Grant Morrison's story not only still holds up, it set the stage for what the X-Men should be, and few writers managed to do since then. At the time, it was more than a breath of fresh air after years of Lobdellian's Mexican soap opera.
To keep the dust jacket from getting damaged, get into the habit of removing it when you read your omnis. I usually just leave it on a shelf facing out so I know where I am and so I can admire the art if the cover is particularly nice. You can also get dust jacket protectors, which work great as well.
I wouldn't say I enjoyed Morrison's run. But it was interesting and kept my attention in a positive way. I've never really had the urge to go back and re-read it though.
I totally dug Morrison's X-Men; I've read it three times. It was exciting reading it at the time as it came out back in the early 2000's. Each issue lit up the X-Forums over at CBR with a lot of discussion, and we really felt likewe were getting something new that we hadn't seen since Claremont first came onboard back in 1975. That said, I do not like the lasting effect it's had on the aesthetic of the X-Men. Those weird quirky ugly characters like Glob Herman, Ernst, Beak, Marthan Johanssen, etc only truly work with Quitely's surreal dream-like artwork and as written by Morrison. They still use those characters in X-Men comics today, and now I feel like they're just silly and goofy under subsequent creators. Part of the point Morrison and Quitely were making with those characters was that "uncool is the new cool," which I think was relevant and pertinent coming out of the 90's. But those characters are so absurd and repulsive, they feel out of context today; and when I see them now I think they're ridiculous and it takes me out of the story. Also, I suspect it was the introduction of characters like that, that gave Jason Aaron the green light to do even more ridiculously silly X-Characters like Eye Boy and Shark Girl. Now we have X-Men with antlers growing out of their heads and the whole thing is just pear shaped. I still love the Morrison X-Men run, but I kinda wish it was a What If...? type of story that's not in canon anymore.
It ironic that the one story where I absolutely love the art is the only story where I don’t actually like the story. This being the final issues pencilled by Marc Silvestri. Other than that I’m fully enjoyed Morrison’s New X-Men. When I first read it years ago it was the first X-Men book I’d ever read and didn’t really care for it. But I picked up the omnibus last year and gave it another try and found it to be really good. I wonder how much of that had to do with my familiarity of the X-Men by that point, I’d read a lot more X-Men by the time I reread it, but I also wonder if I had hit a point of comic fatigue the first time I read it. I’ve found my state of mind goes a long way towards how much I’ll enjoy a book I’m reading. That first time reading it I had been reading so many titles I was definitely getting burnt out in my ability to enjoy lowing thru a book. It happens. Byway, as I said, last time I read it I really enjoyed it. That second to last arc where they reveal the identity of Zorn is the perfect climax to a story of that length. And the build up from the beginning of the book thru to that point is excellently paced. Cyclops is my favourite X-Man and I found he was little goofy in this book. But I didn’t mind it as Morrison had him dealing with enough emotional baggage that it seemed honest to the character. So overall I give it an 8/10. Highly recommended.
If you have the first HC collection of The Ultimates where you can show how good Marvel collections used to be with the backmatter, and how it's very much the birth of the MCU.
@@BenjaminCochia The video about the hidden sex words is super fun. EVS did a Morrison on Morrison. Is also interesting the part where he talks about the Marvel editors.
I was kinda conflicted on this run. It was iconic, had great art and lots of the events had staying power. Xorn and the students were great characters as well and I liked the academic atmosphere. What I didn't care for was Xorn just being a nice guy act by "Magneto" being a total dick leading to Jean's death and Magneto's failed attempt at being a dictator. Moving on from baggage with Jean was probably better from a storytelling perspective but the way they wrapped her story up just seemed overly negative. Not sure if I agree with destroying Genosha either.
I liked Morrison's run then but I don't know if I'd still like it on the re-read. Sometimes Morrison's "Really Big Idea" ends up feeling a little too abstract, theoretical and unsatisfactory. I do like his stuff on Batman. I read a lot of his Batman run in 2015 and I really enjoyed it. Keep in mind it was the first time I invested myself in a Batman series since the early 90s Animated Series. I feel like his stuff on Batman is really superior to a lot of Nolan's drudgery. The Batman is supposed to be outwitting and outfighting over the top villains. Batman is supposed to swing through art deco canyons. Burton did the best Gotham City imo.
Before Van Sciver decided to be All Star Wars Hate All The Time, he did commentary on his issues and history on the X-Men title. It was actually really incredible insight and fun to watch (it was streamed as "Marvel Comics Days" and had at least four installments: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7AAQauldiA0.html).
