Omar Harris
03-06-2004, 03:00 PM
With only one issue left, writer Grant Morrison will end his run on "New X-Men", after an astounding four, FOUR, uninterrupted years on the book. One of the best comic book runs in years, Morrison's time on "New X-Men" was chock full of surprises and twists that were either hit or misses with the fans. As I think it would be pointless to do multiple topics on the same thing, I'm using this thread to provide a review of the good times and bad of his work (am I allowed to do that? If no, then I don't mind if this gets closed or if I have to do multiple topics. Just give the word).
E is for Extinction: The saga begins in this four part miniseries. After the fallout of the Genosha War, and a brief skirmish with the psychotic teen, Warp Savant, the X-Men take time to get their priorities back in line. Nightcrawler, Archangel and Iceman take some time in London searching for missing new recruit Chamber. Wolverine and Cyclops head to Australia on a rescue mission, and Jean and Beast witness the debut of Cerebra, Cerebro’s so-called “Big Sister”, who is ten times more efficient than its predecessor.
The X-Men have gone through some changes lately, and not just another roster and uniform alteration. Beast now sports the appearance of a humanoid lion, with greater intelligence and physical power than ever before, and he’s not the only one. Mutants all over the world are undergoing “secondary mutation”, due to factors in the atmosphere that have also resulted in a mutant version of the “Baby Boom”. To Xavier, the time has come for the X-Men to give up being students or a militia and take on the job of teaching this new generation of mutants.
However, someone is out to stop them. Her name is Cassandra Nova, who for some reason, not only knows Xavier, but also looks like him. Teaming up with Donald Trask (the nephew of Dr. Bolivar Trask, the Sentinels creator), she builds technology that allows her to create a new generation of Sentinels, who adapt by merging their destroyed bodies with surrounded technologies (imagine a Sentinel head with spider legs, of a serpentine Sentinel with tank treads and guns and you’ve got the new Sentinels, more or less).
Wolvie and Cyke are forced to head to Ecuador to stop Nova, who kills Trask after he finishes serving his purpose. In battle with the new Sentinels, Wolvie and the a young man named Ugly John (who has three faces) are captured and put on a torture rack, while Nova prepares her voice activation system to launch the Sentinels. Wolvie escapes and cuts out Nova’s larynx (that’s ok, she has a healing factor, too), while Cyke provides Ugly John with a “mercy killing”. But the boys are too late as the Sentinels are launched to their target. Now if I were a mutant hater, with an army of mutant killing machines at my command, where would I send them? Why how about the largest mutant population on Earth: Genosha.
In one of the most shocking scenes in comic history, the Setinels launch a nuclear raid that levels all of Genosha and wipes out 16 million (that’s not a typo folks, I said MILLION) mutants. Beast and Jean find the only survivor to be, lo and behold, their old enemy Emma Frost. If you haven’t read a “Generation X” comic, then here’s a quick rundown. Emma reformed, became a Gen X teacher with Banshee, and was forced by her b**** of a sister, Adrienne to accept mutant and human students as a plot to have her school self-destruct. Andrienne killed Gen X member Synch, Emma killed Adrienne, and fled the country when she became a prime suspect in her sister’s “disappearance”. She became a teacher on Genosha, and yet again, students die in her care (for like the third time).
But Emma’s changed. She too has undergone secondary mutation and can change her skin into living diamond, in which case she has super strength and durability but feels no emotions and can’t use her telepathy while transformed. She is returned to America, while Beast studies Cassandra. Turns out that every living species carries an “extinction gene” which activates whenever Mother Nature stops liking that species, and says, “You are the weakest link, goodbye.” And Homo Sapien is next on the list. Yep, ordinary man will die in the next 40 years and will be replaced with mutants, or possibly something stranger, like whatever Cassandra Nova is. On that note, Nova heals and escapes, trashing the entire team with her telepathy and telekinesis and attempts to reach Cerebra. The machine will allow her to contact every mutant mind on Earth at once, but she only needs one special mind for her plans. Emma decides she likes the X-Men after all, goes back to the mansion, and snaps Nova’s neck, while Charlie is forced to put Nova down, for good (ol’ Charlie was packing heat all this time and the X-Men never knew). Scott and Jean recuperate and discuss their marriage, while Xavier goes on TV to finally reveal to the world his long-held secret that he is a mutant and not just a mutie lover.
I was at the edge of my seat on this one. Nova is an original foe, heartless and unforgiving, who gets the job done. And boy did she get it done. As Morrison did with JLA a few years back, he tries to incorporate original ideas and twists that no one sees coming, and you don’t get too much better than the Genosha incident. I really didn’t care for Beast taking on the lion look. Morrison added this touch as he said a lion is what most people see when they hear Beast as a name (as in the Ron Perlman Beast from the Beauty and the Beast TV show and the Disney Beast and all the other Beasts from whatever version of Beauty and the Beast exist). I prefer the monkey look. It made sense, since that’s what Stan and Jack went for from the beginning. Emma on the X-Men is a welcome addition to me, and her new powers fit her perfectly. My biggest complaint is that Morrison seems obsessed with putting the X-Men in moral dilemmas (Scott having to kill Ugly John, Xavier shooting Nova, etc.) This just doesn’t fit the team. Other than that, a solid beginning that made fans, including myself, salivate for more.
