The Karma Conundrum part I: Xi'Ain't Coy About Mind Control...

Every comic book writer has a signature storyline that defines their run on a title. The Masters of Evil invading Avengers mansion was probably the hallmark of Roger Stern's Avengers. Frank Miller's greatest Daredevil tale is arguably 1986's Born Again... and when it comes to New Mutants, Chris Claremont had the Karma Conundrum, better known as  # 29 - 34.

And, this being a Claremont comic, it involved a truckload of mind control.

For those of you not in the know... 'Karma' was actually the former Vietnamese boat refugee Xi'an Coy Manh... An original Claremont creation first appearing in 1980's Marvel Team Up # 100 in which she used her mind control powers to keep both Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four at bay. At the end of that particular issue, she was relegated to Charles Xavier where this initially one-off character became a charter member of the New Mutants.

But Karma wasn't exactly a mainstay of the team... Back in New Mutants # 6, right in the middle of the New Mutants' fight against Viper and the Silver Samurai, she was shocked and surprised when professor Xavier's mental manifestation changed into something intent on consuming her.

"Xi'an Coy Manh... I have come to claim you... body and soul... forever!"

And so it did... Possessed, Karma seemingly perished when she dropped into the ocean along with most of Viper's cliffside headquarters. The team searched for several days, but in the end professor Xavier declared Xi'an dead and ordered the team home. That was # 6, and close to two years no one gave Karma a second thought... until New Mutants # 29 hit the stands.

"Alert the Gladiators. We have most special guests. I want them given a show they will never forget. It will end with their joining us!"

Confused yet? Don't be... the Gladiators mentioned by the shadowy figure, are a band of super powered (mutant)creatures who make a living competing against one another in bloodsport type arena combat. Dazzler and Henry 'the Beast' McCoy first encountered this modern day 'blood and circuses' enterprise back the Beauty & The Beast miniseries. But the arena had obvious ties with the Hellfire Club, as this scene from New Mutants # 28 proves...

"I only wish I could be there to see them slaughter each other in your arena."

Here we have disgraced Hellion Empath messing with the New Mutants by bringing both Sunspot and Magma to the attention of the Arena. When professor Xavier was over on Muir Island dealing with his son Legion, Roberto and Amara were kidnapped by Arena henchmen... This had the remaining New Mutants all up in arms in # 29, with a little help from Dazzler.

Unfortunately for continuity, Secret Wars II literally broke in when Magneto lifted the dome off the arena and gathered the New Mutants so they could appear in the crossover to fight the Beyonder. Sunspot and Magma were blackmailed to stay behind, which gave the others something to do once their obligatory crossover involvement was done.

The unlikely team of Cannonball, Dazzler, Kitty Pryde, Magik and Rachel Grey were off to rescue them. Now what does all this have to do with a deceased New Mutant? Well, the Arena was run by a man called Alexander Flynn who claimed he was Doctor Doom's bastard son. But he wasn't exactly in charge any more, as Kitty Pryde found out when she was mind controlled, stuffed inside a giant medieval killer robot (yes, I know) and forced to fight the New Mutants in the arena...

God, you gotta love comics from the days of the Comics Code Authority... An institution that insisted giant red skulled killer robot savages had to cover their genitals, so put him in a metal loincloth already...

"The X-man is proving surprisingly stubborn... possessed as she is... totally under my mental control... she still resists! Charles Xavier, rot his soul, taught her well."

Yeah, that doesn't exactly look like Doctor Doom's son, bastard or otherwise. And what's with the possession? That was never his shtick... Still, he was nowhere near done...

"Ali's voice... but fatso's thoughts and words. She's possessed like I was..."

Yes, Dazzler gets herself mind controlled and in an added twist, her new owner uses Ali's light powers to hypnotise everyone who looks at her. Kitty is smart enough to look away, but...

"Regrettably, sweet Rachel... 

your own psionic abilities make you much more vulnerable to mine."

So in the space of two pages we have five mind control victims... High time for the big reveal, just who is this mind controlling master villain? Can you guess who it is? That's right, nót Alexander Flynn.

"Karma betrayed her best friends... she's trying to kill them...
 just like I did to Wolverine when I was possessed."

You'd think the team would be able to handle one corpulent woman, but Karma forced her harem of slaves and attendants to put knives to their throat, ready to kill themselves if she wasn't allowed to board her plane. So the New Mutants begrudginly watch her take off, swearing to bring their former teammate in. 

