Morrison's New X-Men

[mr. batman]

I loved this stuff. Read the three ultimate collections. It was great. I liked the whole Xorn charade, and E is for Extinction really changed things

[pryde15]

9. YOUR OPINION ABOUT SOMETHING IS NOT, IN AND OF ITSELF, WORTHY OF ITS OWN THREAD
I understand that you have opinions, and that you think your opinion is interesting, but we have so many discussions where you can express your opinion. You do not need to (and should not) form your own thread to do so.

. . . . . . .

[Shadowbrat]

Pales in comparison to Kyle & Yost's New X-men. :tongue:

[Mia]

Congratulations. I collected it at first ,but ended up dropping it. After awhile it just became pretentious, and I was very put off with the way he wrote Emma. He turned a very complex character into a one dimensional bitchy woman who chases after married men. Not my cup of tea.

[Mia]

Pales in comparison to Kyle & Yost's New X-men. :tongue:

C&C are two 'old fan boys'. You can tell from the way they write they used to follow the X-Men under Claremont. It's the most accurate I potrayal of Emma I have seen since I was introduced to the character in the mid 90's.

[ZeoVGM]

. . . . . . .

Trying to be a mini-mod is probably even worse.

[Assemble]

E is for Extinction is very good... and some of the Fantomex is too... but I really don't like what he did with a lot of the characters. Namely Beast and Magneto/Xorn and a lot of the younger ones as well.
Cassandra Nova is no joke though... I'd love to see more of her... I'm not just not a Grant Morrison fan in the least.

[$5 Milkshake]

Ehh, I really wish I was one of the cool kids who liked Morrison's run (especially since I'm a Morrison fan in general), but it was very iffy for me. I still flinch at the memory of druggie Magneto. And he turned my beloved Beast into *gag* Cat Beast.

[Cayman]

It was great, but hobbled by some really bad art for much of the run.

[$5 Milkshake]

It was great, but hobbled by some really bad art for much of the run.

Oh yeah, and I forgot about Quitely and Kordey.

Not for me.

[lockerogue]

Don't forget he killed Darkstar. I refuse to forgive GM because of this and the Cat Beast.

[mr. batman]

Cat Beast is the only thing that I didn't really like. And Kordey's art.

[gorthon616]

Riot at Xavier's was my favorite arc... honestly it sort of trailed off after that.

Plenty of interesting ideas, I feel it didn't really execute well on many of them. And the ideas that he fell in love with weren't the ones I was interested in.

That being said, I still love Riot at Xavier's and was a big fan of Beak. The best I can say about the rest of his run was that it was better that Milligan-Austin...

[ChemicalReaction]

The art killed it for me. Van Sciver should've done every issue.

[SayOcean]

i think morrison should stay on xmen forever...i love his stories...the art while some of it was bad it was overall good but it brought me back into comics....i found out that comics could be something other than g rated pictures with people in stupid suits fighting each other......it also led be to hunt down other more adult themed comics.....so THANKS morrison

[Affinity]

BEST THING EVER.

Affinity's X-Books BIBLE.

[That JonoGuy]

The art killed it for me. Van Sciver should've done every issue.

I would have loved to see it all done by Igor Kordey. His issues were fantastic.

[x_goalkeeper]

I loved Morrison's New X-Men. It is what got me interested in the X-Men again.

I would have to say that if not for Morrison's New X-Men I would not be here passionately posting about characters like Emma, Scott, Hank, etc :smile:

[Vanish]

OMFG I loved the first half of the run SOOOOOOOOOO much.

Emma, Beast, and Jean were so much fun to read--no writer can really touch their dialogue IMO. The destruction of Genosha and 'New X-Men' debut of Emma Frost was, in no other way to put it, amazing. QUITELY was amazing. Kordey was amazing in parts. Van Sciver was FANTASTIC. ANGEL SALVADORE WAS BRILLIANT. The Cuckoos were creepy and hilarious. AUGGHHHHH. The Silent issue had better dialogue than most writers could even hope for.

I didn't really like the book after Riot at Xavier's and I really didn't like the Weapon 12 arc either.

But the rest was great!

[MartinRedmond]

I would have loved to see it all done by Igor Kordey. His issues were fantastic.

Me too. I loved everyone except Frank Quitely, though I've grown to enjoy his work when he inks it himself. Can someone post a pic of Charles and Jean's psychic seance with silverware? :X

[Greg Anderson]

The third collection was released already?!

[nikbackm]

The third collection was released already?!

http://www.amazon.com/New-X-Men-Vol-Grant-Morrison/dp/0785132538/

[Pixie_Solanas]

The greatest X-stories ever told. Even better than some of Claremont's early 80s prime time stuff.

The issue where Scott and Logan go on a bender at the HELLFIRE CLUB? Probably my favorite x-issue ever.

[Adam K]

This pro-Kordey, anti-Quitely sentiment in here is bugging me out.

[x_goalkeeper]

The third collection was released already?!

If I had the money I would buy all three :biggrin:

[The Sword Is Drawn]

Congratulations. I collected it at first ,but ended up dropping it. After awhile it just became pretentious, and I was very put off with the way he wrote Emma. He turned a very complex character into a one dimensional bitchy woman who chases after married men. Not my cup of tea.

I'd have to say that I completely agree with that. Emma has never really recovered since this. It's hard to see the character as she was right up to the end of Generation X, and what she became under Morrison, as even being close to the same character.

I think Morrison had a lot of good ideas, but ultimately 90% of the directionless fall of the X-Men since he left has been a symptom of his stories. He smashed the central principle of the X-Men. It made for a good story at the time, but has damaged the brand irreparably long term.

[The Mirrorball Man]

I think Morrison had a lot of good ideas, but ultimately 90% of the directionless fall of the X-Men since he left has been a symptom of his stories. He smashed the central principle of the X-Men. It made for a good story at the time, but has damaged the brand irreparably long term.
I don't agree. In my opinion, Morrison was the last writer who had anything to say about the central themes of the X-Men. The franchise has been irreparably damaged immediately after he left, when Marvel decided to appease the canonistas.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

I don't agree. In my opinion, Morrison was the last writer who had anything to say about the central themes of the X-Men. The franchise has been irreparably damaged immediately after he left, when Marvel decided to appease the canonistas.

Granted you do have to apportion some blame on the writers who came afterwards. But I do feel that Grant, especially leaving so abruptly as he did, created a number of problems for continuing the series. I've gone into quite a lot of detail as to what I think think those problems were, in the past. My basic problem is that his run kind of created a boom and bust effect for the X-Men, using concepts which could arguably have referred to as 'endgame plots' advancing the X-Men into a brave new final phase of storytelling. But as this is an ongoing series of titles, which weren't going to end anytime soon, it left the books in very tricky position where going backwards really was the only answer in the end.

[Pro]

I don't agree. In my opinion, Morrison was the last writer who had anything to say about the central themes of the X-Men. The franchise has been irreparably damaged immediately after he left, when Marvel decided to appease the canonistas.

Agreed. Morrison's stories had nothing to do with Marvel's decision to wipe out the entire mutant race, uprooting the characters, giving Cyclops a deathsquad or introducing the Messiah Brat.
Morrison more than anyone else realised the core theme of the books is about the emergence of a new race amids humanity and the many problems such an process would bring along with it and he wasn't afraid to explore the impact on society. After he left Marvel did the exact opposite, wiping out the mutant race and largely segregating them from the rest of the MU.
After that we got almost 3 years of filler material before they picked up on M-day again with MC and they're clearly struggling trying to find a new foundation after they foolishly wiped out the previous one.

[Mr_Hellfire]

BEST THING EVER.

Affinity's X-Books BIBLE.
Agreed. I only have New X-Men Annual 2001 to get and my collection will be complete!:D

I felt Morrison had a great idea, reading his script ideas thing makes me feel sad for now. He brought in a passion to the books and now a lot of it is watered down and going through the motions. I want the passion back, I want quality and I want daring. MC was supposed to be astonishing, but what, three D-Listers died? Professor X almost died but didn't? Emma got knocked out again?
Bishop is a flat traitor who annoys a lot of people? And of course, it was basically run by the important men.

