Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz bring us to to the midpoint of this year’s X-Men event in Extermination #3. All hell has broken loose as the Xavier Institute is under attack by Ahab and his hounds, which we learn include more than one current X-Man. The young X-Men have been split up to be protected, but we quickly learn that’s just put each one of them in more danger.

Summary

Ahab had launched his attack on the mansion last issue, revealing that Old Man Logan was one of his hounds. Young Beast was being kept there and he’s Ahab’s target. Ahab claims he only must kill one of the time lost X-Men to be successful, and with Logan under his control that seems likely. Ahab reveals the twins brought to the mansion in the first issue were actually hounds of his who can implant years of torture and manipulation into others, making them instant hounds.

Extermination #3 ups the stakes from there, as suddenly Nightcrawler and Shatterstar are revealed to be sleeper hounds. Nightcrawler attacks young Cyclops who went with the Jean Grey’s team from X-Men Red. Cyclops is teleported outside of their base, deep underwater and Jean must save him before the pressure crushes him. Shatterstar attacks young Jean who went with the members of the original X-Force. Cannonball finally removes him from their jet, and Jean reveals she wants to help X-Force take down the younger Cable targeting her and her friends.

As young and old Beast both fight off Ahab and Old Man Logan at the mansion, the younger Cable finally arrives. He manages to take the younger Beast back to his base, giving him three of the five original X-Men. It’s here that all the players start to learn just who’s involved, and one team finally tracks Cable down to stop his plans.

Creators

Ed Brisson is doing an amazing job crafting an event filled with so many characters. The book has a clear job: to deal with the time lost X-Men. And while Brisson seems to be doing just that, he’s also setting the seeds for future X-Men books. It’s already been announced he’s writing a new X-Force book and this issue sets that up perfectly. Brisson is proving here why he’s part of the Uncanny X-Men writing team with his ability to juggle so many characters and tell a high stakes story.

Pepe Larraz is doing incredible work on the book. His action scenes are on full display this issue. Every page delivers wonderful battles between X-Men and hounds, yet he does just as great a job in some of the more serious scenes. He even manages to add a bit of horror again as we see just what Cable has planned for Mimic. Larraz is an amazing artist, and I hope this event isn’t the last we see of his work on the X-Men.

Final Thoughts

Extermination #3 continues to deliver a fantastic story from Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz. The two have a lot of moving parts in such a short event, but they’re doing it seemingly effortlessly. Brisson is setting the seeds for the huge X-Men relaunch this fall right here, and long time fans of the characters won’t want to miss out on what’s being delivered here.

Final Grade: A-