New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection, Vol. 1: E Is For Extinction

New X-Men (2001) #1-2

by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely (Penciler), Leinil Francis Yu (Penciler)

One of the most acclaimed eras of X-Men storytelling from visionary writer Grant Morrison!

Writer Grant Morrison propels the X-Men into the 21st century! Cassandra Nova will stop at nothing to see all mutants exterminated. Her wild Sentinels’ first strike on Genosha brings death and horror beyond belief…but she has far more personal plans for the X-Men! Meanwhile, joined by wicked telepath Emma Frost and mysterious powerhouse Xorn, the X-Men go public — expanding Xavier’s school to train a new generation of mutants including the insect-like Angel, bird-boy Beak and telepathic quintuplets the Stepford Cuckoos! As the team faces the disturbing threat of John Sublime and his organ-harvesting U-Men, Jean’s powers flare out of control, the Beast makes a frightening discovery and Professor X lies near death! Can the X-Men withstand Cassandra’s return — with the full might of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard at her command?

New X-Men (2001) 114-126, New X-Men Annual 2001

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

384 pages, Paperback

Published June 25, 2024

About the author

Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.

In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Reviews

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ *]

i love beast :(

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

E is for Extinction: Convinced that humanity is doomed to be wiped out in three or four generations and replaced by mutants, telepath Cassandra Nova unleashes the Master Mold sentinels on Genosha. Can the X-Men stop her?

I have a confession to make. The last issue of the X-Men I bought before this had Jim Lee doing the art so I was slightly out of the loop. Never the less, I enjoyed the first arc in this collection. The scope and the dialogue are vintage Grant Morrison, as is the shaking up of the status quo a bit by wiping out most of Genosha. Cassandra Nova was a pretty vile villain and I doubt I've seen the last of her. Professor X showed he has testicles like grapefruits in the conclusion of the story.

The Man From Room X: The X-Men got to China to stop a mutant organ trafficking ring, only to run afoul of the U-Men, humans getting grafts from mutants to take their powers.

The second story in the collection had two things going against it for me. It was sideways and Frank Quitley didn't do the art. Other than that, I enjoyed the interplay between Cyclops and Emma Frost. Xorn seemed more like a Doom Patrol character than an X-Man. On a related note, I always thought it was weird when Marvel wooed Vertigo writers away from DC and stuck them on superhero titles.

The third story in the book is untitled as far as I can tell. A bird-faced mutant called Adrien Brody, I mean The Beak, is introduced, Logan and Jean Grey share a moment, and Xavier leaves to spend some time with Llandra and the Shi'ar. It's an okay issue but has some chilling implications at the end. Damn that Cassandra Nova is sinister!

Germ Free Generation: The conflict with John Sublime and the U-Men comes to a conclusion. Emma and Cyclops are captured, Wolverine recruits a bug-winged girl named Angel, and Sublime's forces storm a certain school for gifted youngsters...

This story was well worth the read. The background plot with Cassandra Nova advanced quite a bit, and the John Sublime plot came to conclusion of sorts.

Silence: Psychic Rescue in Progress: Jean Grey and Emma Frost enter Cassandra Nova's mind. What will they find?

This story was fairly brief. There was very little text but what little there was was powerful. The origin of Cassandra Nova was revealed!

Imperial: In the aftermath of learning what transpired between Cassandra Nova, the X-Men prepare for the Shi'ar's arrival on Earth...

Imperial was mostly setup but I have a feeling the payoff is going to be huge. I'm a little surprised that The Gladiator hasn't made an appearance yet.

Testament: Just as the Beast figures out the origin of the flu that's plaguing the school, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard arrive...

Yep. Gladiator showed up. Meanwhile, Cyclops and Xorn are held captive aboard the Shi'ar flagship. Carnage ensues.

Losers: Cyclops and Xorn escape Shi'ar captivity and Jean Grey prepares for the inevitable...

