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Uncanny X-Men (1963) #270-272
X-Men: X-Tinction Agenda
Book by Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
4 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,280 books889 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
March 27, 2023
In this intermittent era of the X-Men, one of the major dangling plot threads finally came to a close. Genosha, the apartheid-allegory country, had kidnapped members of the New Mutants and X-Factor, and it was time for the crossover event The X-Tinction Agenda.
A very succinct crossover for the the time, with 9 specific chapters all continuing into each other in an orderly structure. (These days, it would be much more confusing.) The Chris Claremont and Jim Lee issues are of the high quality one would expect, wordy and detailed. The manga-inspired mechas and Genoshan tech by Lee particularly stands out. While Rob Liefeld’s art is as you may guess just plain bad. A shame, because Louise Simonson was a great writer who penned two thirds of the saga.
It’s a lot of fun seeing all these interactions for the first time. Everyone meets the new Psylocke, Gambit trades wits with Cyclops, Cable orders them around, Jubilee bickers with the similar mallrat teen Boom Boom, Jean Gray and Wolverine meeting after years apart with some very heavy sexual tension, a showdown between the transformed Archangel and his creepy arch foe Cameron Hodge, and more.
As it wraps up, Storm is transformed back into the adult she’s supposed to be. And it’s a new iteration for Wolfsbane, who becomes trapped in her werewolf form. A pretty good story, if not a bit bloated, and a precursor to the annual crossover events that were to come from now on.
I remember getting the graphic novel when I was young, and struggling to understand all the setup. That was the fun, for me, to fill in the gaps and make sense of the broad X-universe. But that also makes for a challenging read for novices. It’s understandable that a soft reboot would be necessary soon after.
So make sure to read everything that came ten years before, or just enjoy the ride. I give it 3.5 stars.
A very succinct crossover for the the time, with 9 specific chapters all continuing into each other in an orderly structure. (These days, it would be much more confusing.) The Chris Claremont and Jim Lee issues are of the high quality one would expect, wordy and detailed. The manga-inspired mechas and Genoshan tech by Lee particularly stands out. While Rob Liefeld’s art is as you may guess just plain bad. A shame, because Louise Simonson was a great writer who penned two thirds of the saga.
It’s a lot of fun seeing all these interactions for the first time. Everyone meets the new Psylocke, Gambit trades wits with Cyclops, Cable orders them around, Jubilee bickers with the similar mallrat teen Boom Boom, Jean Gray and Wolverine meeting after years apart with some very heavy sexual tension, a showdown between the transformed Archangel and his creepy arch foe Cameron Hodge, and more.
As it wraps up, Storm is transformed back into the adult she’s supposed to be. And it’s a new iteration for Wolfsbane, who becomes trapped in her werewolf form. A pretty good story, if not a bit bloated, and a precursor to the annual crossover events that were to come from now on.
I remember getting the graphic novel when I was young, and struggling to understand all the setup. That was the fun, for me, to fill in the gaps and make sense of the broad X-universe. But that also makes for a challenging read for novices. It’s understandable that a soft reboot would be necessary soon after.
So make sure to read everything that came ten years before, or just enjoy the ride. I give it 3.5 stars.
April 29, 2015
I'd be irresponsibly remiss if I don't read and review other notable storylines from the Chris Claremont era of the seventies, eighties and nineties before jumping on other works found in the recent MARVEL NOW! line-up. I have made a compact schedule I'm adamant to follow through for 2015 and I want to accomplish reading most of Claremont's memorable stuff first, even though I may have to do do it sporadically with no coherent sense of chronological rhythm at times. But I already posted a disclaimer in 'About XMCG" that my readings and reviews of the X-Men comics line will be mentally challenging not just for myself but for anyone who is just as new to the series.
My goal mainly is to select the stories I know have been proven to be unanimously well-praised or at least well-liked by the majority of long-time fans and critics.
To recap, I selected the classic, recognizable ones first (The Dark Phoenix, Days of Future Past and God Loves, Man Kills) and then skipped ahead to the later ones in 2009-2011 which were arguably Claremont's least impressive body of work (X-Men Forever, Excalibur III). And that's only when I decided to come back to the oldies, starting with the short-lived nineties run X-Men and then further back to The Uncanny X-Men with a standalone like issue #200, The Trial of Magneto and stories such as Legion Quest and this one called The X-Tinction Agenda. In between I touched upon House of M which is probably my very first taste of the work of current X-Men writer Brian Michael Bendis; Greg Pak's Magneto Testament and (for tomorrow's review) Fabian Nicieza's Fatal Attractions arc.
For posterity, I also reviewed the very first Stan Lee debut issue X-Men #1 from the sixties and Len Wein's resurrection piece, Giant-Size X-Men #1.
AND HERE WE ARE.
The X-Tinction Agenda was brought to my attention by a brief 21-minute documentary from YouTube about key storylines from the Claremont era whose events were considered vital even to this day because whatever happened in them has continued to play an important role in the subsequent stories after. This collected volume I've acquired, however, was longer than the actual one posted in Goodreads. This one has 322 pages because it also included four additional issues (#235-238) which effectively contextualized what will come to pass by the time the X-Tinction Agenda story arc hits. This arc ran for nine issues and were divided equally among three titles: Claremont's The Uncanny X-Men, and Louise Simonson's X-Factor and New Mutants run. The volume also provided a recap of what has happened to the X-Men so far which really helped me understand and position myself in the stories herein. Before we read issues #235-238, we have to first read the summary of the previous events that led up to them:
I apologize if I just copypasta-d the paragraphs instead of summarizing the summary itself because it would kind of defeat the purpose. Now, unlike with other reviews, I opted not to discuss in detail each issue's content here because, frankly, that would be an exhausting venture for me (and I've been in a tight time table lately with IRL work stuff so I'm trying to write reviews with a manageable length). I also might give away a lot of critical plot points that will irrevocably spoil you, and I think this is a collection that is worthy of a pick-up, so let me just give you some encouraging words of recommendation and commentary instead.
The Uncanny X-Men #235-238
The thing that readers who are interested in this particular storyline need to understand first is the general treatment and care that Chris Claremont has provided in his years of writing The Uncanny X-Men since the mid-seventies. Anyone who knows the history of Stan Lee's "strangest heroes of all" is familiar with the fact that the X-Men are supposed to represent the civil rights movement at the time they were created which was during the African-American liberation and civil rights. It was Claremont who decisively sealed this allegory once he started to write for the X-Men, going as far as writing a rather straightforward story about that chilling comparison in God Loves, Man Kills which I reviewed nearly two months ago.
That being said, as you read his earlier and inarguably most enduring works, you will notice a pattern in his story arcs. Everything that he has done in his Uncanny run has been building up to this socio-political atmosphere rife with anti-mutant sentiment and blatant racial hatred that often make me personally uncomfortable at times. Nevertheless, it's what makes Claremont's X-Men stories so exciting, dramatic and naturally sympathetic; by contextualizing real-life struggles that people have witnessed themselves or grew up with back in that time period, Claremont was both socially aware and smart enough to create stories from those experiences which require him to explore certain aspects about the X-Men as characters in the context of the fact that in the Marvelverse, mutants are considered a minority group, heavily discriminated against and are oppressed and exploited by human opportunists for both profit and propaganda.
These four issues (#235-238) resonate with this message, primarily focusing on the 'exploitation' side of the coin. The story opens significantly in Genosha, a fictional city where a great number of the mutant population reside as citizens alongside the humans whom they supposedly harmoniously co-exist with, as the media coverage and public relations for that place would have you believed. In reality, every mutant there is hunted down, processed and assigned with different manual labor positions to the tune of a very modernized style of capitalist slavery. Treated more as cattle or machines than actual dignified people with indispensible rights, the mutants are reduced into the functionality and purpose of their powers or abilities. A bonafide brilliant genetic engineer (or 'genegineer') would tamper and manipulate their DNA for multiple purposes, most notably for breeding and modification where certain cluster of mutants are allowed to have children depending on the type of mutant Genoshans require for whatever field they want.
It's a dystopic nightmare come to life as portrayed in a superhero genre story, and Claremont as a writer truly excels in rendering such haunting pieces that aim to expose human beings' capacity for cruelty, lunacy, and brutality all for the sake of their ridiculous sense of entitlement in the context of how they respond and treat the mutants as a separate species from them. I enjoyed these issues because this is the first time I encountered the horrors and crimes of Genosha towards its mutant citizens, and the spectrum of hatred and apathy that it's steeped in. This story also placed Wolverine and Rogue as the central characters we follow in this adventure as they learn of the terrible ways their fellow mutant brothers and sisters are being held captive and abused by the humans.
