"New X-Men: New Worlds"

 

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

            The X-Men are a team of mutant outreach workers who fight for the peaceful coexistence between the two species of both baseline human beings and those born with mutations that set them apart from normal human beings. Their base of operations is the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, located in Salem Center in New York’s Westchester County. There the X-Men teach young mutants both a regular education and how to use their gifts to protect themselves and benefit human and mutantkind. They were founded by Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X, and include Scott Summers/Cyclops, Jean Grey-Summers/Phoenix, Henry “Hank” McCoy/Beast, James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine, Emma Frost/White Queen, and Xorn.

            The presence of a “monster” from “Mutant Town” was sparking riots in New York City. Xorn, who grew up in China and had been jailed since his mutation emerged and had been considered a monster himself, went to Mutant Town to investigate. He found a woman and her son, the “monster,” a young mutant who was ten days away from reaching his genetic potential. After his mother died, the young mutant went on a rampage, and the cops stepped in, and during the confrontation, the young mutant was never able to transition to his true form.

            As part of his mutant outreach program, Charles Xavier opened the X-Corporation, a worldwide agency of X-Men teams. Professor X and Jean Grey-Summers went to visit one of the offices in Europe as part of Professor X’s lecture tour. This team consisted of Theresa Rourke/Siryn, Monet St. Croix/M, Jamie Madrox/Multiple Man, Julio Richter/Rictor, Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, and Leynia Petrovna/Darkstar. Jean informed the team of a gene-hazard involved in a trainwreck in the Channel Tunnel leaving one hundred and fifty-one people trapped in the wreckage. While the team was dispatched, Jean asked Professor X to talk to the Phoenix to learn if her new powers were a threat since the last time the X-Men dealt with the Phoenix, the force turned malevolent and caused destruction on a cosmic level. They were interrupted by the arrival of Fantomex, a European mutant criminal seeking sanctuary, and a military unit sent to apprehend him. He informed them the gene-hazard on the train was Weapon XII. Cyclops turned to Emma Frost for marriage counseling. Professor X and Jean helped Fantomex escape from the military and retreated to Fantomex’ home, where Fantomex tried to sell Professor X information on the Weapon Plus Program, the operation that created Weapon XII and gave the X-Men’s own Wolverine his adamantium skeleton and wiped Wolverine’s memories of his past, but Professor X refused to be bought. Fantomex had been on a quest to kill Weapon XII. He, Professor X, Jean, and the European X-Corporation team were able to end the threat of Weapon XII, but Darkstar did not survive. Afterwards, Jean allowed Fantomex to escape after learning Fantomex himself was actually Weapon XIII.

            Warren Worthington III/Archangel was teaching a flying lesson to several students at the Xavier Institute, including Barnell Bohusk/Beak and Angel Salvadore. Beak was unable to fly, and Angel offered him motivation by giving Beak a kiss. Although unable to fly, and although Angel had been put up to it, this caused Beak to develop feelings for Angel. Cyclops and Emma’s counseling sessions began to turn into more than just counseling.

            Professor X, Jean, Ororo Munroe/Storm, Ruth Bat-Seraph/Sabra, Neal Sharra/Thunderbird, and Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver went to the ruins of Genosha, the former mutant island homeland that had recently been destroyed by Cassanda Nova’s Sentinel attack. Unus, one of the refugees hiding out on Genosha, reported seeing ghosts and a green-haired woman, leading Professor X to believe Lorna Dane/Polaris, daughter of Erik Lensherr/Magneto, the President of Genosha, might be somewhere on the island. The group searched for Polaris and found she was going insane, causing magnetic fields, and replaying voice recordings of people’s last moments alive on the island before the destruction. Polaris was building a monument to her father and played the last words of Magneto as Professor X and Jean calmed Polaris down.

            Wolverine went to Afghanistan to find a newly discovered mutant named Sooraya Qadir. Professor X and Jean flew to Mumbai to meet up with them and the Mumbai office of X-Corporation. At the airport, Jean prevented Lilandra Nerimani, Professor X’s wife and Shi’ar Empress, from assassinating Professor X. Lilandra believed her husband to still be possessed by Cassandra Nova, who had recently corrupted the Shi’ar Imperium. Due to this, Imperial Sage Araki annulled Professor X and Lilandra’s marriage and cut all ties between the Shi’ar and the planet Earth.