The thing about Grant Morrison that always sparks my interest is how he uses the powers of characters in new ways. In Batman RIP, he infected a bunch of ninjas with the Man-Bat serum. In this book...

I'm excited for the final issue of this collection. With the combined might of the X-Men and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, I can't see how Cassandra Nova can survive...

All Hell: The story of Cassandra Nova comes to its conclusion...
Yeah, the ending was worthwhile and the trip getting there was completely worth it.

Conclusion: I was eager to see what Grant Morrison would do with the X-Men and I wasn't disappointed. Despite my last exposure to the X-Men being sometime in the mid-90's, I had no trouble following the story. Morrison brought his sense of scope to the title and elevated a bit in my estimation. How many other writers have had a run that included the destruction of Genosha, Xavier's unborn twin, and attempted mutant genocide by the Shi'ar? I give this an easy four and urge fans of both the X-Men and Grant Morrison to seek it out. It's damn good.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every single time I open a Grant Morrison comic I fear for the worst. So, when it's good, I'm fucking HAPPY. Luckily, like his Batman and Robin or We3 comic, Morrison's New X-men starts off with a bang.

So what's this about? Well after the successful X-Men movie they decided the X-Men comics needed a revamp. Don't blame them at all. Who better than the guy who fixed Justice League? So we take out all the extra X-Men and focus on a few, mostly the originals, or more famous ones. Got Beast, Jean, Cyclops, Wolverine, and more. But it focuses on them so much that each encounter feels fresh. You also have Xavier as a key role and something major happens with a long lose sibling. Oh, and like the back of the book states, millions of mutants die. Talk about a "oh shit" start.

Good: Really dug all the interactions. Wolverine is both funny and charming here. I thought the fights were great, gritty, and brutal. The twist and turns keep coming and you feel like people can ACTUALLY die. I also thought the story, despite getting a bit bizarre closer to the end, is still really interesting.

Bad: The art. I know it's unique. I Love Jupiter's Legacy. But damn, it's rough here. Some of the female characters look fucking horrendous. Also, towards the end gets a bit too weird and shifts to the bizarre Morrison side.

Overall this is great. Extremely entertaining, solid dialog, and good pacing. Grant, when good, is damn good, it's a shame he's usually fucking insane. This is worth reading though for sure. A 4 out of 5.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whew! That was fun!
Morrison may be better known for his work with Batman, but the guy has a real talent for the X-Men, too. I'm hoping the other volumes are at least half this good!

[Rory Wilding · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the time Grant Morrison – known for his work on DC and Vertigo such as The Invisibles and JLA – stepped into the Marvel universe and became the new writer for the main X-Men series, the mutant superhero team were at an interesting point in their history as not only Chris Claremont and Jim Lee relaunched the comic which led to the popular 1992 animated series, but their cinematic debut in 2000 spawned a re-emergence of superhero films. With the X-Men being as popular as Spider-Man at this point in time, what better way than for Grant Morrison to step into the mutant world and shake it up.

Opening with the story arc “E is for Extinction”, a new generation of mutants begins maturing across the globe, whilst a long-lost Master Mold A.I. and Sentinel production facility in the jungles of Ecuador is uncovered by a mysterious woman called Cassandra Nova.

As always with Morrison when it comes to superheroes, he looks back at the history of the X-Men and brings it forward whilst revamping the whole presentation such as the concept of secondary mutations, expanding the X-Mansion from simply a training centre to a legitimate school with dozens of mutant students, while the group abandoned their traditional spandex costumes for leather jackets and conservative turtle-neck sweaters. No doubt these changes evoked controversy amongst the fans and certainly events like the destruction of Genosha sets up a dark tone for the rest of Morrison’s tone.

Very steeped into the continuity that Chris Claremont established throughout his long run, Morrison is very heavy on ideas as he branches many forms of science-fiction from genetics to intergalactic affairs. No doubt there is a lot to wrap your brain around and yet like the best X-Men stories, no matter how outlandish these super-powered figures can be, it is youthful outsiders trying to survive in a world consumed by prejudice. No one epitomises more than Barnell Bohusk as the bird-like mutated Beak whose physical appearance and oddball personality makes him isolated even amongst his mutant classmates.