I want someone to dare to at least try and really shake things up. CK and CY have the right idea.

[Arksy]

This was the series that turned me off Morrison, worst series of X-men i've ever read. Although i did like that single issue where Emma Frost and Jean Grey were poking around Xavier's psyche. Very clever indeed. Xorn and weapon 13 and the whole Shi'ar mummandrai arc, ergh.

[Pro]

But as this is an ongoing series of titles, which weren't going to end anytime soon, it left the books in very tricky position where going backwards really was the only answer in the end.

I respectfully disagree. Morrison himself didn't go back when he wiped out half the mutant race by destroying Genosha. He instead showed that despite growing in numbers the mutants were still very much a minority under threat and in the process cut their numbers in half without resorting to a deux ex machina avenger flicking her fingers to make them go away. It's not like there have never been any options other than a magical retcon to reduce mutant numbers. And the vast majority of those solutions would have been far more creative and allowed for far more varied and dramatic storylines than what we're seeing today.
Admittedly Joe Q looked cuter when he was disguised as scarlett Witch but it was clear who was doing the finger flicking and for what reason. The main reason for wiping out the mutant race because the SHRA storyline wouldn't have worked with 16 million mutants in place. No writer should or probably did feel like they were forced to use mutants. Except perhaps Bendis because he needed the Mutant Registration storyline for his Avengers.

The majority of mutants voluntarily segregated themselves from human society into mutant ghettoes and organisations, Xavier's school, Morlocks, Genosha, Mutant Town. But for the first time in x-men history there was a potential for stories where mutants could play a more public role if a writer wanted to adress the issue.
And they should have continued building on that, flesh out mutant subculture, develop stories where mutant were trying to find their place as a race rather than a disorganised bunch of freaks with an x-gene in common. 16 million mutants across the entire world doesn't make them so prosperous that artists would have no choice but to add mutants to every crowd in every marvel book (as was one of the arguments I've heard more than once), especially since half the mutants can easily blend into a crowd and those that couldn't often didn't feel comfortable with public appearances anyway.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

I'm not debating that it wasn't some seriously good work from Morrison. It's very readable, it's a logical continuation of several X-men themes. My problem purely comes down to the changes not being sustainable for future writers.

Let me make it clear, I am a pretty big Morrison fan. When it was announced that he was going to be working on X-Men I was incredibly psyched about it. This was the guy who wrote The Invisibles. If anybody could write a book about an underground mutant group trying to do good, it was him. I guess I was a little disappointed when that wasn't what we actually got, but anybody who dismisses Morrison's ability as a writer is an idiot. I was rooting for him throughout most of his New X-Men run, but I do feel that there is a point where it felt like he had lost interest, probably when he knew he was going to be moving to DC, after which it did feel like he either wasn't as interested or he was running out of ideas of places to take things.

I was greatly annoyed that he did leave as early as he did, because it left loose ends and things began to feel a little rushed to conclusion. While the first half of his run seemed in credibly well thought through the latter half was not quite so.

[Pro]

I was greatly annoyed that he did leave as early as he did, because it left loose ends and things began to feel a little rushed to conclusion. While the first half of his run seemed in credibly well thought through the latter half was not quite so.

There is that. The first half of his run was better than the latter part. I just don't think his leaving has anything to do with the poor state the books are in these days. If anything he left a lot of storypotential open and it was ignored, retconned or swept aside.

[Grapeweasel]

He's a fine talent.

But I ultimately find his creations to be more grotesque than entertaining....

[SayOcean]

He's a fine talent.

But I ultimately find his creations to be more grotesque than entertaining....is there a difference

[psycwave]

Morrison created Dust, Angel Salvadore and Tattoo. He is fantastic!!

[jarrod]

Morrison created Dust, Angel Salvadore and Tattoo. He is fantastic!!
Don't forget Martha Johansson!

My favorite (post-CC) X-Men run honestly and probably the first time the franchise honestly felt "new" since then. Whedon and Ellis should be embarrassed with their follow ups.

[Omega Alpha]

I'm not debating that it wasn't some seriously good work from Morrison. It's very readable, it's a logical continuation of several X-men themes. My problem purely comes down to the changes not being sustainable for future writers.


No writer left as much potential to the others as Morrison did when he left New X-men. Just think about it:

Writer A wanted to continue to explore the school, it's many students and the diverse aspects of it? He could simply go ahead and do it.

Writer B didn't wanted anything with the school? Well, the run ended with the school destroyed and Xavier leaving for good, they could just not rebuild anything.

Marvel wanted to play the X-men more inserted in the MU and with a more significant role? They were representatives (but not the only ones, as Morrison showed) of millions of people.

Marvel prefers to keep them apart from everyone else and play the "hated and feared" thing? Pretty easy considering that the run ended with Magneto murdering thousands and going in a rampage in NYC.

And so it goes. The possibilties were just endless. The only "but", if there was any, it was no Magneto. But really, Waid killed Doom in Fantastic Four a year before and there wasn't nowhere near as much whining, nor Marvel felt they had to do stuff as drastic as what they did. And that run had Doom nearly killing Reed's children and him abandoning science, which is far more radical, character wise, than what Morrison did.

[Prodigy55]

I loved everything about this run, Cassandra Nova was so cool.

And the school <3

[The Sword Is Drawn]

He did create Fantomex. For which I may almost forgive him some of his other sins. :biggrin:

[Vanish]

No writer left as much potential to the others as Morrison did when he left New X-men. Just think about it:

YAY.
I actually agree with you!

Morrison opened up a larger world for the X-Men to live in; M-Day, the writer/editor choice of a follow-up to his ideas is what IMO left the franchise in a less interesting and more confined space.

[lockerogue]

Morrison created Dust, Angel Salvadore and Tattoo. He is fantastic!!

Don't forget Martha Johansson!

My favorite (post-CC) X-Men run honestly and probably the first time the franchise honestly felt "new" since then. Whedon and Ellis should be embarrassed with their follow ups.

Yet he killed Darkstar. That out weighs these great creations. Not forgiven.

[Omega Alpha]

YAY.
I actually agree with you!

Morrison opened up a larger world for the X-Men to live in; M-Day, the writer/editor choice of a follow-up to his ideas is what IMO left the franchise in a less interesting and more confined space.

Exactly. There was so much space that they could still pretty much do the same old stories if they weren't creative enough to do something new.

[Jota]

I tought his run was fantastic! It had some of the best issues and moments I've read on the X-Men. I also agree with Omega Alpha. Morrisson left the x-books with an enormeous potencial for stories. The following writers had a lot of options for what to do next.

[Peeps]

while i have three of the TPB, i am totally unimpressed with it.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

Two people have now PMed me to ask exactly what I mean by "endgame plots" and specific things which I feel caused problem for the X-Men brand, rather than just making 'generalised' statements on them with 'no back-ip'. (Looks like I've p%%%ed somebody off). So I figured I'd post a bit more of what I mean. Bare with me.

There are things I love about Morrison's run. But others I don't. It can be argued that he left a lot of possibilities open when he left the X-Men but at the same time it can also be argued that his vision was not easy for other writers to get into, and do anywhere as near as well as he did. Morrison and primarily Quitely (Although obviously Kordey deserves a certain amount of credit for embracing the house style) created avery specific aesthetic during their run, the like of which was nothing like the X-Men had seen before. It's worth remembering that a good chunk of X-Men fandom was violently opposed to it, at the time. A lot of people very genuinely despised it, and made no attempt to hide how they felt it was NOT the X-Men. I always felt that to be a gross exaggeration, but I can kind of understand why they felt that way.

