New X-Men Ultimate Collection Vol. 1
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: Frank Quitely, Igor Kordey, Ethan Van Sciver, and Leinil Francis Yu with Tom Derenick
Grant Morrison gives an All-New take on the X-Men, with innovative themes making up for confusing storytelling...
Ranking: 3 stars
For those who have closely followed my reviews, I've made it clear that I'm an avid reader of Grant Morrison's books, which in my opinion, receive more criticism than they deserve. A fair number of comic book fans tend to criticize his books for their confusing writing and complex plots, but I believe it's unfair to criticize them for this aspect alone (especially for books like BATMAN R.I.P. which is probably my favorite works of his). I admit that his confusing writing style has a tendency to get annoying sometimes, but I'm still able to follow the story he tells, and I highly praise his unique reinventions of both the characters and the universe surrounding them. Morrison has a unique talent of introducing new and innovative themes that sometimes redesign the characters that he writes about. While some comic fans hate changes in general, as they prefer the continuity of their comics to remain in stasis, I believe changes are necessary to push the characters and plot forward, so that neither runs the risk of becoming flat or static. While the first of Grant Morrison's three volume NEW X-MEN series can be more confusing than it should be at points, Morrison never ceases to amaze me with how he adapts the characters he writes about with innovative and original themes. Released at the dawn of the new millennium, Morrison launches the series with an event that rocked both the minds of the X-Men and the readers themselves. Following a recent baby boom in the world's mutant population, a mysterious woman known as Cassandra Nova launches an armada of sentinels on the island nation of Genosha, home to sixteen million mutants. Within a matter of minutes, the entire nation and its inhabitants are annihilated, but this unprovoked act of genocide is only the beginning of Cassandra's plans. The X-Men quickly identify her as the culprit behind the attack, and once they capture her, they not only discover that she's a new species beyond human or mutant (as well as a dormant gene in humans that will eventually trigger their extinction), but is has a vendetta against the X-Men, particularly their leader Professor Charles Xavier. Although she is seemingly killed in an attempt to gain control of Cerebra (an upgraded model of Cerebro), Cassandra Nova's psychic spirit takes possession of Xavier. Now inhabiting the mind of the world's most powerful telepath, Cassandra now has the ability to destroy everything Xavier and his X-Men stand for, and have sworn to protect. Having to not only to face Cassandra's quest for vengeance, but also an organization known as the U-Men that harvests mutant organs into humans, as well as escalating anti-mutant attacks from the general public, does this new era mark the end for the X-Men? Morrison constantly keeps me engrossed in the story due to his development on both new and old characters, as well as an endless supply of innovating plot twists (I'd rate this book 3.5 stars if Amazon let me)! The key factor of this book that was a success for me was the main antagonist Cassandra Nova. Although this is her first appearance in the X-Men comics, she instantly comes off as a highly developed and intelligently crafted character (a similar feat that Grant Morrison pulled off with the character Doctor Hurt in his Batman run, who in my opinion, was a highly underrated Batman villain). I dare not spoil the aspects that made Cassandra Nova such a compelling villain, but I will mention that Morrison doesn't fully reveal her character at the beginning, but rather supplies the reader with clues about her mysterious nature throughout different parts of the story. This works extremely well, as the the slow revealings about her character keep the reader hungry for more, but also help the story flow and feel satisfying at the end. I also enjoyed her hostile relationship with Xavier, as it not only expanded her character, but also revealed a secret of Xavier's past that I cannot reveal without ruining the book's greatest captivating moment. From this story alone, Cassandra Nova has earned a place among my favorite X-Men villains (along with Magneto and Mystique). I also felt that this was one of the few books to focus on the X-Men's leader, Charles Xavier, as the primary protagonist. Professor Xavier is my second favorite member of the team (first place goes to Wolverine), as even though he is bound to a wheel chair, his telepathic abilities make him one of the strongest mutants in the world, and his pacifist ideals of humans and mutants co-existing in peace made him an inspiring character. That being said, I'm disappointed that previous stories often sacrificed focus on him for other characters, but Xavier finally receives the spotlight in this volume! I don't want to spoil too much, but I want to point out that Morrison not only expands on what was already integrated into his character, but also develops new themes for him that make him an even more interesting protagonist. Other characters I felt were expanded on here were Beast (fearing that he is devolving into an animal and losing his his keen intellect due to mind games Cassandra Nova plays on him) and the former White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Emma Frost (who is not only established from a former enemy to a key member of the X-Men, but also begins to make advances towards Cyclops). I also enjoyed how for the first time in the comics, the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters felt like an actual school rather than a standard superhero hideout. Along with establishing a peaceful world between humans and mutants, Xavier's other