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X-Treme X-Men (2001) (Collected Editions)
X-Treme X-Men, Vol. 2: Invasion
The X-Treme team takes the field of battle as Earth's last line of defense - and ultimately, its only hope - against an alien armada capable of enslaving entire dimensions.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,281 books894 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 5, 2013
While the first volume of X-Treme X-Men had its qualities it felt a lot like Chris Claremont wasn’t entirely sure where to go with what he’d written, like he’d put himself into a corner. The idea of the diaries was good in theory but the villain Vargas was just too ill defined to be taken as a true threat and the plot kept veering off in directions it didn’t need to go in. Thankfully Claremont’s decision after tying up things in Australia was to put that plot on the backburner and limited himself to the much more direct plot plot of an alien invasion. Which drastically improved the quality of this arc.
Having linked up with the team after dealing with the events in Australia, Gambit approaches Storm apparently knowing something about a jewel in her possession as they lay low. Well no sooner can you say the words “MacGuffin” than it’s revealed the jewel is key to an invasion and as is Gambit. As both are taken by the invasion’s advanced guard, the X-men pursue the kidnapper to Madripoor, arriving just in time to be trapped inside as it’s cut off from the world by a force-field. With legions of technologically advanced troops storming the island nation, the X-Treme team find themselves as Earth’s only line of defence against an unknown foe. Seven mutants against an armada capable of enslaving entire dimensions.
As with before, Salvador Larroca’s art remains consistently excellent from beginning to end. While there are definitely some problems when it comes to one action flowing into another, they’re still beautifully drawn and inked. Even for characters which have been around for decades this is the best they’ve looked in a long time. The only time it ever has any problems is with the character of Lifeguard (yes they do make fun of the name) with a changing appearance, but that could easily be put down to her powers.
The story itself has much more of the focus, pacing and concentration upon the action which Volume 1 lacked. While there are breather moments in combat and quiet bits, these are installed at key points within the plot and you never feel they’re out of place or getting in the way of things. Many actually offer some surprising moments of characterisation such as one newly activated mutant beginning to regret his choices and asking if the X-Men’s lives are “always like this?” It adds moments of humanity which tend to be missing in a lot of stories or are mishandled by certain authors (Millar, Bendis, looking at you) even if it can come across as slightly hammy at times.
Unfortunately at the same time it could be argued that it sometimes moves too fast. There is a very abrupt beginning in which we have information both delivered via flashback and as events move, which doesn’t seem to gel very well. While it goes a considerable way to get the story moving quickly the start can be jarring at first and is unlike something you’d expect in a modern comic.
For the majority of the book the action with the X-Men trying to stem the tide really works well. You get a sense of the sheer power and scale of the invasion very early on. While only running battles are seen rather than full blown engagements, the local military is thoroughly beaten down every time and the victories the X-Men make never seem to do enough impact. Well, at least up to the point where Rogue cuts loose, but explaining that bit would ruin one of the story’s major highlights and shows just why the X-Men are quite capable of taking on alien invasions without serving as backup to the Avengers.
The 80s style writing continues here, giving it the same sort of clunky charm the last book had but it feels far more appropriate and as if the style is being used well. Some noticeable flaws remain such as many newly introduced characters being ill defined, especially in light of how strongly the main team-members are written in this. While the recently introduced Lifeguard and Slipstream actually come off well, many of the similar villains seem extremely generic or we are given little more than a name. This is especially unfortunate because the main villain, Khan, has an interesting idea behind him and feels like he could have been truly fleshed out into an interesting reoccurring villain or at least someone who could be remembered for a few years. When much what little of his motivations the comic delves into are revealed, he comes across like some lesser version of Warhammer 40,000’s Emperor, leading his forces on a continual crusade for unity. It’s just a shame a lot of this is put to one side to emphasise upon a possible relationship with Storm.
The final thing to truly note is that the arc actually ends on something of a positive note. While it’s made clear that their victory is a costly one, and affected some of those involved more than others, it doesn’t try to crush any feelings of positivity to make what happened feel as grim and pyrrhic as possible. The comic still makes it clear there’s been a victory and their adventures will continue rather than endlessly beating the heroes into the ground and trying to make the universe darker and darker at every turn.
This isn’t an arc I’d recommend to everyone but if you’ve got some basic familiarity with the franchise and are willing to ignore a few unexplained details this is an okay read. While definitely not something to seek out at all costs it’s definitely worth picking up at least once, reading over a few hours and then (probably) forgetting about it. If you’ve disliked how the X-Men have been portrayed as villains constantly of late and how Marvel seems to be trying to force every single last outcome to an event to be as bleak as humanly imaginable this one might be worth looking up.