E is for Extinction: The saga begins in this four part miniseries. After the fallout of the Genosha War, and a brief skirmish with the psychotic teen, Warp Savant, the X-Men take time to get their priorities back in line. Nightcrawler, Archangel and Iceman take some time in London searching for missing new recruit Chamber. Wolverine and Cyclops head to Australia on a rescue mission, and Jean and Beast witness the debut of Cerebra, Cerebro’s so-called “Big Sister”, who is ten times more efficient than its predecessor.
The X-Men have gone through some changes lately, and not just another roster and uniform alteration. Beast now sports the appearance of a humanoid lion, with greater intelligence and physical power than ever before, and he’s not the only one. Mutants all over the world are undergoing “secondary mutation”, due to factors in the atmosphere that have also resulted in a mutant version of the “Baby Boom”. To Xavier, the time has come for the X-Men to give up being students or a militia and take on the job of teaching this new generation of mutants.
However, someone is out to stop them. Her name is Cassandra Nova, who for some reason, not only knows Xavier, but also looks like him. Teaming up with Donald Trask (the nephew of Dr. Bolivar Trask, the Sentinels creator), she builds technology that allows her to create a new generation of Sentinels, who adapt by merging their destroyed bodies with surrounded technologies (imagine a Sentinel head with spider legs, of a serpentine Sentinel with tank treads and guns and you’ve got the new Sentinels, more or less).
Wolvie and Cyke are forced to head to Ecuador to stop Nova, who kills Trask after he finishes serving his purpose. In battle with the new Sentinels, Wolvie and the a young man named Ugly John (who has three faces) are captured and put on a torture rack, while Nova prepares her voice activation system to launch the Sentinels. Wolvie escapes and cuts out Nova’s larynx (that’s ok, she has a healing factor, too), while Cyke provides Ugly John with a “mercy killing”. But the boys are too late as the Sentinels are launched to their target. Now if I were a mutant hater, with an army of mutant killing machines at my command, where would I send them? Why how about the largest mutant population on Earth: Genosha.
In one of the most shocking scenes in comic history, the Setinels launch a nuclear raid that levels all of Genosha and wipes out 16 million (that’s not a typo folks, I said MILLION) mutants. Beast and Jean find the only survivor to be, lo and behold, their old enemy Emma Frost. If you haven’t read a “Generation X” comic, then here’s a quick rundown. Emma reformed, became a Gen X teacher with Banshee, and was forced by her b**** of a sister, Adrienne to accept mutant and human students as a plot to have her school self-destruct. Andrienne killed Gen X member Synch, Emma killed Adrienne, and fled the country when she became a prime suspect in her sister’s “disappearance”. She became a teacher on Genosha, and yet again, students die in her care (for like the third time).
But Emma’s changed. She too has undergone secondary mutation and can change her skin into living diamond, in which case she has super strength and durability but feels no emotions and can’t use her telepathy while transformed. She is returned to America, while Beast studies Cassandra. Turns out that every living species carries an “extinction gene” which activates whenever Mother Nature stops liking that species, and says, “You are the weakest link, goodbye.” And Homo Sapien is next on the list. Yep, ordinary man will die in the next 40 years and will be replaced with mutants, or possibly something stranger, like whatever Cassandra Nova is. On that note, Nova heals and escapes, trashing the entire team with her telepathy and telekinesis and attempts to reach Cerebra. The machine will allow her to contact every mutant mind on Earth at once, but she only needs one special mind for her plans. Emma decides she likes the X-Men after all, goes back to the mansion, and snaps Nova’s neck, while Charlie is forced to put Nova down, for good (ol’ Charlie was packing heat all this time and the X-Men never knew). Scott and Jean recuperate and discuss their marriage, while Xavier goes on TV to finally reveal to the world his long-held secret that he is a mutant and not just a mutie lover.
I was at the edge of my seat on this one. Nova is an original foe, heartless and unforgiving, who gets the job done. And boy did she get it done. As Morrison did with JLA a few years back, he tries to incorporate original ideas and twists that no one sees coming, and you don’t get too much better than the Genosha incident. I really didn’t care for Beast taking on the lion look. Morrison added this touch as he said a lion is what most people see when they hear Beast as a name (as in the Ron Perlman Beast from the Beauty and the Beast TV show and the Disney Beast and all the other Beasts from whatever version of Beauty and the Beast exist). I prefer the monkey look. It made sense, since that’s what Stan and Jack went for from the beginning. Emma on the X-Men is a welcome addition to me, and her new powers fit her perfectly. My biggest complaint is that Morrison seems obsessed with putting the X-Men in moral dilemmas (Scott having to kill Ugly John, Xavier shooting Nova, etc.) This just doesn’t fit the team. Other than that, a solid beginning that made fans, including myself, salivate for more.