Sabretooth Finale in Review! All Hell Breaks Loose?

[cover by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer and Frank Martin Jr.]

Here it is, folks—the finale of one of the most provocative Marvel titles in recent years. But does it fully deliver on the promise of its narrative? We’ll get to that below.

尽管如此，莱昂纳德·柯克和瑞恩·贝雷多的艺术表现力毋庸置疑地传达出简洁、优美的故事。

Per usual with theseDestiny of Xreviews: Spoilers ahoy!

The Council of Devils

First off, it’s interesting that the issue opens an epigraph from the epic Protestant poemParadise Lostby John Milton, who was an agent of massive social change (as the others that LaValle’s quoted before have been), albeit from a very different society, but one in the midst of the very first large-scale revolution of modernity:

“Our torments also may in length of time become our elements,” meaningWhat pains and tortures us but doesn’t kill us, will become the very air we breathe, the basis of our diets—swimming in toxicity.

Drawn from Satan’s firstparliamentin the newly created Hell, this line isn’t one of the more well-known since readers are usually more struck by the more fantastically hellish imagery and drama among the devils. The fallen angels were seduced by the chief rebel angel’s overweening pride and resentment toward humanity, God’s next creation, along with Paradise, after the angelic hosts. Hell’s origin was in the mind of those whose egos swelled with the Shakespearean eloquence of Satan, an Iago neglected by his master, or so the wounded ego alleged.

Hmm. Iago (who really was Milton’s inspiration for his portrayal of Satan)—as Victor Creed? Makes sense! Both share a deadly combination of cunning, stupidity, jealousy and brutality.

Here’s another line fromParadise Lost这对于克拉考人把天堂弄得一团糟来说太贴切了:“心灵是它自己的地方，它自己可以把地狱变成天堂，把天堂变成地狱。”我们在看你，X教授!

But note the subtle connection between a newly empowered Parliament during the English Revolution* (masterfully parodied by Milton with his vision of a Hell run – badly – by the avarice of bickering devils) and the revolutionary Krakoan Quiet Council – betraying their own revolution’s ideals.

(*Revolution is the more incisive term for this upheaval, rather thanmerely“内战”——那些昂首阔步回来收拾革命失败烂摊子的人称之为“内战”，他们把这场战争称为“内战”，希望能尽快把它扫到地毯下，宣称“国王活着，一切都再次闪耀!”“从本质上来说)。

Of course, Iago as a fictional character at least had the redeeming quality of having a fiery way with words. Sabretooth? Not so much. What’s more, the notion that audiences are being told this sexual predator is capable of doing some good, despite his nature or not, isn’t a great message.

We’ll get to what Destiny saw below. It’s—funny.

And yes, Birdy is returning! I hope that’s handled with care (history would be against this notion, however).

Magma?

Now admittedly, I was a little confused initially with the finale’s opening in the immediate aftermath of Mole’s recruit Magma having caused a volcanic eruption beneath Krakoa, critically endangering the island to the point that it had to knock out her and everyone around nearby, to drain enough of their life-force for its own survival. When Sabretooth suddenly appears, it seemed like Magma’s volcano had allowed for Creed’s release—but a handful of pages later, we do have Doug appearing before the remaining prisoners admitting it’s his fault; he did release Creed in last issue’s cliffhanger, with Krakoa’s apparent blessing.

So, what was the point of Magma’s rather bungled disruption? Just so Creed could steal a boat? (And Magma will stop being lame when? )

布林的巡逻艇所在的“保姆海湾”也在附近，这是布林第一次在这里被命名为“保姆海湾”，所以布林和“鲨鱼女孩”也都很冷。

(*Named forNanny of the Maroons, the Ashanti warrior who led the First Maroon War against the imperial colonial Brits in Jamaica, which is awesome.)

Creed is about to steal the boat (which appears to have sails made of solar cells, which is also awesome) whenMystiqueattacks, handily taking him down by surprise—but thenDestinywhispers something to her (a vision) convincing Mystique to allow Creed’s freedom, because “We choosechaos.” Well, of course, Mystique would.

Bye-bye, Bling’s boat! Poor Bling—Xavier’s taken from her and now so has Creed.

I’m still confused about why and what Magma was doing in this book. We’ll return to below to how some of this wrap-up issue feels rather rushed, as if it’s not a complete story after all—because of course it’s not! But that begs the question, as it always does with comics: Will we get satisfying resolutions on individual stories, most especially those characters who had previously been in comics limbo, or should we expect the perpetual extension of certain characterizations that quickly freeze in place? The latter would be the expected pattern, unfortunately.

