Extermination

Extermination #1-5

by Ed Brisson (Writer), Mark Brooks (Writer), Pepe Larraz (Illustrator)

Cyclops. Iceman. Angel. Beast. Marvel Girl. The original team of teen mutants brought together by Professor Charles Xavier many years ago have been shunted through time to find a world they barely recognized but were determined to help. Now, finding themselves targeted for death, the future of mutantkind ays squarely in the hands of its past. Writer Ed Brisson (OLD MAN LOGAN, CABLE) and artist Pepe Larraz (UNCANNY AVENGERS, AVENGERS: NO SURRENDER) answer the biggest question of all: Can the fate of the X-Men be changed?

COLLECTING: EXTERMINATION 1-5

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2019

About the author

Comic book writer.

Credits include: COMEBACK, SHELTERED, THE FIELD (Image Comics), SECRET AVENGERS (Marvel), ROBOCOP, SONS OF ANARCHY, HELLRAISER (BOOM!) and X-FILES/TMNT: CONSPIRACY (IDW). Plus, you know, a bunch of stuff I can’t talk about yet.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This limited series X-event sees the displaced X-Men finding themselves the deadly target of at least two different conspiracies! What's happened to the X-Men events? Despite over 30 X-men appearing, casualties, big battles, big surprises and great reveals this limited series lacks the punch the X-Men events used to have; there's simply not enough foreshadowing, hints, drivers and sub-plots leading up to events anymore. I miss Claremont's laying the groundwork for events as much as over a decade in advance! It's a fair enough story that felt a bit rushed, and out of nowhere - Three Stars, 7 out of 12.
2019 read

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The original X-Men are headed back to the past whether they like it or not. Having the teenage versions of the X-Men in the present drug on for far many more years than it should have. Ed Brisson came up with a great premise for this mini. I loved how there were two different people after the X-Men at cross purposes. It moves at a breathtaking pace and sets up some new changes. I loved that last page.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this mini-series. It provided a satisfying end to the adventures of the time-tossed teenaged troupe, it was heart-wrenching, it was exciting and it was all wrapped in some seriously gorgeous artwork.

Oh, and that ending? I haven't stopped doing my happy dance yet. :-)

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool ending for the displaced X-Men, I think this was my favorite X-Men book in a long time, the original five were always the best team for me and it was about time we got them back where they belong, can't say much without spoiling the fun. Also... Pepe Larraz, nuff said.

[Subham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an epic event and storyline omg!

So Ahab and his hounds have come from the future to take out the young x-men (the 05) and then on the other hand there is a younger version of Cable who kills his older self and is kkindapping the 05 young versions too and we see the X-Men fighting on all sides against this, and the divisions into squads and what they do to combat the threats and when they confront young cable he explains his reasons and then when their friends get turned into hounds, how will the X-Men fight them and Ahab? What will be the fate of the 05? Will Cable be able to save the X-Men and whats his real reason?!

Its an epic event and I love the way the story starts and ends, it pretty much does the job of sending the young X-Men back into their time after Bendis brought them and yeah they overstayed their welcome and omg I am so happy seeing how they still remember and the two new characters Maxime and Manon are awesome and that last page reveal, I remember reading it when it came out and loved it, one of my favorite X-Men moments ever and its epicly written but the main reason form me loving it is the drawing and its so good, it will make you love the X-MEN all over again! Fantastic stuff!

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original 5 are finally heading back to their time, but is it done well?

So somebody has come to kill the original five. If they do it will change the history and completely change the events of the future. However, there's also someone going around kidnapping the original five as well. Two players going after the originals, while the rest of the X-Men group is protecting them all, or least trying.

Good: The twist on who was kidnapping the x-men was pretty cool and could end up having some cool moments. The tension and pacing is good, never slowing, and never boring. The art is solid and there's some excellent fight scenes.

Bad: The ending is kind of a simple reset button that feels done too many times, especially in X-Men. How easily the X-Men kept getting their asses kicked seemed odd.

Overall, brisk pacing, and fun action scenes, this is a decent little mini-event to say goodbye to the original five. A 3 out of 5.

