NEW X-MEN #125
"Losers"
Recommended (7/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Igor Kordey
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Letters: Richard Starkings
Editor: Mark Powers
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
Grant Morrison has instilled an unprecedented level of madness and maturity in the world of Marvel's mutants. He never fails to provoke the imagination and emotion, and that holds true this month as well. The thing is that his ideas are so... huge, that the episodic nature of this series doesn't really do them justice. I suspect that once collected into a trade paperback, this story arc will be even more staggering.
The consciousness of Cassandra Nova, housed in the body of Charles Xavier, is turning her sights back to Earth, casting off her puppets in the Shi'Ar Empire. As the Beast desperately tries to save Professor X's life, a feverish Jean Grey reveals that she has another plan: to save his mind instead. Meanwhile, some of the new Xavier Institute students help to free one of their teachers and plot their own retaliation against Nova.
Kordey's style reflects the darkness and maturity of the script quite well. There's an inventive quality in the visuals that matches Morrison's imgination nicely too. The thing is that as the issue progresses, some figures gets a bit... hazy. His linework is a bit too thick at times, giving some pages an almost smudged look.
Another problem with the art lies in the production side. An action-filled two-page spread (pages four and five) is broken up by an ad, making for a confusing few moments as the reader is left to puzzle out what went wrong. With any luck, the error will be corrected in any future collected edition.
There are an awful lot of players in this drama, and though keeping track of all of them is a bit of a task, the large cast also points to a complexity of plot that's challenging and intriguing. Morrison is developing not only the new young heroes, but has added new facets to characters who have been around for almost four decades.
The greatest strength of Morrison's script lies in Cassandra Nova. Her completely nihilist attitude is conveyed with chilling clarity. Her callousness knows no bounds or equals. There are a multitude of powerful heroes running about the story, and the fact that this one frail being has them all running scared makes for riveting, suspenseful storytelling.
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