Fans of Grant Morrison’s X-Men run are basically getting a What If story in this new series with all the main players at work. Only in this story we see what would have happened if Xavier blew his brains out. I check out issue #2 to see if it’s as wild as the last issue and to determine…is it good?
E Is For Extinction (2015-) #2 (Marvel Comics)
The issue opens where we left off with a now old Cyclops, Wolverine and Emma Frost breaking Xorn out of a prison. The prison was being run by some humans who turned themselves into mutants. They quickly learn from Xorn that their powers are waning due to Magneto using the Phoenix. Time for some payback.
There is a lot to like in this issue, but it’s also paced a bit wonky with exposition heavy-moments that are boring and stilting. Chris Burnham writes this issue, and while there are some really cool ideas at work here, it’s not a home run by any means. Take for instance Magneto, who was super cool as the leader of the X-Men last issue, but comes off as naive, self entitled and blandly evil here. The issue ends with him comically getting an egg dropped on him too, which doesn’t help things.
This about sums it up.
Then we have the old guard of Cyclops as he explains to the newer mutants what is going on. It’s a bit annoying as they work things out via dialogue. The saving grace though is Xorn, who seems to have an infinite amount of wisdom and essentially steps into this issue as the deus ex machina. We all know and love him from the original series though so it’s nice to see him take such prominent role.
Burnham does have a nice sense of humor, which make me wonder if say, when Magneto gets pummeled with an egg, it was done for comic relief. It’s just so clumsy that it comes off as weak. That said there are a few snicker inducing moments in the issue which are always welcome.
The art by Ramon Villalobos continues to look closer to Chris Burnham’s work than Frank Quitely’s. But of course Burnham’s work is very close to Quitely so it’s not too far off. He continues to draw the costumes in all their puffy glory as well as some fantastic action panels. There’s one with Xorn that’s jaw droppingly good and he serves the source material well.
Awkward.
Is It Good?
An interesting issue in large part because Xorn is so damn cool. That said it’s a bit wonky, Magneto’s character shifts dramatically and the pace is slowed down by too much exposition.
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