Monday, January 07, 2013

I've Handed Concerns About AvX To My Subconscious

Three nights ago, I had this odd dream. I was reading a comic, definitely one from the '80s. Drawn by John Romita Jr., during his '80s stint on Uncanny X-Men. So somewhere in between Logan's marriage to Mariko that wasn't, and the Mutant Massacre.

There were two plotlines. One was someone either impersonating Wolverine, or controlling him, as a way to kill Xavier (who had use of his legs). There was definitely a panel of Wolverine sitting calmly in front of a roaring fire with his feet up on a footstool.

The other plot involved Cyclops being very confused and getting into it with the Avengers. Either they shot down a Blackbird with him in it, so he was kind of concussed, or he shot down a Quinjet because he was confused. His thought balloons were this run on stream of nonsense, mostly related to the idea of there being nothing left. It was as though he had a vision of a terrible future, and it turned his head inside out. Anyway, Cyclops decked Monica Rambeau, I guess because she was in a solid form, and he was still confused.

Everything lines up, timewise. Romita's style, the costumes, you could argue Cyclops confusion would fit if he's dealing with the conflict of whether to focus on X-Manning, or being a husband and father. Or, if we go with the future vision thing, he saw Magneto taking over the school and it freaked him out. There's just one detail that doesn't work: U.S. Agent showed up just as he knocked out Monica.

That was something I was very certain of in the dream. It wasn't Steve Rogers as The Captain (which didn't happen until a year or two after Mutant Massacre, anyway). It was definitely John Walker, because I saw him and thought to myself, "Things are going to get completely out of hand with that hothead."

My best guess is I was working out some things about AvX again. The story incorporates a Captain America figure you'd expect to behave like an abrasive jerk.Wolverine's the one trying to kill Xavier, which would seem more likely than Cyclops doing it. Besides, Logan's probably being mind-controlled, which is pretty normal for him, and it implies there's an actual malevolent force behind all this hero fighting, rather than it happening because all the heroes are big jerks.

The part that spooks me the most is my subconscious' apparently sympathetic reaction to Cyclops. The dream made it very clear he wasn't in his right mind, and wouldn't have struck Captain Marvel if he'd realized who she was. I'm not sure I approve of my subconscious doing that, though I can't argue with its conclusion.

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