Customer Reviews

New X-Men Vol. 6: Planet X

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've heard alot of criticism of Morrison's run on X-man. Having purchased and read TPB 1-7, I can safely say I'm glad I spend the time and the money. Morrison's more modern take on the X-men has been at time confusing but always fascinating. This is not a comic for people who don't want to think - Morrison's addresses alot of real life issues- drug addiction, infidelity, loneliness, betrayal, death and rebirth. Honestly, in the same way Chris Claremont addressed issues of racism in revolutionary run in X-men, so to does Morrison- in his own style and fashion.

And what can I say about the art- its gorgeous, really. I'm ready a couple of others TPB's at the moment and I'd pick the art in new X-men over anybody else I'm looking at. I'm a big story guy myself, with art being a secondary consideration in deciding what to read - however, the art really jumps out at you - I love the way Jiminez draws his characters- and I've enjoyed watching the characters evolve in his art (look no further then Esme- who goes from one of the generic Stepford Cukoos to a femme fatale of the highest order). You've simply got to check out Jiminez's art- its fantastic and his run on New X-men, like MOrrison's, has been of the highest quality.

For the record, this is NOT the book you want to pick up to sample Morrison's new X-men - one of the major surprises in the series is revealed in this issue and the surprise will literally be ruined if you know its coming- my suggestion is, start with book one (or at worst, start with book 4) and work your way forward. You'll be glad you did.

Two reasons to buy this book:

1) Phil Jimenez's superbly detailed art printed on glossy paper.
2) This is a milestone in the X-Men's history (especially for Magneto and Jean Grey).

As for the writing, I've always found Grant Morrison a little too "showy" as a writer - a lot to show and very little to say. Furthermore, what little he has to say, he says it with very little heart. This volume contains the story of Jean Grey's death. Try comparing it with the original "Death of Jean" in 1980 (see "Dark Phoenix Saga" TPB) and you'll see how much this one falls short. And to be honest, that's the most emotional scene in the book (in fact, it's the ONLY emotional scene in the book). Much like his other writings, Morrison's characters do not really talk - they spout clever one-liners. In fact, there's one part where the clever one-liners get so irritating that Magneto kills one mutant responsible for it.

As for the story, Xorn the mutant from the Chinese prison, is revealed to be Magneto all along. He trashes the Xavier Institute and much of NYC also. Wolverine and Jean is on Asteroid M and heading towards the sun. My favorite parts of the book are the scenes with Wolverine and Jean spending their final delirious moments together while awaiting their deaths. Apart from that, much of the story is centered on a drug-addicted, manic, posturing Magneto who attempts to overturn the world (literally!). There's a sense of Morrison trying too hard to outdo his earlier Cassandra Nova epic (which was far better plotted and scripted). The whole thing comes off very, very forced and largely "unreal" - almost like you're caught in a bad dream and all throughout you "know" that you're in a dream. (Of course, Morrison fans will probably praise him for the exact things that I'm criticizing him for here!!!).

All in all, it's not that I dislike this book. Far from it. It's still better than most stuff being published out there. But I think my appreciation of this volume has a lot to do with how much I like these characters rather than objectively concerning Morrison's writing quality. I, for one, enjoy Chris Claremont's "X-Treme X-Men" series a lot more.

Planet X is a good storyline, if you don't count the complete bastardization of Magneto; the transformation of a Jewish Holocaust survivor to a sadistic, bumbling Nazi who herds humans into crematoriums and snorts up mutant drugs. It's no surprise that Marvel Comics retconned the story so soon after it came out.

