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Underground > Comic Books >

New X-Men #127

  
  

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uncle retrospective
10:53 / 31.05.02

preview

Oh, it looks nice.....
 
 
The Natural Way
13:34 / 31.05.02
Lovely cover, too.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
14:11 / 31.05.02
Oh, it looks wonderful...I like John Paul Leon's artwork a lot. They should keep him - I'd love to have 4 issues a year from him, Quitely, and Jiminez. That would be perfect.

I love that cover - I think it's the best NXM cover so far, or at least tied with the first issue. So...what's up with both Xorn covers having him with junk food? The first one had him eating potato chips, and this one has the cheeseburger - it's kinda funny, but what's it all about?
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
14:20 / 31.05.02
that is a great cover. and look, is that bill seikowatch in the credits?

inking or summat - jeans face looks a bit sinky style.
 
 
yawn - thing's buddy
14:25 / 31.05.02
xorn's maybe addicted to junk food because he's only be recently exposed to it.

could be his achilles heel.

man, I love xorn.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
14:29 / 31.05.02
I think you described Xorn best, Yawn: "he's naive and nice."

He's a very refreshing character in superhero fiction, I think.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
14:30 / 31.05.02
Well, it's Elvis under that mask... obviously.
 
 
Axel Lambert
16:28 / 31.05.02
Is that inks by Bill Sienkiewicz?
 
 
Mr Tricks
20:47 / 31.05.02
WHEN WHEN when!?!?!?
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:51 / 31.05.02
Next week. Same week as The Filth #1, a double dose of Grant for us all.

New X-Men comes out five times over the summer.

127 - June 5th (art by John Paul Leon)

128 - June 19th (art by Igor Kordey)

129 - July 17th (art by Igor Kordey)

130 - August 14th (art by Igor Kordey)

131 - August 28th (art by John Paul Leon)

132 - third week of September (art by Phil Jiminez)
 
 
A
05:13 / 01.06.02
hmmm, Xorn sees like the vegetarian type to me. maybe it's a tofu burger, or something.....
 
 
bio k9
06:51 / 01.06.02
Maybe hes going to heal it.
 
 
Logos
10:49 / 01.06.02
"Get her autograph, then let her burn."

Snark.
 
 
quinine92001
04:02 / 02.06.02
Who wants enlightenment when you can have a mcdonald's hamburger?
 
 
moriarty
04:07 / 02.06.02
My brother collects the New X-Men. It's the only comic he buys. As of last issue, he will no longer be picking it up, because he doesn't want to deal with non-Quitely issues for half a year. I'm trying to convince him to go just one more issue. John Paul Leon is fab.
 
 
The Natural Way
10:43 / 02.06.02
That's a shame. Jimenez is real nice, and Sciver's okay.
 
 
Captain Zoom
19:05 / 05.06.02
S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

Goddamn!
Can Grant get any better? I really loved this issue. Grant has morphed Prof. X into his avatar quite nicely. The art suited the story, and I don't know if this one would have been better for Mr. Quitely's expert touch or not. The story was a little trite, though only if the search for the "mutant monster" was seen as the main story, which it plainly was not. Xorn's developing into one of my favourite characters, and really embodies the pacifist heroes that Grant is pushing. Excellent.

A question though. Mutant town? Is this a development from a prior issue that I missed, or from another series? Sounds like the New Universe New York to me, but then no one else read that, did they?

Zoom.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
00:00 / 06.06.02
I think this is the best issue of New X-Men thus far.

There's something so poetic and lovely about Xorn, in the way that he speaks and acts, and in the concept of what he is. I really like how it is explained that he does not see or hear the way that humans do, but senses and understands wavelengths and vibrations. I love thinking about what that must feel like, and how that could be quite liberating. I'm no science guy, but is my little brother correct when he says that Xorn perceives things in 6D? That's so beautiful.

I like how *good* Xorn is, how he is unselfish, how only wishes to help others, that all he wants is peace. I like how he has trouble understanding why other people do not feel this way, and I like how Professor Xavier tries to explain it to him. There's so many lovely quotable bits in this issue, many of them in the scene with Xavier and Xorn - a quiet discussion between two philosophical visionaries.

I think the artwork in this issue is perfect, and I don't think anyone else who may have had the opportunity to draw the issue would have captured the feeling of the story as well. I like the way that Leon and Sienkiewicz render the scenes in Manhattan - they really do look and feel a lot like Chinatown - and the scenes with Xorn on the subway and in the tenement building just look so right. Leon has a lot of talent for drawing very natural body language, and articulating a feeling of quiet sadness in the drawings.

The basic plot with Xorn trying to save the "monster" child is sort of irrelevant, it's obviously just there to give the story context and show Xorn doing something. This story is about letting the reader to get to know Xorn, and I think it did that wonderfully. I think that at least for the moment, Xorn is my favorite character in superhero fiction.

