Product Description: Sixteen million mutants dead - and that was just the beginning! In one bold stroke, writer Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Batman) propelled the X-Men into the 21st century, masterminding a challenging new direction for Marvel's mutant heroes that began with the destruction of Genosha and never let up. Regarded as the most innovative thinker of the current comic-book renaissance, Morrison proceeded to turn the mutant-hero genre on its ear. Gone were the gaudy spandex costumes - replaced by slick, black leather and an attitude to match. Now, his entire Eisner Award-nominated run on New X-Men is collected across three titanic trade paperbacks! Collects New X-Men #114-126, and Annual 2001.
The best thing to happen to "The X-men" Grant Morrison is probably one of the most imaginative minds in the whole comic industry, and the first 1/3 of his run on "The New X-Men" is simply one of the most amazing reads I have ever been exposed to. the X-men have always been a series that had a lot of political and social themes intertwined within it, and Morrison creates a fantastic reality through fantasy that have all the political happenings that are going on now. "New X-Men by Grant Morrison: Ultimate Collection Volume 1" is a great escape from reality but at the same time, is the most realistic super-hero comic thematically that there is.
Can't wait for volumes 2 and 3 to come out this year!
This book is awesome! Grant Morrison's X-Men run is probably the best X-Men run in the last decade. Ironically, it's a little different than other classic runs... and that's what makes it so special.
Without spoiling anything, Grant changes the status quo with the X-Men without really changing core concepts of the X-Men. His stories turn the entire framework for the X-Men on their face. The stories are well-plotted, and this collection really does read like one whole story. There's lots of nice character moments, as well as character arcs that get started here and will be expanded upon in vol 2 & 3 of the collections later on this year.
The only faults with Grant's run are the art and some of his 'big ideas' that sometimes don't seem to pan out. Because of scheduling problems with these issues, Frank Quintly did not draw every issue... so often times you will see different art styles every issue as multiple artists contributed to keep this book on schedule for the regular issues. Nonetheless, most of the artwork is good and the storytelling makes up for this.
This is really awesome work though. Seriously, if you haven't read it - do so. It's better than any of the new TPB's coming out. It contains so much core ideas that make the X-Men what it is today that it's really worth reading.
The beginning of a New Era at Marvel In early 2000, Marvel managed to wrestle Grant Morrison, arguably the most influential writer in comics (moreso than Alan Moore, in my opinion), and gave him the flagging X-Men title. In the first arc, he destroyed the mutant country of Genosha, created an ultra powerful foil to Professor Xavier, put the X-Men at odds with the Shi'ar empire, saved the world, and started to degrade and destroy the relationship that Jean and Scott had. Morrison's stories in the volume are big, operatic, and loud, much like his material from his run on JLA, but grounded in team dynamics and the fragile nature of how lives can change in the blink of an eye. On the art side, frequent Morrison collaborator Frank Quitely turns in good work, bolstered by the inks of Tim Townsend, and later on, Ethan Van Sciver and the infamously rushed work of Igor Kordey. Overall, Morrison plays with the various aspects of the 30 years of X-Men continuity while managing to keep it fresh and forward looking. The art, however, is the weak point of the volume and the entire run. The fill-ins lack of a firm visual continuity, and the bevy of different artists hamper the total impact of the collection. All in all, even with the uneven art, I still heartily recommend this collection of my favorite Marvel Comic.
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