Art Attack: Frank Quitely New X-Men #121

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Welcome to Art Attack, our series of blogs looking at some of our favourite comic art.  Brief and to the point, we pick just one piece to shine a light on. (Not that brief this time!)

 

 In the latest episode of the podcast I talked about Marvel's New X-Men #121 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely as one of my favourite single issues of all time - you can listen to the episode here.  I spoke about one page in particular that stood out and has stayed with me ever since I read the comic - and here it is.

This issue of New X-Men was part of the company-wide 'Nuff Said' gimmick whereby all that's month's comics would be 'silent' (i.e. without dialogue or narration).  The premise of the issue, and this scene particularly, is that the telepathic mutants Jean Grey and Emma Frost must delve into the mind of X-Men leader Charles Xavier, who is in a coma-like state after an attack by a mysterious foe.  This page depicts the moment that Jean, and by extension the reader, moves from the physical world and into the mind of Charles.  The previous page had established Jean touching heads with Charles to start the process, and here you can see this with the silhouettes at the top of the page, which also helps establish that the lower image represents the brain of Charles.

Just briefly looking at the image tells us what we need to know in regard to progressing the story, and also establishes the surreal mood that continues for the duration of the time spent in the world of the mind.  However, looking closer reveals a treasure trove of details and storytelling.  The image is a series of 5 concentric circles, which flow into each other as Jean moves further into the psychic realm.

The outer circle shows an elongated Jean Grey that stretches all the way round, not only giving a sense of movement as the eye follows her around the circle, but also establishes that the rules of the physical world do not apply here.  However, the last vestige of the physical world is also represented, with the gray matter of the brain forming the backdrop.  The pink/purple webbing or membrane gets more pronounced the further round the circle we go (in a clockwise direction) to emphasise that we are travelling deeper into the brain.  Despite this weirdness, Jean is still recognisable as herself, with even the X-Men logo apparent on her clothing.  As we get almost back to the start of the circle, Jean's hand breaks the 'panel', moving into the next circle, and pressing herself into the head of Charles.

The second circle features numerous floating heads of Charles, displaying a wide array of emotions - we are have left the physical world and into the world of feeling and emotion.  In fact, the circle has the pink/purple background colour from the membrane in the previous circle, tieing the journey together.    Jean is again stretched out here to pull our eyes round the image and follow her journey.  Note that from the point where Jeans; legs start on the right of the image, the eyes of the floating heads are looking in her direction over to the left, suggesting that the consciousness of Charles is aware of her presence.   Jean is now moving deeper into Charles' mind and graphically moves into the next panel through the nose of one of the heads.

The third circle starts where the second left off; we can see Jean's arms reaching through from the previous panel and into the depths of Charles' mind.  Here we're shown descending spiral stairs, reinforcing the idea that we are moving deeper and deeper.  There are a couple of discarded crutches on these stairs - Charles Xavier is (usually) disabled and in a wheelchair.  Here the tools he requires to help his physical body are not needed and have been discarded.  The other elements on the stairs are much more open to interpretation.  There are two silhouettes walking down the stairs, which could represent Jean and Emma, but we see Jean further round the circle, so this would seem redundant.   However, the conclusion of the story reveals that Charles has a twin, and we are privy to a scene here Charles tried to kill his twin in the womb, so these could represent the two and a foreshadowing of the reveal later on (Grant Morrison loves his foreshadowing - and this is done with literal shadows).  We also have a large blue shark or fish, oddly with a plaster on it.  Is it supposed to be real, or a model of a fish/shark?  Its meaning is not particularly clear.  On the left-hand side of the circle we again see Jean moving from this circle into the next one, however this time she seems to be more of a liquid that a human form, and it's only through her trademark red hair that we can identify her - the deeper we get the less physical and more metaphysical we get.

The fourth circle repeats the motif of Jean stretched and circling round the panel, guiding our eye and increasing the whirlpool sensation, as though we're watching her disappear down the plughole. Here she's diving into Charles' head through a mouth-like circle, and he appears here to be in distress (which is indeed how he will be found later in the issue).  The pink/purple background is again repeated here.

The fifth and final circle.  We are finally here at the centre of Charles' mind.  There's a lovely touch with Jean from the previous circle entering this one with her arms and causing ripples in liquid, just to remind us that we are in a realm of imagination and unreality.  In the background is a brick wall and more of the steps we saw previously.  The final flourish of this wonderful piece is that presentation of Jean looking out of the page at the reader - when we turn the page, we see what Jean was actually looking at; a tower in the middle of a sea, which will provide the next focus of the narrative. 

I have to give a shout-out to Hi Fi Design for the colouring; it's a beautiful collection of complementary colours that not only keep the artwork clear but tie directly into the storytelling on the page. 

The journey from outside to the inside of Charles' mind could easily have been done in a single image, or presented in the traditional square panel progression.  The decision to present it in this downward spiral is inspired, dragging the reader down with the characters and creating the atmosphere that makes the rest of the comic work.  It's a classic example of the synergy that Morrison and Quitely have exhibited over the years, that has made them one of - if not the - best creative duo in comics.