Customer Reviews

X-Treme X-Men, Vol. 1: Destiny (Xtreme)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you aren't familiar with the evolution, history and norms of X-men over the last decade, this book just looks like a particularly good looking set of cliches with a somewhat confusing story. However, X-men folowers will recognize that there's almost no such thing as clighes with Claremont as he created all of them. Back in the eighties and early nineties, Claremont reinvented the X-men from the nerdy, high school rejects that Stan Lee created, into snazzy looking heroes that were feared by a non-mutant familiar society. Claremont is also credited with the creation of Rogue. In this series, the southern belle with voices in her head has gone from sassy tomboy with a streaked mane of teased hair, to a quiet loner with a cropped look that betrays a certain feeling of repentance. This reinvention of Rogue isn't 100% though, as Rogue smiles when she and Gambit are kicking Triad [behind] in Australia. The plot is a little hard to follow, and Claremont has a proclivity towards 'down-time' issues. 'Dreamtime seranade' is one of these issues, and while it gives artist Salvador Larrocca a chance to stretch his legs (an incredible visual pay-off), Claremont lays back and the plot starts to disappear. One thing that's interesting about Claremont's style is how he multi-tasks. In Australia, the team investigates charges that Gambit killed veteran X-men badguy Viceroy. To accomplish this Storm and Thunderbird go in search of Viceroy's rumored children as (if they exist) would be targets for whoever killed Viceroy. Bishop looks into the killing, pretending to be an Australian federal investigator. Bishop manages to offend Rogue who runs off, finds Gambit and the two of them search for Viceroy's real killer. Sage all the while gets into a fight with Lady Mastermind and the Hellfire Club. The stories are interesting, but can be confusing at times since they don't tie together. My real complaints, though, lie in the formatting. Claremont takes into consideration that his book may be the first X-men story ever read by someone, so he takes precautions not to lose the virgins, but the constant message boxes reiderating stuff you read two pages ago (though on original release was a month ago) can get annoying. But between Claremont's classic storytelling and Larroca's gorgeous artwork (one of the book's gimicks is a lack of an inker), the book is really a terrific read.
Something to note is that this book runs parrallel to New X-men, so buying this alongside one of 'X-men: E is for Extinction' is recommended.

If you're an X-Men fan like myself, then you'll love this backpack collection of X-Treme X-Men #1-9. Christopher Claremont and Salvadora Lacorra deliver a jam packed adventure featuring some of Marvel's most popular characters on the quest for Irene Adler (Destiny's) diaries, which predict the future of the world. IF put into the wrong hands the world is doomed. Rogue, Storm, Bishop, Thunderbird, Psylocke, Beast, Sage,Gambit, and new recruits Slipstream, Lifeguard, and Red Lotus face off against the assasin Vargas. In an around the world adventure the team travels from Spain to Australia. But what price will they pay? Will they be willing to sacrifice their own for the sake of the cause? For the sake of the dream? Join the X-Treme X-Men in a tale filled with awesome writing and beautifully detailed art work by Claremont and Lacorra. X-Treme X-Men is the one for any true X-Men fan!

Chris Claremont, as you may have heard, is known in the comic-reading circle as "Mr. X-Men". That's not difficult to understand seeing how the man has been involved with the X-books for close to 30 years or so (his very public exit in the 1992 notwithstanding). Here in the "X-treme X-Men" title is Claremont Updated for Today. And here, he teams with his art-partner from his run on Fantastic Four, the hyper-talented Salvador Larroca, to give us a very modern, very hip and very sexy X-Men team.

The premise of the story is this: the X-Treme team gets away from the rest of the X-Men to embark on a mission of their own. Their objective: to obtain the diaries of the late mutant precog, Irene Adler/Destiny, who supposedly records the future of the world. The main reason they are the "away" team is because they are also trying their best to prevent the diaries from falling into the hands of their mentor, Charles Xavier! Claremont does some fine explanation that in some way Xavier is as dangerous as Magneto (Magneto is a fanatic and Xavier is an idealist). Along the way, they meet a new villain called Vargas who did major damage to the team (even killing one of them).

As usual, Claremont's writing is very, very wordy and expositional. But for long time readers like me, that is exactly why we love the man. Today's readers seem to like the "wide-screen" storytelling of writers like Mark Millar and Warren Ellis. Claremont is old-school compared to them, having served under the editorships of men like Len Wein and Jim Shooter. And that's why he works for me - I always feel like having READ something after one of his issues. Furthermore, his scripts have this mesmerizing quality in them that can get pretty addictive after a while - you'll know what I mean if you talk to any 1970s/80s comic reader.

Salvador Larroca's pencils are beautiful. I especially like how he draws facial expressions. He is equally adept at large-scale action scenes as he is with the quieter, more introspective moments. As a bonus, his pencils are un-INKED in X-treme X-Men. The overall effect is a somewhat dream-like comic experience. The only downside is that some panels come off rather blur in this first volume. But rest assured, his pencils are more legible in the second and third volume of this series.

Any fan of X-Men must have this for their collection. Wonderful graphics and color. Introduction of two new X-men, plus the death of another as this group tries to track down journals that for tell the earth's future. There are times when the story is a bit weak. This book contains X-treme X-Men comics 1-9.

