Here’s the thing: I love Scott Summers.  But lately, he hasn’t made that easy.  His characterization has been all over the place, and he’s been treating some of the people closest to him pretty terribly.  And through it all, we haven’t gotten much of a look into his head.  What is he doing?  What is he feeling?  Is he really as confident as he seems?

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this issue of Uncanny X-Men solves all of those problems.  Scott has a lot to answer for, and I know enough about comics to know that the things a character does don’t always have the on-panel consequences they should.  But for the first time in awhile, I feel like I KNOW Scott.  I feel like I know why he’s doing what he’s doing, and I feel like it’s taking a toll on him — something he’s been loathe to show before now.

Scott Summers is trying to be a leader to his people.  He’s trying to do something he’s never done before — act as a leader of a nation, rather than the leader of a combat squad.  And he’s realizing his own limitations.  The act of forming a brand new country is a complicated one, on both practical and political grounds.  How do you keep your people safe — and how do you make sure they have all the necessities of life, like fresh water and health care?  This is what Scott is dealing with.  And it’s not easy (as the subtle comparisons to Namor, another leader of a people currently under the X-Men’s roof, make clear).  The stress and the responsibilities are making him bite people’s heads off unnecessarily, as he does to the San Francisco mayor in a great scene.  It’s also making him treat some of his closest friends like tools to be used, and causing him to appear cold and distant and lacking in empathy.  But I finally get the sense that he KNOWS this is a problem, that he regrets it, but that he’s simply doing what he feels he has to do to make this new plan a success.

This issue showed a Scott Summers who is a great leader, a leader with a plan and a direction. When he says to Xavier (in possibly my favorite scene in the book), “You had a dream; I have a plan,” it’s a great, completely true line.  But he’s also lost.  He’s facing things he never imagined he would face.  And he’s admitting that he’s in a little over his head, as he explains to his circle of trusted teammates, and as he expresses to Emma in his moment of frustration near the end.  Scott Summers is taking the weight of the mutant world on his shoulders, and while he certainly has his flaws, I have to admire him for giving it all he’s got.