Comic Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #5

Issue: Wolverine and the X-Men #5
Name: Mutatis Mutandis Part One: Congratulations It’s a Brood
Published: February 2012

Blurb: 

Creators:
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Nick Bradshaw
Inker: Nick Bradshaw, Walden Wong
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: Rob Steen

Characters:
The Good: Wolverine, Quentin Quire, Kitty Pryde, Angel (Warren Worthington), Iceman, Glob, Broo, Idie, Kid Gladiator, Beast, Genesis, Toad, Lockheed, Rachel Grey, Doop, Colossus, Warbird
The Bad: The Brood, Xanto
The Undecided:Worthington Industries boardmembrs, SWORD

My Thoughts:
After the relative slowdown of last issue where the school enrolled 2 new students, had a visit by substitute teacher Deathlok, but managed to avoid any ‘Day One’ type attacks, we open this issue in the boardroom of Worthington Industries. With the erratic behavior of Angel, the boardmembers have decided to kick Warren from the CEO spot and freeze his assets until he show signs that he’s mentally competent. They did, however, get a little encouragement from the Hellfire Club so I’m not so sure if I should put them in the ‘undecided’ or the ‘bad’ character category. Regardless of who’s behind it, without Warren’s wealth, the school is outta money and Wolverine has to head out to do something about it, leaving Kitty in charge.

Meanwhile, back at the school, Beast takes the students on a ‘Fantastic Voyage’ tour inside the body of Toad where Kid Gladiator gets attacked by antibodies. Jason Aaron does a great job juggling all the characters in this book and it’s good to see that while Wolverine is the star, the supporting cast really shine as well. I’ll also take this aside to mention that I had to look a few things up to get my bearings – you see, there’s this little purple dragon that keeps flying around and I had to know it’s name – that’s Lockheed. Back to the story – Rachel Grey is worried that Kitty hasn’t been outta her room in days and has been skipping classes she’s supposed to be teaching. When she and Beast go to see her, we see Kitty calling and hanging up on Colossus (another thing I had to look up – apparently Kitty and Colossus were dating but recently broke it off). She’s clearly upset and when Beast insists she let them in, she presents her pregnancy for all to see.

So as Beast takes Kitty to the medical lab, Wolverine unleashes his plan to fund the school, grabs Quentin and takes off into space. Things in this title are like that, some things take a long time to develop while others move along quickly. I think it works pretty well. In any case, Kitty’s 2 day old pregnancy looks about to be born and we learn it’s a bunch of Brood attacking her from the inside. Beast throws the school into lockdown mode and the students run to safe areas, but Broo can hear the microscopic Brood attacking and starts to seek them out. It turns out the Brood were engineered to attack Kitty and as she lies on the medical bed being pumped full of antibiotics, Kid Gladiator decides he’ll save the day. He miniaturizes himself and heads inside Kitty to battle the Brood infestation.

Quite a bit going on but this issue isn’t over yet. With Kid Gladiator fighting Brood inside Kitty and Wolverine taking Quentin into space, we jump to some developing events. The Sentient World Observation and Response Department (S.W.O.R.D.) has stopped a ship entering Earth orbit when they get attacked by Brood and pretty much wiped out…and it looks like the Brood are headed to the school.

What did I learn:

• Angel (Warren Worthington) is/was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company called Worthington Industries.
• Toad was at one time in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
• Kitty Pride and Colossus were dating and recently broke up.
• Broo can talk telepathically with other Brood.

With the twist ending of last issue, I just knew this one would be insteresting and I was right. I certainly didn’t think Kitty would be pregnant with Broodlings, but then I didn’t know of her relationship with Colossus either. Either way, I enjoyed this issue and Nick Bradshaw’s art is keeping things detailed and crisp. At first I missed Bachalo’s style but Brashaw is growing on me – though I do wonder what happened to Idie’s hair. Brood, SWORD, Worthington Industries, there’s so much in this issue that I’m wondering if they’re gonna take care of all this in one story arc. In any case, I really enjoyed this issue.

My Rating: B+

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop, and right now, it’s available on Comixology Unlimited so you can borrow it from there.