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X-Treme X-Men #24 is Salvador
Larroca's final issue before being reassigned to Namor.
It's a slightly awkward issue to end on, since it's really a
prologue designed to introduce Cannonball into the cast.
It's not like Larroca's leaving halfway through a storyline,
but I suspect in the wider picture, last issue would probably
have been a more natural handover point.
The main theme of this series remains the
tensions between its more traditional approach and the
upheavals over in the main book. I'm all in favour of
that. When there's an insuperable problem at the heart
of the series, putting it centre stage and turning it to
advantage is generally a better way of dealing with it than
trying to sweep it under the carpet.
Sam was last seen in New X-Men, as a
member of X-Corp Paris. That makes him the first
character to defect and join the Claremont faction. So
the story picks up in the aftermath of the Weapon XII
storyline and the death of Darkstar. Conveniently, the
rescue efforts play nicely into Sam's background as a miner,
which helps re-establish the character. (Even if we have
to put up with Claremont's typically awful English accents on
the co-workers - these are characters who actually say things
like "Cor, stone the crows.")
Lila Cheney is then brought back in as a
love interest, which is fair enough historically. If
she's going to stick around as a supporting character, there's
going to have to be some thought given to updating her rock
star image, conceived back in the early 1980s. She's a
character who really has to be contemporary if she's going to
work, and there's going to have to be some thought given to
that. Anyhow, Sam grows increasingly concerned by what
he's reading over in New X-Men and decides to hook up
with Storm's group - the end.
As I say, it's really just an introduction
issue designed to justify Sam's arrival in the cast, and in
particular to explain why he crosses sides. It's more
about establishing a starting point for the character than
telling a complete story.
Rating: B
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