But more on that in part two of The Karma Conundrum: Mind Controlling in Madripoor

Remember When The Old Mutants Mindcontrolled The New Ones?

Today's entry is straight from Claremont's latter days on New Mutants...

Back in # 47, Illyana tried to teleport the team back home... Unfortunately, her control over time and space was sometimes questionable at best. That's why the New Mutants got seperated and lost in space/time, ending up in very different alternate future realities. Issue # 48 saw Karma, Wolfsbane, Sunspot and Magma trying to survive in a Days Of Future Past style future, while # 49 featured the remaining members of the team stranded in a future where mutants were the ruling class.

However, that also meant humans were being repressed and that didn't sit well with Moonstar especially. That's why she and Cannonball try to steal some medicine from the mutant part of twon to give it to the needy in the human slums. Kinda like a post modern alternate future Robin Hood.

"That's right... everyone who isn't wearing a slavetag!"

Oh, that's right... the humans weren't just being treated as second class citizens, they were actively being targeted and enslaved. In fact, they were little more than breeding stock for future mutants. And as soon as a child showed any significant mutant potential, it was 'culled'. A clean way of describing this...

"I don't want your blood money! Give me back my children!"

Cannonball and the others engage the soldiers and manage to chase them away. Apparently, they had been stranded in this future for quite a while by the time the issue starts. They know all about the social injustice and the other crimes committed against humanity. They even meet Katie Power, formerly of Power Pack but now an old woman still trying to fight the good fight. But what they don't know, is who is running this utopia for mutants...

 Long story short... the couple behind the table are elder versions of Magma and Sunspot. In this future, Magneto had allied the X-men and the New Mutants with the innercircle of the Hellfire Club. As the years passed, the influence of the lords cardinal grew and Sunspot and Magma took their rightful place as ruler of the club ánd the new mutant utopia.

Upon seeing the younger versions of their long dead former teammates, the elder Roberto and Amara realise the threat they could potentially form against their new world order. That's why they personally accompany the combat units assigned to take the New Mutants in.

"'Lock... quick... while we're masked by the flames... Merge your body with mine!"

And while Warlock and Cypher... merge... the elder Magma and Sunspot prove that all those years enslaving mankind hasn't dulled their combat skills one bit. Boy, that Xavier sure knows how to teach...

The New Mutants are forced to surrender and taken prisoner. But even in captivity, they manage to cause so much trouble that future Sunspot decides they are in sore need of a... different point of view.

"This may seem a horrible fate... but you'll feel much better when it's done.
In fact, I guarantee you'll thank me for it."

Ahhh, yeah... blatant mind control of people from the past, with no regard for the possible repercussions to the timeline should they ever return to their own time. Roberto the elder is clearly evil, and artist Bret Blevins sure draws him that way. 

'Evil future Roberto' looks a whole lot less menacing when Jackson Guice draws him in # 50. Not that the New Mutants have the energy or the free will to notice the change. While waiting for their mind control sessions, they realise they're already being subjected to an entirely different type of mental meddling.

"Some sort of hypnotic field, chief. The room itself is soothing us, calming us down, 

putting us in the mood to accept our fate."

Yeah... So they were more than ready to hear Magma and Sunspot's sales pitch on the whole 'let us destroy every single thing that makes you you in favor of our idea of utopia'... 

"This re-education process will show you the whole picture. Teach you what every child here learns from birth... so you'll accept us for what we are.
You'll fit in. You'll be happy."

Fortunately for the New Mutants, the Old Mutants were startled by the arrival of their really old mentor Charles Xavier... They got there with a little help from Illyana Rasputin who'd managed to locate Charles, Lilandra and the Starjammers earlier that same issue. 

They really were only supposed to find and rescue the New Mutants, but Charles couldn't help himself and verbally slapped Evil Future Roberto around a little...

"An honest belief. That is clear in your thoughts.
Therein lies the tragedy of your life... and this future... Farewell."

Oooooh snap! So remember kids, stay in school, don't do drugs and don't become mind controlling future despots... Excelsior!

1991: A Great Year For Myriad Mind Control

Not too long ago, Not Blog X reviewed one of my absolute favorite X-men issues of yesteryear: Uncanny X-men # 273. In today's entry, we will also cover this comic, focussing on the multiple, mostly unrelated, mind control elements at play within these pages.