Of course, racial hate crimes wouldn't be complete without having a designated discriminatory word for the race/species you wish to subjugate and make suffer. There has been an ongoing hate word for mutants which is "mutie", much like the N-word of their time. But Claremont surpassed that moniker with the grueling "genejoke". This term now attacks the genetic distinction of mutants, an inflammatory mockery of both their individual and racial identity as a "joke", deeming it an unnatural phenomenon. And here I thought that the Harry Potter series' "Mudblood" term for non-magic borned witches and wizards was the most offensive hate word I've ever come across in fiction. "Genejoke" is so much worse, especially when it's used by armed men and women who would shout it at your face as they either torture or murder you.
In the other collected edition, these four issues were not included and I recommend that you buy the one that does have them instead because, although they are not a part of the actual X-Tinction Agenda arc, these ones give you a clearer and more vivid idea of how anti-mutant sentiments affect, destroy and advocate certain human beings' disgusting oppressive propaganda in Genosha--and why they must be stopped once and for all.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
The Uncanny X-Men #270-272, New Mutants #95-97, X-Factor issues #60-62
Personally, I enjoyed reading Claremont's contribution to this story arc the most, but Louise Simonson's issues from X-Factor and New Mutants are just as important but not as great as Claremont's. In addition, Jim Lee is once again illustrating Claremont's stories and I would maintain that he draws female X-Men characters the best of them all. The X-Tinction Agenda picks up many issues after #235-238, and here is the latest summary for that, once again industriously copypasta-d by me:
This is, I believe, the height of all the criminal negligence and overall terrible assholery committed by the Genoshan humans that the X-Men, together with the X-Factor and New Mutants, will no longer put up with, and rightfully so--especially when this goddamn villain Cameron Hodge was discovered to be behind all of this, and then he also abducts and experiments on Ororo Munroe, my beloved Storm. Fuck that guy. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing him get obliterated into pieces once the last chapter closes. But before any of us would get to that heavenly readers, we had to endure the painful process of the continuing race war between the Genoshans and mutants as aided by the X-Men, and it's as depressing and enraging as one would expect. In spite of the shite our heroes are thrown head-first against, it also allowed for some of them to shine their brightest (like Cable, Beast, Angel, Havok, Wolfsbane and even Gambit).
I also quite liked Storm's role in all of this even though it's rather insensitive to put an African superheroine in yet another degrading position where she is enslaved and brainwashed by a perceived powerful white man. It's...just gross, okay? But this does serve a purpose in the story and she does come out digfinied and stronger than ever in the end. Still, I was cringing in the scenes where she was programmed to attack her own friends and comrades while she is being pupetteered by Cameron Hodge WHO WILL NEVER STOP MAKING ME ANGRY. Ororo Munroe has always been a very important favorite; my love for her is only rivaled by Rogue and Jean Grey (my first and second faves respectively). I've always wanted to read more Storm-centric stories and I think the X-Tinction Agenda was about her in a manner of speaking. It explored her vulnerability but also invalidated that said vulnerability is a source of weakness. Villains and your average cunts and dickheads will take advantage of Storm, I suppose, but this self-fashioned weather goddess is a lot more powerful and deserving of our respect and fortitude than we actually give her. This story made a lot of use of her character--even if it's in the most unflattering way possible--but my love for Ororo Munroe has always been unfaltering anyway.
Another commendable aspect of this story arc is the fact that we get to see the various X-teams work together and support one another in this brutal cavalry. Everyone feels important even if a select number of heroes do stand up more than others. As for the ending itself--well, the battle may have been won but a war is still imminent. The slavery and oppression in Genosha are just the tip of the iceberg in the ongoing fight among mutants and the humans who want them extinguished for good. We ended this story on that less than optimistic note, but as soon as the dust cleared, our heroes can at least claim their small, personal victories for themselves, knowing they have put the terrible crimes committed in Genosha in the spotlight so the rest of the world now knows what is truly going on there, and now everyone needs to make a decision of what they are fighting for or against.
My only criticism for this story arc is that it does tend to get dull and redundant in some scenes and that some of the characterizations, and the flow of the narrative tend to contradict each other along the way but this can be overlooked and will not affect one's overall enjoyment of the story whatsoever as long as one is more emotionally invested on the characters themselves and their journey throughout all of this.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
With thirteen exciting issues collected, the X-Tinction Agenda is a memorable piece that belongs to the strongest run of the Chris Claremont era. You should pick this one up and see for yourself if this type is the of X-Men story that will appeal to your sensibilities.
OVERALL RATING: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
My goal mainly is to select the stories I know have been proven to be unanimously well-praised or at least well-liked by the majority of long-time fans and critics.
To recap, I selected the classic, recognizable ones first (The Dark Phoenix, Days of Future Past and God Loves, Man Kills) and then skipped ahead to the later ones in 2009-2011 which were arguably Claremont's least impressive body of work (X-Men Forever, Excalibur III). And that's only when I decided to come back to the oldies, starting with the short-lived nineties run X-Men and then further back to The Uncanny X-Men with a standalone like issue #200, The Trial of Magneto and stories such as Legion Quest and this one called The X-Tinction Agenda. In between I touched upon House of M which is probably my very first taste of the work of current X-Men writer Brian Michael Bendis; Greg Pak's Magneto Testament and (for tomorrow's review) Fabian Nicieza's Fatal Attractions arc.
For posterity, I also reviewed the very first Stan Lee debut issue X-Men #1 from the sixties and Len Wein's resurrection piece, Giant-Size X-Men #1.
AND HERE WE ARE.
"If the mutants aren't free, then maybe what you've built [in Genosha] isn't worth saving."
The X-Tinction Agenda was brought to my attention by a brief 21-minute documentary from YouTube about key storylines from the Claremont era whose events were considered vital even to this day because whatever happened in them has continued to play an important role in the subsequent stories after. This collected volume I've acquired, however, was longer than the actual one posted in Goodreads. This one has 322 pages because it also included four additional issues (#235-238) which effectively contextualized what will come to pass by the time the X-Tinction Agenda story arc hits. This arc ran for nine issues and were divided equally among three titles: Claremont's The Uncanny X-Men, and Louise Simonson's X-Factor and New Mutants run. The volume also provided a recap of what has happened to the X-Men so far which really helped me understand and position myself in the stories herein. Before we read issues #235-238, we have to first read the summary of the previous events that led up to them:
I apologize if I just copypasta-d the paragraphs instead of summarizing the summary itself because it would kind of defeat the purpose. Now, unlike with other reviews, I opted not to discuss in detail each issue's content here because, frankly, that would be an exhausting venture for me (and I've been in a tight time table lately with IRL work stuff so I'm trying to write reviews with a manageable length). I also might give away a lot of critical plot points that will irrevocably spoil you, and I think this is a collection that is worthy of a pick-up, so let me just give you some encouraging words of recommendation and commentary instead.
The Uncanny X-Men #235-238
The thing that readers who are interested in this particular storyline need to understand first is the general treatment and care that Chris Claremont has provided in his years of writing The Uncanny X-Men since the mid-seventies. Anyone who knows the history of Stan Lee's "strangest heroes of all" is familiar with the fact that the X-Men are supposed to represent the civil rights movement at the time they were created which was during the African-American liberation and civil rights. It was Claremont who decisively sealed this allegory once he started to write for the X-Men, going as far as writing a rather straightforward story about that chilling comparison in God Loves, Man Kills which I reviewed nearly two months ago.
That being said, as you read his earlier and inarguably most enduring works, you will notice a pattern in his story arcs. Everything that he has done in his Uncanny run has been building up to this socio-political atmosphere rife with anti-mutant sentiment and blatant racial hatred that often make me personally uncomfortable at times. Nevertheless, it's what makes Claremont's X-Men stories so exciting, dramatic and naturally sympathetic; by contextualizing real-life struggles that people have witnessed themselves or grew up with back in that time period, Claremont was both socially aware and smart enough to create stories from those experiences which require him to explore certain aspects about the X-Men as characters in the context of the fact that in the Marvelverse, mutants are considered a minority group, heavily discriminated against and are oppressed and exploited by human opportunists for both profit and propaganda.
