UNCANNY X-MEN #264: Hot Pursuit

Forge and X-Factor go head-to-head with the Genoshans!

Originally Published July 1990

We begin in Alphabet City -- an ill-reputed neighborhood in Manhattan, for those of us out-of-towners -- where Forge has a bit of a run-in with the law.

Our man has bigger problems than a dented hood, however, as he's currently on the run from some Genoshan Magistrates, who want his head for the dual crimes of interfering with their pursuit of the refugees Jenny Ransome and Philip Moreau, and also for the wanton being of a mutant.

The Magistrates see the cops draw their weapons and fire first, killing Officer Murphy as Forge pushes Office Jones to safety.

The Magistrates, who are impervious to Jones' fire thanks to their body armor, take an almost sadistic pleasure in flouting the local law enforcement, but Forge is prepared.

The Genoshans' fire causes the police car to explode, opening a hole in the street, allowing Forge and Jonesy to escape to the sewer. Forge explains about the Genoshans and outfits Jones with the official X-Men uniform, which acts as body armor and environmental control, as well as revealing every rippling curve of the body and giving the wearer a badass wedgie.

And as always... for the ladies, heels.

In Washington DC, KGB Col. Vazhin meets with Val Cooper again, this time at a trendy health club. He reports that he has a positive ID in the mysterious fourth player he alluded to before: The Shadow King, who has been working all sides in a massive -- and undoubtedly confounding -- game. It's a helpful tip to Val, who needs it spelled out for her that as the special advisor on superhuman affairs, this is of interest to her.

  

In lower Manhattan, towering high above the World Trade Center, is the X-Factor Ship. Below, some regular citizens discuss what it's like to live in its shadow, while above, Jean and Beast discuss what it's like to live in its confines.

Maybe it's a little heavy handed, but I think it bears a reminder that when Claremont was on, he was on, and commanded a very good view of what the X-Men metaphor could be. At the time, a kind of assimilation was the goal for the X-People, with isolation and separation being a circumstance they found themselves under reluctantly and strained against. In 2022's comics they are less concerned with that and more deliberately separated from the Homo sapiens world -- a matter which is frequently debated, the value of a "mutant homeland" versus continuing to work toward acceptance in society.

Down in the sewer the Genoshans seek Forge... and find him!

He and Jones are able to make quick work of the Magistrates, armed with the advanced weaponry Forge has designed and the xtra-protective armor of the X-suit.

They leave their foes tied up "for the alligators... or the turtles" and go to rejoin Forge's allies at the X-Factor ship.

Not very cowabunga

Unfortunately, the Genoshan contingent has gotten there first, and those nasty-wasty Press Gangers are on the job. 

Thinking they're relatively safe, Beast, Jean, Banshee, Jenny, Phil, artist Peter Nicholas and his gal pal Cal are all just cold chillin' inside. Outside, however, Wipeout is able to disable the Ship's power systems (because it's, like, kind of alive?) and Pipeline is able to open a direct line into the ship via the phone line.

Strictly speaking they should have emerged as screechy modem noise without any kind of device on the other end to receive them, but, you know.... comics.

The Genoshans work fast, taking down Jean, Banshee, Peter, and even Cal, who seems to have lost all her fighting ability when she became dainty and pretty. Only missing is Beast, who slips away from the thick of the fighting, and the Genoshans don't want to leave until they have that thread tied up.

Beast is able to rally the team, while downstairs Forge hits the Genoshan base camp with a grenade based on Dazzler's powers.

Honestly, Forge designing weapons based on X-Men powers is kind of a cool idea that I'd like to see more of. Imagine if you could harness Cannonball's nigh-invulnerability, or Cyclops' optic blasts, or Cypher's... well, they're not all winners, obviously.

Forge and Jones disrupt Wipeout's hold over the ship...

And the Ship -- which is alive, remember -- takes its own revenge.

As the cops prepare to deal with the Genoshans, Jean gives them a tongue-lashing about using their powers against their own kind in the service of a government that would enslave them. Hawkshaw of the Press Gang has his own take. 

The ole "I know you are, but what am I?" argument.

Unfortunately, as they're reading everyone their rights, a Federal higher-up comes by and grants the Genoshans amnesty. They're free to go.

Upstairs later, the group laments the fact that the whole affair is being papered over. Jones can't breathe a word of it for fear of reprisal. Officially it never happened and the Genoshans have free rein to operate on U.S. soil.

Beast counters that he has slipped the story to mutant-friendly journalists like Trish Tilby and Neal Conan, because yeah, the press has always been such an effective way to fight corruption and oppression. (Maybe in 1990, but not so much lately here in whatever year its been lately.)

Philip notes that he and Jenny will be leaving the Ship, since it's hard to lead a human rights campaign from hiding. Peter, too, is through with this nonsense. He's just a regular guy, a humble artist, this is not his place.

Cal, bafflingly for someone who once led her own underground society of mutants, is mum on the subject. I guess she just wants to retire to a life of idle hotness.

Standing aside from the group, Banshee agrees it's best for he and Forge to link up with X-Factor for the time being so they can pool their resources and search for the other X-Men. As for the one they've already found, Colossus remains clueless about his past as a hero and prefers to remain in normie mode. As far as his family is concerned he died in Dallas. Jean says that it's cruel to let that charade go on, but Banshee notes that this is seemingly what he's always wanted. He's earned his happy ending, why shake him out of tbis dream life?

Further Thoughts:

In a literal sense, Genosha represents South Africa under Apartheid, but that can be taken as a model of less obvious injustices that are perpetrated all over the world. The story of Genosha is by no means meant to be a finger-wag to one nation and one nation only, but to use as an example something that happens in some way shape or form in nearly every country where the X-Men would be read: unfair laws, unfair enforcement, and corruption, sometimes by design of the system.

I think very strongly about the role of law enforcement in issues like this. I'm certainly not comfortable, in this day and age, with police officers being presented as an unambiguous force for good, but there's levels here with the Genoshans breaking all sorts of jurisdiction -- one would think -- and even killing an officer (quite brazenly, I might add.) The cops trying to do the right thing are hampered by orders from above that come as part of a massive concession to the Genoshan government.

In recent times, I've had cause to reflect on what the "law" actually does. Its proponents insist that it is there to protect the citizens and the people and their rights, but is that true? When the bodily autonomy of people who require access to medical treatments is stripped overnight with the stroke of a pen, the pen that writes the law, who is being protected? What, and why? And is what the United States Supreme Court has done to people here in 2022 so different from the way the Genoshans treat mutants?

Some have said that the superheroes exist in their stories to protect the status quo and punish the poor. I disagree, certainly when it comes to the superheroes I read. To me they offer an alternative form of justice, a restorative for the wronged, the betrayed and the forgotten. They're meant to be fighting corporate greed and institutional oppression, not merely punching out bank robbers -- they do that stuff because it's hard to get leeway to depict the nuance of the message in mainstream media, in old comics or in new blockbuster movies. The mutants here are fighting alongside the cops against aggressive outside law enforcement agents, but they could just as easily be fighting those selfsame cops for doing versions of the same thing. The comic can be read as "Things can be/are worse elsewhere," or it can be read as "Our hands are tied from talking about how bad things are here." It's only because the comic was produced in America that the American officers are let off the hook, but the secret code is there: question authority, do what's right, and help people.