Discover The Patented Madrox Workflow In X-Corp #3

Pharmaceuticals aren’t the only thing X-Corp is offering the world – their new floating HQ is built to provide unprecedentedly fast internet to all who sign up. As Angel and Monet prepare for the launch of their new product at the Technology TALKS convention, Jamie Madrox is working overtime to get the job done in time, but are there limits to even Madrox’s abilities to throw his selves into his work? Written by Tini Howard, drawn by Valentine de Landro, colored by Sunny Gho and lettered by Clayton Cowles, with a back-up story written and drawn by Jason Loo.

Armaan Babu: Well…third time’s the charm, it looks like. X-Corp’s third issue is finally one I enjoyed reading. Am I still mystified as to what the purpose of X-Corp is, both as a comic and as a company? Yes. Is Monet continuing to blur the lines between being sharply insightful or grumpily cynical? Yes. Is Angel’s entire purpose reduced to mostly just…being there? Maybe, but the important thing is that there is some highly entertaining Madrox stuff happening and I’m going to take the win. What’d you think, Corey?

Corey Smith: Hey Armaan! I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t easily the issue I’ve enjoyed the most, but I’m definitely still asking the same questions we’ve been asking from the first issue. While I’ve been largely ambivalent towards Madrox in general, the opening pages to this issue were an absolute delight, and Madrox Prime’s memo to his dupes is probably the most personality we’ve seen come out of the series! If we can keep moving in that direction, I think I might actually enjoy a whole issue by this time next year! If I’m being entirely honest, though, I’m still utterly baffled by damn near every business decision that’s being made in the book. I’ve gotta ask, did the Ionospheric Bandwidth Generator seem as pointless to you as it did to me?

Armaan: I don’t know if pointless is quite the word. Pointless would imply I understood the purpose behind it, and knew for sure that purpose was terrible. The I.B.G. brings up a lot of questions, and I don’t know if this book even plans to answer any of them. But hold up, we need a somewhat catchy and/or pun-prevalent headline before we dive into discussion proper.

We’re Not Sure We Have the Bandwidth For This 

Armaan: Ahhh. Much better. Now, as I was saying – the I.B.G. has me baffled. Who is this for? That’s a question that serves the comic as a whole, but specifically – why are the mutants getting into the telecommunications business? The opening data page mentions that X-CORP TELECOM is a sister branch to X-CORP PHARMA – the mutant drugs that bought Krakoa international recognition as a nation.

So here’s what I want to know: Is X-Corp selling I.B.G. internet, or is it offering ultrafast speeds for more political leverage, or even just public goodwill? Is X-Corp a for-profit company, or some weird non-profit seeking to enrich the lives of humans? The opening pages show us that Madrox has been working very hard on all of this – the question is, why?

Corey: The only reading that makes sense to me is that it’s largely a flex, that might get some goodwill, but the more I think about it, the more confused I get. Obviously I can only speak for myself, but if I was told I could have really good internet for a few hours before it heads to another part of the world, I’d probably view it as far more trouble than it’s worth! And logistically, hooking up to a publicly, obnoxiously, Mutant-provided public connection seems like it’s just inviting trouble. Do you want Sentinels? That’s how you get Sentinels. 

In all honesty, “weird flex, but okay” seems to sum up most of X-Corp’s moves so far. While they’re pretty clearly capitalist, what they actually do, and why the public should actually care, is an enigma. They have a Mutant circuit that provides solar energy… but only to power a roaming hotspot. They have a flying island base… for the purposes of showing off, I guess? At this point I have to wonder if the entire point of X-Corp is to sit on the trademark, and keep Warren and Monet wrapped up with busywork. 

Armaan: You know, if it was just Angel in charge, or paired up with someone like, say, Iceman the Accountant, I could see that being a genuinely interesting plot point. I’d love the idea of a story that says Krakoa’s moved beyond capitalism, it’s just keeping up a facade for a while to keep humans pacified. There’s a real missed opportunity here to have an X-Book comment on what a failed system capitalism in, and how Krakoa’s evolving a new society.

Instead we have a book that’s either celebrating capitalism or treating it as its own fascinating genre setting. The closest we get to cutting commentary is Monet’s disdain for…well, everything. Monet looks down on poor Wind Dancer’s well-organized plans for X-Corp. She turns down her nose at women-only spaces. She’s clearly tired of public relations, of Nazis and those who work with them, and of respecting people’s mental privacy. She’s disdainful of the toxic and prevalent sexism of corporate conventions.

