Exclusive Marvel preview: E Is For Extinction #2 shows the X-Men at their coolest

Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men made the mutant team one of the coolest supergroups in comics, primarily by pulling away from traditional superhero elements and exploring bigger ideas regarding the future of mutantkind in the Marvel Universe. Once that run finished, Marvel did some serious backtracking with regards to all the major changes Morrison had made, but the spirit of Morrison’s work is revived in the current E Is For Extinction miniseries by writers Chris Burnham and Dennis Culver and the art team of Ramon Villalobos and colorist Ian Herring. (Read the Comics Panel review of E Is For Extinction #1 here.)

The Secret Wars event has given these creators the opportunity to offer their own twist on Morrison’s characters and situations, and they’ve done exceptional work capturing the style and imagination of New X-Men while telling a story that builds on Morrison’s ideas instead of just rehashing them. Burnham—a frequent collaborator with Morrison as an artist—and Culver are continuing to look at mutants as a larger cultural force facing extreme prejudice, and the X-Men have changed considerably to reflect the evolving look and status of mutants.

Villalobos’ artwork embraces the gritty texture and bold design of New X-Men artist Frank Quitely, but there’s a lighter tone thanks to Ian Herring’s bright color palette. That works very well to highlight the humor in the script, which Villalobos also handles nicely using the facial expressions and body language of his characters. This miniseries is weird, funny, and totally badass, and one look at the title splash page in this preview of next week’s E Is For Extinction #2 shows just how great a fit this team is for this interpretation of the X-Men.