Astonishing X-men: Xenophobia?

[angelophile]

Four scans under the cut from Astonishing X-men: Xenogenesis, by Warren Ellis and Kaare Andrews, in which Wolverine talks about African politics, which I suspect will provoke much discussion.











X-men: Xenogenesis is a... curious beast. On one hand you have this scene and others, in which broad xenophobia and outright racism is given voice through Wolverine. On the other, you then have scenes earlier in the book where Beast calls Scott on referring to Africa as if it was a single country instead of a continent composed of multiple different countries and cultures which, for comics, could be considered vaguely progressive given the mash of stereotypes usually delivered during any story set on the continent.

Although it feels like some kind of bizarro world where Wolverine is calling out Mandella for using violence against a racist regime that oppressed millions based upon genetic heritage. Um, hello?

That said, I can actually see Wolverine being this ignorant and making these sorts of generalizations, but the other X-men apparently supporting him in doing so makes me feel like it's more Ellis' worldview being given voice through Wolverine. If Storm had turned to him and said "What a crock of horseshit", I suspect I'd be giving Ellis the benefit of the doubt, but as it is, in my mind this scene needed someone coming more strongly from the other direction to balance Wolverine's view.

Comments

[stubbleupdate]

Isn't Wolverine the best person to character to put across what he's saying because he's the one we can say "Oh, when you live to be 200, you get to be really cynical and only focus on the worst things in life." Logan's a killer. That's what he picks up on.

[angelophile]

He's also in a very tenuous position when it comes to calling people out for using violence against oppressors, seeing as last time we saw him he was coldly gutting an unarmed member of the Friends of Humanity, isn't he?

[thandrak]

Huh. Old Doctor Crocodile. I haven't seen him since Excalibur.

[darkknightjrk]

Oh, so he's an old comic character? For a moment I wondered if that was actually real--I've heard weirder stuff about movers and shakers in Africa.

[halloweenjack]

the other X-men apparently supporting him in doing so makes me feel like it's more Ellis' worldview being given voice through Wolverine.

Bingo. It's especially ironic given how many of the countries he named got that way as a direct result of the legacy of British imperialism. Really, the best thing about this is Armor's (that is her, right?) expression at being terrorized by Emma's breasts.

[sherkahn]

Logan is jaded about those, too.

"Seen better. Known better."

[lencannon]

Well, I don't think I can really argue that large swaths of Africa are areas I would really want to avoid living in. But I think his little Nelson Mandela diatribe should do more to make us question the United State's definition of terrorist than to question Mandela's leadership.

The new phantom of the opera character seems like it is going to wind up to be a major disaster. It might be too early to say. My awful story senses are just tingling pretty hard, though.

[lencannon]

oh, didn't relaize he was an old character.

Artfail

[seriousfic]

This just in, Emma Frost has breasts.

Re: Artfail

[greenmask]

Don't forget! It's IMPORTANT NEWS!

[shadowpsykie]

Logan is only stating facts, albeit it is facts without the supporting information

Logan is focusing on the What, instead of the why.

and also, the reason Storm isn't saying anything is, i suspect, because she is looking beyond wolverine's cynicsim and looking at the kernals of truth in what he is saying.

Scott is trying to play diplomat, trying to gloss over the whole thing. while logan is being the straight up Prosecutor. Emma tosses in the fact that Nelson Mandela was a good leader (yes he had a past but he put that aside to become a better leader)

Storm is the middle ground while Logan is the left, and Emma/Scott are teh right.

all that aside.... the art makes my eyes bleed.....

[mullon]

Warren Ellis putting a Mary Sue on a soapbox? Now I've seen everything.

[halloweenjack]

What is this world coming to, &c.

I just can't bring myself to read this.

[grimmbear]

The point of the comic is to expose Xenophobia so I guess it's making it's point but the artist's style is so offensive to my eyes that i'll only read this on audio tape or redrawn by someone with some knowledge of what women look like when the artist it not on mushrooms.

Re: I just can't bring myself to read this.

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, I can deal with Wolverine sounding like my dad, but that art is eye-burningly bad.

[dorksidefiker]

I am so glad I gave this book a pass.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

Kaare Andrews is a decent storyteller, but the comic flies completely off the goddamn rails whenever Emma's on panel, Hisako looks like Noodle from the Gorillaz, and Ororo's barely recognizable. It's oddly ballsy art for a mainstream comic book, particularly an X-book, but it kept me from picking up a copy... and I like Warren Ellis.

As to Logan's diatribe, everything he says is reasonably accurate. Rwanda is currently rebuilding after the genocide in 1994, with tourism as a growth industry, but Reporters Without Borders has a few troubling stories of press being silenced.

Uganda was in the news last year for trying to legislate homosexuals out of existence, and the refugee-producing conflict referenced here is the struggle between the Ugandan military and the Lord's Resistance Army.

Burundi is currently under a ceasefire in the civil wars from a few years ago, but the ongoing conflict has ravaged their economy. As is said here, the per capita gross income in Burundi is the absolute lowest of any nation on the planet.

In Tanzania, the leading cause of death among adults is HIV, and few people in the country have access to clean water or sanitation.

Finally, what is said here about Nelson Mandela appears to be factually accurate, but his Wikipedia page as of this writing has been vandalized and the references have been omitted. It is admitted early, however, that he did bomb government facilities early in his career.