A lot of the stuff listed above are things I am on board for, and would like to see explored more. It’s just that there’s so much disdain that it’s hard to tell whether Monet’s providing cutting commentary or is just being snarky because she’s not had her morning coffee. There’s a lot to be said for how corporate culture has a long way to go in terms of treating women better, and it seems like this book is trying to address that, but like a lot of X-Corp, the execution is…clumsy.

Corey: Much in the same way I’ve been wondering what X-Corp is for, this issue had me questioning why Monet is involved with the company at all. Disliking the convention is one thing, but there hasn’t been a single aspect of running X-Corp that she’s treated as anything more than an annoyance. If it’s a character choice, it’s one that falls firmly in the characterization equivalent of Uncanny Valley — Monet is acting almost like she should, but off enough to be unsettling. 

Even beyond the still-unexplained shift in her powerset, turning her Penance form into a walking Hulk-esque Angry Black Woman stereotype, Howard’s take on the character has thrown me for a loop. If Monet doesn’t enjoy having the upper hand in everything from fights to business rivalries, is she really Monet? Running X-Corp, publicly being “Simply Superior,” should be something she loves, an opportunity to shine, rather than a burden to be ignored. The voice felt right in the debut issue, and it was one of the strongest parts of Empyre, so I’m hoping this is just a one-off fluke. 

That being said, for as little as he had to do, I feel that this issue was Warren’s strongest showing so far! As often as fans paint Angel as the least interesting of the Original Five, the past two issues are pointing to an interesting direction for his character. He’s pretty clearly trying hard to live up to his position, and show his worth, but it’s also clear that he’s growing increasingly exhausted by his partner’s more impulsive tendencies, and he’s willing to do whatever he can to keep some measure of control. The panel of his brief impromptu prayer before the presentation was legitimately great, and one of the first times I can think of in years of reading where I’ve laughed out loud at anything Warren has said. But for as much as I enjoyed the book’s resident himbo, I think we can both agree that Madrox absolutely carried this issue!

R&D Redundancy

Armaan: Oh, absolutely. This issue was a great one for fans of the character – and a great encapsulation of what makes him so much fun for readers who aren’t as familiar with him. Even without taking his long and complicated history into account, there’s so much fun you can have with a character who has his powers, and this bookends the issue.

This version of Madrox (for there are many, his life goals seem to shift drastically with every new writer he’s given, but given his powerset…it kinda works) seems to have thrown himself (and self, and self, and self) into his work with a passion I don’t think we’ve seen before. He’s making full use of his powers – learning all he can via his dupes and reabsorbing that knowledge at a whim. While there’s some overlap between this use of powers and, say, Prodigy’s ability to pick up the memories and skills of people around him, Madrox has one crucial limitation: if he can’t reabsorb a dupe, that knowledge is lost forever.

Madrox is a fun gag, but whenever you take the time to look into the concept of how his powers affect his life, there’s pathos to be found. Madrox is a company man, through and through – and despite the fact that he can literally be everywhere at once, he’s somehow still ignoring his wife and child. 

Now, I know there are a lot of people who would rather Layla Miller somehow be retconned out of existence – there’s a lot of discomfort in the couple’s origin story. [Ed. note: It’s me. He’s talking about me.] I, personally, really enjoyed the particular X-Factor run that brought them together, warts and all, and have been waiting to see stories about Madrox and Layla’s life together for years. I finally have that, and the story is a compelling one. Jamie Madrox can juggle a lot, but sorting out a work/life balance is still somehow beyond him, because it doesn’t matter how much knowledge he crams into his head, Madrox will always be an idiot when it comes to personal life choices.

Corey: The real Mutant metaphor isn’t about oppression, it’s about being awful messes in our personal lives. Even with that knowledge, and the consistent theme of Marvel’s merry Mutants making terrible parents, I couldn’t help spending most of the issue yelling at Madrox like I was watching a horror movie. Work/Life balance is a tricky thing to get right (full disclosure, I’m typing this while my son is sitting on my lap playing Kirby).

Armaan: Aww! 

Corey: But it’s really easy to see all the pitfalls when it comes to anyone else’s family! I completely understand where Madrox is coming from – his work… is theoretically important, I guess? Still not sure what the point is? But I’ve had to miss important firsts in the name of companies that have goals far less important than interspecies relations. 

I haven’t read too much with Layla, and while the nature of the relationship’s start is sketch as all hell, it’s… distressingly par for the course for X-Men. I’m on record as being shocked that Miller wasn’t a Claremont creation, and I think that says all that needs to be said. That being what it is, I’m not going to hound Howard for using characters that come with a lot of baggage. One of the biggest strengths of the era is that it’s more additive than anything else, building on everything that came before, for better or for worse. I’m of the opinion that there are no characters who are irredeemably poor concepts in the hands of the right writer, and I genuinely think Howard has what it takes to make me like Layla. As down as I’ve been on this title, I can’t forget that it was Howard’s work that made me emotionally invested in Apocalypse, of all characters! 

