Extermination #3: Mad Like an Eel's Elbow

Extermination #3
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artists: Jeffrey Edwards & V Ken Marion
August 15, 2012
Boom! Studios

This review is coming in a little late so rather than do my usual review style I'm just going to give a few thoughts of mine on this issue and what I think of the series so far.

I read Simon Spurrier on Twitter describe this series as "douchebags with capes," and this issue explores that premise as we learn more about what an asshole the Superman-analogue Absolute is and Red Reaper does something entirely icky to the Promethean.

It was clear from the start that Extermination is definitely approaching its "douchebags with capes" from a Warren Ellis-like approach to deconstruction, but after we learn the full scope of Absolute's crimes against women, Spurrier's story is shaping up to be much more mean-spirited and darkly satirical than Ellis' work has been of late. I don't want to push the Ellis/Spurrier comparison too hard, but Ellis' Wildstorm work seems to me to be a key influence here.

This issue continues to flashback between the present post-apocalypse scenario and the past, which is now illustrated by V Ken Marion in a style that reminds me of 90s Image or, wait for it, early Wildstorm comics. I'm not certain that's intentional or not, but the difference between Marion and Edwards art styles creates a jarring contrast that works by highlighting the essential difference between the post-apocalyptic present and the adolescent superhero fantasy of years past.

The flashbacks in this issue seem to serve as a way of filling in the reader on what happened to these characters before the EDDA invasion, and as a caution against nostalgia and a critique of the simplicity of American superhero comics. Again, there's that Ellis connection.

Even though the contrast between art styles works, it doesn't mean I am a fan. In fact, I think most of Jeffrey Edwards art in this book sucks. Sorry to be blunt, but his figures are often misshapen or awkwardly proportion, and the faces of his characters often lack detail and consistency. Edwards' pages looks they were all drawn on a computer, and lack any fine attention to detail. The only good thing I can say is that the EDDA look really otherworldly, although I'm not sure how much of that has to do with Edwards' art or the fantastic colouring in this book. Seriously, there are THREE different colourists on this title and the overall effect is eye-popping.

There hasn't really been any noticeable improvement in Edwards' art since the first issue, and I couldn't blame someone for picking this title up off the shelf at their local comic shop and putting it right back down because 70% of the art looks like computer-drawn shit and the other 30% looks good for 1992.

I know that Boom! Studios isn't Marvel or DC, and is one of the smaller publishers out there, but I've seen better art in self-published titles sold through Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. The colouring in this book is PHENOMENAL, but the art looks completely amateurish, and for a professional title is just unacceptable. Even though I'm not a big fan of V Ken Marion's style, I would be more okay with his taking over art duties on this title than Edwards continuing to draw this book.

I feel really shitty being so negative with regards to the art on this title, because Extermination is a comic you SHOULD be reading. The story is great, the dialogue is bat-shit crazy, every issue feels like a completely satisfying read that moves the plot forward while introducing new elements, and the
characters are not the standard popular superhero analogues that the first appeared to be. Si Spurrier has the imagination of a barking mad dog and Extermination reads like a DC/Marvel book infected with his super rabies. Read it.

Extermination #2: "The world hit puberty like a %$@*ing meteor, boy."

Extermination #2
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Jeffrey Edwards
Colours: Blond
Cover A: John Cassaday
July 18, 2012
Boom! Studios

I picked up the first issue of this series on a whim back when Boom! Studios were offering this and Higher Earth #1 for $1/each, and was completely blown away by what I read.

Issue #2 continues this trend, making Extermination one of my new favourite ongoing series, and this is only the second issue!

For those of you who haven't heard of this series before, here's a quick recap: Nox, a highly ethical, and intentionally stereotypical Batman analogue, and his arch-nemesis The Red Reaper, an evil genius who spent most of his career being constantly foiled by Nox, are forced to band together after an alien invasion exterminates nearly all life on Earth. The two travel across the scorched earth, in search of other survivors, battling aliens and trading shots at each other as they attempt to adjust to their new lives after civilization's total collapse.

This issue opens with Nox and the Reaper fighting off an alien horde, and then joining a group of humans whose survival is dependent on their leader, a psychopathic Nazi serial killer and former villain of Nox. Enraged that a group of people would willingly follow such a leader, Nox argues with the Red Reaper, who points out the ludicrous inflexibility of Nox's "ethical straitjacket" given the reality of their situation in this new, post-invasion world.

Issue #1 touched on a similar theme, when Nox restated his refusal to kill, even after most of mankind has been exterminated, but this issue develops this theme even further as Nox and the Red Reaper come to learn exactly how the band of humans have been able to survive. Though I should have seen it coming, I was still shocked by the revelation when a character from the flashback scenes in the first issue makes his gruesome reappearance in the post-invasion world.

I love the interplay between Nox and the Reaper, who has become one of my favourite new characters, and is the real star of the book. The Reaper is a total failure of a villain, the kind of campy evil genius whose plans are always foiled at the last minute by the hero, but now that the end of the world has already happened, he relishes the opportunity it has presented to redefine himself, not necessarily as a hero, but someone capable of surviving at any cost.

Jeffrey Edwards art is quite good, for the most part. He is particularly skilled at drawing action set pieces and scenes of mass destruction. I do have a few criticisms though. The faces of characters minor and major alike often lack definition, and the quality of the figure drawing is inconsistent from panel to panel. 


In some panels, characters look expressive, proportional, and well-detailed, while in other panels they look like an awkward mess. It's distracting when characters lack pupils and other features, or their frames look awkward and sloppy compared to how they were composed just a few panels before. 


These issues aren't a deal breaker, as this is a very attractive book with some excellent colouring from Blond, but the inconsistency of the art reduces the effect of what is otherwise an entertaining and gripping read. 

What really sets Extermination apart is its unique combination of pitch-black humour, camp superheroics, a grim post-apocalyptic scenario, and the intriguing ethical dilemmas its characters must face. The elements that make up Extermination may seem familiar, but I am unable to compare it to anything else.  

I hadn't heard of Simon Spurrier or Jeffrey Edwards before reading Extermination #1, but they've got my attention now.

Coming this Wednesday

Coming this Wednesday, 
Reviews of:

• Extermination #2 (Boom! Studios)
• Saga #5 (Image)
• X-O Manowar #3 (Valiant)

And maybe Captain Marvel #1, if I can get over how much I dislike the idea of this reboot.