From the absolutely inspired first panel,X-Terminators, written byLeah Williams with pencils from Carlos Gómez and colors by Bryan Valenza, is completely honest about how “gleefully transgressive” and “gleefully stupid” it’s going to be.
Dazzler has caught her boyfriend cheating on her and she is none too pleased. She gets some of her besties together for a night of debauchery to help her get over the heartbreak, and things go sideways almost immediately. Upon awakening, the girls realize they are no longer in the bar and start fighting for their lives to escape their circumstances.
The following issue jumps forward to Wolverine, Dazzler, Jubilee, and Boom-Boom handcuffed in front of the Quiet Council in some real goofy costumes, providing a framing device for the next few issues as they recount their tale to the room. This provides the cast with an opportunity to make Professor X uncomfortable in my favorite couple of pages in the book.
Every character gets their own character moments, with one involving Jubilee near the end of the book standing out due to its future implications. With Jubilee’s child, Shogo, chilling as a dragon in Otherworld and Magik on standby to help, Jubilee has the chance to truly cut loose with her powers. In a brief but impactful character moment, she gets to explore the incredibly destructive potential of her powers in a way that’s exciting and allows for a volley of new jokes and banter between the girlies immediately after the dust clears. Dazzler will also win you over with a heart as big as her ass. Multiple times over the course of the story, she drops everything to help someone in need. Even though she is in the same crappy situation as these creatures, she does what she can because it’s the right thing to do.
Even if the jokes don’t land for you, you gotta respect how committed to the bit everyone involved is. Gómez lovingly renders every panel. Even a concussed Boom-Boom puking gets special attention to detail as she attempts to tuck her hair behind an ear. Travis Lanham’s lettering got invited to have fun as well. Highlights include a “BATHROOM” sound effect after a toilet explodes, profanity being censored slightly more obviously with a sticker effect, and a glass creature from Otherworld speaking through fractured word balloons. It’s clear everyone involved understands the assignment and is having a great time with it.
This collection unfortunately does not include the Infinity Comic with this cast, also written by Williams. While its absence does not impact the story being told, it would have been a nice addition and created a truly complete package.
This book has everything: action, adventure, a bald Jubilee, violence, jokes, and women saying nice things about their friend’s ass.
You must be logged in to post a commentLogin
You must belogged in to post a comment.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.Learn how your comment data is processed.
