Dark X-Men: the Beginning #3 - Marvel

In the first story in this book, Emma is trying to figure out why Namor has agreed to join Osborn's X-Men. Surprisingly, Namor has allowed her access to his psyche . . which she readily jumped at. Apparently she wants to make sure that his real reason . . his subconscious reason, is the same as his verbal response. It's funny . . when she's probing his mind she finds out that he's got his responses to the surface world compartmentalized. She sees 3 doors . . Negotiate, Attack, Sue. I don't know if she's just playing coy, but she acts like she doesn't know that one is about Sue Richards. "Odd. I never imagined you'd be one for legal action. There are some really odd sounds coming from behind this one, too." Anyways, it turns out that his curiosity is fueled by his dread of the word 'mutant', and his anxiety about exploring that world since he's discovered he is one. Plus, I think there's a certain amount of attraction between him and Emma. This chapter was brought to us by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk. In the second story, we see Norman's attempt at wrangling Mystique into his little club. It ends up the bait he needed was Logan. She's still pissed about him leaving her for dead in the Afghan desert. So when he dangles Daken in front of her . . she's practically drooling. And, like any group she joins . . she's going to be the wild-card. This part of the story is by Jason Aaron and Jock. Finally, we see Norman's attempt at getting Jeanne-Marie Beaubier in his group. Basically . . he side-swipes her. He's gotten to her therapist, and after a session gets her to put a contraption on her head. He tells her it's a form of EEG. Actually, it's a thalamizer. "It's primary function is to identify the centers of activity in your parietal cortex and . . by means of inverse induction . . to negate them. Which is to say . . it blocks your consciousness." Basically, it's letting her more 'wild', 'promiscuous' personality out. Which is what Norman wants in the person he wants on the X-Men. What he didn't tell her is that the device can also " . . identify the parts of you postcentral gyrus . . that's where your pain lives . . which your second personality uses the most. Then nuke them. I'm told it's like being flayed by ice. At any rate, you can't just sidestep back to ego #1 'cause it's still blocked." However, Jeanne-Marie has another trick up her sleeve . . she can develop more personalities. Which throws off the device for a little while as it readjusts. She keeps this up until she gets him to the point where he pulls a gun on her. "What's so special about #8?", he asks. "She's reckless!", is her reply, as she grabs the gun and shoots the device off her own head. She then calls Norman out on his own predominant personality, and tells him where to shove his offer. I like this chapter the best of all 3. It was by Simon Spurrier and Paul Davidson. Overall I enjoyed this mini-series. It wasn't really necessary. I don't think it'll lessen your enjoyment of the Utopia story-line. But . . it was a guilty pleasure. Norman doesn't cross paths with this circle of people very often. It was interesting to see how they reacted to each other. That's what I think I liked about that last story-line the best. It was one instance where Norman wasn't able to just steam-roll over somebody. It was poetic justice.