REEDING INTO THINGS #28: NEW X-MEN REVISITED

[Joel Phillips]

<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/columns/ritlogo.jpg" align=left width=115 height=100 border=0 alt="Reeding Into Things">By Joel Phillips

New X-Men Revisited


I promised some time ago to revisit the topic of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run once it had concluded. In the time since its conclusion, however, I switched gears as both a columnist and a consumer, abandoning the X-Men and Marvel’s other similarly stalled franchises in favor of more fertile creative ground elsewhere. Still, I am a man of my word. So here, as promised, is my look back at New X-Men.

For the most part I was deeply disappointed in Grant Morrison’s New X-Men. If I weigh the pros and cons of the run in my head, the bad far outweighs the good. Going into Morrison’s run I was ready for the promised “newness”, for the swift kick in the ass that Marvel had promised to give the entire X-line. Sadly Morrison, nor anyone else involved in the 2001 revamp, ever truly delivered on that promise. In fact I think that this is directly responsible for my abandoning the franchise: after having seen what Marvel considers “new”, any hope I had for true change in the future was promptly dashed.

All of that having been said, I’ve got what many may consider a controversial opinion of Morrison’s run; particularly when taken in tandem with the above statements: Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run was the creative high-water mark for the X-Men franchise post-Claremont’s original run.

I don’t consider the two positions to be contradictory at all. I can’t speak for the other fans who disliked Morrison’s run, but I think I was in the minority in my reason for disliking it. Specifically, I wanted MORE newness, MORE difference then we got. My frustration stemmed from a writer with obvious talent and obvious new ideas delivering bland, repetitive, standard X-stories. I couldn’t care less about leather costumes or what animal Beast looks like. Those things are superficial, they are the appearance of change. People caring about them one way or another is precisely how Marvel gets away with not truly changing anything in any meaningful way.

Still Morrison did something that nobody else really had done with the X-Men since 1991: he tried. Now I’m certain that much of the reason he was able to try and others were not has more to do with editorial forces then with the talent of the writers. Perhaps my kudos should be shared between Morrison, Joe Quesada and Bill Jemas. But the fact remains that those superficial changes that I insulted, and those underdeveloped new ideas that I so badly wanted to see more of, are the closest thing to newness we’ve seen out of the X-Men for a decade.

If X-fans want to know where the X-Men got stuck, I’ll give you the issue numbers. It was Uncanny X-Men #281-288 and X-Men (Vol. 2) #4-11. These were the issues between Claremont’s departure from the title and the new regular writers, Scott Lobdell and Fabian Nicieza, coming onboard. The reason this marks where the X-Men got stuck has nothing to do with the quality of the stories, it has to do with the content. In these sixteen issues you can see the X-Men creating something which, until now, the franchise had never really had before (or at least, hadn’t had since Claremont took over): a status quo. John Byrne, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio and friends were laying out the way the X-Men “are supposed to be”, and what that was going to mean. From that point on, writers were operating within a framework. Marvel now had an idea of what they wanted the X-Men to be, so that’s what the writers wrote to. And even when their stories were competent or halfway decent, they were almost never great. Why? Because you don’t create a great story by fitting creativity to editorial restraints. The comic book industry has proven this over and over again.

Lobdell and Nicieza (and later Seagle, Kelly and Davis) would struggle against the editorial straps for years, occasionally flirting with greatness but never truly able to bring it to fruition. Claremont would return to revamp the franchise… but not too much, or else the sacred seal of what the X-Men “are supposed to be” might be damaged. Not surprisingly, Revolution was considered by most to be a lukewarm effort at best. We can’t blame the writers exclusively, because that would deny the other (some would say more powerful) forces at work. By now the X-Men had to tell specific kinds of stories, with a specific cast, and a specific mood and style. Take a look: there’s virtually no difference in the kinds of stories Lobdell was telling to those Seagle would tell or Davis would tell after that.

Enter Grant Morrison and Joe Casey. Let me begin by giving a world of credit to Joe Quesada for recognizing that something needed to be done… a fact that his predecessors seemed totally clueless to. Quesada brought Morrison and Casey in for one specific purpose: to write X-Men stories that weren’t like the X-Men stories we’d been reading for the last ten years.

But there were still constraints. Wolverine still needed to be in both titles. There was a list of characters that all needed to be included. And whether dictated by editorial or not, they still needed to cough up their own variations on the old favorite X-topics.

But they did succeed in telling stories that looked, sounded and felt different from the previous status quo. The leather costumes were a ridiculous gimmick, but at least it was an attempt at something different. Even if Morrison did just write his own Phoenix story, his own Magneto story, his own Sentinel story, they at least looked and felt different. Upon closer examination they were, for the most part, recycled material, hence my disappointment. But the important thing here is that Morrison, Casey and Quesada tried, even superficially, to bust the X-Men out of their rut.

All of which makes the steady return to form all the more troubling. Claremont’s X-Treme X-Men stayed in the rut, largely because that’s where Marvel wanted it. The “old school” approach, as it were. When Casey left and was replaced by Chuck Austen, Marvel slowly began pushing the franchise back where it had come from. People ask me how I can be so negative about Reload, judging it without seeing it. But I have seen it. Reload is not a sudden return to the rut of ‘90s. It is the final part of what has been a steady push back in that direction since Casey’s departure. And that steady push, which also happened on Quesada’s watch, is why all the credit he got for the revamp is taken away from him again. Because he showed that he knew better, and he did it anyway. He showed that a different approach, even a superficially different approach, can sell well... and we went back to the same old dreck anyway.

Did I enjoy Morrison’s run? No. But I have begun to reconsider why. Recently, on a whim, I picked up Seaguy #1, the start of a Vertigo mini-series by Morrison. It was delightful. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and I have every intention of following it to its conclusion. I may strongly consider picking up other works by Morrison in the future. How do I reconcile that with my displeasure over Morrison’s New X-Men run? Morrison’s changes, his difference, was all an illusion. It was a series of new paintjobs being given to old conventions and, sometimes, to specific stories already told. Having seen where the X-Men was headed in the other X-titles, and where it is now, I realize that that’s what Marvel hired him for: to make the old look new again, not to truly change things. They needed to be able to wave the wand once he left and get everything “back to normal” again. And that stinks. Like or dislike his New X-Men run, Morrison is far too talented a writer to be squandered like that. It makes me wonder what we could have gotten if Marvel had really, truly wanted him to change things. And it makes me sad that we will never, ever see it.

