X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda

Title: X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda

Creators: Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld

Page Count: 304

Cover Price: $49.99

Release Date: August 10, 2011

Collects: Uncanny X-Men #235-238, #270-272; New Mutants (1983) #95-97; X-Factor (1986) #60-62

Review: I’ve recently been on an X-Men kick, and after finishing the first 2/3 of Essential X-Men 10, I decided to pick up the full-color hardcover edition of X-Tinction Agenda, instead of reading it in black-and-white and on newsprint.  The last time that I read this story was in the early ’90’s, shortly after the original trade paperback collection came out, and I remember holding this story in high regard.  Over the years, my memory of the story had grown fonder, so this re-reading had a lot to live up to.

The first thing that I noticed about the book was that it collected the original 4-issue Genosha storyline from Uncanny X-Men #235-238.  This was a welcome surprise, seeing as how the entire X-Tinction Agenda story was based off the original confrontation.  Collecting those issues also serves the dual purpose of widening the straight run of Uncanny X-Men issues collected in the oversize hardcover format (currently 235-310!).  I skimmed the issues briefly, as I had just read them not too long ago, and because I was itching to dive into the meat of the book.

The rest of the book is 200 pages of… unevenness, in both art and story.  First, the art: we go from the beautiful Jim Lee artwork of Uncanny #270, which has never looked better, to Rob Liefeld’s New Mutants #95, to Jon Bogdanove’s X-Factor #60.  By far, the highlights of the book are the three Jim Lee Uncanny issues, I had forgotten how awesome his artwork is.  Absolutely amazing!!  A real treat to look at.

Unfortunately, two of the three Uncanny issues are followed by Rob Liefeld art (the third is by Guang Yap, of which the less said the better).  Liefeld’s art is hit-or-miss (read as mostly miss) in my book, so long as you always keep in mind to never look at the character’s feet (ahem, pages 204, 211, 213, 214, just to name a few) and totally disregard the impossible poses (just check out Cable of page 216!).  Other than that I can somewhat accept his artwork.

And then comes Jon Bogdanove.  Marvel must have been really hurting for good artists in the late ’80’s/early ’90’s.  In every scene where the president of Genosha makes an appearance, I have to keep reminding myself that the character is supposed to be a woman.  By far, the worst art in the book, and a real detraction from the story.

As for the writing, you’ve got two writers, Chris Claremont scripting 3 chapters, and Louise Simonson on the other 6.  The issues by Claremont just felt like real page-turners, while the over-scripted, run-in-circles issues by Simonson were actually a chore to get through.

When it’s all said and done, this story should have been no more than 6 issues tops, but my guess is that Marvel wanted to tie in all three X-books at the time, and needed to drag out the story for an additional 3 issues.  There’s just too much running around and recap, and not enough advancement of the story.  Also, for only two writers, why are there plot-holes and inconsistencies?  On pages 229-231 we see Wolverine bleeding to death (with no healing factor) and then miraculously on page 248, we see him leading the charge to break free, with nary a scratch on him.  And really, freeing Storm’s mind restored her (Spoiler Alter!) to an adult?!  How??!!  There’s more, but I’ll leave it with that.

Summary:  Overall, the story is a good one, and at the time it brought together character’s that hadn’t seen each other in years.  The ending feels cheap and rushed, along with too much of a set-up for a sequel.  (Did that ever come about?  I stopped reading the X-books shortly after this storyline.)  Taken on the whole, with the inclusion of Uncanny #235-238, I’d give the book a 3 out of 5, with the X-Tinction Agenda story itself a 2.5 out of 5.

Overall: 3 out of 5

 

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