When the likes of Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Storm convert the downtown Minneapolis Club into Professor Charles Xavier’s renowned institute for mutant superheroes this weekend, Daryl Lawrence will be there with pride, but not just because of the colorful sessions he oversees as program director for “The Uncanny Experience,” a two-day immersive fandom convention celebrating all things X-Men.

This is the third year “The Uncanny Experience” has geeked out in the Twin Cities, but it’s the first year Lawrence will host a book launch for his 512-page reference guide to a fan-favorite Marvel Comics series from the 1980s and ’90s.

Frederick Melo

There have been more than 130 distinct mutant superhero spin-off series since the first “X-Men” comic launched in 1963, but if you’re assuming that “True North,” his issue-by-issue comic book tell-all, focuses on a popular X-title like the “X-Men,” “X-Men Unlimited,” “X-Factor” or “X-Force,” you’d be wrong, eh?

Lawrence — not only an author but the facilities manager for the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum — started running down a distinctly Canadian rabbit hole a decade ago.

It was the same rabbit hole I fell down around September 1985. As a youngster growing up in Boston, I was an awkward 8-year-old at the time, entering fourth grade a year young, and the colorful comic book rack in the Dedham Mall magazine stand glowed at me reassuringly.

The 1985 “X-Men/Alpha Flight” crossover ran $1.50 per comic — no small sacrifice for my working-class parents — and by the time I was halfway done with the two-part mini-series, I was completely hooked, but not on the X-Men.

Like Lawrence, I was smitten with the X-Men’s emotionally fraught Canadian counterparts, a barely-holding-its-own superhero team known as Alpha Flight, who were constantly bumping heads with their government handlers in Ottawa while darting around Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec and the Yukon.

The cover page from “True North: A Complete Reference Guide and Analysis of Alpha Flight’s First Volume,” by Daryl Lawrence, the facilities manager for the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum. (Courtesy of Daryl Lawrence)

There was the diminutive Puck, whose tiny body could hurdle through foes like a bowling ball, and Sasquatch, the scientist Walter Langkowski who transformed into a Hulk-like mythical Great Beast of the North with but a thought. And then there was Snowbird, an Inuit demi-goddess whose mission on Earth was to slay the mythical Great Beasts of the North. (If you want to see how that storyline plays out, pick up issue No. 23, circa mid-1985).

Led by a man in a super-suit, code name Guardian, and quickly replaced by his widow, code name Vindicator, the troubled team debuted in the pages of the X-Men comics in April 1979, where they made a failed attempt to retrieve their former teammate, Wolverine. They gained their own ongoing monthly series in 1983, and what a series of dramatic mishaps followed!

Superheroes when I needed them

The semi-tragic “Alpha Flight” — which still draws fan pages on Facebook and across the Internet — was penned and drawn for its first 28 glorious issues by comics genius John Byrne, who was born in England but spent most of his childhood moving about Canada. Byrne is perhaps better known for his work on the “X-Men” and “Superman,” but he and subsequent writers — notably the talented Bill Mantlo — struck a kind of storytelling gold in the first 60 issues or so of the original “Alpha Flight,” which ran for 130 issues from 1983 to 1994.

I have those first 60 issues bagged and boxed in my basement, where they live on, testament to a childhood that saw its share of upheaval. You see, for a time, Alpha Flight was like surrogate family. In sixth grade, I shifted from being bused to various under-resourced and fight-prone Boston public schools to being a day student at a suburban boarding school that was even more academically and culturally challenging.

My parents, Caribbean immigrants who ran a home daycare, had no way of preparing me for these posh young students and their unfathomable stories about ski vacations and summer trips abroad. Then, a few months into that sixth grade year, a fire destroyed our home and business, leaving us destitute. I was at the mercy of the wind, or so it felt, and I’d spend the rest of the school year wafting from home to home, living with whatever kind family would take me in — my grandmother’s pastor, my mother’s church friend, my older sister’s school teacher, a middle school classmate.

None to my knowledge were Canadian, but they were superheroes when I needed them.

It’s a fascinating thing to bounce from home to home in quick succession like an unofficial foster child. One particular host, my friend and classmate Patrick Keefe, would go on to become a true-crime author of much renown. His family fed me my first taste of asparagus, which I spit up in disgust and hid in my napkin on his dining room table. Pat’s 2018 best seller, “Say Nothing,” about the lives of unlikely militants in the Irish Republican Army, is now an FX television series of the same name.

What does any of this have to do with a dysfunctional family of Canadian superheroes, and why does “True North: A Complete Reference Guide and Analysis of Alpha Flight’s First Volume” run to 512 pages?

The answer for me is that my “Alpha Flight” collection was the one treasured possession I carted from house to house that tumultuous sixth grade year. The comics were full of stories that had to be read and re-read, absorbed — as Lawrence pointed out to me this week — like a soap opera.

