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X-Treme X-Men Volume 3: Schism TPB (X-Treme X-Men) | 
| Author: Chris Claremont
Creator: Salvador Larroca
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $6.79
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 471412
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 160
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 10.4 x 6.5 x 0.3
ISBN: 0785110844
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780785110842
ASIN: 0785110844
Publication Date: July 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Product is new, but may have some nicks or dings on the cover or spine from being displayed and handled. Direct from our warehouse in Oregon. Most orders ship in ONE business day.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Best book in this series, and best art by Larocca March 23, 2006
C. Reeves (California)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved this. And I will tell you why.
Schism reprinted one of the most interesting story arcs of X-Treme X-Men and it picks up after Storm's splinter cell of X-Men have already found Destiny's Diaries. The book opens with Jean Grey's plea for Storm and her group to come back to the mansion. Problem is, Storm doesn't want to budge, and she feels she has good reason. Xavier's vision isn't as pure as it used to be, and she doesn't want to go back to just being a blind follower of his doctrines, particularly when he condones murder by the mutant student he attempts to protect.
X-Treme X-Men features my favorite roster of X-characters, namely Storm (she's the bomb in this one), Rogue, Bishop, Sage, and Wolverine. I'm indifferent to Gambit, since I feel that he is still a strong mutant and intriguing character, but that he began whining a lot. In this book, he and Rogue are both rendered powerless by Vargas (see "Invasion") after Vargas impaled them on his sword. Gambit's relationship with Rogue didn't need even more reason to be on-again, off-again (consider previous problems with his blindness, her inability to touch him, his shady past with Sinister, etc.). From this point forward, Gambit began to seem very wishy-washy as a leading man. Thankfully, this book doesn't focus much on him.
Storm gets her due with excellent dialogue and great exchanges between her, Logan, and Kitty. This will remind you why she is such a neat heroine. Logan isn't kicking butts and taking names in this one, he's helping Ororo with her rehabilitation in the wake of Viper's attack, which is great. Bishop and Sage explore their friendship in more depth, and readers are treated to seeing how analytical and complex they each are. This story also expands Elias Bogan's presence as a prominent villain in this series.
There was some humor in this. As the X-Men are enjoying some dessert, Beast asks Storm what it was like to belong to Khan's harem, and to once again be the object of the villain's affection. In regard to all of their enemies coming after Storm as a potential conquest, Logan pipes up and says "Doesn't any bad guy worth the name?" The other thing that tickled me was when the mutant boy that Sage and Bishop were after teleported them to Times Square without their clothes. The police officer questioning them tells Bishop "I don't believe our clothes come in your size. But neither do most people."
The plot is good, and there are actually a few. Sage and Bishop investigate a murder by a young mutant who had been offered asylum at the Institute. Storm calls Emma on it and is rebuffed and dismissed. Moments between these two are tense and rely on the reader knowing the history between them, but it's great to see. It's also nice to see Emma get some comeuppance from the person she has most wronged (except Jean; a catfight between those two would have been good, too).
In the meantime, in "X-treme X-Men X-Pose," we see Storm trying to give mutants in general better PR in a news documentary. Claremont brings back Neal Conan and Manoli Wetherell, the two telejournalists from "Fall of the Mutants" in Uncanny. Undoing Storm's good intentions are a sleazy creative director wanting to skew their footage to make Storm look anti-"sapien," and Warren, one of the original X-Men, using his financial clout to shelve the documentary before it can hit the public.
This book is very political and smart. It raises a lot of ethical questions and brings out qualities in these characters that you may have forgotten they had. Claremont proves that he can still write snappy dialogue and emotions for the characters that he created so long ago, and still give the reader a fresh way to look at them.
