SLAN (and those darn X-Men again)
From 1940, where it was published in four-part serial form in ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, SLAN is one of the minor classics of science-fiction and a book ripe for a revival. It was written by A.E. Van Vogt (1911-2000), who also did THE WEAPONS SHOPS OF ISHER and VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE, all with the same wild imaginative rush that has great emotional intensity but (let's face it) little polish or sophistication. This is pulp sci-fi, what used to be called space opera, and you can enjoy it best with your sense of wonder cranked up full blast. (It also helps if you first read it when you`re thirteen but not many of us here fit that criterion currently.)
Set in a vague future at least a few centuries ahead of 1940, SLAN concerns itself with a society where humans hate and fear a race of mutants living among them... the superstrong, highly intelligent, telepathic slans. The normals persecute and kill the slans, forcing the misunderstood mutants to live undercover and hide their...hey, wait a
minute....
All right, let`s get it out of the way. The immensely successful movie franchise and two dozen or so comic book series from Marvel Comics have been using this premise for decades. I mean, THE X-MEN of course. Way back in 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the first bunch of these costumed mutant superheroes, and despite a few slack periods hereand there, they've been well-known comic book icons since. Kirby, as was almost always the case, largely invented the different X-Men of that first group, including their powers and visuals (I always suspected he based Cyclops on Gort from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) and the title has gotten heavy mileage out of the concept of persecuted heroes fighting to protect a public which hates them.
So were Lee and Kirby familiar with SLAN? Almost certainly. The comics of the 1940s swiped heavily from the pulps for inspiration, and both these guys spent a lot of time lost in those untrimmed pages. So, sure, I would guess SLAN was one of the sources for the X-Men. Another reason why a movie version of SLAN would be likely to find a receptive
audience.
The main hero of the book is (like most of van Vogt's protagonists) a tormented superman. Orphaned at nine, Jommy Cross grows up on the run, using his powers stealthily as he tries to plan his campaign to restore the surviving slans to their rightful place. He certainly doesn't have an easy time. For one thing, there is a secret police force actively hunting for him. Headed by the relentless John Petty, the Slan Patrol is under the control of the all powerful dictator of Centropolis, Kier Gray himself (great names here... Cross, Gray, Petty.). Gray is a puzzling character, much more than he seems at first, and there may be a hidden agenda in the way he has kept the lovely young Slanette named Kathleen Layton under his wing, ostensibly for observation. But I can say no more.
And it's not a simplistic matter of those unfeeling mean ol' humans abusing the noble slans. For one thing, there was an era centuries earlier when the slans had taken domination of the world with bad results. Then there are the slans without tendrils, who can't read minds but who are masters at psychological manipulation (sort of like political speechwriters). So Jommy Cross not only has to survive being slaughtered, he also has to figure out the truth is and where his loyalties should lie.
The story rushes along full blast, full of action and also packed with highly emotional scenes as major characters suffer and die despite your expectations. There is also the wonderful Golden Age use of wild gadgets, some of which remain fantastic and some of which are in our houses now. (If you have a flat screen TV, congratulations on your televisor or visiplate, whichever you want to call it.) Cross is a literal genius, and both fast and tough, but he's not invincible. You can't be sure he's going to come out unharmed or even win at all.
One haunting detail is that the slans look completely normal to the casual glance... except that they have two thin tendrils in their hair, golden antennae that stand up and move around when they use their telepathy. Van Vogt does a good job describing how telepathy works in his concept, including the way a disciplined human mind can defy it and the charming instantaneous romances between two minds that can communicate directly. A miniseries of the SyFyllis Channel could do a fine job with SLAN (not that they seem inclined to do a fine job with anything).