X-Treme X-Men #1

First off, big thanks to Greg Pak and Stephen Segovia for making this a great first issue.

So, as had been mentioned a couple months earlier, a new X-Series was put into the works with the title of "X-Treme X-Men". Now, most of us thought that it had to be a continuation of the incomparable former series which was under the pen of Chris Claremont, that followed the adventures of Storm, Rogue and a couple other X-Men on globe-trotting adventures, we were wrong.

It was later confirmed that this was going to be an Exiles-esque title which followed the life and times of a few alternate-u X-Men (and regular Dazzler) who were last seen in Greg Pak's run of Astonishing X-Men - Exalted. Fabulous arc, by the way. And, as is evident, that has come to pass.

So, the issue starts off with, more or less, a glimpse into the normal day of those Exalted X-Men (that's what i'm calling them) saving an Earth which was on the brink of destruction anyways, with the help of a thousand different variations of a man called Xavier (but mainly his heads). Then we get an insight on Dazzler, the supposed leading lady of the title who Pak's seemingly got a thing for. Some drag-queen was impersonating Alison in San Fran', much to Alison's admiration which then prompts her to help the guy out. It's also revealed here, that, Alison now has a love interest that she's been keeping from the denizens of Utopia and then, conveniently, she gets a call from Madison Jeffries.

We're at Utopia now and there are some, somewhat, loose ends spewing from Warren Ellis' run of Astonishing as well as Pak's, a Ghost Box was ready but they needed sufficient energy to power it up, which, if i may add, had some sort of Cyclops/Dazzler rivalry going on in terms of who had more fire-power, which, was hinted at by Pak, who is one of the few writers that actually delivers on their statements. All of a sudden, the Exalted X-Men pop in from the now activated Ghost Box, a little light-show errupts courtesy of Alison and then before you know it, they're gone, including Ali.

So, the Exalted(s) and Alison (who doesn't really seem to be the least bit traumatized or shocked, considering she was just pulled out of her own dimension with more or less no knowledge as to whether she'll be able to return or not), they get the gist that the squid that attacked them, was, oddly enough, an Xavier from an off-beat reality, it telepathically assualts them and suprisingly enough, General Howllet (Wolverine) saves the day with his Adamantine laced claws/skeleton which gives him nigh resistance to any and all forms of telepathy. Nifty. Dazzler get's an introduction to the team with the help of a childish Nightcrawler (whom strongly resembles the rendition from X-Men Evolution) and then the Xavier head, who seems to be the "leader" of the team, teleports them to a different reality in which they are apprehended by X-Men of a higher and majestic order, X-Treme.

The Good

A lot of things. Dazzler has been shafted into the background before and even after Schism, even when she was assigned to a team of her own, but nothing has come of that other than cameos in AvX and that's about it. It's nice to see Greg Pak take another forgotten female from Utopia (he took Storm before) and place her in the spotlight, he's obviously got a sweet-tooth for her and is doing good things with that, we haven't seen much of the character for a while but he still manages to pull in traits from her past (drug addict) into the story with all the action going on. Alternate reality characters are always a fun lot to play with, you get to see different takes from your one and onlies that you'd never see anywhere else, Pak's got a good concept on that. Segovia is killing it with the pencils, every panel is just something else.

The Bad

Not much, but still. We've got enough Wolverine and Emma Frost across the X-Line, alternate versions aren't much of an interest, considering there wasn't exactly a different take on Emma but there was for Wolverine, slightly, mind you. I was VERY disappointed that Dazzler's role as the mentor for the Recruits of Utopia was not looked upon or even mentioned, they shouldn't have had her listed as a member of the Street Team if nothing was going to come of that, still.

Verdict

Overall, this was a very good first-issue, the mission mandate might seem a little generic and familiar, but with Dazzler as the lead, would that be a problem ? Good writing and good art, makes for a good comic-book, especially when the creative team is dedicated to the title as the fans are to their characters. Pick it up, you won't disappointed. 4/5.