Character in the closet

For “True North,” Lawrence interviewed six artists, editors and writers from the series, but not the elusive Byrne or the prolific Mantlo, a competitive rollerblader who suffered permanent brain damage after being struck by a car in 1992. Their analysis peppers all 512 pages, which offer insight into the choices made across all 130 issues, two annuals and guest appearances in other Byrne and Mantlo comics like “The Incredible Hulk” and “Rom: Spaceknight.”

For instance, Lawrence maintains that a particularly complex character — the abrasive Northstar, a competitive skier and former Quebec separatist with a sharp tongue and Spock-like elven ears — was written from the start by Byrne and fellow “Alpha Flight” creator Chris Claremont to be gay — Marvel’s first homosexual superhero! — 13 years before Northstar officially came out of the closet in 1992.

“John Byrne wrote him as a gay man, but the recently-departed (Marvel editor) Jim Shooter said ‘No, we can’t say that,’” said Lawrence, who noted Marvel writers found a way to hint at his sexuality as far back as 1986. “Under Bill Mantlo, he starts getting sick and starts coughing a lot.”

Northstar’s unnamed illness — the subject of an eight-issue story arc — seemed to mirror the nation’s AIDS epidemic at the time, catching the interest of gay magazines like The Advocate, who were soon to be disappointed.

In issue No. 50, Loki — yes, that Loki — reveals the origin of Northstar’s mystery disease: He’s actually an ailing elf.

“Loki says, you’re really an elf and you need to go back to your people and they will help you out because you have an ‘elf sickness,’” said Lawrence, noting some fans never forgave Mantlo for doing what he had to do to appease his higher-ups. “That whole storyline was designed for him to get AIDS and die of it.”

Given the opportunity to address one of the most serious and sensitive issues of the day, Marvel had blinked.

To the chagrin of The Advocate and probably more than a few Marvel writers, the closeted Northstar lived on, eventually joining the X-Men, and, much like myself, getting married around 2012 and enjoying a long and colorful life.

Lawrence’s softcover “True North” retails for $30 at Barnes & Noble. My Christmas wish-list is set!

IF YOU GO

The Uncanny Experience runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Minneapolis Club, 729 Second Ave. S.

Tickets start at around $100 or $11.50 for kids 12 and under.

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Stories of the Lake Phalen dragon, MPR raccoon and Hamm’s Beer Bear will be brought to life on St. Paul sidewalks this summer. The second season of Hidden Herald, a series of St. Paul-inspired audio plays, is launching Friday.

The project is created by Wonderlust Productions, a theater storytelling organization in Frogtown. More than 36 QR codes will be scattered throughout downtown St. Paul and Payne-Phalen this year. The QR codes link to short audio plays that take place where the listener is standing. The plays all begin with an introduction from the pigeon Herald, the project’s mascot.

“It’s a great opportunity to have an excuse to explore your city more,” said Alan Berks, Co-Artistic Director of Wonderlust Productions. “It’s kind of fun to stand in a spot and suddenly have a different way of looking at what happens in that place.”

This year’s project includes two series targeted towards kids. One is inspired by “Spy Kids” and another tells tales of the Lake Phalen dragon. Berks said the project will also feature a “Twilight Zone” inspired series.

Season two of Hidden Herald will kick off with a scavenger hunt from this weekend, July 11-13. Participants who complete the scavenger hunt will be entered in a raffle to win tickets to Pangea World Theater, Ten Thousand Things, Jungle Theater and the History Theatre.

People can sign up online at wlproductions.org to receive an email Friday with details of the scavenger hunt.

This year, people can access a digital map of the QR codes (wlproductions.org/hidden-herald/) or they can pick up a free printed map at the following St. Paul locations:

Kendall’s Ace Hardware, 840 Payne Ave.
Lost Fox, 213 Fourth St. E. #100
Gallery of Wood Art, Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth St.
Landmark Jewelers, 402 St. Peter St.
MetroNOME Brewery, 385 Broadway St.
St. Paul Farmer’s Market, every Saturday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 290 Fifth St. E.
Kick it at Kellogg event, 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, 62 Kellogg Blvd

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By HOLLY RAMER and MIKE CATALINI, Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The legal fight over President Donald Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship is advancing on a path toward the U.S. Supreme Court.

A New Hampshire federal judge on Thursday issued a ruling prohibiting the president’s January executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born to those without legal status from taking effect anywhere in the U.S.

The judge’s preliminary injunction and certification of a class-action lawsuit blocks the order, though it included a seven-day stay to allow for appeal.

The district court judge’s decision comes less than a month after the Supreme Court limited lower courts from issuing nationwide injunctions without settling the underlying question of the constitutionality of the president’s order. The high court also left open the possibility that birthright citizenship challenges could remain blocked nationwide.

Here’s what to know about birthright citizenship and what happens next.

What birthright citizenship means

Birthright citizenship makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally.

The practice goes back to soon after the Civil War, when Congress ratified the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, in part to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship.

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” the amendment states.

Thirty years later, Wong Kim Ark, a man born in the U.S. to Chinese parents, was refused reentry into the U.S. after traveling overseas. His lawsuit led to the Supreme Court explicitly ruling that the amendment gives citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., no matter their parents’ legal status.