[Jesús De la Jara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jajaja ¡el mejor final! aunque igual me deja muchas dudas. Sólo por eso le doy 5.
La historia en sí es buena y cierra muchas cosas. Por ello para mí es importante. El ciclo que empezó en el 2012 con la idea del escritor Bendis de traer a los X-Men originales del pasado al presente. Y este volumen da cuenta de su fin de alguna manera poética. Hasta ahora recuerdo lo que me gustó en su mayoría las series de All New-X-Men y Uncanny X-Men de Bendis que dejó al final y que de esta manera se cierra este ciclo.
La premisa es bien interesante, el malvado Ahab caza mutantes del futuro de la realidad de Rachel Grey vuelve para atormentarla, sin embargo va a ser obstaculizado por un increíblemente joven Cable que se unirá al gran equipo de X-Men para evitar su extinción.
Nunca pensé que terminaría el año con esta lectura y mucho menos el gran final que es un gran regalo de este 2018 que se va.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

All good things must come to an end, and for Jean Grey, Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, and Beast, that time has come. When simultaneous threats drive them back towards their own time period, they must reunite and protect each other or face Extermination!

You know what? I didn't expect much of this. It's basically an editorially mandated end to the Original Five time-displaced X-Men's story in the present day Marvel Universe. But you know what else? I'm so glad to be wrong.

This final story prompts the O5 to finally bring their trip to the present to an end as Ahab and a young version of Cable arrive to try and kill and/or return their to their original places. It's a simple story, but it pulls in pretty much all the X-Men as well as some surprising additions (Hi Mimic!). There's somehow time to bring all these characters' stories to a resolution (although the final volume of X-Men Blue is a good companion piece to this story for that reason too), and even introduce some new characters and more than a few explosive set pieces for good measure.

The only thing I didn't really like was the unceremonious murder of one of the O5's supporting cast, but they wouldn't have really served much of a role without them around - it still could have been executed a little better, but I'll live, I guess.

On the art front, Pepe Larraz's career has really been taking off recently, and his art on this series is a prime example why - he's giving me Oliver Coipel vibes, and it's just great. Marte Gracia's colours make everything pop, and even the issue where Larraz has to step back to just do layouts and the actual pencils are by Ario Anindito looks amazing.

As a sidebar, I'm surprised The Exterminated one-shot which acts as an epilogue for the series isn't collected here. Although it had a Chris Claremont story in it, so that's probably why - too many words.

Extermination has no right to be as good as it is, and yet here we are. The O5's adventures come to an extremely action packed and satisfying conclusion with amazing artwork.

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bye, bye X-Kids! Thanks for visiting. It never really bothered me that you were here...but its time to get you back where you belong.

Fun little event. Very fast paced, art was on point and some interesting twists that will ripple in the X-Verse for some time to come.

I wasn't planning on reading the new X-Force book by Ed Brisson but immediately after finishing this series I went onto ComiXology and bought the first 5 issues.

Ya got me, Marvel. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this. I wasn't against the concept of bringing the original 5 X-men into the modern day, but I do think it ran on longer than it probably should have. This puts them back into their own time via a cool story and nice art.

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

For the record, I always hated the idea of bringing the original X-Men into the current time. It didn't fit the character of the Beast, time travel has become too "easy" and it should be limited in its use, and I think it was just a chance for Bendis to write "teens".

Extermination tells the final story of the original group in our time. I won't get into how or why but the story is basically non-stop action with only a few brief moments of why they were brought here. In other words, no lessons learned or self-examination. On one hand, this mini-series resolves their presence which makes me happy, but on the other hand, it's handled briskly, wiping the table clean so the next customers can sit down. Perhaps that's fitting since it seemed the initial idea was conceptualized and without much thought. Regardless of my thoughts on this particular story, Marvel does seem to be "cleaning" up the X-verse, bringing it back to its core roots, and this is one step along the way.

Read this more for completion sake, to finally close this chapter in X-Men history.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The saga of the young time-displaced X-Men, which began way back in January 2013 under the pen of Brian Michael Bendis, reaches a hugely satisfying and action-packed finale in Ed Brisson's Extermination.

