The somewhat long-running "Imperial" is over, which means it's time for a new story arc, and once again, Morrison has settled on some interesting concepts and ideas, both for the main plot and for the small character moments that make it mean something. Given how jumbled I found his JLA run, I'm quite surprised by how much I am enjoying New X-Men, and this issue we see Morrison exploring old ideas in new ways as well as picking up and polishing an idea from Casey's Uncanny X-Men into a more interesting form. It's easy to slap a "new" onto a title, but New X-Men is one of the few titles that deserves the name, as it features new ideas and a whole new spin on the X-Men concept.
Soon after Morrison's run on this title began, there was a lot of speculation that he might "thin out the herd" of mutants who had come to populate the Marvel Universe. In fact he has expanded the cast, adding a variety of new characters, and in this issue he makes use of some familiar faces to readers of X-Factor, X-Force and Generation X. He also manages the fairly impressive task of introducing them all by name and power by making light of codenames, and has a little fun with some of the powers, including a disturbingly funny discussion of the sex life of Madrox the Multiple Man.
Seeing all these other mutants ties into the other concept for Morrison's story, the X-Corporation. It's an outgrowth of the public outing that Professor X had forced upon him, and the shift in public perception is one that has been long in coming. While the mutant paranoia is still there to play with, as shown in the opening scenes, Morrison has opened the door to the possibility of co-existence, and the less bleak and more realistic view of mutant-human politics has a great deal of potential.
Igor Kordey is the artist of choice on this issue, and while there are elements of rushing in his work, for the most part this work stands alongside his Cable and Black Widow work in terms of quality. His shot of Emma Frost is sensual, ugly and frightening all at the same time, and his depiction of Jean using her telekinesis on a variety of tasks at once is a terrific bit of storytelling. I also see a greater precision in the facial details of the characters in this issue than I've seen in his previous New X-Men work.
What really impressed me with this issue was the balance that Morrison has struck between widescreen action and the exploration of smaller, more character-based elements. In this same issue, we have the introduction of the capable Fantomex, the mysterious and deadly Weapon XII and the concept of the X-Corporations. However, alongside that we have goofy discussions of partying and dancing, an exploration of the changes that Jean and Scott have both gone through and Charles Xavier exploring the changes he has made in his life of late. It's a nice balance, and that more than anything is the secret ingredient that makes me enjoy Morrison's New X-Men so much more than I did his JLA.