            Mutant fashion designer Jumbo Carnation died in Mutant Town, apparently murdered by a group of human teenagers. Beast and Cyclops investigated the crime scene where Beast discovered a Kick inhaler, a drug that temporarily boosts a mutant’s powers. The Xavier Institute was getting ready for Open Day, where humans would be invited to tour the school grounds and interact with the mutant faculty and students. Promising student Quentin Quire learned he was adopted and began undergoing a secondary mutation, greatly impacting his sense of identity. He became extremely rebellious, began using Kick, and sporting a provocative new haircut and fashion statement. Xorn was assigned to teach the Special Class at the Xavier Institute, Angel, Basilisk, Beak, Martha Johansson, Ernst, and Dummy. He began by taking them on a walk in the woods around the Xavier Institute. Quentin assembled a gang of students, and they began dressing the same, using Kick, getting matching tattoos and attacking humans outside of Mutant Town. Xorn and the Special Class were attacked by the U-Men, a group of human fanatics who harvest mutant organs and then implant them into themselves in the hope of gaining mutant powers. They managed to win the fight. Cyclops and Emma’s relationship continued to intensify. Quentin and his gang knocked out Professor X the night before Open Day and used a helmet on him to inhibit his telepathic powers. They caused a riot at Xavier’s on Open Day, attacking the humans who had come to visit. The X-Men fought the gang Emma Frost’s prized students, the Stepford Cuckoos, joined the fight, using Kick to boost their telepathic powers, and stopped Quentin, but not all of them survived using the drug. Following the conclusion of the riot, the school year came close to wrapping up. Professor X announced he would be stepping down as headmaster of the Xavier Institute. On Prizegiving night, Angel revealed to Beak that she was pregnant and was afraid the two of them would be kicked out of the school. Jean discovered what her husband and Emma had been up to. She was not happy to say the least. Jean and Emma had a psychic argument, and Cyclops fled the Institute. Emma admitted to Wolverine that she had fallen in love with Cyclops. Beast came to check on Emma later, only to discover she had been shot while in her diamond form and shattered into millions of pieces. Professor X called in Lucas Bishop and Sage, mutant investigators, to try to solve the crime. Everyone in the school was a suspect. The outcome of the investigation led to the uncovering of an even deeper conspiracy going on within the Xavier Institute right under the X-Men’s noses.