Given that there's a whole lot of time travel paradoxes and ramifications of what's to come based on what has passed (or not, given the whole issue of time travel shenanigans in the first place), Brisson keeps things blessedly simple and straight-forward (despite, again, all the time travel shenanigans). The future is in ruins, but time traveling mutant hunter Ahab hopes it can be made even worse and he can get to killing more mutants even faster, so he hops back to present-day with an eye toward killing as many of the young X-Men as possible. The only one who knows of this potential future and how to set things right is Cable, and it becomes his mission to return the young X-Men to their past -- by any means possible.

We've known for a while now that the young X-Men had to return to their own time and Cullen Bunn's X-Men Blue set the stage for this eventuality. All of the X-books in Marvel's ResurrXtion line have been leading toward this and working in concert to lay the ground work for Extermination. It pays off wonderfully, and Brisson opens the event with a hell of a wallop. This book is pretty freaking dark and tragic, but it's also really beautiful to look at. Pepe Larraz's and Ario Anindito's pencils, and Marte Garcia's and Dexter Vines's colors, are exactly the kind of artwork you expect for a big event like this and really deliver some impressive action scenes, including a couple massive splash page battles.

I've had some frustrations with the storytelling in the X-books over the last few years, and too often it felt like the writers were playing it safe, or waxing too nostalgic with the property. Extermination, though, felt downright dangerous, which is exactly the tone these books have needed. When you've got time displaced X-kids and a world's past that can be significantly altered by their deaths in the future, you've got some wickedly high stakes, and too often the various writers dealing with these characters have opted to look the other way because it was easier. Brisson makes it clear that the threat is real and that there are serious repercussions to their time displacement. Extermination puts it all on the line, and it's the kind of send off this storyline desperately needed. After five years of melodrama and various craziness, it's also a bit overdue. Thankfully, Brisson sticks the landing and gives readers the proper payoff.

If I have any complaints at all, it's that Marvel really dropped the ball in their titling of this event. Who in their right mind chose not to call this thing X-termination?

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story has so much action it made my head spin. It's a turning point in the X-Men timeline that will have major implications. Some will die, some will return home, but their story continues. The last page has one of their own return from the other side. Comic book death strikes again.

The young X-Men are targetted by people from the future. Bloodstorm and Cyclops are attacked by Ahab and his mutant trackers. Bloodstorm dies before Cyclops forces them to retreat. Cable tries to prevent Iceman from being captured, but fails and is killed. It turns out the culprit is a young Cable.

Ahab returns to attack the X-Men in their own mansion and turns Logan into one of his hounds using the two young mutants he infiltrated among the X-Men. Their psychic powers can manipulate feelings and memories. Rachel, Nightcrawler and Shatterstar soon join him. Cable joins the fray and kidnaps young Beast. It becomes obvious that he isn't working with Ahab.

Instead of trying to hide, Jean and X-Force decide to track and attack Cable's headquarters. They discover the truth - that Cable was trying to keep them safe from Ahab so they can return to their own time and prevent a disastruous future. Ahab knows that killing just one of them will disrupt the timeline enough to destroy the X-Men completely. He follows the X-Men to Atlantis, converting more of them into hounds with the twins' powers.

The only way to end the fight is for the young X-Men to go back to their own time and have Jean wipe their new memories. Back in the present the Jean remembers how to defeat the twins and Ahab soon retreats defeated. And Cyclops is set to return.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was no particular reason this book should have been good.
Yet, a 4* rating.

After a few years of getting along with Bendis' crazy idea of bringing the young X-Men in the future-our present- with their older selves someone at Marvel called for the end of recess.
It probably was about time. Some stories were good, very good indeed, but lately the X-books were all going down the drain and needed refocusing. Getting rid of the X-kids is one mean to this end.

Ed Brisson was chosen for the task and showed he was up to it. In 5 action-packed issues he wraps up the whole thing and bring all whinings-should we stay or should we go?- to a term. Yes you should, actually you must, so cut the crap and git!
Brisson makes good use of many characters-old and current-, kills a few, maintains tension throughout, delivers quite good cliffhangers (notably issue 4 and 5) and very decently concludes what seemed like a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
Kudos, man, I wasn't expecting such solid work.

Cherry on top, Pepe Larraz draws the whole book but issue 4 where he only does the layouts and it shows a bit. Larraz obviously likes Stuart Immonen and (more than) very decently emulates his work. Since I'm a HUGE fan of Immonen, it's all candy for me.
Very good colors from Marte Gracia.