Armaan: Yeah, we’ve been hard on the writing for this book, but Howard has definitely written some of my favorite stories in the Krakoan era. Something else we’ve been hard on for this book, however, has been the art – and I’m happy to say that Valentine de Landro is a definite step-up, and a large part of what made this issue more palatable to me. The style is a bit rougher, making some panels feel a bit cramped, but de Landro really nails both the comedic and the emotional beats of the issue. The stress and urgency of Madrox Prime trying to make everything work juxtaposed with his dupe spending some quality family time…you could feel the lost moments. With that dupe destroyed later in the issue, it’s literally time Madrox Prime will never get back – and that got to me.

The two-page bonus story was a special, surprising delight. A Madroxian adventure told in a way that could only work in comics, and only work this well for Madrox’s unique powers. It was a quick and simple delight, and I couldn’t have been happier with it. 

A Failure to Connect

Armaan: Back at the convention, we get to know human research scientist Sara St. John a little better. She seems to be shaping up to be an important figure – though I can’t tell yet if she’s meant to be a patsy to the Fenris Twins, or an eventual villain in her own right. What do you think of her, Corey?

Corey: If St. John does turn out to be a patsy, I’m not sure it’ll be to Fenris. Monet made a point of dismissing her as second fiddle to Jean-Pierre Kol, rather than a strong woman of her own making and while we’ve seen Kol cause trouble on his own for Warren in the debut issue, I think it would be more satisfying narratively to see St. John be a genuine threat, both in the boardroom and personally. Her comment about letting Mutants have the option to hide their mutation makes me think that she’s a closeted mutant herself, and if that is the case, hiding her true nature makes for a fun parallel with both Monet and Warren, who have spent the series so far trying to keep the less palatable aspects of their mutations hidden. I could be way off base, but I think that if there is a theme that defines X-Corp’s identity as a book, it’s about concealing the truth!

Armaan: If there’s one thing the book’s been clear about, it’s that theme – so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if your theory turns out to be right, that’s a great catch there! Sara St. John is clearly hiding something – and not just the mental trap that triggers Monet’s Emplate transformation when Monet attempts to read Sara’s mind unbidden. While I am, for the most part, on Monet’s side, I feel like she got a little of what she deserved here – trying to read someone’s mind without their permission is one hell of an invasion of privacy. 

What’s a little more worrying, though, is that Sara injects Monet with…something. Something that messes with mutant abilities, though in what way we’re not quite sure. However it affects them, it’s safe to say that with the new mutant prevalence, there’s going to be a huge market for something that messes with mutant physiology. 

Between that, and X-Corp’s failed Telecom launch, things aren’t looking up for the company. I’m amused by them constantly being showed up by what’s happening in other X-Books. X-Corp launches an island, the X-Men launch a planet. X-Corp’s second launch fails as mutants use their powers in new ways without a trial run – whereas the X-Men, without any practice whatsoever, terraform a planet. 

Corey: Without any practice, and while having to get Monarch and Kid Omega to cooperate! That’s a hell of a handicap! Frankly, X-Corp hasn’t done much beyond being a national embarrassment at this point — hopefully they get it together and live up to their slogan sooner rather than later!

Mutant Memos

• Per our contributor Anna Peppard, years ago Jason Loo attended cons and did fundraising as Madrox as part of the “X-Men of Toronto.” And he admits he did “slightly project himself onto the dupes and got away with it.”
• It’s a little disappointing that we’re not going full mutant with this bandwidth improvement and getting internet routed through the astral plane.
• Trinary’s lack of a name is even more jarring when it shares a bubble with Sofia!
• On the flip side of that is Neal Shaara’s full name being used when everyone else gets to use their codenames. It’s…jarring.
• Kol keeps showing up and being name-dropped, and every time I forget that I’ve seen him before. ?
• Surprising but excellent shoutout to Squirrel Girl this issue, as Doreen Green the “Squirrelboss” panel. 
• Krakoan reads: FAILURE TO LAUNCH
• …that’s pretty good, i take back like three of the bad things i’ve said about this book

Armaan Babu

Corey Smith

Corey Smith is probably tired right now. He's definitely trying not to think about everything he has to write! When he's not staring at a blank word document, odds are he's tweeting, playing Pokémon, or wondering how he ended up with such a smart-ass kid.