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Joel Phillips can’t seem to let sleeping dogs lie.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and are not reflective of ComiX-Fan or its other staff in general.

[erikthered]

I think that Marvel is wary of change and I don't think it's because they don't want to change, it's because the fans don't want it. We say we want change but if things are changed too much fans abandoned the book. For example, the Spiderman clone saga in the 90's, they decided to do something radical, make the clone switch with the real Spiderman. Fandom didn't go for that, they stopped buying the books. I personally thought that some of the best Spiderman storylines were churned out when Ben Reilly became Spiderman but of course that's my opinion. I don't believe that you can sit down and point a finger at marvel, they basically for better or worse like DC, Image, Chaos, and all the other comic book companies, they give the fans what they want. Every once and awhile they tweek the characters but not too much to where they drive their fanbase away. :D

[DarkCrisis]

Iliked Morrison's run upuntil Xorn was revealed to be Magneto. Not the actual unvieling but everything that took place after it was pure garbage.

[wondercharlie]

I am totally open to your point of view. I read and "listened". I have to metabolize it and then re-asses my opinion. But my first instinct is to say " If you have not liked X-franchise for 13 years,quit buying into the hype".
Negative drivel is not becoming. X-men wethe Joey Casey, Alan Davis or whoeversuch is writing it SELLS and gets people into comics because it's an ideal. If the stories , as you point out, are recycled: It's still "new" to new readers. I know people who are excited about such things as sentinels, etc... because they don't have older material as reference.
Yes I am quasi-ranting because this platform that is given so people can write editorials such as the one above,turns off fans like me.
This is my first post ever. I encounter jaded comic fans on my weekly trip to the comic stores and I'm like "whatever".
"! But did you enjoy it?! Did it take you somewhere ELSE beside the mundane existense that is now?" (Like me)...
SO ...I spoke my piece and I feel better..
.....
I bought "Seaguy" out of loyalty to Grant Morrison..
I just didn't "get it".... I tried to explain it to my comic friend and he looked at me like..duh...! Bearded ladies, Cola gooeys and Talking tunas, and Mickey Eye's..
At least I remembered most of it....
Thanks for the "rant-time"
Charlie

[James Groves]

I agree completely with Joels comments here. Its all true.
It gave the illusion of change, despite the fact i did like his run up until Xorn was revealed to be Magneto.

When i really look into it, it was just all an illusion and this is a shame, especially now Claremonts on board to deliver even more tiresome stuff.

Grants a cracking writer - SeaGuy was excellent, its just a pity he wasnt allowed to truly make New X-men, new.

This is an excellent thread Joel, i really enjoyed your comments and it made me look into New X-men for what it truly was.

Even though it was nice to get at least something mildly different and an attempt at somethin new.

[gatorgav]

I friggin love Morrison and although I enjoyed his run on NXM I agree it definitely wasn't all that it could have been. I found it interesting that in Mitch's interview Grant admitted, to some degree, of being consumed by the X-Machine (checking his sales numbers, getting caught up in chats etc...). Continuity, Retcon, Dead is Dead, Ultimization, Reload, Reimagine, Reinvigorate, Costume Change, Nu vs. Traditionalist, all catch phrases we throw around for somthing we either like or don't like. Its all a pendulum that swings back and forth but never really pushes forward, like you said he was hired to make the old look new again. As long as there are new X-Readers flocking to the title there will always be X-Men for the new generation and with the close of the big revamp it seems we are at the beginning of a new era. X-Men repainted for yet, another new group of readers and the pendulum has swung back to bring those who weren't into the revamp back by trying to capitalize on its past. Comics are an interesting medium when you think about it. We all know how the story began, we all know how it ends. Just what is it we are reading? What is it we want to read? I think that if you are a fan of any of the major franchises in comics today you have to look at it like one would look at the salad bar down at the Green Dragon: Take what you like and leave the rest. The only difference is that with the advent of internet chatrooms, fanzines, and fansites we all have a voice (that we believe matters) and we all argue about it in a mass media kind of way and scarier still is the fact that creators, editors, and marketeers are all reading this stuff. Scary or not I guess depending on your POV ;) Anyway sorry to spill my drival here but I think that I have just come to peace with myself and my love of comics... Next Wednesday looks sweet!

By the way Joel what titles round out your reading list nowadays? (just curious ;) )

[Sage4ever]

I liked New X-men. But at times it seemed that Morisson had really good stories to tell but was shoe-horning the X-men into them - using them as a vehicle rather as the drive for stories. I think I favour the beginning of his run rather than the end, but either way I was glad he came on board and did something different with the X-men.

[John Post]

Right on the money. Most of Morrison's stories put supporting characters in the forefront and kept the X-men in the background. Go back and see...
Riot at the Xaviers, Murder at the Mansion, the Magneto story, the last arc all of them never had the X-men in the forefront. Reload sucks because there
are too many X teams with Wolverine on each team. Whedon is not the answer, he has the most boring team of all. The truth is it's not about making
good books it's about selling a lot of books.

With that in mind, there should be ten X-teams each with Wolverine on it.:?

[Anthony Lucynski]

I have to admit, I like New X-Men more for the potential then the execution. Same reason I loved Joe Kelly and Steven Seagle on the books. When you glimpse the genius behind an idea, and then realize that it's not going to come to light, it just irks me.

This to is why I dropped the X-books. I hope one day I can come back.

Some of Morrison's stuff, though, did come off as excellent in my book, even if it was recycled. I have such a fond place in my heart for E is for Extinction.

Anthony L

[Alex Guillen]

Well I respect you point of view, Joel and although you bring up are good but overall I enjoyed Morisson's run so much as any and I liked what he did witht he X-Men becoming a school.
That was the main point that he wanted to establish as well as the mutant baby boom that happened and that led into humanity's last days.

Also there was Cassie Nova, at first she appeared and really did a brutal thing: she activated some wild sentinels and killed 16 million genoshans (we also tought Magneto was down but more on that later) and she then took over Xavier's body, revealed him as mutant as well as the school and led the Shi'ar Empire into an almost extinction as well as the lunacy of Lilandra.
Overall everything was going well into Magneto was revealed to be Xorn and it led into a good arc but it was too much of a Magneto opus and was off character to the character's standards but we always need something new to add another layer to each character.
And then there was "here comes tomorrow", a real homage to Claremont and opened up new doors for the x-men's future.

[Novaya Havoc]

The death of Darkstar killed any hope for me liking this run. "New" means new characters. New means new bold takes. Phoenix revisited, diamond skin, seedy love triangles, and shooting an ex-Soviet elite soldier in the face weren't what I had in mind.