Having linked up with the team after dealing with the events in Australia, Gambit approaches Storm apparently knowing something about a jewel in her possession as they lay low. Well no sooner can you say the words “MacGuffin” than it’s revealed the jewel is key to an invasion and as is Gambit. As both are taken by the invasion’s advanced guard, the X-men pursue the kidnapper to Madripoor, arriving just in time to be trapped inside as it’s cut off from the world by a force-field. With legions of technologically advanced troops storming the island nation, the X-Treme team find themselves as Earth’s only line of defence against an unknown foe. Seven mutants against an armada capable of enslaving entire dimensions.
As with before, Salvador Larroca’s art remains consistently excellent from beginning to end. While there are definitely some problems when it comes to one action flowing into another, they’re still beautifully drawn and inked. Even for characters which have been around for decades this is the best they’ve looked in a long time. The only time it ever has any problems is with the character of Lifeguard (yes they do make fun of the name) with a changing appearance, but that could easily be put down to her powers.
The story itself has much more of the focus, pacing and concentration upon the action which Volume 1 lacked. While there are breather moments in combat and quiet bits, these are installed at key points within the plot and you never feel they’re out of place or getting in the way of things. Many actually offer some surprising moments of characterisation such as one newly activated mutant beginning to regret his choices and asking if the X-Men’s lives are “always like this?” It adds moments of humanity which tend to be missing in a lot of stories or are mishandled by certain authors (Millar, Bendis, looking at you) even if it can come across as slightly hammy at times.
Unfortunately at the same time it could be argued that it sometimes moves too fast. There is a very abrupt beginning in which we have information both delivered via flashback and as events move, which doesn’t seem to gel very well. While it goes a considerable way to get the story moving quickly the start can be jarring at first and is unlike something you’d expect in a modern comic.
For the majority of the book the action with the X-Men trying to stem the tide really works well. You get a sense of the sheer power and scale of the invasion very early on. While only running battles are seen rather than full blown engagements, the local military is thoroughly beaten down every time and the victories the X-Men make never seem to do enough impact. Well, at least up to the point where Rogue cuts loose, but explaining that bit would ruin one of the story’s major highlights and shows just why the X-Men are quite capable of taking on alien invasions without serving as backup to the Avengers.
The 80s style writing continues here, giving it the same sort of clunky charm the last book had but it feels far more appropriate and as if the style is being used well. Some noticeable flaws remain such as many newly introduced characters being ill defined, especially in light of how strongly the main team-members are written in this. While the recently introduced Lifeguard and Slipstream actually come off well, many of the similar villains seem extremely generic or we are given little more than a name. This is especially unfortunate because the main villain, Khan, has an interesting idea behind him and feels like he could have been truly fleshed out into an interesting reoccurring villain or at least someone who could be remembered for a few years. When much what little of his motivations the comic delves into are revealed, he comes across like some lesser version of Warhammer 40,000’s Emperor, leading his forces on a continual crusade for unity. It’s just a shame a lot of this is put to one side to emphasise upon a possible relationship with Storm.
The final thing to truly note is that the arc actually ends on something of a positive note. While it’s made clear that their victory is a costly one, and affected some of those involved more than others, it doesn’t try to crush any feelings of positivity to make what happened feel as grim and pyrrhic as possible. The comic still makes it clear there’s been a victory and their adventures will continue rather than endlessly beating the heroes into the ground and trying to make the universe darker and darker at every turn.
This isn’t an arc I’d recommend to everyone but if you’ve got some basic familiarity with the franchise and are willing to ignore a few unexplained details this is an okay read. While definitely not something to seek out at all costs it’s definitely worth picking up at least once, reading over a few hours and then (probably) forgetting about it. If you’ve disliked how the X-Men have been portrayed as villains constantly of late and how Marvel seems to be trying to force every single last outcome to an event to be as bleak as humanly imaginable this one might be worth looking up.
September 15, 2022
Madripoor is invaded by aliens from an alternate dimension and the X-Men are caught in the middle.
It's impressive how little I care about this series. I dont think it's just Claremont's writing, though it's certainly him at his most boring. Nor is it just Larroca's art, though I certainly don't like it. But the combination of the two transcends the strengths of both creators, producing something that's impressively, gloriously, dull.
