FLASHBACK: The X-Men of My Discontent

The following was originally published on iFanboy on May 2, 2004:

In 2001, when Marvel Comics announced that Grant Morrison would be taking over the writing reins on the newly named New X-Men, I have to admit, I was both excited and scared. Being the resident X-Men geek at iFanboy, any changes — good or bad — would have the most effect on me, as I’ve been committed to these characters for longer than I can remember. Aside from a touch of commentary and a review here and there, I’ve remained a tad silent over the roughly three years of Morrison’s tenure, wanting to hold back my judgment until the run was over. Well, Morrison is now exclusive at DC Comics and his last issue of New X-Men came out a few weeks ago. My self-imposed silence must come to an end. Therefore, I went into my collection and pulled every issue Morrison wrote, including the key 2001 Annual, and re-read them cover to cover, because even I don’t remember every exacting detail of 3+ years of comics and I wanted to give the run a fair shake.

Part of my excitement for Morrison taking over as the writer of New X-Men stemmed from his run on JLA, which was not only my first exposure to Morrison’s work but it also got me interested in JLA as well as the entire DC Universe. I felt that Morrison had an obvious respect for those characters and, while taking a modern approach to his stories and situations, he remained true to the characters and the team’s history. So knowing his approach there, I thought his time on New X-Men could yield similar results. But what scared me about Morrison was that “Rock Star” edge he has to himself. The other books he has written have shown some level of rebellion in them, such as The Invisibles, Kill Your Boyfriend and other offbeat Vertigo titles. Combine that with the tongue-in-cheek response the X-Men often get due to their reputation of convoluted plots and excess, and I was worried that there would be a part of Morrison that would approach the book with the aim of wanting to take these tired characters and shaking them up, most likely pissing off the core group of X-Men fans. Upon reading the announcement of his hiring, I felt like it could in either direction. What it ended up being was a slight combination of the two. Morrison is obviously a smart writer and realized what a goldmine of possibilities he had in these characters. Add in a heightened level of popularity due to the X-Men films, and Morrison seemed to have lowered the respect-for-the-past level and increased the modern-edge aspect. He seemed to choose to really shake things up, much more than he did in JLA, taking the risk of possibly pissing off legions of readers. While he made his mark on JLA by taking timeless characters and modernizing them, I feel he has equally made his mark on New X-Men by taking established characters and tearing them apart, attempting to leave his mark on the book for years to come.

It’s important to note that in this article, I won’t be touching on the artwork aspect of Grant Morrison’s run. To say anything less than it being a complete and utter failure/disappointment would be sugarcoating the topic. Marvel sold us the team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. For whatever reasons, Quitely couldn’t keep up. So we had a rotation which included Igor Kordey, Ethan Van Sciver, Phil Jimenez, Chris Bachalo and Marc Silvestri, among others. Now I’m not detracting from any of those artists, in fact I’m a huge fan of Jimenez and loved every issue he drew, my expectations for a “run” include consistency in art. The Uncanny X-Men of old was at its best during Chris Claremont and John Byrne, or Claremont and Silvestri, and finally Claremont and Jim Lee. Hell, even Morrison’s JLA was set in the foundation of Howard Porter’s art. Without consistency of an artist, it’s very hard for a comic book run to be memorable.

That said, let’s begin looking at Morrison’s words.

In his first issue dated July 2001, #114, the shakeup began and I have to admit my gut reaction was to not like it. In this first issue, we’re introduced to the following changes:

• Perennial villain Emma Frost as a member of the X-Men.
• New uniforms which were suggestive of the movies.
• A renewed focus by Professor Xavier on the school for mutants.
• The introduction of a new mutant-tracking device, Cerebra, that further magnifies the Professor (or any telepath’s) power.
• Introduction of “second mutations,” the idea that mutants can mutate again later in life, such as the Beast evolving into more of a feral-like animal and Emma Frost being able to turn her body into an organic diamond.

