New X-Men Review–the Grant Morrison run
New X-Men
TBS Vol. 1-7, Omnibus
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Frank Quitely w/ others
With the first X-Men movie getting ready to open in theaters, the comic versions of the X-Men needed a reboot. Grant Morrison came on with a plan for the first six issues laid out with the next year or so worth of stories in the works. Something must have gone right because his run extended from #114-154, including the annual in 2001.
From the very first issue, it was clear that this was not your parent’s X-Men. The spandex was dropped for leather and the team cut down to the essentials: Jean Gray, Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, White Queen, and Prof. X. These were meaner and more realistic X-Men. Gone were the hopes for peace, replaced with the harsh realism that things would not be easy anymore (as if things had been super easy before). Right off the bat a new villain is introduced in dramatic fashion and things refuse to slow down. As the run continues, you realize that what seemed to be a throwaway piece of dialogue earlier has very important meanings now. Each issue builds upon the previous one and it results in one of the best runs on X-Men since the Claremont days. We get a murder mystery, a new killing machine, a one-shot of some drunken X-Men, and a trip into the future. That is only a taste of what to expect when you pick up these collections.
However, unlike the consistent writing, the art chores are very up and down. While Frank Quitely starts things off, we jump around to a lot of different artists throughout the run. Some work well in this corner of the Marvel U, others do not. It is usually easy to look past this as the writing is so good, but those few that are way off may serve to be a bit jarring.
In all though, it is a great run and any fan of the X-Men should check it out. The run has since been collected in two formats. The first of which was the trades and most recently, an Omnibus has been released, encasing every issue under one hardcover. The Omnibus is more cost effective, but the trades are the way to go if you don’t have $99 to drop at once.
Check out if you like: All Star Superman, Morrison’s Batman run, Astonishing
X-Men
Contributed by super-guest reviewer
-Tom Lynch
lynch@30extralives.com
www.30extralives.com
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June 7th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
While there is an ongoing New X-Men series, this is not the New X-Men in this review. The present New X-Men title used to be called Academy X. Morrison’s New X-Men is the present “adjective-less” X-Men, the title that started in the 1990s with the Claremont/Lee run. In the ’90s the title was X-Men; Morrison re-named the title New X-Men; soon after Morrison left, the “New” was dropped.
The re-naming inspired the annoying trend of putting “New” in every title: New Avengers, New Excalibur, New Thunderbolts…Good thing they stopped before New Warriors returned.
Wow, that sure cleared things up.