God Loves... Man Kills!

The 1982 graphic novel X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, an often violent story featuring a plot to wipe out the mutant population, spends a great deal of its time building momentum towards that goal while efficiently and methodically enabling its antagonists to overcome any obstacles that might stand in their way--among them, the X-Men. It's a tried and true Chris Claremont approach that has served the writer well in a number of tense X-Men stories where the team struggles against a determined and resourceful foe or organization--only this time it would be the X-Men themselves who unwittingly arm their opponents with the means to achieve their ends.

The foe that seeks out and attempts to destroy mutantkind is a religious zealot named Rev. William Stryker, a dogmatic adversary who has an unswerving belief in the abomination that mutants represent to God and who often quotes scripture to justify his actions, brooking no dissent. Carrying out his killings are the Purifiers, an armored contingent of men and women who also stalk the victim(s) and gather intel that will facilitate the hit--under the supervision of a woman named Anne, a merciless and detached killer whose loyalty to Stryker is absolute and who carries out her assignments with ruthless precision and dedication. The Purifiers and Anne are on the same page, in terms of their devotion to and firm belief in the cause--making them a deadly force to be reckoned with, and certainly feared, with the Purifiers following Anne's instructions to the letter. At her signal, death is dispensed, with no hesitation and no remorse.

Anne will remind you of a number of strong, no-nonsense female killers that Claremont has created over the years who had no qualms about ending their target's life and moving on--a character trait demonstrated vividly in the opening pages of this story, where two innocent children are running for their lives. It's a race they're unfortunately destined to lose.

For the Purifiers, the killings are only part of the job--the other being to send a message that will both instill fear in those they hunt and rally support in those who harbor suspicion and deeper feelings of anger toward mutants.

In a sane world, the murder of children, and in so gruesome a manner, would accomplish neither goal--in fact, it would likely turn public opinion against those responsible, with the fallout blunting Stryker's message, as well.  But the X-Men bear witness to the fact that they don't live in a sane world (and their readers might well agree).

From here, the X-Men find themselves fighting this battle on two fronts. Cyclops, Storm, and their mentor, Charles Xavier, are kidnapped, with Xavier subjected to drug treatments designed to brainwash him and bring his power under Stryker's control in order to make him a living weapon who will be able to slaughter both active and latent mutants; while the remaining members of the team (joined later by an outraged Magneto, who had discovered the two dead children) begin to tackle the Purifiers and gather information on their operations. Complicating matters are Kitty Pryde and Illyana Rasputin, who come across a piece of spying equipment on the grounds of Xavier's school, and pay the price when they're subsequently discovered by Anne and her team.

It's a stretch to believe that even the Purifiers would rig the trunks of their cars with nerve gas jets, or even detection sensors, for that matter. Good grief, they're the security/enforcers of a fanatical religious organization, not Spectre.

At any rate, Anne is in for a surprise when she decides to pull over and execute Kitty. (What, that detection equipment doesn't register when the intruder leaves?)

The hunt for Kitty begins a segment which is almost a reminder of the story which saw Kitty, during her introduction to the pages of X-Men, running for her life through the alleys of New York from the forces of the Hellfire Club. This time, she's on her own, not able to make a call to the X-Men until later--and the cavalry she does encounter may not have her best interests at heart.

Ironically, her rescuer also turns out to be her executioner.

Judging from this scene which finally shows her on the defensive (if only for an instant), it's evident that the courage as well as the dispassionate killing demeanor of both Anne and the Purifiers mostly stem from the barrel of a gun--i.e., as long as they're armed and they have you in their sights, it's a simple kill-or-be-killed equation for them, no matter what the odds. Until they do drop, you're at their mercy, not the other way around--surely a moot point, since the Purifiers are utterly lacking that trait. Even wounded, Anne is intent on the Purifiers carrying out the hit on Kitty.

We see another example of that assertion when the X-Men and Magneto, having found Kitty and dealt with her attackers, arrive to rescue Cyclops, Storm, and Illyana. Deprived of her weapon, Anne realizes the futility of confrontation and makes every effort to escape in order to warn Stryker of recent developments. Even so, it's apparent she's ready and willing to fight another day, when conditions favor the Purifiers.

On the contrary, it will be Anne who pays the price, of making Stryker's cause her own. By the time Stryker takes his place at the podium of a scheduled anti-mutant rally, he's solidified his hold on Xavier, whose power begins to reach out in a wide swath and target any mutants within range. And just as was the case with Larry Trask, Anne finds herself on the receiving end of the same lack of mercy that she inflicted on so many others.

While it probably contains, courtesy of Claremont, more "teaching moments" on the dangers of intolerance, bigotry, and fanaticism than any one story should attempt to deliver, the entirety of "God Loves, Man Kills" is a worthwhile read and a first-rate X-Men tale from the early '80s. The story would receive a follow-up over twenty years later in a 2003 issue of Xtreme X-Men where Stryker gains his freedom from prison, thanks to Lady Deathstrike--both of whom go on to call themselves "Strike-2." Heh heh, just kidding about that last part. You can strike that.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills Script: Chris Claremont Pencils and Inks: Brent Anderson Letterer: Tom Orzechowski