[Marcina Riley]

I guess I kind of feel strongly about this. I'm one of those who didn't like Morrison's Run, just because I didn't like it. I read the X-men for that very framework, you protest. Change is good on occassion and breaks it up, but I don't think the X-men really need to be that different. There are other books out there that aren't X-men in any way, shape, or form. I don't understand why people need the X-men to change. It's like expecting the Looney Toons to suddenly have a plot. Bad metaphor, but concept still applies. The X-men feels a certain void at a certain time. If you grow out of them, that's fine, but don't expect them to change because you have. The X-men sell well. Somewhere they still strike a cord with people, and it's those people with whom Marvel is trying to reach. I have no doubt that if they did try to make the book that people keep complaining they want, it wouldn't sell or at least not to that crowd. The X-men are in some respects the comic equivalant to the movie "Action No Brainer". They sometimes reach higher levels with truly beautiful stories, but their purpose is primarily escapism.

[LoganBane]

No wonder big companies stick to a certian format, because fans are selfish babies. I'm included.
So what if the stories are just rehashed old tales? Ultimate X-Men was just old stories rehashed, and it was a top selling book for how long?
After reading X-Titles for a very long time you tend just to take the twists the new writer puts on an old idea and enjoy it for what it's worth.
I'm not saying that I like everything that's been done, but I still understand that this is a product, they sell it to make money, and sadly the money they're trying to make isn't from long time readers.
Everyone is expecting someone to come around and rival what Claremont did, you can't. He set the tone, the standard for these books. I used to think we'd get a writer that would come on and blow us away with another 16 years worth of good stories that would redefine the X-Industry, it never happens. Editorial and the writers are to blame if you ask me.
No one wants to stick around. Claremont is the only one who has stood by his stories and came back twice to tell more. Are they as ground breaking? Maybe not but, times have changed so, the stories must change too.
But look how long current writers stick around. Morrison had a long run, but if you look back it was all one story with little ones tied in, that's what makes me think he was a great writer. He new the story he wanted to tell, filled in the middle and gave us one great big package.
Other writers tell just the individual stories with no conclution.
But I digress...
You know why Austen is still around even though most people don't care for his work? Because he's willing to tell his stories and stick around long enough that they can get a good run from him.
I too place the blame on fickle fans who don't love these characters. I have been reading about these fictional characters that they almost feel real, and I want to see what my mutant friends are up too. I love these characters and the stories. Good or bad...that's the way it is.
I refuse to jump on the "I hate this and that" train...it takes too much effort that supposed to be something I enjoy doing.

[dizfactor]

Originally posted by Joel Phillips
Even if Morrison did just write his own Phoenix story, his own Magneto story, his own Sentinel story, they at least looked and felt different. Upon closer examination they were, for the most part, recycled material, hence my disappointment.

i don't think that's either fair, or true. GM's entire run was, to a large extent, revisiting and re-examining existing elements of the X-universe. however, he used X-continuity like hip-hop DJ's use old jazz and funk records: as material for sampling. DJ Shadow's Endtroducing... is constructed entirely of samples of other records; however, it is, itself, an entirely new, breathtakingly creative, piece of music. similarly, GM used bits and pieces of what had come before and reworked them into something altogether new.

moreover, to go up one or two meta-levels here, his entire run was an examination and sharp, detailed criticism of the ways in which X-continuity is killing the franchise, and (and this is, arguably, the most brilliant part) addresses that criticism by weaving it into what GM sees as the core struggle of the X-Men franchise: the old vs the new.

there are three key plot strands and conflicts that deal with this that run through the whole work: Magneto vs. Xorn, Jean/Scott vs. Scott/Emma, and Sublime vs mutantkind.

in the first, Xorn was the standard bearer for all that was "new" about NXM, a fresh character with seemingly limitless potential, and he came on the stage right after Magneto left it, in essence symbolizing a new beginning for the entire franchise now that the tired old Magneto vs Xavier conflict had finally (we thought) been left dead and buried on Genosha. when Xorn's helmet comes off, it's not just that Magneto has come back, it's that he's destroyed all this new potential in a single stroke. he's dragged the whole franchise back with him out of the new era and back into the old, the era where Magneto always comes back, where the same fight never ends. the X-Men in Planet X (one of the best X-Men arcs in history) aren't just fighting to stop Mags from flipping the poles, they're fighting to escape the endless revolving door prison they (and the franchise) had been trapped in for decades. they're not just fighting Magneto, they're fighting everything that says that the X-Men can never be anything more than Xavier vs. Magneto.

it's the same thing with Jean and Scott. the franchise was trapped in the creative dead-end of the Jean-Scott relationship since she was brought back from her death on the Moon. it's a case where the reality inside the storyline mirrors the reality outside the storyline: the fact that Scott can't get over Jean destroys the X-Men's future in HCT, but the fact that Marvel and a large section of the writers and fans can't let the Jean/Scott relationship go was destroying the future of the X-Men as a creative franchise as well.

everything, of course, comes to a head in HCT with the battle against Sublime. Sublime is all that resists change, fighting desperately to keep its world from evolving out of it by dragging it again and again into the muck of pointless conflict, the "meaningless shadowplay," as he calls it. that pretty much sums up all of NXM: the X-Men need to move on, as a group of characters and as a franchise, but something won't let them, something is hanging on and would rather see everything run into the ground, into lifelessness and sterility, rather than face real, lasting change. Sublime is everything the X-Men, and mutantkind in general, and the teenagers for whom the X-Men were intended to be heros, were born to fight: they are change, they are the future, they're the exuberant adolescents chafing at the restrictions of their parents' world and ready to test their wings. Sublime is simply the sum total of everything that holds them back.

in the end, it's a hopeful story from the most optimistic comics writer in the game today. the Xavier/Magneto conflict is finally laid to rest as Magneto is exposed as the fossil he has become, as we all move on from Scott and Jean, and as Sublime is defeated. knowing how GM looks at comics and magic and such, one can read the whole thing as an exorcism, dragging everything old and stale out into the light of day so they can get proper closure. Sublime is the stagnancy of the X-Men franchise, called up and cast out so the decks can be cleared for the future. it's not all new elements, you're right, but all the old crap had to be cleaned out so that new things could have room to prosper.

of course, judging by the Reload titles, the exorcism doesn't seem to have gone so well...