It's impressive how little I care about this series. I dont think it's just Claremont's writing, though it's certainly him at his most boring. Nor is it just Larroca's art, though I certainly don't like it. But the combination of the two transcends the strengths of both creators, producing something that's impressively, gloriously, dull.
June 8, 2017
Continuing the x-read of '17
This volume was... alright.
In all honesty, this is a fun story if not entirely groundbreaking in any way. It was entertaining and a fast read though it ends much as it began, thereby not exactly offering a whole lot interesting.
I will say that I absolutely *hate* how Claremont shelved the Destiny diaries storyline - a story that looked like it could be a huge interesting storyline but turned into a steaming pile of nothingness. *sigh*
A mixed bag but good enough to take some stress off which is what matters to me right now.
This volume was... alright.
In all honesty, this is a fun story if not entirely groundbreaking in any way. It was entertaining and a fast read though it ends much as it began, thereby not exactly offering a whole lot interesting.
I will say that I absolutely *hate* how Claremont shelved the Destiny diaries storyline - a story that looked like it could be a huge interesting storyline but turned into a steaming pile of nothingness. *sigh*
A mixed bag but good enough to take some stress off which is what matters to me right now.
October 9, 2021
Another alien invasion! A conquering army from another dimension uses Gambit to create a military beachhead in Mandripoor, and only the X-Treme X-Men are within the impenetrable force field that protects the landing zone.
This is perhaps the tritest X-Men storylines I've read in a long time. The undefeated general arrives to take over the world only to be side-tracked by the beauty and nobility of an Earthling (in this case Storm). Read just a few sci-fi books, and this will sound eerily familiar.
Chris Claremont has always been drawn to (and often exploits) sci-fi themes, but his strength has always been his fantastic ability to create and develop engaging characters. That is not the case with this run. His new characters are all over the place. He is inconsistent in their portrayal and awkwardly shifts their backstories. Is Red Lotus a member or now? How can Lifeguard all of sudden be a member of the Shi-Ar royalty? I have no idea what to make of Slipstream. It really is no wonder that these three never take root within the X-Men mythos.
I love Salvador Larroca's art, but it is not enough to save an overly familiar (yet unnecessarily convoluted) plot or the sudden disregard for the new members of an ensemble cast.
This is perhaps the tritest X-Men storylines I've read in a long time. The undefeated general arrives to take over the world only to be side-tracked by the beauty and nobility of an Earthling (in this case Storm). Read just a few sci-fi books, and this will sound eerily familiar.
Chris Claremont has always been drawn to (and often exploits) sci-fi themes, but his strength has always been his fantastic ability to create and develop engaging characters. That is not the case with this run. His new characters are all over the place. He is inconsistent in their portrayal and awkwardly shifts their backstories. Is Red Lotus a member or now? How can Lifeguard all of sudden be a member of the Shi-Ar royalty? I have no idea what to make of Slipstream. It really is no wonder that these three never take root within the X-Men mythos.
I love Salvador Larroca's art, but it is not enough to save an overly familiar (yet unnecessarily convoluted) plot or the sudden disregard for the new members of an ensemble cast.
October 14, 2020
This series isn't blowing me away (probably 2.5 stars). It's kind of dated and very "superhero-y". Basically while they're on the hunt for books that tell the future, a human with a hatred for mutants decides to kill them one by one. BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! An intra-dimensional invasion is going on so that the team has to worry about the mutant killer AND the invading force that has toppled countless dimensions. Throw in a couple "oh my God they're dead! Oh wait, they're okay," moments and "our heroes pushing themselves beyond their normal limits" and it seems a little cliché. The art is great though and I'm really interested in what's going to happen with ridiculously-named "Lifeguard".
February 17, 2023
Invasion (#10-18). Perhaps more than anything else, this feels like classic Claremont X-Men. Oh, the faces of the foes are new, but it's a desperate battle to save a humanity that hates and fears them. It's friends and family sacrificing themselves for each other. It's unfortunately more of taking away Storm's agency by objectifying her, but that's pretty classic Claremont too. And yet the idea of a cross-dimensional invasion makes it feel fresh and modern. The overall arc is a bit long, but it's one of Claremont's stronger pieces post his original run [4ish/5].
December 28, 2023
2.5/5.0
December 31, 2022
Better than I expected. Claremont still has some good ideas, but his tendency to overwrite every scene is a bit tedious. The art is lovely and the characterization is strong. The invasion plot is well done albeit well worn. Much like the first collection, Invasion is a good old-school X-book.
