X-Treme X-Men: Intifada [Anglais] [Broché]

I had a long absence from comic collecting, particularly X-Men (right about the time that Chuck Austen started writing Uncanny). I pretty much missed X-Treme X-Men entirely while it was still in print.

Boy, was I sorry. I have been enjoying the trade paperbacks immensely, or at least the stories and revisiting some of my favorite characters.

Intifada is great because we get to not only see veteran X-Men out in the field again as heroes (and as law enforcement officers), but we also have the bonus of finding out where many of the original New Mutants got off to after X-Force. (I despised X-Force) Cannonball returns from X-Corps, which is great, he is a strong character with a lot of depth and surprising intelligence. Seeing his reunion with Lila Cheney warmed me, too. Sunspot and Magma return, too; Sunspot was poorly used during the Liefeld/Simonson period back in the early 90s.

My main complaints about this book, though are once again a) the artwork by Kordey, b) the hypersexual feel to many of the frames, it is very touchy-feely, all of the character look like they routinely jump into bed with each other, particularly an out-of-character kiss and grope between Storm and Gambit, and c)horrible "fight choreography" and costumes. These are the worst clothing and hairstyles ever drawn, Kordey fails to get it right for most of the series' run.

There are bits of sharp humor and pop culture references that make you chuckle. Rogue's bedroom in her house in Valle Soleada has several posters of Anna Paquin and movies that she has starred in on the walls; this of course winks at Anna Paquin's portrayal of Rogue in the X-movies. When Sam assists the miners in Paris with searching for survivors of the tunnel collapse, one of the rescue team asks him to sing along with one of Lila's songs, namely "Sam." (which of course was written about him, see New Mutants Annual 1)

If you enjoy this title, buy this book for the storyline, and ignore the crummy penciling. It's worth it.

Claremont's writing in the "X-Treme X-Men" series, though much maligned by the average Morrison-worshipping fan, is in actuality far more mature and deep than most comics out there (certainly far better, in my opinion, than even the often-praised Claremont stuff in the 1980s). Take this volume "Intifada" for example. Here we have Chris blowing our minds with his takes on the Mutant Politics of Valle Soleada, LA (a kind of fictitious take on the Israel-Palestinian conflict with the mutant residents and the baseline human residents). Ultimately, Claremont is trying to show that Xavier's pro-active X-Corps may actually be doing more harm than good. The peaceful coexistence of people in any land must be handled not by policies enforced by corporate/political bodies but by education and example (something exemplified by Rogue, Bishop and Cannonball in this storyline). However, the political factor also comes into play as policies are shaped by the people in power (and this is where Gambit and Storm comes in - they actually attend, in secret, a meeting of world leaders in Texas).

In comparison, I find that Morrison's "Riot At Xaviers" was loud and brash compared to this work by Claremont on the same theme but done a lot more subtly and with more heart. Morrison is very much like his league of worshippers at Barbelith.com - all cerebral-arrogance and very little heart. Claremont, on the other hand, tries to show us the difficulty of trying to apply the John-Ford-movies type of romantic-chivalry/heroism in a world controlled more by corporate/political policies (read: greed and pettiness) and the lack-of-love among people that threatens to destroy every ideal of unity/peace among us.

Igor Kordey's art is surprisingly good in this one (far better than when he was working with Grant Morrison over at "New X-Men"). He draws this story of pain, racial hatred and injustice with much sensitivity and tenderness. In fact, it is the best that I've seen from this artist ever.

I knock off one star from my rating because for the entirety of this story, we never do get to see Rogue and Gambit together (despite the cover image). But we are duly compensated in the pairing of Cannonball-Lila Cheney and my favourite X-couple, Bishop and Sage.