Writers: Chris Burnham & Dennis Culver
Artist: Ramon Villalobos

If there’s one X-Men run that’s cast a long shadow in the 21^st century, its Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men. While its occasionally been underappreciated within Marvel itself, the influence it has had over the direction of the X-Men has been undeniably large. That’s why when E is for Extinction was announced with current Nameless artist Chris Burnham along with Dennis Culver and Ramon Villalobos of Odd Schnozz and the Odd Squad fame; I was giddy to see that world revisited. However, what’s separated the wheat from the chaff in Secret Wars has been the ability for a series to not simply rely upon nostalgia to sell a story, but to also tell a unique story that’s not just a What-If.

In this though, the story succeeds. While there is a clear divergence point between Morrison’s New X-Men and E is for Extinction, it does a fantastic job of not requiring you to read the former story. Moreover, the last few issues up to this have done a fantastic job of capturing the aesthetics and tone that defined that run. Such ideas include the hip subculture blossoming into the zeitgeist, the flashy costumes, the romance, and the idea of mutantkind’s familiar heroes like Cyclops or Magneto aging out of relevance.  That being said, the endgame that issue 4 brings is easy to list as a parallel to Here Comes Tomorrow – but more than that, it showcases the strength of a period that was under-appreciated, with packed-in characters like Beak or Angel that didn’t get enough love during their time in the sun.  That being said though, if there was ever a case made for an X-Men focusing on this set of characters: E is for Extinction has made that case quite succinctly.

That being said, I’d love to see all involved in future books at Marvel, even if it isn’t X-Men. Chris Burnham and Dennis Culver have an eclectic story going on, and Ramon Villalobos is easily one of the best artists to have taken a crack at a Secret Wars tie-in. This book deserves more press than it got, and hopefully it’ll be appreciated in the days to come.

5 out of 5 Phoenix Eggs