Call it an homage

A little background info: this is the first issue after the massive X-Tinction Agenda crossover. X-Tinction (re)united the X-men and saw them fighting alongside X-Factor and Cable's New Mutants against Cameron Hodge and his Genoshan cronies. After defeating Hodge, the three teams returned home to figure out their next move.

As Not Blog X-writer G. Kendall pointed out in his review, this is actually one of the first 'down time after a big crossover' issue in the X-franchise. A moment to catch your breath, take stock and set out in new, exciting directions. For my money, Claremont first told that type of story right after Inferno when he had the X-men and women enjoy some time off back in Uncanny X-men # 244 & 245.

But in # 273, all three teams enjoyed some time off together. And most of their shared interludes involved mind control in one form or another...

The issue opened with Storm, Cable, Cyclops and Jean reviewing their many enemies. It's quite the list...

Ever the soldier, Cable proposed to take them all out methodically, essentially turning the X-men into a squad of mercenaries under his command. Disgusted, Storm and Cyclops refused his offer to turn the team into an army (... how times change). But Cable's rant did spark a little concern within Storm who wondered if both X-Factor and the X-men hadn't outlasted their usefulness.

"Are we fit caretakers for longer, for Xavier's school and his dream? Or has the time come to turn that role over to others.. as it was handed first from him to you and you to us?"

And to think Ororo doesn't even recall yet how Kid Vulcan, Petra, Sway and Darwin all but died as the not-quite-so fantastic fill in X-men serving in that brief interval between the original and Storm's team.

The answer to Storm's question just sort of hangs there though, like the black cloud she generated. After the confrontation with Cable about the future of the team, the issue gradually focused on several ongoing plot points... Like Banshee finally being able to contact his lady love Moira MacTaggert to inform he hadn't in fact perished when the Reavers (remember them from the global threat map?) blew up his plane.

Unfortunately, Moira wasn't exactly the way Sean Cassidy remembered her to be.

"What has happened to her?! It's as though the fiercest highlander side of  her nature has overwhelmed all her gentler aspects."

Unbeknownst to Banshee, Moira and the other people on Muir Island had fallen under the subtle influence of the Shadow King. The ever present malevolent psychic entity had been working from the shadows for months, trying to form a viable power base.

Not only operating from Muir, but also taking over another physical form, one detective Jacob Reisz. As Reisz, the King chased after Storm and Gambit, even taking a Shadow Queen in the process. But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

While Banshee struggled with how Moira had changed, elsewhere in the X-men's basement Forge and Beast pondered a somewhat similar problem...

"The more time passes... the more that genetic lock sets...
until it becomes permanent and unbreakable."

The two genius level mutants are talking about Rahne Sinclair. Back on Genosha, she was turned into a mutate which meant she not only lost all her hair, but also became a willing slave thing, blindly following the commands of the Magistrates...

But in her case, the genetic reprogramming harbored an additional, cruel twist. It also made mutate Rahne fall madly in love with Alex Summers, who had been reincarnated as a magistrate (long story). this provided a second layer of mind control: she wasn't just resequenced to obey a uniform, she was also bound to someone... body and soul.... Who didn't even remotely feel the same way about her. And what's even worse: the longer it remained untreated, the harder it will be to remove.

Ah well, no rush...

Let's move to another X-man who only recently recovered from excessive mental tampering...

"The Hand used magic as well as medicine to do the job.
Even Forge can't puzzle out quite how."

Y'know, for an alleged mutant miracle worker, Forge sure can be a bit of a let down sometimes. He was unable to figure out a cure to Rahne's mutation and now he's clueless on the subject of Psylocke's transformation... all the while, Betsy herself is openly wondering if she might not still be serving the Hand in some way.

She shared all this with Jean Grey, surprisingly enough...a woman she only met once, rather briefly, during Inferno. 

Yet here they are, conversing like long lost friends while one takes a shower and the other watches. No implied subtext there whatsoever. Ow, grow up... After her talk with Psylocke, and still mulling over the things Cable said earlier, Jean found herself in the Cerebro room.

And even though she'd lost her telepathy over in X-Factor, she still donned the mutant scanning apparatus hoping to trace the missing X-men on the astral plane.

