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Age of X-Man (Collected Editions)

Age of X-Man: X-Tremists

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The X-Tremists keep the peace in the Age of X-Man! A perfect world doesn't just...happen. It needs to be cultivated. That's where the X-Tremists come in. Psylocke, Iceman, Northstar, Blob, Jubilee and Moneta protect people from threats that they won't ever even know existed. Including the most insidious threat of all - love. But even as Department X continues its work of purging and revising the ill-fitting elements of society, an encounter with a pregnant rebel begins eating away at the team from within! Cleaning up the minds of the world can be a dirty job...

COLLECTING: AGE OF X-MAN: X-TREMISTS 1-5

112 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2019

38 people are currently reading
69 people want to read

About the author

Leah Williams

242 books207 followers
Leah Williams is an American writer originally from Oxford, Mississippi. She has written comics for Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Vault Comics, and is working on more. Her debut novel was a YA Fantasy book titled The Alchemy of Being Fourteen and she is currently writing its sequel, The Divinity of Hitting Fifteen. Leah has nonfiction articles and essays published in The Atlantic, Oprah Magazine, and Salon.

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5 stars
44 (14%)
4 stars
110 (35%)
3 stars
112 (35%)
2 stars
37 (11%)
1 star
10 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
Profile Image for Paul.
2,778 reviews20 followers
January 19, 2020
I really liked this one. It was quite beautifully written and was the only one of these ‘Age of X-Man’ minis to properly explore the concept of a world without intimacy and all the different kinds of love (other than friendship, which is a type of love that seems to be permitted). I’d’ve given this one five stars if the artwork had been a bit better and the ending hadn’t been a bit 0f a mess.
Profile Image for Baba.
4,067 reviews1,511 followers
October 6, 2019
WIth a more interesting team Blob(!), Psylocke, Jubilee, Iceman, Northstar and Moneta, outside of the seen it all before story, Williams composes a more compelling tale than her peers as the team abuses mutants and concerns are began to be raised. Wonderfully and highly innovated use of the Blob really expands on his character, probably surpassing his M-Day arcs. Still just a 7.5 out of 12 though, as the whole thrust of the event is just a repeat of many previous Marvel events!
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Profile Image for Guilherme Smee.
Author 27 books189 followers
June 20, 2020
Chegando neste quarto volume e quarta minissérie que apresenta a realidade alternativa batizada de A Era do X-Man começo a entender "o que vocês fizeram aqui". Trata de um mundo em que a vigilância extrema reina e as pessoas não podem expressar seu amor e atração umas pelas outras, com o castigo de terem suas mentes apagadas, lavadas, reiniciadas ou serem encarceradas quando descobrem esse ardil. É uma baita analogia para as tentativas de controle de reprodução e mais ainda de execução do biopoder, que Michel Foucault pressupunha, que cerceia as liberdades de amar e se sentir atraído por quem se deseja. É uma baita analogia também às sexualidades consideradas desviantes, que é abordada de leve neste volume com Estrela Polar, Homem de Gelo e Rictor no mesmo patamar. Também temos temas abordados aqui como racismo internalizado, gordofobia e distúrbios alimentares. Os X-Tremistas é um quadrinho diferenciado dentro dos quatro lidos até agora da Era do X-Man, que é composta de seis encadernados. Foi só com ele que me caiu a ficha de que a grande analogia que a Era do X-Man quer transmitir é que todos devem ser livres para amar quem quiserem sem se preocupar com imposições do governo ou de uma realidade que é distorcida para servir àqueles que controlam e manipulam o poder. Então, até agora, se você tiver que ler um volume da Era do X-Man, que seja esse!
Profile Image for Robert Kirwan.
344 reviews50 followers
July 17, 2019
I really liked this. Read as single issues. The artwork wasn't the best and the story had some jumps but overall it was satisfying. Jubilee was the shining light in this and really bossed it up!!!