There is more to the story here, obviously, in every instance cited. Many of the nations in question have only been out of British, German, or French control for around forty years, and many of them are rebuilding or recovering from worse conflicts in the last century. Is it racist, though, to say accurate if cynical things about a region that's currently well-known for genocide, starvation, pandemics, and civil war?

[angelophile]

I think "African heads of state are all the same. Put them in power and they all go nuts" is a line that's pretty indefensible. There's cynicism and then there's outright racism and xenophobia.

[perletwo]

OH GOD CREEPY BABY FACES WHY WHY WHY DID I CLICK????????

Srsly, I have GOT to learn not to look when I see this artist/title in a post. I'm working on a Scott/Emma fanart, and that last teaser cover with the Redneck Royalty Scott/Emma just...poisoned....everything, from concept to execution.

[halialkers]

So let me get this straight-Wolverine was born in the 1800s in rural Canada, no? So did he *ever* see anything of humanity to inspire enthusiasm?

[thandrak]

Steve Rogers, WWII. Can't think of anything else.

Jean, I guess.

[midnightvoyager]

This is the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life. I literally cannot read it. My eyes keep revolting and saying "ANYTHING BUT THIS."

[midnightvoyager]

It occurs to me: The last time I saw art that struck me as this ugly was also in an X-Men comic book. Y'all can't catch a break, can you, mutants?

[digicom]

Gee, Logan... "All African heads of state are nuts" works really well when ONE IS SITTING IN FRONTOF YOU.

[wizardru]

You mean that former street-thief cum GODDESS cum punk ninja cum teenager cum Queen of Wakanda?

Oh yeah, she's not crazy AT ALL.

[foxhack]

Why. The hell. Is Hank not in cat form.

God DAMMIT.

[wizardru]

AFAICT, they've just quietly changed him back everywhere across the board. He shows up this way in the new Avengers book, too.

[shale]

Jesus Christ, my EYES!

[alcimines.livejournal.com]

Africa is in pretty bad shape. Suggesting that the local leadership is culpable doesn't strike me as too crazy.

Maybe Logan could have tossed in a lecture about European colonialism and its impact on pre-industrial, tribal-based societies, but with every passing year the possibility that the problems of Africa are the result of African failures becomes more and more difficult to deny.

[halialkers]

There's a difference between suggesting it and what he said, which amounts to "Africans can't run themselves."

In any case, I think it's fair to note that African states are asked to solve problems that the United States, Russia, and Canada alone of Western states have tried to deal with to any great degree, and none of those three have very good records with it themselves.

[hyperactivator]

Logan is a professional soldier. He's just talking about the Africa he's had the most contact with.

Is it biased? Yes. Racist? No.

[proteus_lives]

Motto.

[combatsoup]

someone please make a better icon of this.

[punishermax]

TITS: THE COMIC

[darkknightjrk]

I don't know if I'd want the artist of it to be this, but I'd love to read a comic called TITS.

[protogarrett]

I like the art. Very different. Though seriously, the Emma boobage needs to be toned down just a tad. Though I get that it's kinda a rip on Emma at the same time as explained by Hisako's "Ack, boobies!" face.

[darkknightjrk]

Yeah--this art wouldn't be so bad, not my personal preference, but not bad, were it not for Emma.

[slim-summer.livejournal.com]

Read the initial preveiew, hated the art, liked the writing. Bought the book my opinion was unchanged. The art is horrible but the writing was solid (not perfect but solid.)

[v_various]

I love the few tarot trades I have on my shelf,
but that stuff does not belong in x-books. Christ.

[foxhack]

Did you miss the Morrison / Quitely era or something? :p

Arrrgh my eyes!

[donopolis]

Lets talk for a moment...I am no expert, but I am a lifelong reader of comics and I must say this art defies explanation...as a reader, I feel I am owed an apology.

Page one establishes some form of holographic display, presumably between the two seats in front of Logan and whoever that child is.

page two;panel one...appears to show Emma (having had so much face work done that her nose is now gone ala' Michael Jackson) blocking the transmission of the holographic display with her breasts (that are apparently battling each other for supremacy)

page two;panel two...show Logan sneaking a stare from under the brim of his cap.

page two;panel three...I am pretty sure that Logan is commenting on the breasts here.

page two;panel four...the seat backs have for some reason come crashing together squishing the breasts up and endangering all...especially frightening Logan's young protege'.

Page three;Panel one...seats fixed.

page three; panel four....possibly my favorite...I think it explains the rest. The seat backs are now gone entirely i suppose in order to allow us the full body view of Emma...you can see a glimpse of panties here that would not be possible unless she were packing more than one would expect....Beast although holding a book is seen to be pretending to be asleep...(avoiding Emma? )

page four...Ororo is wearing Ororo hair ear rings. Cool or disgusting?

[comicoz]

I read this at the store (well, parts of it) and left it there. I couldn't grasp where it fit in to the current X-universe. Storm has a mowhawk, which would suggest Forever, but Logan's dead there, so no clue. Plus the writing and art seemed confusing and/or poor.

[stubbleupdate]

It's Astonishing, which means that it's out of continuity. Sort of.

Think of it as a tale in a parallel continuity. If you know the continuity, fine. If you don't, you don't need it.