Joss Whedon // John Cassaday
December 2006
****
The psychic cuckoo gets revealed: Cassandra Nova, hijacking Emma to escape her alien body-prison. But editorial should’ve told Whedon (2+ years ago!) that she’d been rehabilitated as a “special” student! This arc, like the last, should’ve been tighter, but a sudden leap into space opera augers well.
[last issue: Astonishing X-Men #17]
[next issue: Astonishing X-Men #19]
Archive for the ‘Cassandra Nova’ Category
Astonishing X-Men #18
December 28, 2012Astonishing X-Men #17
December 27, 2012
Joss Whedon // John Cassaday
November 2006
***
Whedon delivers a stunning misdirection—SWORD’s mole is Lockheed—and indulges in a favorite maneuver: revealing action is a dream (or in this case, a psychic drama). Kitty P thinks she’s lived 3 years & had a kid w/ Colossus. But it’s actually the slug that holds Cassandra Nova’s consciousness!
[last issue: Astonishing X-Men #16]
[next issue: Astonishing X-Men #18]
Astonishing X-Men #16
December 25, 2012
Joss Whedon // John Cassaday
October 2006
***
A solo Kitty Pryde kicks the asses of a revamped Hellfire Club—or half of them, at least. Small pleasures add up, like Wolverine’s Fontelroy persona (from his lame “Origins” mini). As good as the character work is, this arc frustrates w/ its slow drip of action. To be fair, it reads briskly in TPB.
[last issue: Astonishing X-Men #15]
[next issue: Astonishing X-Men #17]
Astonishing X-Men #15
December 24, 2012
Joss Whedon // John Cassaday
August 2006
****
Emma & her gang of villains defeat the X-Men easily—mostly via psychic control, tho’ Sebastian Shaw kayos Colossus. Once again, AXM suffers from slow pacing. Each arc is a TV episode, each ish a segment btw commercials. And like the last arc, it pits the team against an enemy w/in at the mansion.
last issue: Astonishing X-Men #14
next issue: Astonishing X-Men #16
also indexed for Aug. ’06
Civil War #2 of 7
Nextwave, Agents of HATE #6
Young Avengers #12
Astonishing X-Men #14
December 23, 2012
Joss Whedon // John Cassaday
June 2006
****
While Kitty & Piotr consummate their romance, Emma destroys hers. It’s a strong piece of super-soap: Emma, in her psi-therapist persona, bullies Scott brutally. Sadly, it’s not to strengthen their relationship but to subvert him & help an enemy. Too bad, as they had such interesting chemistry!
[last issue: Astonishing X-Men #13]
[next issue: Astonishing X-Men #15]
Astonishing X-Men #13
December 22, 2012
Joss Whedon // John Cassaday
April 2006
***
After 8 months on hiatus, AXM resumes its run. Emma Frost, it turns out, is in league w/ arch-psychic Cassandra Nova, Prof X’s evil twin. How disappointing: her rehab was one of ’90s X-comics rare good ideas & so’s her love for Cyclops. But ‘shippers can enjoy Kitty & Colossus reigniting their affair.
[last issue: Astonishing X-Men #12]
[next issue: Astonishing X-Men #14]
New X-Men #154
December 9, 2012
Grant Morrison // Marc Silvestri
June 2004
****
Despite dodgy panels from Silvestri, Morrison sticks his finale with acrobatic beauty. The enemy of his entire run is finally unmasked: Sublime, a 3B-year-old viral consciousness that subverts evolution to survive! Jean G. ascends to godhead & defeats the villain w/ love by blessing Scott & Emma.
[last issue: New X-Men #153]
[next issue: New X-Men #155]
New X-Men #153
December 8, 2012
Grant Morrison // Marc Silvestri
May 2004
*****
GM’s white-hot with hyper-compression, an abstruse style that, at its best, delivers complex plotting but doesn’t neglect emotional beats. Led by a rehabilitated Cass Nova (AKA Ernst!), a future X-team confronts Phoenix & the Beast—who’s infected by Sublime, a virus that thrives on mutant conflict!
[last issue: New X-Men #152]
[next issue: New X-Men #154]
New X-Men #152
December 7, 2012
Grant Morrison // Marc Silvestri
late March 2004
*****
In the far future, the Beast wants to mass-produce life rather than letting evolution work. Morrison’s riff on Days of Future Past equals the original & surpasses its ’90s echo Age of Apocalypse. Silvestri also outdoes his past X-work, retaining the sturm & drang of Inferno but surer on shapes.
[last issue: New X-Men #151]
[next issue: New X-Men #153]
New X-Men #151
December 6, 2012
Grant Morrison // Marc Silvestri
early March 2004
*****
At the end, an arc to match the inaugural #114-17! GM flings the mag 150 years into the future & briskly builds an alt Marvel Universe. The Beast, fur silver with age, has turned evil; all-new X-Men include a boy & his pet Sentinel; a Phoenix egg may save the timeline, ruptured by Cyclops’ despair.
