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Wooo, doesnt that topic just send shivers down your spine?
There were plans to continue the Something Old, Something
New titles, but a three part column? From me? Now that is
something to laugh at.
So, X-Treme X-Men. Oh look, X-Treme sets off my word
processors spell check. Who would have thought that X-
Treme would do that? Frankly, I agree with the chunk of code.
X-Treme X-Men drives me up the wall as a title. Why?
Cmon! Can you look at X-Treme X-Men and not have a
laughing fit, shakes of terror, or both? I didnt think so. This is
one of the worst titles ever given to a comic. It would only be
beaten by the Gambit and Bishop limited series, if it had been
named, as Scott Lobdell suggested, "Gambishop."
Why name it X-Treme? I havent seen any examples yet of
extreme behavior. Is their official sandwich the Extreme
Whopper, in a clever cross promotion between Marvel and
Burger King? Ok, sure, this is a group of renegade X-Men
(Renegade renegades. Now theres a concept), but "Renegade
X-Men" would have been a much better title. Hey, in five
minutes, I came up with a better title! Try it at home, kids, safe
for all ages! (Offer not valid outside the continental United
States) In fact, Im so against this title, Ive taken up the lead of
others online, in calling it simply That Claremont Book. Feel
free to follow this lead yourself.
But wait, what about the actual comic book? Simple. Once
you get past the asinine, you get one of the best comics Marvel
is putting out these days. Rather like Freakylinks on FOX.
Good things seem to get hampered by totally lame names these
days. A new trend? And maybe I shouldnt compare XTX-
Men with Freakylinks, considering the problems that show had
with its schedule.
Right, lets get back to the comic.
First off, Chris Claremont is writing this comic, and its some
of his best writing in a long time. It still has a bit of the
Caricature Claremont that has cropped up here and there over
the years, and slips into self-parody a bit, but not as often as he
did when he started back on the X-Men last year. There is
some genuinely good writing here, but in Claremonts style. It
depends on your tastes, if thats your thing.
Salvador Larroca provides the art here, doing some of his
best work. Some folks have complained about his proportions,
and they are a little off, but for the most part, in this day and age,
theyre not that bad. And theyre consistent, and Salva has a
strong sense of storytelling. Best of all, he works well with
Claremont, which is why I think Claremonts later issues of his
return to X-Men were so much better. He had a competent
artist that meshed well with his style.
His costume designs are some of the best of the relaunch as
well. They have a bit more of a real world/leather feel to them,
but still are obviously costumes on comic characters. A good
blend of old and new philosophies. They also dont look
painted on. Theres a distinctive lack of cleavage on the
women! The costumes dont adhere to every curve! Take a
lesson, Liefeld, and imitators!
Now, the colours. Yeah, I dont usually discuss the colours
in a comic, but this is different. Marvel is using a new process
(Well, new to them at least), where they take Salvas finished
pencils, and go right to the computers to colour the pages. It
makes a very realistic style, and very noticeable, singling it out
from the rest. It started out in the first issue to leave some things
fuzzy, since there arent black lines outlining everything, and
detailing all the things, but the colorists are getting better at
getting that detail in, while keeping that unique feel. It also
started out very bright, and pastel, but as time has gone by, that
has lessened too.
The plot centers around a group of X-Men who have left the
main group, to go in search of Destinys Diaries, thirteen
volumes which will reveal the future of the planet to anyone who
finds them. Theyve split off from the rest of the team, since
theyre unsure that even Xavier can be trusted with this
knowledge, what with his tendency to, oh, go insane, and
manipulate minds. Were three issues in, and havent even really
looked for a journal, so this plot can go on for awhile. They
were looking for one, but were assaulted by a few folks, one of
which may be an agent of Xaviers, with the knowledge of how
best to kill each X-Man.
Speaking of killing X-Men, someone dies in this first arc, and
I wont spoil it, in case some folks have yet to read it (What are
you waiting for, GO!), and the death was very well handled.
Establishes the villain as someone who means business, shows
how much is at stake, and what these X-Men may be asked to
risk in their cause. And Claremont has come out and said that
they will be dead for as long as those in power want them to
stay that way. Which is about as dead as you get these days.
Actually, thats about as dead as any character has ever
been in comics. Im tired of the "Oh, theyll be back someday!"
jaded view of comic death. Of COURSE theyll be back
someday. Someone, eventually will want to bring back their
favorite character. Does that mean that the story of their death
is crap? Nope. Accept the comics for what they are folks, not
what might come down the line in a few months, or what theyre
not. This is another thing that has been bothering me about the
modern comic fan. If the comic isnt absolutely perfect, its a
piece of crap, and not worth their time. Which this could lead
me to a whole other rant, which I think Ill save for later, since
this is going a bit far a field.
In short, if you like Claremont, and the X-Men, you will
probably love this book. This definitely has the feel of
Claremont coming home again. This is Classic Claremont, folks,
and well worth the read, if you like that sort of thing.
Wow, I really went off about That Claremont Book. Im
done writing for the month. Ill be convalescing until next month,
with whatever Ellis comics I can get my hands on, folks. Thats
right, theyre not only covered in chemicals that are addictive,
but they have healing herbs in the ink too!
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