Introduction
I'm going to say right off the bat that I'm not a huge Peter Milligan fan. Or at least, I didn't like this run. I know he is most respected for X-Statix (and the end of the X-Force run before it became X-Statix), but admittedly it was just too weird for me. I put it on a list of series that I'm skipping with this initial journey, and then will come back to one day when I get live (like Dazzler, Alpha Flight, Mutant X, Ultimate X-Men, etc.)
I like how Travis Hedge Coke described the series in The Two Year Horror – A Milligan/Larroca X-Men Run:
"The run is often described as an interesting patch between significant runs, as a placeholder, which largely means the comics do not guide the franchise and the big fights are secondary to what they do to characters."
I will give Milligan credit for focusing the most on character interactions, which is typically my preference. Milligan even says as much in an interview with Toy News International:
"The biggest thing is to get a handle on all the characters. To get under their skin. Once you’ve done this you can play around with them a little, and push them."
He takes this further by adding:
"I’ve said before that I’m interested in exploring the minutiae of their personal lives even as the X-Men are dealing with huge, earth-shattering events."
Perhaps I just couldn't get into it because Havok, Iceman, and Gambit are some of my least favorite chararacters. I like Rogue and Polaris, but I don't think this series did them many favors.
Major Themes
Where are the Real X-Men?
This first theme is actually a quote from within the "Wild Kingdom" arc, which tells me that Milligan is pretty self aware about not having the primary roster and is telling more of a side story. Havok is their leader and he had a rough bout with leadership in the past and continued to act like a bonehead in this series. Characters like Cyclops and Emma Frost are prevalent in this series and while they aren't officially on the roster, they are clearly in charge whenever they appear on screen.
Love Triangles
There are two main love triangles in this arc: "Havok, Polaris, and Iceman" as well as Rogue, Gambit, and Mystique." If you've been following my blog you know that I'm ok with a love triangle as long it doesn't last too long. This arc was short enough that the overall theme didn't grate on me too hard, but the triangles themselves didn't do the characters any favors.
When the series starts, Iceman is dating Polaris and Havok is clearly jealous. Right off the bat, I have a few issues with this.
First, this is a direct contradiction of the last arc. Chuck Austen made a central plot point out of Havok rejecting Polaris and choosing nurse Annie. Now I know that different writers often retcon prior stories to tell the story they are interested in, but this didn't sit right with me. You see, Havok had been with Polaris (her originally rejecting Bobby) from the very first run in the Silver Age. So for Austen to break them up, this carried a lot of weight and it just seemed wrong to have Havok going right back to her.
Second, Iceman is gay. Most writers seem to understand that, but I don't think Milligan did. Now...this is far from the first time Bobby has dated a woman. That's happened a lot, but this was another thing that didn't sit right with me. However, Milligan did have Iceman repress his powers which goes in line with the theme of him repressing who he truly is...maybe I'm being too hard on him.
Third, this love triangle just made all 3 characters look bad. Havok's leadership decisions were clearly compromised due to his jealousy. Iceman was a complete prick due to his insecurities. And Polaris knew exactly what was going on between them and rarely did anything to clarify the situation, often leading Havok on.
The other love triangle is between Rogue, Gambit, and Mystique. Obviously not your typical love triangle with Mystique being Rogue's (adopted) mother. Mystique pretends to be a young mutant recruit and tries to seduce Gambit to show Rogue that he's a sleezeball. I definitely get the feeling she would have slept with him to make her point. I mean...that's just fucked up, am i right? Then later Mystique brings this guy Pulse around and is way too obvious about her intentions. I did like the bit about Gambit and Rogue struggling due to their lack of intimacy, but this Mystique stuff was just too much for me.
There was also an issue where Rogue kissed Wolverine, but that was just weird too and went nowhere.
Breaking Down the Arcs
This 5 part story kicked off the Milligan era. It was clear from the beginning that the overall plot would be secondary to character interactions. While I typically appreciate that, I didn't love these characters prior to this arc, and he wasn't able to warm me up to them.
Golgatha is an alien the X-Men find in space and foolishly bring to the mansion. Golgatha has the ability to enter each of their minds and prey on their worst fears. This is the closes we might come to "X-Men horror."
It's clear that this arc will focus on a love triangle between Polaris (Lorna), Iceman (Bobby), and Havok (Alex, the team leader). Lorna and Bobby are currently dating, however Alex and Lorna had been together throughout most of the past 40 years of publishing. We also get a lot of tension between Rogue and Gambit with their lack of intimacy (due to Rogue's powers) front and center.
Wolverine is here, but is clearly on the team to help sell issues.