I know the X-titles were disappointing of late. But if you liked Bendis' idea a few years back this conclusion is worth your attention. It doesn't make up for all the mediocre stuff that happened in between but at least it honestly conludes the idea and even proposes something interesting for the future.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

You couldn't have made the return of the Young X-Men to the past much more cookie cutter: you have someone (for the nth time) tell us of the dire ramifications on the timestream if they don't go back. But this time you REALLY mean it. And you engage in some surgery to turn them back into their young selves.

On the flip side, you introduce a time traveller who wants to destroy the timestream by destroying the Fab Five. Ahab will do, one of the most unoriginal and cliched X-Men villains from the '90s. He's about as interesting here as he's ever been, which is to say not.

In fact the only interesting thing about this volume is the use of Cable, who offers a couple of shocks and some fun timey-wimeyness. And Brisson does a good job of squaring the circle by both offering a reset button and making the Young X-Men's time in the past meaningful.

It should have been done a long, long time ago, but here we are, at last, in the editorially mandated future.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

That last panel has me so excited for the future of the x-men. Great volume overall, it was able to wrap up the original five storylines pretty well. It is a huge shame that we won't get to see these "new" characters anymore. I was growing attached to them, and it's a bigger shame that when they were around they didn't really get much to do. Bittersweet feeling.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended only if you have been following some of the recent stories about the young X-Men. A little confusing, but no one knew how to conclude this story, and they... uh... did their best. Art by Larraz is really great.

[ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. the art was amazing. i really love the x-men artists lately.

but.

2. dang this felt shoehorned. i am glad they're fiiiinally going back and we are finally back to only those that should be here, but, hm.

BUT.

3. that doesn't mean the writing in this was bad. it was great! (boom boom... my heart) it's just the concept and story that wasn't.

[mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a good ending for the time displaced xmen, really amazing<3

[The Lost Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't been following all the adventures of the teen original X-Men these last years, but this one felt interesting. All the material es well organized, so you can follow the events even if you haven't been reading all the X-Men team comics recently. Anyway, this feels like a good way to put an end to a story. Extensive time-travel and frequent paradoxes are produced almost in every page, but the plot feels quite strong. As a reader interested in Jean Grey's development as a character, this is a good comic (although Brisson insists in making hera little bit softer than what she feels like in Tom Taylor's X-Men Red, Vol. 1: The Hate Machine).
I've really enjoyed the way several mutant teams clash and work in a strange harmony to save the future. The interactions between some characters feel well built and their conflicts, relatable. In the end I even enjoyed Cable, and I've never been too keen on that guy. I don't know if this will come to be an iconic X-Men story, but it feels quite relevant for the present incarnations of many mutants, specially those related to the Summers-Grey family. I think it's really worth reading for anyone who likes the X-Men.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/SWtzC9nhQM4

[Laissez Farrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong premise and ending marred somewhat by the repetitive middle issues. I generally like the art though sometimes the surprised/yelling face work was a bit overdone.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the launch of Marvel NOW years ago, a new X-Book was announced: All-New X-Men, which told the story of the original 5 X-Men being brought to the present day in order for them to learn from the mistakes they have yet to make (specifically Cyclops with his then-recent murder of Charles Xavier, but the others need it too). Though this was one of Beast's bad ideas, the storylines and development we saw in the characters was excellent. This is the end of that tale. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:
- We see three deaths here: Cable, Bloodstorm, and Mimic. All 3 are killed by a younger version of Cable (jokingly referred to as Kid Cable), as they all are a hindrance to the correction of the timeline. Adult Cable for some unknown reason (as of yet), Bloodstorm to make Cyclops easier to capture (plus she is from an alternate Earth anyways), and Mimic (we don't get to see the murder in the book, but...) so that Kid Cable can attach real wings to Angel after removing the fire ones he got from The Black Vortex.
- Ahab and his Hounds make a strong reappearance here. It looks like he will become a bigger villain again. He had time traveled forward to kill any of the Original X-Men, but he doesn't succeed, despite changing many X-Men into hounds. When he leaves, he does take Rachel Summers with him, as she is susceptible to the control, having been one of Ahab's hounds for years.
- X-Force reunites here too. I know they have a new title so there will be more adventures to come.
- All of the experiences that the original X-Men had have been transported to the memories of the present day characters (I assume so that they can still reference it) in the same process as the memories of the Originals are wiped.
- At the end of the Volume, we see Kid Cable talking to someone and it is revealed to be adult Cyclops, seemingly alive again. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?? I will be finding this out as soon as I can.