            Okay, I feel that wraps up our overview of the synopsis. I tried to include as minimal spoilers as I could for this review as I don’t want to make it superfluous for you to read the book if I tell the entire story including the ending in this review, so I’m giving you a teasing reason to want to read this book so you can find out some of the bigger surprises, like who shot Emma. Anyway, you’re probably wondering now what I’m going to say next. I know some of you have read my reviews before, I’ve done over four dozen of them at this point, so there’s a good chance that some of you reading right now aren’t new to this blog. Anyway, at this point, I’m going to tell you my thoughts on this book. Okay, so I’ll start by saying I’ve been reading Marvel Comic Books regularly for almost twenty-five years now, and I read these issues when they first came out back in 2002-2003. Let me say, Grant Morrison’s run on “New X-Men” is actually up there as one of my all-time favorites. So last year, when the first volume of “New X-Men” as a Modern Era Epic Collection was announced, of course I was thrilled. Unfortunately, I had to wait a full year for volume two, and I have a feeling Marvel intends to do another full year wait for volume three, which is a pain because this book does leave the reader hanging, not everything is resolved at the end, there’s still the conspiracy that isn’t solved, Cyclops has fled, there are a few other loose ends, so a year long wait will be torture to get the conclusion of Morrison’s run on the series, and I remember thinking back then that waiting a month for the next issue was torture every time I finished. But hey, there are plenty more Modern Era Epic Collections coming out between that time, so at least I’ll have other series to read. Anyway, I thought Morrison was a brilliant writer. That first story about the “monster” in Mutant Town was just devastating, my heart broke while reading that issue. The X-Corporation story was great, too. I loved the scene where Professor X met with Phoenix. Fantomex is a character I have always enjoyed. I loved the X-Men team Morrison put together that looking back was basically the team Peter David took and used for his “X-Factor” series a few years later, which is another one of my all-time favorite comic book runs, and with David’s passing, I hope Marvel decides to use his run on the series as a Modern Era Epic Collection series, I would totally love that. I liked how Morrison decided that when Wolverine was called “Weapon X” he was actually Weapon Ten, and that there were more Weapons in the Weapon Plus program, I loved that whole development and it led to a lot of great stories in the time after that. I loved the story with Polaris, especially how she replayed Magneto’s last words, I thought they were immensely powerful. I loved how Morrison shipped Cyclops and Emma Frost, I actually liked them together better than I did Cyclops and Jean Grey. The confrontation scene between Jean and Emma was fantastic, in my opinion, by the way, the way Jean totally tore Emma apart, and I loved Emma’s reveal that she had plastic surgery to make herself pretty. I loved Xorn’s Special Class of misfits, Dummy was funny, but I honestly don’t feel like it’s appropriate to discuss him on this blog, you’ll have to read the book if you want to find out about him. I loved the “No-Girl” jokes, especially since eventually she actually really did exist. Quentin Quire has always been a character I’ve enjoyed over the years, he’s gone on to have some really great storylines and has been a very entertaining character and Morrison did an excellent job creating him the way he did. I always loved the Stepford Cuckoos, they’ve also had great stories throughout the past two decades. I loved the story of Emma Frost’s demise, that really kept me going for months when it first came out, I remember waiting for so long for the truth to finally come out, and when it did, I was blown away, but the big reveal doesn’t actually happen in this book, so if you’ve never read it before and you read this book right around the time of me writing this review, you’re going to have a long wait to find out. I loved Angel and Beak’s storyline, their bizarre relationship was entertaining, especially at the end of this book. Beast had an unusual storyline that I don’t feel is appropriate to discuss, but it made for a few good laughs. There was so much I loved about this book. But there is a major problem with this book for me, that being the artists. This book had six artists, and I did not like a single one of them. This book for me was a visual disaster. I wanted to love this, the story was so good but looking at this was just absolutely awful. This just ruined the book for me. Also, I caught a mistake in #135 with the art. In the teachers’ meeting scene on one page, Jean Grey-Summers is sitting in a chair wearing a skirt with bare legs, and on the next page, she is wearing pants. This is one of those minor details that they probably later thought no one would notice, but it did not escape me. Also, Emma’s outfit changed many times over the course of this book, none of them honestly being appropriate to wear in a school for teenagers. Some of the artists also did a terrible job drawing Beak, one in particular made him look even more unnatural than he already should. If this book had different artists, this book could have potentially been more appealing. But as far as Morrison’s work went, the book was great, I loved that, but the art just ruined something great.

            Anyway, I’ve gone on for quite a while, let’s move on to some other topics. Next up on our agenda is the accessibility segment. I’ve said this over four dozen times now, but I have to say it once again because I know some of you are newbies to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin and have no idea what I mean by this. Anyway, accessibility simply means if a reader who knows nothing about X-Men can pick up this book and comprehend all the details they are reading. So, this is Vol. 2, and I will tell you that if you haven’t read Vol. 1 “E is for Extinction” you will be very lost. This is a direct continuation from there, picking up on many threads from the previous volume, so not reading that is very harmful to accessibility. I will tell you if you haven’t read “E is for Extinction,” don’t even try to read this book. However, if you have read the previous volume, this book is fine to read, this has no direct ties to any other series or events from the time and is completely self-contained, so continuing from there is no problem at all, and Vol. 1 is highly accessible, it’s where I started reading twenty-five years ago, so feel free to follow in my footsteps. If you want to start reading Marvel Comics or X-Men after reading this review, start with “New X-Men: E is for Extinction” then move on to “New Worlds,” it’s a good jump on point.

