Wolverine and the X-Men #41 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer), Pepe Larraz & Todd Nauck (artists), Matt Milla (color artist)

The Story: “You can’t tell by looking at a frog how high he will jump.” – American proverb

The Review: I will be honest and admit that I have not been a huge fan of how Jason Aaron has treated the Toadf since he arrived at the Jean Grey School. The character had been slowly growing as a person ever since he appeared in X-Men (2000), but Wolverine and the X-Men cast him as comic relief, making him uglier and simpler than ever. All things considered, it’s about time that Toad got another moment in the sun and, thankfully, with just two issues left, Aaron provides him one.

Unfortunately it’s nearly impossible to craft an appropriate ending to Toad’s time at the Jean Grey School without referencing some of the weaker elements of the series, namely the unsteady beginning to “The Hellfire Saga” and Mortimer’s relationship with Paige Guthrie. Ten issues later, Aaron has finally deigned to explain just what was going on with her and, whether it’s due to the lateness or not, it reeks of convenience.

In a turn that’s admittedly far more similar to the actual treatment of mental conditions than any comic book madness, Paige is trying to sort out her life now that she has a diagnosis and, with touchingly vapid sincerity, she attempts to figure out Toad’s place in it. What results is a simple, effective story that is very much the logical conclusion of Toad’s lot in this series. While there are several ways the story could go, the way it chooses is nothing revolutionary. Aaron opts to focus on tone and the struggle that Toad is going through rather than complexity of plot.

Wolverine and the X-Men #35 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer) and Nick Bradshaw (artist)

The Story: And so the Hellfire Saga finally comes to an end: not with a bang, but with a jovial, well-spoken mutant.

The Review: Much as the members of the Hellfire Club feared, the siege of Hellfire Academy is over, and now it’s the last chance for both sides to find a way to escape alive. It’s always fun to see where a villain’s loyalties lie and this issue is chock full of that simple sinister pleasure.

Indeed this is a rather reactive issue for our heroes, who merely need to hold onto their victory until the various ne’er-do-wells run out of last resorts.  It would be nice to see Wolverine or Storm really taking charge, but the story plays out in its own way.

This final issue of the arc brings many of the series’ twisting plot threads to satisfactory conclusions, however they’re more than a little bit frayed in some cases. Several stories are resolved but lack explanations for how they came to work themselves out. It’s no sin to set up new questions for a series going forward, but some of these come so out of nowhere that it’s hard to find them satisfying. I personally found I’m gonna take a moment to discuss some of these so, just in case my spoiler tags don’t catch your attention, I’d recommend that you skip the next paragraph if you want to experience the issue fresh.

SPOILERS – One of the most notable of these forsaken plots is the ballad of Toad and Husk. While Paige comes around in the end, it’s unclear how or why removing a number of her skin layers apparently resets her to back before she started dating Toad or how the long-suffering janitor knew that this would work. Similarly, though Kade ended last issue with promises that he’s already won, we don’t find out much about his masterstroke, save that he’s “changed the X-Men forever. They just don’t know it yet.” That’s cool, but it would be nice if we, the readers, knew it, as it makes a significant difference to the tone of the issue whether Kade is right or just cracking under the pressure. – END SPOILERS

Wolverine and the X-Men #14

By: Jason Aaron (story), Jorge Molina (pencils), Norman Lee (inks), Morry Hollowell (colors), Chris Elipoulo (letters)

The Story: Colossus/Juggernaut/Phoenix tries to win back the heart of Kitty Pryde as  only Colossus/Juggernaut/Phoenix can…a seafood buffet!

The Good: Almost everything. Seriously, Jason Aaron serves us an incredible issue that is full of great humor and fun. From the opening of Colossus parting the sea for his date with Kitty to the remaining staff at the Jean Grey School attempting to run the school with only a fraction of the staff available, we get to see more sides to Kitty Pryde than we have since Whedon handled her. It’s very much her issue…in fact, for a title called Wolverine and the X-Men, is it strange that I don’t remember the last time Wolverine was present?

Wolverine & The X-Men #4 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer) Nick Bradshaw (artist) Justin Posner (colors)

The Story: It always sucks to be the new kid.

What’s Good: While I was sad to see Chris Bachalo leave this series, rest assured that the art is in good hands with Nick Bradshaw. His round, friendly lines make the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning just as wonderful as Bachalo did, and his attention to detail is incredible. From the picture of Cyclops on a dart board, to Quire’s copy of the Art of War, to Glob’s papers sticking to him, every panel feels rich and resplendent. The change in art style also reflects a change in tone. The faculty are no longer fighting off external forces that threaten to destroy the school, but are still burdened by the day-to-day difficulties of managing and teaching twenty super-powered adolescents. As such, the atmosphere has lightened, and things no longer look ready to come apart at the seams. There are some truly beautiful shots of Angel against the sun, and everyone’s body language is as expressive as their dialogue.

One of my favorite parts of this new series has been just how well  Jason Aaron has been able to capture the dynamic between the students and the teachers, while keeping everyone in character. Wolverine and company are truly teachers, not team leaders or mentors as they’ve been in other books featuring young mutants, and this relationship informs nearly of their interactions.

The story in this issue centers around the introduction of Angel and the Kid-Apocalypse Evan, who calls himself Genesis. The two  face very different challenges; Evan will have to decide his fate, whether to be savior or destroyer. Worse, he will have go through puberty, bullies, high school drama as figure it out. This has me concerned for his treatment by writers: it will be only too tempting to repeatedly pen stories about him “going evil” only to “redeem himself” in endless and unsatisfying cycles. I’m really hoping that Jason Aaron has a very specific character arc in mind for him, and that he can convince editors and future writers to try to adhere to as tight a story as possible. For Angel, on the other hand, I think the struggle will not so much be about finding himself as it will be about convincing others that he is a very different person than the one they remember. This, I like. At the very end of the Dark Angel Saga, I was concerned that all that the only reprecusion was that he had developed amnesia, and that after maybe a few months, we’d get a story line about him regaining his memories. If the changes in him are as far-reaching as they are implied to be here, the writers have been braver than I would have dared to hope. There’s a lot of potential for some very interesting stories here, not only for this new character, but also for all of Warren’s friends as they adjust to his “condition.”