NEW X-MEN #116
"E is for Extinction, three of three"
Recommended (8/10)
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Marvel Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencils: Frank Quitely
Inks: Dan Green & Mark Morales
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Mark Powers
Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN |
The X-Men are not only tackling much more dangerous and immense threats these days, they're dealing with more immense ideas. And they're showing it. On the surface, Morrison seems to be trying (and succeeding) to develop more mind-blowing situations for the title characters to contend with, but in reality, he's putting them through hell, breaking the characters down and showing us new levels in some familiar figures.
Jean Grey and the Beast find a sole survivor amid the devastation of the mutant nation of Genosha. Emma Frost, AKA the White Queen, survived thanks to the development of a new mutant power. Meanwhile, bringing Cassandra Nova, the woman responsible for the Sentinels' massacre of Genosha, to the X-Mansion proves to have been a mistake, as it grants her access to the technology she needs to wipe out mutantkind.
If you've picked up both this book and last week's X-Men 2001 annual, do yourself a favor and read the former before the latter. The stories will flow better, trust me. Aside from that little publication schedule glitch, there's not much to complain about regarding Morrison and Quitely's latest foray into the world of Marvel's mutants. Morrison isn't approaching the mutant concept just as an analogy for race issues, as so many others have before him, but instead he examines broader evolutionary impacts. Mad theories and basic grade-school science classes collide in this shocking, entertaining and thought-provoking story.
Quitely's art provides the perfect visual cue that the X-Men have indeed been transformed into something else. The concept itself has, appropriately enough, evolved, and it's easy to see. Before, the characters' power was conveyed with bright colors and squiggly lines, but now, the power can be plainly seen in their faces, in their contorted bodies as they fight for the survival of all that is.
Morrison is tearing these characters apart. The Beast is traumatized. Cyclops is emotionally cut off from all around him, even his wife, with whom he shares what was once perceived as the perfect marriage. Professor X is forced to re-evaluate every belief he holds dear, even his emphasis on the value of life, any life. The world of the X-Men is extreme, and they're finally having extreme reactions to it.
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