[Justice Daye]

I find it shocking that I myself have said all of this before, Joel. "It was condensed x-history", I've said. "It's Grant Morrison sings the song of Chris Claremont," I've said. I don't particularly like Grant's x-writing, but I could appreciate and respect it if it was actually new (which even further hurts the stories that it's trumpeted as new because many can't see past any superficialities of the story). IMHO, many of the ideas were tossed by the wayside as soon as the novelty or shock value wore off, making the stories even less new because what newness they did possess, was thrown away and went undeveloped. I remember when people spoke about NXM using words like revolutionary and awe-inspiring when in factIt did try harder than any to come before (or at least was allowed to try somewhat), but that's not saying much considering what happened during his run, the same things that happened many other times. As I said before, GM brings a certain style, voice, and tone to his stories. I think that's what people liked about his because that was the only real and whole change made.And I believe, and some people won't like this, that some who enjoyed his run for its newness and potential, weren't really looking for change in the x-men, but superficial black leather to make the x-men seemingly contemporary and postmodern, much like rebelling against nothing. The stories themselves either, at various times, were vague (not ambiguous, which I don't mind) or cliched. This is the exact reason why I didn't enjoy his run (besides the fact that every character was either depressed or stoic). I went into his run with trepidation (as I do with all things new), but I expected actual new material. I don't mind having a classic book and a "new" book as I have many tastes in reading material. However, we didn't get that we get something seemingly new and something seemingly old when they were both playing off the same ideas and themes. It was and is ridiculous. Besides which, I think (though there is no real proof) that GM's entire run was x-commentary/deconstructionism (which is okay if you like that sort of thing, though I don't exactly think that he achieved that all that well) and not an actual, genuine attempt to write real and new x-stories. GM had a huge blank slate and could've easily rebuilt the x-men from the ground up, but instead he decided to show us that the x-men had been stagnate for years and never got around to doing anything lasting about it. Or it could be construed as not deconstructionism since he provided a way to return to everything that he supposedly deconstructed. Besides even that, he showed us all things that we already knew were with the x-men. He simply put them in a story, made fun of them, and told us they were wrong, instead of writing a great, compelling story showcasing what the x-men could be and not what they shouldn't be. To quote a certain someone out there:
Would you rather read a classic superhero story and at least know it's supposed to be ridiculous, than read another deconstructionist take on why superheroes are ridiculous. As if we didn't know that already.

I do take issue though with you saying the reload itself is not new when it's only superficial changes that have been made. So ar we've had no retold, rehashed stories or generally used x-ideas. In Astonishing, the x-men realize that they need to be PR darlings to change public opinion and gain acceptance. That is something even GM didn't do (they felt the need to address the media many times in their history, but never pander to them). They did the "we'll show them by example," but not to any deinite and lasting degree. Uncanny is working the government, in attempting that whole "mutant avengers thing" as well as trying to gain some acceptance through those means. Now, while this could easily turn into "same old, same old," I'd say you at least keep up with the books through these boards (since given your uncertainty, buying them wouldn't exactly be rewarding), especially given the supposedly each book is in an intial, transitional state and the first arcs will change them from their current states. I could be completely off-base, but you should, as they say, "keep your ear to the ground" any x-material that you could potentially enjoy. I'd recommend District X if you're looking for something in a different in a different vein. Besides all o this Joel, you really can't know what the content of the book is based on what it appears to be, especially given that you warn against such practices in this article. You didn't judge Seaguy based on Grant's NXM work, so why do so for anything else?

[Zeb Aslam]

Whoa! Interesting thoughts Joel. I tend to disagree to a certain point...For me, Grant Morrison's X-men was the point which brought me back into X-books. I had left around the horrible 'Twelve' storyline, and did not expect to return. Morrison is one of those few creators whose work, regardless of subject matter, is pure gold for me. And I loved the New X-men, not for the New, but for the fact that this was THE X-men. These stories showcased the X-men at their roots, with humanity dying out, and the mutants taking ascendance. I agree that in some respects this was nothing more than a rehash...Morrison used the template set by Claremont, and ran with it. But Morrison managed to use the template to create a whole new template. And that's what is truly important. With Reload, I agree...again, to a point. It is nothing more than a rebuild, but at the same time, it's what sells. X-men sells because, more than anything, it's comfortable, regardless of how many times you leave, or come back, it's like coming home again, with all the good and bad that comes with it. If you don't like it...don't read it. Simple. Like you yourself have done by moving on to independent titles, other people should do the same. I myself follow a wide variety of titles, with only about 3 X-books on my pull-list. That's 3 out of a possible 40 each month. Doesn't seem like a lot does it? It's all personal taste...regardless of how you look at things, each comic cannot cater to everyone's needs. The requirements for change you want, will no doubt turn off the vast reading majority of X-readers. It's all about sales, and if this gets sales, then I say more power to X-men. Maybe we're just not ready for change, however much we may clamor for it.

[jhferry]

I do hear what your saying here but I will argue some points. I dont think the Xmen needed to be changed so much as the stories were getting bad. The Davis run was terrible, the Twelve story should have been great.

Besides, does superman have to change? or Batman? No, they just need good stories and good art. you cant keep flinging artisits at your marquee books and expect people to stay on.

Morrison took the foundation of the Xmen and just made it stupid. Marvel also killed every major villain in like a 3 month span to pave the way for all the "change"

He changed the Xmen by irritating its fan base. Bottom line is we like the Xmen history and do not like continuity being tossed out the window.

[dopplegager]

I did not particulalry care for gm's run but who cares if he told his own sentinel story or magneto story or phonix story. These are all parts of the x-men. Magneto is their main villian so he is going to show up in magneto story's. His story's had a lot of original material using things that already existed in the x-world i.e. senitals, mags, and phonix. If the writers were allowed to do more with the charactects and the stories that they wanted to do the we would have more original stories. I just want to see what is happening to the characters that I have grown up with. I love to get an x-book and excape to their world.

[sparkboon]

I have to say that Morrison's run was different and intially I really didn't like it but after re-reading his run when I was sorting out my comics, I realized that somewhere along the line that I really began to dig what he was doing.

So, he didn't revolutionize the X-men. Most of the X-men remained the same. Wolverine is still Wolverine. Cyclops is still brooding. Yadda Yadda Yadda. The powers that be will never let them change the X-men. That is there bread and butter. They are only interested in keeping us fan buying there comics.