These four issues (#235-238) resonate with this message, primarily focusing on the 'exploitation' side of the coin. The story opens significantly in Genosha, a fictional city where a great number of the mutant population reside as citizens alongside the humans whom they supposedly harmoniously co-exist with, as the media coverage and public relations for that place would have you believed. In reality, every mutant there is hunted down, processed and assigned with different manual labor positions to the tune of a very modernized style of capitalist slavery. Treated more as cattle or machines than actual dignified people with indispensible rights, the mutants are reduced into the functionality and purpose of their powers or abilities. A bonafide brilliant genetic engineer (or 'genegineer') would tamper and manipulate their DNA for multiple purposes, most notably for breeding and modification where certain cluster of mutants are allowed to have children depending on the type of mutant Genoshans require for whatever field they want.
It's a dystopic nightmare come to life as portrayed in a superhero genre story, and Claremont as a writer truly excels in rendering such haunting pieces that aim to expose human beings' capacity for cruelty, lunacy, and brutality all for the sake of their ridiculous sense of entitlement in the context of how they respond and treat the mutants as a separate species from them. I enjoyed these issues because this is the first time I encountered the horrors and crimes of Genosha towards its mutant citizens, and the spectrum of hatred and apathy that it's steeped in. This story also placed Wolverine and Rogue as the central characters we follow in this adventure as they learn of the terrible ways their fellow mutant brothers and sisters are being held captive and abused by the humans.
Of course, racial hate crimes wouldn't be complete without having a designated discriminatory word for the race/species you wish to subjugate and make suffer. There has been an ongoing hate word for mutants which is "mutie", much like the N-word of their time. But Claremont surpassed that moniker with the grueling "genejoke". This term now attacks the genetic distinction of mutants, an inflammatory mockery of both their individual and racial identity as a "joke", deeming it an unnatural phenomenon. And here I thought that the Harry Potter series' "Mudblood" term for non-magic borned witches and wizards was the most offensive hate word I've ever come across in fiction. "Genejoke" is so much worse, especially when it's used by armed men and women who would shout it at your face as they either torture or murder you.
In the other collected edition, these four issues were not included and I recommend that you buy the one that does have them instead because, although they are not a part of the actual X-Tinction Agenda arc, these ones give you a clearer and more vivid idea of how anti-mutant sentiments affect, destroy and advocate certain human beings' disgusting oppressive propaganda in Genosha--and why they must be stopped once and for all.
RECOMMENDED: 8/10
The Uncanny X-Men #270-272, New Mutants #95-97, X-Factor issues #60-62
Personally, I enjoyed reading Claremont's contribution to this story arc the most, but Louise Simonson's issues from X-Factor and New Mutants are just as important but not as great as Claremont's. In addition, Jim Lee is once again illustrating Claremont's stories and I would maintain that he draws female X-Men characters the best of them all. The X-Tinction Agenda picks up many issues after #235-238, and here is the latest summary for that, once again industriously copypasta-d by me:
This is, I believe, the height of all the criminal negligence and overall terrible assholery committed by the Genoshan humans that the X-Men, together with the X-Factor and New Mutants, will no longer put up with, and rightfully so--especially when this goddamn villain Cameron Hodge was discovered to be behind all of this, and then he also abducts and experiments on Ororo Munroe, my beloved Storm. Fuck that guy. There was nothing more satisfying than seeing him get obliterated into pieces once the last chapter closes. But before any of us would get to that heavenly readers, we had to endure the painful process of the continuing race war between the Genoshans and mutants as aided by the X-Men, and it's as depressing and enraging as one would expect. In spite of the shite our heroes are thrown head-first against, it also allowed for some of them to shine their brightest (like Cable, Beast, Angel, Havok, Wolfsbane and even Gambit).
I also quite liked Storm's role in all of this even though it's rather insensitive to put an African superheroine in yet another degrading position where she is enslaved and brainwashed by a perceived powerful white man. It's...just gross, okay? But this does serve a purpose in the story and she does come out digfinied and stronger than ever in the end. Still, I was cringing in the scenes where she was programmed to attack her own friends and comrades while she is being pupetteered by Cameron Hodge WHO WILL NEVER STOP MAKING ME ANGRY. Ororo Munroe has always been a very important favorite; my love for her is only rivaled by Rogue and Jean Grey (my first and second faves respectively). I've always wanted to read more Storm-centric stories and I think the X-Tinction Agenda was about her in a manner of speaking. It explored her vulnerability but also invalidated that said vulnerability is a source of weakness. Villains and your average cunts and dickheads will take advantage of Storm, I suppose, but this self-fashioned weather goddess is a lot more powerful and deserving of our respect and fortitude than we actually give her. This story made a lot of use of her character--even if it's in the most unflattering way possible--but my love for Ororo Munroe has always been unfaltering anyway.
Another commendable aspect of this story arc is the fact that we get to see the various X-teams work together and support one another in this brutal cavalry. Everyone feels important even if a select number of heroes do stand up more than others. As for the ending itself--well, the battle may have been won but a war is still imminent. The slavery and oppression in Genosha are just the tip of the iceberg in the ongoing fight among mutants and the humans who want them extinguished for good. We ended this story on that less than optimistic note, but as soon as the dust cleared, our heroes can at least claim their small, personal victories for themselves, knowing they have put the terrible crimes committed in Genosha in the spotlight so the rest of the world now knows what is truly going on there, and now everyone needs to make a decision of what they are fighting for or against.
My only criticism for this story arc is that it does tend to get dull and redundant in some scenes and that some of the characterizations, and the flow of the narrative tend to contradict each other along the way but this can be overlooked and will not affect one's overall enjoyment of the story whatsoever as long as one is more emotionally invested on the characters themselves and their journey throughout all of this.
RECOMMENDED: 7/10
With thirteen exciting issues collected, the X-Tinction Agenda is a memorable piece that belongs to the strongest run of the Chris Claremont era. You should pick this one up and see for yourself if this type is the of X-Men story that will appeal to your sensibilities.
OVERALL RATING: 8/10
DO READ MY REVIEWS AT:
April 9, 2025
Revisiting this event is a fun frolic. It has been quite a number of years since I cracked this…
Story time: I was in college. I just realized that the comic world that I longed to enter into was far more open to me than I expected, and I had begun to untangle the world of trade paperback collections available to me and even starting to dabble in picking up monthly issues for the first time since 6th grade. While X-Men wasn’t supposed to be my favorite team or book, its continuity was beginning to be a black hole sucking me in by means of my completionist kryptonite.
I was in the mall’s B Dalton and found the trade’s of Morrison’s first year on New X-men. I’d been hearing he was revolutionizing the line. But there was also this older trade of an event called X-Tinction Agenda. I remembered having a trading card from Marvel Universe Series III that referenced this event, so maybe I could manage buying yet another trade.
Ringing the books up at the register, the lady behind the counter begins to tell me how she has the hots for Wolverine. I’m awkwardly longing for my books to be rung up so I can leave the creepy conversation. Another female employee begins to chide the cashier because Wolverine is too hairy. I can add very little to this conversation not having my own physical attraction to the runt, only an increasing discomfort.
Finally after the two B Dalton employees argue as to whether or not Wolverine is worth a swoon, I am able to liberate these books from the hands of the amorous cashier. I rush home and begin to devour the continuity. I meet new faces. I dread drooly, cyborg demons. I cry for the enslaved mutates. And I love this little book.
Second story:
A year or so later, I am in my local comic shop where I have continued to eviscerate my paychecks throughout college. The shopkeeper is trying to sell me on the merits of Exiles. And he does so by telling me that all of the X-Men comics from X-Tinction Agenda on are terrible and Exiles is the sole return to form. “How could someone so informed ridicule this masterpiece of sequential art?” my heart breaks.
While this insult has lasted and I still bleed a little every Saturday from his slander, I realized that perhaps Agenda isn’t the greatest event. Well. I don’t care. This has a special place in my heart of hearts for the when of my reading it.
And that shopkeeper was crazy, this is so much better than Exiles.
Older review:
The first time I read this I had a gap of about 90 issues in Uncanny and hardly any bearing on X-Factor or New Mutants excepting some mostly common knowledge. And this story is very bound up in a lot of different pre-existing stories with a large mishmash of different characters from the three different titles. But rather than being an off-putting incident, I enjoyed all the different hints at backstory and characters I had no idea about. This of course stirs the continuity monster in me which causes such incidents as you are presently seeing through my little ongoing quest here.
The other thing this does better than the crossover events prior is, although there are a few different stories feeding into the event, the different titles, characters, and plot threads all wrap together well. Inferno was a bit cracked between its different elements, and the writers didn't bother to bridge them fluidly. In this case I feel all the different ends are working together.
