In 2019, I decided to really start paying attention to “X-Men.” Now I had read the occasional run here or there, Jason Aaron’s “Wolverine and the X-Men” holding a particularly special place in my heart, but there was always something about the X-books that intimidated me. The mutant world features an incredibly large number of characters, many of whom have years of messy relationships and drama. While this is a criticism that could easily be said about many comics, for whatever reason as far as the “X-Men” were concerned it just felt like too much to handle. But in 2019, it was announced Jonathan Hickman was going to be taking over the world of Mutants and, after talking about it with a friend, it sounded like it was going to be a clean entry point into mutant society. For the most part, that was true, the mutant nation of Krakoa acting as a bold and important new chapter in their society, accepting both hero and villain alike. There was the occasional reference here and there that required some further explanation from a friend, the most intriguing one being Genosha. As the questions kept coming, my friend made a recommendation, to start reading Grant Morrison’s run on “New X-Men.” Not only did the first arc ‘E is for Extinction,’ answer the question about Genosha, but “New X-Men” #114-116 is possibly the most significant event to impact the world of mutants in the last 20 years.
New X-Men #114-116Cover by Frank Quietly
Written by Grant Morrison
Penciled by Frank Quietly
Inked by Tim Townsend
Colored by Brian Haberlin
Lettered by Richard Starkings Comicraft’s Saida
“New X-Men” #114 kicks off Morrison’s run with a fairly standard adventure. Cyclops and Wolverine are in Australia saving a young mutant from oppressors, while Professor X, Jean Grey, and Beast work on “Cerebra” a new supercomputer designed to help find and protect new mutants (but, y’know, not THOSE new mutants.) Throughout the issue, there’s a general air of hope. More mutants are being born and Beast notices a newfound drive to the Professor’s work. Yet throughout the issue, we see ominous conversations between Ms. Nova and Mr. Trask, a relative of the creator of the Sentinals, who talk about the threat that mutants pose to humanity. The only solution to save humanity, according to Nova, is to remove the threat of the mutant gene. The big reveal is that in the middle of a jungle in Ecuador, there is a Sentinel Mastermold and Trask is able to control them.
The writing throughout ‘E is for Extinction’ is good, but there’s something in particular about #114 that works well. The interactions with the different members of the X-Men lull you into a false sense of security, there’s good banter, conversations that catch you up to speed about the character’s shared histories without being too overwhelming, but as the issue progresses, the threat continues to grow effectively. In “New X-Men” #115, Morrison drops the floor completely out from under you and destroys Genosha. The things that works best about the issue, though, is that it appears initially that the X-Men have won. Cyclops and Wolverine able to subdue Nash and defeat the Sentinels attacking them. But they’re too late to prevent the destruction.
It’s in these moments that Frank Quietly’s art really shines. There are aspects of Quietly’s art that don’t 100% work for me, specifically the way that he draws characters. (One notable exception if Beast, Quietly’s design of Beast is spectacular.) But the way that Quietly depicts and frames action is top-notch. Throughout issue #115 you always have a sense of the space that Cyclops and Wolverine are fighting in, the action is clean and well-executed. But when he depicts the destruction of Genosha, he uses the art to let the imagination take over, using glimpses and visual cues to allow our imaginations to fill in the gaps. It’s incredibly smart of the creative team to limit the amount of destruction that we actually see, instead choosing to represent the destruction through rapidly decreasing numbers as Professor X looks on in horror in Cerebra as the number of mutants rapidly decreases from 16.5 million to 783. While you see some buildings collapsing and a wide shot of the Sentinal destroying the island, the numbers decreasing are so much more impactful than a whole issue of carnage and destruction.
“X-Men” #116 deals largely with the fallout, the opening panel of Beast holding a skull amidst literal scorched earth, once again speaks volumes, showcasing the impact of the attack without glorifying the destruction that created it. The writing throughout ‘E is for Extermination’ is also incredibly well executed. “X-men” #116 gets a little dense, with a lot of talk about the true nature of Cassandra Nova and how humanity has an “E-Gene” that activates to preserve the species. But the real meat of the issue is how the events of Genosha impact the various members of the team. Emma Frost, the only survivor, wants vengeance, while Jean tries to preserve the Professor’s vision of peaceful coexistence. But it seems that there is a growing radicalization throughout the team, with Professor X killing Nova. After Genosha, his mission has become clear, he can’t let any more mutants die.
In an early issue of Jonathan Hickman’s run of X-Men, Wolverine expresses hesitation about Krakoa, and after reading ‘E is for Extinction,’ it makes sense. There are elements of Hickman’s that initially felt out of place in my (admittedly) limited knowledge of the X-Men. There was an increased sense of isolation, an active distancing from the world that Xavier and his team worked so hard to gain acceptance from. But in “X-Men” #116, after the destruction of 16 million lives, Xavier’s sole purpose becomes protection, preventing the destruction of his people. With the destruction of Genosha, Grant Morrison changed the X-Men. Hickman is just following in that tradition.