But I am thankful someone realized that something had to be done about the X-men titles. As much as I love them, they really needed a jump start, and enter Morrison. I think we should forget about the characters. They aren't going to really change. But what he did change was the landscape that the X-men lived in. X-men are outed. Mutant communities popping up. The masacre of Genosha. The school reopens, and how can you forget Emma Frost. He made the world the X-men live in interesting again.

On a side note, I am hoping that this Reload can deliever on what he started. I think it is way to early for me to say whether it has done its job but so far, it looks good to me. Some X-men are now 'cops' (I wonder if they are pulling government paychecks?) and I haven't quite figured out the other issues with only 1 issue so I will hold my tongue.

Regardless I say that Morrison did have an impact. We aren't going to get the same stories from the 90's. We can't for the most part. To much of the world around the X-men has changed, and hopefully the editors realize that the people want something new and interesting.

[Molotov]

I would have found New X-Men much easier to read and much more enjoyable to read had the art been...consistent, and just plain better. I was fairly dissatisfied with all the art, up until Here Comes Tomorrow.

[bravelybravesirrobin]

To say that Morrisson using old x-men story-telling conventions and then claim that the product isn't "new" or innovative because of it is somewhat missing the point and I think dizfactor communicated it best (totally agree with every point you made man)

What he did is set a pave-ment or base for all future x-men stories (i.e. reload) in that he finished off remvoed and placed a coda on what the x-men "were" during the 90's

for example

X-men vs Magneto..... finsihed over done with , every aspect of this conflict has now been explored and Morrisson placed a coda on it by killing mags and having both sets fo chaarcters confront the cycle of conflcit they've been placed in and come to the conclusion that recently it hasn't improved. That magneto as a character has reached the point where he can no longer develop or do anything and instead he lives on as asymbol for the opposition to the xavier ideal.

Scott and Jean.... a consistent sub-plot throughout the 90's, 80's, 70', 60's.... Claremont already ended it in the typical Shakespearean tragedy form Claremont uses for all his best stories. But Morrisson again ended it, again placing the chocie upon jean but she does it this time not on a grand sense of self sacrifice but out of an expression of the love she feels for Scott she ends it to make him happy. there Its over writers now are FORCED to come up with new ideas and can't rehash the Scott/jean story.... Morrisson laid a groundwork here for a new relationship (Scott Emma) and thus genuine change.

it repeats with every major X-men semantic convention, if it hasn;t been completely ended it has changed dramatically. genosha, sentinels, weapon X, Xavier struggling with leadership done done and done.

and in addition to this there are some genuine brand new innovations built between Morrisson and Casey

X-corp and by extension the X.S.E. the X-men as government polic force and an ACTUAL polic force rather than these pesudo government resposne teams we normally get in comics.

Mutants as political and media manipulators.... prior to the Morrisson run I wrote fan-fic about xavier becoming a politician and an idea for a x-men story motivated poltically not through fisticuffs. With the X-corps ideas we have basis to build this in the marvel universe now.

Mutants as COOL... as admired peopel for the young generation to look up to and emulate and by exension a true mutant culture. Instead of 1 in every 1 million people having a mutant power the world in N=W X-M=N has real mutant towns, cultures, music, fashions. we now see them as a literal ethnicity..... a story-telling idea which has already led to district x and muties.

the change in the way the schhol works from a super-hero training ground to a real school, with real students and actual classes and not just trainee x-men.... this of course is taken from the film but it's a richer betetr story-telling universe.

Kick

all elements which I garuntee will be explored in astonishing, uncanny, adjectiveless, madroX and district X.





also i don't understand and never will understand the comments from posters that morrisson through out x-continuity. I've read every issue of ucanny x-men every written (okay that's a little exaggerration i gave up a little bit into Claremont's second run) and most of x-men as well and I never saw any characterisation that didn't seem like a geuine evolution of the characters nor did anything contradict x-continuity (except the obvious gaffs of unus suddenly getting healthier and sebastian shaw's new psychic powers.)





Additionally i'd like to add that Morrisson tells a good yarn, he's a skileld writer who's grasp of the basic tools of the craft exceeds most writers working today and is surpassed only by true greats like miller and moore.

[DenmonX]

I recently dropped all the X-Titles as well, for probably the opposite reason.

To me, Grant Morrison's take on the X-Men was great. I've been reading since the death of Phoenix, and those old Claremont stories were incredible. I even stuck it out through the 90's and beyond...

But GM came on the book and suddenly I couldn't WAIT for the next issue, the next little hint, the next reveal, etc. Sure it's all been done before in ONE context, but the way it was done was surprising and interesting. The character development, in often surprising ways, brought the X-Men out of their slump. To me, I didn't care if we'd seen Sentinels before, or that Phonex had been done, this all felt fresh and new due to the characterization.

And now, we're back to Market-Focused Marvel. No thanks, we did this in the 90s and it almost killed my love of comics completely. Wolverine, if anything, needs to leave the X-Men completely for a nice long time... and I'm a fan, but too much is too much... Multiple X-Books, each one seeming 'important' to buy, just cuts into my budget too much, and I find myself missing other great books.

There was no need for another 'Reload' event. None. This is far worse than the Holo-Foil Covers of the 90's because this is messing with the continuity of the characters.

I'm still a huge Marvel fan, but... Goodbye X-Men.

[Zephyranthes]

Originally posted by dizfactor




Thank you for your post. I agree wholeheartedly with you. Really, that was one of the best and most thoughtful posts I've read on these boards.

[Dragon]

i personally never liked Morrison's run and probly never will. I tried but can't i didn't like his approch or even his charaters. He has talent i'll give him that but personally not when it comes to the X-men

[nebulaman]

I did like Joe Casey's run on XMen. I would think they would get him back in the future. I did like some of Alan Davis's writing. The fact that he was writting both books as well as pencilling one of them also, gets kudus. The Shattering storyline had me on my feet. Sure, it had a typical ending, but for just a second I really diid think the XMen where is chaos.

Oh Well

[PolarisLover]

What an interesting article. I hadn't thought of things being recycled from the past, but it's true. I do believe there are no "new" stories to be told, but the idea of rehashing certain "x" ideas like sentinels and Phoenix make me agree with your article.

[Ann Nichols]

Originally posted by bravelybravesirrobin
That magneto as a character has reached the point where he can no longer develop or do anything and instead he lives on as asymbol for the opposition to the xavier ideal.



No, now we can see Magneto trying to work in cooperation with someone who is pretty much his equal in power and intelligence & the same for Xavier. I look forward to that story.


