X-Treme X-Men is still shipping weekly as it races to catch up with its schedule and complete its final arc in advance of the upcoming "Reload" relaunch of the X-books.

I'm not going to spend much time on this issue, because it's part two of six, and thus far there's not much to distinguish it from many other Claremont stories.  Elias Bogan, a mutant mind-controller with historical connections to the Hellfire Club, looks suspiciously like a vehicle to revive long-forgotten plots for the Shadow King.  Heroes get mind-controlled, other heroes go to the rescue, and it's basically stock Claremont.  Fine for the hardcore Claremont fans, less than inspiring for those of us who've seen these themes done to death.

Over on an X-Fan message board, Igor Kordey has pointed out that, despite what the credits say, Greg Adams only inked the first nine pages.  No doubt with deadlines in mind, the remainder of the book has been farmed out to two ghost inkers, one of whom has made a bit of a hash out of the last third of the issue.  "Neo-primitivism playing smart on Kordey," grumbles Igor, who appears to be seriously unimpressed.  "Blew it completely."  Kordey has a point.  There's a definite deterioration as this issue goes on, and the inking on the last third - whether because it's a rush job or for some other reason - is definitely lacking.

Anyway, it's a stock Claremont plot, with art that appears to have suffered at the hands of a multi-inker rush job.  Nothing out of the ordinary.

Rating: C+

back | continue