"Cerebro. Essentially, a psychic scanning system, keyed specifically to my brainwaves... 

and yours, Jean... Designed to amplify your latent psi-potential."

In the years that followed, Kitty Pryde had redesigned Cerebro so even non-telepaths could use it to track their fellow mutants, albeit with significantly more trouble and headache. But apparently, even though she was presumed dead at the time, the Cerebro system was still keyed to Jean's brainwaves and off she went on to the astral plane.

 However, she discovered a bit more than she bargained for.

 "As I was, as I am... As I might yet become! An infinity of aspects...
But always the Shadow King."

 Oh Lord, not this creep again...

"Does this hurt? Don't worry. You'll soon come to love it."

The King does make a good point. After Xavier went into space back in # 200, they didn't give the astral plane so much as a second look. Psylocke used it once or twice during the Morlock massacre and Magneto put on the helmet on occassion, but it had been long since a proper telepath explored the astral plane or even updated Cerebro's protocols, allowing the Shadow King to grow more powerful and even bring allies like Lian, his Shadow Queen...

"Embrace my Shadow Queen, Grey. Be ONE with me."

Luckily, Jean had allies too. Psylocke used her psychic knife to literally cut her out off the astral plane, beyond the Shadow King's reach. So, another threat to add to the big board, eh? Well, kinda.

'Who was it that attacked you?"

In a bit of a convenient cop out, Psylocke's psi-knife messed up Jean's memories of the incident. She has no idea it was the Shadow King, even though Psylocke was in earshot when Lian called herself the Shadow Queen, so assuming the big monster might be the Shadow... King... wouldn't be the biggest stretch. For now, all they knew that there was 'something' wrong on the astral plane...

"There be dragons"

Still, the point is moot, because the issue closes with the X-men getting kidnapped by Lila Cheney to the Shi'ar empire where they'd fight an evil, mind controlling Charles Xavier for a couple of issues before realising in # 278 he was actually a disguised Warskrull. We all covered it here.

Point is: within minutes of being rescued, Charles (still naked and covered in Skrull bio-gunk) became aware of the Shadow King when Banshee mentioned Moira's odd behaviour and Storm started infodumping, trying to cover the events of the past 75+ issues in a single panel.

"By the eternal... the Shadow King!"

So, how's that for keeping the story moving forward? When you least expect it, Chris Claremont neatly weaves multiple plotpoints from # 273's 'downtime' issue into a single, mind control heavy thread as professor Xavier returns home to deal with the Shadow King once and for all.

... And oh yeah, isn't that Jim Lee art fan-f-ckin' gorgeous? 

Brand New Brood Control part III: It's Not Just The Power Of Christ That Can Compel You...

The Brood saga ended in Uncanny X-men # 234, a comic with a cover so shockingly disturbing to kids, yours truly couldn't bear to look at it without getting nightmares... Well done, Marc Silvestri.

The X-men had been fighting medic Harry Palmer, who had accidentally been infected by the Brood. By the time the team tracked him down, Harry had implanted several mutants with Brood eggs as well, which made dealing with this particular Brood incursion a bit more of a challenge.

After their initial encounter, the X-men had lost both Psylocke and Rogue to the Brood, while Wolverine had been implanted with a Brood embryo. So things weren't looking too hot for the team when the fight moved to the scene of a giant outdoor church event led by reverend William Conover. For once, a religious figure who isn't against mutants.

In fact, he's more concerned with his wife Hannah's chronic rheumatic arthritis.

"If you'll let me... I've something that can fix that"

By the way, that paramedic offering to help Hannah Conover is Josey, colleague and partner to Harry 'Brood Embryos For Everyone!' Palmer... What a coincidence! Guess it *is* a small world after all, right? Speaking of the Brood, let's check in on Temptress, a pheromone fuelled mind controller who managed to snatch both Rogue and Wolverine.

"With each breath, my pheromones bind your will more tightly to the Brood. And soon, after Harry's implanted an egg in you...same as he did with Wolverine... you'll be one of us in flesh, as well as spirit."

After a sales pitch like that, all Rogue can say is: "Ohboyoboy! Ah can hardly wait". Unfortunately for her, Wolverine's metamorphosis was being hindered by his healing factor, just like it had during the previous Brood arc.

Incensed after watching him kill Temptress, a still clouded Rogue threw Wolverine to the ground and raced back to Harry Palmer and the others, who were trying to get away from the other X-men by car. But Storm, Colossus and the others put a stop to that. finally caught up with them.

