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                                              June 13, 2006


        "The author would also like to acknowledge
        the makers of comic book villains and
        superheroes, those who invented, or at
        least popularized, the notion of the
        normal, mild-mannered person transformed
        into mutant by freak accident, with the
        mutant thereafter driven by a strange
        hybrid of the most rancid bitterness and
        the most outrageous hope to do very, very
        odd and silly things, many times in the
        name of Good.  The makers of comic books
        seemed to be onto something there."

                        -- Dave Eggers,
                           "A Heartbreaking Work
                            of Staggering Genius" (2000)
                           p. xi - xii
                                                    STAGGERING

  The original X-Men was
  a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby      Two years previously,
  creation in 1963.          Lee/Kirby had made a          The Four -- like
                             breakthrough with the         Spider-man -- are
                             "Fantastic Four", a           ostensibly the
  It fused together a        reaction to the               creations of freak
  scenario from science      popularity of DC's            accidents involving
  fiction novels with        "Justice League",             radiation.
  the superhero genre:       re-working some
  genetic mutations          elements of Doc Savage.       The X-Men are a
  producing a new race                                     slightly
  of super humans.           DOC_SAVAGE                    different scenario:
                                                           products of freak
  The X-Men were a        Science Fiction:                 accidents from
  collection of                                            before they
  teenagers gathered      "Slan", "Children                were born.
  together by Xavier.     of the Atom" ...
                                                               Doomed by a
  Xavier's recruits were  THE_SECRET_MASTERS_OF_DESTINY        quirk of fate,
  often literally                                              or doomed from
  outcasts, at risk of                                         birth.
  being lynched by
  fearful mobs...                                                But they
  Because after all, they                           Not even     have not
  were a risk to anyone                             the Hulk.    choosen
  close to them, because                                         their fate.
  of their strange,
  uncontrolled powers.                                           MONSTERS

  Xavier provides a
  hiding place for them,   The cover story is
  a retreat where they     that he's running an
  can try to control       exclusive private
  their capabilities.      school: "Xavier's         Somewhat less plausibly,
                           School for Gifted         he's also turning them
  This is an extremely     Children".                into a combat unit,
  powerful story, that                               complete with uniforms.
  resonates deeply            A "secret identity"
  on a number of levels:      for a group, rather            Just givens of
                              than an individual.            the super-hero
  These children pass                                        genre.
  from a world of
  bigotry and hostility                                      But what does
  into a civilized                                           that explain?
  realm; their strange    It's asserted
  natures go from         that they are                        Why these genre
  hated to valued         "mutations",      But a single       conventions and
  in a single step.       a new species:    mutation that      not some other?
                          the Homo          could generate    
     SEEKING              Superior.         all these
                                            strange          
                            (Yet another    colorful         
                            strange         individual       
                            dumbing         variations is    
                            down of a       extremely
                            Nietzschean     unlikely.
                            notion...)      
    A common Marvel                         
    theme of the period:                   
                                       
    The great power that               
    is bound together                  
    with a weakness.             A conviction that
                                 nothing comes for
                                 free? 
                                       
                                       
    A second, related theme:           
                                       
    The great power does not           
    solve any of the ordinary       Also the theme of
    human problems.                 the Philip Wylie novel     Lee & Kirby
                                    "Gladiator" (1930)         put back
    Lee/Kirby heroes are                                       in some
    typically vaguely unhappy,                                 elements
    mildly neurotic people:                                    that Siegel
    all-too-human supermen.     Marvel often                   and Schuster
                                seems like the                 skipped.
    There's the                 source of the
    Cyclops with                super-soap
    his lack of                 sub-genre.
    control over                                But you can make
    his ray-beam                                a case for that
    eyes, and the                               beginning with
    need for his                                "The Scarlet
    "quartz" visor                              Pimpernel"
    to contain                                  (play: 1903, 
    them.                                       novel: 1905).


    And his          That visor can be
    endless          compared to "Iron-Man"
    romantic         and the high tech
    mooning over     proto-pacemaker built
    Jean Grey...     into his armor's chest     The powerful
                     plate, forcing him to      armor which
    Aka "Marvel      wear it constantly to      *cannot* be
    Girl": The       survive.                   taken off...    That's
    token female                                                a basic
    of the group         And both are                           Marvel
    who seems            reminiscent, of "The                   comics
    like a very          Thing", who would                      notion.
    underpowered         like to be able to
    drip of a            shut off his
    character.           thingness, but is       Then there's the
                         stuck without a         wheel-chair bound
    (Much like           secret identity.        "Professor X":
    the Fantastic                                a powerful
    Four's                 Spider-Man            "mentalist" in
    "Invisible             is an odd             a damaged body
    Girl")                 one in this
                           series, a                 (Note: Stephen
As time goes on            subtle case                Hawking became
and different              where just                 a big hit
teams work                 having the                 much later.)
on the project,            power is the
many of these              drawback.
parameters change...
                           "With great power
The capabilities           comes great
of "Marvel Girl"           responsibility"
(later "Phoenix")
are ramped up,                Presuming you *are*
and different themes          responsible, then
are deployed in a             power is an annoying
new more feminist             imposition.
era.

  Like: "Absolute
  power corrupts
  absolutely,
  especially if
  you're a woman."

      Chris Claremont
      used this same
      theme later            Interesting thing about
      with Storm as          "mutate"... it's an             (I wonder
      group leader.          inherently passive verb.        what jargon
                                                             they use
                                    You don't go out         in the
                                    and mutate something.    recombinant
                                                             DNA biz.
                                       It just happens.      Probably
                                                             the same
                                                             as in
                                                             gardening:
                                                             "hybridize".)




                                 "Look at your children,
                                  See their faces in golden rays...
                                  Don't kid yourself they belong to you,
                                  They're the start of a coming race
                                  The earth is a bitch --
                                  We've finished our news --
                                  Homo Sapiens have outgrown their use...
                                  All the strangers came today;
                                  And it looks as though they're here to stay"

                                     -- David Bowie, "Oh! You Pretty Things"
                                        "Hunky Dory" (1971)


                                        CULT_OF_BOWIE






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