X-Treme X-Men Volume 2: Invasion TPB [Paperback]

Chris Claremont (Author), Salvador Larroca (Author)

Book Description

Series: X-Treme X-Men | Publication Date: January 6, 2003

The X-Treme team takes the field of battle as Earth's last line of defense - and ultimately, its only hope - against an alien armada capable of enslaving entire dimensions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (January 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785110186
• ISBN-13: 978-0785110187
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Claremont and Larroca deliver...again, January 26, 2003

By 

Za'chary Westbrook "Jericho" (Salem, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: X-Treme X-Men Volume 2: Invasion TPB (Paperback)

This is the third collection of X-treme X-men. This on chronicles the tam as they battle the Inter-Dimensional invader Khan. The plot is a throw-back to Claremont's glory days back in the eighties, a little weirder than a lot of the more contemporary plots. This story-arc sees Sage, formerly Tessa of the Hellfire club, using her 'jump-starting' on the mutations of Claremont's girl, Rogue, and latent mutant Davis Cameron. But the really cool part of this is the multi-path story-telling. And these paths fit together in a really cohesive way, unlike a lot of other attempts by lesser writers. Gambit is used by Khan as a conduit by which to keep his dimensional portal open, Rogue tries to free him, with Vargas, who killed Psylock a while back. Storm is taken captive by Khan, to be his queen. Sage, Bishop, Thunderbird, and newcomer Lifguard infiltrate Khan's flag-ship to rescue her. Slipstream, a.k.a. Davis Cameron, attempts to aid Rogue, with disasterous consequences. This is one of those really daring kinds of stories that attemps to balance fighting, character-based sub-plots, and event-oriented plotting. This is diffacult to balance because if you get too much fighting, you lose your plot's focus. If you have too much character-based sub-plotting (i.e. romances, personnal striggles, etc.) it feels sappy. And if there's too much event-oriented activity, it gets boring. But Claremont has years of experience, and tons of genius at work for him. The actual plot is equally daring because this sort super-villian attempting to genocide, take over the world thing has been done so many times (most noticably with the many plots with Apocalypse done during the 90s) that it is really easy to be cliche. But, even though Claremont invented almost every cliche to this kind of story, this story manages to dodge almost all of them. There are no significant cross-overs (with cameos by Iron Man, Captain America, and The Thing), there's a lot of banter but it's very realistic (given that most of it's between a dimension jumping, blue skinned Emporer and a platinum blond, black woman who can summon rain at will). There's also a cameo by The Mystery Men, from Chris Carter's X-files, as three of Khan's computer technicians. Quite simply, this is some of the most calculated and well-orchestrated comic book writing out there.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Claremont in High Gear, March 4, 2004

By 

Edmund Lau Kok Ming (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: X-Treme X-Men Volume 2: Invasion TPB (Paperback)

With this second volume, Claremont brings the "Destiny" storyline first set up in Volume 1 to a close. The X-treme Team faces an invasion from another dimension and deals with the villain from the first book, Vargas. Salvador Larroca's uninked artwork is far better and clearer here than even in the first book. This book is recommended for readers who enjoy Claremont's characterisation as that's the real draw of this storyline. Rogue and Storm are the real stars here - and if you're a fan of either of those X-women, you better get this volume!

Finally, for those who complain about Claremont's expositional writing or seemingly "direction-less" writing, check out this volume to see how much planning and thought goes into his comics. I've always felt that Nu-Marvel is sorely lacking in the kind of grand, Shakespearean style of writing that Marvel used to be known for. Check out any Jim Shooter, Jim Starlin, Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, etc. writings to see what I mean. Claremont brings that back in spades here. His wordy, expositional style works perfectly with a story like that.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Whats Wrong in Comics, November 12, 2003

By 

A. Spieldenner "aspield" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: X-Treme X-Men Volume 2: Invasion TPB (Paperback)

Chris Claremont is one of the most influential writers in the history of comics. He turned the X-Men into a massive franchise (an 'X' on a book almost always ensures sales). But he's been around so long without changing that he's now become a cliche. Extreme X-Men is no exception.

The Invasion storyline is beautifully drawn. Larocca is one of the most marketable artists working today. He's action-packed and still able to draw distinctive people and places. He has flow and energy in every panel.

It doesn't make up for the heavy-handed, predictable script, the bad dialogue and the flat characterizations. There are WAY too many word balloons in each panel; they detract from the elegance of Larocca's work and the visual cadence of the book. Claremont doesn't seem to trust the ability of the artist to tell the story, so there are often word balloons stating what the character is doing as they do it (i.e. "I have to blast them with my lighting" as Storm gets ready to blast them with her lightning) or information repeated needlessly throughout the collection.

Claremont is a major creator, cutting edge in his time, and now he's like John Hughes still making teen angst coming-of-age films. Like your father trying to look cool in an old biker jacket, badly moussed hair, and sunglasses straight from a Robert Palmer video.

I find Extreme X-Men to be better suited to people who like big action scenes with little characterization, or Claremont fans. Invasion is right up there. The art is pretty, what you can see of it behind the word balloons. All in all, I'd sooner recommend some of Claremont's earlier work (collected in X-Men Essentials and other formats), or one of Grant Morrison's hardcover X-Men collections.