Quitely's freaky art style was very different. The logic they used was that actual mutants wouldn't look pretty. They'd look freaky, twisted, bug-eyed... a bit wrong. That is a very logical premise. But it was not a premise which the X-Men, and Marvel in general, had ever truly embraced beyond a handful of exceptions to a very well established rule. Occasionally, over the years, we had had an odd looking mutant or two. Mostly the morlocks (Caliban and Masque being prime examples) and Chamber but by and large mutations in Marvel were just the activation of an ability on a standard every day looking human. Morrison's run changed that. We had lots of freaky looking dudes turning up at the mansion, and in the world outside. Beak was probably the highest profile bug-eyed freak of the lot, but he and Xorn being on the main squad changed a big part of the aesthetic of the X-Men. Quitely sty remains THE most prominent element of Morrison's run. To many people it's the thing which stands out the most. But it is pretty unique.

Take the redesign of Beast into Cat Beast, for example. That's always been quite unpopular, but you can't deny that Quitely nailed that. He made it work. The problem is that since then almost no other artist has managed to do the same. At best they've drawn him as his former furry-ape-Beast form, with a bit of a cat-like face in places. But nobody other than Quietly has really managed to get it properly down.

And that's my first major problem with Morrison's New X-Men. It's partly down to Quietly being such a unique artist. But ANY book can change artist and still BE good. It's more that their vision of mutants is not Marvel's vision. The two do not match. It doesn't even really match with the X-Men vision. It was an interesting but kind of conflicted with so much of what the X-Men were in a traditional sense. It was a real shift in tone, which only truly worked when those two were in control of it. Other people trying to reproduce it almost always came out as a bit of a mess, and others just didn't like it. Looking at Morrison's run now it really does stand out as looking completely different to any other period of X-Men. And while it's great to read it within its own context it doesn't really match up with what most people see X-Men as being.

More to follow, if I get the chance.

[x_goalkeeper]

I don't disagree with the negative opinions about Morrison's New X-Men, but I am surprised.. because for me it was what brought me back into reading comics again after many years away from it :confused:

[Tobias March]

Like that other Scottish delicacy the fried Mars bar, it was a thing of wonder and horror all at once :tongue:

Chicken Sentinels!

[x_goalkeeper]

Like that other Scottish delicacy the fried Mars bar, it was a thing of wonder and horror all at once :tongue:

Chicken Sentinels!

Have you actually eaten a fried Mars bar?

[The Sword Is Drawn]

Have you actually eaten a fried Mars bar?

The broblem with the fried Mars bar is that I can only ever contemplate eating one when I am far to drunk for it not to diagree with me...

Deep fried chocolate in batter does not go well with beer...

[timbox]

Have you actually eaten a fried Mars bar?

Let's try to keep this sort of nastiness contained to X-Cres.

[The Mirrorball Man]

But ANY book can change artist and still BE good. It's more that their vision of mutants is not Marvel's vision. The two do not match. It doesn't even really match with the X-Men vision. It was an interesting but kind of conflicted with so much of what the X-Men were in a traditional sense. It was a real shift in tone, which only truly worked when those two were in control of it. Other people trying to reproduce it almost always came out as a bit of a mess, and others just didn't like it. Looking at Morrison's run now it really does stand out as looking completely different to any other period of X-Men. And while it's great to read it within its own context it doesn't really match up with what most people see X-Men as being.

I think your point of view is perfectly valid and well-argued. Coming from a different perspective, though, wouldn't you agree that the main reason why Morrison's run stands out as very different from pretty much everything that came before is that everything that came before was a deliberate attempt to mimic Claremont and Byrne's run?

Instead of embracing the spirit of what Claremont and Byrne did back then, Marvel decided to sell readers more of the same. Soon enough, the regular X-Men style became "anything that looks like John Byrne's art" and the regular X-Men themes became "anything that sounds like a Chris Claremont idea".

That approach brought us many good things, because some of the people involved were talented, but it ultimately became stale and repetitive. By trying to follow in Byrne and Claremont's footsteps instead of aping them, Morrison and Quitely have - in my opinion - proved that the X-Men franchise had become a soulless and hollow shell. After their run, when Marvel tried to switch back to the old formula, we simply couldn't believe in it anymore. It's a Wizard of Oz situation.

[Jack Flash]

I loved his run. It introduced Kid Omega. and for that alone, Morrison should be canonized.

[Omega Alpha]

And that's my first major problem with Morrison's New X-Men. It's partly down to Quietly being such a unique artist. But ANY book can change artist and still BE good. It's more that their vision of mutants is not Marvel's vision. The two do not match. It doesn't even really match with the X-Men vision. It was an interesting but kind of conflicted with so much of what the X-Men were in a traditional sense. It was a real shift in tone, which only truly worked when those two were in control of it. Other people trying to reproduce it almost always came out as a bit of a mess, and others just didn't like it. Looking at Morrison's run now it really does stand out as looking completely different to any other period of X-Men. And while it's great to read it within its own context it doesn't really match up with what most people see X-Men as being.
.

In other words, you're suggesting Morrison should quite simply adapt himself to the mediocricity? Since other writers are inferior than him, he should write like he was someone else, or dumb down his run?

[The Sword Is Drawn]

I think your point of view is perfectly valid and well-argued. Coming from a different perspective, though, wouldn't you agree that the main reason why Morrison's run stands out as very different from pretty much everything that came before is that everything that came before was a deliberate attempt to mimic Claremont and Byrne's run?

I wouldn't say necessarily that it always has been. During the 80s, with Claremont moving the X-Men to Australia many parts of the book changed, and it did feel considerably different. Likewise a lot of the 90s stories weren't quite so entrenched in the late 70s vibe of the book. Far less friends eating breakfast, for one. :biggrin: I feel that there is still a great freedom in writing X-Men stories without sacrificing any of the central things which make the book work. That's something I'll post separately about.

In other words, you're suggesting Morrison should quite simply adapt himself to the mediocricity? Since other writers are inferior than him, he should write like he was someone else, or dumb down his run?

No. That's not what I'm saying. Please bare with me. I'll get to that in my next post.

[The Sword Is Drawn]

When Morrison first took over X-Men I very genuinely was psyched for one very specific reason. Before his run I had always felt that the X-Men's chief strength within the Marvel Universe, what made them specifically different to teams like the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, was that they were not a public facing team. They lived in new York, but they put up this front of being a privately run school of higher learning for gifted kids to hide their activities from the outside world.

Sure, SOME people knew where they lived, and enemies found out over time, but an underground team was so much more interesting than the showboating to the public of The Avengers. The fact that they operated below the radar is what made them quite so damned cool. So, naturally when Morrison, creator of one of the darkest and most surreal underground team books I'd ever read (Vertigo's The Invisibles) was announced I was really psyched about it. Such a logical move. What a perfect match.

You see where I'm going with this...?

In comics if you have an enemy discover where your heroes operate out of, and who they are, you can always resolve the problem by eliminating the enemy. That's okay. Problem solved. Even when they return, over and over again.

Morrison decided to take the X-Men public. Xavier reveals himself as a mutant and the school is sold to the public as a place for mutants to go. Initially I was quite excited about this. I enjoyed Riot at Xavier's quite a lot. A whole new status quo. Great.

But not so great in the long-term. The idea of revealing your heroes in their truer guises to the world is not a new concept in comics, granted. But you'll notice that when this does happen elsewhere it usually doesn't last. Largely because when you do take your heroes public they have to be held accountable for their actions, but also because it takes a very powerful kind of mystique away from the characters. It damages their long-term appeal.

It's been done with several books in recent years. Spider-man showed his face to the world in Civil War. A year later it was retconned away. Anybody who read Bendis' legendary Daredevil run knows that Matt Murdock was outed as Daredevil to the FBI. He fought the accusation, even ended up in prison over it. But in the end strings were pulled to remove it as an issue. A lot of people still believe he IS Daredevil now, but legally he's been acquitted. This has helped to restore the balance.

The difference in the X-Men's case is that the scale is much larger, and it's been going on much longer. When Morrison took the team public I feel he very much let the genie out of the bottle, and nobody else has made any attempt to recapture it. Now it's been out so long I'm not sure that damage ever can be repaired, sadly. You can't have Xavier go on the news and say 'It was all a lie. I'm not a mutant, we have never trained mutants and there I've never heard of the X-Men'. It wouldn't wash.