The Best Storyline In The "X-Treme" Series April 5, 2005
Edmund Lau Kok Ming (Malaysia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Schism" collects the X-Pose miniseries and the "Schism" storyline originally published in the regular series. This is Claremont doing "mutant-politics". The result is Claremont's most insightful and poignant work ever. I think a lot of this is attributable to the fact that (when this story was written) Grant Morrison seemed to have usurped his throne as "Mr. X-Men". However, as a long time reader of the X-Men books, I think I share Claremont's views about Morrison's handling of the X-characters and the underlying concepts behind the whole thing. There is a lot to get excited about with Morrison's "X-Corp" and pro-active mutant-forces but it opens up a lot of controversial questions in "mutant politics". Here, you have Claremont writing in a very "interactive" style showing the Morrison characters (typified by Emma Frost, the White Queen) behaving totally in-character (like if Morrison were writing them) to debate with the Claremont characters (typified by Storm) on these same "political" issues. The end result is a work that examines the core of what the X-Men is really about and that Xavier's exuberance over his new pro-active techniques may be more dangerous than any enemy of humanity ever. Interestingly, Morrison's "Planet X" storyline seemed to be the realization of what Claremont feared would happen ultimately. I tip my hat off to Claremont's courage in taking on Morrison's philosophy square in the face in an intelligent way without resorting to appeals based on nostalgia.
Salvador Larroca's art continues to be very eye-pleasing and with the darker linework, they come off much clearer than in the previous two volumes.
The "X-Pose" storyline is another look at "mutant politics" - this time from the perspective of humans (or "baseline humans", a term that Claremont is using more and more) and the media. It is refreshing for old time readers like myself to see the return of old Claremont stalwarts like the two reporters from "The Fall of the Mutants" storyline and taking centerstage here.
 "Schism" collects issues 19-23 & X-Pose 1+2 December 3, 2003
Ann E. Nichols (Sierra Vista, AZ United States)
7 out of 11 found this review helpful
In June 2003 I returned to reading X-Men comics after a 23-year absence. I admired Mr. Claremont's work back then. However, I can't admire an aspect of his current work. So far as I can tell from the back issues I have of offshoot X-Men teams, "X-Treme X-Men" is the first that tries to make the main team seem morally lacking and the offshoot team the morally correct one.The first issue gives us a party that includes some of the main X-Men and a funny joke about Storm and Khan from "Invasion". It has a few nods to then-future Morrison New X-Men plots ("Riot at Xavier's" and "Planet X"). However, it also contains a scene where Sage suggests (to Bishop) that Xavier, Jean, and Emma Frost working together could become too dangerous. Sage repeats her reservations later in the book. While the last issue of "Planet X" hasn't come out as I write this, the first four issues & "Riot at Xavier's" show Prof. X paying for his reluctance to rape minds for information. (Yes, Emma's attempted telepathic seduction of Cyclops was unethical, but Jean punishes her in "Assault on Weapon X Plus".) As far as I'm concerned, Sage should be renamed "Fool" because she apparently hasn't tried to find out HOW Cassandra Nova was able to fool those powerful telepaths in NXM "E is for Extinction" and "Imperial". Nor do we see her sit down with Xavier to discuss her concerns. The two issues of "X-Pose" sandwiched between the pages reprinting issues 19 & 20 are about a planned TV documentary on the X-Men. Mr. Claremont stacks the book in his team's favor by having them meet the two ethical and polite reporters while other X-Men have to deal with the arrogant and rude ones. Warren (Angel/Archangel) appesrs in X-Pose #2. Mr. Claremont has Warren use a less ethical solution to the documentary problem than he could have, which makes the X-Corp look bad. What he has Warren tell Storm about the X-Men is not supported by "New X-Men" (NXM) or "Uncanny X-Men" (UXM). It's not even supported by THIS book's end. It bothers me that Storm doesn't wonder why Warren is being so cold and arrogant to her. It bothers me that she doesn't point out to Warren that he doesn't have the authority to make the ultimatum he gives her. Further, the X-Men are supposed to be family. Storm