The biggest issue with this book is its artistic inconsistency as it starts great with Morrison’s long-time collaborator Frank Quitely whose quirky yet highly detailed artwork brings a unique look to the X-Men and their world. Two sequences that definitely display his artistic brilliance; one is the destruction of Genosha, a compelling action sequence which was strangely realised months later by the true horrors of 9/11; and two is the entirety of #121 where Jean Grey and Emma Frost pair up to travel through the labyrinthine mind of Xavier whilst discovering the truth behind Cassandra Nova.

Although I do wish Quitely drew every issue, most of the other artists do shine if not as successfully including Leinil Francis Yu whose artwork was published in the sideways "Widescreen" format which is a confusing read. While Ethan Van Sciver has a detail-oriented style that rivals Quitely, I can’t say the same about Igor Kordey whose rough sketching is tough to read that it slums down Morrison’s extravagant storytelling.

For a newcomer what wishes to get into the adventures of the X-Men, Grant Morrison’s New X-Men would not be an ideal start but it is a recommendation for those who are fans the Scot’s high ideas and how he nicely steps into the pages of Marvel.

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this point, people have been saying great things about Morrison's run on X-Men for so many years that I couldn't go in without expectations. Add in that I generally like him as a writer. He may strike out on occasion, but it's because he's swinging big. So yes, I was expecting quite a bit, but I also basically knew where he might fall short.

And yes, all was as I expected. Morrison took some chances, and did some things that are unusual in superhero comics. A lot more talk, a lot less action, for one. Morrison's trademark weird concepts. And very high stakes. If I had read this back when I was sick of X-Men, it might have given me a second wind and kept me reading, at least for awhile longer.

But it isn't perfect, of course, in the way that Morrison's work tends to fall short. Concept before characters, always. This volume, at least, was interesting enough and moved quickly enough that I was engaged anyways. And for me, it was kind of sad to see just how developed mutant culture had become before the events of House of M. Alas.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art was a distraction to me, in a bad way. Had a hard time getting into the story.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grant Morrison began his run on "New X-Men" 11 years ago but still the series reads as fresh today as it did back then. He sets the tone quickly by having a psychotic psychic beget a genocide killing millions of mutants and then sets off for the stars to bring in the Shi'Ar to battle the X-Men. Suffice it to say, Morrison brings it.

What an epic start to one of Marvel's best loved series! From the Ecuadoran jungle with the Sentinel Factory at the start, heading back to Westchester, then space, even journeying into Xavier's mind! This large, nearly 400-page first volume collecting Grant Morrison's 3 year run on the series, contains too much to go into in a mere review.

Not all of the X-Men are included in Morrison's version, the core remains Xavier, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Emma Frost, and of course Wolverine. Rogue and Storm are left out, maybe to included later, while Morrison and Quitely revise the X-Men's outfits to look less colourful and comic-book-y - the end result is pretty awesome though Emma Frost's "flesh X" you can see on the cover makes her look like a Amsterdam hooker than a teacher.

I thought Cassandra Nova was an excellent villain, a character I'd never heard of before and a challenge for all of the X-Men to defeat. Her methods of destruction - the decimation of confidence, character, and personality - was an interesting way of fighting without using physical force. It's abstract but this is Morrison writing so you've got to expect that. Plus the hyper-surreal silent issue where Jean and Emma journey into Xavier's tormented mind was fantastic, full props to Frank Quitely for pulling it off so masterfully.