And this is what I refer to as an 'Endgame' plot choice. If the X-Men were a TV series, and it was threatened with cancellation or knew it was already cancelled this is the plot you'd go with. A big building to crescendo from issue one idea. All or nothing. If the show's done you don't have to deal with the fallout for long anyway.

The problem is that X-Men is not a TV show. It's an ongoing comic book with an indefinate length. That fallout was going to effect the book long-term.

Morrison could have written some excellent covert underground X-Men stories. The fact that he didn't is a real shame, to me. Those were the kind of stories I wanted to read. And while I do love a lot of what we received instead this decision for me is a key factor in why the X-books began to slide after Grant. The underground nature of the X-men made them interesting. And there was no real way back to that. Certainly not while the team remained at the mansion, and with the high profile members of Morrison's run still around. The book was kind of backed into a corner. That's why I was really kind of glad the mansion got blown up in Messiah Complex. I though 'finally they can find somewhere new and go into hiding for a while'.

But, no. The decision has been taken to make the team even MORE public. For all those people who complain about the lack of direction that Uncanny has right now, and the X-Men in general, I feel for you. I'm right there with you. It's a bad direction (Or lack thereof). But I feel that if you trace it back that feeling of purposelessness which has struck the X-Books is a gradual effect, which all started with this one decision on New X-Men. And the decision not to address the problem sooner.

I've more to say, but I'll leave it there for now.

[jarrod]

I can see where you're coming from Sword, but to me Morrison's X-Men didn't feel so much like a departure but an inversion and modernizing of the core concepts. In much the same way imo as Claremont when he hit his creative height on the book.

I think that was the problem with the X-Men post-CC (and even partially during CC), it's a book literally about evolution, yet the franchise always gets trapped in conceptual stagnation. Morrison turned that on it's head and really, did it in a way that I think respected most of what came before. I mean really, almost all his stories were themselves really recycled from Claremont or other previous writers at their core (Sentinels, Phoenix, Weapon X, Shi'ar, DOFP, Magneto/nazi, etc)and indeed with the Phoenix, Morrison basically just reinstituted Claremont's original concept, only with added bits to help reconcile later continuity. Honestly, I think that's really indicative of Morrison's X-Men overall... on the meta-level, in a very real sense it was "back to basics" with a sleek modernization, it was "modern Claremont" in sense.

Yes, there were aspects that Morrison felt compelled to bring kicking and screaming logically forward (mutant population boom, mutant culture, taking Xavier public, X-Corporation, etc), but I've found a lot of the core complaints people had against his run at the time had to do with aesthetic over content. I think it's neatly symbolic that the other writer at the time who seemed to really embrace and play off Morrison's concepts was Claremont himself.

[Omega Alpha]

When Morrison first took over X-Men I very genuinely was psyched for one very specific reason. Before his run I had always felt that the X-Men's chief strength within the Marvel Universe, what made them specifically different to teams like the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, was that they were not a public facing team. They lived in new York, but they put up this front of being a privately run school of higher learning for gifted kids to hide their activities from the outside world.

Sure, SOME people knew where they lived, and enemies found out over time, but an underground team was so much more interesting than the showboating to the public of The Avengers. The fact that they operated below the radar is what made them quite so damned cool. So, naturally when Morrison, creator of one of the darkest and most surreal underground team books I'd ever read (Vertigo's The Invisibles) was announced I was really psyched about it. Such a logical move. What a perfect match.

You see where I'm going with this...?

In comics if you have an enemy discover where your heroes operate out of, and who they are, you can always resolve the problem by eliminating the enemy. That's okay. Problem solved. Even when they return, over and over again.

Morrison decided to take the X-Men public. Xavier reveals himself as a mutant and the school is sold to the public as a place for mutants to go. Initially I was quite excited about this. I enjoyed Riot at Xavier's quite a lot. A whole new status quo. Great.

But not so great in the long-term. The idea of revealing your heroes in their truer guises to the world is not a new concept in comics, granted. But you'll notice that when this does happen elsewhere it usually doesn't last. Largely because when you do take your heroes public they have to be held accountable for their actions, but also because it takes a very powerful kind of mystique away from the characters. It damages their long-term appeal.

It's been done with several books in recent years. Spider-man showed his face to the world in Civil War. A year later it was retconned away. Anybody who read Bendis' legendary Daredevil run knows that Matt Murdock was outed as Daredevil to the FBI. He fought the accusation, even ended up in prison over it. But in the end strings were pulled to remove it as an issue. A lot of people still believe he IS Daredevil now, but legally he's been acquitted. This has helped to restore the balance.

The difference in the X-Men's case is that the scale is much larger, and it's been going on much longer. When Morrison took the team public I feel he very much let the genie out of the bottle, and nobody else has made any attempt to recapture it. Now it's been out so long I'm not sure that damage ever can be repaired, sadly. You can't have Xavier go on the news and say 'It was all a lie. I'm not a mutant, we have never trained mutants and there I've never heard of the X-Men'. It wouldn't wash.

And this is what I refer to as an 'Endgame' plot choice. If the X-Men were a TV series, and it was threatened with cancellation or knew it was already cancelled this is the plot you'd go with. A big building to crescendo from issue one idea. All or nothing. If the show's done you don't have to deal with the fallout for long anyway.

The problem is that X-Men is not a TV show. It's an ongoing comic book with an indefinate length. That fallout was going to effect the book long-term.

Morrison could have written some excellent covert underground X-Men stories. The fact that he didn't is a real shame, to me. Those were the kind of stories I wanted to read. And while I do love a lot of what we received instead this decision for me is a key factor in why the X-books began to slide after Grant. The underground nature of the X-men made them interesting. And there was no real way back to that. Certainly not while the team remained at the mansion, and with the high profile members of Morrison's run still around. The book was kind of backed into a corner. That's why I was really kind of glad the mansion got blown up in Messiah Complex. I though 'finally they can find somewhere new and go into hiding for a while'.

But, no. The decision has been taken to make the team even MORE public. For all those people who complain about the lack of direction that Uncanny has right now, and the X-Men in general, I feel for you. I'm right there with you. It's a bad direction (Or lack thereof). But I feel that if you trace it back that feeling of purposelessness which has struck the X-Books is a gradual effect, which all started with this one decision on New X-Men. And the decision not to address the problem sooner.

I've more to say, but I'll leave it there for now.

The purpose of the X-men is to make mutants more accepted by humans and achieve a peaceful co-existence with them. For them to think they could achieve this by hiding on a mansion somewhere in NY and wearing spandex is ridiculous. What Morrison did was something that any writer with common sense would do eventually. You can't make the public trust mutants if the only mutant they know is the guy that blows up New York and commits terrorist acts in a daily basis. Just look how successful X-factor was then they went public, they did more to achieve their goal than the X-men had ever done at that point. To have the X-men go public and make superheroics only part of what they are instead of the whole point is just the natural evolution of the franchise. While it can generate some good stories (and it did), hide in the Outback and make the entire world think you're dead it's not. For me, to not move the X-men to a similar position they were in Morrison's run needs to dumb down a lot of them; do Xavier really think that he would achieve something when he's just "someone that likes mutants" and lying about who he really is? And of course, in the 90's, the X-men were considerably dumbed down and written out of character, which explains perhaps why the idea never crossed their minds.

And anyway the concept of secret identity for heroes, as a rule, is lame, IMO. Sure, it can work when the character is just beginning, but after decades of storylines, it has to go. There is no reason for not to tell the people the hero loves, or to the other heroes that said hero fights alongside with, and eventually most if not all villains that fight him on an almost daily basis will learn his identity if written well. Besides, all tabloids and the likes would try to find out the superheroes identity (like they did with Daredevil), and in the process even putting innocents in danger (like, for example, a tabloid says that person A is a hero, when it's person B; A has no powers at all).

[MartinRedmond]

If mutants existed, do you think they'd be posting here?:confused:

[Quinnhop]

People always cite Whedon or C&C when talking about Claremont fanboys and their comic tributes to the man, but, really, Morrison's run was extremely Claremont-esque. Side-plots a-plenty, Dark Pheonix, a dead Magneto, Hellfire Club, mysterious new characters, etc. etc.