"Brood got plans for you, Storm... You're gonna host the Queen's egg! An' it's my duty... my pleasure, sweetheart... to see those plans fulfilled!"

Luckily for Storm, she was saved by a well timed laserblast, courtesy of Dazzler. The Brood escaped by foot, heading towards the religious convention led by reverend Conover... Who was already entertaining a most unexpected guest...

"Poor fella must mean drugs."

Yeah, that's a nasty dose of MGH, to be sure. Usually, Logan's healing factor would have gotten rid of the egg with some effort. But Wolverine suffered additional severe injuries from his involuntary sky diving without a parachute incident. This meant his powers had trouble keeping up, allowing the rapidly maturing Brood embryo to gain the upperhand. But the reverend kept on praying...

 His voice and manner... as different, as changed as his body! The "demon"... it's real!"

At the last possible moment, Wolverine's healing powers come through and destroy the embryo. But it's not like Logan can rest easy. Contrary to what the reverend promises... the danger's far from past. Harry and the Brood arrive, almost strangling Conover before the X-men manage to kill most of them.

Yes... Kill. For once, the team has adopted a zero tolerance policy. Not a single Brood may survive, or Earth is doomed. That's why sweet, innocent souls like Colossus and Havok slay Brood left and right, until only Harry remains. And he's got a hostage: Hannah Conover.

Luckily, Wolverine's just about done with all of Harry's nonsense... He crawls underneath the podium the Brood is standing on and pulls a surprise move, before pulling a not too surprising move...

"You don't understand, bub... Harry Palmer died a long time ago.
Now, at last, he'll have a chance to rest in peace...."

 *SNIKT*

With Harry Palmer's death, the last of the Earth born Brood have been dealt with. For once, the X-men can enjoy a nice, clean victory that in no way will come back to haunt them somewhere down the road. Heck, even reverend Conover and his wife have extra reason to celebrate...

"Your hands!?! They can move again, are they healed?!!"

...

A woman finding herself spontaneously cured of debilitating, chronic arthritis? Surely, this miracle must be an act of divine intervention... Or, well...erm, wait, remember how Brood embryos are able to boost their host's immune system so they're in perfect health by the time they take over?

And wasn't nurse Josey riding around with Brood host Harry for lord knows how many weeks?

... Crap on a cracker. 

Brand New Brood Control part II: Temptress *IS* A Harsh Mistress...

The Brood are back, baby... And we all know what that means...

A few months ago a lone Brood Queen crashlanded her space shark on Earth, snacked on some unlucky campers and infected medic Harry Palmer with a royal embryo. The Queen herself conveniently enough vanished into thin air, but Harry set out to recruit new soldiers for the cause... And what better hosts than mutants? By the time the X-men caught up with Harry, he had gathered quite the, erm, brood.

"Breathe deep, Storm! Flood your system with my pheromones."

But Harry had chosen his mutant brood wisely. Brickbat's strength rivalled that of Colossus, Tension could choke the life out of everyone from a safe distance and of course, there was Temptress, the mind controller...

"Don't you feel better now, dear? Don't you just adore me?
Won't you do simply anything I ask... to make me happy?"

Storm managed to get away before she was completely under Temptress' pheromone control. Unfortunately for her, one of the Brood spawned wings, announcing his name was Divebomber and went after the windrider. After all, Harry planned to have her carry a brood queen embryo.

Meanwhile, Temptress had to deal with Rogue... Who on second thought might not have been the best X-man to take her on.

"Can't help myself. Ah'm absorbin' Temptress's power.. an' psyche. Which seems to have overwhelmed your own, Rogue."

Ignoring the fact that even with Rogue out of commission, Carol Danvers was still inside her head at the time... Temptress effortlessly uses her powers in her new skunk haired body to mind control Psylocke. And together, they take on Wolverine...

 "The perfect one-two, my sweet. I telepathically seize your mind...
while my temptress pheromones make you worship me."

After a brief struggle, Wolverine finally gives in and is knocked out... which left him vulnerable to what we all knew was coming...

"And you know, X-man... what happens next!"

Before he could implant eggs in Rogue and Psylocke, the remaining X-men rallied their forces and Harry decided to play it safe, calling for a strategic retreat.

"Protect Temptress and Wolverine... with your lives!"

