Uncanny X-Men # 395-400, New X-Men Annual 2001, New X-Men # 117
This will kinda be split in two here. First up is “Poptopia” (plus two issues, though they should be included), which is the first real story by Joe Casey (with Ian Churchill, Sean Phillips, Tom Raney, Ashley Wood, and a bunch of others). The team is made up of just about everyone that Claremont and Morrison didn’t want – Archangel, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Wolverine (kinda) and Chamber. A bit of a sausage fest. They eventually bring a hooker onto the team. It’s a Bachelor Party-type team.
The X-Men go to London to investigate some Morlock-like Mutants. After being outright kicked out of their little subterranean community, the team is appalled when they found that they were later wiped out by a terrorist by the name of Mr. Clean. They hunt down Mr. Clean and eventually, Wolverine joins and helps finish him. This entire time, Chamber starts hanging out Britney Spears wannabe Sugar Kane . . . until he eventually learns that no, seriously, nobody likes Mutants. He eventually joins the team.
Shortly thereafter, the X-Men head out to Nevada to check out the X-Range, a brothel run by Mutant prostitutes. The X-Range is then coincidentally attacked by the Church of Humanity, who wipe out the house out . . . save for one, a pheromone lizard-like Mutant woman named Stacy X.
The X-Men investigate the Church of Humanity, even engaging in battle with them. As Stacy is accidentally teleported to their Montana base, Wolverine digs up information from one of their own that the X-Men managed to capture. The Priest-foot soldier tells Wolverine about the Supreme Pontiff, who was born a hundred plus years ago and was magical and whatnot. It’s a silly origin, but I suppose it work in context of the Marvel Universe.
Soon enough, the X-Men attack their Church of Humanity headquarters and manage to battle the bad guys and rescue Stacy. Nightcrawler encounters the Supreme Pontiff and something mysterious happens. Then the bad guys withdraw and that’s the end of that.
Up next is more “New X-Men” goodness. The other X-Men team (Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma Frost, and Beast) head to Hong Kong, where Domino is running the newly established X-Corporation. Apparently, Risqué (remember her? Crappy character from 1996? Yeah, it doesn’t matter) was murdered while investigating Mutant organ trafficking. The X-Men and Domino investigate, and discover that cultist John Sublime has been buying Mutant organs from a Chinese general. Why? To graft said organs onto his body in an attempt to become a Third Species. Now Sublime is after a Mutant with a star for a brain named Xorn. The X-Men intervene (during which, Emma comes to Scott’s room is a sexy outfit and a bottle of wine) and rescue Xorn.
Upon returning to the mansion (Xorn’s taking some time to spend with some monks), Professor X prepares to leave for the Shi’ar Empire for a vacation. This is after he’s opened the doors to a Mutant student body (152 Mutant students) and with a Mutie-hating mob at the gates. Meanwhile, Jean confides in Logan her marital problems and Beast is dumped by Trish Tibly. Beast then confronts Professor X in regards to his findings about Cassandra Nova. She and Professor X have the DNA. Professor X then reveals that when Cassandra Nova was in Cerebra, she switched bodies with Charles. She then takes control of Hank’s body, humiliates him, then has a bird-like student by the name of Beak beat the crap outta him. Then Professor X/Cassandra Nova heads off into Shi’ar space.
Starting with “Poptopia,” we’re introduced to some new concepts – not all of them work. First of all, I really like seeing Archangel actually do something. He’s been sitting on the sidelines for far too long and having him out there, leading this new team is good to see. Iceman’s fun to read; Nightcrawler is a bit dark, but he’s not in the best place right now. Wolverine is Wolverine. Chamber is just enough emo punk that it’s believable.
I like the idea of the Church of Humanity. I think they’re really underdeveloped here, but it’s so refreshing to get a decent human villain. Granted, Chuck Austen tears the entire concept apart later, but in the here and now, they’re kinda neat. I like the challenge it brings to Nightcrawler, even though nothing really comes of it.
Stacy is an interesting addition to the crew. I mentioned it’s a sausage fest, but . . . meh, I’m not sold on her. I’ll grant that she’s a curious addition to the team, but it’s nothing to write home about. I know it sounds odd, but I always thought she’d get along Marrow. The X-Range is a neat idea.
I was also impressed by the Sugar Kane. Er, maybe not impressed, but it was interesting. A nice little subplot that really seemed to inject some reality into the book.
Anyways, despite the fact that the Church of Humanity is actually a decent threat, everything about just doesn’t live up to its potential. The Supreme Pontiff’s origin reminds of something out of a 1970s horror comic. The Priests are generic. Mr. Clean is stupid beyond belief.
It’s a mixed bag with Casey – especially with this story.
On the other side of things, we’ve got the New X-Men. The Xorn story is actually the better of the two. Some of Leniel Yu’s best work on X-Men is in here. Morrison is getting better at nailing the characters. Cyclops is on a slow build to getting better. The Third Species idea is a little over the top, but we’ll get to that soon enough. Xorn’s premiere is great, though. A lot of promise with this guy (heheh).
The second New X-Men story is a home run. Morrison has got a bigger story to tell and this chapter is really where the action picks up – with most of the cast unaware. Cassandra Nova is written quite awesomely and becomes a greater threat. The art – by VanSciver – is a little flat, but he gets better in time.
~W~
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