The X-Men are still rebuilding themselves after the dissolution of the Australia branch and their ventures through the Siege Perilous. We also get to see the resolution of one of the better stories while the Australia branch was active. Also one of the more intuitive stories to the nature of the X-Men mythos: a country that uses mutants as slaves for the betterment of their nation. Though I recently saw Matt Fraction, the present Uncanny writer, say that Genosha just didn't work. And this is coming from the guy who appears to have resurrected Madelyne Prior...
The New Mutants have had Cable take over and are beginning to get broken up. As with any crossover event, a New Mutant has to die (okay in one case it wasn't death, but it practically was). Another New Mutant gets cast off. Thankfully she gets picked up by a better writer than Liefeld.
And X-Factor is beginning their shift back into the X-Men fold. And they will confront their oldest enemy! (Wow, that was very cover teaser of me.)
The art side unfortunately covers quite the spectrum. This crossover will make you think Jim Lee is the greatest artist ever. He isn't. But when he's up against a Rob Liefeld who looks rushed and a Jon Bogdanove who has gone over the deep end he certainly looks it. In this recent continuity quest I saw some other Bogdanove art and it was actual kinda interesting. However he started to get so immersed in his style that he lost the ability to make it even remotely pleasing or interesting to the viewer. There was some other shmoe that drew a New Mutants issue as well. Mostly forgettable.
Jim Lee has his faults, but I tend to enjoy his X-Men stuff. There's a reason it made him top dog in comic art in the early 90's. Everyone was copying him for a few years because of it. I personally begin to tire of all the characters looking exactly the same and later on he appears to both get lazy, and the little emotion his characters could muster seems to be mostly gone, excepting of course angry. And also his characters are impossibly muscular or curvaceous depending on gender. Obviously this is common in the superhero genre, but it doesn't mean I like it. And Jim Lee is an extreme of this.
Story time: I was in college. I just realized that the comic world that I longed to enter into was far more open to me than I expected, and I had begun to untangle the world of trade paperback collections available to me and even starting to dabble in picking up monthly issues for the first time since 6th grade. While X-Men wasn’t supposed to be my favorite team or book, its continuity was beginning to be a black hole sucking me in by means of my completionist kryptonite.
I was in the mall’s B Dalton and found the trade’s of Morrison’s first year on New X-men. I’d been hearing he was revolutionizing the line. But there was also this older trade of an event called X-Tinction Agenda. I remembered having a trading card from Marvel Universe Series III that referenced this event, so maybe I could manage buying yet another trade.
Ringing the books up at the register, the lady behind the counter begins to tell me how she has the hots for Wolverine. I’m awkwardly longing for my books to be rung up so I can leave the creepy conversation. Another female employee begins to chide the cashier because Wolverine is too hairy. I can add very little to this conversation not having my own physical attraction to the runt, only an increasing discomfort.
Finally after the two B Dalton employees argue as to whether or not Wolverine is worth a swoon, I am able to liberate these books from the hands of the amorous cashier. I rush home and begin to devour the continuity. I meet new faces. I dread drooly, cyborg demons. I cry for the enslaved mutates. And I love this little book.
Second story:
A year or so later, I am in my local comic shop where I have continued to eviscerate my paychecks throughout college. The shopkeeper is trying to sell me on the merits of Exiles. And he does so by telling me that all of the X-Men comics from X-Tinction Agenda on are terrible and Exiles is the sole return to form. “How could someone so informed ridicule this masterpiece of sequential art?” my heart breaks.
While this insult has lasted and I still bleed a little every Saturday from his slander, I realized that perhaps Agenda isn’t the greatest event. Well. I don’t care. This has a special place in my heart of hearts for the when of my reading it.
And that shopkeeper was crazy, this is so much better than Exiles.
Older review:
The first time I read this I had a gap of about 90 issues in Uncanny and hardly any bearing on X-Factor or New Mutants excepting some mostly common knowledge. And this story is very bound up in a lot of different pre-existing stories with a large mishmash of different characters from the three different titles. But rather than being an off-putting incident, I enjoyed all the different hints at backstory and characters I had no idea about. This of course stirs the continuity monster in me which causes such incidents as you are presently seeing through my little ongoing quest here.
The other thing this does better than the crossover events prior is, although there are a few different stories feeding into the event, the different titles, characters, and plot threads all wrap together well. Inferno was a bit cracked between its different elements, and the writers didn't bother to bridge them fluidly. In this case I feel all the different ends are working together.
The X-Men are still rebuilding themselves after the dissolution of the Australia branch and their ventures through the Siege Perilous. We also get to see the resolution of one of the better stories while the Australia branch was active. Also one of the more intuitive stories to the nature of the X-Men mythos: a country that uses mutants as slaves for the betterment of their nation. Though I recently saw Matt Fraction, the present Uncanny writer, say that Genosha just didn't work. And this is coming from the guy who appears to have resurrected Madelyne Prior...
The New Mutants have had Cable take over and are beginning to get broken up. As with any crossover event, a New Mutant has to die (okay in one case it wasn't death, but it practically was). Another New Mutant gets cast off. Thankfully she gets picked up by a better writer than Liefeld.
And X-Factor is beginning their shift back into the X-Men fold. And they will confront their oldest enemy! (Wow, that was very cover teaser of me.)
The art side unfortunately covers quite the spectrum. This crossover will make you think Jim Lee is the greatest artist ever. He isn't. But when he's up against a Rob Liefeld who looks rushed and a Jon Bogdanove who has gone over the deep end he certainly looks it. In this recent continuity quest I saw some other Bogdanove art and it was actual kinda interesting. However he started to get so immersed in his style that he lost the ability to make it even remotely pleasing or interesting to the viewer. There was some other shmoe that drew a New Mutants issue as well. Mostly forgettable.
Jim Lee has his faults, but I tend to enjoy his X-Men stuff. There's a reason it made him top dog in comic art in the early 90's. Everyone was copying him for a few years because of it. I personally begin to tire of all the characters looking exactly the same and later on he appears to both get lazy, and the little emotion his characters could muster seems to be mostly gone, excepting of course angry. And also his characters are impossibly muscular or curvaceous depending on gender. Obviously this is common in the superhero genre, but it doesn't mean I like it. And Jim Lee is an extreme of this.
February 6, 2017
X-Tinction Agenda was the first big mutant crossover of the 1990s. Covering Uncanny X-Men #270-272, X-Factor #60-62, and New Mutants #95-97, this event makes many big changes in the status quo for all three X Books.
The first thing that impresses me about this story is the cohesiveness...even near seamless interconnection...between the three titles. It reads like one long story. Previous mutant "crossover" events have had a two or maybe three issue sequence that brings characters and teams together. This is the first time the characters of the different books were fully intertwined and the story flowed from book to book for 9 issues.
For the X-Men, this is the first time that so many of the characters were back together and the first time Gambit and Jubilee were exposed to the "rest" of the team(s). Going forward after this, the questions of leadership and membership will be front and center.
For the New Mutants, this is like a swan song. Death and change have decimated their ranks. The next few issues (the last 3 of the series) lead into the formation of X-Force.
X-Factor is the only team that comes out intact, but emotionally they will never be the same. These events make them question everything about their hero status and their mission.
Every X-Men fan should take a little time and read this crossover. It is key to understanding a lot of what happens in the 90s mutant titles. It also kicks off a new era in X-book history leading up to the launch of the second X-Men series and a complete changing of the guard in the writing department with the departures of Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson.
The first thing that impresses me about this story is the cohesiveness...even near seamless interconnection...between the three titles. It reads like one long story. Previous mutant "crossover" events have had a two or maybe three issue sequence that brings characters and teams together. This is the first time the characters of the different books were fully intertwined and the story flowed from book to book for 9 issues.
For the X-Men, this is the first time that so many of the characters were back together and the first time Gambit and Jubilee were exposed to the "rest" of the team(s). Going forward after this, the questions of leadership and membership will be front and center.
For the New Mutants, this is like a swan song. Death and change have decimated their ranks. The next few issues (the last 3 of the series) lead into the formation of X-Force.
X-Factor is the only team that comes out intact, but emotionally they will never be the same. These events make them question everything about their hero status and their mission.
Every X-Men fan should take a little time and read this crossover. It is key to understanding a lot of what happens in the 90s mutant titles. It also kicks off a new era in X-book history leading up to the launch of the second X-Men series and a complete changing of the guard in the writing department with the departures of Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson.
