Karma
Heart Attack
Marvel Earth(616) has many interesting locations. Some are quite interesting & bizarre. Limbo (Otherplace) is one of my favs. But another place that has kept my attention is Genosha.
How familiar w/ this infamous piece of Marvel geography are you?
I remember its debut in the pages of Uncanny X-men during Claremont's reign. The storyline was powerfull allegory for slavery, biological based racism, acts of human atrocity & other things that we tend to gloss over.
Genosha was next seen in the X-tinction agenda, & like most "sequels"...the follow up to the original storyline was a bit contrived.
Another appearence saw the land broken by civil war & its large mutate population being ravaged by the legacy virus. Magneto had made an attempt to claim the land & its ppl for his own & crucified Xavier in the public square. at the time- the numbers of the X-men were rather then. many characters were missing, dead or obscure & so it was interesting to see Jean Grey scramble to pull together a team to save Xavier & defeat Mags.
Then came the moment when the U.N. decided to "give" Genosha to Magneto in exchange for his ceasing hostilities against the globe (unleashing a magnetic pulse etc). THAT was interesting...considering Genosha was not apart of the U.N. & was really not theirs to "give" to anyone, even though the country was teetering on the edge of utter ruin by this time. They assumed Magneto would be forever wrapped up in the problems of Genosha & wouldnt be a threat to the rest of the world. But W/ the eradication of the Legacy Virus, Magneto soon had a vibrant & large mutant/mutate populace & had quickly brought order & restoration to Genosha. He seemingly had achieved his goal of establishing a mutant state. Everyone was fearfull of what would come next.
Genosha would be seen AGAIN just several years later when Cassandra Nova (HORRIBLE character/plot gimmick) released two giant "Wild Sentinels" against the island nation & they slaughtered 16 million mutants & decimated the land. If Genosha & its concept had at all seemed stale all these years after its debut, THIS story (despite the ridiculous cassandra nova character) was actually a real shocker & made Genosha & it's ppl VERY sympathetic. It's also the turning point in the lives of many longstanding X-characters like The White Queen, who was among the few survivors. Magneto & Xavier were attempting to sew seeds of restoration to this now sad, decimated place but they'd never come close to reaching their goal.
Genosha's next appearence was in House of M when the now insane Scarlett Witch had warped reality. Genosha was now the seat of Magento's power & He ruled the mutants who ruled the world. Genosha & its ppl were restored to greatness but when the storyline came to its crazy ending & Scarlett Witch undid her reality warp, Genosha returned to its original state, a literal land of the dead. Her final act of "decimation" even depowered the DEAD mutants on the island.
a couple years later- SW's sons, Speed & Wiccan traveled to the island searching for clues about their mother's whereabouts & they saw a sign in one of the ravaged cities of Genosha that read "No one is here"
Genosha's most recent appearence was the foundation of Selene's clever, twisted plot for world domination, as she resurrected the MILLIONS of dead mutants there w/ the techno organic virus & used many of them to attack her foes including the X-men & Hellfire Club. Ultimately she'd harvest the resurrected mutants' souls for her own power to ascend to godhood but her plan was thwarted & she, seemingly destroyed. Those mutants that had NOT been consumed by her sacrifice & were not shown to have been killed in the various battles may still be @ large somewhere on the earth but following her defeat, the island once again became an eerie land of the dead.
the island nation, which declared itself "a green & pleasant land" was once a very prosperous place & a world leader in technology- but all of this success was built on the backs of mutants who were turned into SLAVES aka "Mutates" via a dehumanizing "bonding" process. The fact that it's now a land of the dead & it just sits there for the world to see is interesting to me b/c it used make me wonder if something like this happened in the REAL world, would the ppl across the globe ever stopped to think about that place's history & destruction. would it make them truly think or change their behavior? but then again- considering that many of the things Genosha has referenced- slavery, biological based racism, human rights abuse, genocide - all have (or continue to) occurr in the real world, its doubtful. & that's sad.
How familiar w/ this infamous piece of Marvel geography are you?
I remember its debut in the pages of Uncanny X-men during Claremont's reign. The storyline was powerfull allegory for slavery, biological based racism, acts of human atrocity & other things that we tend to gloss over.
Genosha was next seen in the X-tinction agenda, & like most "sequels"...the follow up to the original storyline was a bit contrived.
Another appearence saw the land broken by civil war & its large mutate population being ravaged by the legacy virus. Magneto had made an attempt to claim the land & its ppl for his own & crucified Xavier in the public square. at the time- the numbers of the X-men were rather then. many characters were missing, dead or obscure & so it was interesting to see Jean Grey scramble to pull together a team to save Xavier & defeat Mags.
Then came the moment when the U.N. decided to "give" Genosha to Magneto in exchange for his ceasing hostilities against the globe (unleashing a magnetic pulse etc). THAT was interesting...considering Genosha was not apart of the U.N. & was really not theirs to "give" to anyone, even though the country was teetering on the edge of utter ruin by this time. They assumed Magneto would be forever wrapped up in the problems of Genosha & wouldnt be a threat to the rest of the world. But W/ the eradication of the Legacy Virus, Magneto soon had a vibrant & large mutant/mutate populace & had quickly brought order & restoration to Genosha. He seemingly had achieved his goal of establishing a mutant state. Everyone was fearfull of what would come next.
Genosha would be seen AGAIN just several years later when Cassandra Nova (HORRIBLE character/plot gimmick) released two giant "Wild Sentinels" against the island nation & they slaughtered 16 million mutants & decimated the land. If Genosha & its concept had at all seemed stale all these years after its debut, THIS story (despite the ridiculous cassandra nova character) was actually a real shocker & made Genosha & it's ppl VERY sympathetic. It's also the turning point in the lives of many longstanding X-characters like The White Queen, who was among the few survivors. Magneto & Xavier were attempting to sew seeds of restoration to this now sad, decimated place but they'd never come close to reaching their goal.
Genosha's next appearence was in House of M when the now insane Scarlett Witch had warped reality. Genosha was now the seat of Magento's power & He ruled the mutants who ruled the world. Genosha & its ppl were restored to greatness but when the storyline came to its crazy ending & Scarlett Witch undid her reality warp, Genosha returned to its original state, a literal land of the dead. Her final act of "decimation" even depowered the DEAD mutants on the island.
a couple years later- SW's sons, Speed & Wiccan traveled to the island searching for clues about their mother's whereabouts & they saw a sign in one of the ravaged cities of Genosha that read "No one is here"
Genosha's most recent appearence was the foundation of Selene's clever, twisted plot for world domination, as she resurrected the MILLIONS of dead mutants there w/ the techno organic virus & used many of them to attack her foes including the X-men & Hellfire Club. Ultimately she'd harvest the resurrected mutants' souls for her own power to ascend to godhood but her plan was thwarted & she, seemingly destroyed. Those mutants that had NOT been consumed by her sacrifice & were not shown to have been killed in the various battles may still be @ large somewhere on the earth but following her defeat, the island once again became an eerie land of the dead.
the island nation, which declared itself "a green & pleasant land" was once a very prosperous place & a world leader in technology- but all of this success was built on the backs of mutants who were turned into SLAVES aka "Mutates" via a dehumanizing "bonding" process. The fact that it's now a land of the dead & it just sits there for the world to see is interesting to me b/c it used make me wonder if something like this happened in the REAL world, would the ppl across the globe ever stopped to think about that place's history & destruction. would it make them truly think or change their behavior? but then again- considering that many of the things Genosha has referenced- slavery, biological based racism, human rights abuse, genocide - all have (or continue to) occurr in the real world, its doubtful. & that's sad.