保姆!(And OG Brotherhoodite Mortimer Toynbee)

在这个如同精神全息图一样严酷的监狱里，道格承认释放了奎迪，但现在他想让其他囚犯跟着他。Before they all leave, we have a last look at Creed’s hell, which is apparently permanently a part of Krakoa’s body—which is ick.

Surprisingly, Oya is taken aback that Creed was happy to leave them all behind without a backward glance.

然后保姆冲了进来!随后是孤儿制造者彼得，她被欧雅迅速击倒，然后她的男孩被内克拉击倒。听起来好像他们是最近才来的。但他们都要被释放，这是道格和克拉科阿的协议之一追捕奎迪就会被释放。这也包括癞蛤蟆!(回忆一下，他为旺达和她的父亲犯下的谋杀负了罪——我们就这样称呼吧;seeTrial of Magneto.)

Doug makes clear that he and presumably Krakoa don’t want Sabretooth back, ever. Rather, he gives Nekra a skull-like seed that will make Creed’s life a living hell—more than it already is, I guess!

Private Prisons—Orchis Horror-Show Style

However, Creed himself plans on returning to Krakoa, with an army—except, in a totally unexpected turn, the stolen boat suddenly rises out of the water not far from Krakoa’s shores; an Orchis craft has lifted it via some kind of beam, though we never see the vessel, just a slave collar descending out of the light, to clamp around Creed’s neck. The anonymous voice from above announces that he’s simply a mutant to be imprisoned, in “Station Six, a for-profit prison” where Orchis’ experiments on mutants are conducted. “Welcome to Purgatory.”

(Don’t worry, though! We all know Sabretooth won’t actually be in comics purgatory.)

一份数据页告诉我们，奥尔奇斯的新私人监狱项目不仅与所有常见的专制国家签订了合同，还与英国签订了合同(可能是在阿卡巴氏族的影响下)。令人惊讶的是，美国没有在名单上，但也许这种否认的反乌托邦在这里被抹掉了。Whatever entity this is, they may have “misappropriated” prison Station Five.

Other mysteries for the future include Station Two, which is focused on Orchis’ “chimera protocols”(!); Station Three, which had been used for “astral plane mining” but is now lost; and the “infernal nursery” Station Four immediately calls to mind the original “Inferno” event, the mutant babies kidnapped by the demon N’astirh for a sacrifice that would create a permanently open portal between Earth and Limbo, allowing the latter to overrun the former; after his defeat, Madelyne Pryor as the Goblin Queen sought to complete the rite, offering up her own baby Nathan in the ritual, as well. Obviously, it didn’t work out, and the babies were handed over by X-Factor to the US government.

And yet those traumatized babies, as Zeb Wells would tell us in his masterfulNew Mutantsrun, 2009-2010, never did return home; they ended up in something of an infernal nursery, wards of the state growing into the state’s own monsters. The foreshadowing here with Orchis’ current experiments certainly feels pretty strong.

As for Station One, we learn, very cursorily, that that was the Dungeon that was indeed destroyed by Juggernaut and Deadpool in Fabian Nicieza and Matt Horlak’s recentX-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic#17, in the midst of their “Paradise Lost” arc (an interesting but probably happenstance literary connection between these two carceral narratives). Orchis’ involvement here is a small surprise but not a big revelation.

最后，关于第六站的性质，奎迪的新家，它可能是为“回收”变种人而设的——不管这意味着什么可怕!Of course, if his experience in the Pit is anything to go by, Orchis will rue the day…

Exiles?Exiles?For real—or just in nominal homage?

的确，命运在《第六站》中看到的奎迪的未来远不止是奥奇斯的失败。我们要让被流放者重生!Unfortunately, it looks likeSabretoothwon’t just be the star but also in the title. In all likelihood, we won’t get classicExiles角色或跳跃现实的设置。不，这可能就像最近的其他游戏名称一样，利用我们的怀旧之情，但传递的是完全不同的东西。That’s usually a good thing, but I won’t be buying any moreSabretoothcomics.

The Magnificent Eight

(This issue’s title is more a hint of what’s to come, I think, given the homage toclassic action/adventure.)

