Thoughts

If you watch a lot of classic Hollywood you invariably come across the type of film that you can appreciate was groundbreaking, admire for its virtuosity given production standards of the time and find the script brave given what was allowed. You can feel all those things while also accepting that the film hasn’t aged well.

This Graphic Novel reads like this to me. Yes, it’s groundbreaking but much of the ground it breaks in terms of defining mutant bigotry in terms recognisable with the violent bigotry of the real world has been done better since. Those that ran with the idea (including Claremont himself) did such a good job that it makes this story, with the benefit of hindsight, seem clunky and simplistic.

That said, I don’t want to go overboard with this criticism. I like watching old films and I still like this. It’s got a strong plot that works well with the extended page count. The antagonists are well-written, their plan to take out the X-men genuinely feels like a challenge to the team. And Magneto strutting into the action and driven to ally with the team still feels like an iconic development. If it’s clunky worthiness now feels to it’s detriment as it often does with old “issue movies” made by Hollywood. But get beyond that and, like the best of old Hollywood, it’s still worth your time.

Fun Panel

A cracking, dynamic full page.

Any Googling

The big question that Google struggles to answer here is where exactly this story fits into continuity. It doesn’t really seem an exact fit, which led to many places online suggesting it wasn’t meant to fit into conitnuity in the first place.

This point seems odd. Yes, its a standalone story designed for the format. But a few continuitgy tweaks aside, its so appropriate for the general direction that Claremont is taking the title that to remove it from the bigger story seems unnecessary.

This then seems the best place for it. Which is a crying shame in a way. I love the end ing of Issue 167 leaving to the incredible “Professor Xavier Is A Jerk” full page panel. I even tried to move the Vampire Annual to stop it breaking those two issues up but, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find another place for this issue. And online searches for reading lists tended to agree with this.

None More Claremont

Claremont has a really good handle on the earnestness of Magneto in his post issue 150 incarnation.

It was a Product of its Time

Claremont drops the N-word in this, in an attempt to really emphasis the point regarding anti-mutant bigotry being equated with racism. The fact Kitty uses it to make a point ti Stevie Hunter is a moment that really reads different in 2023. Does the context justify Claremont using the term in this way? Personally I think it’s too clunky, too easy a way to make the point, using the word’s undeniable power without fully appreciating that it’s not a word a white writer can drop in to make a point. Especially when that point is ultimately reprimanding one of the titles few black characters.