Review: X-Treme X-Men #1

The Exiles are back!

Wait, no, writer Greg Pak is presenting us with yet another issue of the Astonishing X-Men arc “Exalted.”

Actually, both are true. And neither.

Having nothing to do with Chris Claremont’s X-Treme, this fresh #1 sees Pak take the time-proven Exiles format and adopt it to mainstay X-Men (Wolverine, Emma Frost) from alternate worlds to create a nice symbiosis that promises the adventure of the X-Men and the dimension-hopping of Blink’s old gang in one title.

Pak gives us just enough of an explanation of what is going on without the introductory word dump ala the Watcher. As a matter of fact, we do not even know the name of the book or the credits until the last page. Talk about getting into a story fast!

For the uninitiated, this word dump: Pak’s “Exalted” arc saw Cyclops venture into a world he never made (as they say) and his attempts to help versions of X-Men (Wolverine, Emma, Nightcrawler and others) pulled from different dimensions in defeating a tyrannical version of Xavier and saving the world that they were on.

That storyline carries on into X-Treme X-Men #1 and, although the planet’s population is saved, a new threat rears its ugly (and we mean ugly!) head and comes to the 616 where our own Dazzler finally – finally! – shows her potential and essentially takes the place of Cyclops as she joins General Howlett, Emmeline Frost-Summers and my favorite character thus far, Kid Nightcrawler (Kurt Waggoner) in a dimension-hopping saga leading to a very interesting threat for next issue and an overall mission that I am sure will see some great adventures in the true Exiles manner in the coming months.

With a fun and engaging script by Pak, Stephen Segovia and Dennis Chrisostomo’s art brings the action to life and, while some of the pages might be a bit off as far as perspective goes, the unreality and sheer fun and momentum of the story carries everything through just fine. And while I love the alternate versions of X-Men we have seen so far, wait until you see who this rag-tag team will encounter on its first jump, if the final panel is to be believed!

All in all, a fun read and a great effort. Maybe I can stop missing Exiles now?