...

Yup, here we have the mutant hating man of God, wearing a slave collar, freely sacrificing his life to keep a newly formed cybernetic intelligence in check. It's really one for the history books, if only future writers would have left the reverend alone...

Despite heavily relying on mind control, God Loves Man Kills II is a remarkable story that mirrors the original graphic novel in having William Stryker starting out as a protector of humanity, but eventually merging with a mechanized man hunter to safeguard both man ánd mutantkind in the process... It's a rare case of perfect symmetry and a worthy send off for the character of the reverend William Stryker. His story arc had reached a natural climax... what else could be done?

... *sigh*... Yeah, instead of leaving a powerful and unique character alone, granting him the story arc his creator had intended, you could of course turn the reverend Stryker into a platitudes spouting hate filled bigot stereotype, literally armed with a piece of the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod. Y'know, for shits and giggles...

"Oh heavenly father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those indebted to us" ... indeed. Thankfully, the X-men weren't too bothered with all of that after their experiences in Mount Haven.

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 Still Kills part I: Here we go again...

Back in the early 00's, Marvel celebrated its initial successes at the box office thanks to the first Spider-Man and X-men movies.

2003 brought Ang Lee's Hulk and more importantly X-2, heavily based on Chris Claremont's fan favorite God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel from 1982. While the movie version of William Stryker was a military commander instead of a reverend, the powers that were at Marvel still felt the movie should warrant a comics tie in. Ahhh, synergy... It truly is a wonderful thing.

Naturally the task to write this tie in fell on Chris Claremont, who came up with the six part God Loves, Man Kills II that played out in the pages of X-treme X-men, starting with issue # 25. Naturally, the reverend William Stryker had a starring role. However, which version of Stryker? Claremont's 1982 original...

Or someone more like actor Brian Cox, from the actual movie Marvel's marketeers were trying to plug?

Oh, you guessed it... right down to the goatee...

So what had Stryker been up to since he got sent to prison after killing a woman on live tv? Well, he's still in prison, where he's being treated as a celebrity of sorts.Not every inmate gets a private jet to take him back to his prison cell after hearing serial killer Aaron Pankow's confession. Something is up with Stryker and Sage is all over the case. Hey, she *IS* the X-men's mentat after all...

At first, the X-men don't consider Sage's Stryker newsflash too important... but the reverend's travel plans soon take a turn for the worse as an old foe of the X-men manages to worm her way aboard his jet.

Yuriko Oyama, Lady Deathstrike for her enemies, featured heavily in the X-2 movie. So it only makes (commercial) sense she would have to appear here as an ally of Stryker's as well, in spite of any previously established continuity between the two of them. Rescuing the reverend by killing his captors and crashing the plane, she also manages to place the blame like a pro...

So, the X-men have been accussed of downing a plane and causing the death of at least half a dozen people. Of course we know it's a lie, but why would the team even consider getting close to the scene of the crime?

After all, apart from the old 'guilty by association' line, contaminating the crime scene with their presence and finger prints would only work to incriminate them further... Yet, the X-men travel to the site of the crash where Wolverine realises that the corpses in the wreckage died from very familiar stab wounds. But before he could share his findings, the team was attacked by para military troops who appeared ready for them.

Meanwhile the reverend Stryker and Lady Deathstrike are in Chicago's The Belles of Hell bar to see an X-man who didn't want to be an X-man anymore...

"Yes, Deathstrike. She is PERFECT."

Stryker needed Kitty for his latest mission, but rather than asking for her help he tried to mind control her in the opening pages of X-Treme X-men # 26, which subjected Kitty to a plethora of alternate identities who tried to undermine her sense of self, in hopes of making her vulnerable to the reverend's subliminal recruitment message. 

Luckily, his slick sales pitch was undermined by an aspect of Kitty's mind, taking the form of her best friend Illyana Rasputin. Kitty cast the reverend out, leaving both Stryker and his team of mind control specialists baffled. She really should have succumbed to the procedure, yet her phasing powers made it impossible for the mind control techs to fully map her brain patterns.

Annoyed, Stryker asked Lady Deathstrike to use her impressive cybernetic abilities to check in on the surveillance team in Mount Haven, the location where this mission of his is supposed to go down...

You gotta love Lady Deathstrike's, in retrospect, low tech approach to surfing... Forget wifi, best way to go online is by shifting your fingers into com ports and dialing in. Still, despite the slow dial up, she made contact with the surveillance team...

Discovering their demise, she was confronted by the mysterious presence responsible for all the mayhem.. but managed to sign off before he could affect her. Or did she? 

Shocked to learn Deathstrike was being used as an unwilling assassin, Stryker ordered his followers to protect him, causing them to serve as little more than cannon fodder while he raced towards the cell of a  rather strung out Kitty Pryde. Revealing a metal slave collar around his neck, Stryker slapped one on Kitty too just as Deathstrike barged in for the kill.

Activating the collars, Stryker and Kitty manifested adamantium laced armor while waiting for the mind controlled Deathstrike to catch up. Just as Stryker used Kitty's phasing abilities to move to freedom, Lady Deathstrike was left alone with a rather chilling realisation...

The game was afoot as we'll see in the second part of God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills: Haven Knows I Tried To Control You!