goal is to train young mutants to control their powers. In the past, Xavier would was limited to secretly recruiting mutants with latent potential to his ranks in the X-Men, making the idea of the institute feeling like a school less believable. Here in NEW X-MEN, with Xavier's status as mutant now revealed to the world, the halls of the mansion are now crowded with adolescent mutants who possess various powers, which helps convince the reader that the institute is a bizarre mutant school, rather than a stereotypical secret layer. I also loved the new matching black and yellow uniforms for the X-Men (reminiscent to those in the Bryan Singer film adaptations), as they gave the impression that the X-Men were a task force dedicated to a cause, rather than the standard colorful superhero. Despite the many innovating themes and concepts Morrison constructs here, there are flaws in this book that prevent it from achieving perfection. Unlike previous works of Morrison's I've read, my feelings towards the writing in this book are somewhat mixed (though nowhere near as they were in FINAL CRISIS). Grant Morrison is known for writing complex plots that many readers consider to be confusing beyond repair. While I'm not bothered by this as much as other readers are (I believe the confusing allusions help make his themes more brilliant and intelligent), there were a couple of portions of the book that I felt were harder to follow than others. I had no trouble following the plot of the E IS FOR EXTINCTION arc, or for the parts of the book that focused on Cassandra Nova and her relationship to Xavier, but the U-Men and the Shiar Empire's involvement in the story more slow and confusing than the rest of the book. While the U-Men story arc was definitely intriguing and chillingly believable, each chapter involving them seemed begin somewhere in the middle of the plot, not providing background information until later in the chapter. This made the U-Men plot harder to follow, and not as entertaining as I thought it could've been (but I still found it interesting). As for the Shiar's involvement in the story, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I found the Shiar legend of the Mummudrai to be an outstanding background for Cassandra's role as a villain, and I enjoyed Lilandra's conflict between choosing her friendship with the X-Men and the protection of her galactic empire, as well as introducing a partnership between Cyclops and a new X-Man named Xorn (who expanded on more the later two volumes). The fight scenes between the Xavier Institute's students and the Imperial Guard, however, failed for me, as their execution felt like an unnecessary distraction from the X-Men's conflict with Cassandra Nova, which I found to be the most intriguing component of the story. The book was nowhere near as confusing as FINAL CRISIS (which I still enjoyed), but that one was confusing due to Morrison's overuse of obscure allusions. With NEW X-MEN, it was easy to get lost in some chapters of the story as they seemed to begin somewhere in the middle of their plot, and not revealing their backdrop until later in the chapter (the type of In medias res style that Brian Azzarello employs, which in my opinion, can be damaging to the plot if not used properly). As for the artwork, I believe that other reviewers have been overly harsh towards it, but they make some valid points. Frank Quitely is the main artist for this volume, and in my opinion should've done most of the illustrations here (he only did half of the interior artwork, and all the covers). I admire his focus on the gritty details on the human anatomy, as it's unique style that's distinct from other comic artist's illustrations. Igor Kordey's artwork was overused, if not needed at all in my opinion as his drawings of the character's faces can sometimes turn out like their hideously deformed (especially on Wolverine and Angel's faces, but I didn't mind those of Jean Grey, Emma Frost, the Stepford Cuckoos, and Weapon XIII in the next volume). Seriously, his illustrations look like something drawn by a kindergartener, and thought up by a psychopath (if you don't believe me, one illustration of Wolverine has a folded face and abnormal buck teeth; guess we can now call him "Wolverine the Chipmunk"). In short, I didn't like the diverse number of artists involved, as I feel that Frank Quitely's artwork was the most compatible with Morrison's storytelling, and that staying consistent with his illustrations would've made the the more confusing portions easier to follow, which was made even more difficult than needed due to Kordey's ugly artwork. This makes an already confusing story (which I've developed patience for with Morrison) even harder to follow, more patience trying, and less fun than what I usually experience in Morrison's works. So while I felt this first volume of the NEW X-MEN series suffered from some flaws in writing and storytelling, and the inconsistent amount of artists (Quitely needs more spotlight in my opinion, while Kordey shouldn't even be in the book), I highly enjoyed it's captivating development of old and new characters, as well as the addition of themes that helped expand the X-Men's universe. In my perspective, a story truly succeeds in impacting the audience when it focuses on developing its characters into ones that are intriguing and three-dimensional, which Morrison succeeds at here. His NEW X-MEN series isn't as great as his other works, but it remains dear to the qualities that've make Grant Morrison one of my favorite comic writers, which has me looking forward to what he has in store for us in the next two volumes, and as usual with Morrison, is less confusing when you look back at it once you read it (one of the things I love about his works, as it keeps you thinking every time you open it up). "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." -Vince Lombardi
