The Ages of the X-Men: Essays on the Children of the Atom in Changing Times

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The X-Men comic book franchise is one of the most popular of all time and also one of the most intriguing to critically analyse. With storylines that often contain overt social messages within its mutant metaphor, X-Men is often credited with having more depth than the average superhero property. In this collection, each essay examines a specific era of X-Men related comic books in relationship to contemporary social concerns. The essays are arranged chronologically and advance from an analysis of popular science at the time of the launch of the first X-Men comic book in 1963 through an essay that interprets a storyline in light of the rhetoric used during President Obama’s first campaign for the presidency. Several spin-off X-Men titles, including Generation X, X-Statix, and Academy X are also used as source materials. Topics ranging from Communism to celebrity culture to school violence are addressed by scholars who provide new insights into one of the most significant popular culture products of American culture.