could have called "Daddy" Xavier to tell him what "brother" Warren did and said and then handed the phone over to Warren. Xavier's behavior when Storm finally calls him (about Emma) does not suggest that he would have blown her off. Xavier's greeting, when they meet again in the flesh, should leave no reader in doubt of his affection for his "daughter". Storm tells her team that Warren's right, the stakes are too high -- so why didn't she call? "X-Pose" brings up the problem of young mutants who have never met Professor Xavier, let alone been trained by him, and who are perfectly happy to abuse regular humans with their powers. We also meet a theme that will become important in "Schism": mutants can get away with crimes because regular humans can't stop them. According to "Schism", only Storm's splinter group cares about this problem. The main X-Men are too concerned with mutant rights. You need only read Morrison's NXM "Riot at Xavier's" and "Assault on Weapon X Plus" books to know that's ridiculous. Reading NXM "New Worlds" shows that the other X-Men care about helping humans. In Austen's UXM book, "Hope", Xavier hires a regular human as school nurse. Our problem for "Schism" is a young mutant named Jeffrey who may or may not be a murderer. Mr. Bogan, a very evil man, was apparently controlling Jeffrey before and may or may not have been able to control him while he was at Xavier's. The climactic battle in the Danger Room may or may not have actually happened. Xavier takes Storm's, Bishop's, and Sage's report seriously anyway. Given what Sage told Storm about Bogan, Ororo acts like an idiot at the end. If you read this book, you might ask yourself why Mr. Claremont didn't have: Prof. X suggest that Jeffrey be tried within Xavier's for his own and the court's safety, OR Storm bother to consider that Jeffrey's horrific personal tragedy probably left him unable to recognize innocents from foes during the fatal incident, OR Storm think that Jeffrey could atone by learning to use his power for rescue operations, OR Prof. X answer Storm more effectively. On the lighter side, in the reprint of XTX #23, Ororo makes a remark that should amuse readers of NXM "New Worlds" [see the reprint of #132] and there's a mutant female lawyer who had better not have her power triggered by her own blood. I'd have given the book a higher rating if it didn't denigrate the main X-Men, particularly Warren, X, Jean, and Emma. I think Mr. Claremont should have just had Storm's group remain separate because they're worried that the school and regional X-Corporations are too openly targets.
Great story, gorgeous art July 30, 2003
Mutant_Genesis (Toronto, ON)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Schism is definitely one of the best X-Men TPB's and story arc's around. Great continuation from the Invasion storyline. With fast-paced action and intricate mystery, Chris Claremont shines in this beautiful collection, binding together X-Treme X-Men #19-23 and X-Treme X-Pose #1-2. Salvador Larroca's art is second to few. The pencils breathtaking, the color vibrant, this TPB is as pleasing to read as it is to look at. From the interesting detective work of Bishop and Sage, to the exciting fight between Emma Frost and X-Treme X-Men leader Storm, the characters are easy to relate to and definitely draw you into their world. Guest-starring many New and Uncanny X-Men: Phoenix, Nightcrawler, Beast, Archangel, and more. Even fill-in stories, X-Treme X-Pose are well-written from a whole different perspective. Ranson's work on this is spectactular and the quality of the inks and colors are pleasing to the eye. This TPB is definitely something you should pick up if you're a fan of X-Men, or just a fan of great comics in general. If Claremont's writing doesn't do it for you, Larroca's stunning art definitely will. Pick this up ASAP and you won't be sorry!
 Vintage Claremont July 26, 2003
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you've ever enjoyed any of Chris Claremont's X-men stories, then Schism will not disappoint. It deals with the X-Treme X-Men turning away from their friends to become a sort of mutant police force, to deal with crimes that involve mutants, the sort of crimes normal police forces may not be equipped to handle. The title story is set up as an intriguing mystery, but the most enjoyable part of the story is the tension between the X-men and Emma Frost, former White Queen of the Hellfire club and a current staff member of Charles Xavier's school.
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