X-Men #134

Publisher
Marvel
Year
2003
Month
1
LastChanged
2/3/2024 8:08:29 AM
KID ?

Kid &#937
Summary

  Carnation emerges from the X-Factor, a trendy nightclub in Mutant Town, and tries to hail a cab. He is accosted by young thugs, who ask for his autograph and then shove something down his throat, while his mutant power turns his skin to plastic. As he dies, he asks, "Why?"

  Next day in class, the kids are all talking about his death. Quire objects to Slick talking telepathically, since he's trying to concentrate on making anti-grav floats for Johansson's brain (iss. 118). Slick dismisses the nerd, says he's writing a tribute song, and leaves with his girlfriend Tattoo on his arm.

  Quire tells Herman, who is translucent, that Tattoo only like Slick because of his looks; Herman still wishes he could be that slick. Quire has eyes for Sophie, one of the Stepford Cuckoos, but Herman can't tell them apart, can't count that there are five of them, and tells Quire to stop eating candy bars before there's five of him.

  Quire has a Daily Bugle from the day he was born, with a picture of Namor attacking a human. That, to him, is real style. A girl tells him he has a call, and that he should get a cell phone; he gets to the phone and hears disturbing news about his mother.

  Emma learns from the Cuckoos that Carnation was a famous designer who made clothes for mutant with tentacles and wings, etc., and everyone is "cross" that he was murdered. Also, they don't want Quire to be part of the "Dance of the Planets" display on the school's Open Day. Emma says they're just jealous since he's Xavier's prize pupil.

  Hank and Scott help the cops investigate Carnation's death. He was cooked from the inside out, and Hank is ashamed to admit it smells delicious. Foster, the chief investigator, wonders if it should be termed a mutantcide; Scott darkly suggests "homicide superior." Foster is a bit star-struck: Hank rescued him and his wife a few years ago, but he doesn't remember. He crawls around the chalk outline, sniffing, and asking that the photographers wait till he's done; Scott agrees: he hates having his photo taken because he always look stiff and inhuman. Foster says the camera doesn't lie.

  Hank smells that Carnation's blood was contaminated, and he takes his empty inhaler. Foster tells him it contained Hypercortisone D, "Kick," a fashionable new drug. He congratulates Hank on coming out of the closet; Scott says he's not gay and asks Hank why he's playing this joke, which nobody thinks it funny but him. Hank says he tossed it off to hurt Trish (iss. 125), but she spread the story, and since he's been taunted all his life, he decided to be a role model for the alienated. Scott says he's nuts.

  Scott asks Hank about Jean, worried about the Phoenix manifestations; he says he's run every test he can and she's fine. Scott says there's no test for this situation; Hank says not to worry about her, but beware of "late summer Frost."

  On the helicopter ride back, Scott reminisces about their school days; while Bobby and Warren were out chasing girls, they'd be in the library, trying to impress Jean with their studiousness. Hank remembers the scrapbooks Xavier handed out, with pictures of villains that they had to memorize. Bobby used to have nightmares about El Tigre (X-Men I:25); Hank was more bothered by the idea of Xavier hand-painting all those pictures. Scott says since Genosha, the old villains don't bother any more; everyone's in shock.

  Landing at the school, they see Emma, who asks them to remove something from her class window; Hank climbs up and retrieves a globe with an cigarette burn where Genosha should be. He also mentions Jean sends her regards from Hong Kong.

  Tattoo sings his tribute song for Carnation; Quire questions if the song does any good and then asks what happens if people see you for what you really are. He concentrates, and everyone gasps as they see the real Slick: a short, webfooted, pointy-eared freak. Slick tells Tattoo he still loves her, but she just uses her power to display the word "Loser" on her face. Quire says it was all an illusion, as cool and charisma and everything else are.

  Xavier questions Quire in his office, congratulating him on the floats he made for Johansson but wondering why he humiliated another student. He plans to send him to the school's Pacific retreat for a while; Quire, tattooed with "Crazy Now" on his forehead, says Slick deserved it. Hank agrees Slick was a pain, but he hurt no one, and it took a long time for him to create an ego. Quire insists Slick was just a liar, and he doesn't need a retreat but just a haircut. He just learned he was adopted, and Xavier's dream never comes true. Hank has Quire's test results: his blood sugar is burning 15 times faster than normal in his brain. They'd like to keep him for observation; it may be a secondary mutation.

  Quire goes to Carnation's chalk outline, now graffitied with "Mutant Scum. He deserved it." Quire says everyone deserves it: Xavier's a fake, his parents are strangers. He pulls out an inhaler and wonders if the drugs can hurt him; then he goes for a haircut, asking to look like the old picture of Namor.

Summary

  Cover name was changed to "New X-Men" for Issues 114 - 156.