Opinion

New X-Men

Writer: Grant Morrison, Artist: Frank Quitely
Published by Marvel Comics

Issues 114-116 and Annual 2001

A while ago, when I wrote up some of my general views on the state and recent history of the US comic industry, I noted that Grant Morrison was about to take over the writing of 'one of the biggest of them all', The X-Men. Now, somewhat behind schedule, his first three-part story with artist Frank Quitely is complete, so this seems a good time to reflect on where they're taking the title.

The team that Morrison has chosen to play with on the sort-of-retitled New X Men consists of Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Beast, and Emma Frost, though the latter only really puts in an appearance in the closing pages of part two, and joins the team somewhat reluctantly in part three. This combination gives him some interesting dynamics to explore, including a slightly strange friendship that seems to be developing between Cyclops (having a few emotional traumas after his months-long possession by Apocalypse) and Wolverine, with the added complication of the emotional distance that these traumas are causing between Cyclops and Phoenix. The Beast, meanwhile, seems to have metamorphosised into a big blue lion, and Emma Frost has gained the ability to turn her body into 'organic diamond' on top of her traditional telepathic skills - see later for more on this.

The story that Morrison has chosen to throw this odd assemblage into hinges on the proposition stated in his first issue that the remaining lifetime of the 'baseline' human race is no more than 3 or 4 generations before they are replaced by mutants. Determined to wipe out the mutants before that can happen is new villain Cassandra Nova, who uses the last(?) of the family responsible for creating the mutant-hunting Sentinels to gain access to and control a nest of 'wild' Sentinels and turn them loose en masse on the mutant country of Genosha to devastating effect.

So how was it for me?

Well, it seems that Morrison has taken a different core theme for his version of the X-Men than that of mutants as analogy for persecuted minority which is traditionally applied to the X titles. Instead, he's looking at evolution as a force in the world. This makes for a much larger scale of drama than even the X-Men usually reach: The human race is finished within the next hundred years, and it's not some huge bad-guy that will do the deed, but nature itself. This pushes the stakes higher and at the same time provides the perfect metaphor for the changes the team have undergone courtesy of the new creatives. Thus, the Beast looks different, Phoenix has regained her telekinesis, and Emma has this new organic diamond thing going on. A comment made by The Beast in the third of Morrison's issues suggests that this is part of some as-yet-unknown larger process, which neatly gets around the fact that every time a new creative team joins an established book they change things to suit their own approach. He's also taking the team to their next evolutionary level at the end of this first story by having Professor X (and presumably by extension the rest of the team) come out as mutants, a development which should provide plenty of scope for future story developments.

If Morrison has a failing, it's in his plotting - more in his third regular issue than the first two, but especially in the 2001 Annual, things happen in such a disjointed manner that it almost feels like pages are missing. I can't help thinking that the editors are so dazzled by the work he's doing that they're skipping some of their own basic responsibilities.

Visually, the series has probably never looked so stunning - Frank Quitely's command of 'wide-screen' comic art, honed so well on The Authority, finds its fullest expression yet here. His new looks for the teams (except for Emma's ridiculous new costume) work exceptionally well, while the fight scenes, the aftermath of the assault on Genosha, and the shocking conclusion to the team's showdown with Nova all cry out to be seen on a big screen.

The series has been delayed (to a shocking degree for what was a high-profile relaunch of a flagship title) apparently due to the time Quitely needs to complete his art, so a 'regular fill-in' artist has been arranged, and will be doing the next few issues to allow him to catch up. This has been decried in some circles, but if it allows him to keep providing art of the kind we've seen so far, I for one am not complaining.

Rating - 9 out of 10