#xaos

And defeating him in a way that didn't require over powering him:

Saving some kids:

In which a writer (Jed <3) has finally addressed Wong’s problematic portrayal and we’re very grateful for it.

I’ll repost the very first page because there are two things I want to address here.

First is, Wong's father is called Hamir. But Wong is a surname, not a first name, so it’s possible that Wong is a family name in this context. Besides, there’s a non-616 reference to Wong’s first name in Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #9, in which is revealed to be Jason. This is not canon in 616 but I'd love that as much as I’d love his long hair to be a thing.

Second is the fact that FINALLY someone addressed the problematic narrative of servitude that I’ve been talking about for ages. And even though Stephen refused to be called master, it doesn't exempt 60 years of bad writing, especially knowing Wong is a POC. His entire life was shaped by it and I cannot stress how problematic it is for both representation AND his subjectivity as well.

Wong doesn’t blame Hamir, but it’s still a systematic problem and unfortunately it hasn’t been properly vanquished from the Sorcerer Supreme’s lore. It just pains me that, even though I’m aware that Wong loves Stephen, I’m not comfortable with the idea that his life is centered around the Sorcerer Supreme (same goes for Clea and Stephen btw). This is why I loved the fact that he moved in v4 and decided to start his life anew. I keep saying this every week but I’ll always vouch for Wong to have his own mantle outside Stephen’s lore.

Now, back to the chapter. We’re finally introduced to Flickering Jenny and I regret ever loving her at first sight because she’s not good news, as seen at the end of the chapter.

Off-topic but this panel of Bats has so much meme potential, I can’t!!

Okay, another detail is how Wong’s guilt works here. Because he also feels responsible for his Stranges...

And so Wong wants his memory back. Of course, Jenny would give twisted advice because it interests her that Wong stays in the dark. But he’s not happy about it and so he calls Black Widow to seek some tactical advice.

Important: Natasha is a dog person!

Natasha doesn’t know much about what they’re up against but she can tell that the cartel is after the Sorcerer Supreme because she’s preventing them from controlling territories.

Next, a gang called The Lost Boys corners Wong and Bats. And I absolutely ADORED THESE PANELS.

They portray Wong’s rage and frustration with such sensibility and depth. He has so many reasons to go wild and I’m just so grateful it was depicted this way because it gives him the layers he deserves as a character. It’s just so infuriating, the fact that Marvel adapts some aspects of the MCU and adds them into the 616 (Agatha looking like her MCU version in Midnight Suns, for starters, but I could go on and on), so why is it so hard to give Wong the proper depth? A better, less problematic characterization that depicts him as his own person, full of layers and sides we don’t know yet? Better yet, his own mantle? MCU!Wong has it all, even though he’s underused. Surely they can do the same in comics!! I’m begging at this point. I’m very grateful for Jed but this is not even the beginning for a character who has been wronged for 60 years!

Anyways, back to the chapter. They’re now heading to the X-Men!

I need to explain this part real quick. I was not expecting Mysterium to be the main conflict between Clea and the mutants. If you read Hellfire Gala (or saw my posts), you know why Clea has reasons to be mad at the mutants. Emma refused resurrecting Stephen, even though he has helped them plenty of times (Jean mentions Extraordinary X-Men, when Stephen and the magic community helped Illyana teleport the school to Limbo, but I could mention the several times Stephen aided Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Xavier and even Emma herself. Also, no need to mention Illyana, right?)

Instead, Jed opted for mentioning Mysterium. For those who don’t read X-Men: Red and/or Guardians of the Galaxy, Mysterium is a new element made by mutants, with antimagic properties. The Guardians and Doom used a giant bullet of said element to defeat Dormammu, the Living Ego. So yep, this is probably a clue, even though I wonder if it will be explored it all, assuming Marvel hinted Fall of X. Besides, it’s odd that magic users such as Illyana and Pixie didn’t mention the issues with Mysterium. But I digress...

Let’s take a look at Wong’s memories.

There are two elements I haven't mentioned yet. One is a reference to The Oath, in which Stephen tries to find a cure for Wong’s cancer. No writer has ever explored Wong’s cancer again, which I find a missed opportunity.

But the second gives me mixed feelings. This is hardly one of my favorite stories, so quick context: Imei was Wong’s promised fiancée, chosen by the order that protects the Sorcerer Supreme. In other words, Wong was forced to create a family so his son would serve the next SS. At some point, he learned how to love her, but she was killed by Salomé before they could get married. Wong blamed Stephen for it and was seduced by a demon called Xaos who used Imei’s shape to deceive him and seek vengeance. Yep... 90′s, am I right?

I don’t like this arc for obvious reasons but well, it was not ignored by Jed. He really went through the last issues of Sorcerer Supreme and for that, I salute him.

Back to the spell, Jean has to go deeper in order to defeat it. As a defense mechanism, it gives Wong his worst memories. And thus, we have the most painful of all, the one that hurt even us readers.

Despite the pain, Wong retrieves his memory, and now he knows what to do.

Back to the Bar With No Doors, he confronts Flickering Jenny, who turns out to be a former agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s magic division. The Blasphemy Cartel is W.A.N.D. and they want to assassinate Jenny.

And so, the chapter ends.

I absolutely adored this chapter and I think there should be more like this one starring Wong, or at least exploring his layers. It was good to see Garbett’s art again, although I love both Garbett’s and Marcelo Ferreira’s works.

I don’t know what the Blasphemy Cartel wants yet, but since I’m not familiar with S.H.I.E.L.D., the revelation didn’t hit me that hard.

With that said, I can’t wait for tomorrow’s issue. Clea and Stephen will meet again and it will be SAD (I have sources that told me what’s going to happen so expect ANGST).