Adding yet another guest artist to the roster, New X-Men denies the usual rules of creative change by remaining a solid book, and I suspect that's largely due to the work of Grant Morrison. Not only are his ideas a lot of fun, whether they're brand new or new spins on old cliches, but he's created a cast of interesting students for the X-Men to teach, and his scripts seem to push artists to do their best. That's certainly the case this issue, as Keron Grant has never looked better, and his work on the first part of a new story arc that will pit these new students versus the old guard that Morrison inherited is as solid as the character and plot underpinnings that Morrison is laying down.
One of the most interesting things Morrison (and his former writing partner Mark Millar) have done with their take on the X-Men is to explore some of the sides of the characters that have always been there, but left mostly unexplored. Claremont did a brief run with the X-Men as "legends," but Morrison has explored the notion of mutant niche culture and celebrity. New Mutants, Generation X and several other books and concepts explored the notion of mutants in training, but Morrison is the first (other than the movie) to really make Xavier's feel like a legitimate school.
These two elements combine in this issue to begin what has been hyped as a "students versus teachers" fight in the offing. The death of a mutant celebrity affects the students far more than the teachers, and it starts to divide them somewhat. Even more divisive is a new character, a highly intelligent (and possibly sociopathic) boy Quentin Quire (a.k.a. Kid Omega) who starts out as the outcast but quickly emerges as a potential leader of student rebellion. I find it interesting that although Morrison never really makes Quentin likable, he also doesn't take the cliched route of making him the most unpopular boy in school. He has his friends as well as enemies, and his role as one of the top students without being the subject of bullies' torment is a nice touch.
As always, there are plenty of neat ideas here, as Morrison introduces a couple of new students and explores some of the others. Credit must go to Keron Grant and Norm Rapmund for maintaining the open, ivy-covered campus feel of Xavier University and also maintaining the weirdness of the students. Their work on established characters like the Stepford Cuckoos or Glob Herman is right in line with what we've seen before, but they also do some terrific work on new characters like the flamboyant Jumbo Carnation and the freakish but cool Tattoo and Slick. In addition, the work on Quentin conveys the meanness of spirit and selfish nature that is at the heart of the character.
This is largely a build-up and background issue, exploring life at the Xavier school and setting up the cast for the upcoming story. There's also a scene between Cyclops and Beast that ought to set the minds of a few of the old school fans at ease regarding the Beast, as well as revealing some tidbits about both characters at the same time. New X-Men is a fun read, a look at the X-Men that captures what's cool about the concept without drowning the readers in the useless angst that had defined the book for much of the last ten years.
