A Friend In Need: In Which the Author Queries Her Readers

Today, Gentle Reader, I am offering you something I don't think Arrogant Self-Reliance, in either of its incarnations, has ever offered you:

Brevity.

But as I have a few reviews still in the works, and as I am really, truly writing—-and writing hard!-—on the dissertation, and as the New Orleans Saints lost their chance at the Superbowl, I feel this post should be a bit shorter than most.

I'm really not sure why the Saints' loss matters to this, but it does, all the same.

In exchanging a wealth of comments with Matthew E. of Legion Abstract fame, I remembered a conversation I once had with a friend of mine (let's call him John) that mainly revolved around the Marvel (of which John's a fan) and DC (of which I'm a fan) divide. Much debate ensued, but the conversation eventually boiled down to the following question:

"If you were a teenager," John said, "and you were in trouble, who would you feel more comfortable turning to for help: Bruce Wayne/Batman, or Charles Xavier/Professor X?"

At first, I said, rather sheepishly I might add, Professor X, but the more I thought about it (and I've thought about it for several months, off and on), I want to retract my statement. Why, you may ask?

Because Professor X scares the bejeesus out of me.

And maybe it's because I've never read the 1980s run of The X-Men. I've only read Astonishing X-Men, and occasionally, New X-Men or Ultimate X-Men. But in the more recent incarnations of Professor X, he's not the helpful father figure so many paint him as. Rather, there's something almost predatory about him. He stalks down potential X-Men and doesn't as much recruit as mindwipe—-I mean, *insist* that they come to his school. He manipulates, twists, turns, and honestly, is perhaps even more dangerous than Magneto. In fact, Professor X and Magneto have the same goals, but put on the veneer of different paths.

Or, to wit, have you any knowledge of the late 19th- and early 20th-century Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain? There were two major parties fighting for women's right to vote: the Women's Social and Political Union, also known as Suffragettes, and the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, also known as Suffragists.

Yes, Ms. Reads, that's all well and good, but why the X-Men comparisons?

Well, both camps were fighting for women's suffrage, but the WSPU believed in militant tactics, like smashing shop windows and prison hunger strikes, while the NUWSS believed in pacifist protest, like banner or sign holding and legislation. Both used to be one entity fighting against the common goal, but split when more militant action was desired. The WSPU believed the NUWSS was too patient, and the NUWSS believed that militant action hurt rather than helped the Suffrage Campaign.

But both, and I repeat, *both* were fighting for the exact same thing.

Now, we know that Batman Is Scary In His Own Right (and, well, meta-ist, too!), but so, I believe, is Professor X.

So I turn to you, Gentle Reader, to further this debate. Please, help me with the question: who is more accessible for a teenager with a problem (and I am, of course, talking about Problems of Registration or Joker proportions), Batman, or Professor X?