New X-Men #118

History

The issue was written by Grant Morrison — recruited by editor-in-chief Joe Quesada to modernize the X-Men franchise — and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, who was contracted as a secondary artist to support regular penciler Frank Quitely; Van Sciver ultimately drew only four issues across the entire forty-issue run. The cover, as on most of the series, was painted by Quitely with inker Tim Townsend, while the interior was finished by three separate inkers (Prentiss Rollins, Scott Hanna, and Sandu Florea), a production circumstance the Deep Space Transmissions annotations note affected the consistency of the interior line work. The issue carries a cover date of November 2001 and an on-sale date of October 31, 2001, and sits at the start of the 'Imperial' story arc (issues #118–126). Artist Van Sciver embedded the word 'sex' on nearly every page as a hidden visual prank — most instances were caught by editors, but at least one, visible in a protest-crowd scene, made it through to print, and the issue has since become informally known among collectors as 'the sex issue.'

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Angel Salvadore (later codename: Tempest), a 14-year-old mutant who manifests insect wings and acid-generation abilities; created by Grant Morrison and Ethan Van Sciver.
• First team appearance of the Stepford Cuckoos — quintuplet telepaths Sophie, Phoebe, Irma (Mindee), Celeste, and Esme — who enroll at the Xavier Institute; the group name 'Stepford Cuckoos' is not used until issue #123, and individual members are named across later issues.
• First appearance of Martha Johansson (No-Girl), a mutant whose brain was removed from her body by the U-Men and kept alive in a capsule; later revealed to be a powerful telepath and power-negator.
• Story title: 'Germ Free Generation, Part 1 of 3,' written by Grant Morrison with interior art by Ethan Van Sciver; cover art by Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend.
• The Stepford Cuckoos are retroactively established as Weapon XIV, cloned from stolen eggs of Emma Frost — a revelation developed over the remainder of Morrison's run.
• Ethan Van Sciver hid the word 'sex' in artwork throughout nearly every page; at least one instance was missed by editors and appeared in the published book, visible in a crowd/protest scene.
• The issue opens the 'Imperial' arc (#118–126) and has been collected in: the New X-Men Omnibus (2006 and 2012 second edition), New X-Men by Grant Morrison Book 2 (2011 digest paperback), New X-Men Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 (2008), and the New X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection #1 (2024).
• Angel Salvadore was adapted to film as a supporting character in X-Men: First Class (2011), portrayed by Zoë Kravitz, in a substantially reimagined 1960s-set version of the character.

Cast · 20 characters

Full credits

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