Written by Grant Morrison, Illustrated by Frank Quitely, Ethan Van Sciver, Lenil Francis Yu and Igor Korday.
Issues 114 - 126 (one story arc) and Annual 2001 of New X-Men collected into one Trade Paperback.

For my first chunk of X-Men continuity in years I decided to check out the beginning of the New X-Men. This hefty tome collects the first 13 issues and one annual of Grant Morrison's high-profile run (which is now entering a 3rd year) on what was the "X-Men" book (launched in the 90s to showcase hot-artist Jim Lee). With issue #114 and the beginning of this book Morrison presents a very different X-Men from what people are used to. Gone are the spandex-clad heroes of old, leather jackets and non-skintight leg-wear (yes that's right, like real people wear!) are the uniforms of this severely slimmed down X-Team. After years of the X-Books being populated with more heroes than you could shake a stick at, New X-Men cuts it back to Beast, Cyclops. Phoenix, Wolverine, the White Queen and of course Professor X himself. It's a darker book with black humour to match and storylines that, whilst on the surface may seem like standard X-fare, are handled in a fashion that makes them seem fresh and edgy. The book basically encapsulates the tail of Cassandra Nova, who first launches new forms of sentinels at the mutant haven of Genosha and then proceeds to tear apart the X-Men and intergalactic Shi'ar empire apart from within. After her first encounter the X-Men and Professor Xavier (who had long hidden his status as a mutant from the world) go public and the school is properly opened up as a place of learning for mutants. The cult-like U-Men (humans who graft mutant parts onto themselves) come to prominence in the media and the whole mutant situation comes to the forefront of contemporary culture. Basically the whole world of the X-Men is redefined during the course of this book.

This is certainly a new X-Men Morrison's direction is different from any I've read or heard of in the long X-Men history. The ever-large X-cast is largely ignored here, with just 5 core members & the professor taking the spotlight. Oh, and the school that's now full of dozens of mutants. With the school Morrison has the perfect means of filling out the team when needed, which is surprisingly preferable to the gold/blue-team era when you had an X-Person army to watch. He certainly doesn't take the soft route as he begins this book. Killing off 16 million mutants in three issues (including the oft-returned and ever important Magneto) is extreme to say the least. He does it in 3 pages too, leaving you wondering what the hell just happened (in a good way). He's blatantly vague about who actually died in Genosha other than Magneto (I understand there were other familiar faces there excluding Erik & Emma) but based on his proposal at the back of the book I get the impression Magneto will be staying dead this time, at least as long as Morrison's around.

These are harsh treatments of the characters, nobody is the somewhat fun loving, soft touch they were when I last read the X-Men on a regular basis. Death and extreme measures seem to be used freely with no real effect on the, once easily upset, mutant team. There are no feverish arguments against killing or severely crippling their enemies, when it's needed they do so without batting an eyelid. An odd change of attitude though something that A) makes sense with their angst & hate filled experiences and B) could have been built up to more gradually in the past few years when I have not been reading (which is perhaps quite likely). I certainly like these interpretations of the characters, they're darker and feel more like the people in my favourite movies rather than cartoon characters with depth.

Morrison doesn't pull his punches. There's talk & evidence of sex in much more free terms than before. Wolverine appears to be a bit of a man-slut, offering his body to Domino for a one-night-stand. There's a bleak & dark sense of humour in the characters but it comes across as scathing & acidic rather than the lighter tone of before. Even the beast is no clown anymore, despite his somewhat ludicrous new appearance. He's particularly well written as his appearance is continually mocked and his long time relationship with reporter Trish Tilby collapses under talk of bestiality. He's also rather frustrated at the restrictions of his new form as he's unable to do things the same way with paws. Emma Frost is equally well written as a bitchy upper class woman. She gets snappy dialogue and a darker attitude towards their duties than the other X-Men However perhaps the most surprising of Morrison's good characterisations is Cyclops (Scott Summers). He's always been the devoted follower of Xavier and the very definition of an X-Man in combat. He's also been one of the most flat characters and someone interesting only through his relatives. Morrison writes him as insanely calm and obscenely confident, which works very well. His troubled marriage to an ever increasingly erratic Jean Grey Summers and his interactions with Emma enhance his interest as a character, rather than being the sole points worthy of our attention.

The art (which I'll come to in a second) is greatly enhanced by the gorgeous print quality in this book. The pages look spectacular in their full glossy wonder, with nice colouring throughout really being brought out by the paper quality. The style of art for this book (with the exception of the Hong Kong tale from the 2001 annual) is very dark, which suits the tone of the book, and is defined by penciller Frank Quitely. His work has a very.. crinkly quality to it and he brings a look to the X-Men that hasn't really been done before. It's very different from the traditional X-Men art and not something I expect would appeal to everyone but I really like it. Even when the pencils are not Quitely's they maintain a pretty coherent, Quitely-inspired style. Lenil Francis Yu's pencils (in the 2001 annual's story) are the only real break from this style, though they are so fantastic that you're left wanting more. Despite my enjoyment of Quitely's fresh art style, I was really impressed with Lenil Francis Yu's work. I'd seen his art in several issues of Wolverine and some of the X-Men stuff I picked up a couple of years ago, but his work has got even better since then. As Quitely appears only to be able to produce art for just over a third of the book, Ethan Van Sciver fills in on another third or so. His style is very Quitelyish and fits in nicely. Igor Korday, penciller from the Cable: The Shining Path book, fills in for the rest of the issues. Igor's pencilling is in-style with Quitely's (in fact based on this book, I wonder if Quitley's style is symptomatic of another infamous Marvel art fashion trend similar to that that swept through so many of their books as Joe Madieurara's manga-influenced art became so huge) and improved from his Cable work. However, he still sadly inks his own work (by ink I mean destroy) and some of his characters look decidedly deformed. Whilst I'm glad to see he's slowly improving, I'd much rather Van Sciver and Quitely had been left as the only two artists on the title here.

I purchased this book not really knowing what to expect. I knew things would be different but I didn't know quite how different. Morrison's work is not as tremendously original as we might like to think, nor does it break totally with what what has gone before. It is, however, a suitably radical departure from the norm as to make it seem like so much more. He doesn't use startlingly original plots but the way he tells their stories is very interesting and very unusual for an X-book. I love the dark tone of the book and I really enjoy the black humour of his characters. His characters are, in fact, the best thing about Morrison's New X-Men I really found myself interested in what they said and did and they felt much more real than most superhero characters have to me for a long time. The art fits in so very well with the writing. I really don't think it would have been the same with a lot of the long-term X-artists of the past. I can do nothing but recommend this book to everyone. If, like me, you are/were an X-Fan returning then it's a perfect place to begin again. An older first time reader, perhaps interested after seeing the movies, would also do best to start with this collection. I guess the only people who I'd advise to perhaps skip this would be the younger person looking at the books for the first time after the films. If you're looking for film-style comic book heroes then Ultimate X-Men looks to me like your cup of tea. If you're after well written, interesting and more mature versions of the X-Men then you won't find any better than this.

Written to Rammstein - Sonne