Oh, and my favorite line, among the tight competition:


You wished to see my thoughts and were blinded by the sun beneath my mask, Professor Xavier...so I have tried to capture my feelings for you, in the form of symbols here on this book of paper leaves. But these lines and curves are not much like thoughts or feelings at all.

Oh, and I thought it was cute that Xorn referred to Cerebra as Xavier's "finding-machine".
 
 
Tamayyurt
00:10 / 06.06.02
Flux- is my little brother correct when he says that Xorn perceives things in 6D? That's so beautiful.

I don't know but he was able to look over that man's shoulder and see not only his past but the past of his grandfather. At the very least he has 4D vision.

I wonder what would happen if Xorn put on Cerebra.
 
 
Rev. Jesse
00:27 / 06.06.02
If he could see in 6D, he would be a 9D being, as the number of dimensions that an object exists in equals the number of observable dimensions times one half the number of observable dimensions.

As humans, we can perceive 4 dimensions at once, and therefore exist in 6 dimensions.
 
 
Sandfarmer
02:00 / 06.06.02
I loved this issue. It is the best of the non-Quitely issues. The art was nice. Much improved.

I really like Zorn. I hope he gets developed more before Morrison's eventual departure. I wonder if Morrison will kill him off the way he did Zauriel to insure some hack does not mess him up.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
02:48 / 06.06.02
I doubt Grant would do anything to hurt Xorn. I think Grant is intentionally trying to alter the X-Men in a way so that his successors would have to continue on with the direction he is moving things in - Xorn is a big part of the pacifist themes that Grant is adding to the comic.

also, an observation

Xorn : New X-Men as Rebis : Doom Patrol
 
 
Boy in a Suitcase
03:45 / 06.06.02
Rev. Jesse, what's your source on the 6D thing? I'd love to see that.
 
 
Mesmer
13:24 / 06.06.02
Here's a question, and let me preface this by saying that I share everyone's affection for Xorn. Grant has gone balls to the wall on characterization, ingenuity and high concept cool with him. Plus he just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

But, are we all being lulled into i-love-xorn complacency here? Grant created a meditative childlike character. I could easily see him turning that on it's end the more xorn interacts with regular humans.
 
 
Tamayyurt
15:03 / 06.06.02
He's like E.T.
 
 
CameronStewart
15:17 / 06.06.02
I must say that if JP Leon could do the fill-in art all the time, I'd be a very happy boy indeed. Beautiful stuff.
 
 
Mr Tricks
19:52 / 06.06.02
excellent... Loved the looking over the guys shoulder into the past...

The bowl of rice at the very end...

10 days and her would have reached his potential... can Xorn look into the future as well?

a shing star of pure thought(s) . . .
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:09 / 06.06.02
(said as though I am a very small child)

How does Xorn eat?
 
 
Captain Zoom
20:23 / 06.06.02
Yeah, I noticed that too with the rice at the end. Unless he vapourizes it and takes in the resultant energy. But you just know he's going to be vapourizing another bowl of rice in half an hour.

Zoom.
 
 
Rev. Jesse
15:07 / 08.06.02

I don’t have the scientific reference immediately handy on the 9D thing cause I’m at work. It might be in Hyperspace but it is pretty simple to demonstrate. Take a piece of paper, which has two measurable dimensions (let’s leave time out this for right now). Fold it by taking two opposite corners and make them touch. The paper now has a measurable height, in addition to the length and width. The number of dimensions equals the number of perceptible dimensions times one half the number of the perceptible dimensions, 3 in this case. If we assume that space-time is curved, than all substances must be curved as well, to some degree and must follow the same rules for the number of dimensions occupied. So if Xorn can see in 6D, he would have to take up 9 dimensions.

“Naïve?” Xorn is “naïve?”

He’s been locked in a Communist prison for sixty years and I’m sure in that time, he’s seen the worst of human nature. That’s not what I would call, naïve.

The way I see it, he’s more like St. John of the Cross, he’s experienced the most horrible nightmares mankind can come up with, and has come back out on the other side with a renewed faith. He’s the transcendent human, transformed by the dark night of the soul.

This is paralleled in Scott’s conversation with him in last year’s annual wherein he mentions a theory that postulates that a black hole can turn into a white star, spewing and spreading light and radiance across the universe.

Now he’s just trying to make do in a modern world that he doesn’t completely understand. This is not just the technology he’s dealing with, but also the coolness enveloping modern relationships. He’s in America now, where instead of worshipping the family and ancestors as he’s used to, we bow down before individuality and conspicuous consumption. Xorn is trying to adjust to this.

