New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection: New Worlds

Continuing Grant Morrison’s Eisner Award-winning run that reinvigorated the X-Men franchise!

A riot has broken out in Mutant Town! Xorn, Cyclops and Phoenix head out to quell the violence — but will the task of battling an anti-mutant mob prove more difficult than the X-Men imagined? Meanwhile, Professor X has established an X-Corp office in Paris for mutants in need — and they undertake their first mission after a distress signal is sent out from deep within the Channel Tunnel. But who, or what, is Weapon XII?! Xorn takes the special class into the woods for a lesson they won't soon forget, romantic sparks fly between Scott Summers and Emma Frost, Polaris returns amid the wreckage of Genosha, and the Xavier Mansion is rocked by a shocking murder! Or is everything not quite as it seems?

COLLECTING: New X-Men (2001) 127-141

One of the most original and widely respected writers in comics, Glasgow-born Grant Morrison got his start with British indie comics during the late 1970s and early 1980s before working on Marvel UK features such as Zoids. After co-creating the popular strip Zenith with artist Steve Yeowell in 2000 AD, Morrison made his mark in America with DC Comics, where he revived an obscure hero to critical acclaim in his Animal Man series. In 1989, he wrote the best-selling Batman graphic novel Arkham Asylum and began a memorably surreal run as writer of the freakish heroes of DC’s Doom Patrol. Subsequent DC projects included Kid Eternity, Sebastian O, Flex Mentallo, Kill Your Boyfriend, Aztek, Invisibles, DC One Million, Flash and a hugely popular revamping of DC’s JLA. Morrison then shifted focus to Marvel Comics, where he had already made a brief pit-stop co-writing 1995’s bizarre Skrull Kill Krew with Mark Millar. In addition to his groundbreaking four-year New X-Men run, Morrison’s Marvel credits include Fantastic Four: 1234 and Marvel Boy. He has since returned to DC, where his later credits include Seaguy, WE3, Vimanarama, JLA: Classified and Seven Soldiers. While serving as a special creative consultant to DC editorial, Morrison has written All-Star Superman, and the flagship Batman title and its spinoff Batman Inc.; co-written the event series 52; and served as the mastermind behind Final Crisis.

John Paul Leon majored in illustration at New York’s School of Visual Arts — where he studied under industry legends Will Eisner, Jack Potter and Walt Simonson, and first began working as a professional artist by illustrating a series of black-and-white images for TSR’s Dragon and Dungeon magazines. Leon broke into comics in 1992 with Dark Horse’s Robocop: Prime Suspect and followed this inaugural run with Static from Milestone Comics, a series which was later developed into the popular animated television show, Static Shock. After graduating in 1994, Leon continued working on some of the most popular characters in the comics world and lent his striking illustrations to numerous publishers in the field — including Marvel Comics’ New X-Men, The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, Avengers: The Ultron Imperative, Captain America, Daredevil, Marvel Shadows and Light, Moon Knight and Thor. But he is best known for his critically acclaimed vision of a reimagined Marvel Universe in the maxi-series Earth-X. Leon contributed artwork for the Superman Returns style guide and several Superman children’s books for Meredith Books. He also illustrated most of the licensing artwork for the blockbuster movie Batman Begins and worked on the critically acclaimed The Winter Men with writer Brett Lewis for Wildstorm/DC Comics.

Croatian-born illustrator Igor Kordey has earned a reputation for his prolific output, working on as many as three or four monthly books at the same time. His Marvel work includes Black Widow: Pale Little Spider, Captain America, Conspiracy, Soldier X, Tales of the Marvels: Wonder Years, New X-Men, and extended runs on X-Treme X-Men and Cable. Kordey united with his compatriot Darko Macan on Tarzan projects for Dark Horse Comics.

A veteran artist for the Distinguished Competition, Phil Jimenez has thrilled fans with his high-energy approach in Wonder Woman, Teen Titans and writer Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles. At Marvel, he teamed with Morrison for several issues of the writer’s epochal New X-Men run. After delivering the triumph of Infinite Crisis, Jimenez helped launch “Brand New Day” in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. After amazing Spidey fans with his art, he’s set to astonish X-Men fans when he teams up with writer Warren Ellis on Astonishing X-Men.