X-Treme X-Men #2: I’m on the Hunt, I’m After You, Smell Like I Sound, I’m Lost in a Crowd

It’s chapter two in this blast from the past (told between the pages) X-Treme X-Men run, with series creators Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca in the drivers seats (it’s got a sticker Student Driver on its bumper), taking us on an wild adventure that promises to give you a very big bang for your buck. Does it pay off? How’s the art? Does it feel like it’s 2004 again? The answers to all your questions can be found inside, so let’s go…

Right off the bat you can tell this is a Chris Claremont story by just the dialogue alone. To say that the man is verbose would be an understatement. He’s from a very different era than today’s writers, and it shows. Every character has something to say, or think, that unless you’ve had experience with Chris’s body of work, it could become a pretty intimidating and daunting task. Luckily I broke my teeth on the works of Mr. Claremont, so this was like curling up to a good book. The man likes to make sure you know this is a book. Claremont also likes to give these characters day jobs, and lives outside of being superheroes, which is something that’s missing in a lot of the X-books. Their world has become so insular over the decades, it’s nice to see something that humanizes them. 

Another thing that I’ve missed is how the relationships between certain characters are portrayed. These characters have been around for decades, and they’ve cultivated a depth that you can feel as they speak to each other, or read the thought balloons as you see how they feel for their teammates. Their love and concern for Kitty is almost palpable, while her hate for Ogun can be felt. He has this ability to make these characters thoughts, feelings, and passions something you can relate to. It’s one of Claremont’s greatest gifts as a writer.

Salvador Larroca continues to wow me with this issue, as his style feels both familiar, yet also a progression from the style we’ve become accustomed to over the years. His character work is strong, with a few oddly drawn faces here and there, but overall he’s doing a killer job with this mini. These two always seemed to have a chemistry with their work, dating all the way back to the their run on the Heroes Return Fantastic Four, that followed them to Uncanny X-Men, and finally with the first volume of X-Treme. I have high hopes for this mini to be successful enough to garner an ongoing, or at least a string of minis, like we had with Pak’s New Agents of Atlas.