Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists

Collects Uncanny X-Men #487-491 by Ed Brubaker and Salvador Larroca.

The X-Men are back from chasing Vulcan through space and having mass bar room brawls in Shi'ar land, and are forced to face much more mundane matters such as post-9/11 Morlock terrorists and... well, that's about it.

It seems to me that Marvel's editorial line over the last few years has been working hard to make their books more relevant and to even have stories relate to real world current affairs. Civil War is the main example of that, and this story is another example of it, although of a somewhat smaller scale. This is a great direction, and something I think the Marvel Universe, which for me always was about the human side of super heroes, is well suited for.

This is a sort of lo-fi X-Men story, it doesn't have anything of the epic scale or mass battles that X-fans are used too. The mood of the story suits the subject matter, which, yes, is terrorism, and the subject is not handled in a black and white way. There is actually made room for opinion, something which is sorely missing in many other media regarding the subject.

And yet this book doesn't really fulfill the potential of the combination of Brubaker and Larroca. Yes, it is well written and the art is good. But I somehow feel it could be better. Maybe it's just that I'm a little tired of terrorism as THE subject matter of all things highly relevant (why can't they go fight pollution?). Or maybe the characters in the book are not that interesting. I'm not sure, but I will keep reading, because I think these guys have great potential.

5/10