Uncanny X-Men 235 - Inferno Prologue

The Genoshan security services pursue their citizens abroad without mercy.

Uncanny X-Men #235

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Rick Leonardi
Inker: P. Craig Russell
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

We come to the introduction of one of the most significant fictional countries in the X-Men's universe, Genosha. A sign on the opening splash page tells us it is "A Green and Pleasant Land of Hope and Opportunity where the Watchword is Freedom!" But as we'll see over this story arc that freedom isn't for everyone. This issue is largely set outside the country with only an airport seen at the start when a man sneaks into it to smuggle his baby onto a plane before the authorities track him down and kill him. The repressive nature of the regime doesn't stay on the island with a squad sent to Australia to kidnap Jennifer Ransome, a Genoshan ex pat, even though she has now naturalised citizenship. Madelyne Pryor, volunteering for the Flying Doctor Service alongside Jennifer, is also captured and both are sent to Genosha. The Genoshan "Press Gang" squad then go after the baby now in Sydney with the X-Men following them there for a showdown at a hospital. However the Press Gang are able to bring in far more reinforcements than expected and Rogue and Wolverine are captured.

Much of the detail of Genosha will be sketched out in later issues set on the island itself but already there are clear signs of how it is based on South Africa which was still under apartheid when this issue was first printed. The parallels with the alleged activities of the South African security services in pursuing dissidents overseas and showing utter disregard for other countries' laws are all too obvious especially when they tell Jennifer that they do not recognise her as having any citizenship over than Genoshan for life. But also the glimpse of Genosha and its society parallels the way South Africa sought to present itself as a happy stable society that had harmonious racial relations - by which the South African state meant the Afrikaners and British and the Genoshan state mean white and black - without mentioning the other races who were repressed and hidden away. Another of the horrors comes in the way some of the repressed people work for the repressive state and actively enjoy it with the Press Gang made up of several mutants. Of particular note is Pipeline who is able to convert people to digital signals and transmit them over a modem. Luckily this particular modem is a lot faster than the ones that actually existed in 1988 otherwise we'd be waiting until issue #300 until anyone arrives. Hawkshaw has the ability to scan and detect mutants but the spells on the X-Men and Madelyne render them undetectable except by sight.

As a first issue of a multi-part story this does a good job in drawing the X-Men into the situation and establishing enough about Genosha to generate curiosity without too much info dumping at the expense of narrative. All the X-Men see some action and get good moments. The only slight curiosity is why Madelyne has joined the auxiliary service for the Flying Doctor in the first place when the X-Men are supposed to be hiding in secret in the Outback. This deviation from the current status quo feels a little too contrived to set up the initial kidnapping but otherwise this is a strong start to the story.