Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Interesting Perspective

I ran across an article showcasing some interesting artwork. Neil Rivas is making posters of favorite superheros such as Thor, Wonder Woman and Superman and labeling them 'illegal'. No, it's not the artwork that is illegal (well actually I'm not sure about copyright infringement?), but the characters themselves, who would be under U.S. law, illegal immigrants, and/or even undocumented workers. I think if Superman showed up in your town to save the day, few people would ask him for his papers, so why can't we give real people the same respect? Okay, so I know there's clearly a line between fantasy and reality here, and lots of other reasons people would give for why we "need" to label human beings as 'illegal' and why if a superhero showed up you'd give them a free pass. I'll avoid getting into a heated political debate about the issue and just share a couple of the pictures and the interested tidbits shared along with them.

Nightcrawler was born in Germany to shape-shifting mutant, Mystique. He has entered the U.S. illegally when he was drugged and trafficked by circus owner Amos Jardine, as a member of the X-Men, and while undertaking priesthood studies in Brooklyn, NY.


The Thundercats, a family of cat-like humanoid aliens from the planet Thundera, are known to have entered the U.S. illegally when they saved the world with Superman from Mumm-Ra and his Mutants in a 2004 DC crossover.

Wolverine was born in Alberta, Canada sometime during the late 19th century. He is a Canadian citizen with possible dual citizenship in Japan. He has entered the U.S illegally often over the centuries with most recently having done so as a member of the X-Men and the Avengers.

In the end, no matter how you land on the issue of illegal immigration, I think we can all agree that it's lucky that Wolverine never ended up in a crazy place called Arizona. To view the full slideshow of Neil Riva's work, please click here.

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