In a little over two weeks it'll be a year since I returned to the X-Men after a 23 year absence. I liked NXM (up until #147). I liked parts of UXM under Austen. I've been reading about some storylines I missed (and I'm not sorry to have missed them). Didn't really have anyone to discuss the X-Men with until not quite 3 months ago when I found this site. Didn't know the hype, didn't know a lot of things fans were saying unless I read them at X-Axis. Reload hasn't turned out to be as bad as I feared from what I read at this board. This old-new reader isn't giving up.

[Patrick James]

You, sir, are a pessimist.:p

[Eric Filemyr]

I read your column and understand what you're saying, but I don't really know what you're backing it up with. There was change. There were new characters, and the likes of Ernst, Beak, and Angel weren't the super-model version of mutants we're used to. Mutant Town, the idea of a mutant ghetto like other ethnic neighborhoods, was introduced. The institute was really turned into a school, not just with a handful fo students, but with hundreds, all with their own stories. Along with this, the X-Men themselves became teachers; Wolverine taught teenagers! Kick followed in the tradition of applying the real world to mutants, acting as a mutant drug. The Weapon X program was expanded to Weapon Plus, of which Captain America was a part. Even though she will likely come back, he did kill Jean, an original X-Man, and he can't be blamed for when future writers resurrect her. He really evolved Emma Frost and even put her with Cyclops, half of one of comicdom's most sacred couples. All of this is just off the top ! of my head And all of these changes occured while dealing with one of the most notoriously editorially-supervised and controlled franchises in the industry.
My question is if you discard all the changes that Morrison made and I listed, what changes do you think should have occurred? If he did anything more drastic, would it still be called the X-Men? It sounds like you would rather have Morrison start a new property than revamp an old one. Comparing him to Claremont is absurd as well, because what changes did Claremont make that Morrison didn't outdo? I was thinking that maybe you meant Claremont discarding the old roster for a new one in Giant-Size X-Men, but that wasn't even Claremont. I'm not saying Claremont didn't write the best X-Men stories, but why do you consider him any more revolutionary than Morrison? What was so ground-breaking about Claremont's X-Men that Morrison's is called redundant?

[A.W. Pemberton]

Originally posted by dizfactor


of course, judging by the Reload titles, the exorcism doesn't seem to have gone so well...

I agree with everything you said, dizfactor. To me, Morrison's NXM was never supposed to be a brand new thing. It was supposed to be like a placenta for a yet-to-be-born "New" X-men. Morrison's run was only there to help them evolve or grow out of what had gone on in the past. Unfortunately, it seems to have been a miscarriage.

Grant's a humanist, and i think he over-estimated people's willingness to change this time. Maybe he thought he'd done enough, but alas he left the opportunity for reversion, and thats what we got.

Oh well. Gives me more money to spend elsewhere.

[x-cess]

i disagree with you, joel. morrison didn't change everything, but he changed quite a lot. for the first time ever, the x-men really did something for mutantkind by turning the institute into a real school, dropping their secret identities, becoming media-friendly and founding x-corporation. the "riot at xaviers" arc was a story that had never been told before. and the tone, the flavor, the style of his storytelling was new and exciting.

[xstormfan]

The x-men r the x-men because of who they r and what they stand 4 and while change is certainly the spice of life too much change is not always a good thing. Everyone loves the x-men because the characters and concepts that define the book appeal and relate to us, surely we want a certain amount of change which is customary in life ,but if the book changd 2 much it would'nt b the x-men any more it would be another book. if storm became a native american centaur from Ohio, that would be really different.........but it wouldn't be storm. This is why i enjoyed Morrison's run because it shook up the status quo it evolved the relationships of the charactes which was great but at its core it was still about the x-men, and thats why i buy the book, to read about the x-men not someone else.

[<sage>]

I think that Morrison's work on X-men was invigorating, the Revolution was horrible part of history, he helped in bringing the X-men back to being enjoyable.

While many people hated Xorn being Magneto. I thought it was great not only was i spaced out when his identity was revealed I alos found hwo he portrayed him as useless over dramatic and egotistical to put it in the words of Jean Grey the greatest X-woman: "You should have been an actor Magneto"

While I will always want Jean and Scott together, I will live with Emma and Scott, they do bring a great new era, when Jean returns maybe she shouldnt up with Scott straight away.

I also find it strange that people complain about Scott and Jean but not Reed and Sue?

Well im getting off topic. The art e.g. Leon, Kordey and the guy that did Riot at Xaviers prelude sucked!!! Ethan van Sciver was the best one!

Morrison started change and has inspired more, he said himself Emma and Scott can lead the X-men into a new era of newness!

[Cory Wiegel]

I wouldn't say that Morrison just TOTALLY rehashed the X-Men (though his use of the Shi'ar, Magneto, the Sentinels, and so on were indeed his prime focuses). For examples; Cassandra Nova, all the new students he introduced, the reopening and restructuring of the school, the X-Men's new mission, Xorn (until his reveal), the mutant ability enhancing drug, Emma and Scott's relationship, Emma's role with the X-Men and her second mutation, the nanosentinels, X-Corps, Sublime and co., etc... He really did bring a lot more to the plate, even if he was somewhat confined by (perhaps having no choice but to?) basing himself around Magneto, the Sentinels, Phoenix, and the Shi'ar.

Could Morrison have totally redid the X-Men had Marvel not tied his hands? Who knows. But I think generally he had something pretty nice and solid going. Nothing spectacular, true, but the best we've seen in the X-Men for sometime, even if a few stories were rehashes.

[W. Molstad]

There were plenty of changes in Grant Morrison's run! There was a HUGE ideological change when people WANTED to be mutants, rather than wanted to KILL mutants.

Cassandra Nova, Xorn, some of the new students - all new and original ideas and characters. Not rehashes.

Fantomex and Weapon Plus - those ideas were completely new and will probably remain used in the future. Captain America is now changed - I loved those ideas..

You can't just say because a Magneto story has Magneto in it that it's unoriginal. Planet X was great to me - we got to see the truth about Magneto - it focused on his character more. This was the REAL Brotherhood. It did remind me of one thing - the original Brotherhood. But it was all more realistic. I loved the take on it.

"Here Comes Tomorrow" was NOT Days of the Future Past. It was a completely different story. Days of the Future Past was one of those stories that really pushed the "hated and feared" stuff... In Here Comes Tomorrow, mutants are ahead. yes, it's a future story, but that's a type of story. It's not unoriginal.

Beast's look wasn't his only change. His character, and in my opinion, many of the characters were better written and better defined.

