In the pages of the Wolverine ongoing, Claremont cultivates the fictional Principality of Madripoor as a major part of the new Wolverine mythos that he develops; but in the process he participates in some xenophobic stereotypes of Southeast Asia. #xmen #wolverine 1/7
Madripoor actually debuted in New Mutants #32, which only scratched the surface of the setting in any meaningful way. It was characterized as a vaguely exotic foreign land in which the New Mutants battled Karma/Shadow King. 2/7
In Wolverine, however, Madripoor was developed more fully as a sort of old school pirate-haven with a clear class divide (Hightown and Lowtown) and an overall aesthetic ripped straight from the pages of “Terry and the Pirates” w a dash of “Casablanca” thrown in. 3/7
From the real-world, Madripoor is just an analogue for Singapore, but not actual Singapore; rather, it is a highly fictionalized, xenophobic interpretation of Singapore from the Western imaginary. It’s problematically racist, as you might expect. 4/7
Because C made it up, of course, Madripoor can present all manner of offensive stereotypes of Southeast Asia without any accountability to realism (or even subtlety sometimes) since it’s a fictional location. It’s thus quite similar to Sokovia from “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” 5/7
@ClaremontRun Did we ever find out what happened to Rose's grand daughter Ruth after she took Jubilee shopping in Hong Kong?!
@MartinRedmonddd Not that I'm aware of - maybe something in Hama's Wolverine?