New X-Men #148

New X-Men #148, published in early 2004, is part of the climactic 'Planet X' story arc written by Grant Morrison with interior art by Marc Silvestri. This issue serves as a pivotal installment in Morrison’s transformative run on the X-Men, which sought to modernize the team's aesthetic and narrative stakes by emphasizing the sociopolitical realities of mutant existence and pushing the characters into more morally ambiguous territory.

The visual direction of this period represented a departure from traditional spandex-heavy superhero designs, leaning instead into the more utilitarian, leather-focused look established by Frank Quitely and maintained by subsequent artists like Silvestri. The series was met with significant critical attention for its bold subversion of established character dynamics, though it also drew debate from long-time readers regarding the radical changes to the status quo of the X-Men franchise.