From the get-go, I had a bad feeling about it. After re-reading the run now, I realize that I was just being a bit of a stereotypical fanboy who feared change. Looking back on it now, the changes he made initially weren’t that bad, with the exception of the “second mutations” which has just been a poor plot device meant to shake up possibly tired characters. The whole idea just seems to me like a lazy solution for inciting change in a character. In the first series of story arcs, issues #114 through #126, we’re treated to the return of a new breed of Sentinel, a new villain in a pith helmet: Cassandra Nova, the destruction of Genosha and the murder of 16 million mutants (including Magneto), and the “outing” of Professor Xavier and the X-Men in a very public manner when Professor Xavier announces to the world that he is a mutant, as are all the students at his school. Within just a few issues Morrison had shaken the core of the X-Men by making them no longer hiding in the shadows. By weaving various plot twists and character behaviors, Morrison was able to, over the course of 13 issues, accomplish quite a bit in a very well thought out manner. He laid the groundwork for very subtle character interactions and plot twists, that once executed, made perfect sense and continued the suspense of the stories. He introduced new characters within the school as well as laid the groundwork for future story arcs. Now while every story had the Morrison ”big ideas” flare, at the end of the day he really did not do anything “new”. Sentinels? Professor Xavier being possessed by an evil entity? Pitting the X-Men against the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard? At the end of the conflict Professor Xavier can walk again? These are all story ideas that have been done several times over in the X-Men’s 40 + years. What he did do though was to inject those concepts with a more 21st Century feel. The new mutants at the school have taken a more physical manifestation of their mutations, which is a logical evolution of the concept. In the 1960’s every mutant was fairly normal looking but with some level of “difference” be it wings, over-sized hands/feet or the ability to shoot energy from his eyes. But now, in 2001, we have students at the school who look like mutants. Whether it’s the character of Beak who looks like a human/chicken crossbreed or a character whose body consists of see-through wax.

Probably the most important aspect of the first year of Morrison’s run was the 2001 Annual. Aside from being in the ridiculous “widescreen” horizontal format, this one issue laid the groundwork for the next two years of Morrison’s stories:

• The introduction of the character Xorn. A mutant hidden in China whose mutant ability is that his brain is a small star that is contained within an iron mask. Somehow, this allows him to heal humans. Xorn joins the X-Men as their healer and the teacher of the “Special” class at Xavier’s School.
• The “night” in Hong Kong between Cyclops and Emma Frost. Whatever happened that night, it sowed the seeds for the love triangle between Cyclops, Jean Grey and Emma Frost.
• The further development of the villain John Sublime and the U-Men, a group of people who through surgery and grafts attempt to make regular humans into mutants or “The Third Species”.

The first year of Morrison’s run, in retrospect, was really good. I can honestly say that with a high degree of confidence. Despite all the changes, and my over-protectiveness of these characters I’ve read over the years, Morrison really did move them into more modern stories with very well written dialogue, which made the book a much more interesting read. I take issue with the fact that in the end, as mentioned above, he didn’t really do anything original, in that the majority of the main plot developments have been done before in some shape or form. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Morrison revealed that by telling familiar stories, he was laying the groundwork for what was probably planned as his original, earth shaking stories. Unfortunately, what was planned versus what was presented were two very different things.

Somewhere in the second year of Morrison’s run, there was what I like to call, a “point of departure. ” It was the point where either Morrison checked out of being interested in the X-Men or perhaps simply began failing in the execution of his stories/plans. Through three main story arcs in the second year, Morrison began to show cracks in his foundation of the stories being told.

The introduction of the Weapon Plus program and the character of Fantomex, issues #128 through #131, was the first suggestion of the beginning of the end. All of a sudden, we’re presented with a new character that claims to have all the answers about the Weapon Plus program, which was a super-soldier-like program to create soldiers who would eradicate mutants. Surprise, surprise, we find out that Wolverine was not Weapon “X” but rather Weapon “10” with the “X” being a roman numeral. We find this out through a very confusing and convoluted story that created more questions than answers over the course of three issues. But that may have been a part of the plan, as Morrison would later re-visit Fantomex and the Weapon Plus program later in his run, which was woefully disappointing to me. How many writers have attempted to make sense of Wolverine and the Weapon X/Plus/whatever program? Can’t they just leave well enough alone?

After a series of a few seemingly random issues, #132 through #134 where the only substantive action that occurred was the introduction of another new character, Dust, whose role in the X-Men seems to have been to be used by Xorn later in the run rather than being introduced into the X-Men as a legitimate team member. While the use of her powers was later utilized by Xorn, I would not be surprised if she joins Maggott in the hall of forgotten X-characters, which is always a point of disappointment for me as an X-Fan. I don’t like to be introduced to new characters, only to have them forgotten by the next writer. That said, after her introduction and some seemingly wandering issues, we are led into the next big story arc which I see has Morrison’s biggest failure and the actual “point of departure” where Morrison loses control of the story.