Overall, this Volume was good, but seemed a little rushed. Nice to see my favorite character back in play. Still, an essential story when moving forward.
Recommend.

[Jonathan Pongratz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore the X-Men, and this graphic novel was pretty fun!

In a nutshell, Beast brought the original five X-Men from the past to the present in an effort to better the future. But when a mutant menace named Ahab starts tracking them down, hellbent on correcting a timeline of his own to exterminate mutantkind, all of the X-Men and their young counterparts will have to take up the mantle if they want to survive.

Okay, so wow! I was definitely seeing double this time around. It was interesting to see the young versions of the original five X-Men interact in a new world they don't fully understand and quip with their older counterparts and new members.

This graphic novel was a bit more extreme than your typical X-Men adventures with a lot of death, bloody battles, and losses. It hurt to see some of the terrible outcomes, but that's what made the story so exciting.

I will admit, some of the quirks of this setup were a bit confusing. For instance, how is there a present version of BloodStorm and normal Storm in the same timeline? I just wasn't sure how that worked, so I had to just take it for what it was. That being said, I really enjoyed all the epic superhero battles and the use of time travel to make things even more unpredictable and chaotic.

Definitely worth reading if you'd like a fun one-shot adventure for the X-Men!

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Os anos 1990 estão de volta e isso é inegável, minha gente! Não é só nos filmes e nas séries de televisão que eles estão sendo celebrados, mas, obviamente, nos quadrinhos também. A saga Extermínio dos X-Men é uma prova, digamos, viva disso. Isso porque ela faz um revival de uma das primeiras saga mais rocambolescas dos X-Men, A Canção do Carrasco, em que um Cable está caçando os X-Men. Neste Extermínio temos uma versão juvenil do Cable caçando os X-Men Originais, isso mesmo, os X-Men Originais que estão deslocados de seu tempo passado no presente. Confuso? Sim deliciosamente confuso, como só os X-Men dos anos 1990 sabem ser e a gente sabe gostar! Além disso temos outro elemento que é Ahab, o caçador de mutantes vindo diretamente de outra saga confusa dos 1990, que é Dias de um Futuro do Passado! Depois dessa minissérie acompanhamos o especial X-Men: Extrerminados que fala sobre a morte de... Cable? De Cable? Mas não era uma versão dele que estava caçando os x-novinhos? Sim, era. Mas quem disse que X-Men precisa fazer sentido para ser uma história boa. E eu achei Extermínio uma história boa. Podem me julgar!

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am incredibly torn on this one. First, it's lazy in many ways. They just flatout remove problematic characters/storylines so sloppily. This character needs gone? Kill her. This story has run its course? Use crazy deus-ex to remove it. That said, it's well drawn and kinda fun and, honestly, if you are just going to retcon all this stuff like this, then do it. Band-aid motion, RIGHT OFF. None of the year long DC nonsense in fumbly attempts to clear up plot issues. Like I said, incredibly torn.

[Lucas Savio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bem confesso sai dos X-men do bendis e pulei direto para o fim e decepcionante o que o editor-chefe propôs para o fim dos X-novinho sério??? excluir todos os feitos dele e como excluir toda a experiência adquirida acho péssimo essas facilidades de roteiro. A arte estava Ok em alguns momentos muito boas mas, nossa, esperava mais. Achei muito corrido, honestamente.

[Abee ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buena lectura, es amena :3
Cable joven me encantó, como dicen Jean "solo es un joven que extraña a su padre". No es el chico más maduro y su manera de actuar en este evento no fue la mejor pero tenía buenos motivos. El final me gustó mucho. ♥️

[Marta]

el niño cable da 0 faks

[Gerry Sacco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best X-Men trade I’ve read in a long time. Gorgeous art, great fights, nice twist, good ending. Honestly, what more can you ask of an event? Well done.