So I really disagree... the "super-consistency" idea to me stayed on. The title was continually entertaining.

And I mean - Riot At Xavier's? The Fantomex storyline? The U-Men? Invasion? The way that those all turned out, you can't call them unoriginal. Murder At the Mansion was completely nuts...

The best issues of his run -

Silence - Psychic Rescue in progress
the Xorn solo issue
every issue in E is for Extinction
the second issue of Riot At Xavier's
the Wolverine and Cyclops getting drunk at the Hellfire Club issue
the last issue of the Assault on Weapon Plus arc
the last issue of Here Comes Tomorrow - what the heck?
any issue with a scott/emma psychic affair sort of thing

[Justice Daye]

These are all still very superficial changes guys. You have to consider which have to afect the x-men's future...unequivocally.
-Cassandra Nova wasn't new and in literature an evil twin never is. Besides, she appeared once and never again. She has the same poor motivation that plenty others have had. What makes her different; who and how she was written, but the basic, core of her character we've seen many times before.

-Outing Xavier? If you didn't know he was a mutant already and that that was a mutant school, you were an idiot. A substantial amount of people already knew about the school as that was stated in the books. And this doesn't change how the public feels about the x-men, it magnified it, giving us the ranting and raving humans like FoH which we've seen 10 times over before.

-Restructuring the school with the x-men as teachers was done in Gen X as was all of Emma current characterization.

-Fantomex and Weapon Plus were by definition derived from someone else's ideas. Weapon Plus came directly with Weapon X and all these random cool, tough guys with big guns.

-Here Comes Tomorrow is GM's Days of future past. A post apocalyptic future , no matter what made it post-apocalyptic or how, is still a post-apocalyptic future. Since this timeline essentially wiped itself out, it will have no further effect on the x-men and is therefore, superficial and lost. Jean did steal Scott free will so that he'd be with Emma. She sacriiced her love for her team...which she did on a certain moon once.

-All the new students he introduced had little to no effect on anything that occured and hasn't since then. Besides these students had nothing to do with the x-men. We're supposed to be discussing how he changed the x-men, not how he added characters we'll never see again (other than Beak) and that had little to no effect on the story.

-The mutant ability enhancing drug happened during the Revolution and Casey's run.

-Emma and Scott's relationship can't be judged until there's been some prgression of it and we see how it ends. It's quite possible that it's a fling.

-Emma's role with the X-Men was defined in Gen X.

-Secondary mutations were done by Peter David in X-Factor not that this weak addition has added to anyone. It was the physical embodiment of everything we already knew Emma to be.

-The nanosentinels were done more than once in the x-men.

-X-Corps, while almost completely original, is still just branched of x-teams in diferent countries as GM never showed any other facet of its inner workings.

-Sublime was an Avengers villain and will never be brought back as there's no way to fight and kill him now. We know when he'll die.

- Becoming media-friendly for one issue does not a movement make, besides the x-men addressed the media more than once before in the same fashion. This doesn't afect the x-men unless there's a team that actually goes after media attention much like the Astonishing team.

IMO, Condensed x-history. Not necessarily bad, just not new. Also, the point isn't that these were done before in literature, but done ad nauseum in the x-men, and GM dragged them out into a field ever so slowly and shot them to show us something we already knew; the x-men have a cyclicle(sp) nature. Instead of ending the cyclicle nature (which he could've done), he rehashed to show rehashes are bad. Out of Casey, Austen, Morrison, and Claremont, only one used every x-cliche he could think of. Besides it wasn't the ideas (as far as plot points) that people enjoyed. It was GM style, tone, and voice. The plots and stories weren't all that different and he didn't introduce much of anything that can be relevant to any other run but his. The new students, The school aspect, Sublime, Kick, the outing, Nova, X-Corperation, etc aren't relevant to the x-men anymore because they aren't be used and any affect they had is gone and they didn't really have much affect outside of their prospective stories. That makes them superficial changes.

And how can anyone say that there are no new ideas in the world and that characters/ ideas past their prime and become useless? No writer can think such things otherwise he's a horrible writer. He wouldn't believe in his craFt or his abilities. If a writer believes something has run it's course, fine. However, when he starts to believe that there is no hope for a character or idea that simply means that he isn't a strong enough writer to do something about it.

[James Groves]

Originally posted by Justice Daye
These are all still very superficial changes guys. You have to consider which have to afect the x-men's future...unequivocally.
-Cassandra Nova wasn't new and in literature an evil twin never is. Besides, she appeared once and never again. She has the same poor motivation that plenty others have had. What makes her different; who and how she was written, but the basic, core of her character we've seen many times before.

-Outing Xavier? If you didn't know he was a mutant already and that that was a mutant school, you were an idiot. A substantial amount of people already knew about the school as that was stated in the books. And this doesn't change how the public feels about the x-men, it magnified it, giving us the ranting and raving humans like FoH which we've seen 10 times over before.

-Restructuring the school with the x-men as teachers was done in Gen X as was all of Emma current characterization.

-Fantomex and Weapon Plus were by definition derived from someone else's ideas. Weapon Plus came directly with Weapon X and all these random cool, tough guys with big guns.

-Here Comes Tomorrow is GM's Days of future past. A post apocalyptic future , no matter what made it post-apocalyptic or how, is still a post-apocalyptic future. Since this timeline essentially wiped itself out, it will have no further effect on the x-men and is therefore, superficial and lost. Jean did steal Scott free will so that he'd be with Emma. She sacriiced her love for her team...which she did on a certain moon once.

-All the new students he introduced had little to no effect on anything that occured and hasn't since then. Besides these students had nothing to do with the x-men. We're supposed to be discussing how he changed the x-men, not how he added characters we'll never see again (other than Beak) and that had little to no effect on the story.

-The mutant ability enhancing drug happened during the Revolution and Casey's run.

-Emma and Scott's relationship can't be judged until there's been some prgression of it and we see how it ends. It's quite possible that it's a fling.

-Emma's role with the X-Men was defined in Gen X.

-Secondary mutations were done by Peter David in X-Factor not that this weak addition has added to anyone. It was the physical embodiment of everything we already knew Emma to be.

-The nanosentinels were done more than once in the x-men.

-X-Corps, while almost completely original, is still just branched of x-teams in diferent countries as GM never showed any other facet of its inner workings.

-Sublime was an Avengers villain and will never be brought back as there's no way to fight and kill him now. We know when he'll die.

- Becoming media-friendly for one issue does not a movement make, besides the x-men addressed the media more than once before in the same fashion. This doesn't afect the x-men unless there's a team that actually goes after media attention much like the Astonishing team.

