Comic Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #7

Issue: Wolverine and the X-Men #7
Name: Mutatis Mutandis Conclusion: It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Brood
Published: March 2012

Blurb: 

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

Characters:
The Good: Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, Broo. Warbird, Iceman, Beast, Rachel Grey, Kid Gladiator, Interdimensional Gremlins (Bamfs), Quentin Quire, Krakoa, Lockheed, S.W.O.R.D., Abigail Brand, Husk
The Bad: Dr. Xanto Starblood, Microscopic Brood, Casino Guards
The Undecided:

My Reading:
So much went on in last issue but the bottom line is, this issue starts with Xanto and Broo fighting it out. It’s not really much of a contest with Xanto towering over Broo but then the little guy offers to “reason for” his life and a debate starts – who’d have thought in an X-Men comic book there’d be a philosophical argument. It turns out Professor Xanto has studied Brood and found Broo is an aberration.

So because Broo is not an mindless killer, Xanto has to get rid of him to restore order to the universe.

Meanwhile, we’ve got 2 other fights going on. Inside Kitty, the main group of X-Men are trying to stop the Brood infected Kid Gladiator and the rest of the microscopic horde from killing Kitty. Beast is able to find the egg sac, the source of the infestation, while Iceman gets his face blown off by Kid Gladiator – fortunately being made of ice has it’s advantages and the damage is temporary.

On Planet Sin, Wolverine and Quentin are trying to escape the casino they basically ripped off when things start getting fun. Wolverine takes down people left and right while Quentin fashions a psychic shotgun to help out. All looks good for their escape but then the casino operators call for “the thing”. As Quentin gets the ship ready to head home, Wolverine is hit in the back by some kind of beam and the next thing we see are the casino operators with their cash – utoh.

Back with Xanto and Broo and the debate is over, the professor still wants to kill Broo but then the BAMFs teleport Kitty to the fight and then jump on Xanto to zap him outside where Krakoa can deal with him. Things just keep happening at breakneck speed…Iceman and Warbird subdue Kid Gladiator, Beast blows up the egg sac and Kitty barfs up the miniaturized X-Men. While all this is happening Xanto recovers and Broo leaps on him in full mindless attack mode. He takes down Xanto but when Beast pulls him off to calm him down, he doesn’t remember what he did. Xanto on the other hand is pleased that he proved there are no peaceful Brood.

And then there’s the wind down… S.W.O.R.D. is called in to take Xanto away and we meet Abigail, who shows up again in the next issue, Kitty kisses Iceman and Warbird seems perturbed by it, Krakoa displays a valuable new talent and we see the result of Wolverine getting shot. Apparently whatever they hit him with was pretty powerful because as Quentin flys them back home, we see Wolverine’s legs all twisted in some pretty impossible directions.

What did I learn:

• Xanto is not a Brood and is actually Dr. Xanto Starblood, an Extreme Zoologist who is head of the Intergalactic Anthropology Department at the University of Rigel–3.
• Iceman can take severe damage and restore himself with ice.
• Krakoa can grow diamonds
• Warbird has a thing for Iceman after seeing his fighting prowess.
• Quentin creates a psychic shotgun for the first time.
• The BAMFs seem to be on the side of the X-Men even if they cause chaos most of the time

My Thoughts:
This is a fun issue but the pace is incredibly fast in places and slow in others. The debate between Broo and Xanto, while interesting really slowed things down at the start of the issue, but then it’s off to the races with the 3 fights. I think they could have broken this into multiple issues easily to slow things down a bit but while I don’t really mind the intensity I could have seen more punching. Even with everything going on though, Aaron and Bradshaw continue to develop both the students and teachers and I’m enjoying learning more about the interplay with all the characters. The 3 story lines get wrapped up nicely but we also get some juicy hooks for future content (Abigail, Wolverine’s legs, the kiss between Kitty and Iceman). I am impressed that with all the action going on, the art held up and I think I’m used to Brashaw’s changes to what Bachalo started, though I still question Idie’s hair. As far as where I stand on the series… I’m certainly looking forward to seeing Sabretooth in the next 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.