BY: Aaron H.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics
Extraordinary X-Men #1 and #2
The dictionary defines “extinction” as “the state or process of a species, family, or larger group being or becoming extinct, dying out or disappearing.” Approximately between 200 and 2,000 species go extinct each year. For the X-Men, living on the brink of extinction is nothing new but following the events of ‘Inhumanity’ they may be facing the toughest challenge yet, which comes to light in the first two issues of Extrodinary X-Men.
The world has been exposed to the Terrigen Mist, a substance which creates Inhumans and has allowed their population to expand to unprecedented numbers. Sadly the Terrigen has proven to be fatal to Mutants, and those that have survived exposure have been rendered sterile. Even worse the threat of a related disease dubbed ‘M-pox’ has caused humanities intolerance of Mutant-Kind to grow even worse, and the mysteriously vague actions of former X-Men leader Cyclops have not helped matters. No longer are the X-Men fighting to save a world that fears and hates them now they are just simply trying to survive in a world that just hates them.
Like most first issues in a team-based comic, Extraordinary X-Men #1 is all about “getting the band back together.” Storm has assumed leadership of the X-Men and she begins forming her team to help stabilize and combat the latest extinction crisis. With Ice-Man and Majik by her side the X-Men have begun rounding up Mutants that are in danger and bringing them to X-Haven, the new headquarters for the team. Majik heads out to recruit Colossus, and they decide to go looking for Nightcrawler.
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics
Storm and Ice-Man head out to find young Jean Grey and ask her to join…but they hit a little Snag. Jean is done with the X-Men, she knows how that story ended for her older self, and she isn’t having any of that. Jean is sympathetic to the cause though and while she refuses to join the team she does point Storm in the direction of someone who may be willing to help them out…Wolverine?!
Issue 2 picks up the pace a bit more with Majik and Colossus hot on Nightcrawler’s tail…literally. They find the severed appendage of their missing friend on the floor of a battle scene from the previous comic. Meanwhile Storm and Ice-man have a conversation with Old Man Logan, they only have one question: how is Wolverine back from the dead and why is he so old? Logan doesn’t give too many details, but he does let them know he is a different Wolverine and that he isn’t interested in joining up with the X-Men. Mostly because in his world he single handedly slaughtered the entire team with his own bare hands and he still carries the guilt from that, but he leaves that detail out.
Jean has some trouble with her new boyfriend after she reveals herself as a mutant trying to save the life of an Inhuman from an angry mob. The boyfriend is disgusted by the truth of what she is and takes off. Even the Inhuman that Jean saves wants nothing to do with her. Jean feels a bit lost and she goes in search of one of the only people she can think of who can relate to what she is going through: Old Man Logan.
Meanwhile Majik and Colossus may have found the person responsible for Nightcrawler’s disappearance, Mr. Sinister! During a fight with Sinister Majik takes a blow to the head and gets knocked out. This is bad for the X-Men back at X-Haven. Turns out the new HQ is located in the heart of the hell dimension Limbo and without Majik consciously keeping the defenses up around the base a horde of demons descends upon the unsuspecting Mutant refugees.
Written by Jeff Lemire with Pencils by Humberto Ramos, Extraordinary X-Men is off to a bit of a slow start. The art work is gorgeous, Humberto’s style is cartoony and full of color and energy which contrasts with the dark nature of the storylineExtraordinary X-Men is exploring. It works in a good way; it keeps the comic fun while at the same time treading some emotionally deep territory. The team is a classic line-up of A-list X-Men. Each of them have something they are bringing to the table in terms of personal baggage and character development it’s exciting to think of how they are going to interact once the team is fully formed. The only thing that really makes this comic suffer is all the mini-stories that are going on behind the scenes and the vague mystery of what happened to Cyclops which just plays off as an annoying tease to the reader. There is a lot going on in these two issues and it would work better if Jeff Lemire took the time to focus more on the individual stories rather than giving us so many small pieces of a whole story.
3 out of 5 Stars.
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics
All New Wolverine #1 and #2
Her name is Laura Kinney, and she is the best there is at what she does. In All New Wolverine, Laura has donned the tiger-striped uniform of Wolverine, in honor of her fallen mentor Logan, and she is moving forward and trying to find a life for herself while honoring the memory of the closest thing to a father she ever had.
Laura finds herself in Paris, France. Trying to foil an attempted assassination, Laura takes a bullet to the chest that puts her down for the count. She dreams of a meeting with the original Wolverine who gives her some words of encouragement in a very nice tastefully done cameo. As soon as she is healed, Laura suits up as Wolverine for the first time in the comic and races to the top of the Eiffel Tower to confront the assassin. The fight is beautifully drawn and features a cameo from Laura’s current love interest Warren ‘The Angel’ Worthington of the X-Men. Once the dust settles the assassin is dead and Laura removes her mask to reveal…her own face. The assassin is a clone of Laura!
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics.
In issue 2, Laura has traveled back stateside to the city of New York. She is escorted by Security into the upper levels of Alchemax Genetics. Following an anonymous tip She is looking for answers as to where these clones of hers came, and the head of Alchemax Genetics Robert Chandler is all to eager to tell her. Alchemax created four imperfect clones of Laura, they don’t have her healing powers but they had been altered so that they can feel pain. They escaped and went on a vengeful killing spree against their creators and Chandler wants Laura to help rein them in.
Laura agrees to help and goes home to find one of the clones waiting for her. The young clone pleads with Laura to help them in the battle with Alchemax. The clone doesn’t want her sisters to die and she believes that since they are related to Laura she would be willing to help. Laura tells her that she will not help them to kill, and that is her final answer.
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics.
The young clone escapes from Laura’s apartment and returns to her sisters underground. Wolverine is able to track her back to their base and confront the three remaining clones. She wants to talk peacefully and try to show the clones that there is another way to live their lives without being the cold blooded murderers they were created to be, like Logan had taught her so many years ago. Unfortunately things don’t go so smoothly for Laura as Alchemax security shows up ready to kill everyone.
Laura fights side by side with her three clones and they make quick work of the security forces, but the three assassins want to make Alchemax pay. Laura pleads with her clones not to kill the security guards, it almost seems like she is getting through to the girls but then suddenly Taskmaster appears and seemingly murders the three assassins.
Written by Tom Taylor, All-New Wolverine definitely hits the ground running. Tom does an excellent job showing that Laura donning the mantle of Wolverine is more than just a change of identity for the character. She is honoring Logan’s memory by pursuing his ideals and trying to give back to the world in a way that Logan would be proud of. There are parts of the story that feel a little too convenient and almost shoe-horned in to move the plot along quickly but those are very few and they do allow us to get to the exciting parts faster in more of a natural way.
David Lopez and David Navarrot provide very solid art for the comic. They draw Laura in a beautifully realistic way that doesn’t exploit the character’s sexuality; she is very tastefully rendered with very human proportions in a very healthy refreshing way. Laura looks like a powerful female hero in this comic.
4 out of 5 Stars
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