...oh. This again. The simple, yet awe-inspiring arrival of yet another MasterPiece, thanks to the very strange and talented mind of Grant Morrison, and several extremely well talented artists. This is the same man who has, over the past 20 years, crafted industry changing pieces of art such as Animal Man, Doom Patrol, & JLA, and the least of these is nothing less than a brilliant forray into why comic books should be taken more seriously by the general literary community as actual works of art, meant, more often than not by the writers and artists, to be taken seriously and with a point at hand. Planet X is the last story arc in Mr. Morrison's run on New X-men, at least, the last continuity based, within the regular bounderies of the Marvel Universe, story arc. In this five part tale, Mr. Xorn is revealed in a brilliant stroke of shock and storytelling as none other Magneto, the X-men's arch nemises.....and to the regular readers of this title, that's just the start of the revelations and strange ideas, come to frutition in this arc, and the following arc, 'Here Comes Tomorrow',....think of it, a man in an iron mask, decieving and slowly taking the Institute apart, one mutant at a time, one idea at a time, one allegiance at a time, for the better part of three years...all while staying within the confines of an already very well known and well established character's bounderies...This is apparently the ending that Mr. Morrison had had in mind for the entire duration of his run, which more than anything, comes off, upon secoundary reading, as one gigantic,majestically thought out, statues quo smashing, very adult themed three year story. The strings of continuity and plot point are hauled together in this arc, or at least, the beginnings of this massive 'finishing up' begins with this arc. Kick. The School Riots. The Phoenix. The Xavier/Magneto ideology theme and why neither will survive beyond a certain point in time. The Jean/Cyclops/White Queen story. Wolverine. The students and their drives, intentions, and the eventual culmination of why there had to be students, actual students, introduced to the Institute at all. The E-gene subplot.Cassandra Nova. John Sublime and his U-men. The disintegration of the Xavier Institute and its values, points, traditions,relationships and characters. Going over the entire run up to this point, i realize that Morrison has had a reason for every spoken word, every situation, every character that came up as he wrote the title for these past three years. I won't spoil anything else, but i will say this;...once you've read 'Here Comes Tomorrow', the story arc following this one, go back and reread the entire 43 issue run, all at once. I promise that it all will make much more sense this time around. This is without any doubt, one of the very BEST runs that this tile has ever seen. Think of Morrison's work on this title, by and large, as a tree All the plots and storylines representing the roots as they spread out and feed the tree. Now imagine these roots, singular, yet very important aspects of this tree, running their course towards their final climax and purpose...feeding the tree. Growing the tree. In the end, no matter how far these roots, these mouths, strayed from their epicenter, their Whole, they all draw back together, making for one hellova tale.......Planet X is the start of this Great Unification. Far more adult, these mutants have dared to become...by leagues, far meaningful and poinant, too.
Hawksmoor...From The Bleed.

I haven't read much of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men yet, and I am slowly collecting TPBs to get caught up, since I had a three-year hiatus from comic collecting when Marvel announced that it's tone would become "darker and more adult." I was disappointed by anything remotely having to do with Age of Apocalypse, so I was saving myself some money.

The artwork was okay in this book. I prefer the more elegant detail of pencilers like Alan Davis on Uncanny, or the expressions on Cassaday's faces in Astonishing, but this was okay. The quality wasn't consistent from frame to frame, figures weren't always well-proportioned and had skinny legs. Magneto (or "Xorneto") is back, and he's on drugs. Nice example to set for the young mutants out there, Mags, thanks for nothing. Magneto is finally living his dream of becoming humanity's next Hitler and builds an abattoir/crematorium for all of the hostage baseline humans in New York. Dark stuff. He also has help from the newest, lamest version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, all harvested from the current class of Xavier's students. He gets Charles out of the way by locking him up in a stasis tank and disabling the nannite implants he used to support his spine, thereby crippling him again. Sigh. Repetitive ideas with a weird twist.

The Stepford Cuckoos are back, and I could care less, they are my least favorite characters. The fourth sister, Esme, is the prodigal daughter of the group who supplies Magneto with a Kick, a mutant power-enhancing drug, and she appears to also be carrying on a relationship with him that should be illegal, considering the age difference.

The highlight of this book is the interchange between Jean Grey and Wolverine on Asteroid M, which is doomed to imminently drift into the sun. Yes, I said the sun. The final dialogue between these two is great and long overdue. My favorite line? "I'm still waiting for my eyeballs to grow back; what is it I'm supposed to be seeing?" Scott more or less finally decides between Jean and Emma, which is moot, considering the ending, and this book cemented my hatred of his character going forward.

