Wolverine and the X-Men #1

The first comic I'll be checking out this week isn't my Pick of the Litter, as is usually the case, it's the first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men. I'm REALLY curious to see where things head in this series, as we already have a pretty good idea as to what Lord Summers and the rest of the villainous Uncanny X-Men will be doing. On the other hand, besides reopening the school in Westchester, the story here is a complete mystery to me. Anyway, without further ado, here's Wolvie!

Wolverine and the X-Men #1:

Summary: This issue opens a day prior to Wolverine opening the soon-to-be Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. As final preparations are being made to ready the place for the first day of classes the following day, Wolvie is meeting with Prof. Xavier, who gives Wolvie a few pieces of advice before heading off. With that, the next day arrives, and Wolvie(as the Headmaster) and Shadowcat(as the Headmistress) meet with two representatives from the New York State Department of Education to get the go-ahead from the State to run the school. Needless to say, the tour faces one calamity after the other, as the school board reps aren't exactly enamored with Wolvie and Kitty's credentials, happen across two classes(being taught by Rachel Grey and Husk) that aren't exactly what you'd look at as “normal”, and run into Beast, who is in a particularly foul mood due to some sort of troubles plaguing various parts of the school. During the tour, Iceman(who is BRILLIANTLY the school's bookkeeper, remember, he WAS an accountant!) tells Wolvie that some kid was at the gate of the Mansion wanting to see him. Wolvie heads outside and meets up with Kade Kilgore(!), who announces himself as the new Black King of the Hellfire Club. Wolvie figures he's just some crazy kid, until Kade details all of the stuff that he did during Schism, which proves to Wolvie that Kade must indeed be who he claimed to be. Wolvie is ready to attack Kade, but the school board reps and Kitty leave the building at that very moment, with the reps complaining about how this was the worst school they'd ever seen in their lives(HA!). Kade warns Wolvie that he wouldn't stand for the school, since a school that promoted peaceful human/mutant relationships would hurt his company, which was in the Sentinel building business. With that, Kade leaves and this issue ends with a giant creature emerging from underneath the school, apparently to eat it(!).

Thoughts: This was a great comic book. To be honest, if not for the art, which made things confusing from time to time(especially the last page), I probably would have given it a 10. There's so much to like here... I mean DOOP is the school secretary! DOOP!!! Besides that, this entire issue was written in a very fun manner, something the X-books haven't been written in since...... sheesh, I don't even remember... It's been doom and gloom for so many years now, this issue was a wonderful change of pace. Seriously, I actually found myself liking Kitty here, who's always been my most hated X-character. Jason Aaron has seemingly done what no other X-writer has ever been able/wanted to do, actually had Kitty grow up. No longer is she the annoying teenager who's uber-emotional/bitchy, she was actually written like an honest to goodness adult! Wolverine fit nicely(or as nicely as Wolverine COULD) into his role as Headmaster, and there were MANY other little things here, from Husk, to Kid Omega, the weird little Nightcrawler things, to Hellion showing up that I loved. Right now, after the first issue, THIS is my favorite X-book on the market. Now let's see if Aaron can keep it that way.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.This series has SO much potential...