This is a review of New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection: E is for Extinction. I read this groundbreaking X-Men run, written by Grant Morrison with art by Frank Quitely (with fill-ins), back in 2001-2002. Mutants are thriving, humanity will be extinct in five generations, and the X-Men now wear leather outfits.
At the moment, those X-Men consist of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Wolverine, Beast, and the White Queen. Secondary mutations are commonplace. The Beast is mutating into an enormous cat, Emma Frost (The White Queen) can make her skin hard as a diamond, and Jean Grey’s (Marvel Girl) telekinetic abilities have returned. Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters is thriving. We even meet Xorn, a new X-Men who has a sun in his brain. What could go wrong?
Enter Cassandra Nova, who makes an entrance with a literal bang, commandeering a Master Mold Sentinel which destroys the mutant city of Genosha. Sixteen million mutants die, but Cassandra is just getting started. In the meantime, the U-Men arrive. The U-Men are human beings who want to be mutants, and their solution to this dilemma is to chop actual mutants into bits and graft the pieces onto their own bodies.
Grant Morrison does some amazing work here, reimagining the X-franchise. His run only lasted four years, but boy oh boy was it influential. After Morrison left, Marvel did House of M and attempted to reset the X-Men back to the 1960’s, and it has taken the franchise two decades to recover from that faux pas. A must-read for any X-Men fan.
Abandoned Places 