The Four Color Media Monitor

In the latest Uncanny X-Men volume, former New Mutants and X-Factor member Rahne Sinclair, alias Wolfsbane, died after being assaulted by hoodlums, and here's the most disturbing part, along with news of another character who perished for no good reason:

While defending a world that hates and fears them more than ever before, the X-Men were rocked by a pair of surprise deaths in Uncanny X-Men #16. But while Joseph, an erstwhile Magneto clone, was beheaded on-panel by the psychic assassin Kwannon, the sudden death of Wolfsbane, the werewolf-esque member of X-Factor and a founding New Mutant, was only announced at the end of the issue.

As the X-Men grieve their fallen friend in Uncanny X-Men #17, the tragic details of her death are revealed for the first time.

After growing up in an abusive household and experiencing an unusual amount of trauma in her superhero career, the series' previous issue saw Rahne Sinclair leave the X-Men to try and start a normal life for herself. Just hours into her new life, Rahne was sitting in a park when a group of men started harassing her. As she rejected their advances, her mutant powers instinctively kicked in and transformed her into a more lupine form. After reflexively clawing one of the mutant-hating attackers in the face, she recoiled and insisted that she was normal as her attackers began beating her with lethal force.

While Wolfsbane could have used her powers or training to fend off her attackers, Rahne refused to fight back, ultimately dying in the pursuit of the peaceful life that had always eluded her. Her death didn't save the universe, but she still perished fighting, in her way, for something that she believed in.

Although Wolverine and Kwannon track down and execute Rahne's killers during her funeral, this incident exemplifies the kind of anti-mutant harassment that the X-Men have always strived to prevent.

There's just one little problem - Rahne didn't prevent her own murder at the hands of the criminals, and even if Marvel are planning to revive her through the revolving door later on, this is just another a line of farces that's surely longer than the Grand Canyon. She's miserable in this existence on the mortal plane, so she wants to ascend to heaven?!? That's just plain despicable, and even if the criminals lost in the end, they still won, in a way.

So, it's no wonder this once popular franchise has fallen so far. They're looking for some very cheap excuses to wipe out any character they so choose in order to boost sales in the short term.

Labels: dreadful writers, golden calf of death, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, violence, women of marvel, X-Men