Morrison's dialogue is certainly intelligent enough, it reminds me of Joss Whedon's (I love when Emma is stranded on the rock in the middle of the ocean with Hank, spots the Blackbird bearing down on them and mutters "it's just bloody Jean, showing off again.") I just thought the plot was all over the place, the character roster was badly selected, and I thought Xavier needed to get a clue. (come on, Jean tells him she's going into space to rescue Wolverine, and all he does is tell her 'good luck?' And that she'd make a good headmaster?)

ONLY buy this one used. I don't recommend the follow-up, "Here Comes Tomorrow," either, since I thought it was a confusing mess.

Grant Morrison's now legendary run on New X-Men offered up plenty of twists and revelations in this arc, including one of the biggest shocks of the year in comics. Xorn, the mutant healer that for the past few years has lived among the X-Men, is really Magneto; and with all the X-Men effectively immobilized, destroys New York City. Morrison has made the classic X-villain more fearsome and vendictive than the character has been in years, and in Planet X everything he's written begins to come together, setting the stage for Morrison's final storyarc on New X-Men, Here Comes Tomorrow. This is undoubtadly one of the best arcs to come out of an X-Men title since Claremont's heyday, but it's bittersweet because this signaled the end of Morrison's run. So many X-fans who had become disenchanted with the title after almost a decade of lame storyarcs, myself included, had become drawn back into the title thanks to Morrison's visionary storytelling and masterful plotting, and this book is a prime example. Phil Jimenez' art is just gorgeous, and it makes Planet X all the sweeter.

Grant Morrison did such a great job with the X-men, that it seems only logical that he would do a great job with the X-men's greatest foe, Magneto. That's what I thought going into this. Instead, we are treated to a complete bastardization of such a great and complex character. FINGER OF SHAME to Grant Morrison.

Magneto basically becomes a nazi rounding up humans for a concentration camp. Now if I remember correctly, didn't Magneto survive a concentration camp, and that's why he's so angry with human kind? So someone decides that they should turn him into a complete hippocrit, because Magneto should be a ruthless villain!?? Chris Claremont spent a lifetime turning Magneto into a character that transcended the classical 'good' or 'evil'. He turned him into a villain that readers could sympathize for and relate to. And yet in four or five issues Grant Morrison decides to try to destroy the image of the Master of Magnetism. Now I'm all for artists works' not being messed with or changed around, but this was SO BAD that I applaud Marvel for undermining this book and changing the story around a little. Xorn and Magneto were good characters before 'Planet X', and thanks to subsequent writers who changed the story and essentially made this book worthless and a non-event(like it should be), Xorn and Magneto are still good characters.

I do like the stuff with Jean Grey, though. I didn't necessarily like what they did to her at the end (since it was anti-climatic, or anti-dramatic), but then again, how do you live up to such a great story that came WAY before this one. Oh, and how about that Brotherhood? Has there ever been a weaker stable of villains for a Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Ultimately, I like what Grant Morrison did for the X-men, and I enjoyed every other book he did, but this one is garbage. I can't believe that such a good writer would write such a horrible story with one of the best characters in comics of all time. And that is completely unforgiveable by me.

this storyline sucks. theres no buildup, no rising action, it basically starts off at the climax and plateaus, and ends too abruptly. thankfully the story was retconned out of continutiy very soon after it was released, and the 'damage' that happened to NYC was never mentioned by the other books of the marvel u; EVER.

this is the epitome of the reason people have started to stop reading the x books, characters that you hate, and hate that you hate them, and writers that need to be put on riddilin (did i spell that right?)

avoid this book at all cost.

and btw:

[spoiler alert!}

XORN IS MAGNETO!!!!! (not really, he's just xorn in disguise, he's dressed up as magneto, who's pretending to be xorn, who's still xorn underneath it all! weird huh?)