Comic Info
Comic Name: New X-Men (Volume 1)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver/Igor Kordey/Frank Quitely
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2011
New X-Men (1) #120
Reprints New X-Men (1) #118-121 (November 2001-February 2002). Professor X has outed the X-Men to the world and now the X-Men find their school besieged by reporters and protestors. While Beast recovers from his beating by Beak, a new hate group springs up under the leadership of a man named John Sublime who touts “The Third Species”. Wolverine is on a mission on his own to bring in a young mutant named Angel, and a revelation leads Emma Frost and Jean Grey directly into the mind of Charles Xavier.
Written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver, Igor Kordey, and Frank Quitely, New X-Men—Book 2 is a digest size release that was previously released as part of New X-Men 2: Imperial. The volume collects the three issue storyline “Germ Free Generation” in addition to the ’Nuff Said month entry along with a panel by panel breakdown of the issue.
Grant Morrison reinvigorated the X-Men. X-Men is one of those comics that has really high peaks and a gradual comedown and Morrison’s take on the characters really changed up what had been happening in the comic. New X-Men really felt like something new…love it or hate it.
New X-Men (1) #121
This volume follows up the storyline introduced in New X-Men—Book 1 by dealing with Xavier’s revelation that the X-Men live in New York and the brain-swap performed by Cassandra Nova. Morrison’s continuing plotlines were a high point of the series because they didn’t necessarily fit in the whole “six issue collection” idea and expanded beyond them. The collection also begins to set up Morrison’s final storyline by reintroducing Jean Grey as the Phoenix.
I am generally not a fan of textless issues, but Morrison really worked the ’Nuff Said month into the story. Technically, he broke the rules by having some dialogue at the end of the story, but it just made what happened in the ’Nuff Said issue all the more powerful. It also was a fun team-up between two characters who hate each other (Grey and Frost).
The art continues to be solid. I prefer Quitely who continues to do the covers and the ’Nuff Said issue, but both Ethan Van Sciver and Igor Kordey are good picks as back-up to Quitely who brought a unique style to the series.
New X-Men—Book 2 is a must read. I don’t necessarily like how Morrison ended his run on the series, and I realize that the radically different approach to the team (which still has ramifications today) might not appeal to everyone. At this point in Morrison’s run, New X-Men is a great read and well worth still revisiting over a decade later.
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