I first came to know about the X-men through the excellent early 90's television series. It, like Batman the Animated Series, gave me a sense of wonder, adventure and excitement when I was a child. However, with X-men I got my first glimpse into a topic that would end up being the focus of my academic study when I was a student, as well as the field of research specialization in my career: Social Inequality. It was through the X-men that I took my first steps into a larger world; understanding mature concepts like privilege, discrimination, segregation, genocide, normalization through colorful characters that would fight each other.
The X-men are no strangers to social commentary. Since their inception, "The X-men" and other related characters have been used as an allegory for holocaust survivors, people of color, LGBTQAI, Persons with disabilities (PWDs) or any other social outcast or alienated group (e.g. angst ridden teenagers that made up most of the comics readership). Although the X-men were originally created as an easy way to explain their superpower origins (ala "They're a mutant"), the growing multiculturalism and diversity of the X-men roster (across it's multiple monthly comic book titles) means that a reader can find at least one X-men character that looks like them/and or they can identify with; which is difficult in our media saturated world where most of our heroes depicted or portrayed by straight, white, able-bodied men. Credit for this vibrantly diverse world of "real" characters needs to be given to Chris Claremont.
Stan Lee may have created the X-men, but it was Chris Claremont that gave them life. In Chris Claremont's tenure as the chief writer of many X-men and X-men related titles; over the years he expanded the X-men universe exponentially. He gave us the origin of Magneto (pairing him off with Xavier as loosely representing the ideological differences of Malcolm X and MLK), the Phoenix and the Dark Pheonix sagas, Days of Future Past, Nightcrawler, Storm, Rouge, Mystique, Wolverine and the highly underrated and overlooked Kitty Pryde. Claremont not only introduced these great stories and characters, but he is responsible for making the X-men socially relevant and socially conscious. From the idea of the mutant registration act, (forcing Mutants to have to register with the government), genocide through the Sentinal program, the notion of a cure for the mutant X-gene, and the Morlocks. Claremont echoed the struggles of Jews, people of color, LGBTQAI, and PWDs. (It is these socially relevant ideas that has lead to great casting opportunities in the X-men film Franchise.) Claremont made sure that the outcasts of the Marvel Universe, in reality, represented all people in maligned and marginalized groups; myself included.
As I have mentioned previously on this blog I was born with a mild form of Cerebral Palsy. To that end, I knew that I was different and that the world I lived in wasn't constructed for me, it was constructed for others; people who were "normal". It was because of this know difference and feelings of being an outcast that, I gravitated to the X-men when I was a pre-teen and teenage boy. I hoped, against my rational judgment, that because I was physically different it was possible that I could also be a mutant. Because, if I have a physical disability/deformity, life would seek to balance that out by giving me a really cool mutant power. It did not happen ( at least not that I know of ). Instead, I found a kinship with these characters that has only grown as I've gotten older. I now believe that the popularity of the X-men, unlike other superhero teams like the Avengers or the Justice League, comes from its diversity and its ability to be relatable to all people.
The relatable tradition that was started with Claremont continues in the works of Brian Michael Bendis (who is also doing Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel: Now) and Brian Wood. Together their respective "All New X-men and "X-men" runs embrace socially conscious diversity that tackles social inequality as an intersectional problem across age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, social class and sexuality.
Out of the two, I would personally recommend Brian Wood's X-men. This is the first X-men team made up of an all female roster lead by Storm and Rachel Summers( see Image below) being the headmasters of the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning (created after the events of Schism). There is even an on the nose joke about calling themselves X-men (because they don't like the terms "X-(wo)men" "X-ladies") and they have as yet to think of something better. Also, Storm has her 80's Mohawk back which is awesome!!!!
