Grant Morrison's New X-Men From The Beginning (Reboot Edition)

[Kid A]

It's really sad that Frank Quietly couldn't draw the series consistently or for long.

[Dante Milton]

It's really sad that Frank Quietly couldn't draw the series consistently or for long.

Quietly had his flaws, but I certainly preferred his work to the Kordey issues.

[coveredinbees]

I like Quitely. His favorite character is Xavier.

[General Nerditry]

I also wish Quitely had drawn the entire thing. He's not always my favorite on his own, but he and Morrison have such a fantastic creative chemistry that shines when they work together. Creatively, they were made for each other.

[MykeHavoc]

"Meant to be" is a phrase I'd associate with the two. Together, the work is so definitely unlike anything else in the medium. The perfect illustration style to accommodate Morrison's tales. I wish they could've stuck together more often than not and that Quitely was able to do more monthly schedules, but I assume part of the genius is the time it takes. I will say that I thought Burnham is the closest person Grant has worked with that fills that void with the Batman Inc vol 2 material. Sure, it's almost a knock-off, but that style is just to perfect for his stuff. It helps lighten the heavy load of some of the heady stuff and reminds you it's a comic, one in which its best to suspend disbelief and just enjoy for the pure experience of it. I'd but B&R #1 right along the first New X-Men cover. Two perfect examples of their ability to just define a new era of an already well established set of characters.

[R.E.B]

#115



Artist: Frank Quietly

Synopsis:

From the Master Mold factory unit, Donald Trask instructs the giant Wild Sentinels to commit mass mutant genocide. Cyclops, Wolverine and the Ugly John fly above the factory and are then attacked by various miniature Sentinels and are soon brought forth to Cassandra Nova.

Cassandra kills Donald after assimilating his DNA sequence; now able to command his Wild Sentinels. She then imposes Ugly John with an agonizing death, before Wolverine and Cyclops can release themselves. In turn, the two X-Men capture Cassandra Nova. Cyclops humanely kills Ugly John with his optic blast to spare him further suffering.

At that moment, as Emma Frost commences her telepathic lesson in Genosha A teenager's nightmare comes into conception as Wild Sentinels arrive to bring slaughter and destruction to the mutant sanctuary. Meanwhile, at the Xavier Mansion, the Professor cuts short his recovery to locate the missing X-Men. Once Cerebra is activated, Xavier, Jean and Beast witness the horrific massacre of more than sixteen million mutants.

So this issue introduces Emma Frost to the run, in her favorite role as teacher (which is strange because there's not much time in between the death of her Gen X kids and this point). The last panels with Cassandra's face as the mutant population in Genosha drops are so great. There's a small cameo by Magneto as Genosha is attacked. Cassandra proves to be quite the villain. Besides the Wolverine/Cassandra manhandling and the end of Genosha... Nothing else grabbed me in this issue. It felt like a lead up to the conclusion of this arc.

On to part III.

*** Bonus: Post Your Favorite 5 Emma Frost Artist.

Mine:
Jimenez
Quietly
Bryne
Pacheco
Bachalo
-------------
Dobson

[KalEx71]

Is it too late to get in on this? I'm new to the forums, but I was just thinking earlier today I wanted to do a Morrison/Whedon NXM/Astonishing super-read this summer. This would be a good place to talk about the Morrison stuff.

I collected only sporadically during his run, and I actually haven't even read all of it. Probably only the first half. I'm excited to get started with this project though, so if it's not too late I'll read the first few issues and post my reflections.

[R.E.B]

Is it too late to get in on this? I'm new to the forums, but I was just thinking earlier today I wanted to do a Morrison/Whedon NXM/Astonishing super-read this summer. This would be a good place to talk about the Morrison stuff.

I collected only sporadically during his run, and I actually haven't even read all of it. Probably only the first half. I'm excited to get started with this project though, so if it's not too late I'll read the first few issues and post my reflections.

Sure, there's no deadline to participate and the more different voices, the better.

[skullfire]

I also dropped right around AoA, Legion Quest. New X-Men brought me back, but I didn't pick up any other xbooks because they seemed less important and of lesser quality in New X-Men's shadow. I wish I was new to comics and somebody told me to read Giant Size up until v2 #3 and then New X-Men. Then Whedon's run, actually.

[t hedge coke]

Now, I want to make it my weekend reading. Such a great run/graphic-novel-in-parts.

Quietly had his flaws, but I certainly preferred his work to the Kordey issues.

I forgive Kordey the replacing-the-replacement issues because the Fantomex arc looks so damned good. Those opening pages introducing him are just tops.

I tend to think the talented Christie Marx was shortchanging that arc, in her criticism that everything Fantomex says is silly, bs, and wrong because... it's kind of the point of the character. (Plus she blamed Morrison/Quietly for sexing up White Queen while championing the Claremont version.)

[t hedge coke]

Then Whedon's run, actually.

Aside from a few good bits, his run seemed too much of a giant step backwards, especially for Kitty.

I much preferred nearly every Astonishing run after Whedon and Cassaday (whose work I usually love to bits). Whedon works best for me in movies/tv because I don't have time to pause and think about it while it's unfolding. Purely as a writer, I think Marjorie Liu and Warren Ellis are stronger and less apt to the nostalgia-injections.

[Mari]

I remember #115 most for the fall of Genosha... Ugly John and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

[Tenebrae]

Such a great beginning. I found it a bit jarring at first, namely the costume changes to more film-esque versions but those first couple of issues are easily some of the best ever. I wish the art had been more consistant overall but mainly because Quitely and Morrison make such a fantastic team.

[t hedge coke]

E For Extinction was the first time, in several years, where things felt real again, for me, as if they could progress, as if there were consequences. Ironically, I couldn't at all see the X-Men making friends with Cassandra the way they had been so chummy with Magneto. (The loss/erasure of Ernst is one of the dumbest moves in X-comics. That was such an amazing victory.) Even the "history lesson" Nova gives to Donald Trask felt "real," and of course, it's just CGI designed to scare and encourage him. Hank and Jean feel like old friends in those issues, and they didn't really have a huge dynamic before, outside of him hitting on her back in '63 or whenever. Cyke and Wolverine's dynamic was virtually turned on its head, but it worked! The chiller Wolverine had really come about in his solo title, thanks to Larry Hama's lengthy run, but in X-Men he tended to still be the angry thorn-in-foot, and Cyke was either a total screw up running away from something or pure pure pure superhero with no personality. Making all that work in context, was great, as was getting Emma Frost out of the oversized sweaters and den mother dialogue, even if some of her sexing up was a bit much. (The diaper look actually probably shows less than her Byrne panties.)

[Captain Buttocks]

I forgive Kordey the replacing-the-replacement issues because the Fantomex arc looks so damned good. Those opening pages introducing him are just tops.

It's a shame for Kordey that he is mostly remembered for #119 and 120 (I believe he did 119 in roughly a week!!) because when given the same time as everyone else, he's a damn good artist.

I really enjoyed GM's run (although it is uneven in places) - E is for Extinction is one of the highpoints - it suddenly felt like stuff mattered again - there was drama, a sense of danger and the mutant issue, which is almost forgotten these days, was near the top of the priorities.

I really enjoyed NXM and Milligan's X-Force, was okay with X-Treme (hated the name) and was bitterly disappointed in Joe Casey's Uncanny at the time.

I liked Quitely's designs. I still think Xorn was one of the more visually interesting characters. As an allegory for outsiders, GM's cast of misfits made much more sense than a cast of supermodels with the occasional blue chap thrown in.