Reviews: New X-Men 114-150

I've spent the last week or so reading (almost) all of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men (renamed New X-Men during the run) from issues 114 to 150. This run has created a lot of controversy among the online fan community, with responses ranging from "Morrison was the best thing to happen to the book since Claremont and Byrne" to "Morrison ruined the team - I'd rather have read Chuck Austin than Morrison's crap." I myself remember reading it a few years ago (while in the process of reading the first 160 issues of X-Men) and being absolutely amazed. Now . . . . . not so much.

Now don't get me wrong - there are many things that Morrison made absolutely work. The outing of Xavier, the idea of mutants as a cultural movement, the push to the forefront of Emma, and even the love triangle breakup of Scott and Jean were useful ideas. The problem, however, is that Morrison is a bit too Morrisonny here for his own good.

Grant Morrison ranks in my top 5 current comic book writers - I consider We3 to be the best miniseries ever, and stuff like the Seven Soldiers or All-Star Superman are just amazing pieces of work. He's the best idea man in comics - every page of his work is filled to the brim with crazy insane ideas and visions that no one else can match.

And I suppose that's the problem here. This doesn't read like an X-Men book. It reads like a Morrison-owned creator work that's getting sandwiched into the X-Men universe. Characters that we've read all our lives sound . . . . off. It's a weird feeling that somewhat prevented me from fully immersing in the work. Plus there's some things that simply don't work. Lilandra trying to shoot Xavier herself with a sniper rifle? Fantomex, the weapon XIII with a sentient symbiotic spaceship and an arrogant french attitude? Doesn't gel. And I still say the final plot twist doesn't work, since Morrison never really gives an explanation as to WHY that character did what they did. He may have been working up to it, but the issue where they first appeared doesn't really match up with what happens at the end.

The art for the most part is quite good. Quitely takes some getting used to (his EXTREMELY long-faced Scott is really disquieting) but it's always great when he works with Grant. Ethan van Scriber does some really good work towards the beginning, and Chris Bachalo and Phil Jimenez turn in nice stuff at the end. Igor Kordrey is a low point, but considering he probably had 2-3 weeks to do each issue, I can readily forgive him.

If I was going the entire run a grade, I'd probably do 2 1/2 to 3 stars. It certainly was the most important thing to happen to the X-Men in a long time (and influenced a LOT of what happened after) but the actual story quality isn't the best.