June 15, 2025
2025 Reread Review Update:
The best part about volume one, which I didn't enjoy, was its premise: a splinter group of X-Men are seeking out Destiny's diaries to avoid future tragedies.
While they eventually loop back to that in this collection, most of this is centered on a generic alien invasion story with familiar storeytelling tropes, terrible dialogue, and a lot of unnecessary jumping around the story's timeline. By the time the reader is reminded what this book is supposed to be about, it feels very tacked on. This is just another forgettable generic superhero story.
It really sufferes from coming out at the same time as Grant Morrison's run on X-Men, which isn't flawless but has a much tighter plot, a better understanding of the characters (even the ones that Claremont created in the 70s and 80s), and more 21st century ideas.
There are very brief glimpses of storybeats that could have been interesting and the themes Claremont was trying to examine but the writing is just so shabby that it's really not worth examining.
Don't waste your time reading this volume. I won't do it again unless I'm paid to.
*****************************
Original 2018 Review:
Everything from my review of volume one applies to this one, as well. No sense wasting more time writing about it.
The best part about volume one, which I didn't enjoy, was its premise: a splinter group of X-Men are seeking out Destiny's diaries to avoid future tragedies.
While they eventually loop back to that in this collection, most of this is centered on a generic alien invasion story with familiar storeytelling tropes, terrible dialogue, and a lot of unnecessary jumping around the story's timeline. By the time the reader is reminded what this book is supposed to be about, it feels very tacked on. This is just another forgettable generic superhero story.
It really sufferes from coming out at the same time as Grant Morrison's run on X-Men, which isn't flawless but has a much tighter plot, a better understanding of the characters (even the ones that Claremont created in the 70s and 80s), and more 21st century ideas.
There are very brief glimpses of storybeats that could have been interesting and the themes Claremont was trying to examine but the writing is just so shabby that it's really not worth examining.
Don't waste your time reading this volume. I won't do it again unless I'm paid to.
*****************************
Original 2018 Review:
Everything from my review of volume one applies to this one, as well. No sense wasting more time writing about it.
November 28, 2015
This is one of the best runs out of all of the issues of X-Treme X-Men. The team is finally meshing together in a big way, especially with the inclusion of Gambit as an official teammate. He and Rogue both have major roles to play in what happens, and Sage is central to the success of the team as they face off against a terrifying threat in the form of the invading enemy, Khan. Lifeguard and Slipstream both receive some necessary development, not that it makes them all that intriguing in the long run for this X-Men fan. The artwork by Larroca is extremely strong, and the action, pacing, and writing are very good. If you're going to read any part of the X-Treme X-Men's stories, you should definitely dive into this one.
September 2, 2016
Claremont pulls together all the plot threads from his previous arc, puts some new and interesting twists on a standard plot, and even wraps up the "Destiny's Diaries" over-plot with a satisfying conclusion that I thought would be impossible. This is great stuff, and Claremont knows it - the outcome of this arc, with several characters being seriously injured and/or leaving the team, will have big repercussions for the rest of the series. There's even a reason for Slipstream and Lifeguard, two of the worst X-Men of all time, to be there.
December 24, 2014
Pretty good end on a not all that good book. I hate the style of the art. And the selection of the characters involved - Bishop, Rogue, Gambit, Lifeguard - makes it more difficult to stay interested. And we don't really see much depth in these characters. And wow the x-men save the world on screen while everyone watches and just about die and are still the bad guys. 2.5 of 5.
January 15, 2011
This would have been good in 1983, which is when it appears to have been written. But this was recent, and now I expect better. But you always know what you're getting from Claremont--you're getting 1983, repackaged. (Is that too harsh?)
December 31, 2012
The Xmen stop a wholescale invasion by another dimension. Theres some good character moments amidst all the action. There is a lot of action in this, many fights and sweeping images. Changes in how mutants powers work makes it a more interesting read.
December 17, 2009
worthless art, muddled story-telling. overall worthless.
June 7, 2016
amazing!!
April 26, 2017
Even now, after all this time, I miss the character Lifeguard... Even though she was ever on a few issues of this series and very intermittently in other books after this.
I hope we see her again some day.... 😧😧
I hope we see her again some day.... 😧😧
May 25, 2017
A very good storyline where the x-treme X-men are caught in a world invasion from a warlord called Khan and still has to face Vargas. Surprises and good action.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews