Always get a kick out of reading the local newspaper and finding a comic book related story. With the X-Men moving out of their digs in Westchester County, NY, I guess they've found a new home in the City by the Bay. There goes the neighborhood. ;)
If you pay attention to the national news, it's been the world against San Francisco lately. If we aren't getting hammered for the city's activism in the gay marriage debate, our role as a "sanctuary city" routinely causes controversy.
But San Francisco just got some pretty big (albeit fictional) allies in its progressive fight for equality: The X-Men have moved to the Bay Area.
This isn't a small deal in the world of comic books. The X-Men, who settled in the Bay Area in the just-released 500th issue of the Uncanny X-Men, are arguably the most popular and recognizable superhero team in comic book history. And they've spent most of their 40-year existence based out of a mansion in Westchester County, N.Y.
But it should be no surprise. The trials of the X-Men, who discover at puberty that they are mutants, and are often forced to hide their true identities out of shame, have a lot in common with left-leaning causes, most notably the gay rights movement. In the comics, the X-Men have had gay and bisexual team members and associates, and their numbers were once decimated by a virus that had strong similarities to the AIDS epidemic.
Marvel Comics Executive Editor Axel Alonso says the city will be more than just a backdrop for the comic.
"The X-Men moving to San Francisco isn't just a physical move, it's a spiritual move. I love San Francisco and we want to see it really represented," says the city native during an interview last week at Isotope Comics in Hayes Valley. "Anyone who looks at the X-Men, the analogy is right there: If you're different in any way due to race or sexual orientation or just being nerdy, there's an X-Men character for you. They're about being different and finding strength in that weakened position."
Action movie fans will note that the X-Men and their nemeses have already been to San Francisco, destroying the Golden Gate Bridge and much of Alcatraz in the 2006 film "X-Men: The Last Stand." But for that sequel, the filmmakers didn't do any meaningful filming in the Bay Area. The movie was shot in Vancouver, and visual effects were used to add a few landmarks to the background.
The comic has much more of an insider's vibe. Marvel Comics artists will be visiting San Francisco frequently to get a feel for the fashion, architecture and even the way residents walk and talk. There are no cable cars in the first issue, but the artists did include a KRON TV news truck and a panel where the iconic mutant Wolverine walks through Noe Valley. The heroes make their base in the concrete bunkers beneath the Marin Headlands and join the protest of a controversial art installation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Perhaps most significant, they seem to appreciate San Francisco's much publicized (and recently criticized) role as a sanctuary city.
"San Francisco is now a mutant sanctuary," X-Men group leader Cyclops proclaims, near the end of Issue 500. "Any of you - and your family or loved ones - are invited to join us here, and know safety and protection our kind has never known."
Of course, this being a comic book featuring a guy who looks like a giant blue cat, there are a few moments of pure fantasy. While the leader of San Francisco in both worlds is a young attractive politician with great hair who seems more than a bit starstruck, in the comics, the mayor is a woman not named Gavin Newsom. And the X-Men somehow establish their enormous base without a historical society protest or a single tree-sitter in sight - although, to be fair, they do set up a hippie-friendly hydrokinetic power plant, presumably using tidal power from the ocean.
"We believe that homo sapiens superior represent the future, so we better start living like it," says X-Men member Beast, sounding as if he's about to run for governor. "Soon the X-center won't just be green, it'll be positively viridian."
Whether the X-Men will settle here for the next four decades isn't known, although Alonso says the story arc is mapped out for at least a year. Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada says the length of their stay has a lot to do with reader reaction.
"Temporary or permanent is a weird thing in the world of comics," Quesada says. "As far as we're playing it right now, we just got to San Francisco. We're not planning to leave any time soon."
X-Men and the sanctuary city
Parallels between the X-Men and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement have been so strong that some real-life conservative groups have denounced the comics and movies for being pro-gay rights. Here are a few themes from the X-Men comics:
-- The X-Men don't discover their super powers until puberty. They often try to hide their differences until finding others like themselves.
-- The mutants suffered (mostly in 1990s comics) from the Legacy Virus, which wasn't understood at first and killed many mutants before treatment was found.
-- Anti-mutant slurs are frequently heard in the Marvel Universe. ("Mutie" is a common one.)
-- Efforts have been made to "cure" mutants by changing them back into nonpowered humans.
-- One of the biggest struggles for the X-Men is a political: establishing rights for mutants that are equal to humans without powers.
- Peter Hartlaub
