"New X-Men: E is for Extinction"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “New X-Men: E is for Extinction” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            The X-Men were born with genetic mutations that give them powers and abilities that normal humans do not and fight for peaceful coexistence between the two species.

            Charles Xavier/Professor X is the founder of the X-Men. He was crippled and confined to a wheelchair. He is one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet.

            Scott Summers/Cyclops is the field leader of the X-Men. He possesses optic blasts that are uncontrollable and can only be contained by glasses or a visor made of ruby quartz.

            Jean Grey-Summers/Phoenix is Cyclops’ wife. She is a powerful telepath and telekinetic and may be possessed by a cosmic entity.

            Emma Frost/White Queen is a reformed villain turned hero. She is also a telepath.

            Henry “Hank” McCoy/Beast is a brilliant scientist. His mutation has given him a leonine form, and he possesses enhanced speed, strength, agility, and heightened senses.

            James Howlett, A.K.A. Logan/Wolverine had his skeleton bonded with the nigh unbreakable metal adamantium. He possesses a healing factor that heals almost any wound and has heightened senses. His memories were wiped, and he does not remember his past.

            The X-Men are based at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, located in Salem Center, New York.

            Evolutionary biologist Cassandra Nova brought dentist Donald Trask to Ecuador, where an abandoned Sentinel Master Mold was located. Donald’s uncle Bolivar created the Sentinels to exterminate mutants, but the program was shut down. Beast upgraded the X-Men’s mutant detection device, Cerebra. While running a test, Beast noticed a spike in Ecuador, and Professor X sent Cyclops and Wolverine to investigate. While using Cerebra, Professor X encountered another telepathic presence. Cyclops and Wolverine were attacked by Wild Sentinels which had been built from spare parts. They were defeated and abducted by Cassandra Nova, who disposed of Trask and took control of the Sentinels. Cyclops and Wolverine were able to escape, defeat, and capture Cassandra Nova, but were unable to prevent her from launching a Sentinel attack on the mutant nation of Genosha, ending the lives of sixteen million mutants. Emma Frost was situated in Genosha, but survived due to a newly emerged secondary mutation that granted her diamond hard skin, but in this form, her telepathy was negated. The X-Men returned to the Xavier Institute, where Cassandra Nova escaped confinement and breached Cerebra. The X-Men were again able to defeat her, but not before she was able to access the device. Professor X, believed to simply be a mutant sympathizer, went on television for an interview and announced that he himself was a mutant.

            Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine and Emma Frost went on a mission to China to assist the newly formed X-Corporation’s Domino in her investigation of author and activist John Sublime and his U-Man army. The U-Men were baseline humans who grafted parts and organs from mutants to obtain their powers. They discovered a mutant healer named Xorn, who had a prison built around him. Xorn had developed a black hole in his brain and needed a helmet to contain it. They were able to free him, Cyclops was able to communicate with him and offered him a position with the X-Men, which Xorn accepted.

            The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning opened as a school for young mutants to receive an education and learn the proper use of their powers. The Xavier Institute was picketed by anti-mutant protestors. One young mutant, Barnell Bohusk/Beak, formed a bond with Beast. Professor X decided to take a leave of absence from the X-Men and travel to space with his wife Lilandra, Empress of the Shi’ar Imperium, and left Jean Grey in charge of the Xavier Institute. Before he left, Beast confronted Professor X to ask why his DNA showed an almost exact match with that of Cassandra Nova’s. Cassandra Nova then revealed that she had swapped bodies with Professor X and had Beak attack Beast into a coma. Cassandra Nova then went into space in Professor X’s body.

            The influence of the U-Men army continued to spread. They targeted the newly emerged mutant Angel Salvadore. Wolverine was sent to rescue her. Cyclops and Emma Frost went to interrogate John Sublime but were defeated and captured. The U-Men staged an assault on the Xavier Institute. Jean Grey manifested the powers of the Phoenix and was able to fight off the invasion, and Emma Frost was able to end the threat of John Sublime. Beast emerged from his coma and revealed that Professor X and Cassandra Nova had swapped bodies.

            Jean Grey and Emma Frost psychically reawakened Professor X’s consciousness in Cassandra Nova’s dying body and discovered that they were twins.

            Cassandra Nova used Professor X’s telepathic powers to influence Lilandra to launch an assault on earth’s mutant population. The staff at the Xavier Institute were suffering from the flu. Cyclops turned to Xorn for his assistance, hoping for a way to heal the X-Men’s dying leader. Jean Grey decided that the way to end the harassment at the gates of the Xavier Institute was to invite the press and show that the X-Men had nothing to hide. The Shi’ar captured Cyclops and Xorn, and the Shi’ar Imperial Guard launched an assault on the Xavier Institute, hoping to give Cassandra Nova access to Cerebra so she could shut down the minds of every remaining mutant on earth. The X-Men then had to protect the press and their students, try to save the life of Professor X, defeat Cassandra Nova and prevent the extinction of all mutantkind.

