Great Comics of Our Times: Mutant X #31

Mutant X was a series that starred Havok, the younger, dumber, less interesting brother of Cyclops being trapped in an alternate universe where everyone's basically the same except for some perfunctory twist. Given that in the history of the X-Franchise there has been exactly one good run involving the character, (Peter David's first X-Factor run) it isn't surprising that the series didn't go too well.

But Mutant X #31 is a surreally bad issue that involves an American-Canadian war, Captain America blowing up the moon and a cliffhanger that comes out of nowhere.



The issue begins with the revelation of a terrifying, world-shattering evil...yeah, it's an alternate version of the Beyonder, because nothing says ominous like a guy with a White man's Afro
.

Meanwhile, in the main plot, Havok's team is in a tense standoff with...Canadian supersoldiers. For some reason, this encounter drives Captain America completely insane.

Really insane. And how the hell did the good Captain suddenly gain the ability to shoot undefined energy beams at people.



And it just goes on like this for a while, Captain America killing off minor characters for no real good reason until Havok shows up, and that's when it really goes off the rails.

Bad comic or Dragon Ball Z homage, you decide!



Now, I understand that alternate universes allow for all sorts of crazy ideas, but Canada as the world's "most militarily aggressive nation?" Really? I mean, looks like the most dangerous thing in this story is Captain America and his tendency to destroy everyone because they're not American...or American enough...or something.

...And that's when Havok destroyed the moon...somehow. It looks likes Havok's waves are destroying the moon, but that doesn't make a lot of sense.

Anyway, with Captain America defeated, the team decides to retire back to its headquarters, where Havok promptly gets ambushed. By whom you ask? Is it the mysterious entity alluding to throughout the story? A disgruntled Canadian? The owner of a tidal power plant? No, it's a villain perfectly suited to a guy who can level small planets...