And so they did... Harry, Psylocke and the other Brood ran to the nearest getaway car, while Rogue picked up Temptress and Wolverine and flew off, straight into the third part of Brand New Brood Control: It's Not Just the Power Of Christ That Can Compel You...

Brand New Brood Control part I: Guess Who's Back?

 The BROOD is back!"

If you'll allow me to borrow a line from Stephen King: "Sometimes... they *do* come back."

'They' being the Brood, the massively popular alien race that almost turned the X-men into host bodies for their new queens back in 1982. Chris Claremont had refrained from bringing them back too quickly, finally giving in to popular demand with a three parter in 1987 that felt more like a modern day horror flick than the original Brood saga that felt very much like the 1979 cult movie Alien. 

But Claremont wouldn't be Claremont if he didn't subtly weave the return of the Brood into his ongoing storylines, months before the frightful aliens would actually appear in the book. Take for instance this scene from Uncanny X-men # 218, which features a frightening discovery by X-men reservists Havok and Polaris after getting run off the road by a frantic driver behind the wheel of a VW van.

"Lorna, if that one's a Broodqueen... if she lays her eggs, if they hatch... the human race is doomed."

No, that isn't a scene from Jaws VII, it just so happens Lorna and Alex encounter one of the Brood's space sharks, personal transports the aliens use in their stellar travels. It crashed near a New Mexico campsite, apparently killing everyone around. 

Claremont would pick up this thread a good fourteen months later in Uncanny X-men # 232, in which we discover the link between the crashed space shark and that VW-driver who ran Alex and Lorna off the road.

Meet Harry Palmer... a medic who was present when the space shark literally crashed his camping trip and everything went straight to hell...

"Harry... I fell... my ankle... broken... I can't WALK!"

Harry thought he'd been able to escape this gruesome scene unscathed, despite feeling horrible about leaving his friends behind to die. But he couldn't have been more wrong, as we see this issue when he visits a lawyer who suffered a heart attack when his mutant fire breathingpowers first manifested themselves in court. He has a rather... unique... way to heal his patient...

"Rest easy Bob. Your troubles are over. You're going to be fine. Just fine.
In fact, I can pretty much guarantee... that you'll live forever."

Oh snap, so Harry has been infected by the Brood as well! And by infecting the dying Bob with an egg, he quite rightly claimed the man would live forever. After all, as has been previously established, Brood embryos boost the human immune system to the extreme, making sure their host bodies recover from the most serious of injuries or ailments.  

After a hard day of saving people and/or turning them into Brood hosts, Harry returns home to find the X-men waiting for him. As Rogue thinks to herself during the ensuing fight, the team had been on Harry's trail ever since Havok (allegedly) clued them in on finding the crashed Brood vessel in New Mexico.

"Palmer was infected at the crash site in New Mexico...
I spotted that the moment I tagged his scent."

Harry however, still has no clue he's actually a Brood. Even though he effortlessly withstands and repels attacks from Colossus, Psylocke and several other X-men powerhouses. He runs for his life, even boarding a bus in order to cover his tracks. But he finds Rogue posing as one of the passengers, ready to take him down. Unfortunately, due to lack of experience with human/brood hybrids, Harry manages to gain the upperhand and this anything but phallic scene is a fact...

"This is a moment long overdue, little X-girl..."

Sigh, threatening to stab Rogue with a claw that's rather clearly tentacle porn oriented is a minor kink of Claremont's, seeing as he would expose Rogue to pretty much the same thing years later in a 2000 X-men annual...

It didn't work then, either.

Rogue is saved and the team finally manages to corner their quarry. That is, until the police and some locals showed up to reveal they weren't exactly who they seemed to be...

"We're all of us Brood her. And soon, old enemies, very soon... YOU will be too!"

Oh boy, talk about a cliffhanger...

To find out who lived, who died, who spawned wings and tossed airplane engines around, check back for Brand New Brood Control part II: Temptress *IS* A Harsh Mistress...

....

But before all that good fun... consider this: remember how Harry was shocked to see the Brood that killed his friends and recruited him. So, whatever happened to her? She didn't just die off, or Havok and Polaris would have discovered her remains among the campers she killed. And given the Brood's strong matriarchal society, it's pretty hard to imagine an elder queenf would relinquish or even share power with Harry, her half human daughter. Anyone care to explain this away?