Comments on: Comic Book Alphabet of Cool - N

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:44:43 +0000

I wasn't buying comic books when this was being published, so I missed it all. I have acquired about six issues in the past year, and there is some really good stuff in here, but..... it doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of Marvel very well. You seem to consider that a good thing, but I don't see how it could be. The thing that always made Marvel so great was how all the books tied together well, and kept to the same history (at least until recently). And having mutants suddenly become about a tenth of the world's population (at least it seemed that way) with an entire subculture of their own-- that just didn't fit with what had traditionally been the case, and it didn't fit with what was going on in most of the rest of Marvel. If Morrison wanted to write a book in which mutants were a huge, distinct society, he should've done it elsewhere, outside of Marvel continuity. There is a big difference between what makes a good story, and what makes a good story that is part of an ongoing series or a larger continuity-- I really wish more writers would learn that.

By: ian m noman

ian m noman — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Fantastic reactions here. I am a long time Morrison fan, and X-Men when I was younger was edgy and creepy and difficult, which is everything I love about good entertainment. The 90's X-Men was bogged down in one of the most ill-conceived continuity of any era of comic writing. Morrison's run on New X-Men, despite the art sometimes, was one of the best runs this comic franchise ever experienced. My favorite was the Claremeont/Byrne, Claremont/Cockrum stuff; however, Claremont has never been good at dialogue, so the whole approach with Morrison seemed far more modern. If any faults existed it was the murder mystery story, which I thought was weak and only neccessary to progress a future story that was executed far better.

By: wwk5d

wwk5d — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:47:03 +0000

This run was hit & miss for me. As people say, it does get points for trying new stuff. I did like the idea of Magneto's legacy being more powerful than the man himself...but his role in Planet X was just...wrong, in my opinion. Claremont's X-men is still the definitive Magneto, for me, at any rate.

Expanding the school, which in turn was an extension of Claremont's New Mutants, was a great idea. Technically, Xavier didn't out himself, tho...Cassandra Nova did it while possessing his body...

I concur that Scott's psychic cheating with Emma counts as cheating - imagine how much it would hurt Jean, a telepath who had a long running psychic bond with Scott, for Scott to have a telepathic affair with another women...

By: Dalarsco

Dalarsco — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:35:02 +0000

Psychic cheating is still cheating.

By: Ben Herman

Ben Herman — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:39:24 +0000

Magneto is a monster. That is the whole point. In his efforts to prevent another Holocaust, this time against mutants, Magneto became the very thing he hated, a genocidal bigoted racist. Magneto is the embodiment of Friedrich Nietzsche's declaration "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster." In any case, looking at Morrison's run in retrospect, he should get credit for trying to take the series and characters in new andinnovative directions, instead of simply doing yet another rehash of Claremont & Byrne's greatest hits (coughcoughJossWhedoncoughcough).

By: stealthwise

stealthwise — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:44:18 +0000

The Morrison/Quitely stuff is fantastic, the stuff drawn by other artists... less so.

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:49:51 +0000

but he really didnâ€™t do anything, other than suggest that Magneto was used up and passe. meh.

Actually, he just showed that the idea of a Magneto was more power than magneto - that culture had turned him (since his believed death) into a martyr - something more powerful than he could ever be alive.
You didn't see that as interesting?

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:05:21 +0000

He did the most interesting thing that's ever been done with Magneto, by looking at him objectively, and showing the power that the idea of Magneto held.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:19:14 +0000

the kamisama, I'm sorry anyone called you an anti-semetic Nazi for defending this iteration of Magneto. That said, I truly disliked Morrison's Magneto. He was, to be honest, boring. which was highly disappointing from Morrison. I had high hopes that he would take advantage of the complex character that Claremont had nurtured for many years and turned into something vastly more entertaining and complex than the usual megalomaniac, and use him in a thought-provoking manner. but he really didn't do anything, other than suggest that Magneto was used up and passe. meh. Otherwise, I did enjoy this run quite a bit, though the art was at times a trial. Quitely's style was a bit jarring at first, and Kordey's rushed work was often very poor. there was so little artistic continuity that is really damaged the work as a whole.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:20:09 +0000

But this is about *cool* comics, yo go.

By: yo go re

yo go re — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:18:33 +0000

You could have even kept the "New" and just gone with "Avengers" instead of "X-Men"...

By: Nathan Marik

Nathan Marik — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:14:28 +0000

I'll go ahead and second what a lot of people are saying here.

New X-men -
Writing: Very good, often Great
Art: Very often somewhere between bad and atrocious.

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:06:47 +0000

One of my favorite runs on any series.

By: BizarroBeachHead

BizarroBeachHead — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:40:52 +0000

Uhg, I absolutely hated the way Marvel was forcing Quietly to draw Wolverine with that soul patch so he'd look like Ultimate Wolverine.

For all the great creative stuff they were doing back then, there sure were some stupid editorial decisions being made.

By: Maurice F

Maurice F — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:38:35 +0000

Hmm. When I read "Best Marvel comics in the last decade" starting with N, my mind went immediately to NEXTWAVE. Morrison and Quitely are a team supreme, as ALL-STAR shows; But Morrison with the wrong artist can be a incoherent mess, which I felt reading his non-Quitely X-men stuff.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:33:27 +0000

New X-Men was more faithful to the concept than anything that came out 10-15 years previous. Deal with it.

By: Jeff Ryan

Jeff Ryan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:05:53 +0000

For all the Frank Quitely fans: New X-Men counts as a vote for Frank Quitely. You cna't vote for him for this. May I suggets voting for Wednell Vaughn and his quantum bands instead? (And, since they're "Quantum" bands, it counts as a vote for Quantum and Woody, too.)

By: thekamisama

thekamisama — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:01:12 +0000

I had dropped X-Men right before Age of Apocalypse, but I gave this one a test run to see if Grant was going to give me something worthwhile. It was the first time in almost a decade that the X-Men made me want to get the next issue as soon as I finished the last page. Once he outed Professor X (come on! In any realistic setting, the Juggernaut would have ghost written a tell all book about his step brother while sitting around in The Vault!) I was hooked for the long haul. Too bad Marvel followed up with Chuck Austen, who promptly swore me off the X-books once more. I have always had the fun of defending the book against Magneto "purists" who hate the meglomaniac, genocidal, old school Maggy returning to soil the sensitive revamped portrayal of the victimized anti-hero from Claremont's later run. I recall a particuarly funny encounter where I was called a Anti Semetic Nazi for just stating the fact that Claremont retconned the character to be a Holocaust survivor . That guy still gets called "Godwin's Law" whenever I see him.

By: FunkyGreenJerusalem

FunkyGreenJerusalem — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:38:23 +0000

Did Scott actually cheat on Jean?

I thought he stayed faithful, physically, if not mentally.

From memory, Jean caught them just as Emma was finally making headway in seducing Scott, causing Scott to run off.
I remember it as he only gave in physically once Jean gave him a push from beyond the grave.

X-Force/X-Statix better be the letter 'x' in this alphabet of cool.