IMO, Condensed x-history. Not necessarily bad, just not new. Also, the point isn't that these were done before in literature, but done ad nauseum in the x-men, and GM dragged them out into a field ever so slowly and shot them to show us something we already knew; the x-men have a cyclicle(sp) nature. Instead of ending the cyclicle nature (which he could've done), he rehashed to show rehashes are bad. Out of Casey, Austen, Morrison, and Claremont, only one used every x-cliche he could think of. Besides it wasn't the ideas (as far as plot points) that people enjoyed. It was GM style, tone, and voice. The plots and stories weren't all that different and he didn't introduce much of anything that can be relevant to any other run but his. The new students, Kick, Sublime, Kick, the outing, Nova, X-Corperation, etc aren't relevant to the x-men anymore because they aren't be used and any affect they had is gone and they didn't really have much affect outside of their prospective stories. That makes it a superficial change.

well said!!:)

[RAMWolff]

I thought his killing off the Phoenix with a touch from the dying Magneto was just too much. Think about it. Jean was at her hight of power or close to it, so why would the Phoenix force inside her allow some magnetic surge to cause her to have a massive stroke?? I just didn't buy it!

Secondly, Jean is a founding member and a major player. Marvel seems to like to slit it's own rist sometimes and YES hold back the writers from truly letting these characters BREATH and GROW!! SO MUCH more could be done with Jeans's character! Much more could have been delved as the woman works through her metamorphosis, as she discovers her powers to their fullest! It was a TOTAL waste of a good character. :mad:

Aside from that I think some of the Academy recruits were just silly and quite frankly butt ugly to look at. I'm sure that had to do allot with how Frank Quitely depicted them but still, not at al my favorite run.

Joel, I very much appreciated your candid observations and agree with much of it. When all is said and done I still think the Beast looks crappy as a "kitty kat"!! :D

Richard ;)

[dizfactor]

Originally posted by 2501


I agree with everything you said, dizfactor. To me, Morrison's NXM was never supposed to be a brand new thing. It was supposed to be like a placenta for a yet-to-be-born &quot;New&quot; X-men. Morrison's run was only there to help them evolve or grow out of what had gone on in the past. Unfortunately, it seems to have been a miscarriage.

and without anyone to scoop it up in a hat and hand it to Edie, either.

kisses for anyone who gets that.

[BluPhoenix]

Originally posted by RAMWolff


Secondly, Jean is a founding member and a major player. Marvel seems to like to slit it's own rist sometimes and YES hold back the writers from truly letting these characters BREATH and GROW!! SO MUCH more could be done with Jeans's character! Much more could have been delved as the woman works through her metamorphosis, as she discovers her powers to their fullest! It was a TOTAL waste of a good character. :mad:




I gotta say i agree with you here.

I ADORED Morrison's run.
Loved it.
Worshipped it.

I stepped into a world i wasnt sure about and was not disappointed at all. Well, for the first while anyway.

The thing that made Morrison's NXM stand out was, to me, the genius of it all. Forty-two issues completely integrated with one another, every event working together. It was clever. Cassandra Nova, the destruction of Genosha, Xorn's appearance, Jean's manifestations of the Phoenix, Xorn turning out to be Magneto, the U-Men, Sublime...it all worked.

It wasnt just that an event happened, which triggered another, which triggered another etc as in a lot of titles for the past 40-50 years. It was about consequences, underlying storylines. When you thought John Sublime was dead and his U-Men just a bunch of psychos you left it at that. You never thought anything more of Magneto following his "death", and Phoenix didnt look like she was going anywhere - it made you think you had it all figured out.

And you didnt.

It was surprising, and when you finally realised just what had been going on, that Sublime was responsible for so much, and Cassandra had set off a bunch of events all coinciding, that was when Morrison's creativity really shined. And to top it all off, he finished with the aboslutely fantastic "Here Comes Tomorrow" (the following two issues were just slightly pants, so id rather not discuss them - what was with Scott sucking-face with Emma right over Jean's grave?! GRRRRRR!!!).


Bluddy brilliance!

However, I agree with you in that Jean's death was a bit uncalled for. She was finally going sumwer in that title, and it wouldve been great to have seen her involved in the ReLoad.

But then again had she not died, i dont think it would have been as tragic (or as angering) that Scott left her. I LOVED Jean, but by the end i couldnt stand that she was with Cyke. He actually seems more right for Emma, what with being a scared little prat who needs to be dominated. As it was, he and Jean were too equal, and he exploited it. Because he's a child. And now he has his mummy.

And we wouldnt have gotten Here Comes Tomorrow, which i very much loved.

But you would think that if Jean could alter what "was broken" with the Universe to have Scott stay with Emma, she could have altered it so that she had not died, but let Scott move on anyway.


Thats my only complaint.


That and the art on the first few issues of NXM. My GOD were they trying to make them all look like very very ugly, badly-drawn Chinese people? It was just really bad. And it seems to haunt me, even on NixonVision's X-Assualt, which i love also.

[Eric Filemyr]

Originally posted by Justice Daye
These are all still very superficial changes guys. You have to consider which have to afect the x-men's future...unequivocally.


So what would you consider change then? If only drastically affecting the lives of the core X-Men is what you seek, then good luck. I can't believe Morrison got away with breaking up one of the oldest and stalest couples (Scott and Jean) in comicdom, and I applaud him. Any of Morrison's big changes you dismissed as not having an impact or not being new. Emma Frost as an X-Men and a lot of her characterization as well as the X-Men as teachers are two developments you said were old in Gen X, but Emma evolved a lot in NXM (not just literally) and the thought of Wolverine teaching is certainly new to comics.

[<sage>]

But then again had she not died, i dont think it would have been as tragic (or as angering) that Scott left her. I LOVED Jean, but by the end i couldnt stand that she was with Cyke. He actually seems more right for Emma, what with being a scared little prat who needs to be dominated. As it was, he and Jean were too equal, and he exploited it. Because he's a child. And now he has his mummy.

LOL heavy, but so true. It annoys me that theeir not togehter but they will be again one day... maybe he will grow up after spending some time with Emma (who got so desperate she used to wear Jean's uniform and coloured her hair red like jean's so that she could get some action)

Also at times Morrisons run was inconsistent, aftre kicking the U-men's ass and manifesting the Phoenix, Jean said all her bad feelings about scott were gone, yet they still had a fight the next issue! In Imperial?! WTF!!!