Once again, I’m happy to call attention to David Canham’s series of articles over at Sequart about Jonathan Hickman’s House of X/Powers of X series.

In this entry, David looks at the compromises Charles Xavier, Magneto, and others make for the sake of the greater good. Here is an excerpt:

“Many works of creative writing, including novels, poems, dramas, and songs, have centered around the Faustian bargain; the protagonist making a deal with the devil or some other evil being in order to gain riches / knowledge / power or sometimes to achieve a supposed greater good. Most end tragically, when the costs of the bargain catch up with the protagonist. The question is a common one: do the ends justify the means? Is there anything so ‘good’ that you would indebt yourself to someone completely ‘evil’ to attain it? Mister Sinister clearly calls the pact with Prof. X and Magneto ‘our sinful, secret confederacy’. What Prof. X wants Sinister to do – collect and index the DNA of every mutant – he calls ‘the good work’; but he also apparently fears ‘what it will one day cost.'”

Read the entire article here.