The Creators – Ed Brisson – Writer, Pepe Larraz – Artist, Marte Gracia – Colours, VC’s Joe Sabino – Letters

The Players – Cyclops, Bloodstorm, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, Ice Man, Prestige, Ahab, Cable, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler

The Story – Someone is after the young, time-displaced X-Men and just like the title implies, not everybody is going to make it out of this alive.

The Take – It has been a very long time since anything in the X-books has felt like it mattered, despite the A-list writers that have written the various titles over the years. The X events used to thrill and excite and the last few, while decent, did not do that but with Extermination, it looks to change that and the first issue by Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz delivers strong. Beginning with Cyclops and Bloodstorm out on a date and spinning out of recent feelings made known from X-Men Blue, they are interrupted by the mutant killer Ahab and from this point on, the lives of the X-Men are only going to get more complicated. Brisson does a great job at injecting palpable tension throughout the story and it feels good to read an X-book that has a very real sense of mattering. It becomes a page turner from that first appearance of Rachel Grey’s former master and it just gets better and better, not to mention more shocking from that moment on. One thing that is for sure is that Brisoon and company are playing for keeps and when Marvel announced Extermination as the latest X-Men event, it has actually turned out to be just that. Forget Battle of the Atom and Black Vortex, put Death of X and Inhumans vs. X-Men in the rear view and look to the future because it seems to be happening right here in this very book. There is of course, a big surprise ending and it too will leave the reader wanting more which is exactly how an event should start and not just an event, but any regular title. While the main cast of the book is fairly small in terms of the overall amount of X-Men in the Marvel Universe, it is sure to expand in the coming issues and it is good to see the newly resurrected Jean Grey for one, make an appearance in something other than X-Men Red. As for the artwork, Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia give their all on the page and the results speak for themselves, the book looking incredible and better than anything going on in the various X-books at the moment. When all is said and done by the time the book wraps up, there is an obvious goal by the villain which is revealed upon the last page, though just what is going to happen and how remains a mystery and unravelling it is going to be a lot of fun.

Worth It? – Yes.