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And so, another year has passed by, with more creative
changes amidst the X-Titles. And once again, I come around to
one of my frequent revisits to a title I’ve recently commented on,
due to some new things that have cropped up.
New X-Men.
For the most part, my opinion of this title has not changed.
I’m still greatly enjoying it, and having fun reading it. It’s not as
good, and doesn’t have classic super heroics that X-Treme X-
Men has, but it’s redefining the X-Men for the modern age.
Times change, mutants are the next stage in evolution, and I’m
ok with the changing tide, unlike a lot of other folks I’ve seen on
and offline.
"These aren’t the X-Men I read growing up," I’d hear
people cry. Well, duh. That was 15, 20 years ago. It’s
different. Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.
Now, all that said, I do have a few gripes to make.
First off, the chronic lateness of this title. Although, it has
gotten better. I was pleasantly surprised to find the newest issue
only a few weeks after the last one came out. The downside
here is, we have three artists trying to get the book out on time.
Does anyone else find this to be a little strange, at best, or a lot
pathetic, at worst? I don’t have a problem with fill-in artists, but
the point of them is to keep the book on time. Marvel was
aware of Frank Quitely’s slowness, and hired Ethan Van Sciver
to keep the title on time. He would start drawing the fourth
issue, while Quitely screwed up the schedule, and get the book
back on time. How the heck can an already late book, being
drawn by a fill-in artist to keep it on time, wind up being even
more late? Anyone? At least they got the third artist to almost
get the book back on track. With New X-Men 121 coming out
this week (January 4th), that puts the title at only a few weeks
behind schedule.
Speaking of issue 121, that brings me to my next point. In
this issue, Grant Morrison has said that "Jean Grey is covered in
sperm." This caused a mighty uproar, to say the least, amongst
the older fans, and a lot of the new ones. It even made me
twitch a bit, because that’s rather disgusting for a family title. I
realized, however, that the issue would take place while Jean
and Emma Frost travel inside a madwoman’s mind to free
someone’s psyche that was trapped within. I’m expecting a
total lack of lucidity. Turns out that the actual scenes (Which
I’ve recently come across via preview pages online), is nothing
like what one would expect. In a scene, Jean is following a trail
to the trapped psyche, and at one point is swimming along with
gigantic sperm cells. Technically covered in sperm, I suppose,
but not quite the immediate mental image given by Morrison’s
off-the-cuff remark. Anyways, I had a point here...
Ah, yes. I’m tired of the bodily function humor that’s been
running rampant in the X-Titles lately. Granted, I watch South
Park, and have a high tolerance for it, but, in all honesty, it is
juvenile and appealing to the lowest common denominator. It
can sometimes be done tastefully, and when done sparingly, I
can deal, but it seems like every month lately, I’ve had to deal
with vomit, or urine, or fecal matter coming up in some way.
Now we can add sperm to the list. Like I said, it’s a fine line,
and tastes and tolerances shall vary, but I’m nearing wits end.
Here’s hoping that it gets put to rest for awhile.
Finally, there is the lack of action. After the last decade, and
incredibly stupid prolonged fight scenes that were prevalent in
comics then, I don’t mind a little rest from the action, some
character building, a little drama, but if I’m promised a fight, I
better see one. Since Morrison came onto New X-Men, the
team hasn’t done a whole lot. We started off with a Sentinel
fight. Well, the end of one, anyways, with Wolverine finishing
the last one off. Then we watch Genosha get destroyed and the
X-Men stand there basically going "Gee, looka that!" And then,
they fight Cassandra Nova...no, they stand there and get their
butts kicked by Cassandra Nova, who is finally stopped when
Emma just happens to pop by and distract her at a crucial
moment so Charles can pop a few bullets in her.
At long last, we’re treated to a cliffhanger of Wolverine
popping his claws, ready to save a young girl from some anti-
mutant goons. Guess what? Next issue has that fight mostly
resolved, with another scene following of a wide-angle shot of
the van they’re all in, and a scream. What a rip off. And then
the issue ends with another cliffhanger of Jean Grey confronting
more of the same goons.
At least the issue after THAT we got a payoff with a fight.
And fire. Lots of fire. Mmmm, redhead and fire. Sorry, got
distracted.
So, those are my latest bits that are bugging me with New X-
Men. It’s not enough yet to make me drop the book, because
I’m still enjoying the ride, when it comes out, despite the fecal
humor, and lack of action. Yeah, I realize my admitted
enjoyment of the book is a bit of a dichotomy, but I do enjoy the
title. Nothing is perfect, and I’m aware of what isn’t right, and
could stand to be improved upon.
New X-Men. Not a bad book, and a damned sight better
than most of the X-Line in the ‘90s, but I’ll still take my
Claremont comic. There are worse things that could be said
about it.
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