There are lots of nice touches in the story throughout and any fans of the X-Men will enjoy the book. The art varies in quality with Frank Quitely setting the gold standard (he's definitely one of my favourite comics artists ever) and Igor Kordey going for rougher, more sketchy kind of pencils for his issues. Morrison's writing throughout is as great as ever and his treatment of Hank McCoy aka Beast was particularly nice to see as that character often gets short shrift. X-Men fans will love this, highly recommended.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

85% | A- | Amazing

"The whole world is watching us now. We must be nothing less than fabulous"

Mutants face complete extinction, again. With sixteen million already fallen, it's up to the X-Men to save their species from their biggest threat yet

What makes this book a five stars is the writing. Morrison absolutely excels at writing the X-Men, with excellent characterisations for the core team and the antagonist. The standout character is Emma Frost. She might be my favourite X-Men character in general, but from a completely unbiased view, she absolutely shines in this with her humour and intelligence. Other characters of note are Wolverine, Jean, Beast, Scott, and Cassandra who is a smashing villain that proves to be an actual, credible threat who definitely leaves her mark. Where this falls flat is the art. I hate to be negative about art as it's absolutely subjective, but the story deserves better; sometimes the characters just look downright ugly. I'm willing to look past it thanks to the exceptional characters and plot ( and my love for the X-Men), however, I also acknowledge that comics are a visual medium and the style may put a lot of people off. I 100% recommend that you try this though as it's a wild ride from start to finish and a must for X-Men fans.

BONUS

Best of Emma Frost:
↳ "I didn't come back for you, Scott, I came back for my handbag. Lucky for you, this is a Louis Vuitton"
↳ "May our dry cleaners forgive you, Charles, dear"
↳ "That's how my nose feels, the precise sensation of twenty thousand dollars of very delicate cosmetic surgery, as ruined by vandals"
↳ "And you, Madame, are a witless bigot with brightly glowing masochistic tendencies"
↳ "Don't worry, she always does this sort of thing for dramatic effect" ( about Jean )
↳ "Try not to let this experience put you off boys, Esme"

[Sans · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, Morrison is to comics what George Lucas is to films: great ideas, less than stellar execution (especially when paired with Quitely's art, which...I really don't like. This also explains why I haven't been able to finish The Authority vol 2 for nearly two months).

This book was bonkers. I don't know how much of that is me having zero background in X-Men history for the blahblah number of years between Age of Apocalypse and this series run, and how much is just pure weirdness born from the simple fact this is a Morrison story.

So...if you love Morrison, you'll love this. If you're "meh" about him and don't have a deep-rooted love for the X-family, you might be as lost as I was. I'll read the next volume. Just not right now.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for the writing (despite the hit-or-miss art). Morrison pulls a great rebirth for the X-Men by imbuing them with real life and dimension that was sorely lacking. Made me care about the characters and their universe again, carving jagged edges into their psyches and weaknesses, without the easy cop-out of whininess and tedious, superficial intra-team conflict.

But boy would I like to see these scripts redrawn by a consistently awesome group of artists.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights:
-Jean Grey: Usually her character either bores or annoys me but I'm really loving her arc in this one. Can't wait to see more of Jean in the next volume. Emma was also pretty fun here.
-Cassandra Nova Plot: Really interesting plot going on here around Cassandra and her determination to wipe out mutants.

The annoying things:
-Emma Frost's costume: Because seriously, 99% of the time I have no idea what is holding the material onto her chest. Does she super-glue that stuff to her skin or what?
-So many plot threads: There are at least 3 major plots going on at once here (Cassandra Nova, Mutant Organ Harvesting, and a Rise in Mutant Hate/Mutant Births/Development of 2nd Mutations). Having so many major events happening at once, things things often felt rushed or got jumbled together. It was a little confusing trying to figure out which emergency the characters were attempting to deal with at certain points.

All in all, a really good read. I'll be picking up Book 2 soon.

[Saadiq Wolford · Rating 3 out of 5]

If, like me, you're getting back in to comics after many years away, the general consensus is that Morrison's run on New X-Men and Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men are both excellent starting places, and I found this volume very accessible to the casual fan.

The story line is epic - with moments of humor and character development sprinkled throughout - and the resolution is memorable for its cleverness. Having said that, I felt that Morrison's portrayal of the aftermath of the genocide on Genosha gave short shrift to the level of grief and angst such a holocaust would create; it lacked authenticity and seemed merely a plot point for Morrison (which, in the end, it really is).

