X-Men

X-Men
The X-Men are one of the more enduring comic book heroes of the modern era. They are in many ways The Beatles of the medium. They have managed to stay up to date and topical from the 1960s until now, any individual member is all but guaranteed fame, and they've come to represent a larger idea than their face-value function.

Origin
The X-Men started as a group of five white teenagers led by a handicapped white man. It is a bit hard then to see that the comic has always taken a strong stance against any kind of racism. The element comes in to play with the concept that the X-Men are not human, they are mutants. Mutants in the comic hold a station in the minds of most humans that is lower than any color human. The way that society views mutants is closer to the way 17th century Europeans viewed Africans, Native Americans, and other such "savage" races. Additionally, because the racism, or speciesism, in the comics is completely fictional, it allows the issue to be much more obvious without causing contention or discomfort.

The "Adamantium" Age
X-Men Vol. 2 issue #1, the 1991 restructure of the series, is the best selling comic book of all time. It features a team line-up that is multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-everything. Storm is an African princess. Wolverine is Canadian man that is technically over 100 years old. Wolverine's son Daken is a Japanese bisexual. Beast is a blue cat-man. The comic has evolved from a rather simple allegory about the horrors of racism to a full celebration of the diversity of humanity (or mutantkind). The characters have moved into the "me" generation; each one gets a great deal more solo time. Many of the more popular characters have even received solo titles. This restructure has continued with minor changes into the present with consistent popularity. As of November 2010, Marvel has 9 ongoing series following the X-Men and characters that originated in X-Men. It is evident from the level of popularity that the series enjoys that the topics it covers are viewed as relevant and entertaining. The characters have issues and defects that are easy to relate to even if the situations these defects land them in are less than realistic.

Wolverine
If the X-Men have produced one breakout star, that star is nobody if not Wolverine. His image was so pervasive in the 90s that comic buffs have termed the era the Adamantium Age after the metal his skeleton is coated in. He is attributed as media first well-known anti-hero. This archetype is defined perfectly by the catchphrase that opens every Wolverine comic: "I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice". Modern readers love Wolverine because he doesn't do the right thing because he believes in truth, justice, and the American way. His retort for such an accusation is always "I'm Canadian". Wolverine is aligned with the good guys because the bad guys are more likely to blow up his favorite bar, or just because the bad guys usually piss him off a tiny bit more. Nobody can aspire to be the paragon of morality that is Captain America, but it's within the average guy's scope to be a hard drinkin' badass.