August 20, 2011
The X-Men go to Genosha to fight against their rather obsessive megalomanic (and now semi-human) Hodge, who is enslaving mutants by turning them into mindless zombie-slaves. What will you get here? The Summers brothers reunited, the famous Jeanie/Wolvie kissy, the destruction of slave-time Genosha and a lot of unsatisfying loose ends. It's not one of Claremont's biggest sagas, but it is definitely of his rather good 90s era. So if you're into that kind of the X-Men (and I am) you will enjoy the nostalgic feel of reading a decent X-story, but if you're into the glamorous well designed stories - go read Whedon's Astonishing X-Men.
November 1, 2024
Going through the back catalog TPBs of X-Men upon watching X-Men '97. This collection is the X-Men at its best. The team from Australia, the art, the continuation and end of the Genosha saga leading up to the 90s relaunch of blue team and gold team. What a great read through.
It has the substantive issues and it provides a good synopsis of the missing and filler issues.
It has the substantive issues and it provides a good synopsis of the missing and filler issues.
October 12, 2017
I have said before that I am not a fan of crossovers, especially major ones like this one, but X-tinction Agenda, as a product of the House of Ideas, was a monumentally bad idea.
Most of it is basically one big boss battle against Cameron Hodge, while the plot is often devoid of cohesion: characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation, they change looks as plot elements are forgotten, there is senseless dialog which serves no purpose and action sequences which make no sense when you flip to the previous page - sometimes when you look to the previous panel.
Especially cringe-worthy are the flimsy efforts to draw parallels between Genosha and real-life history and politics, as well as make some political statements.
As to the artwork, it is a royal mess, with the exception of some Jim Lee and Al Milgrom art. There are sloppy fillers, Rob Liefield not near his absolute worst but still pretty bad and again, a general lack of visual cohesion.
As for Cameron Hodge, genuinely terrifying in the few places where the art is good, he mostly looks like a constipated cyborg-scorpion-thingie.
I do not remember much from the first time I read it (which says something, since I remember all of the Age of Apocalypse, for instance), but this time, it was a genuinely bad read.
Most of it is basically one big boss battle against Cameron Hodge, while the plot is often devoid of cohesion: characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation, they change looks as plot elements are forgotten, there is senseless dialog which serves no purpose and action sequences which make no sense when you flip to the previous page - sometimes when you look to the previous panel.
Especially cringe-worthy are the flimsy efforts to draw parallels between Genosha and real-life history and politics, as well as make some political statements.
As to the artwork, it is a royal mess, with the exception of some Jim Lee and Al Milgrom art. There are sloppy fillers, Rob Liefield not near his absolute worst but still pretty bad and again, a general lack of visual cohesion.
As for Cameron Hodge, genuinely terrifying in the few places where the art is good, he mostly looks like a constipated cyborg-scorpion-thingie.
I do not remember much from the first time I read it (which says something, since I remember all of the Age of Apocalypse, for instance), but this time, it was a genuinely bad read.
February 22, 2022
Overlong and overstuffed with characters. I understand the appeal of all of the x-teams working together, but there’s only one substantial antagonist so it feels like twenty people taking turns fighting the same guy for most of the book. Others have commented on how the inconsistency of the art throughout the story is distracting, so I won’t belabor that point.
All in all you could tell this story with just Storm, Cyclops, Havok, Wolfsbane, and arguably Forge and Warlock. The pared down cast would also make the threat more believable.
All in all you could tell this story with just Storm, Cyclops, Havok, Wolfsbane, and arguably Forge and Warlock. The pared down cast would also make the threat more believable.
February 8, 2016
I want to comment on a few things before I get to my main complaint. The artwork is somewhat consistent, but in X-Factor #60, the reader gets a Reagan-in-drag as the Genoshan President and a super-bulky Cyclops. Extra-muscled Cyclops actually comes and goes throughout the story, not just dependent on individual issues. Also, the artwork of the era was very much in line with the expectations of what the cheap paper could handle. It ain't great. In fact, it probably is my least favorite era of Marvel artwork (not that I'm an expert).
But my main complaint is that Hodge -- the bad guy -- is so indestructible that it doesn't really matter what the X-Men/members of X-Factor/New Mutants (another reminder of how much I hate Cable) do. It doesn't matter if they have powers or not. Hodge is so amped up that nothing done to him matters (and, by the way, shouldn't his deal with the demon be the reason he gets to survive the supposedly lethal attacks rather than whatever means he used to borrow abilities for his suit?).
Having said all of that, it is a connected story. There are not sidetracks or needless cutaways. In a graphic novel collection, it is awesome to see that. As a casual reader (as I was at the time), splitting the story over three titles (two of which I didn't read) is infuriating. Now, I do prefer more consistency to the artwork (and better quality, but the era was the era), but I understand that getting the story out in a short amount of time (as well as title contracts) required the workload be split up. The problem is that this is not the important excursion to Genosha. It isn't the second most important one, either. It really just ends up being part of that filler-era before the X-Men got back to being the X-Men.
But my main complaint is that Hodge -- the bad guy -- is so indestructible that it doesn't really matter what the X-Men/members of X-Factor/New Mutants (another reminder of how much I hate Cable) do. It doesn't matter if they have powers or not. Hodge is so amped up that nothing done to him matters (and, by the way, shouldn't his deal with the demon be the reason he gets to survive the supposedly lethal attacks rather than whatever means he used to borrow abilities for his suit?).
Having said all of that, it is a connected story. There are not sidetracks or needless cutaways. In a graphic novel collection, it is awesome to see that. As a casual reader (as I was at the time), splitting the story over three titles (two of which I didn't read) is infuriating. Now, I do prefer more consistency to the artwork (and better quality, but the era was the era), but I understand that getting the story out in a short amount of time (as well as title contracts) required the workload be split up. The problem is that this is not the important excursion to Genosha. It isn't the second most important one, either. It really just ends up being part of that filler-era before the X-Men got back to being the X-Men.
April 4, 2007
I started reading the X-Men in middleschool at issue #275, right after the X-Tinction Agenda finished, so I spent my first few months as a comic-nerd hunting down these back issues and reading this "important" story-line. At the time, I was nieve enough to be taken in by the forced drama, new enough to comics to think that "earth-shattering" plots actually had some long term effect on the characters and the world. It was all new and strange, and I was instantly falling in love with Wolverine, Archangel, Gambit, et al (and Psyloche! Jim Lee's run on the X-Men, in some ways, was the best time EVER to be a 12 year old nerd). This was really the last , forced hurrah before the X-Francise completely imploded into complete shlock, but all the signs were there - Claremont writing three interlocking titles, Lee's panel shattering art (which was mind-blowing to a young teen), Liefeld's utter disregart of anatomy or intelligent composition, Simonson's horrific art on X-Factor (even today its some of the worst penciling for a major title ever). But man, did I have a crush on Jubilee.
August 23, 2013
Oh how I yearn for the days of classic X-Men to return! This book made me remember everything I loved about the X-universe. The art is a little 90s, but for all that, it's still better than most of what is out there today. Of course, I would expect nothing less from Jim Lee, even back then. The teams were a little confusing and not long after this reset to the teams as I knew them. The storytelling is pretty good--I like less the story they told in some regards than the stories they were setting up. Doug and Warlock's deaths, not to mention Hodge's experiments, are critical to the Phalanx storyline that takes place over two years later. The tension between some people is likewise still crucial in setup. In any case, reading this was so nostalgic for me. I loved it. But I hated it for making me want to go back to the Marvel realm when I know how screwed up it is now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2015
X-Tinction Agenda shook the X-Teams to their foundations, and paved the way for the early 90s period of X-comics that brought in a whole new generation of readers, and I think this crossover deserves some of the credit for making that possible. My favorite components of the book were the issues penciled by Jim Lee, but the characterization of the key players in the book was also strong, and Genosha's situation was a strong allegory to other country's issues, so seeing the X-Men strive to free the island nation and its enslaved mutate population from their despotic ruler, Cameron Hodge, made this a gripping read. The art on the New Mutants and X-Factor issues is not nearly as strong, but the plot remains powerful and logically sequential, with a lot of stumbling blocks thrown into the X-Men's path before the dramatic conclusion.
September 13, 2013
The best thing about Claremont's X-Men stories is the parallelism between fiction and reality. By using mutants and other fictional characters, Claremont is able to portray a picture of the worst aspects of mankind: ignorance and inability to deal with the unknown, to accept what's different. It's the Holocaust, it's the Ruanda genocides, it's Syria, it's everything that makes us want to change channels.
This story may not have real pictures, but its images carry a message and meaning that easily sustain the passage of time.
This story may not have real pictures, but its images carry a message and meaning that easily sustain the passage of time.
