Tug's Pick of the Week
New
X-Men # 154
This coming Wednesday will be something of a sad day in my
life as a comic book reader. That’s because this Wednesday will bring the last
issue of Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men. While this certainly has been
a long, strange trip that we’ve taken with Grant, it’s been nothing short of
spectacular storytelling every issue and has truly changed the way that we think
about the X-Men.
New X-Men # 154 finishes up Grant's final story arc, “Here Comes
Tomorrow,” which shows us visions of the X-Men 150 years in the future. An
updated “Days of Future Past,” to be sure, but the great thing about Grant’s run
is that while he set out to model his run after the early Claremont/Byrne
X-Men, he has made it uniquely his own as well.
“Here Comes Tomorrow” finds the remnants of the X-Men (Wolverine, Cassandra
Nova, EVA, a new Beak, and Martha the floating brain, as well as a British human
who has a pet Sentinel) taking on a Beast (!) who has discovered the sleeping
Phoenix Egg. And with that sentence, I suddenly realize I can’t get any further
into the story without spoiling things for you, dear reader. Suffice it to say, this issue is full of the typical philosophical revelations that we’ve come
to expect from Grant along with some incredible action. Morrison is without a
doubt a writer who knows how to end a run. Everything in this issue ties into
the entire run of the book while perfectly setting up May’s "X-Men: Reload" event.
Oh, yeah, and the issue also has some lovely art by that Marc Silvestri guy who
has been on for the entire “Here Comes Tomorrow” storyline. He makes the future
look like one scary place.
Morrison’s run on New X-Men has certainly been one of the best I’ve ever read in
all my years, and the ending doesn’t disappoint. In fact, if anything, it just
makes me want to go back and pick up the first issue and start reading it all
the way through again. It’s one of those runs that you could read over and over
and always discover something new.
For those who have been reading it, enjoy this last issue!
For those who haven’t, get on it! We’ve got all the New X-Men trades in stock. Give ‘em a shot. You won’t regret it.
Looking for other cool stuff this week? Sure you are —
Robin # 124 is a big issue. I can’t say too much without spoilers, but Robin’s
world gets turned upside down here. I think the cover says it all. We all know
by now that Tim is going to quit being Robin (at least for a while), and this is
where it all begins. It will be extremely interesting to see how this turns out.
Fantastic Four # 511 concludes the “Hereafter” story, where the team has gone to
get Ben Grimm back from Heaven (!). Again, I can’t say too much without spoiling
it, but let’s just say that by the end I must’ve had something in my eye. Why
else would it be watering up a little?