Good entry to the Age of X-Man. Really examines the removal of thought and manipulation of thought from the psychics on the team. The fallout is very interesting and develops over the course of the 5 issues. You can really feel a ramp up of the emotion and the stakes
Profile Image for RG.
3,084 reviews
September 1, 2019
Started off very slow and was losing interest. The ending was good wish it maintained that for the entire novel.
Profile Image for Lulu (the library leopard).
808 reviews
Read
March 27, 2021
I mean, first up, I don't totally know what to make of this comic miniseries in context because I haven't read anything else from Age of X-Man, I literally just read it because it featured some characters I like. I very much liked the part where Rictor, Bobby, and Jean-Paul hung out (gay rage riot!) and I would genuinely like to see more of that friendship at a time that's not, you know, when they're all stuck in a terrible pocket universe without love. The art was okay, for the most part, but I didn't like that this is another comic that colors Rictor's skin lighter than it really should be. Also the treatment of Nezumi Sen as an Asian character maybe made me a little uneasy, IDK? A lot of people also seem to have thoughts on Betsy and Fred's romance, but they're fairly new characters to me so I don't really have much to say on that account.

Anyway *slides Marvel comics $20 across the table* please let let the gay riot trio reunite again sometime.
Profile Image for Hadas Sloin.
299 reviews12 followers
July 2, 2019
Really well written. I wish it was longer and there was more time for character development. The art was superb.
Profile Image for Jason.
251 reviews4 followers
July 24, 2019
When I first read the solicitations for Age of X-Man, this was the series that interested me the most. In the Age of X-Man Alpha one-shot, Department X (or the X-Tremists to the people they come after) was the scary boogeyman that would come and take you away and erase your memories (or, if you'd screwed up too many times, make you disappear) if you dared to fall in love. The other characters in this setting seemed legitimately terrified of them, and I was interested to see what made them tick in this brave new world of Nate Grey's.

When I started reading their title however, it quickly became clear that they were a bunch of incompetent clowns who didn't take their jobs seriously (and this is BEFORE the events that begin to break down the team), and the reputation they had was not exactly deserved. I'm not sure if this was the effect that author Leah Williams was going for, but it certainly did steal away much of the thunder of Department X in the other Age of X-Man titles.

Department X's place in the world is never made as clear as it needs to be, mostly because it's wildly inconsistent in how they are portrayed in their own book versus the others. I realize that Williams is only responsible for this title, but the lack of internal consistency in the world set up by this event causes all of the volumes to suffer.

Seeing the relationships slowly develop in this book is nice, however (particularly Betsy and Fred, because it's the only one we get to see slowly build over the series), but the whole thing feels particularly rushed. When one of the team is murdered, the event is barely even touched on or acknowledged at all. It gets brushed over across a generous two panels and is never mentioned again (except over in the Marvelous X-Men book, where it also gets glossed over all too quickly).

There is a certain poetry in the way the oppressor characters end up fighting FOR love by the end, but the whole thing happens just a little too fast for it to carry the emotional weight that it deserves (and is undercut by their complete lack of any acknowledgement or emotional reaction to the death of one of their own). I liked the explanation for how people got their memories back, but since it happens so suddenly and has no real setup to speak of, the whole thing comes across as "oh, isn't this awfully convenient since we're almost out of time". I can't help but feel that if Williams had had another issue or two to flesh out some of these relationships and lay more groundwork for the ending, it would have been much stronger. I'd also have liked to see more moments like the all-too-brief scene between Northstar and Iceman and Rictor, as I feel there was a lot of unrealized potential for some great character moments there. Getting little glimpses of Northstar's life on the side, rather than having him be a completely closed book until right up until the end, would have served the character better.

This book started off very disappointing to me but came around again with that ending. I just wish it had started a little stronger and had more time to properly set up the ending. Had these things happened, I think this could have been one of the strongest books in the Age of X-Man series.
Profile Image for Myles Likes Tacos and Rice.
215 reviews1 follower
August 13, 2021
This event is a mess, but the character writing and chemistry in X-Tremists is done well.