December 27, 2015
The story starts off slow with a totally uninteresting villian, yet an interesting overall concept. It's hot and miss for the first 1/4 or so. After that, it's non-stop action, drama, and twists, with Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld and the like supplying possible the best X art yet (which was especially nice after the preceding Excalibur issues) to amplify the intensity. There are some plot devices, but this arc has some of the best action and character moments in series history.
May 30, 2011
Haven't read comics since middle school. I loved the X-men then, especially with Jim Lee's art. This was a great thrift store find for a $1.00 in Munising, Michigan and mostly a nostalgic read, but a really fun one.
August 29, 2011
MOst of the art in this has not aged well. Writing was pretty crappy too. Basically various superhero characters keep fighting the same bad guy, Cameron Hodge over and over again. They lose many times and finally flex their butt muscles and win in the end.
August 8, 2012
A fast moving read. the new mutants are kidnapped and taken to Genosha. Everybody associated with the Xmen decide to rescue them. Quite a few twists, and a good long read.
May 30, 2014
The art and style are super-dated, but I remember really enjoying this story back back in the day. It's definitely got the best version of Gambit, even if he was only in it for a few pages.
June 9, 2014
Epic storyline with tons of tie-ins with the various x-books, but a tough read. Hard to get through, but a worthwhile read.
March 19, 2024
Siguiendo el camino marcado por la Masacre de los Mutantes, la Caída de los Mutantes e Inferno, llegaba en Marvel el momento de su crossover anual de mutantes, y Genosha volvía a saltar a la palestra para Proyecto Exterminio, una historia de nueve números en las que se alternarían La Patrulla-X de Claremont y Jim Lee; y los Nuevos Mutantes y el Factor-X de Louise Simonson, con Rob Liefeld, Guang Yap, "otros" y Jon Bogdanove a los lápices. Y lo primero que tengo que decir es que el apartado gráfico es directamente un desastre y no tengo nada claro cómo decidieron a los dibujantes de la historia. Que oye, Jim Lee está brillante, pero los demás... muy duro. Pero que incluso a Liefeld, que se supone que estaba en su momento, se le nota como desganado y muy muy muy falto de fuerza. Así que un suspenso gordísimo para la saga a nivel dibujo, salvo por Jim Lee.
En la Patrulla-X habíamos ido viendo como se volvía a reunir un equipo después de la dispersión del Portal Peligroso, y aquí vamos a tener a Tormenta, Gambito, Forja y Banshee (con Mariposa Mental, Lobezno y Júbilo uniéndoseles en Genosha) como miembros del equipo. Y también habíamos visto a los magistrados genoshanos aparecer en EE.UU para intentar llevarse a Jenny Ransome y Philipe Moreau, con lo que se había iniciado una escalada de tensión internacional entre EE.UU y Genosha. Y en Factor-X habíamos visto una nueva aparición de La Verdad (o La Derecha, depende del traductor), y entre las sombras, de su líder, Cameron Hodge, al que Arcángel había decapitado justo antes de Inferno.
Y con esos dos caminos, nos vamos a encontrar a Cameron Hodge convertido en una especie de asesor de asuntos mutantes en Genosha (su cabeza montada sobre una especie de cuerpo artrópodo cargado de armas), y como los equipos de magistrados genoshanos van a atacar directamente a La Patrulla-X y los Nuevos Mutantes, revelándose también el paradero del último de los Hombres-X que quedaba por aparecer de los que cruzaron el Portal Peligroso: Kaos, convertido en el Magistrado Summers en Genosha. El ataque genoshano va a conseguir tomar como prisioneros a Warlock, Bum-Bum. Ríctor, Tormenta y Loba Venenosa, lo que llevará al resto de los Nuevos Mutantes, a la Patrulla-X y a Factor-X a intervenir en Genosha, provocando un conflicto internacional, ya que la los mutantes se enfrentan tal cual a un estado soberano, pero bueno, ya sabemos como funciona EE.UU a la hora de valorar la soberanía del resto del mundo...
Así que lo que tenemos en Proyecto Exterminio e una sucesión de enfrentamientos entre mutantes y genoshanos con un Hodge cada vez más loco de fondo, decidido a convertir Genosha en su base para acabar con todos los mutantes del mundo, y un protagonismo destacado para Kaos, Ríctor, Júbilo, Ríctor, Bum-Bum, Tormenta, Arcángel y Loba Venenosa... y una muerte un poco absurda y casi entre páginas de Warlock, que debía estorbar a Liefeld para la nueva encarnación de los Nuevos Mutantes que estaba a punto de debutar, su X-Force de la que hablaremos... no sé si muy pronto... pero llegaremos.
Así que entretenido, sin ser nada del otro jueves, con muchos puntos negros y que en edición española acarrea también algunos problemas de impresión, traducción e incluso faltas de ortografía (edición Forum, claro). Pero es parte de la historia de los mutantes, claro.
En la Patrulla-X habíamos ido viendo como se volvía a reunir un equipo después de la dispersión del Portal Peligroso, y aquí vamos a tener a Tormenta, Gambito, Forja y Banshee (con Mariposa Mental, Lobezno y Júbilo uniéndoseles en Genosha) como miembros del equipo. Y también habíamos visto a los magistrados genoshanos aparecer en EE.UU para intentar llevarse a Jenny Ransome y Philipe Moreau, con lo que se había iniciado una escalada de tensión internacional entre EE.UU y Genosha. Y en Factor-X habíamos visto una nueva aparición de La Verdad (o La Derecha, depende del traductor), y entre las sombras, de su líder, Cameron Hodge, al que Arcángel había decapitado justo antes de Inferno.
Y con esos dos caminos, nos vamos a encontrar a Cameron Hodge convertido en una especie de asesor de asuntos mutantes en Genosha (su cabeza montada sobre una especie de cuerpo artrópodo cargado de armas), y como los equipos de magistrados genoshanos van a atacar directamente a La Patrulla-X y los Nuevos Mutantes, revelándose también el paradero del último de los Hombres-X que quedaba por aparecer de los que cruzaron el Portal Peligroso: Kaos, convertido en el Magistrado Summers en Genosha. El ataque genoshano va a conseguir tomar como prisioneros a Warlock, Bum-Bum. Ríctor, Tormenta y Loba Venenosa, lo que llevará al resto de los Nuevos Mutantes, a la Patrulla-X y a Factor-X a intervenir en Genosha, provocando un conflicto internacional, ya que la los mutantes se enfrentan tal cual a un estado soberano, pero bueno, ya sabemos como funciona EE.UU a la hora de valorar la soberanía del resto del mundo...
Así que lo que tenemos en Proyecto Exterminio e una sucesión de enfrentamientos entre mutantes y genoshanos con un Hodge cada vez más loco de fondo, decidido a convertir Genosha en su base para acabar con todos los mutantes del mundo, y un protagonismo destacado para Kaos, Ríctor, Júbilo, Ríctor, Bum-Bum, Tormenta, Arcángel y Loba Venenosa... y una muerte un poco absurda y casi entre páginas de Warlock, que debía estorbar a Liefeld para la nueva encarnación de los Nuevos Mutantes que estaba a punto de debutar, su X-Force de la que hablaremos... no sé si muy pronto... pero llegaremos.
Así que entretenido, sin ser nada del otro jueves, con muchos puntos negros y que en edición española acarrea también algunos problemas de impresión, traducción e incluso faltas de ortografía (edición Forum, claro). Pero es parte de la historia de los mutantes, claro.
July 13, 2019
Hoo-boy. While the 90's X-Men are justifiably remembered as bad ass, enshrined forever in a warm glow of nostalgia and blue and yellow spandex, it turns out this awesomeness is best handled in small doses--a single wolverine splash page, for example, or a Jim Lee cover group shot.
It turns out 200-odd pages of X-hijinks, dated quips and impossibly muscled bodies is A LOT. I'm sure this crossover worked better when digested as single issues, but a one-volume read through is tiring, repetitive, and reveals all of this event's flaws.
The action returns to the Genosha of Claremont's earlier "A Green and Pleasant Land" storyline: an island nation of advanced technology built on the backs of its enslaved mutant population, which naturally finds itself at odds with the X-men. As retribution for the X-men's interference, the Genoshan Press Gang (led by a surprising familiar face) attacks the X-teams, kidnapping members of both the X-Men and Cable's young X-Force. The remaining mutant heroes quickly plot a rescue, and the plot takes off...
...and then plods along slowly, treading water issue after issue. The "rescue" progresses agonizingly slowly, with the action quickly settling into a pattern of Escape-Fight-Recapture-Repeat. At its best moments, the story delves into the body horror elements of its main villain and the fates of a few key mutants. At its worst, the reader is stuck following Jubilee around while nothing happens, or listening to the repetitive monologues of the "mysterious" Big Bad. It also seems really weird that Magneto is absent from this storyline, as it seems tailor-made for his character.