It was just... Claremont for the Matrix generation.

Would love to see him on Astonishing after Ellis/Bianchi's mess is done with.

[Pro]

If mutants existed, do you think they'd be posting here?:confused:

I think we got a few subhumans post here, not sure about mutants though ..

[psycwave]

Crap I forgot Fantomex/EVA too. Okay Grant gave us:
Dust
Tattoo
Martha Johannson
Fantomex/E.V.A
Quentin Quire and
Angel Salvadore.

He also gave Sage her trademark line: DUTT!

I loved his run!!!

[MartinRedmond]

The only real good characters were: the Cuckoos, Beak and his Girlfriend.

[Tobias March]

Have you actually eaten a fried Mars bar?

Yes. I used to live in Scotland. It was a very drunken night.

[Karl H]

The deep fried pizza was the rage last time I was up that way.

Anyway, moving on to Morrison's run.

I actually think as a whole the problem is that it started with such a big BANG that it was always difficult to go on from there. I remember the Morrison run starting jeez, what, 8 years ago and it was the first time a comic had truly blown me away.

There were some fantastic arcs along the way, especially Riot at Xaviers, and I loved the Magneto memorial and 'Xorn' one-shots but it always felt to me that by the time the 'Assault on Weapon Plus' arc came along that Morrison was running out of steam and there was a real noticable drop in quality at the end. How much of that was editorial interference, how much was it Grant simply getting bored, or missing Quitely's involvement, well I guess we'll never really know.

The only shame for me really is just how quickly the whole run bar Scott/Emma was retconned out of existence.

[jarrod]

The only shame for me really is just how quickly the whole run bar Scott/Emma was retconned out of existence.
Yeah this. Mutant boom, X-Corporation, Phoenix Corps, Special Class, Xorn, Weapon Plus... it was all really systematically reversed or dismantled over the following 2 years.

At least Cat Beast is still intact (I'm a fan).

[Karl H]

Yeah this. Mutant boom, X-Corporation, Phoenix Corps, Special Class, Xorn, Weapon Plus... it was all really systematically reversed or dismantled over the following 2 years.

At least Cat Beast is still intact (I'm a fan).

At least some of the characters still live on in New Warriors (cough, cough).

[Muggs]

The deep fried pizza was the rage last time I was up that way.

Anyway, moving on to Morrison's run.

I actually think as a whole the problem is that it started with such a big BANG that it was always difficult to go on from there. I remember the Morrison run starting jeez, what, 8 years ago and it was the first time a comic had truly blown me away.

There were some fantastic arcs along the way, especially Riot at Xaviers, and I loved the Magneto memorial and 'Xorn' one-shots but it always felt to me that by the time the 'Assault on Weapon Plus' arc came along that Morrison was running out of steam and there was a real noticable drop in quality at the end. How much of that was editorial interference, how much was it Grant simply getting bored, or missing Quitely's involvement, well I guess we'll never really know.

The only shame for me really is just how quickly the whole run bar Scott/Emma was retconned out of existence.

I've always thought that this was around the time that Grant started to have his problems with Jemas, and at that point was just looking to finish up his run as soon as possible and go to DC.


Yeah this. Mutant boom, X-Corporation, Phoenix Corps, Special Class, Xorn, Weapon Plus... it was all really systematically reversed or dismantled over the following 2 years.

At least Cat Beast is still intact (I'm a fan).

They danced around this subject all through that time period. X Corps/X Corporation/Xtreme X Men/X.S.E. and yet no one managed to pull it all together into a unifying whole and produce a proper book about it. One of the biggest missed chances in X history IMO.

Speaking of missed chances. One of the most amazing things to me about Morrision's run is that with Xorn, it looked like Grant had created the first new X Man in a decade that most of the fan base actually liked and wanted to see stick around.

[Agamemnon]

I loved Morrison's run but I agree that it definitely declined in quality towards the end. When it was good, it was unbeatable though, matched only by CC's glory days. Most of the changes Morrison introduced were a natural evolution of the original concept and it's a real shame to see them all be reversed recently.

M-Day was a clumsy attempt to press the reset button on the X-Universe and the titles have been floundering badly ever since (X-Factor, X-Force and Kyle/Yost New X-Men excepted). Whedon's run on Astonishing was enjoyable, solid storytelling but it didn't have a hint of the invention and edginess of Morrison at his best.

[x_goalkeeper]

Yes. I used to live in Scotland. It was a very drunken night.

Is Morrison scottish? Funny how that works.. but maybe I am wrong about this :biggrin:

[Vanish]

Speaking of missed chances. One of the most amazing things to me about Morrision's run is that with Xorn, it looked like Grant had created the first new X Man in a decade that most of the fan base actually liked and wanted to see stick around.

SADNESS.

Yeah, I'm disappointed he wasn't a real character.

[Wind-Breaker]

I enjoyed the run up until Planet X. I've never hated story arc as badly as that one. I don't even want to go into describing why, for fear of initiating a fit of anger and head bunting my monitor.

But outside of that, a lot of potential interesting concepts that editors mishandled after the fact. I'd recommend Morrison's run for most people, except for die-hard Magneto fans.

[x_goalkeeper]

SADNESS.

Yeah, I'm disappointed he wasn't a real character.

me too... and I am still confused about Xorn/Magneto in this.

[psychic_therapy]

Morrison's New X-Men rocked. Except for Here Comes Tomorrow though. That could've been shortened to half the length or less and got the message across just fine. Who is Tom Skylark?

[4sake]

Morrison's New X-Men rocked. Except for Here Comes Tomorrow though. That could've been shortened to half the length or less and got the message across just fine. Who is Tom Skylark?

http://www.comicvine.com/tom-skylark/29-41731/

[Jay Dogg]

Most of the stories were good, but I didn't care for Quitely's art (nor his fill-in artists). I love his art on All-Star Superman, but I didn't think it fit X-Men at all. Jean and Emma looked like Stewie Griffin with wigs, and Wolverine looked like Razor Ramon. I enjoyed Silvestri and Bachalo's art, but the stories they were on wasn't that good IMO.

[ImpulseUCF]

I thought Morrison's run was beyond fantastic although it fell off a bit with the last arc. Then again, Morrison's endings always fall apart, so that is basically on par.

I utterly disagree that Morrison's run somehow crippled the future story potential for the franchise. If anything, it opened it wide open and tore the door off the hinges to open it up for new potential outside of the tired rehashes we had for the years prior to and following Morrison. There is nothing I can add that hasn't been said, but Morrison took the core concepts and refreshed and updated them. He took the notions of mutants as a subculture, as an actual community, into the real world. He made them an actual minority among society with their own celebrities, cutlure, and styles like all other real cultures. He broke them free of the shackles of rehashing the same old tired, safe plots, and left a grand new playground for future writes to play with. But did they? No.

Sadly, Marvel quickly completely retconned almost the entire thing. I would have loved to see X-Corps as an international peacekeeping agency. Imagine PAD's take on that with the X-Factor cast? Political intrigue and international thriller stories abound. The Mutant community, culture, and parallels to the civil rights movement. Intriguing. No Magneto (for at least a tiny little while). Weapon Plus was an interesting twist to the Weapon X (ten, not 'X'). Publically outing the X-Men - now how do they respond?

Anyway, Morrison's run not only got me back into comics after a long hiatus, but it energized and refreshed the medium for me. I was addicted and consumed in a way I had never been even as a kid. I simply had to devour it as much as I possibly could. A few titles tend to do that for me at any given time, but this was the first. The writers that followed Morrison utterly dropped the ball on any and all of the concepts, and M-Day just took a hot, steaming dump on the franchise.

Ah, well. Now we are back to stupid rehashes of tired old plots and tired old villans. What villans haven't C&C revived and what non-A lister haven't they killed yet? How new and shocking... yawn.

[ImpulseUCF]

A few more comments... Morrison's run was FAR from perfect. Here Comes Tomorrow was essentially awful, and though I liked Planet X, to say it was heavy-handed would be an understatement.

