June 06, 2002

 

I really enjoyed reading New X-Men #127. I think it's Grant Morrison's best issue so 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. He's certainly the most refreshing one, anyway.

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

...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.


I also read the first issue of Morrison's The Filth series yesterday. I think the new issue of New X-Men was a lot better. The differences are quite stark - the NXM comic was quiet and intimate, simplistic and character driven. It was all about thoughts and emotions. The Filth was more like The Invisibles, kind of cold and distant - it felt a bit like a put-on, something that was trying to get me excited or even shock me. It's far too early for me to say much about this series, but I sure hope Grant makes at least one of the characters likeable, because I just can't get into any of these characters.

Reading the issue, I got the feeling that it was like a bunch of leftover ideas for the Invisibles (or things Grant thought of afterwards and was upset that they came too late) just thrown together. The Filth certainly has that "here's a big idea! here's another one! here's something sort of crazy! here's some people acting sort of badass!" thing that the Invisibles had, but I've never really been into that much. I'd much rather have characters, thank you. Still, I'm being really unfair since this is only the first issue out of a series of thirteen. Or perhaps I'm being more fair to Grant than he deserves - if someone else wrote this, I'd be thinking "geez. another dystopian future. and the characters are a bit like the ones in The Matrix. oh brother, here we go again."

I quite liked that a lot of the scenes played out without dialogue and intentionally moved slowly...I think Weston shows off a lot of his storytelling chops, and just from this issue I already have a greater appreciation of his talents.

Jack Fear has some interesting ideas about the first issue, and I think they improved my second reading of the issue, though I'm still not feeling it.