Wolverine and the X-Men #1 – Review

By: Jason Latour (writer), Mahmud Asrar (artist), Israel Silva (color artist)

The Story: As the bard hath wrote: high school never ends…

The Review: It’s very strange to see a new Wolverine and the X-Men #1 so soon, but this is what we find ourselves confronted with. Jason Aaron’s post-Schism story for Wolverine and his school was a highly unique one, and one that occupied a very special place in Marvel’s lineup. Now that Jason Latour and Mahmud Asrar have taken over, the question on many minds is how much of the title’s charm was WatXM and how much was Aaron’s sensibility.

Well, to get right to it, it’s certainly not a repeat of Aaron’s work. Latour’s WatXM has a different feel, which might upset fans of the previous volume, but it’s not at all the reversal that the New 52 JLI was. Indeed, as we predicted last week, this could have very easily have been Wolverine and the X-Men #43.

The story picks up right from where we left off, with the solicit even assuring us that this is summer term. Our focus character is Quentin Quire, newly graduated and beginning his new job as a teaching assistant, though who he’s assisting is never made particularly clear. Quire’s always been a foil for Wolverine and, similarly, it’s interesting to see his individual brand of rebelliousness forced into a position of authority. The problem is that, unlike Logan, Quire isn’t dedicated enough to this new stage in his life to sell it in a first issue. He’d probably give up on it if it weren’t for his girlfriend, Idie.

Wolverine and the X-Men #42 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer); Nick Bradshaw, Pepe Larraz, Ramon Perez, Shawn Crystal, Steve Sanders, Nuno Alves, Tim Townsend, & Chris Bachalo (artists); Matt Milla & Lee Loughridge (color artists)

The Story: It’s graduation day for the Jean Grey School and Quentin Quire is in for a reckoning that’s been building all semester.

The Review: It’s been a long strange road for this series, but it’s finally over.

For this capstone story Jason Aaron returns us to the Jean Grey School of the future from WatXM #29. As the mutants of Earth-616 prepare for graduation, a tired old Logan prepares to shut down the school on Earth-13729.

Aaron, in no uncertain terms, focuses this story around the three most important characters of his run: Logan, Idie Okonkwo, and Quentin Quire. When the Jean Grey School opened, each one of them entered with blood on their hands. The struggle for each has not been to atone for past deeds, but rather to redefine themselves so that they have a future going forward.

Idie definitely gets the short end of the stick in terms of billing, but she’s actually one of the best characters in this issue. Both as her present self and as a confidant X-Man of the future, Idie shows drastic change from the beginning of the series. While I wish this transition had been more of a gradual process than a couple of off-screen leaps, the character that Idie has become is absolutely lovely. Her simple dialogue with Quire and Future Logan is probably some of the best work that Aaron has done with a female character over the whole of the run and makes her relationships with Logan and Quire feel real and substantial.

Meanwhile Quentin is dealing, or perhaps not dealing, with the fact that the Jean Grey School has changed him. Like a less flamboyant Stewie Griffin, he longs for the days when the mere thought of his dastardly plans made the hair stand up on Cyclops, Captain America, and Wolverine’s necks.  What Aaron fails to bring in reality, he certainly provides in humor and heart.