First off, I'll say that the script isn't the best Claremont's done, but he's still one hell of a writer. He's written the X-Men so well through the years and this plot is definitely proof of that. The dialogue, at times, doesn't fit too well, but the fast-paced, exciting story definitely makes up for that. I simply can't believe that anyone could say that the artwork is lousy or is poor. It's not inked, which may not suit some people's tastes, but the pencils are gorgeous. The colors and graphics are also splendid, adding to an already beautiful collection. The first volume of X-Treme X-Men, collecting issues 1 through 9, is wonderful and is a great addition to any comic fan's collection, but the stories and art in volumes 2 and 3, are even better! X-Treme is a title that you CANNOT miss!

Claremont takes some of our favorite X-Men characters and gives them a make over. What he creates is a fresh story for us. Remember, the X-Men have been around, in various forms, for quite a while and they need a shake up every now again. Great story, great art. Read it.

I've so far read Seven issues of "X-Treme X-Men" via my brothers stash of comic books hidden away for years and I have to say it isn't a bad comic book, although "UNCANNY X-MEN" is way better. For what its worth issues #1 through #7 weren't bad. And it is to my understanding that Storm had herself and the others break away from Professor Xavier and the rest of the X-group (Gambit included), all the powers Rouge absorbed from everyone she ever touched manifest inside of her at an uncontrollable rate thus giving her the gift of invulnerability, Wolverine's claws and so on. Storm is the leader of this ragtag group consisting of Bishop - Psylocke - Neal (a new character) - Sage - and Rouge.






They all seem to be enjoying a short reprieve from all the chaos in their lives when out of nowhere they are attacked by a bunch of armored goons who end up capturing them (Storm - Psylocke - Bishop - Beast and Neal). From there the fivesome are held captive for a short time then released into a sort of testing area where they are attacked by commandos not affiliated with whatever Spanish country they happened to be vacationing in.




When they are dealt with, Beast and Psylocke (who are separated from the others) are attacked by a man named VARGAS. {SPOILER: Pyslocke is killed in a battle against this seemingly unbeatable foe and Beast seems quick to follow her}. From there the plot focuses on the Outcast X-men searching for Destiny's books that seemingly predict the future of the human and mutant race. The "LIQUID!" art in the book was for a while the coolest look in a comic book I had seen since reading Ultimate Spider-Man's first few issues, however, as time dragged on the art began to look like the same as pencil/inked drawings in a comic to a certain degree. And while its nice to see Bishop not worrying about the fate of the future/past, he and the new character aren't my favorite characters. Yeah most of the time the characters seem underdeveloped or just plain boring while brooding over their lives - gifts - and fates or those darned books (this occurs daily with Neal - Psylock - Beast - Rouge - and Gambit). The introduction of Gambit was probably the major downfall of the storyline overall; He was either getting the crap beat out of him or you had to hear Rouge complain about Bishop not believing he was innocent and did not kill the Viceroy. A lot of the stuff that happened in the comic seemed to be another way to distract you from the fact the X-men weren't trying too hard to find the books that Destiny left behind for them and dropped the search for more insignificant things like protecting a Mobsters daughter (a mutant with powers like Colossus) and son (a normal human who got a crush on Storm) or said otherwise. Not that this was all bad.




In fact most of the time a break from all the talk about the books and Mystique and Destiny's difficulty with them was a nice breather of air, however, the other goings on seemed a bit little to linear to read through. I skiped through most of the unimportant dialogue that usually came from Neal or Rouge's complaints. The villains like Vargas and Lady Mastermind among others, were interesting to boot, but their few appearances and other agendas made me wonder what they were trying to gain through all of this besides those books (via Vargas). I really don't like the fact that they Brought back Psylocke from the dead -- things like this would fly in Dragon Ball/Z but not in things like X-men--- I mean it really cheapens the fact that she "died fighting" their enemy, and her friends were mourning over her. Not to mention she lost her Tattoo in the process: Talk about cheesy. All in all its not a bad comic book so far, I'll have to read the rest of the series in the other trade paperbacks available. [a 4 out of 5]

This first volume of X-Treme X-Men collects the first storyarc of the then newly launched X-Men series with legendary scribe Chris Claremont at the helm. Destiny finds a new branch of X-Men led by Storm, and featuring Rogue, Gambit, Psylocke, Thunderbird, Sage, and Bishop among others, looking for the diaries of the late mutant psychic Destiny. However, it's painfully obvious that Claremont's writing style isn't quite ready for the new milennium. His dialogue can be downright atrocious, and the fact that he tries to make it friendly towards new readers (by trying to include as much backstory as he can, and as X-Men fans know, that is quite a bit) leaves plenty of holes in the story. Not to mention, that when Psylocke is killed, there is little to no emotion involved; something which is quite unexpected considering she has been a part of the X-Men for well over a decade. Salvador Larroca's excellent and mouth watering art makes Destiny (along with most of the other X-Treme X-Men books he was on board for) worth checking out, and saves it from being a complete dud. Thankfully, after X-Treme X-Men bit the dust, Claremont returned to Uncanny X-Men and launched a new Excalibur book, both of which are more worth your time than this.

The story was slow and lacked edge. It makes no real move in the development of the X-Men's story, or potential. If you like general, run of the mill stories, go ahead and get this one.

I'm very disappointd by this series. After recommendations from several quarters about how good this is, I bought this as to "test-water", but it turned out to be rather sour. Poor artwork (as in, REALLY POOR), and slow-paced story. Will probably capture the hearts of older X-Men fans who want something that look like the past. But with the likes of Ultimate X-Men and New X-Men out there, I find no reason to persist with this title.