Finally, I found the inconsistency of the art from issue to issue distracting. Quitely's work is impressive - if somewhat an acquired taste - but Igor Kordey's work was so dreadful that, in this instance, it had no business being in any book, let alone an A-list title.

[Johann Rucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Game changer. Grant Morrison is a force of nature!

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great - I was totally absorbed. I've had a mixed experience (like many) with Grant Morrison. We3 is amazing, but I hated Animal Man, for example. However the writing here is excellent.
This first Arc - all about Cassandra Nova - was fun and very odd. I especially enjoyed the mind prison with the psychedelic walls.
The thing that let this down for me was the art. Dark, scratchy inking, and weird faces. The colorist did an excellent job though and the dirction of each issue was top notch.

Onto volume 2!



==========
Why X-Men, why now?
I was really into X-Men during my teens.
It's such a classic story about acceptance and finding your place in the world that it feels catered to teens. Plus there's enough diversity in the cast's backgrounds and personalities to keep it interesting.
And look at the epic storylines back then: the dark Phoenix saga, Age of Apocalypse, House of M, Civil War - so much great stuff!
I grew tired of them at some point and moved on to other pastures (Runaways, then mostly Image) mostly because the big Marvel collections were huge, a long time coming, and they were so expensive! I didn't have a way to get single issues (this was pre-digital comics) so I ordered them from the USA.

But recently.. someone talked about how great the Hickman run is... And I wanted to get back in. Because let's face it: when Marvel is done well it's like being a kid again.

So with the help of comicbook herald (here for example, prepare to lose hours of your life to this site) I put together a little reading list.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed 90% of the writing in this book but I good god, I hated the artwork. The women are drawn horribly and I don't just mean some of the outfit choices for Emma Frost. Their proportions and shapes are skewed and odd and the artist clearly doesn't think we have bone structure?? Don't get me started on the way Angel was drawn because I'll be here all day.

Usually, I'll make one brief comment about artwork I don't like and move on to the story but this artwork was distractingly bad. It it definitely what made me pick 4 stars instead of 5.

Anyway, this is easy to jump into if you have no knowledge of the X-men characters. They do reference Phoenix's past but that's really it. I love Emma as always and Wolverine is a joy as usual. I think the writer likes Beast because this is the most I've seen a series focus on him. He was pretty funny and I felt for his struggle to feel human.

The last story with the Shi'ar empire bored me. Honestly, I tend to not care for galactic characters in the Marvel universe, aside from the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Inhumans, if they count. So, there was that and the storyline was a little hard to follow. Not great. Until that, I enjoyed the book. You really get a feel for the way the public treats the mutant community and it was saddening. The mutants remain a metaphor for ostracized and oppressed minorities.

As a last note, Jean Grey continues to slay me. I adore her.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard good things about this run for a while, but somehow never realized that it was Grant Morrison who wrote it. Morrison is a longtime favorite of mine, and I was intrigued to see what their take on the X-Men would be. Predictably? It's a lot stranger than one might think. Which is saying something, considering it's the X-Men.

Emma Frost has joined the team, after a Sentinel destroyed Genosha. People are calling for an extermination of all mutant kind, but have also discovered an Extinction Gene within the human genome set to destroy the race within a scant few generations. People are grafting mutant organs into humans to try to create a third species, superior both to humans and mutantkind.

If any of this made you go "What?" then... yeah... it's an X-Men comic.

There are manifold fun twists and turns, and it is truly an unhinged plot. All of that having been said? Quite the fun read, and the writing for Emma Frost is brilliant.

I'm one hundred percent here for how bizarre it all is and how remarkably well-written Emma Frost is. She's really a driving force in this comic, and a commanding presence throughout it all. I'm curious to see where it goes, even if at times it is hard to keep up with it all.

[Henry Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly one of the best X-Men runs ever made. I would say Claremont’s run takes the gold medal for X-Men but Hickman and Morrison’s would be tied for 2nd best.

