Riot at Xavier's

Infobox comics story arc
title = Riot at Xavier's

---

caption = Cover to New X-Men #137, Part Three of Riot At Xavier's. Art by Frank Quitely
publisher = Marvel Comics
date = January - May 2003
titles = "New X-Men" #135-138
main_char_team = List of X-Men members
writers = Grant Morrison
artists =
pencillers = Frank Quitely
Keron Grant
inkers = Tim Townsend
Norm Rapmund
Avalon Studios
letterers = Richard Starkings
Comicraft
colorists = Chris Chuckry
TPB = Riot at Xavier's
ISBN = 0-7851-1067-4
cat = X-Men
sortkey = Riot at Xaviers

Riot At Xavier's is a four part storyline that ran from New X-Men #135-138 (2003). It was written by Grant Morrison and features artist Frank Quitely's last work on the title. The story centers around an original character of Morrison's, the teenage mutant Quentin Quire.

Plot synopsis

In this arc, Morrison writes a story centering around Quentin Quire, who had appeared at first in issue #122. Quire is fleshed out as a super-intelligent young teenager, who is a pupil of Professor X's mutant school at the X-Mansion. When he finds out he is adopted, and a mutant celebrity called Jumbo Carnation is killed by anti-mutant racists, Quire begins to mock Xavier's pacifistic teachings, hero-worships the mutant supremacist Magneto, and assembles a gang of militant class mates to kill humans in retaliation. Their rage is fueled by consumption of the fictional drug "Kick", which supercharges their mutant abilities.

Side-plots are the workings of mysterious mutant teacher Xorn, Quire's crush on Sophie of the Stepford Cuckoos, the relationship between flirty Angel Salvadore and the ugly Beak and the growing estrangement of Cyclops from his wife Jean Grey, causing Emma Frost to start a psychic affair with him.

When "Open House" Day at Xavier's arrives, Quire's so-called "Omega Gang", made strong and volatile by repeated consumption of "Kick", capture Professor X and spew anti-human sentiment against the school's human visitors, stating they are avenging Jumbo Carnation. However, Beast tells them Carnation killed himself by an overdose of Kick. Helped by the Stepford Cuckoos, who collectively inhale Kick to match Quire's power, the X-Men subdue the Omega Gang, but Sophie Cuckoo — Quire's crush — is killed. Breaking down emotionally and because of Kick's side-effects, Quentin collapses and turns into a disembodied state. As a consequence, Professor X resigns.

Aftermath

In the following arcs up to issue #150 (the last issue of the Morrison run), Xorn was originally revealed by Morrison to be Magneto, harbouring a genocidal hate against mankind in the following Planet X arc, and also the supplier of the Kick drug. [ [http://www.popimage.com/content/grant20044.html PopImage ] ] [ [http://www.popthought.com/display_column.asp?DAID=861 Pop Thought - Alex Ness ] ] However, the decision to interpret the Holocaust survivor Magneto as a genocidal, drug-crazed mass murderer was met with disdain, and was subsequently rewritten by later authors. The arc also set up the Scott Summers / Emma Frost relationship, a staple of the current "Astonishing X-Men" comics by Joss Whedon.

Grant Morrison on his arc

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a trade paperback:

*"Riot at Xavier's" (collects "New X-Men" #134-138, ISBN 0-7851-1067-4)

As well as:

*"New X-Men Omnibus" (collects "New X-Men" #114-154 and Annual 2001, 992 pages, December 2006 ISBN 0-7851-2326-1)

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=issue|id=71942|title=Riot at Xavier's