When the motley eight set off in pursuit, we find that Madison has somehow transformedhimself变成一种快艇，“从克拉科亚周围水域大量的微塑料中”。当然，这是在承认地球目前在我们自己的世界中是多么可怕的状况。但是，这种技术变革的力量，我认为，通常局限于他与他的Box机器人盔甲的互动或关系;他的这种能力很少被描绘出来。话又说回来，麦迪逊的出场总体上是相当罕见的!

很遗憾的是，Nekra宣布她和Oya永远不会回到Krakoa，这意味着我们将看不到更多他们与其他Krakoa人的互动，除了这群在执行任务的流亡者。

Then again, it may be a hint that there might not be a Krakoan nation for too much longer!

Suffice to say, that this miniseries dismantles what was still the fairly nascent carceral aspect of Krakoa, which is good.

但是我们得到的这些迷人的配角又如何呢?第三只眼，大雅，内克拉，麦迪逊，梅尔特，甚至是鼹鼠，皮肤，斑点和Bling:我们不一定需要结束，但应该有，我不知道，一些东西-感觉拐点已经到达，并从中获得一些知识和智慧。从Nekra对Oya的最后承诺(“自我放逐”，因为找不到更好的词)来看，这显然是在向这个方向点头。

As a successful novelist whose prose fiction is only standalone narratives, LaValle must know this is missing from hisSabretoothmini. The finale here suffers from the editorial and corporate aspects of comics writing, pure and simple. Certain aspects of characterization and consequence are postponed while the most basic narrative threads are tidied up (no more prisoners in the Pit; the inmates are freed). Hopefully, all the major themes touched in this title will return inSabretooth and the Exiles, or whatever the next series is called. Realistically, the jaded comics reader might not expect significant follow-up any time soon when it comes to the wonderful character nuances we were treated to here.

Frankly, this issue is disappointing in not progressing those nuanced characterizations we saw in prior issues. Instead, we get pretty swift resolution and setup. That definitely knocks it down a few pegs for me.

There is, however, room for a little humor this issue, one of the real treats this time around, especially when Nanny and the Orphan-Maker arrive.

We can now confirm that LaValle knows how to write Nanny humor—which is all that really matters.

There’s pathos as well: Creed’s throne in hell is now a feature of Krakoa’s insides, and Doug doesn’t want to leave anyone behind to take up that seat and restart the vicious, diseased cycle that Creed established there. But this is more conceptual or ideational than centered on any one character.

The biggest flaw this issue is a single splash page that, sadly, feels like a rushed or mediocre attempt to frame the fate of Xavier’s reputation. He is, after all, basically the villain of the series, and yet this is his one showing in the finale—and it’s really kind of a nothing.

Is Xavier’s reputation destroyed? We have a montage of rather stock disapproving faces. Well, okay, color me convinced! And what are the actual thoughts of, say, Bling, Blob or Skin at this point in the story? Who knows. We already knew they felt betrayed. But that’s just a baseline from which to begin further characterization. Why do we not see other recognizable mutants also wrestling with the unearthed secret of Krakoa’s hidden prison? There’s no real conversation, no debate, nor even any impassioned speechifying.

Again, we know why: Everything had to be wrapped upand为下一部迷你剧做准备，显然下一部迷你剧甚至不会发生在克拉科阿。最后的结局肯定有很多缺失，因为漫威总能让我们相信没有结局;啊。

在经典的广告语“万磁王是对的”中，看到Sabretooth的名字取代万磁王的名字是很有趣的，但也就到此为止了。我当然不会相信这个消息。除了Bling, Mole, Shark-Girl, Skin和Blob之外，大部分不知名的krakan面孔的蒙太奇，俯视着一个看起来很傻的Xavier，感觉是必须的，好像有更多的东西，但在这里，必须有一个象征性的致敬系列反派。

我们是否会在其他游戏中看到这一结果?当然，在大多数书中，泽维尔自己制造的问题肯定会出现在各个角落。But as I noted in my lastSabretoothreview, this series featured Xavier, as an institution unto himself, at his most heinous, by a very long mile. It’s really a difference in kind rather than degree. And we’re left with this lame splash page that really doesn’t give us anything substantive, as story.

Also, Sabretooth has never been right about anything, and while the supporting cast was wonderful, courtesy of wonderful work by writer Victor LaValle and artist Leonard Kirk, I’m not interested in pursuing Sabretooth’s story any further.

下一个:一个正义的动作/冒险故事——不要由种族主义的性侵犯者主演，拜托了?