I don’t know if this run is for everyone but I just absolutely love Morrison’s psychedelic writing style and I think it works so well with X-Men. He knows how to make a story complex but not confusing. He knows how to focus on the interesting factors of characters and story. And can foreshadow correctly which isn’t something that a lot of writers can do. There’s not a lot of grand scheme writing done well in mainline comics but Morrison is almost an expert at it.

This story is one of the most important and interesting ones ever made. E is for Extinction being the centre point focus of it all. I also really love how much this run links with Hickman’s X-Men almost 20 years later. It’s satisfying having them so intertwined.

Can’t really say anything bad about this only good things for me. It’s all the reasons I love X-Men. They’re so unique and their position as mutants to be scorned by humans adds an amazing narrative factor that other superheroes don’t have. And it takes a special writer to utilise it all. And this run has that.

[micerco_tralepagine_diunlibro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non so perché ma gli X-Men sono sempre stati considerati la serie B dei fumetti Marvel, per lo meno nella mia piccola cerchia di persone che conosco e che seguono la Marvel. Secondo me invece hanno tanto di quel potenziale da far esplodere la testa.
Non a caso il mio personaggio preferito in assoluto è proprio Wanda Maximoff, Scarlett Witch, figlia di Erik Lensherr, ovvero Magneto.
Tralasciando il mio amore per Wanda torniamo al fumetto che ho apprezzato tantissimo. Per me è sempre un piacere ritrovare personaggi come Logan (Wolverine), Jean Grey (La Fenice), Henry McCoy (Bestia) e tanti altri. Sono talmente tanti che non basterebbe un post.
I disegni sono bellissimi, non basta una sola occhiata per apprezzarli.
L'unica cosa che mi ha fatto storcere il naso è stato il font esageratamente piccolo in alcune scene. Ho fatto davvero fatica a leggere.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morrison did a great job with this New xmen collection. A great story with the old favourite xmen characters with a pretty amazing antagonist. Got a little weird with some plotting and developments in the story but still alot of fun. The artwork was very cool. Its alwsys cool to see how different artists potray certain cult characters.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start of a lot

I have mixed feelings on Grant Morrison's X-Men and I am hardly v alone with them. Some of his concepts are brilliant like the U-men but others are terrible like destroying Genosha. Still for better or worse they have defined much of the past couple of decades of X-Men continuity.

[Ronny Trøjborg · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story in this is just not that good, and the art is just plain awful.
Might be the worst art I've ever seen in a Comicbook so far. Jean looks like an very old prof. X with a wig, what is going on with Emma frost uniform and don't get me started on wolverine.

[Davy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This run has been on my “to-read list” for as long as I can remember and I finally decided to pull the trigger—and man did it deliver! I’m not overly familiar with the status of the X-Men leading up to this run, so part of that burst of fresh air everyone speaks about was lost on me. However, Grant Morrison has always been one of my favorite writers, and getting to experience one of their seminal runs was an absolute pleasure.

What really stood out was how bold and inventive it felt—balancing wild new concepts with deep character work. I could only imagine how ahead of their time these ideas were when this was released. It really pushes the boundaries of what a superhero comic can be. Even the weirder elements feel purposeful, like Morrison is daring you to think bigger. It’s the kind of run that makes you excited about the medium all over again. This book is why I read comics!

[Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

So if someone was to ask me what the best stuff Grant Morrison ever wrote, I would point them to Morrison's work for what eventually would become the Vertigo imprint, Animal Man and Doom Patrol (yes, I'm ignoring his magnum opus The Invisibles but even with Mozart, Bob Dylan and the Beatles, you always need to start somewhere.) I was introduced to Morrison through Doom Patrol even though I probably would argue that his work on Animal Man was strongest with it's meta look at the comic medium through the writer writing the different versions of his character over the years, mocking the recent changes DC had made resetting the continuity in Crisis on Infinite Earths basically at the behest of continuity nerds (and of DC editorial who felt readers couldn't figure out what the fuck was going on--way to insult the customer!). Before Morrison, I always felt my favorite creators (John Byrne mainly) were always building on those that came before. Crisis had changed that to some degree--Byrne was able to rebuild the Superman mythos from the ground up and effectively start over (although I had missed Alan Moore's "Last Superman Story" right before Byrne took over, and that may be the best Superman story I have ever read), but what really changed it for me was reading Morrison's run on Doom Patrol. In regards to continuity, Morrison played along and got Steve Kupperberg to kill off the Doom Patrol members he didn't want and then tried his best to follow Arnold Drake's (creator of Doom Patrol) lead in making the Doom Patrol the outcasts Drake had envisioned them as. Former traditional superheroes were replaced by new members like Danny the Street, Flex Metallo and the first gender non-binary hero, Rebis facing them off against "villains" like The Scissormen and The Brotherhood of Dada. What this taught me was that comics continuity is basically crap. Morrison's take on Doom Patrol was not even going to be in the same universe as Drake or Kupperberg, so trying to maintain a continuity was a pointless endeavor (which is essentially what he was critiquing in Animal Man vis a vis Crisis Later, Grant Morrison would do a pretty spectacular run on the traditional superhero book JLA.

What does this have to do with New X-Men? Shortly after he left the original Doom Patrol Drake went on to write X-Men where he created Havok and Polaris. He also insinuated that Stan Lee had stolen the "outcast hero team" concept from him that he had put together for Doom Patrol to create X-Men. Since Morrison already had received his superhero bona fides from his work on JLA, I think Marvel was interested in seeing what he could do with the X-Men, confident that Morrison wouldn't make his version of the X-Men a new Invisibles.

And in this first volume of New X-Men it is largely a success. I am not aware of what X-Men was like before Morrison took over--but the team he presents is pretty sparse and for anyone who spent their tween and teen years reading Claremont and Byrne's run on The Uncanny X-Men you're going to be familiar with at least five of the six members of his version of the team, and probably all of them if you have read "The Dark Phoenix Saga" (and if you haven't rectify that now.) But if you are familiar with Morrison's "traditional" superhero work, you will be pleased to note that Morrison still can throw curve balls about heroes you think you have known forever. He has a take on the Sentinels that will have you scratching your head and asking "why didn't someone think of that before Morrison did?" and of course he has the ability to introduce us to the kind of mutants only someone like him could think of (telepathic quints? a guy with a singularity for a brain? where does he come up with this stuff?) He also introduces an interesting foil to Professor X that drives basically the story arcs of the entire volume--I don't know if that character always works, but I'll leave that for you to decide.

As for the art, the main collaborators in this volume are Frank Quitely and Igor Kordey. I am a very big fan of Quitely's work, which I was familiar with from his work with Morrison on All-Star Superman (which was after New X-Men but nothing goes in a straight line, right?) but I was not feeling the issues drawn by Igor Kordey. His art isn't bad, but compared to Quitely, I think I was bound to be disappointed.

In all, this probably should be on the must-read list for Morrison fans. Morrison has shown he's at his best when he's given complete freedom with the characters he is working with (although I'm sure some could argue that The Invisibles is Morrison at his self indulgent worst--I don't agree) but he does do a pretty damned good job when he has to work within the confines of a framework not of his choosing...how he manages to to get outside that box, a literary Houdini, without pissing off his bosses? Pulling off that trick is always great too.

[Dylan]

hit a bit of a reading snag lately so I decided to remedy that by buying an ipad and getting back into comics. going well so far! haven't read this one in ages and it holds up. grant morrison GOAT, obviously. emma frost is my hero and I would like to bang wolverine.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

E is for Extinction (#114-116). Morrison's debut on the New X-Men turns out to be one of his weaker arcs. Oh, there's delightful storytelling here, great characterization, and the wonderful intro of Emma to the main team (and the similarly wonderful introduction of Casandra Nova, though she doesn't really come into her own until later arcs). And of course we get the rather shocking destruction of Genosha, so critical in the Magneto Rex era, just tossed away now. But, this story also feels a bit too plot-driven, not really giving Morrison's SF concepts and superb characters enough chance to shine [4/5].

