David Brothers has an interesting article up over at 4thletter that's worth perusing if you've ever read Grant Morrison's New X-Men run (or if you're thinking about doing so, though I'd steer clear if you've somehow managed to get through the last eight years without having it fairly comprehensively spoiled for you). In short, Brothers argues that Morrison took the "oppressed minority" metaphor and updated it for the 21st Century. Specifically, he gave them a culture, and suggested that mutants were the new in thing, just so long as they could be seen as essentially accessories and/or playthings for the human majority. The instant mutants didn't want to play ball, it was right back to fear and loathing in Mutant Town.
Brothers has a very compelling case, and I've long had similar, much less well-ordered thoughts on the subject. I initially disliked Morrison's run because it deviated so much from the template, and even now I think the run had more than its share of flaws, but I can't really argue with Brothers that those issues were the last time that the X-Universe really tried to make something of the central metaphor that attracted me (and so many others) to the books in the first place. It might be time to dig those issues out again and have another look.
No comments:
Post a Comment