Eventually, the story does reach a climax of sorts, although it is reliant on a pretty big Deus ex machina to push things forward. Things turn into essentially an issues-long boss fight that moves from grueling to sublime to hilarious, complete with a beheading and a giant, cyborg scorpion. Everything is turned up to 11. It's the 90's.
There are better and worse X-events, but this one is notable for changing up the group status quo and essentially ushering in what's fondly remembered as the "90's" X-Men. It's a key moment, important not so much for the content itself as for what comes after it.
It turns out 200-odd pages of X-hijinks, dated quips and impossibly muscled bodies is A LOT. I'm sure this crossover worked better when digested as single issues, but a one-volume read through is tiring, repetitive, and reveals all of this event's flaws.
The action returns to the Genosha of Claremont's earlier "A Green and Pleasant Land" storyline: an island nation of advanced technology built on the backs of its enslaved mutant population, which naturally finds itself at odds with the X-men. As retribution for the X-men's interference, the Genoshan Press Gang (led by a surprising familiar face) attacks the X-teams, kidnapping members of both the X-Men and Cable's young X-Force. The remaining mutant heroes quickly plot a rescue, and the plot takes off...
...and then plods along slowly, treading water issue after issue. The "rescue" progresses agonizingly slowly, with the action quickly settling into a pattern of Escape-Fight-Recapture-Repeat. At its best moments, the story delves into the body horror elements of its main villain and the fates of a few key mutants. At its worst, the reader is stuck following Jubilee around while nothing happens, or listening to the repetitive monologues of the "mysterious" Big Bad. It also seems really weird that Magneto is absent from this storyline, as it seems tailor-made for his character.
Eventually, the story does reach a climax of sorts, although it is reliant on a pretty big Deus ex machina to push things forward. Things turn into essentially an issues-long boss fight that moves from grueling to sublime to hilarious, complete with a beheading and a giant, cyborg scorpion. Everything is turned up to 11. It's the 90's.
There are better and worse X-events, but this one is notable for changing up the group status quo and essentially ushering in what's fondly remembered as the "90's" X-Men. It's a key moment, important not so much for the content itself as for what comes after it.
February 13, 2021
My appreciation for "X-Tinction Agenda" is hard to disentangle from the joy of first reading it when I was 10 years old.
On a re-read, it still does a lot of things well. The plot centers on the X-Men (and their associated hangers-on) having a showdown with the mutant apartheid state of Genosha. The two sides are well-matched, leading to some solid subterfuge and action. The casts blend well, and the writers do a good job cross-cutting between different plot elements, following a strike force heading into action, for instance, as well as escapees who have been stripped of their powers.
That said, the storytelling is a bit flabby. Setpieces repeat, particularly when villain Cameron Hodge, a nightmarish cyborg, has the defeated heroes in his grasp only to wonder off to give them time to recover. The characters' motivations and backstories also shift slightly between issues, a sign that the editorial guidance for the crossover may not have been in total lockstep.
The art is pretty divergent throughout the series. Jim Lee's work in the X-men issues is miles beyond anything X-Factor and New Mutants can offer up. It's almost a letdown to slip into one of the other art styles after seeing Lee's detailed lines. (Indeed, the cover for X-Factor 61 is one of the worst I've seen on a published comic.)
The general arc for the series still succeeds. The teamwork--indeed, the sense of family--on display is strong. "X-Tinction Agenda" also shakes up the status quo for New Mutants and X-Factor series that were running stale. Even with the missteps and repetition, it remains an enjoyable example of late-classic X-Men.
On a re-read, it still does a lot of things well. The plot centers on the X-Men (and their associated hangers-on) having a showdown with the mutant apartheid state of Genosha. The two sides are well-matched, leading to some solid subterfuge and action. The casts blend well, and the writers do a good job cross-cutting between different plot elements, following a strike force heading into action, for instance, as well as escapees who have been stripped of their powers.
That said, the storytelling is a bit flabby. Setpieces repeat, particularly when villain Cameron Hodge, a nightmarish cyborg, has the defeated heroes in his grasp only to wonder off to give them time to recover. The characters' motivations and backstories also shift slightly between issues, a sign that the editorial guidance for the crossover may not have been in total lockstep.
The art is pretty divergent throughout the series. Jim Lee's work in the X-men issues is miles beyond anything X-Factor and New Mutants can offer up. It's almost a letdown to slip into one of the other art styles after seeing Lee's detailed lines. (Indeed, the cover for X-Factor 61 is one of the worst I've seen on a published comic.)
The general arc for the series still succeeds. The teamwork--indeed, the sense of family--on display is strong. "X-Tinction Agenda" also shakes up the status quo for New Mutants and X-Factor series that were running stale. Even with the missteps and repetition, it remains an enjoyable example of late-classic X-Men.
April 8, 2019
Easy 5 stars. This is such a rewarding and exciting book. The art is through the roof!! Jim Lee, Rob Leifeld (yeah yeah yeah I like him, get over it) and John Bogdanove kill it!! It really elevates X-Factor, X-Men and New Mutants to the next level.
Claremont and Simonson tell their best story since Dark Phoenix. What struck me is how all three titles tie into one coherent story. This was new for X book crossovers. Prior events like Inferno, Fall of the Mutants and Mutant Massacre seemed so disjointed, with the various crossovers seeming sloppy and lacking in singular vision. Conversely, this reads like a novel.
The drama and resolution here was a decade in the making. Cameron Hodge and Archangel go way back. There are some old, bitter hatreds here and they pay off.
I fucking loved this story.
So... here are some weird things that deserve mention. While all three individual artists are great, there didn’t seem to be much artist cooperation. The writers were all on the same page, but the artists had some issues keeping details consistence. Cable’s eye and Storm’s face tattoo immediately come to mind. In a New Mutants issue, Storm’s face is clear and Cable has a glowing eye... in the next X-Factor issue, his eye is normal, his scar is different, and Storm’s number is tatted on her face again. It’s weird.
Not weird enough to justify giving this masterpiece anything less than five stars though.
Enjoy!!!
Claremont and Simonson tell their best story since Dark Phoenix. What struck me is how all three titles tie into one coherent story. This was new for X book crossovers. Prior events like Inferno, Fall of the Mutants and Mutant Massacre seemed so disjointed, with the various crossovers seeming sloppy and lacking in singular vision. Conversely, this reads like a novel.
The drama and resolution here was a decade in the making. Cameron Hodge and Archangel go way back. There are some old, bitter hatreds here and they pay off.
I fucking loved this story.
So... here are some weird things that deserve mention. While all three individual artists are great, there didn’t seem to be much artist cooperation. The writers were all on the same page, but the artists had some issues keeping details consistence. Cable’s eye and Storm’s face tattoo immediately come to mind. In a New Mutants issue, Storm’s face is clear and Cable has a glowing eye... in the next X-Factor issue, his eye is normal, his scar is different, and Storm’s number is tatted on her face again. It’s weird.
Not weird enough to justify giving this masterpiece anything less than five stars though.
Enjoy!!!
April 25, 2025
X-Men – X-tinction Agenda (TPB) (2011), 3/5
En Marvel se tardaron en quitarle el libro de los X-Men a Claremont.
Una historia basada en Sudafrica, mejor hubieran hecho un comic basado en el comficto de Palestina o ¿A caso había conflicto de intereses en eso?
Marvel comics y Chris Claremont, perras, ¿qué tienen que decir sobre el genocidio en Gaza por parte de Israel y el Amalec de Netanyahu?
Las historias fueron hechas por Chris Claremont y Loise Simonson, está última aportó mucho a Chris claremont después de que Dave Cockrum y John Byrne lo dejaron. Después de la partida de Byrne, Claremont nunca hizo historias de la calidad de Proteus, Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past.
Claremont se las arregla para meter a Carol Danvers su Mary Sue, en la historia cuando nunca fue un X-Men.
Madelyn Pryor fue personaje fallido, Chris no sabía que hacer con ella, cambió su origen primero como sólo alguien parecido a Jean Grey luego introdujo a la Fuerza Fénix y final era un clon.
Otro personaje fallido fue Cameron Hodge que importa este aburrido personaje solo odia y ya.
Los intrancedentes new mutants nunca alcanzaron la popularidad de los X-Men y nunca tuvieron historias como la de la saga de Fénix Oscura y Días del Futuro Pasado.