The art. Quitely's art grew on me a lot over the run, and I think the shifting and drastically different styles between the writers hurt the series. Not to mention most of Kordey's work here was just awful, horrendous, and had no business being published by Marvel. I mean, don't get me wrong...props to the man for stepping up to fill in the gap for the company, but at the end of the day, the final product just didn't cut it.

[x_goalkeeper]

A few more comments... Morrison's run was FAR from perfect. Here Comes Tomorrow was essentially awful, and though I liked Planet X, to say it was heavy-handed would be an understatement.


I agree that it was far from perfect, especially Here Comes Tomorrow. But my opinion of the entire of Morrison's run is that is was very good. He was not afraid to start new things and make changes.. some bad but most good.

[Paiute 1]

One of the main reasons along with the direction Spiderman was going; that I quit reading comic books.

But it was still not as bad as the direction Austin took Uncanny.

[Quinnhop]

One of the main reasons along with the direction Spiderman was going; that I quit reading comic books.

But it was still not as bad as the direction Austin took Uncanny.

Wasn't JMS on Spiderman at the time?

That shit was golden.

[Will.S]

The art. Quitely's art grew on me a lot over the run, and I think the shifting and drastically different styles between the writers hurt the series. Not to mention most of Kordey's work here was just awful, horrendous, and had no business being published by Marvel. I mean, don't get me wrong...props to the man for stepping up to fill in the gap for the company, but at the end of the day, the final product just didn't cut it.
I know people detest his art and all (hell even Morrison did) but I thought Kordey's Fantomex arc looked great. It was a lot more polished than the rush job that Marvel had him do during the Imperial story and it fit to see a European artist do a story that mostly took place in Europe.

He just sometimes needs an inker that can tone down his art for the masses since it tended to look overly gunky at times. The overall art for Morrison's run was really uneven but it gradually becomes more consistent with regards to assigning one artist per arc such as Bachalo for Weapon Plus, Quitely for Riot at Xavier's, Silvestri for Here Comes Tomorrow, Jimenez in Murder at the Mansion and Planet X, etc.

When Morrison goes on books with long runs though it's almost a given that the art will look uneven since his Batman and Doom Patrol had that same problem as well.

[ImpulseUCF]

Agreed. I just wish we could have seen the entire thing drawn by Quitely as I'm sure that was Morrison's intention from the start. Like him or not, he an Morrison "get" each other extremely well. It's a fantastic writer/artist chemistry.

[rwsmith]

I'd like to see Morrison take on Ultimate X-men with Marc Silvestri and Dave Finch (rotating every two or three issues to keep it coming out monthly). That would be $$$ IMO.

Especially since, if Loeb ends up killing off all the mutants in the Ulti-verse (as is the rumor), Grant could just have it so that Phoenix's "cosmic reset" at the end of Here Comes Tomorrow put them in a different reality (i.e., the Ultimate U, where mutants have seemingly been wiped out). That way he could pick up with his run exactly as he left off, only in the Ultimate Universe now (so he doesn't have to worry about all of the continuity of the other X-books).

It could work IMO. The humans think they've wiped out the mutant strain (which they created in the Ultimate Universe), and then suddenly a million "naturally evolved" mutants suddenly pop up all over the world. And more and more start being born everyday. The mutant condition has now gotten out of their control and there's nothing they can do to undo it now. :evilsmile:

[NewMutant]

I'd like to see Morrison take on Ultimate X-men with Marc Silvestri and Dave Finch (rotating every two or three issues to keep it coming out monthly). That would be $$$ IMO.

Especially since, if Loeb ends up killing off all the mutants in the Ulti-verse (as is the rumor), Grant could just have it so that Phoenix's "cosmic reset" at the end of Here Comes Tomorrow put them in a different reality (i.e., the Ultimate U, where mutants have seemingly been wiped out). That way he could pick up with his run exactly as he left off, only in the Ultimate Universe now (so he doesn't have to worry about all of the continuity of the other X-books).

It could work IMO. The humans think they've wiped out the mutant strain (which they created in the Ultimate Universe), and then suddenly a million "naturally evolved" mutants suddenly pop up all over the world. And more and more start being born everyday. The mutant condition has now gotten out of their control and there's nothing they can do to undo it now. :evilsmile:

Morrison was originally offered Ultimate X-Men but turned it down and did New X-
Men instead.

[Will.S]

Agreed. I just wish we could have seen the entire thing drawn by Quitely as I'm sure that was Morrison's intention from the start. Like him or not, he an Morrison "get" each other extremely well. It's a fantastic writer/artist chemistry.
Yeah Quitely does Morrison's work the most justice although I think Phil Jimenez works just as well, at least IMO.

Morrison was originally offered Ultimate X-Men but turned it down and did New X-
Men instead.
He made the right choice in the end considering the state that the Ultimate Universe is in.

[NickFury90]

First time through I didn't like Here Comes Tomorrow too much, but now its right up there with E for Extinction and Riot at Xaviers. Also, I agree that Kordley first few issues are UGLY, but the 3-part Fantomex arc was great, really helped create the Euro-pop feel of the story. And all the second half is consistently great from Riot at Xaviers onward(artwork included).

[Will.S]

First time through I didn't like Here Comes Tomorrow too much, but now its right up there with E for Extinction and Riot at Xaviers. Also, I agree that Kordley first few issues are UGLY, but the 3-part Fantomex arc was great, really helped create the Euro-pop feel of the story. And all the second half is consistently great from Riot at Xaviers onward(artwork included).
I'm glad I'm not the only person who enjoyed Kordey's Fantomex stuff.

:wink:

[x_goalkeeper]

For those that enjoyed Morrison's New X-Men.. which arc is your favorite?

For me, my favorite was Riot At Xavier's.. which focused a lot on the Scott and Emma affair :cool:

[Jake V]

For those that enjoyed Morrison's New X-Men.. which arc is your favorite?

For me, my favorite was Riot At Xavier's.. which focused a lot on the Scott and Emma affair :cool:

The Cassandra Nova story that ran though E is for Extinction and Imperial.

Also, I don't care how many people hated it, I really liked Planet X.

[Kid Icarus]

Here comes tomorrow was the first X-book arc I bought other than Exiles

[xgeek52]

i was not and probably never will be a fan of morrison's run...

that said, i've come to recognize what he did for the franchise...didn't like the fact that he killed jean grey AGAIN and definantly did not like hom or decimantion...

but good, bad or indifferent, it paved the way for the direction all the books are going in now...

[Jake V]

but good, bad or indifferent, it paved the way for the direction all the books are going in now...

Sorry, but no. Ever since his run ended, the X-books have been going in basically the opposite direction that Morrison went, which could be partially the reason why the books are in their current sales condition.

[Quinnhop]

i was not and probably never will be a fan of morrison's run...

that said, i've come to recognize what he did for the franchise...didn't like the fact that he killed jean grey AGAIN and definantly did not like hom or decimantion...

but good, bad or indifferent, it paved the way for the direction all the books are going in now...

He had NOTHING to do with Decimation. At all. In fact, it wasn't until well after he left that House of M even thought about happening.

[xgeek52]

i stand corrected on decimation...

but his run did change the direction the books are going in...i'm not saying it's a good direction but it is a direction that has not existed over the years...

[Jake V]

i stand corrected on decimation...

but his run did change the direction the books are going in...i'm not saying it's a good direction but it is a direction that has not existed over the years...

No, it didn't.

Packing up all the mutants and moving to San Francisco wasn't in any small part of his run. Under Morrison, mutants were a legitimate minority several million strong, developing their own culture all over the world. Now they live in northern california and there are about 200 of them.

It changed the direction of the books at the time, but they've been going in a completely different direction since he left.

[ZNOP]

No, it didn't.

Packing up all the mutants and moving to San Francisco wasn't in any small part of his run. Under Morrison, mutants were a legitimate minority several million strong, developing their own culture all over the world. Now they live in northern california and there are about 200 of them.

How do you figure that? It's not like mutants weren't a minority before Morrison hit the scene or that they didn't numbered in the millions already. And, what culture are you referring to?

It changed the direction of the books at the time, but they've been going in a completely different direction since he left.