[last issue: New X-Men #150]
[next issue: New X-Men #152]
New X-Men #126
November 11, 2012
Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
July 2002
****
Jean Grey, Phoenix once more, stashes Prof X’s mind among mutantkind to act as a booby-trap. Defeated by teamwork, his evil twin (& Jungian psi-beast) Cassandra Nova is to be rehabilitated! A superb finale to Morrison’s first year on NXM, a top-notch first act—despite Kordey’s fill-in art.
last issue: New X-Men #125
next issue: New X-Men #127
also indexed for Jul. ’02
Alias #9
Avengers #54
New X-Men #125
November 10, 2012
Grant Morrison // Igor Kordey
June 2002
***
Cyke & Xorn stage an orbital jailbreak; on Earth, the students & teachers make separate contingency plans. The plot threads harmonize rather than locking step. And the dialogue is pitch-perfect, which overcomes the squishy faces. Even Kordey, despite his ugly manner, can relate the story okay.
last issue: New X-Men #124
next issue: New X-Men #126
also indexed for Jun. ’02
Alias #8
Avengers #53
New X-Men #124
November 9, 2012
Grant Morrison // Igor Kordey
May 2002
**
Kordey’s back. His sloppy rush job detracts heavily—bewildering that Marvel would publish a flagship that looks this bad—but it only needs to depict a brawl btw the team & super-aliens. GM’s script carries the momentum, absent its usual depth. But this is the nadir of his superb X-work.
last issue: New X-Men #123
next issue: New X-Men #125
also indexed for May ’02
Alias #7
Avengers #52
New X-Men #122
November 7, 2012
Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
March 2002
*****
A heady ish packed w/ action, suspense, even character beats. Backed by FQ, GM intros a dozen new ideas, but he presumes you’ll keep up! The team’s catching up too, on Cass Nova: a bodiless consciousness who stole Prof X’s body. She, meanwhile, has demolished the mag’s galactic empire, the Shi’ar!
last issue: New X-Men #121
next issue: New X-Men #123
also indexed for Mar. ’02
Alias #5
Avengers #50
New X-Men #121
November 6, 2012
Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
February 2002
*****
Mandated by Marvel to produce a wordless issue, GM & FQ create avant-pop, one of the greatest single issues of the X-Men ever. No mere gimmick, they convey a pivotal story beat (Prof X fought his evil twin in utero) using silence to build a surreal astral space for the heroines’ psychic journey.
last issue: New X-Men #120
next issue: New X-Men #122
also indexed for Feb. ’02
Alias #4
Avengers #49
New X-Men #117
November 2, 2012
Grant Morrison // Ethan van Scriver
October 2001
****
EvS, a melodramatic realist in the N. Adams vein, is no Quitely. Fortunately, Morrison offsets him w/ lots of good new ideas. Beast is key, caring about his uglier students, fighting a psi-attack of self-loathing over his devolution. His attacker: Cassandra Nova, super-mutant & Xavier’s evil twin!
continued from New X-Men Annual 2001
last issue: New X-Men #116
next issue: New X-Men #118
also indexed for Oct. ’01
Avengers #45
New X-Men #116
October 31, 2012
Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
September 2001
*****
This arc’s villain, Cassandra Nova, is the next wave, a hyper-species all her own, helping to drive evolution (personal & biological) by forcing change. And so our heroes mutate! Emma Frost gets diamond-hard skin; Prof X unclosets himself; even Cyclops is different, unhappy in his “perfect” X-marriage.
continued in New X-Men Annual 2001
last issue: New X-Men #115
next issue: New X-Men #117
also indexed for Sept. ’01
Avengers #44
Avengers Annual 2001
New X-Men Annual 2001
New X-Men #115
October 30, 2012
Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
August 2001
*****
A hyper-brilliant megalomaniac (a drag doppelganger of Xavier, note) sends her magpie Sentinels to demolish the mutant utopia of Genosha. Published just after the terrorist attacks of 2001, this issue cuts close to the bone. Yet NXM gains currency from the tension btw its dayglo style & genocide.
last issue: New X-Men #114
next issue: New X-Men #116
also indexed for Aug. ’01
Avengers #43
New X-Men #114
October 29, 2012
Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
July 2001
*****
A sinister geneticist psi-attacks Professor X in his sanctum sanctorum, part of her plan to commit mutant genocide. Themes of evolution & survival intertwine like DNA; futuristic tech & hip new unis add a fashion-forward cool; an idle Sentinel factory looms over a jungle like an abandoned Mayan god.
last issue: X-Men #113
next issue: New X-Men #115
also indexed for Jul. ’01
Avengers #42
Index Indigo 