Havok otra vez bajo control mental vs. Cyclops, esto es muy repetitivo, lo hizo Claremont desde 1975 un cliche.
En Marvel se tardaron en quitarle el libro de los X-Men a Claremont.
Una historia basada en Sudafrica, mejor hubieran hecho un comic basado en el comficto de Palestina o ¿A caso había conflicto de intereses en eso?
Marvel comics y Chris Claremont, perras, ¿qué tienen que decir sobre el genocidio en Gaza por parte de Israel y el Amalec de Netanyahu?
Las historias fueron hechas por Chris Claremont y Loise Simonson, está última aportó mucho a Chris claremont después de que Dave Cockrum y John Byrne lo dejaron. Después de la partida de Byrne, Claremont nunca hizo historias de la calidad de Proteus, Dark Phoenix Saga y Days of the Future Past.
Claremont se las arregla para meter a Carol Danvers su Mary Sue, en la historia cuando nunca fue un X-Men.
Madelyn Pryor fue personaje fallido, Chris no sabía que hacer con ella, cambió su origen primero como sólo alguien parecido a Jean Grey luego introdujo a la Fuerza Fénix y final era un clon.
Otro personaje fallido fue Cameron Hodge que importa este aburrido personaje solo odia y ya.
Los intrancedentes new mutants nunca alcanzaron la popularidad de los X-Men y nunca tuvieron historias como la de la saga de Fénix Oscura y Días del Futuro Pasado.
Havok otra vez bajo control mental vs. Cyclops, esto es muy repetitivo, lo hizo Claremont desde 1975 un cliche.
August 30, 2021
My X-history has a slight blind spot between Inferno and Deadly Attraction and beyond early New Mutants, I haven't read any of the Cable / X-Force era, so I thought I should read this.
It's very reminiscent of it's time, lots of machismo, posturing, big guns and (at times) dodgy art (mainly from Liefield). Jae Lee's art is great though. And Cyclopd hairy chest is a nice treat too!
The various X-teams have been dispersed for a few years, but after the kidnapping of Storm, Rictor, Boom-Boom and Wolfsbane by Genosion forces, the 3 US based X-teams team up to rescue them (somehow Wolverine, new-formed ninja Psylocke and Jubilee turn up too).
I think this collection could have benefited with a brief "Previously" box at the start to explain why Wolverine et al were in Genosia etc. Also, narrativly, seeing more of Genosia could have made the story grander (we mainly stay in the Citadel).
If you're familar with the general premise of the X-universe and are looking for a slightly madcap, chaotic story, give this a go, it is entertaining in it's own way.
It's very reminiscent of it's time, lots of machismo, posturing, big guns and (at times) dodgy art (mainly from Liefield). Jae Lee's art is great though. And Cyclopd hairy chest is a nice treat too!
The various X-teams have been dispersed for a few years, but after the kidnapping of Storm, Rictor, Boom-Boom and Wolfsbane by Genosion forces, the 3 US based X-teams team up to rescue them (somehow Wolverine, new-formed ninja Psylocke and Jubilee turn up too).
I think this collection could have benefited with a brief "Previously" box at the start to explain why Wolverine et al were in Genosia etc. Also, narrativly, seeing more of Genosia could have made the story grander (we mainly stay in the Citadel).
If you're familar with the general premise of the X-universe and are looking for a slightly madcap, chaotic story, give this a go, it is entertaining in it's own way.
October 2, 2025
Jim Lee's (Uncanny X-Men) art is absolutely amazing in this. Such an eye for detail and point of view. Rob Liefeld (New Mutants) was still learning to draw leaving one to wonder how he ever got the gigs he did at this stage of his talents, and Jon Bogdanove (X-Factor) looks like he was phoning it in.
Storywise, there really isn't much here. No big twists or turns, no believable character arcs, and no memorable scenes or lines. Like the storyline in "God Loves, Man Kills" Claremont and the other writers seem to be devoted to inverting characters, morals, and affections. This story seems to be a gloss for what happened in Rhodesia, and it appears the X-title writers believed the propaganda spun against those valiant men who were fighting to save their country from the Communists. Nazi-like nationalism, racism, and greedy prosperity... lazy tropes, more clearly seen today after three decades of overuse and abuse. Leads one to think of propaganda like a virus, that deceives men who then go on to deceive others further.
Storywise, there really isn't much here. No big twists or turns, no believable character arcs, and no memorable scenes or lines. Like the storyline in "God Loves, Man Kills" Claremont and the other writers seem to be devoted to inverting characters, morals, and affections. This story seems to be a gloss for what happened in Rhodesia, and it appears the X-title writers believed the propaganda spun against those valiant men who were fighting to save their country from the Communists. Nazi-like nationalism, racism, and greedy prosperity... lazy tropes, more clearly seen today after three decades of overuse and abuse. Leads one to think of propaganda like a virus, that deceives men who then go on to deceive others further.
January 7, 2018
I got into X-Men with the 90s cartoon. In comic terms, it was the end of the X-Cutioner's Song. I read earlier stories and issues that I could find in libraries or get cheap and I read a lot about earlier events. But I haven't read everything. I didn't realize how much I'd missed until I started listening to X-Plain the X-Men. After listening to the first episode about X-Tinction Agenda I remembered that my library has the trade and I got it.
Ugh. I can see the X-Men I remember here but in early forms. Mostly there's a lot of art that makes me cringe. I'm not as forgiving of the plot problems, continuity errors, or pacing as they are on X-Plain the X-Men but it's good to know the reasons for so much of the ugh stuff.
This would have more weight if I'd been reading what came before but at least I know how important it is thanks to the podcast. Otherwise I'd wonder why this was collected and why I should keep it on my library's shelf. Had to make myself finish this one. I was kind of excited about reading X-Cutioner's Song but now I'm a little worried.
Ugh. I can see the X-Men I remember here but in early forms. Mostly there's a lot of art that makes me cringe. I'm not as forgiving of the plot problems, continuity errors, or pacing as they are on X-Plain the X-Men but it's good to know the reasons for so much of the ugh stuff.
This would have more weight if I'd been reading what came before but at least I know how important it is thanks to the podcast. Otherwise I'd wonder why this was collected and why I should keep it on my library's shelf. Had to make myself finish this one. I was kind of excited about reading X-Cutioner's Song but now I'm a little worried.
July 17, 2024
This is the best executed X-Men crossover event, which culminated various story threads about Genosha and its economy powered by mutant slavery. The key ingredient here is the Jim Lee illustrated chapters plus his covers which was the special sauce.
This was the first time Lee illustrated 75% of the existing Marvel mutant line, only Excalibur escaped him, which was a shame. The next time this happened was in the form of trading cards and included the British Isles based team, which proved to be a big hit as well.
The story had interesting subplots like:
Brother versus brother, Scott and Alex Summers meet again.
Archangel versus Wolverine, techno-organic steel wings versus adamantium claws.
A new installment of the Jean Grey-Cyclops-Wolverine love triangle.
The fate of the New Mutants.
A fun book to reread and to flip through just to enjoy its pretty pictures. Easily 5 stars.
This was the first time Lee illustrated 75% of the existing Marvel mutant line, only Excalibur escaped him, which was a shame. The next time this happened was in the form of trading cards and included the British Isles based team, which proved to be a big hit as well.
The story had interesting subplots like:
Brother versus brother, Scott and Alex Summers meet again.
Archangel versus Wolverine, techno-organic steel wings versus adamantium claws.
A new installment of the Jean Grey-Cyclops-Wolverine love triangle.
The fate of the New Mutants.
A fun book to reread and to flip through just to enjoy its pretty pictures. Easily 5 stars.
July 8, 2023
One of the few X-Men events I haven't read and after finishing it, I kinda wish I hadn't bothered. It's not exceedingly terrible like some of the others (IvX, Curse of the Mutants, the Twelve, and so on and so forth), but it's still not great. The writing is just kinda there, it mostly feels like a showcase for Lee and Liefeld and your mileage may vary on how you feel about the later. Overall, not really recommended unless you're a completionist.
I think that just leaves Zero Tolerance for the pre2000s crossovers, I'm sure I'll get to that eventually.
I think that just leaves Zero Tolerance for the pre2000s crossovers, I'm sure I'll get to that eventually.
December 27, 2022
This was a great new story for the X men different than the other series. This one is very similar to what might happen if they existed in real life hence them being taken as slaves... I might not have enjoyed this book as much as I did if it wasn't my first x men book, though because every issue in this collection is close to being the same. But, it still interested me a lot and I couldn't put it down.
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