            Okay, it’s me again. And may I just say, I LOVED this book. This graphic novel has a lot of sentimental value for me. The issues in this book were originally published between 2001-2002, right when I started regularly reading Marvel comic books, and these issues were in my collection. Grant Morrison’s tenure as the writer of New X-Men between 2001-2004 remains one of my all-time favorite runs of Marvel comics ever, so when I read that Marvel was publishing New X-Men as a Modern Era Epic Collection, I was thrilled. Honestly, I thought his work was brilliant and I hope Marvel continues the series as Modern Era Epic Collections because I would love to read the rest again. I thought that Morrison picked the perfect team for his stories. I felt that adding Emma Frost was just a stroke of genius. I liked Beast’s redesign. The feline look was so awesome compared to his previous look. And I loved the new leather costumes. They looked so cool. Emma Frost had a very… attention grabbing design, to say the least. I loved the new students. The Stepford Cuckoos have been favorites of mine. The concept of finally making the Xavier Institute into a proper school was perfect, it created so many new opportunities in the years to come and gave me characters to identify with, being a teenager myself at the time. I felt like Cassandra Nova was a great villain, and the U-Men were a great threat. I loved how Jean Grey manifested the Phoenix. BUT! The art was not my favorite. It just didn’t quite do it for me. The style wasn’t to my liking.

            Now, let’s talk about accessibility. I know some of you already know what I mean by this, I know I do have regulars, but I also know that many of you may be new to a Tim Cubbin review, so I feel like I must explain it to you, so bear with me, my loyalists. By accessibility, I mean how easy this graphic novel will be to just pick up and read for people who are new to the world of the X-Men. I have to say that I feel like this book is the perfect jump on point for new readers. I say this from experience. Granted I had some knowledge before I started reading this, I had seen some episodes of the “X-Men” animated series from the 1990s, had been a regular viewer of “X-Men: Evolution” and had seen the first 20^th Century Fox “X-Men” movie (which was the only one that had been released at the time). But I still feel like it’s self-explanatory enough for a new reader to pick up on. This graphic novel doesn’t directly pick up from any previous storylines, nor does it cross over into other series. This is rare for a Modern Era Epic Collection to be so standalone like this, I honestly don’t think I’ve seen that very much. There are no other events from the time that this ties into, so it’s not like the reader is missing any pieces while reading this book. I think that makes this one of the best Modern Era Epic Collections for a new reader to pick. Granted having some knowledge of the X-Men before reading this would help, but I picked up on this series quickly enough back in 2001 with a lot less opportunities for experience of the X-Men than we do now in 2024 as I write this review, and I’d only read a few issues of “Uncanny X-Men” from 2001 before starting with this series. Of course, after reading this series for a few months, I got heavy into X-Men and bought a bunch of old graphic novels to fill in some blanks, but this series is what ignited my passion for Marvel Comics. Honestly, I don’t think I’d have gotten as full on into Marvel without Grant Morrison, so I thank him for that. But if you’re looking to start with X-Men and have never read it, this is a perfect place to start.

            Now we come to the single most important part of my review: the score! I score on a basic system. I work on a scale of one to ten. One means this is a piece of trash, toss it and light it on fire, ten means this is sheer perfection. I would honestly LOVE to give this book a ten. Morrison told a story that would get a ten from me, but the artists sadly prevented me from handing out that ten. This IS a GRAPHIC novel, so I can’t discount the artwork when I give this book a score. Still, the designs of the new costumes and the new look of Beast were endearing to me, so I can’t be TOO harsh on the artists. So, put it all in the blender, mix it up, and toss out the score and it is… nine! This book was SO close to perfection, if there had been some different artists, this book could have gotten a ten easy, I’m so sad that I must deduct a point for the art.

            Next up is the recommendation. Obviously, you can figure that I recommend this book. And as to who I recommend this book to, I would say anyone. This series is the series that ignited my passion for Marvel Comics. I’d tell you that even if you’ve never heard of the X-Men before reading this review and have even the slightest bit of interest in reading this book based solely on this review alone, make every effort to read this book. I’ve told you about the characters and the whole point of the X-Men, I think it shouldn’t be all that hard to follow now. This is Vol. 1. And if you’re a fan of the X-Men from any capacity, whether from any comics, or from the movies or cartoons, you honestly should make every effort to read this book, I feel like you will find this book worth your time. I mean, I practically gave this book a ten, so if I’m being this generous to a graphic novel, chances are it’s good. I’m not an easy scorer, I don’t just go around giving out tens to everything I read. If you’re a fan of “X-Men ’97,” you will notice that the episode “Remember It” takes inspiration from this graphic novel, you’re at the top of my recommendation list.

            Well, I think we can start to wrap this up at this point. I will tell you that there are dozens of other book reviews on this blog, I post very frequently. I specialize in Marvel reviews, so if you’re a Marvel fan, keep checking this site out, there are tons of others, I think you might find something else you’ll like. You can expect another review sometime in the next two weeks, so keep checking for that. I’ve written a few short stories, some poetry, articles, essays, editorials, and the like, so there’s plenty of other content to see here, so you can keep looking. I think that’ll do it for now, so I’ll say just a few more words: Tim Cubbin… out!