READING THE UNCANNY X­MEN: GENDER, RACE, AND THE MUTANT METAPHOR IN A POPULAR NARRATIVE By Joseph James Darowski A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY American Studies 2011 ABSTRACT READING THE UNCANNY X­MEN: GENDER RACE AND THE MUTANT METAPHOR IN A POPULAR NARRATIVE By Joseph James Darowski The first superhero comic book was published in 1938 and since that time the genre has become a staple of American popular culture. While superhero stories have been adapted into every popular storytelling medium, the genre is most closely associated with the comic book industry. This dissertation examines the first 500 issues of The Uncanny X­Men, one of the most popular series to be published in America. In particular, the portrayals of race and gender will be analyzed by performing a close reading of the stories published as well as a numerical analysis of the ethnicity, nationality, and gender of the heroes, villains, and guest stars who appear in the series. The X‐Men comic book franchise has a reputation among fans, creators, and scholars as one of the most diverse and progressive superhero comic book titles. The core conceit of the series, that there are people called mutants who are born with powers and abilities that separate them from normal humans, has allowed the themes of societal prejudice and hatred to be explored in a metaphorical fashion, though looking closely at the race and gender of the characters in the series reveals a different reality than the common perception of the series. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my wife, Emily, for allowing me the time necessary to complete this dissertation even as she was working on her PhD. Also, our daughter Elizabeth has shown remarkable patience for a toddler in a household with both parents spending their reading and writing for grad school. My advisor, Gary Hoppenstand, helped me my entire time at Michigan State University. Thank you for your guidance, your support, and for talking about the latest events in comic books and movies during our meetings. James Seaton, Sheila Contreras, and Maria Bruno were the other members of my committee and without their input and help this would be a vastly inferior product. Others who have helped me in my studies have included Trixie Smith, Ann Larabee, Steven Walker, Frank Fox, and Phillip Snyder. Thanks to all. Finally, thanks to my family for their support. To my parents, Joe and Kay, for being proud of a son who is studying comic books. Also, to my mother‐in‐law Helen and to my sister Kate who helped watch my daughter when Emily and I were in the midst of comprehensive exams and dissertations. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………………..v List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………iv Chapter 1: Popular Culture, the Comic Book Industry, and Comic Book Studies……………………………………………1 Chapter 2: The Creators and Business World Origins of the X‐Men ………………………………………………………………42 Chapter 3: 1963‐1975: White Males as a Minority Metaphor……………………………………………………………………..…………62 Chapter 4: 1975‐1983: An International Team of…Mostly White Males………………………..……………………………………………………….……121 Chapter 5: 1983‐1991: Greater Diversity and Balanced Gender Representation……………………………………………………………………….168 Chapter 6: 1991‐2001: New Creative Teams and Broadening the Mutant Metaphor……….………………………………………………………………….……193 Chapter 7: 2001‐2008: Ensuring the Minority Metaphor..……………………217 Chapter 8: Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..243 Appendix A: The X­Men Citations………………………………………………………..265 Appendix B: Other Comic Books Cited…………………………………………………301 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………………………303 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: A Chronology of Marvel Comic Books Related to the X‐Men which were Solicited and Published as Monthly On‐Going Series…........................57 Table 2: The writers of The X­Men from 1963‐70…………………………………………..62 Table 3: The writers of The X­Men back‐up stories from 1963‐70…………………..62 Table 4: Artists for main stories from 1963‐70…………………………………………...…63 Table 5: Artists for back up stories from 1963‐70………………………………………….63 Table 6: Number of appearances by members of the X‐Men from 1963‐70……..116 Table 7: Writers and co‐plotters of The X­Men from 1975‐83…………………………127 Table 8: Artists who worked on The X­Men from 1975‐83………………………………127 Table 9: Number of appearances by characters as a member of the X‐Men between 1975‐83…………………………………………………………………………………………160 Table 10: Number of appearances by characters, organized by gender, between 1975‐83…………………………………………………………………………………………162 Table 11: Writers and co‐plotters of The Uncanny X­Men from 1983‐91………….171 Table 12: The artists of The Uncanny X­Men between March 1983‐91…………….172 Table 13: The number of times characters appeared as members of the X‐Men between 1983‐91………………………………………………………….