Big complaint here is the art, its a bit too cartoony for the subject matter. The X-Tremists are one of the most feared groups in this alternate reality but the art style makes every thing feel a bit campy. This is a team that chained up a pregnant mutant in the office basement.

Betsy in the other Age of X-Man books gives off a more serious vibe with the way she is drawn. The trade does have some great variant covers and it was nice to see Blob get some love, but I only think hardcore Betsy / Jubilee / fans or X completionist should read this
Profile Image for Quentin Wallace.
Author 34 books178 followers
March 6, 2022
3.5 Stars

Each volume of this crossover is basically telling the same story, just from different viewpoints. Everyone is "waking up", and remembering how reality was before X-Man changed everything. In this volume, the task force that is supposed to keep everyone else in line starts to remember things, which, of course, turns into a major problem.

Overall this isn't a great crossover, but it's definitely not the worst either.
Profile Image for Emily.
888 reviews
February 12, 2020
This was the one I like the least. But the last issue with Jubilee narrating was great and something bad happened to Moneta like I'd wanted, so I gave an extra star. For some reason I really like Psylocke and Blob as a couple, is that weird?
Author 9 books16 followers
July 14, 2021
Nate Grey created a utopia for mutants, an alternate reality where everyone is a mutant. The biggest threats in this world are intimate relationships. Love, both romantic and familial, is forbidden. Of course, people still have these dangerous feelings so Nate needs Department X to remove them. Psylocke, Iceman, Northstar, Blob, Jubilee, and Moneta are Department X. Bobby is his old self, joking as much as he can. Jean-Paul is trying to ignore Bobby as much as possible and is more interested in books than working. Betsy carries the heavy load of altering mutants’ memories “for their own good”. Blob is the team leader, but he has feelings of his own toward one of the team members. Jubilee believes in the cause and works her best. Moneta is a new character. She hates anyone who has feelings of love and calls them retrograde.

The team gets a tip about two lovers and heads out to arrest them. Psylocke is supposed to remove their memories of each other. But they find out that the woman, Nezumi, is pregnant. Children are cooked up artificially and no hospital can help in a delivery. What will Department X do? Also, we readers find out more about secrets behind how this society is held together.

Williams explores what the world would be like without intimacy on both societal and a more personal level. How the people must constantly guard against their own feelings and hide them from others. And ultimately how that’s going to fail. However, creating a new character to be the prejudiced idiot felt a bit of a cop out, but of course making an established character into one would alienate the fans of that character. Blob had surprising depth. I rather enjoyed the relationship between Blob and his crush, but I don’t see them getting together in the real world. Too bad we’re not going to see any repercussions of this series in the real world. None of these characters are my favorites but they were an interesting mix, especially as I don’t see any of them joining a secret police force for real.
Profile Image for Michael Church.
682 reviews4 followers
October 31, 2020
This book kind of dragged. It was honestly the weakest of the Age if X-Man books I read. The setup was difficult to follow. These were supposed to be the most strict enforcers of the non-intimacy rules, yet by the end of the book, it’s clear that everything just fell apart, seemingly on its own. It’s mildly interesting how everything was held together by a thread, but it more so makes the premise questionable.

I did love the cast. It was an interesting group and they all brought their own unique perspectives to this loveless alternate reality. Moneta was the least likable, and only new character on the team. Northstar was difficult to like as well, but was much more interesting once he got the spotlight. However, again, that showcased that he was covering for people who were breaking the law. I guess it was also a commentary on the fickle application of the law in the real world as well, particularly when it comes to victimless crimes.

I like Leah Williams normally, so I think this was more of an issue with the premise than anything else. Though there were a few scenes that seemed a bit difficult to follow at times.

I think the biggest issue for me was the art by Georges Jeanty and the inks by Roberto Poggi. The faces are nicely expressive, but lack some nuance. The lines end up being extremely heavy. Everything seems to be very heavy and flat.