            This has been pretty lengthy at this point, so I’m going to move on to our next segment, which is my numeric score. Now, everything that goes with a numeric score has a specific scale. My system is extremely simple. I score on exact numbers between one to ten. One is the worst score I give and means this book is completely unreadable and I hated every second I spend consuming it. Ten is a score of perfection and is not a score I give very often. My roommate often says “Tim, why don’t you give books a ten?” and I reply “I can’t give out a score of a ten to a book with flaws, it has to be perfect to get a ten,” to which he replies “but there’s no such thing as perfection,” to which I say “that’s why I don’t give out many tens.” To get a ten, a book has to have a story that I find no problems with, and the art has to be consistently visually pleasing. As far as the story goes with this book, I would really love to give this book a nine. I don’t quite feel the story was complete perfection, but it was absolutely amazing. But we have the art, which was consistently displeasing, so for that, I have to deduct points. And unfortunately, in this case, that really hurts this book. I found very few panels in this book that I actually enjoyed artistically looking at, even though I loved reading the story. So, I’m just going to move on to giving this book a score since I’ve been rambling on for a while now and you’re probably getting tired of me. So, taking everything into account, the fantastic story but the horrible art, we put it all together and I throw out to you… a six. I really wanted to like this book, and for the most part, I enjoyed reading the story, but the art was just so horrendous that reading this was slightly unpleasant.

            Next, we’re moving on the my recommendation section. In this segment, I tell you, my reader, if I personally recommend this book to you, and if I do or don’t, who I think should be reading this. So, as far as if this book gets the Tim Cubbin personal recommendation, that is a resounding yes. Story wise, this book is fantastic and a delightful read, if you can get past the art. If you are a fan of X-Men, I totally recommend reading the “New X-Men” Modern Era Epic Collections. I feel like Morrison did a fantastic job and any X-Men fan should read this amazing run. If you’re a fan of Grant Morrison, definitely read this, his work on this series was stellar. I’ve never read anything else by Grant Morrison personally, so I can’t speak for him as an author, but I feel like if you’ve read his work on anything else before and enjoyed it, you should definitely read “New X-Men,” I feel like it’s a fantastic series and deserves a read. If you’re a Marvel Comics reader, I think this should definitely be on your queue of things to read.

            Well, I think I’ve taken up enough of your time, this has certainly taken up a lot of my time, so how about we all move on with our lives in just a wee bit. First, I do have a few more things of note before I sign off. Okay, I’ve been doing this blog for five years at this point, and as I’ve said, I’ve done over four dozen other book reviews just like this one, so if you enjoyed reading this, check out timcubbin.blogspot.com for plenty more book reviews. I’ve posted on this site over 160 times, I’m sure you’ll find something else you’ll like. I’ve done a review of “New X-Men: E is for Extinction” so if you liked this review, please check that one out if you haven’t already. I will tell you I post of a very frequent basis, Marvel puts out at least one Modern Era Epic Collection a month, and I buy every single one of them and try to throw up a review as soon as I possibly can. I have a few I haven’t reviewed yet, I might remedy that someday, I’m not totally sure. One book I didn’t review since I spent too much time after reading it before attempting to write a review, it centered around multiple Marvel events which I never read so I didn’t fully understand it, and the details just left my mind before I could review it, but if another volume of that series comes out, you can expect that review to come out. There are a couple of other series that might not get other volumes and I didn’t have this laptop at the time I read them, so I couldn’t write reviews at those exact moments, so I’m not sure if those will get reviews, but who knows, I might decide to go back and fix that. I also collect Marvel Ultimate Epic Collections, and I review those. So, every month, there’s probably going to be something to read. I’m expecting another delivery today, but it’s running late, so I’m not sure when I’ll be getting it, but you can expect to see a review of that one sometime in the next three weeks. If you’re into other styles of reading, I’ve also written a few short stories and poems, plus I’ve done editorials, essays, and articles, so you can check those out as well, if you’re so inclined and have some time to kill and want to continue hanging out with me. If you think this review seems pretty professional, I have a degree in journalism, but due to cruddy life circumstances, I can’t get a job in the field and am relegated to working as an Instacart shopper at a local grocery store instead of getting paid for blogging as was my dream job, but you have to go with what life gives you, so I do these reviews for free to feel like I’m somehow using my degree. I will continue to post for as long as I can, so that’s likely to be a long time coming. So, expect me to keep coming back and I hope you become a fan of me and keep coming back too. So, I’ll say goodbye for now, but until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"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!