……………..190 Table 14: Writers and co‐plotters of The X­Men from 1991‐2001……………………195 Table 15: Number of appearances by members of the X‐Men between 1991‐2001………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 209 Table 16: The number of male and female characters appearing between 1991‐2001………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 210 Table 17: The number of appearances by male and female characters between 1991‐2001…………………………………………………………………………………….210 Table 18: The number of characters in different ethnic groups to appear v between 1991‐2001……………………………………………………………………………………. 213 Table 19: Writers and co‐plotters of The Uncanny X­Men from 2001‐08………... 224 Table 20: Writers and co‐plotters of The Uncanny X­Men from 2001‐08………... 225 Table 21: Appearances by characters as members of the X‐Men between 2001‐08……………………………………………………………………………………………………... 239 Table 22: The total number appearances by members of the X‐Men between 1963‐2008……………………………………………………………………………………. 249 Table 23: The nationality of members of the X‐Men that appeared between 1963‐2008……………………………………………………………………………………. 250 Table 24: The nationality and number of appearances by members of the X‐Men who appeared between 1963‐2008…………………………………………………... 251 Table 25: The nationality of villains the X‐Men battled between 1963‐2008….. 252 Table 26: The nationality and number of appearances of villains the X‐Men battled between 1963‐2008………………………………………………………………………… 254 Table 27: The nationality of guest stars who appeared between 1963‐2008…...255 Table 28: The nationality and number of appearances of guest stars who appeared between 1963‐2008……………………………………………………………... 257 Table 29: The nationality of all characters who appeared in the X‐Men between 1963‐2008……………………………………………………………………………………. 258 Table 30: The nationality and appearances of all characters who appeared in the X‐Men between 1963‐2008………………………………………………… 261 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The percentage of male characters who appeared as members of the X‐Men, as villains, or as guest‐stars in each time period………………………….. 245 Figure 22: The percentage of white characters who appeared as members of the X‐Men, as villains, or as guest‐stars in each time period………………………….. 246 Figure 3: The number of characters who appeared as members of the X‐Men, as villains, or as guest‐stars in each time period………………………………... 247 vii Chapter 1: Popular Culture, the Comic Book Industry, and Comic Book Studies When I was kid in a grocery store I asked my mom if I could read a comic book while she shopped. I had little exposure to comic book superheroes, and based on the cover as much as anything else I picked up The Uncanny X­Men #280 (Sep. 1991). Soon I was reading the adventures of Spider‐Man, Superman, Batman, and others. While my interest in comic books has sometimes waned since then, I always came back to superhero comic books, first as a fan looking for entertainment and subsequently with a more academic purpose. That first introduction to comic books started me on the path that resulted in this dissertation. This project will provide a close reading of the Uncanny X­Men comic book series with a particular focus on the portrayals of race and gender. In the course of the study, significant stories within the first 500 issues of the series will be examined to ascertain what themes and messages concerning race and gender can be found. The X‐Men series was chosen because it is one of the most prominent franchises in the comic book industry and it has, at its core, what many identify as a “minority metaphor.” The X‐Men are mutants, people who develop special powers because they were born different from normal humans. Besides supervillains, the X‐ Men battle prejudice and are hated and feared by normal humans in the Marvel comic book universe. The X‐Men are considered one of the most socially relevant and diverse superhero comic book titles (Schedeen). An analysis of how this series actually employs that metaphor will be enlightening, especially because of the decades long run the series has had. The series has adapted through the years to 1 remain relevant to the constantly changing social context of the producers and consumers of the series. A discussion of the field of popular culture studies will provide a foundation for this study. After discussing the theories of popular culture studies, an explanation of how the entertainment industry influences perceptions, attitudes, and expectations towards race and gender will establish the significance of the topics chosen for analysis in this work. Having established the broad theoretical context in which this study operates, a closer analysis of comic book studies will position this work in that field of study. The close readings of the X‐Men series will be divided into five chronological periods. As the close reading of the series begins there will be significant applications of theoretical works from popular culture theory, comic book theory, and race and gender theory. After that foundation has been established and the close readings progress there will be fewer allusions to the already discussed theories. After the theoretical context has been established for the reader the close readings will focus on the interpretation of the stories found in the X‐Men comic books.