Extermination #1

By Ed Brisson, Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia

When the time displaced original 5 X-Men were brought to the future by Beast to stop Cyclops from doing irreparable damage to the mutant population, they were a breath of fresh air. Now, five years later, they seem to have worn out their welcome and become something of a nuisance to X-fans. It appears that the time has come for the teens to head back to their time, dead or alive. Extermination kicks off, and there is a mysterious new villain looking to get rid of the original X-Men by any means necessary. The ripple effects of this event could be massive, but then again, what x-event doesn’t have consequences.

Ed Brisson has come a long way for Marvel recently. He’s been responsible for some pretty big characters lately, including Iron Fist and Old Man Logan. With Extermination, he gets to mess around with everyone’s favorite band of merry mutants. Brisson sets the tone early as a well liked character meets their demise. Brisson also allows young Cyclops to show off his power set. A problem with this version of Cyclops has been that he was a bit of a whiner and ultimately generic. Brisson has made him the most likable he’s been in a long time. As the issue goes on, so does the death toll. We’re interested to see who the mysterious cloaked person is and why they are offing people in the present. Brisson shows in this first issue that no one is safe. If there is one gripe, it’s that certain characters didn’t grieve after a character died. Maybe that’s because there wasn’t time, but it did seem odd that the second death wasn’t met with more of an impact from prominent mutants. That aside, Brisson has turned in a very good first issue that will leave you waiting for the next one.



The pencils this issue are handled by Pepe Larraz with colors by Marte Gracia. Larraz has a great look to his art, and it’s similar to something you would see from Terry Dodson. Seeing Cyclops blow Ahab through the wall of a restaurant is a great panel. There is also a very cool panel with great perspective as our hooded villain stands on a building above the city as he waits for one of the X-Men to get in the perfect position to attack. The colors by Marte Gracia really help Larraz’s pencils, as they convey a dark moody tone. Explosions light up the pages as X-Man after X-Man gets attacked. Dull reds and yellows are used throughout the book as the warm color palette also provides a darker tone. For an X-Man story to succeed, it needs good art to match the story,  Extermination has just that.

It wouldn’t be an X-event if the stakes weren’t high, but the first issue of Extermination proves that our favorite mutants are in for a world of hurt. Ed Brisson continues to impress with his grasp of another set of characters in the Marvel Universe. You honestly couldn’t ask for a better art team to compliment the writing. Extermination is a must read book!