Welcome to Weirdworld, X-Men.
It's tough to think of a Marvel trope more played out than the idea of the X-Men visiting the Savage Land. It may be obligatory for that type of field trip story to crop up every so often, but at least writer Jeff Lemire is shaking up the formula a bit by sending the X-Men to Weirdworld instead. Extraordinary X-Men continues its upward trend as Lemire kicks off his second story arc and sets a number of new storylines in motion.
Even more than the introduction of Weirdworld, the most obvious change with this issue is that Victor Ibanez has stepped in for Humberto Ramos on art. Ramos' style has its merits, but his overly exaggerated and distorted character designs are often too distracting and out of place. Ibanez's style is less flamboyant by comparison and also easier on the eyes. Character drama takes precedence over spectacle here, and the series needed a more naturalistic style to help bring that change about. Ibanez's past experience on Greg Pak's Storm series come sin handy, as he has no trouble handling the more esoteric character designs while keeping the focus on clear, simple emotion. One panel featuring Old Man Logan reclining and enjoying a beer stands out n particular, showing how much information Ibanez can convey about a character's mental state through body language and background details.
The Weirdworld setting winds up feeling almost superfluous here, as Lemire focuses more on building new relationships and psychological struggles for his growing cast. Storm is front and center as she wrestles with some tricky leadership decisions. Lemire seems intent on making Storm grapple with the same dark decisions she once derided Cyclops for making, which should pay off nicely in the months (and possibly years) to come. It's also great to see this arc placing more emphasis on the younger members of the X-Men. While at this point it's a little weird to see characters like Anole, Martha and Glob still portrayed as lowly students and trainees (especially coming off of an eight-month time gap), at least they're receiving the attention they deserve. In general, there's a real sense that Lemire is trying to push his cast in new and unexpected directions.
The one scene that doesn't succeed in this mix is the heart-to-heart/coming out talk between Iceman and Anole. While lemire deserves credit for furthering the work Brian Bendis did with Iceman, the whole scene has a very hokey, "The more you know..." quality to it.
The Verdict
Extraordinary X-Men had a rocky start in its first few months, but things are looking up for the series as it begins its second story arc. Jeff Lemire is beginning to dig deeper into his cast of characters and push them in interesting new directions. The change in artist also helps the book's prospects. Hopefully this upward trend will continue as the new arc unfolds.
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