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

[halialkers]

It's not "would have fallen back" they were an integral part of the struggle from day one. And you're right, the American Revolution is much more like the Boer Wars than a real de-colonization war. However, by modern standards the entire Patriot subset of colonial American society would be considered terrorists.

[stolisomancer.insanejournal.com]

While I'll admit that I'm not a military historian, most of the Revolutionary War was local militias fighting pitched, open battles against organized British armies, rather than the asymmetrical warfare that tends to be embodied by the term "guerrilla." After refreshing my memory on the major battles of the war, the majority of the conflict seems to me to have been about traditional combat: it was thousands of people on one side vs. thousands of people on the other, as opposed to small bands of revolutionaries carrying on a struggle against a vastly superior occupying force.

[halialkers]

Wars are always more complicated than what you might think: the presence of the Loyalists/Tories necessitated a lot of guerrilla warfare to prevent the British from utilizing them against the Patriots. They were just better at it.