[PREV - TARTUFFE]    [TOP]

BRAND_X

                                              June 13, 2006

     
  The original X-Men from         
  1963 was a Stan Lee/Jack      
  Kirby creation, fusing   
  together a scenario from           Genetic mutations producing       
  Science Fiction novels             a new race of super humans:       
  with the superhero genre.          "Slan", "Children of the Atom" ...
                               
                            
  A scattered collection             Two years previously,
  of super beings have               Stan Lee had made his
  been collected together            breakthrough with the
  into this group by                 "Fantastic Four", a  
  Xavier.                            reaction to the      
                                     popularity of DC's   
       It's simply                   "Justice League".    
       asserted that      
       they are                  
       "mutations", a         The strange colorful    
       new species,           individual variations    
       the "homo              resulting from a single    
       superior".             "mutation" is extremely 
                              unlikely, and no attempt      
                              is made to explain it.     It's just a given of 
                                                         the superhero genre, 
 The kinds of "powers"                                   which happens to work 
 and the way these                                       well with the "mutant 
 affect the characters                                   outcast" scenario. 
 are very similar to                                     
 other Marvel creations                                           
 of the period --                                          
      
   Powerful characters    
   often with physical                       
   weaknesses and                                          
   personal flaws.           (Stan Lee was the source of  
                             the super-soap sub-genre.) 
                                        
 There's the Cyclops with                                  
 his lack of control over                                  
 his laser beam eyes, and                                  
 the need for an external     Reminiscent, of say,         
 agency (visor/ dark          "The Thing", who          Then there's the 
 shades) to control them;     would like to be          wheel-chair bound
 and his romantic mooning     able to shut off his      "Professor X".   
 over Jean Grey.              thingness, but is         
                              stuck without a           
 Aka "Marvel Girl":           secret identity.          
 The token female of                                       
 the group who seems             The required external 
 like a very underpowered        agency sounds much        
 drip of a character.            like "Iron-Man"           
                                 and his high tech         
      (Much like                 pace-maker.               
      the Fantastic Four's                                 
      "Invisible Girl")                      
                                                                 

    As time goes on                                          
    and different
    writer's work                           Interesting thing about
    on the project,                         "mutate"... it's an
    many of these                           inherently passive verb.
    parameters change...
                                                   You don't go out
       The capabilities                            and mutate something.
       of "Marvel Girl"
       (later "Pheonix")                              It just happens.
       are ramped up,
       and different themes
       are deployed in a
       new more feminist      Like: "Absolute       
       era.                   power corrupts                      
                              absolutely,                            
                              especially if        A favorite of   
                              you're a woman."     Chris Claremont:
                                                   the same motif  
                                                   occurs later    
                                                   with Storm.     


--------
[NEXT - NAME_OF_THE_SAINT]