Comic Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #3

Issue: Wolverine and the X-Men #3
Name: Welcome to the X-Men! Now Die! Conclusion
Published: December 2011

Blurb: 

Creators:
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Chris Bachalo, Duncan Rouleau, Matteo Scalera
Inkers: Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, Victor Olazaba, Duncan Rouleau, Matteo Scalera
Letterer: Rob Steen

Characters:
The Good: Wolverine, Captain America, Quentin Quire (Kid Omega), Rachel Grey, Broo, Idie, Kid Gladiator, Iceman, Beast, Kitty Pryde, Warbird, Toad, Matt Murdock
The Bad: Kade Kilgore, Hellfire Club, Sabretooth
The Undecided: Abigail Marigold (Sauron), Eugene Clud (Wendigo), Interdimensional Gremlins (Bamfs), Krakoa

My Thoughts:
Who thought opening a school would be so difficult – certainly not Wolverine who threw open the doors only to have the place assaulted by Frankenstein monsters, a living island – Krakoa, and a couple of inspectors from the New York Department of Education. Apparently, Captian America questioned Logan’s sanity at least, but Wolverine was undeterred and plowed ahead.

So now that things are falling apart and the adult instructors have thier hands full fighting Krakoa, the students defend themselves against the inspectors who’ve been turned into a Sauron and a Wendigo. As they fight, we learn a bit more about them. Broo seems to be something of a pacifist while Kid Gladiator loves looking for something to punch. Quentin on the other hand is ultimately insulted since no one seems to know who he is so he decides to do something for once – he gets into Krakoa’s mind…and convinces the Living Island to stop his attack and join forces with the X-Men.

There’s some good fighting and interplay among the characters and the resolution in which Quentin empathizes with Krakoa is nicely done. Toad’s comic relief and Matt Murdock’s serving of court papers add just the right touch of lightness to really make me enjoy this issue.

With the inspectors returned to their normal selves, without any knowledge of what had transpired, it looks like the school will be around for more than one day. But then we see the final scene and setup for future issues…the Hellfire Club is enlisting Sabretooth to take on Wolverine.

As for the aesthetics, I’m not sure why they threw so many artists at this issue. There are 3 pencilers and 7 inkers and I don’t think there are any more pencils or inks than the previous 2 issues, but then I’m not an artist. In any case, the art is at least as good as the previous issues and I am still enjoying the cartoony style – it really makes this distinctive in my experience (there may be tons of cartoony comics out there, but I haven’t seen them).

What I learned:

• Quentin Quire is an Omega-Level mutant – not sure what that means but I think it’s important.
• Quentin Quire is telepathic and telekinetic.
• Rachel Grey is one of the worlds most powerful telepaths.
• Wolverine is an Avenger at this time.
• Logan and Scott Summers – Cyclops – had some kind of falling out.
• Quentin Quire was somehow responsible for the SCHISM that split the X-Men apart, but Idie also claims credit.

On the whole, this was a well done conclusion to the first story arc.

My Rating: A-

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited and Comixology and is currently on Comixology Unlimited so you can borrow it from there.