Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: ahab, Beast, cable, cyclops, Ed Brisson, extermination, fantasy, iceman, Jean Grey, joe sabino, kitty pryde, marte gracia, Marvel Comics, pepe larraz, phoenix, prestige, rachel grey, rachel summers, sci-fi, shatterstar, superheroes, x-men, x-men blue

Extermination #2 Review: Waiting for the Plot to Show Up

We see young Cable take another prisoner at a grocery store, and Jean Grey tries to comfort Cyclops about the deaths of Bloodstorm and Cable. The X-Men convene on what to do about Ahab's return and the missing young Iceman. Kitty thinks it's best to split the remaining young original X-Men up to make it more difficult for them to be targeted. Cyclops runs out the X-Mansion, angry about the suggestion. His teammates follow to console him, and they are attacked yet again.

The story begins to take a more solid shape in Extermination #2. We know both young Cable and Ahab have some specific goal that centers around the X-Men: Blue team.

A lot of the specifics are still vague, and I think the addition of the young Cable convolutes this story beyond all reason. The cynic in me notices that young Cable looks a bit more like Josh Brolin than elder Cable. We're still not sure whether the X-Men: Blue team comes from our own timeline or not either.

I'm still not sure how on board I am with his story either. It is moving slowly and is keeping everything far more vague than necessary. When the plot literally comes crashing through the X-Mansion walls in the final part of the comic, you're left hoping someone will finally explain what is going on.

Also, the whole "they're treating us like kids" moment with Cyclops is tired.

Pepe Larraz does some good work on this one, bringing a well-detailed and action-oriented eye to the comic. There is often a slickness to the texturing that serves the visuals well, and shadows are used economically but appropriately. The scene in the rain in the middle-third of the book looks especially good. Marte Gracia's color work is solid too.

Extermination #2 is alright at best. At worst, it's still confused and noncommittal in the story it wants to tell. I didn't hate my experience in reading the comic, but I will say it gets more frustrating the more one thinks about it. I can tentatively recommend it to the X-Men: Blue devotees, but I wouldn't say it's worthy of a read for anyone else.

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