Regardless, back to Uncanny X-Men and the “real world” for some wrap up before HoX/PoX.
Profile Image for C.
1,754 reviews54 followers
September 27, 2019
This review is sort of a cheat as I am reviewing the whole crossover at one time. I'm recovering from a surgery with a lot of time to lay around and read so I plowed through the all of the trades at one time. (I would give the whole series a 3.5 star rating, most likely...)

I feel like this series was interesting. I'm a sucker for an alt-universe tale but I thought that this one was on the better end of the spectrum, personally. A bit more cerebral than punchy, though, so your mileage may vary. (And some of the more cerebral bits are sort of only surface-cerebral, but hey - that's superhero books for ya.)

At any rate, I thought it was a good premise (and I like this take on Nate, personally) and most of the sideplots were interesting and had great moments of characterization. The overarching main plot was a little empty in the end (and very rushed - I'm curious if there was originally going to be more time given to this series?) but I personally feel that several of the personal arcs were definitely worth it in the end.

High points for me were Nextgen (I always love the young X-Men characters, though) and X-tremists (I really dug the blob/Psylocke dynamic) while the low points were Prisoner X and the X-tracts (neither of which was particularly a low point in my opinion - just not up to the others).
43 reviews2 followers
August 18, 2022
Reading this series on its own & not as part of a year-long event, this is rather like one of those "What If" books where Blob forms a slow romance with Psylocke/Captain Brittain, & Jubilee snaps & goes from law enforcer to terrorist overnight, burning down wildlife refuges, setting people's homes on fire, stealing from the elderly, robbing banks etc. Rictor, Iceman, & Northstar pal around. Moneta... exists & is always mad.

The art's good & is very expressive without crossing over into cartoon territory, but thanks to Marvel letting artists get away with wild character design inconsistencies, I couldn't identify the cast at first. I feel like Northstar's looking a little too much like Namor here. Iceman looks quite a bit like Gilbert Gottfried when he's not up close, & Jubilee literally has the exact same face & hairstyle as Bobby, just with a color change & some lipstick. I was also a bit confused by the new character Moneta, because there's already a Monet.

Moneta & Jean-Paul are rather aloof, & the fact that they both happen to be French Canadian makes me wonder if this is supposed to be some kind of national stereotype.

I realized at the end that since the Krakoan era began, none of the people in this storyline have spoken to each other since.
Profile Image for Gavin Wask.
298 reviews
November 10, 2019
Another of the Age of X-man accompanying stories. This time following a group of 'X-Men' whose job it is to hunt down those whose memories are restoring and are also getting a little bit up close and personal with each other. Basically, they are the Love Police!
The X-Men in question are Pyslocke(showing a more human side than normal), Northstar, Iceman, Jubilee and Blob(whoa ctually makes a very good, Good Guy surprisingly) and some random who stirs things up. Rictor also makes an appearance.
An interesting concoction of heroes and villian, especially as these chosen special police would never join such a group in the main reality and it is going to affect them in extreme ways when things do get sorted out.
An enjoyable read with some intersting themes held together by some great characters. More Good Guy Blob please!
3,013 reviews
July 27, 2020
This is a decent enough concept.

What is it like to be the shocktroopers of a dystopia? There's a lot of paperwork. Some COPS style busts. Some obvious sadism and failure to police the police.

But this falls apart in the same way that all of the books fall apart: Everyone remember the "real" world almost simultaneously and almost right away. So then it's a really a modern story of everyone's mild complicity somehow generating a cruel and heartless regime. But the book never really takes you there.

Basically, the only exception is the Blob who is erudite and charming. I mean, yeah, if the Blob were a nice guy then I would hope people would be nice to him. But that's not really a story about the Blob, is it?
Profile Image for Adan.
Author 32 books27 followers
October 7, 2020
The first half was pretty good, with really weird and interesting secret police versions of some characters, including Nazi Youth Moneta (who I guess was supposed to be an amalgamation of M and Aurora?), but also the best X-Man ever Jubilee. The second half kind of fell off the rails as everyone started remembering their pre-Age of X-Man lives, but some seemingly important plot details happened in other books (Prisoner X and Apocalypse and the Extracts, I’m assuming).