Well, that's because his X-Men run was retconed and for good reason -- at least as far as I am concerned. I am not pleased that the X-Men move to San Fransisco -- to me it's an blatant over the top "oh, were so different we desperately need a mutant haven" as if Genosha did not exist anymore. Boring I say.

[Jake V]

How do you figure that? It's not like mutants weren't a minority before Morrison hit the scene or that they didn't numbered in the millions already. And, what culture are you referring to?
If you read the books and didn't dismiss them outright, you'd know what I meant.

[ZNOP]

If you read the books and didn't dismiss them outright, you'd know what I meant.


It's not like I am twisting your arm for you to answer my question. But, thanks anyway.

[Jake V]

It's not like I am twisting your arm for you to answer my question. But, thanks anyway.

The answers to whatever questions you have are in the comics themselves. I'm not gonna enable your laziness.

[ZNOP]

Now, your itching for a rap. I, already said thanks anyway. That means forget it.

[x_goalkeeper]

Also, I don't care how many people hated it, I really liked Planet X.

Planet X was sort of slow to me, but very dramatic and meaningful at the end.

Here comes tomorrow was the first X-book arc I bought other than Exiles

I wonder what was your first impression of X-Men from Here Comes Tomorrow?

[Will.S]

For those that enjoyed Morrison's New X-Men.. which arc is your favorite?

For me, my favorite was Riot At Xavier's.. which focused a lot on the Scott and Emma affair :cool:
Hmm, its hard for me to just choose one since they were all pretty interesting.

But if I had to choose one I guess I would pick Riot at Xavier's.

The Cassandra Nova story that ran though E is for Extinction and Imperial.

Also, I don't care how many people hated it, I really liked Planet X.
I thought Planet X was pretty damn good myself, there's a lot of good stuff in there such as Emma and Beast stranded together on an island, Logan and Jean being stranded on a chunk of asteroid M hurtling towards the sun, Cyclops' standing up to Magneto, etc.

[psychic_therapy]

http://www.comicvine.com/tom-skylark/29-41731/

Thanks. But what I was really wondering was if Tom Skylark was the descendant of any well known or not-so-well known mutants.

[Michael P]

Wasn't JMS on Spiderman at the time?

That shit was golden.

Yeah, but it had new ideas, and that's scary.

All joking aside, I do wish JMS had left when Romita did. Once he told the big story he came on board to do, none of his other ideas were quite as awesome. And once editorial started handing him plots, well, I was just lying back and thinking of England at that point. At least Morrison got out early before that happened to him.

[Michael P]

I thought Planet X was pretty damn good myself, there's a lot of good stuff in there such as Emma and Beast stranded together on an island, Logan and Jean being stranded on a chunk of asteroid M hurtling towards the sun, Cyclops' standing up to Magneto, etc.

I loved Cyke's line to the students about "I hope you all studied."

Morrison wrote a great Cyclops. Maybe the best ever.

[Jota]

Well, that's because his X-Men run was retconed and for good reason -- at least as far as I am concerned. I am not pleased that the X-Men move to San Fransisco -- to me it's an blatant over the top "oh, were so different we desperately need a mutant haven" as if Genosha did not exist anymore. Boring I say.Genosha would be a lot more boring. It's an island, isolated and deserted, now that Morrisson blew it up.
The X-Men are about peacefully integrating mutants in general society, not runing away and isolating themselves. If mutants were all living in a cozy litle island, there would be no conflict and it would be boring.
More, it's a lot less harder for a mutant to go to San Francisco then Genosha. Not all of them have jets.

[ImpulseUCF]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who enjoyed Kordey's Fantomex stuff.I must admit, his work on the Fantomex was DRASTICALLY improved over his first work on NXM, but you could still see where it was rushed through. It also doesn't forgive the screw job he received from Marvel.
For those that enjoyed Morrison's New X-Men.. which arc is your favorite?I think I enjoyed E is for Extinction right up through Imperial the most. I remember finding the freshness and sheer audacity of it tantalizing and electrifying. Morrison took everything familiar about the X-Men and basically turned it on its head and then blew it apart, but it all made sense. It wasn't out of nowhere. It was all plausible within what had come before, and it was so deliciously not playing it safe for the first time since, what, the mid 80s?
but good, bad or indifferent, it paved the way for the direction all the books are going in now...
If he paved the new direction, Marvel brought in a construction crew to rip it right down into pieces and go completely in the opposite direction. Whereas Morrison expanded the mutant concept for Marvel and added real depth and progress to it, right after he left the editors basically retconned the entire thing and inverted it...right back down to a handful of persecuted, hated and feared freaks living in hiding.
If you read the books and didn't dismiss them outright, you'd know what I meant.Agreed. It's pretty glaringly obvious in the story. Not exactly subtle. Essentially, he progressed mutants as a legitimate minority like any other with its own culture, art, celebrities, fashion, norms, and mores. Designer drugs, artists, parts of town like other ethnic groups, significnt population numbers, etc.

Love it or hate it, it was decidedly different than what preceded it and it moved the concept forward instead of stagnating on the long-stale status quo.

[x_goalkeeper]

I loved Cyke's line to the students about "I hope you all studied."

Morrison wrote a great Cyclops. Maybe the best ever.

I really liked that line from Cyclops too :cool:

I like the way Whedon wrote Cyclops more than Morrison though.. but I really liked the psychic affair with Emma that Morrison wrote.

[CmX]

I must admit, his work on the Fantomex was DRASTICALLY improved over his first work on NXM, but you could still see where it was rushed through. It also doesn't forgive the screw job he received from Marvel.
I think I enjoyed E is for Extinction right up through Imperial the most. I remember finding the freshness and sheer audacity of it tantalizing and electrifying. Morrison took everything familiar about the X-Men and basically turned it on its head and then blew it apart, but it all made sense. It wasn't out of nowhere. It was all plausible within what had come before, and it was so deliciously not playing it safe for the first time since, what, the mid 80s?

If he paved the new direction, Marvel brought in a construction crew to rip it right down into pieces and go completely in the opposite direction. Whereas Morrison expanded the mutant concept for Marvel and added real depth and progress to it, right after he left the editors basically retconned the entire thing and inverted it...right back down to a handful of persecuted, hated and feared freaks living in hiding.
Agreed. It's pretty glaringly obvious in the story. Not exactly subtle. Essentially, he progressed mutants as a legitimate minority like any other with its own culture, art, celebrities, fashion, norms, and mores. Designer drugs, artists, parts of town like other ethnic groups, significnt population numbers, etc.

Love it or hate it, it was decidedly different than what preceded it and it moved the concept forward instead of stagnating on the long-stale status quo.

!!!!!!!

Post more often. Please.

[psychic_therapy]

For those that enjoyed Morrison's New X-Men.. which arc is your favorite?


If I had to pick one, I'd go with E Is For Extinction... it set the table for many of the changes. You had the introduction of a fearsome baddie in Cassandra Nova. The John Sublime character was also introduced here, which would be sort of a long lasting effect as well if you consider the Cuckoos. And it included New X-Men Annual #1, which was the start of the Emma/Scott affair.

[NewMutant]

E is for Extinction is probably my favorite arc. I would enjoy Imperial and New Worlds more if Igor Kordey didn't destory it with his art. While Here Comes Tomorrow isn't my favorite I think it was probably the best newer work we've seen from Marc Silverstri and I thought it was a great ending. Morrison wrote his entire run as one story. So he ended it with a strong ending but it still left an opening for new writers that would take over.

[xgirl]

Morrison created Dust. He is fantastic!!

yeah i agreed

[fod_xp]

Oddly enough my favorite arcs are the ones with little to no appearances from Henry.

I am pretty sure Here Comes Tomorrow is my favorite arc, hands down. What Morrison tried to do there, with Jean and the Phoenix, and the fact that despite 150 passing filled with wars over genetic diversity genocide, the X-Men still remained diverse.

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/6/60216/1335767-here_comes_tomorrow_super.jpg

This image is the whole point of Morrison's run. That ex-villains, humans, sentinels, mutants, and A.I. could all join together to fight against oppression of genetic and ethnic diversity. Just take a good long look at that two page splash page. That, right there, is my single favorite two page splash, no other splash page has triggered so strong an emotional response from me as this one.

