Art by I don’t know and I despretly want to credit them
- Name: Quintavius Quirinius Quire
- Code Names: Kid Omega
- First Appearance: New X-Men #134 (Jan ’03)
- Powers: Telepathy
- Teams Affiliation: Omega Gang, X-Men, Hellfire Club
About
As much as I hate to admit it, I am not a great person. I am angry, arrogant, entitled, and unkind. I have good qualities as well, but too often the other side, the personality traits I constantly try to keep buried, emerge to the surface. Even if intellectually I know it is bogus, emotionally I always feel like I am right, that my opinion is the most valid. I feel like the world has wronged me and there is nothing that can be done to right that. Hell, this site mostly exists because I love the validation I get from strangers on the internet about my opinions on fiction (and I appreciate you guys stroking my ego in the form of a Google Analytics counter). I’m a petulant 14-year-old child wrapped up in a man suit that was convincing enough for banks to give me a mortgage. I write all this self-deprecation because, while it is easy to find a character that resonates with who you want to be, it is much rarer to find one the reflects your worst qualities. I can’t stand Quentin Quire because that pink haired brat reminds me all too much about everything I hate about myself.
Quentin Quire first appeared mid-way through Grant Morrison’s seminal New X-Men run. His parents shipped him off to the Xavier Institute when the school opened its’ doors to a wider group of mutants. He was a quiet, if brilliant, student. He became a close friend to Glob Herman, developed a floating base for No-Girl’s brain, was influenced by mutant pop culture icon Jumbo Carnation, and nurtured infatuation on Sophie Cuckoo. On his birthday, the young telepath’s world began to crumble. Jumbo Carnation was dead in the streets, and his mother informed him over the phone that he was actually adopted. The rage of a mistreated teenage began to boil within him, and he decided that only he could right the wrongs of this cruel world. Taking inspiration from Carnation’s fashion designs, and the Daily Bugle’s original depiction of mutants, Quire remade himself as the be all end all of mutation. He became Kid Omega.
Art by Keron Grant, Norm Rapmund, and J. D. Smith
Quire became aggressively outspoken against the leadership of the school, challenging Xavier’s dream and sounding more and more like a mutant supremacist. He enlisted Glob and some other students to follow him as his Omega Gang. Worse, the boy began taking the mutant designer drug Kick to enhance his abilities at the risk of burning them out. Quire led the Omega Gang in attacks against humans in retaliation for Jumbo’s death, but he wasn’t ready to stop there.
Art by Frank Quitely, Tim Townsend, and Chris Chuckry
Xavier planned to open the institute to the public, to allow them to see what the mutants were doing at their school in the hills of Westchester. Quire led his gang in capturing Xavier and starting a riot on the grounds while the public watched on. The riot quickly got out of hand and the Omega Gang didn’t let anyone, mutant or human, stand in their way. The faced against the X-Men who revealed that the details of Jumbo Carnation’s death were recently unearthed. The fashion icon, the catalyst behind the riot, died from an overdose of Kick, and the revelation rocked Quire. With the foundation of his movement broken, the X-Men revealed their secret weapon, the Cuckoos. The five-in-one used their telepathic connection, enhanced by Cerebra, to stop Quire. He was devastated by the failure of his movement and further crushed when the mental strain the Cuckoos underwent to stop it manifested by killing Sophie.
Art by Frank Quitely, Tim Townsend, and Chris Chuckry
The mental strain, combined with his abuse of Kick, caused Quire to undergo a secondary mutation. His body converted to pure energy, trapped in the basement of the X-Mansion. He would stay that way until a fragment of the Phoenix Force returned to Earth to find a host. Sensing his immense psychic powers, it reconstituted his body before seeking another host. Quire used to opportunity to try and resurrect Sophie whose rejection pushed him back to his incorporeal state. When the X-Men moved to Utopia, Quire decided it would be fun to try and beat No-Girl in a battle of wits, with the globe on the line. However, the brain in a jar was able to outmatch Quire and enlisted the Cuckoos to banish him yet again.
Art by David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez, and John Rauch
The pre-teen Black King of the Hellfire Club, Kade Kilgore, was able to release Quire from his containment unit and decided to just wait and see what the brat would do. True to form, Quire caused an international incident and then petitioned for political asylum on Utopia. This kicked off the great Schism and tore the X-Men in two. Wolverine decided that sending Quire to prison would only harden the boy and he convinced Captain America to allow him to be a ward of the newly established Jean Grey School.
Quire was reluctant to become a productive member of the Jean Grey School, but his need to be the center of attention got the better of him. When the Hellfire Club attacked the school with a Krakoa, Quentin was there to stop them, even if he still put on his rebellious front. Wolverine took a keen interest in his development as a person and became a mentor to the boy, as did Captain America. He found a friend in Broo and a crush in Idie Okonkwo. He even became student body president. Things began to change when Broo was shot by the Hellfire Club. One by one his entire support structure defected to the Hellfire Academy and Quire took it on himself to get to the bottom of it.
Art by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend
Quire was about as good of a student at the Hellfire Academy as he was at the Jean Grey School. He got called into the principal’s office where Kade Kilgore had just the solution to fixing his rebellious nature, the Siege Perilous. Oddly, the gateway rejected Kid Omega, a feat that had never happened before. Alongside Toad, he led a mission to rescue his friends from Hellfire and was able to help take down the group. It was enough for Wolverine to call him rehabilitated. Quentin Quire was finally graduating.
Art by Chris Bachalo and Tim Townsend
Quire became an instructor at the school that next semester, and more importantly got an amazing sweater, but he still struggled with the chip on his shoulder. The older staff didn’t trust him, the students didn’t respect him, and when a time traveler came to predict his future he just couldn’t take it. After a trip to the future, he inherited a large corporation and joined the Hellfire Club as the new White King. None of it fulfilled him and the death of Wolverine only embittered him more. That is where he has been since, bitter, angry, and totally alone.
Art by Mahmud Asrar and Israel Silva
Must Read
I’ve talked about my feeling towards Aaron’s Wolverine & the X-Men before. Short story, I like it a lot less than most so it isn’t getting the nod here. That’s largely because I never really bought into Quire’s rehabilitation. Latour’s run on the book played with some interesting concepts but was a confusing mess at the end of the day. That really leaves Grant Morrison’s Riot at Xavier’s as the top recommendation and luckily it is the best part of his game-changing run. Riot quickly develops Quire as a sympathetic, but wholly wicked antagonist. He is the unrestrained Id of all teenage boys given psychic powers. Frank Quitely proves again in this book why is he is a modern master. It is all you could want in a story about the school. You can find it on Marvel Unlimited or in a bunch of different collections.
Art by Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend
Ranking
I may not like Kid Omega as a person, but that doesn’t make him a bad character. Morrison used him to fantastic effect with Riot and Aaron made him a character who resonated with many readers. He ended up way more interesting than many of the students that came before. I can’t justify putting him higher than Apocalypse as I think the villain leaves more of an impact every time he shows up on the page. I can’t put him under Strong Guy because Guido just doesn’t resonate with the wide number of fans that Quire does. That lands him nicely as the new number 16 in Xavier Files.
Kid Omega was requested by /u/kungfuslime on Reddit, Shane Stenson on tumblr, and most importantly Jude from Patreon. Thanks for the request guys. If you want to cut to the front of the line like Jude, we have a Patreon if you want to support it and get a line cutting reward for just a $1 pledge. We just hit our first goal and are now working toward the $25 dollar goal where I review X-Books every week in some form, maybe even interpretative dance.
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Next week we get our argue if Cypher is the best or the worst! See you then!
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
