Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Morrison's Concluding New X-Men Hardcover, 27 Oct 2004
This oversized hardcover collects the paperback editions of Assault on Weapon Plus, Planet X and Here Comes Tomorrow. (New X-Men Issues #142 - #154). These are the last issues of the title (well ignoring #155 and 156 which were written by Chuck Austen and thankfully are collected with the rest of his dross in the Uncanny X-Men trades, Bright New Mourning I think. Seriously, you won't be missing much) and allow Morrison to provide nice closure to his entire X run. He establishes himself as a true master plotter, revealing two good surprises which really do make such sense and will make you go back and look previous volumes as if your eyes were open for the first time. Of course, I won't reveal those here. Unfortunately, the artwork brings down the side a bit, not because it's particularly bad, but because it's once again a hodgepodge of contrasting styles. The, ahem, "stylised" Chris Bachelo is followed by artists of a more realistic approach (one that I personally much prefer), such as Jimenez and Image founder Marc Silvestri (not seen on an X-book since the "80's Outback era" of Uncanny X-Men). Anyone who considers themself to be a real X-Fan shoud own this book (or the paperback versions) and probably already does. Readers returning after a hiatus from the X-universe and especially new readers would do well to get the first two New X-Men hardcovers before this, as well as Joe Casey's Poptopia tpb from Uncanny X-Men that runs concurrent with the first NXM hardcover (If only because it's a very under-appreciated book.)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappinting by Morrison's standards, 28 Jun 2009
First of all, the other review here is of course for the hardcover edition, so bear that in mind folks. Onwards....
I've been a big fan of Morrison ever since his ground-breaking arc on Doom Patrol (in my opinion the greatest superhero comcis story arc ever, including 'Watchmen') and thoroughly enjoyed the first two volumes collecting his X-Men run.
Unfortunately, this third volume doesn't live up to the expectations created by the earlier arcs - Morrison's handling of Magneto is nothing special, we get the whole Phoenix thing again, nowhere near enough Emma Frost and a 'Dark Beast'/future scenario which is...quite frankly, dull. Sometimes studied whackiness isn't enough, and structurally, these arcs are weak compared to Grant's usua; standard.
The art is wanting too, featuring the unwelcome return of Image-kid Marc Silvestri, a vintage but massively over-rated former X-Men artist who is a kind of bargain basement Jim Lee, but a little less scratchy (of course if you like Lee, MCFarlane and that crowd, you'll love this - which probably means you're not a child of the silver/bronze ages of comics).
Instead, do yourself a favour and buy all six volumes of Doom Patrol - yes, it may have influenced X-Men a little (the team first appeared about 3 months prior to Marvel's Mutants), but I think Doom Patrol owes much to Fantastic Four. In Grant's DP, you get masterful plotting, wild ideas, structural integirty and great art, plus some of the most stunning ret-conning in superhero history.
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