It has been seen since then as an intrinsic part of U.S. law, with only a handful of exceptions, such as for children born in the U.S. to foreign diplomats.

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Trump has long said he wants to do away with birthright citizenship

Trump’s executive order, signed in January, seeks to deny citizenship to children who are born to people who are living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. It is part of the hard-line immigration agenda of the president, who has called birthright citizenship a “magnet for illegal immigration.”

Trump and his supporters focus on one phrase in the amendment — “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” – saying it means the U.S. can deny citizenship to babies born to women in the country illegally.

A series of federal judges have said that is not true, and issued nationwide injunctions stopping his order from taking effect.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said at a hearing earlier this year in his Seattle courtroom.

The justices didn’t say if Trump’s order is constitutional

The high court’s ruling was a major victory for the Trump administration in that it limited an individual judge’s authority in granting nationwide injunctions based on individual plaintiffs.

The administration hailed the ruling as a monumental check on the powers of individual district court judges, whom Trump supporters have argued want to usurp the president’s authority with rulings blocking his priorities around immigration and other matters.

But the Supreme Court did not address the merits of Trump’s bid to enforce his birthright citizenship executive order, and it left the door open for class action lawsuits challenging it.

The Supreme Court said district judges generally can’t issue nationwide injunctions. But the court didn’t rule out whether judges could accomplish much the same thing by a different legal means, a class action.

Various legal pathways

New Hampshire District Court Judge Joseph Laplante’s decision comes amid legal challenges to the president’s order in district and appellate courts across the country.

Among the other cases pending are lawsuits brought by some two dozen states and cities, immigrant rights advocates and mothers and mothers-to-be.

A district court judge in Maryland is considering arguments over how to proceed since the Supreme Court’s opinion limiting nationwide injunctions.

New Jersey and other states’ attorneys general are arguing a nationwide pause of the order is warranted under the high court’s recent opinion and that it’s up to federal government to propose other remedies for the courts to consider.

Boston College law professor Daniel Kanstroom, an immigration law expert, said he thinks the case is bound for the Supreme Court.

“The stakes in this case could not possibly be higher,” he said. “It affects millions of people. It affects the whole nature of our immigration system. And it in many ways, it affects the continuing question of how we reacted to slavery and to the Civil War and what the 14th Amendment was about in the first place.”

Associated Press writers Tim Sullivan, Alanna Durkin Richer, Mark Sherman and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House budget director Russell Vought suggested in a Thursday letter that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is in violation of government building rules in the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.

Vought, in a letter he shared on social media, called the initial renovation plans featuring rooftop terrace gardens, VIP dining rooms and premium marble an “ostentatious overhaul.” Vought also suggested that Powell misled Congress by saying the headquarters had never had a serious renovation, saying that a 1999-2003 update of its roof and building systems counts as a “comprehensive” renovation.

It appears part of a larger pressure campaign by the Trump administration to pressure the Fed chair into departing before his term ends in May 2026. Powell has declined to reduce interest rates until the U.S. central bank has a better understanding of the impact that President Donald Trump’s import tax hikes could have on inflation.

Fed officials did not respond to an email seeking a response to the White House letter. Powell said in Senate testimony last month that some of the elements in the 2021 plan such as the dining rooms and rooftop terraces are no longer part of the project for the 90-year-old Marriner S. Eccles Building.

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The Supreme Court said in May that it could block any attempts by the White House to dismiss Powell, noting as part of a separate ruling that the Fed “is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”

Trump said at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that Powell “should resign immediately” and be replaced by someone who would lower rates, as the U.S. president believes that high inflation is no longer a risk to the U.S. economy.

As Trump sees it, a rate cut would reduce the costs of government borrowing in ways that make mortgages, auto loans and other forms of consumer debt cheaper. But a rate cut could also lead to more money flowing into the economy and push up inflation, worsening affordability as the financial markets ultimately determine the interest charged on the national debt.

In Thursday’s letter, Vought sent Powell a series of questions about whether the renovation project complies with federal standards. Vought said that Powell’s testimony about changes to the 2021 plan “appears to reveal” that the renovation is not in compliance with the National Planning Capital Act.

The Fed sees political independence as an essential value for setting monetary policy, allowing it to act without the interests of elections and focus instead on its dual mandate of stabilizing prices and maximizing employment.

Trump has repeatedly berated Powell on his social media site Truth Social, nicknaming the Fed chair “Too Late.” On June 30, Trump sent Powell a handwritten note saying that his decision to hold rates steady had “cost the USA a fortune” in the form of higher servicing costs on the national debt.

The risk of prematurely lowering rates is that higher inflation could be ignited. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index, is at 2.3%, slightly higher than the Fed’s 2% target.

Inflation has fallen after spiking to a four-decade high in June 2022, but the uncertainty on the size and impact of Trump’s tariffs and how they flow through the U.S. economy has caused the Fed to pause after multiple rate cuts last year.