Review: E IS FOR EXTINCTION #4

E IS FOR EXTINCTION No. 4
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITERS: Chris Burnham and Dennis Culver
ARTIST: Ramon Villalobos
COLORS: Ian Herring
LETTERS: VC's Clayton Cowles
COVER: Ian Bertram with Dave Stewart
VARIANT COVER: James Harren
28pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (November 2015)

“Supernova”

Rated T+

The four-issue comic book miniseries, E is for Extinction, is one of the “Secret Wars Battleworld” comic books that are connected to Marvel Comics' eight-issue event miniseries, Secret Wars, from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic.  It is written by Chris Burnham and Dennis Culver; drawn by Ramon Villalobos; colored by Ian Herring; and lettered by Clayton Cowles.  E is for Extinction is a re-purposing of the 2001 New X-Men story arc, “E is for Extinction,” from Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely.

In the world of E is for Extinction, Charles Xavier has killed himself.  Magneto carries on his legacy at “The Atom Institute,” a school for exceptional students – both mutant and human alike.  However, Magneto has been hiding an object of incredible power, a Phoenix Egg.  He has also been using the object's power to weaken the original X-Men:  Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Wolverine.  After a massive fight at The Atom Institute between various mutant factions, the Phoenix Egg hatches and reveals... Cassandra Nova... returned to fight her arch-nemesis – Charles Xavier.

I was so in love with E is for Extinction #1 that I was sure that the rest of the series could not live up to the hype of my review of the first issue or my own expectations.  Actually, it did both.  It is one of the most imaginative X-Men stories of the last two decades, and it also does its source material, the original “E is for Extinction,” proud.  I like Ramon Villalobos' crusty take on Frank Quitely's drawing style of the original story.  In fact, Chris Burnham and Dennis Culver take Morrison's X-Men in more far-out places than one would expect from writers who are not Morrison.

Another surprising thing, E is for Extinction is funny (as was the 2001 story).  Its sparkling sense of humor permeates even the most gruesome battles in this story.  It is as if E is for Extinction #4 revels in the idea that the antagonists in this series cannot see that their actions, well-intentioned or not, are making their goals unreachable.  It's a shame that there will not be more of this (I assume), but a trade collection will make this exceptional comic book series available for even more readers to discover it.  And E is for Extinction deserves to be discovered, my X-Men readers.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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