The major comic companies put out enough comics that sometimes it can leave your head spinning and eyes bleeding as you search the new titles each week for something worth reading. To aid in your Geeky endeavors, Speak Geeky To Me on occasion reviews new titles from the major companies to spotlight the best and worst of what’s available at your local comic shop. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Comic Review.

 

The Info Bit

Title: X-Treme X-men #1

Genre/s: Superhero/Alternate Dimension Traveling

Writer: Greg Pak (Dead Man’s Run, X-men: Magneto – Testament)

Penciler: Stephen Segovia (Dark Wolverine, Thor: The Deviant’s Saga)

Inker:  Dennis Crisostomo (Emma Frost, Advent Rising)

Colorist: Jessica Kholinne (Journey Into Mystery, Voodoo)

Publisher: Marvel

Number of Issues: 1 (on-going)

Page Count: 20

Price: $2.99

 

The Review Bit

Yet another X-men title in the Marvel universe now exists, and this one isn’t even creatively titled. Yes, we have a new volume of X-treme X-men, but no, it is in no way related to Chris Claremont’s previous volume. In fact, the reality of this X-book is that it is much closer to being a new volume of the beloved alternate Marvel dimension traveling title, Exiles. Spinning out of this spring’s Astonishing X-men storyline, Exalted (Astonishing X-men vol.3 #44-47, for those curious), Greg Pak brings back a bunch of alternate reality X-men to once more save the multi-verse.

X-treme X-men is comprised of 3 characters from Exalted, Captain James Howlett (the Wolverine of a world where he was laced with golden Adamantine, instead of Adamantium, and held the position of Governor General of the Dominion of Canada), Emmeline Frost-Summers (White Queen of the New Albion X-Society), and Kurt Waggoner (a child aged Nightcrawler from an Earth where Brooklyn is in the United States of California). The series picks up directly after the events of Exalted, but fans need not have read that storyline to fully understand this new series. Why? Because thanks to the main (Earth-616) Marvel universe’s Alison Blaire (Dazzler), we have a character who is also new to these events to guide us in. Bringing in Dazzler allows readers to relate this book to the main universe, making it feel important, without losing a major character to another dimension (meaning it’s not a loss to other creators when they can’t put Dazzler in a title like Uncanny X-men). In the same, Dazzler and her heavily depicted sexual openness and forward attitude should add brilliantly to the book (and her naughtier facebook page). Dazzler is brought back to a pre-Avengers vs X-men Utopia (HQ of the X-men) to aid Cyclops in getting back in contact with the alternate dimension from Exalted. At the same time, Cyclops’ three allies from Exalted have broken the multi-verse trying to save their planet, with the aid of a beheaded Professor Xavier that can inexplicably teleport through time and space. It all sounds complicated, I know, but it is really quite fun alternate dimensional Marvel mayhem.

After an incident on Marvel’s main Earth, Dazzler ends up joining the Exalted cast to round out the new X-treme X-men team. This alternate dimension collection of X-men now are given the task to fix the problems they caused and save the multiverse. Like I said, it’s very much like the old Exiles series, but with a great new cast.

Greg Pak created some amazing characters with Mike McKone back when he did the Exalted storyline in Astonishing X-men, so it is fun to see them brought to life again under Stephen Segovia’s pencils. Their unique histories will certainly be fun to unravel, and their odd chemistry will undoubtedly make for some great dialogue. In fact, the combination has already begun as each character briefly shared their opinions on the Dazzlers from their respective dimensions. I can only imagine it will get better, and more hilarious, as the series progresses. As for the plot, the big problem in Exiles was always finding a reason for the team to have been formed and travel to alternate realities. It seems Pak has come up with as logical a reason as anything else to at least last a few storylines. With Segovia providing some beautiful artwork to accompany the story, it should be a nice ride. Segovia fills this issue with some lovely splash pages packed with action and dynamic character posing. There is no doubt the original art on these pieces could go for a hefty chunk of change if the series ends up gaining popularity. My only complaint is that Dennis Crisostomo seems to get a little dark and excessive with the ink here and there, leading to some of the pages having faces that seem almost incomplete or half lost in an absence of light. Meanwhile Jessica Kholinne lays out some decent coloring, yet it all seems somewhat flat. If you’re including Dazzler, a character known for creating colorful lights as her mutant power, it would be nice to see some impressive variations of color and coloring techniques, rather than just whites with the slightest gradient into greens and reds around the edges of Dazzler’s constructs. Never-the-less, her colors and Crisostomo’s inks do a good enough job setting the darker mood of later scenes from deep within a murky alternate dimension cave.

The Rating Bit

While the title and concept of X-treme X-men may not be all that original, the characters and story certainly have a lot of amazing potential to them. The last splash page alone already guarantees my need to pick up the second issue. But while the pencils look great, the art team could mesh a bit better to make this book find a higher rating. Until that point, X-treme X-men #1 earns a very respectable 8 out of 10, making it while worth the purchase and read.

Of course, for that little bit extra, to tie in this X-treme X-men with its predecessor, Marvel brought the original X-treme X-men artist, Salvador Larroca, back for the variant cover you can check out below.