Probably my favorite Age of X-Man book so far.
Profile Image for J.C.  Greene.
79 reviews
February 17, 2021
One of the Age of X-Man novels that I found a bit more interesting, even if it was filler. It delved a bit into this new world that abhors love and bonds. I liked the band of characters housing a few of my favorites, like Psylocke, Ice-man, Jubilee and Northstar. I'm not sure if this Moneta was new but I she definitely was the most unlikable for the story but if there was anything to take away from was the bond between Blob and Psylocke. Even if this was filler, it was at least filler that kept me reading.
12 reviews
July 12, 2019
Age of X-Man is the XMen at their best. Starting riots, breaking up prisons, being as gay as possible, fighting for love. Fighting for themselves for once, instead of the endless cycle of almost dying off then fighting back up and protecting the people who attack them.

X-tremists is wonderful. Queer X-Men rioting and fighting for love has a level of subtext a lot of people don't get, but part of the pay off is that it's not for everyone
Profile Image for Eric.
1,497 reviews6 followers
May 18, 2020
The worst mini-series in the Age of X-Man crossover, with some rough art througout. It doesn't help that these characters are written inconsistently across the other books. While some are having a crisis of faith here, in the other books, they're running around like secret, zealot police. This book has the same issues of Prisoner X, in that, if X-Man just does his thing and mind wipes people, why does this book exist?
Profile Image for Sean.
4,152 reviews25 followers
November 24, 2021
What was this? Why was this? In this alternate reality certain mutants respond to...complaints. Then they act like jerks but know they aren't jerks so they get saved by randomly remembering stuff. Yeah, that's the book. Insanely dumb. This is not a plot that should have found its way to paper. The by Georges Jeanty didn't help. He had a spectacular way of making very different characters look identical. Overall, a very unpleasant reading experience.
Profile Image for Willow.
532 reviews15 followers
February 23, 2022
Leah. Fucking. Williams. HOW DARE YOU. Just. How. Very. Dare. The Secret Police book shouldn't be my favourite one! Everyone in this book is I N C R E D I B L E (well, maybe not the new girl, but that's kinda the point...). The art is fantastic. The story is beautiful and heartwrenching and wonderful.

But, srsly, Leah, you're on notice ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💘
Profile Image for Crazed8J8.
759 reviews2 followers
December 13, 2020
Age of X-Man sucks... that said, this storyline is one of the highlights, in part (along with Next Gen). The stand out characters are Psylocke and Blob (surprisingly). The rest of the characters are flat or annoying but those two carry the run, and are interesting. Amid Age of X-Man, this is one of the few solid stories worth reading.
Profile Image for Erik.
2,181 reviews12 followers
April 22, 2023
Too similar to the other Age of X-Man stories. We didn't really need so many mini-series all following the same basic plot: love is outlawed, someone falls in love or remembers past love, said person rebels against society. Each of these would be ok on their own but when taken together they become incredibly redundant.
Profile Image for Mare.
5 reviews24 followers
August 24, 2019
Probably the best of the Age of X-Man bunch, solely because these are characters being explored in ways I've never really seen them explored before. It's a series about loss and how it can manifest, how it can feel, and how we can respond to it.
Profile Image for Alli.
Author 1 book17 followers
May 21, 2020
I didn't think I'd love the Blob and Psylocke storyline, but uh, guess what? Also, Bobby Drake owns my heart. The last two issues especially murdered me and I would like to report a harassment of feelings.
Profile Image for Steve White.
81 reviews2 followers
January 3, 2021
Reading through the Age of X-Man books, this one stands out.

In a utopian world, relationships are not allowed. That concept comes up in the other books but is really only explored here.

It’s a fun sci fi concept and makes this title stand out in the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews

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