The Man from Room X (Annual '01). I hate, hate, hate the sideways art in this issue. It was hard to read in the comics, harder to read in the trades, and even harder to read in the Omnibus. There's just no point. As for the intro of Xorn: that's intriguing, although at some point one must go back and ask how much of this story is a lie (and how much has been retconned by less competent authors) [3/5].

Danger Rooms (#117). This is mostly the ramp-up of the Cassandra Nova story, and it's shocking (while also nicely highlighting some of the new kids at the institute) [5/5].
Germ-Free Generation (#118-120). Morrison's best arc to date. The idea of the U-Man stealing body parts from mutants is entirely cringeworthy, while it really feels like some of our main characters are in serious danger in a very tense action sequence. All around, delightful for both the world development and the plotting [5+/5].

Silence (#121). One of the 'Nuff Said stories. Perhaps, Morrison does better than most, and there's a great revelation about Cassandra Nova in this story, but as with most of these 'Nuff Said stories, a regular story with dialogue would have been better [4/5].

Imperial (#122-126). Morrison closes out his first year by concluding the story of Cassandra Nova on the galactic scale. He makes great use of the Shi'ar and the Imperial Guard, and really uses them to portray the dangerous scope of Nova. We also get more great characterization (including a fun buddy romp with Scott and Xorn). However the best thing may be how Morrison opens up the scope of the school, giving some of the new students, the Cuckoos, a real focus in the story [5/5].

[The Sapphic Nerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story. It feels like a big telepath party, but I'm not complaining because I love Jean Grey and Emma Frost. They make up about 90% of the humour and amusement I get out of this book and their interactions with each other are the best parts. I'd never read much Jean Grey before so reading her here is cool. She's a badass, that's for sure. Her level head under pressure and insane powers are perfectly complemented by Emma's sarcasm and bitchiness (I mean that in the most delightful way). I couldn't help giggling at the X-Men's grins when they were being invaded and Jean just says, "And can I just remind everyone that Emma is still on the loose?"

The art is another story. I'm not fond of it in the slightest. It looks abnormal and creepy, with the exception of a handful of panels. Characters look disproportionate and morphed a lot of the time, and just plain ugly. How they got away with doing this run without switching artists or art styles is beyond me.

Oh well. Overall, I like it. Jean and Emma made it a lot better for me. Without them, it's still a decent book, but it'd be a lot less interesting.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could be considered the ultimate Grant Morrison comic. It has the complexity of his mind found in such works as Arkham Asylum, but the same heart and wholesomeness as something like All Star Superman. And boy was I impressed with how he created genuinely new societal problems to tackle so as not to feel constricted with the same race analogies as so many previous authors tackled. It's still there but with a fresh take that many could not come up with. Also the idea of a philanthropist trying to synthesize a drug for humans to also become mutants as a belief for the next step in evolution? GENIUS! Complaints are that it does tend to be hard to follow with the over the top sci fi, and I wish it was only Frank Quietly on art duties because he can do no wrong in my very humble opinion. Grant, you are king.

[Kyle Bateman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know I’m in the minority here, but a lot of this stuff just does not hold up at all. And some of the artwork is just atrocious, specifically anything by Igor Kordey. His art looks like an amateur trying to emulate Quitely and Van Sciver at the same time, artists that also work on this run. It really doesn’t feel like Morrison finds his footing until the second half of his run. This first bath of issues is extremely hit and miss though for me personally.

[Chris W · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's OK. Beast is portrayed very well and his probably the best character. Cassandra nova is a decent villain. It's just the outer space element is where it starts to fall apart for me. It gets too wacky and involves unnecessary characters that take away from the story rather than add to it. Overall it's good but not great in my opinion.
3.5 stars