Issue #134 of New X-Men introduces the character of Kid Omega aka Quentin Quire, a geeky kid who is described as one of Xavier’s most promising students. Although for the life of me I can’t ascertain what his mutant power is, but I’m guessing it is something surrounding Omega-level telepathy. Regardless, Quire is a great example of a freak within the freaks, not being liked by other students, ridiculed by the “cool” students, including the creepy and story divisive Stepford Cuckoos, a group of five identical girls with linked telepathy powers who run around like Mini-Emma Frosts and act as Morrison’s story catalysts from this story arc until the end of his run. After finding out that he is adopted, Quire goes off the deep end and further alienates himself from the teachings of Xavier. Fueled by a new street drug called “Kick, ” Quire and his friends within the school have their powers magnified and create the “Omega Gang. ” Their formation leads to the three-issue arc called “Riot At Xavier’s” where, very foolishly, Quire and gang attempt to take over the school.

Of all the stories Morrison came up with for this run, I believe this one, told through issues #134 through #138 to be the biggest disappointment. Long story, short – Morrison simply rushed through this one. He was sitting on a goldmine of ideas. The combination of a drug that mutant kids were taking that affects their abilities, Quire’s alienation within the school, and the rebellion against Xavier’s ideas could have been a story of amazing potential. I don’t want to sit here and second-guess his decisions, but the idea of the drug problem running through the school and a groundswell of rebellion from within could have been developed and cultivated over at least a year or so into a huge conclusion of which the results probably would have been remembered for a long time. Instead, we got a rush job that quickly got swept away by the Scott/Jean/Emma love triangle as that subplot comes to a head at the same time as the student rebellion. So we ended up with a situation where the consequences of the student rebellion are swept aside quickly for the obvious and possibly easier conflict between Scott and Jean, when she finds out about Emma. There are only two things of importance that came from this rushed story arc. The first being the abandoning of Emma by the Stepford Cuckoos who continue to be a mere plot catalyst to the different storylines Morrison weaved. This time, they lose one of their five in the riot, become disenfranchised from Emma’s teachings and are the ones who tip off Jean to Emma’s relationship with Scott. The second, in the conclusion as Quentin dies, he reveals hints of the future yet to come, foreshadowing Morrison’s final story arc and his swan song.

The Riot storyline is followed by yet another three issue, ill conceived rushed story arc entitled “Murder at the Mansion, ” (issues #139 – #141) where after the explosive results of Jean discovering Scott and Emma’s relationship, Emma is shot. This turn of events leads to the confusing visit of Bishop and Sage from the pages of X-Treme X-Men where they conduct an investigation of the shooting. Quite honestly, it was when these books were released where I started scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Emma’s murder is, of course, suspected to be tied to either Jean or Scott because of the love triangle. But, I think, that Bishop discovers a connection between the drug Kick and the murder. Somewhere it is thrown in there that Beak and Angel (the new Angel, a girl with insect-like wings) had sex and gave birth to little Beak/Angel babies. Angel is suspected of murdering Emma, but it’s deduced that Esme, of the Stepford Cuckoos was involved, apparently in dealing Kick to students. She flees from the mansion, claiming to be a part of the “new” world that is coming. The arc concludes with everyone at Xavier’s wondering where Scott is and the readers are left trying to figure out what really just happened.

And where is Scott? He’s getting drunk at the Hellfire Club (which apparently is now a strip club for mutants?) with Wolverine who’s about to leave with Fantomex to break into Weapon Plus and we spiral off into another confusing story arc for four issues, numbers #142 – #145. Now I don’t know how crucial it was for Fantomex to break up Weapon Plus and how much more of the “truth” about himself Logan can take, but after the arc, we’re supposedly left with all the pieces in place for the penultimate story arc, “Planet X” where Morrison’s master plan comes together. In Issue #146 we see Xorn take his mask off to reveal that he is none other than Magneto.

