Mojo (comics)

Mojo is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually those featuring the X-Men family of characters. Created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist Arthur Adams, Mojo first appeared in Longshot #3 (Nov. 1985), as the titular hero's archenemy, and subsequently a villain to the X-Men and their various sub-groups as well.

Mojo is one of the "Spineless Ones", an alien race that is immobile without advanced technology. He is a slaver who rules the Mojoverse, a dimension where all beings are addicted to his gladiator-like television programs. The character is an absurdist parody of network executives, and was inspired by Nocenti's reading of media critics Marshall McLuhan, Noam Chomsky, and Walter Lippmann.

At the time she wrote the Longshot miniseries, writer Ann Nocenti was pursuing her Master's degree at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, working at the magazine Lies of Our Times, and reading the work of writers like Marshall McLuhan, Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman and Walter Lippmann. Mojo, a slaver and dictator who rules his dimension through the television programs he produces, was created as a direct result of these influences. (A character named Manufactured Consent, after the Chomsky book of the same name, who appeared in Nocenti's 1990 The New Mutants Summer Special, was also born of these works.) Artist Art Adams designed the character per Nocenti's instructions that he be disgusting and unpleasant, and also tried to make him look frightening. The wires that hold Mojo's eyelids open, thus preventing him from blinking, were inspired by an interview with actor Malcolm McDowell on Late Night with David Letterman, in which McDowell revealed that the similar apparatus he had to wear for the Ludovico technique scene in A Clockwork Orange had scarred his corneas. The rest of the equipment attached to Mojo's head controls his mechanized chair.

Mojo first appeared in Longshot #3 (Nov. 1985), and was the main villain of the miniseries, appearing in the subsequent three issues.

The character subsequently appeared in The New Mutants Annual #2 (1986). That same year, in The Uncanny X-Men Annual #10, Mojo appeared as the villain in the story, which saw Longshot join the X-Men. In 1988, Mojo appeared in a backup story in The Uncanny X-Men Annual #12. He was the main villain of the one-shot special Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem (Dec. 1989). Subsequent appearances include Marvel Comics Presents #89 (1991), The Uncanny X-Men Annual #15 (1991), Wolverine vol. 2 #52 (March 1992), X-Men #6 (March 1992), Wolverine vol. 2 #53 (April 1992), X-Men #7 (April 1992), #10-11 (July–Aug. 1992), The Uncanny X-Men Annual 16 (1992), Marvel Comics Presents #119 (1993), What If? vol. 2 #59 (March 1994), X-Men Adventures: Season Two #11 (Dec. 1994), Marvel: Portraits of the Universe #1 (March 1995), X-Men: Mutations #1 (1996), Youngblood/X-Force #1 (July 1996), X-Force/Youngblood #1 (Aug. 1996), X-Force #60-61 (Nov.–Dec. 1996), The Adventures of the X-Men #9-10 (1996-Jan. 1997), X-Babies: Murderama #1 (Jan. 1998), X-Force #76 (April 1998), X-Babies Reborn #1 (Jan. 2000), X-Men Unlimited #32 (Sept. 2001), Exiles #18-19 (Dec. 2002-Jan. 2003), The Uncanny X-Men #460-461 (Aug. 2005), and Exiles #73-74 (Feb. 2006).

Mojo was featured in an entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #8, and in the All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7 (2006).

Mojo appears in Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #2 (2024). Mojo is a major antagonist in the ongoing series NYX (vol. 2). Kofi Outlaw of ComicBook.com commented that "Mojo has been a consistent villain in his design – fate, yellow, slug-like" but "NYX has given Mojo a more active-looking design, with his cybernetics, armor, leather wristbands and a long, spiked, cybernetic tail".

Mojo is an alien from another dimension whose species lacks skeletons and were driven insane by otherdimensional energy. After the scientist Arize develops exoskeletons to allow them greater mobility, some choose not to use them and become known as the Spineless Ones. Instead, they use motorized platforms to transport their bodies and had Arize create artificial slaves for them. However, they ultimately banish Arize after he refuses to build weapons for them.^{[volume & issue needed]}