Also, I love Assault on Weapon Plus because of the zany bleeding edge concepts Morrison incorporated into the X-Mythos while having a "Scott and Logan boys' night out."

[Bart Simpson]

I didn't have a favorite arc since many are pretty good. The stand outs are
E is is for Extinction, Germ Free Generation, the stand alone Silence: Psychic Rescue in Progress, Imperial, Weapon Thirteen, Murder at the Mansion, and Here Comes Tomorrow.

I just wish the art on some of those issues weren't done by Kordey. I'd rather it all been Quitely, Van Sciver and Jiminez.

[Michael Sean]

I loved every inch of Morrison's run. The X-men had a distinct feel and style that made them stand out. I loved the costumes. I like that the X-men didn't feel like another dumpy superhero book. I liked some of the big sci-fi elements he used.

I loved the characters. They all seemed different from each other. Some comic writers write each character so that they all sound the same. I loved his Cyke and Jean. Of course Emma was fantastic.

I appreciated the story he gave Jean even though he did kill her off.

I liked how he used super consistency and didn't feel pages with endless continuity wonk. He used some classic X-men elements but he did it with a different style and approach.

My favorite arcs include E is for Extinction, Imperial, the silent issue, Here Comes Tomorrow, and Assault on Weapon Plus.

[theXfactor]

I miss this run so much. My second favorite after Claremont's original run.

[Quinnhop]

Oddly enough my favorite arcs are the ones with little to no appearances from Henry.

I am pretty sure Here Comes Tomorrow is my favorite arc, hands down. What Morrison tried to do there, with Jean and the Phoenix, and the fact that despite 150 passing filled with wars over genetic diversity genocide, the X-Men still remained diverse.

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/6/60216/1335767-here_comes_tomorrow_super.jpg

This image is the whole point of Morrison's run. That ex-villains, humans, sentinels, mutants, and A.I. could all join together to fight against oppression of genetic and ethnic diversity. Just take a good long look at that two page splash page. That, right there, is my single favorite two page splash, no other splash page has triggered so strong an emotional response from me as this one.

Also, I love Assault on Weapon Plus because of the zany bleeding edge concepts Morrison incorporated into the X-Mythos while having a "Scott and Logan boys' night out."

this. You just added to my appreciation of that last arc, significantly.

[Lil Kis]

I cn't believe peopl on here even hate Morrision's run. It was the best X-men run I ever read and I read a lot. Grant Morrision turned Emma into a popular character almost as much as Wolverine. He made the greatest villian ever who was Cassandra Nova. Also he made all the X-men characters believeable with real personality and emotions. He made me a Emma Frost fan. Also he had great artists in his run too. Ethan Van Schiver, Frank Quitley, etc.

[KNuff]

if it only stayed canon, Magneto wouldve been the baddest ass thanks to Grant

[Jackraow21]

I cn't believe peopl on here even hate Morrision's run. It was the best X-men run I ever read and I read a lot. Grant Morrision turned Emma into a popular character almost as much as Wolverine. He made the greatest villian ever who was Cassandra Nova. Also he made all the X-men characters believeable with real personality and emotions. He made me a Emma Frost fan. Also he had great artists in his run too. Ethan Van Schiver, Frank Quitley, etc.

Agreed. It's time for another ground-breaking shift in direction like this again for the X-books.

[Omegastorm]

I cn't believe peopl on here even hate Morrision's run. It was the best X-men run I ever read and I read a lot. Grant Morrision turned Emma into a popular character almost as much as Wolverine. He made the greatest villian ever who was Cassandra Nova. Also he made all the X-men characters believeable with real personality and emotions. He made me a Emma Frost fan. Also he had great artists in his run too. Ethan Van Schiver, Frank Quitley, etc.

Morrison was brilliant but it's ok to be critical too. One word can sum up why some hated or are critical of his run. Xorn.

o

[Ebonyleopard]

Morrison's fun was fun for the time period it came out (side by side with their portrayal in the movies) but there's really nothing that memorable about them in the end. Even the most dramatic moment in the story, The death of Jean Grey by Magneto was cheapened when it was revealed that it really wasn't Magneto at all.

Frankly, I blame his run to the mess the X-Universe current finds itself in. He introduced too many goofy characters (some were good, CooCoos I'll give you), made the X-Men pop stars (which lost them a bit of the edge they had in the world of the Marvel U), and shifted the dynamic and purpose of the team too much to where some of the then main stays became sorta useless. Only thing (ironically) I really did like was the re-invention of the Beast (physically anyway, he turned him personality wise into too much of the absent minded professor who had no use outside of the lab for the team) and the giving of Emma a secondary power set. Most of his 'secondary mutations' though have been totally forgotten. I mean, does Angel still heal people with his blood (Granted, he may not be responsible for Angel's second mutation, but he is the concept).

[Ebonyleopard]

i'd have to say that i completely agree with that. Emma has never really recovered since this. It's hard to see the character as she was right up to the end of generation x, and what she became under morrison, as even being close to the same character.

I think morrison had a lot of good ideas, but ultimately 90% of the directionless fall of the x-men since he left has been a symptom of his stories. He smashed the central principle of the x-men. It made for a good story at the time, but has damaged the brand irreparably long term.

this this this

[Klayne]

I think that Warren can't give his blood since X-Force: it would make people Horsemen or something like that.

[Ebonyleopard]

I think that Warren can't give his blood since X-Force: it would make people Horsemen or something like that.

Now that would be cool. You'd have to stay away from him in a fight, or any cut he gets could splash on your and Horsemen you.

[MartinRedmond]

The death of Jean Grey by Magneto was cheapened when it was revealed that it really wasn't Magneto at all.

It was cheap melodrama to begin with. He's highly talented, but Morrison's work keeps getting more self indulgent with time instead of improving.

[Ebonyleopard]

It was cheap melodrama to begin with. He's highly talented, but Morrison's work keeps getting more self indulgent with time instead of improving.

His stories were entertaining for the time, don't get me wrong, but they had not lasting effect. There were aspects in the stories I liked, but there was no one story I can say, yeah, I like it from start to end fully. Riot at the Mansion, cool concept, interesting potential new bad guy Kid Omega, but over all impact, I can't think of one thing from that story that stayed in my mind that was a 'comic history memorable moment'. Save for maybe the first story, E for Extinction, it's the only 'title' story I could say can be put up there with stories like The Dark Phoenix Saga, Inferno, Mutant Massacre, The first Genosha Story, that story with the Brood (oh, is that ever one of my favorites, the 90s Brood story in the small western town).

Maybe, though, my not loving of his run had to do with the art, while it fit the story, none of the characters were attractive at all and ironically only Beast seemed to actually visual excel in that art style.

Again, there were aspects in the stories I liked (Cat Beast, emotionless Cyclops, CooCoos, Cassandra Nova), but the overall story ideas (Public mutant personas, lost of covert aspect of the X-men, Xorneto, the overall treatment of Jean Grey as a character) just seemed to fall flat to me and become long term unmemorable or at least less impactful as stories prior to it.

[rescura]

Morisson injected sheer greatness in the X-Men with his run, my favorite to time. I just love every single issue! I'm from Brazil and, when it was being released here (with the annoying 1 year-lateness) I was so freakin' pissed because New X-Men came in the same book as Austen's Uncanny (although I liked Casey's run, hated Austen from the very start) and Tieri's Wolverine, and the book (simply titled X-Men) covers were all of TIERI'S FREAKING STORIES OF WOLVERINE FIGHTING A GUY WHO ATE BEGGARS AND SOME RANDOM GUYS OF A CANADIAN REALITY SHOW and such... It's just frustating, as the covers os NXM were all so great and funny... :mad:

Sorry for the free catarsys...

[Lil Kis]

No writer wrote the X-men better than Grant Morrision. they all had personality to them and it felt like each character was written by another writer.

[x_goalkeeper]

Even after years, Morrison showed he wrote New X-Men very well.