Finally, Mutant Town is an awful, awful name for a section of New York city. Then again, so is Chinatown and Little Italy.

-Jesse
 
 
The Natural Way
16:16 / 09.06.02
It's perfect: as you've just demonstrated, place-names are rarely very imaginative.

Know it was trite, but found myself getting all upset by monster mutant.... Just wrong. And before our dragon boy sprouted wings of fiery, new awareness.... Bastards. First story to really hammer home the feeling that, from one point of view, all the humans are resisting is the reemergence of magic within the world. So I don't really think the child was irrelevant at all.

Jesus was such a nice guy, how can you say those things:

Xorn might have his ups and downs, but I get the impression he's being used by Morrison as a light to guide the way into our glorious mutant future: A cipher for the obliterating light of the new aeon! Nativity X! So, he aint gonna turn out bad (or at least he won't stay that way)....still the going might get tough.... Horus does have his blazing, flamey-swordy side in the shape of Rah-Hoor-Khuit - Harpocrates's bloody, purifying aspect. But, really, I expect most of the X-Men's horusey problems to emanate from other sources. Humans... The kids....

I get the feeling part of the above could be used as splash page spiel for a special Xorn X-Book.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
17:13 / 09.06.02
Liked it. Though the art quality seemed to go up and down throughout the book.

I like the way that Grant is slowly turning the X-Men into what Magneto always thought they should be, both Jean and Xavier seem to think that it's okay to control people when not fighting them (Jean wiping Emma's attack on that woman at the press conference, using her powers to evacuate everyone downstairs, Xavier talking about remote controlling mutants out of danger). It looks like Grant has possibly worked out how to turn the X-Men into a more benevolent version of Magneto's philosophy...
 
 
The Natural Way
17:34 / 09.06.02
Yeah, it's all that Wilberian, "integralist" politics Grant's into now - "Zen Fascism" and stuff.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:05 / 09.06.02
I don't know - I don't think temporarily disrupting free will in order to save someone's life is all that horrible an intrusion, it's certainly something that a rational person would forgive very easily. I think it comes down to the old Spider-Man thing, 'with great power comes great responsibility' - I would think that if it came down to a question of ethics, they have the gifts to help people, and if the situation arises and they don't help, they are being irresponsible.

I don't think it has anything with Magneto's philosophies at all - Magneto's politics always came down to humans being lesser creatures than mutants, and if his acolytes were handling the situation, they would be more interested in punishing the humans than getting the victims to safety.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
18:40 / 09.06.02
I also found this to be one of the most satisfying issues of NXM so far. What's great about it is the restraint and simplicity (something that GM does very well but doesn't always get credit for) - he takes what's on the surface quite a cliched X-Men story and with just a few neat touches and changes of emphasis, makes it into something quite affecting. For example, one of the great things about the 'monster' child, Sonny, is the way that his disproportionately large head makes him look not only monstrous but also like an infant... Or when he wakes up and attacks Xorn, the word 'Mom' can be found stuck in the middle of the weird noise he makes - he's just found his mother unconscious and a strange masked man in his home, of course he's going to lash out...

One of the things I've realised I really like about New X-Men is that in many ways it's Grant Morrison's most openly political work, in the sense that it's about a group of idealistic volunteers who go out without any official recognition and try to improve the lot of marginalized and persecuted people, while at the same time trying to "build bridges" between those people and mainstream society, *and* influence change in that society by using ideas that have sprung up from the marginalized individuals/communities. It's sort of radical despite itself, or at least unconsciously (it seems that way to me, anyway, especially when contrasted with his largely apolitical non-fictional writings). I can't shake the impression that the X-Men are essentially like Doctors Without Borders, and I like the fact that Grant shows that the official authorities at best tolerate their presence in the kind of situations they deal with...

It's also great the way that Xorn's very basic sense of morality and his idealism make him seem weird and crazy to 'ordinary people'. He's just like Chomsky (no, really).

Xorn: In ten days it would have been all right. He would have reached his full potential.

Cop: Fuck that!

The most heart-rending moment has to be seeing the kid's body being lifted into the dumper truck... He's not a person, he's a waste product. And then there's a simple gesture of kindness, and that lovely final panel. Kinda cheered me up.

Life goes on.

P.S. Forget to mention that I've just realised why Scott and Xorn get on so well - Scott has to wear those glasses all the time or he'll hurt people, right? And Xorn has to go one step further and is totally enclosed in this mask... Which parallels Scott's emotional repression, he's sort of locked down and sealed up - notice how they both wear gloves, in Xorn's case so that sometimes there's no bare skin at all. It's all very fetish-y and in the case of the boy Summers clearly strongly tied in to his sexual 'perversions'. And next issue Emma makes a move on him. Could be interesting, but we all know it's Xorn he really wants.
 
  

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