While Alex, Lorna, and Bobby were center stage during Golgatha, Rogue and Gambit move to the forefront during this story. A new (sexy) female student comes to the institute and immediately begins hitting on Gambit. This gives Gambit his fiercest trial yet as he is sexually frustrated with Rogue. In the most messed up of manner, Foxx ends up actually being Mystique (Rogue's fricken adopted mother) with her intended goal of trying to break Rogue and Gambit up. This terrible turn of events results in Mystique joining the team. Don't ask...
This is really a Storm and Black Panther story with the X-Men as the vehicle to see her off.
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After the events of House of M, Polaris is left powerless and ultimately leaves the team (with Alex chasing her). Alex starts out powerless, but once again it's his mind holding back his powers. This guys really needs to just come out of the closet and go into therapy. In the aftermath of the Decimation, human - manned Sentinels are stationed at the mansion to "protect" the mutants. However, it barely works as an extremist group called The Sapien League with their lame leader, the Leper Queen, attacks. Havok and Lorna technically leave the team, but not the comic. Alex will be back later without much being said of it.
So Dumb. When Lorna was up in space (finding Golgatha), she saw something that shocked her, however she couldn't recall what it was. Well, it was Doop from X-Statix and guess what, this was a really lame reveal and ultimately never went anywhere. I mean, Doop did take Lorna and the Leper Queen away, but we never find out why or what's going on. Dumb.
I would consider this the best arc of his run, so I guess it's a good one to go out on. Apocalypse comes back after years of being absent (in publishing years at least). He makes Horseman out of Sunfire (who lost his legs during Weapon X), a powerless Polaris (who I guess got her powers back), a new character named Gazer, and Gambit. As I discuss in the blog, I think it was a mistake to have Gambit betray the team. The whole schtick with Gambit is that everyone assumes he's a piece of crap, but in reality he's a good ole boy. You're not supposed to have him actually betray everyone. Ugh.
Characters
I always wonder whether a writer is able to choose his team or if he's just stuck with them. Well, we get our answer in that earlier referenced interview with Toy News International:
"Of the characters available, these were the ones I wanted, and chose for their individual interest and how they might interact dramatically."
Havok
I'm shocked that anyone would let Havok lead a team again. However, it was his brother's decision at a time when people were questioning his decisions after he ditched Jean for Emma, so clearly Cyclops was looking for loyalists.
As mentioned earlier, his biggest contributions to the run were his compromised leadership decisions and terrible judgment regarding Lorna and Bobby.
Polaris
I will give Milligan credit for doing a pretty good job with Polaris's history with mental illness. We see her killing indiscriminately at the beginning of the run, but barely being reprimanded since the leader of the team (Havok) was in love with her.
She was part of the love triangle, previously discussed, with Iceman and Havok.
She did one have big status quo change by losing her powers (and hiding it) after M Day, however she may have gotten them back from Apocalypse by the end. Also, does anyone else have a hard time accepting that 90% of the mutant population lost their powers, but 95% of the X-Men kept them?
There was also this big story thread about "what Lorna saw" in space (during the Golgatha arc), but it only ended up being this Doop character from X-Statix with no explanation given. Weird.
Iceman
Iceman had two big story threads throughout this run. First, he was holding on too closely to Polaris and his insecurities made him a dick, and second he mentally repressed his powers after M Day. That's about it!
Wolverine
Wolverine was given one arc at the beginning, and then I honestly don't remember if he was in the comic after that. He was getting testy about his age, which is actually something we haven't seen before out of him.
Gambit
The first big storyline with Gambit is actually pretty good. He's trying his hardest to love Rogue, but he's getting sexually frustrated since they can't touch. It was fun to see the two of them sleeping next to each other to try to increase intimacy but it not working. There's even a fun scene where Emma tries to help them bang mentally, but Gambit still can't get through it without getting his power sucked (mental impotency?)
The other big arc with Gambit was terrible and unearned. Gambit betrays the team and join's Apocalypse willingly. Fail! The whole schtick with Gambit is that he's a bad boy and you assume he's going to stab you in the back, but he never does! This time, he does! That's not good Gambit writing. (I'm choosing not to address the Mutant Massacre as that was at least drawn out and earned.)
Rogue
I think this arc was a step back for Rogue. She had moved all the way up to being team leader, but now she's relegated to a support character with no large contributions other than getting romantically involved with other team members. Her relationship with her mom is weird too.
Mystique
She might be the most interesting character in this run. First there is the thing where she pretends to be Foxx and tries to seduce Gambit. As mentioned previously, that was just weird...but entertaining. Her obsession with breaking up Rogue and Gambit was a little unhinged, but I guess she is a villain (or antihero at best) so maybe this is par for the course.
The best story beat of the whole run was probably when Mystique is voted to join the X-Men (that part was weird), and Nightcrawler secretly meets her with a message. "You're a terrible person. Please leave." Something like that. It was very emotional and I give Milligan a lot of credit for it.
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