Now this was the “shocking” plot twist that will define Morrison’s run on New X-Men. By laying in wait as Xorn, Magneto has been augmenting his powers with Kick, allying himself with Esme of the Stepford Cuckoos and the kids in the “special” class. He orchestrates the scattering of the X-Men and makes his move by taking Xavier’s legs away (because when Xorn “healed” him, it was just Magneto manipulating nano-sentinels in his spine) and first destroys the school, and then moves down to Manhattan and destroys it, in direct response for the destruction of Genosha. He renames New York as New Genosha and starts weeding out the humans from the mutants in Manhattan. He then reveals that he plans to resurrect his plot to switch the magnetic poles, thus flip-flopping the Earth creating “Planet X, ” through issues #145 – #150.

Magneto’s actions, which only scattered the X-Men, allowed them to regroup, unleash the Phoenix within Jean and fight back against Magneto. Ultimately, Wolverine killed Magneto (cutting his head off with his claws) just after Magneto sent an electromagnetic pulse through Jean, giving her a lethal stroke, killing her. This manic story arc ends with Jean dying and a flash forward to 150 years in the future where a group of humans discover the “Phoenix Egg” on the moon.

For the final four issues of Morrison’s run, numbers #151 – #154, we’re treated to his attempt at “Days of Future Past”. It’s 150 years in the future, and the world in unrecognizable. Hank McCoy has become infected by “Sublime,” which I assume is the same “thing” motivating “Mr. Sublime” who created the U-Men back in the first year of Morrison’s run. Now, in the future, he is plotting to take over the world with his army of genetically engineered clones with X-Men powers. Along with the Beast, Wolverine, Cassandra Nova, the remaining Stepford Cuckoos (now Three-In-One) and Fantomex’s companion E. V.A. are all still alive and keep Xavier’s dream and the X-Men alive. They gear up for their final fight against the Beast who has re-captured the Phoenix Egg and hatches it to bring back Jean, with no memory of the past. Of course, the X-Men win. Beast is defeated, Sublime extracted from him, Wolverine finally dies, and Jean ends up in some weird place made up of hundred of other Phoenixes. She learns that the world became what it was because Cyclops succumbed to loneliness after her death, so she tweaks the past universe and nudges Cyclops into Emma’s arms, thus changing the possible future.

The most noticeable detail of this final story arc is the number of “What the hell? ”s it elicited. Cassandra Nova is alive and on the X-Men and further she was really Ernst, one of Xorn’s special kids? How is Wolverine, the Stepford Cuckoos and Beast still alive in 150 years? Just question after question that Morrison needed to explain.

Again, Morrison, in his final three story arcs, takes story ideas that have been done ad nauseam in the past pages of the various X-Men books, gives it his “modern” spin and presents it as if it was an original idea. Wolverine wanting to find out the truth about Weapon X? Someone hiding in a different identity? Magneto flipping the magnetic poles? Jean becoming Phoenix again and eventually dying… again? A bleak future scenario? These are all themes we’ve seen time and time again. It feels as if the only thing Morrison gave us was the same stories we’ve read for 20+ years, but hid them in convoluted plot twists and inexplicable events. The fact that, as the series progressed, there was a four to five paragraph recap at the beginning of the issue seems to show that even the editors, much less Morrison, had trouble keeping up.

And so, after 41 issues Morrison definitely left his mark on the X-Men. Will it be remembered as one of the seminal periods of these characters’ history? I don’t really know. As of right now, my gut feeling is that it won’t be. Or at least when compared to his run on JLA, it will always fall short. In comics these days it’s so cliché to say someone didn’t live up to his or her potential, but I really believe this is the case with Morrison and New X-Men. In looking back, Morrison really started out on the right foot. He shook things up, made changes and then started weaving plots. But for whatever reason, he fell back on the established “X-Men type” stories and after the “point of departure” rushed through them. I could forgive the lack of originality if the stories were paced a bit slower and seemed more thought out. Moreover, had he taken his few original ideas and cultivated them, I think we would be talking about this run as of the greats.

Grant Morrison has developed himself as a Rock Star creator and has the resume to prove it. Did the three years of stories on New X-Men help to further establish that? I would have thought no, until I came across this.

First thing I thought of was the old “Clapton is God” graffiti in England back in the 1960s. So maybe Morrison has continued to be elevated as the rock-star comic writer. But for this comic book reader, and X-Men fan, this was just a total, and yet another disappointment to the characters I love.