On Earth As It Is In X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills is Still Relevant Today

On a cloudless moonlit night two black children run for their lives. One of the children is eleven and the other just turned nine the previous week. They are “So young… so innocent… to know such terror.” Luck is not on their side this particular night and they are shot down in the middle of a playground. The eleven-year-old asks his pursuers, “Who are you people? What do you want?!” With guns drawn, the pursuers respond, “We are Purifiers… our intentions should be obvious… you have no right to live.” What could have been a beautiful peaceful moonlit night turns into a nightmarish scene where two young people of color are lynched. “Their only crime — that they had been born.” After their murders they are hung on the schoolyard swing set and then plastered with a sign across their chests that reads “MUTIE”. This scene is the creation of Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson in X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. Their tale reflected the times when it was first created in 1982 and still resonates today as children across the country are locked up in cages.

God Loves, Man Kills is the story of the X-Men who face a rise in evangelical and conservatism. They have to fight the hate in the heart of the every day traditional American. Throughout the story the young X-Men are demonized, chained up, and hunted by bigots who appear civil. After re-reading the graphic novel I pondered what influenced the author to create a story that still echoes today. In an interview at the end of recent God Love, Man Kills copies, Claremont reminisces and states:

“Here we are in the early 1980s, Ronald Reagan is president and a wave of creative conservatism is sweeping the nation, pitched as a backlash from the heartland to the unpatriotic and hedonistic attitudes and mores of the ’60s and ’70s. According to them, the country was returning to bedrock, traditional values and beliefs, both political and moral.”

Claremont conjured a story where the X-Men, who represented the values of the ’60s and ’70s, fought an ideology based on returning to the mythical great American past. Mutants, like today’s marginalized groups, were viewed as non-Americans who pose a threat to society. In one memorable page, Professor X is a guest on Nightline debating the antagonist of the story, Reverend William Stryker. The nighttime news channel makes the two men debate the humanity of mutants, as though debating the humanity of anyone is acceptable. Professor X Stryker during the broadcast invokes fear and says, “Mutants poses a clear and present danger, both to the United States and to the socio-political order of the world as we know it.”

Although 1982 was nearly 40 years ago, the United States is facing similar issues today. The vomit-inducing phrase, “MAGA”, echoes the sentiments stated above by Chris Claremont. During a campaign speech in 1976, Ronald Reagan said, “I would like to see this country become once again a country that I knew when I was six years old.” His fictional past simultaneously attempts to whitewash the American past and demonize anyone who disagrees. People like Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and the fictional William Stryker attempt to create their dystopia by labeling the “other” as dangerous (Mexicans as rapists), blaming crime on “blacks and hispanics”, and separating children from their families by locking them in cages  while defunding HIV/AIDS treatment funding programs.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, unfortunately, is a timeless story of hate and bigotry sweeping the nation, where people are feared and killed for existing. Yet, there’s also a challenge to look past appearances within the pages. Scott Summers – aka Cyclops – challenges Stryker at the books conclusion, “are arbitrary labels more important than the way we live our lives.” Echoing Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Cyclops hopes people can look at the content of each other’s character. Within the pages of comic books and graphic novels are social justice messages and if we look closely in God Loves you will see that in order to save the children today we will have to put our own bodies on the line for them.

About the Author

Jordan X. Evans is a scholar and activist who attends Central Michigan University. He is in the process of writing a Master’s thesis on the rhetoric, ideologies, and history of the X-Men comics. Jordan loves almost everything Superhero related, as long as it is created by Marvel. Follow him on Twitter @The_Jordan_X.