Comic Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #1

Issue: Wolverine and the X-Men #1
Name: Welcome to the X-Men! Now Die! Part 1
Published: Oct 2011

Blurb: 

Creators:
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Chris Bachalo
Inker: Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey
Letterer: Rob Steen

Characters:
The Good: Wolverine, Charles Xavier, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey, Husk (Paige Guthrie), Beast, Toad, Idie Okonkwo, Broo, Glob, Kid Omega (Quentin Quire), Kid Gladiator, Warbird
The Bad: Kade Kilgor (Black King)
The Undecided: Abigail Marigold, Eugene Clud, Interdimensional Gremlins (Bamfs)

My Thoughts:
Wolverine and the X-Men #1 is the first of what looks to be (at least from the cover) an ongoing title that has a lot of quality and fun and I’m glad I went back to 2011 to read it. The story, the art, the tons of characters and the fact that it introduces me (at least) to a bunch of new X-Men make this an enjoyable issue.

The story is basically that Wolverine has decided to open up his own school for mutants – yes, Wolverine, the calm, level-headed mutant who always thinks first before engaging in fights – well, not really. As the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning opens up, the New York Department of Education has sent inspectors to ensure the viability of the facilities and instructors as an accredited school. Too bad no one told the instructors to make things look good for their visitors. Actually, it doesn’t seem like it would matter since Kade Kilgore, the new Black King of the Hellfire Club, has decided he’s going to personally destroy everything Wolverine has set up. So between interdimensional gremlins, a danger room that destroys the bathroom, and an attack from the ground itself, Logan, Kitty Pryde, and the rest of the X-Men instructors have to spend more time saving than impressing the inspectors.

The art is great. The characters clearly express emotion and you can even tell what they’re thinking in most panels. The only hiccup I find in this issue is the full page of exposition between Kade Kilgore and Wolverine which basically situated the issue in location and time in the Marvel Universe, right after SCHISM, but which slows down the pace. Knowing nothing about SCHISM, this page actually helped me understand a bit about the breakup of the X-Men prior to this issue so even with the slowdown, it served a purpose.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this issue. It’s got tons of characters, both old and new and while the X-Men like Beast, Toad, and Charles Xavier live up to what I know about them from movies and other media, the students provide a good mix of cool abilities and social conflicts to provide interest for anyone. With all this in mind, I have to give this issue a high rating.

My Rating: A

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited and Comixology – it’s even on Comixology Unlimited at this time so you can borrow it if you have that.