New X-Men #138

Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
May 2003
*****
Mutation, for Morrison as for Claremont, is the mag’s key theme. Kid O, hopped up on a mutant steroid inhalant, sublimates into psy-energy. Prof X, recognizing his failure, resigns as headmaster. But Emma F. refuses to change, even as her Cuckoos leave her &, for good measure, expose her affair w/ Cyke!
[last issue: New X-Men #137]
[next issue: New X-Men #139]

New X-Men #137

Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
April 2003
*****
Kid Omega’s restaging of If… falls apart. The boy acts as a mirror for Xavier: Magneto Y2K (Morrison sidesteps Claremont for the Lee/Kirby megalomaniac). GM usually defends rebels, but here he favors evolution over revolution. The cost is too great: students die, incl. one of the weird psi-quints!
[last issue: New X-Men #136]
[next issue: New X-Men #138]

New X-Men #136

Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
March 2003
*****
The students of Xavier’s Institute take the spotlight. A light subplot has the special class learn teamwork when U-Men raid the grounds. Kid Omega’s gang, meanwhile, kidnaps Prof X & stages a riot! FQ’s at his most riveting as he stages Xorn’s break from non-violence even as he teaches a Zen lesson.
[last issue: New X-Men #135]
[next issue: New X-Men #137]

New X-Men #135

Grant Morrison // Frank Quitely
February 2003
****
W/ FQ’s return & GM’s renewed focus, this mag has found its swing. The Institute gets some welcome elaboration, foregrounding the student population and their challenges to authority. Kid Omega decides on violence & uppers as a mode of acting out; Xorn takes the “special” class on a camping trip.
[last issue: New X-Men #134]
[next issue: New X-Men #136]

New X-Men #134

Grant Morrison // Keron Grant
January 2003
***
Tho’ peripheral, Xavier’s school has been integral to NXM. Kid Omega, a nerdy psychic, takes a popular kid down a peg & chafes against Prof X’s authority. The art’s simple in its toonishness (also, Marvel’s using lowercase fonts), while the script is a rare case of GM doing trad character building.
[last issue: New X-Men #133]
[next issue: New X-Men #135]