Extraordinary X-Men #9 Review: Apocalypse Wars – Omega World II

The Apocalypse Wars continued with issue number 9 of Extraordinary X-Men. It helped readers understand the Omega World the young mutants ended up being stuck in.

After reading the events that unfolded, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how Storm and her X-Men will try and ensure such a dreadful future doesn’t take place.

The issue started in the future where Colossus and his team of young X-Men traveled during their fight with Sugar Man. Turns out that mutants have gone extinct in the future and Apocalypse isn’t happy about it. Omega World is ruled by Apocalypse, and it is not a nice place. A few panels in, it was revealed that Apocalypse held some sort of a competition between different worlds. The worlds that were able to survive were then collected in giant bubbles. I guess that’s where the name Apocalypse Wars comes from in this story.

The whole thing reminded me of the Secret Wars arc where Doom decided to recreate the entire universe according to his will. I wouldn’t put it past Apocalypse to do something similar. We got to know about the different worlds as the young mutants travelled through them in order to stay safe and protect the 600 mutant embryos. I don’t think the X-Men will be taking the embryos back to their timeline, and that’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to leave them in Omega World to initiate the birth of mutants there.

Anole, Glob, Ernst, and No-Girl traveled through Omega World for a year. During that time No-Girl and Anole went through major transformations. No-Girl got a new mechanical body and Anole regenerated into a more powerful being. I’m not sure if going back to their timeline will make them revert back to how they used to be. I have nothing against Anole becoming huge and powerful, but I kind of liked his previous design. I would rather see him undergo transformation in a story that focused on him and his power-up not occurring during a time-skip. The same goes for No-Girl. She does need a body, and I would like seeing her get one in an arc that focused on her as a character.

Writer Jeff Lemire has been doing a pretty impressive job with a story about mutants trying to survive extinction. Lemire’s writing always shines during character interactions, but in issue number 9, being mostly action-oriented, I missed that part of his writing. With the X-Men coming to save the young students and seeing the mutant-less world for themselves, I hope to see some sort of conversation between the characters and how they’ll cope with their possible future.

Some thoughts and questions:

• While we got to see the new world created by Apocalypse the powerful mutant hasn’t appeared in the story yet. What made him hold such a competition? Why did all of the mutants have to die?
• I wonder what kind of plan Storm and her X-Men will come up with in order to ensure such a dreadful future doesn’t take place.
• Humberto Ramos did a good job with the art, but I was expecting to see Victor Ibanez return. I was disappointed that we didn’t get any sort of continuation of the Strange Magik mini-story in this issue. I need to know what Magik and Sapna are up to.

What did you think of Extraordinary X-Men #9? Did you enjoy the young mutants travelling through Omega World? Let us know!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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