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IV’s, I mean, four’s are wild here! The fourth part of the fourth edition of the four-lettered CBCU is finally here. This is the X-Men mini-series/all-ages type titles. The First Class titles appeared last time in part V, but since there were actually a lot of titles in there already, and not too many in this edition, they were transplated to over here. I don’t really have anymore of an opening than that, except that as of now this is the best performing CBCU’s I’ve read and let’s see if that streak continues!
Spoilers Ahead.
Catching Up – X-Men: Mini-Series’ & First Class:
-GeNext #1- I’m happy I was able to read this and catch up on what was happening here. It seems there was vote on Marvel.com about what Claremont’s next project will be and this won out the vote. I don’t remember voting for this, but it was a while ago. So the premise is that this is the next generation of X-Men, as if it ran in realtime and the older generation have moved on. X-Men: The End is in canon here and things that happened here referenced things in The End. This issue focuses on the daughter of Ororo and some mystery man and a feral side inside of her she doesn’t want to let out. She eventually lets loose when she and her friends are attacked at a bar and doesn’t find it too bad, especially since her friends are around. GeNext starts its tradition of back-up classic unreprinted tales, starting with an X-Men First Class story and a GeNext sketchbook. I really like GeNext as it is different from things Claremont has done in the past and he actually has a freedom he doesn’t have if he worked on the mainstream titles. Fun issue and a great start. 1/1.
-X-Men: First Class #’s 6-11- X-Men FC takes a novel concept (tales of the original X-Men) and manages to churn out fun single or double issue stories that doesn’t affect classic continuity but doesn’t detract from the fun. They also usually include a bunch of fun back-ups drawn very kid-friendly. #6 features a fun tale of an alien blob landing on Earth, knocking the X-Men’s powers out and getting attacked by Sentinels. #7 concludes the story, with the Sentinels leaving, as they no longer care about non-mutants. Finally, the X-Men regain their power in force and dispatch of the Sentinels. They send the blob back to where it belonged and things are back to normal. #8 features the X-Men battling Man-Thing due to a misunderstanding and later helping him seal the nexus of all reality, but not before Jean and Bobby get a glimpse of a fearful future (including the Phoenix!). #9 has a fun team-up between Jean Grey, Scarlet Witch and Black Widow taking out a Hydra base. #12 is a Cyclops solo story where he battles a mutant who has overrun a village and whose villagers live in fear. It also has a kick-ass Romita Jr. cover (pun intended). Finally #11 has a chance to poke fun at itself by having the X-Men team up with a team of teenagers called the Continuiteens, who have read future comics and ensure those events come to pass. It was tongue-in-cheek the whole way and adult fans will love it. X-Men First Class remains a first class title, hitting on all marks and getting well-deserved points on all counts. 6/6 (Total: 7/7).
-Wolverine: First Class #’s 1-4- This should really be called: Kitty Pryde First Class, but since Wolverine sells more, he’s in the title. The premise is very simple, Kitty Pryde has just joined the X-Men and she somehow keeps going out on missions or having team-ups with Wolverine. The debut issue features Xavier sending Kitty with Wolverine, against Wolvie’s wishes of course, and helping a mutant who is using her power of emotions to drive a town crazy. Kitty helps her out and Wolvie learns a lesson about controlling his inner beast. The second issues has Kitty throwing Wolvie a party only to have Wolvie get attacked by Sabretooth and Kitty helping out. The next two issues features an arc where Wolvie and Kitty head to Wungadore thinking Magneto may be there. It turns out that it is actually Man-Beast, for of the High Evolutionary and the duo saves the day, even getting past the fact Kitty was turned to a cat-beast during the melee. She is fixed at the end. This is the same as X-Men First Class, fitting nicely into continuity and provided great, fun, stories early on in a character’s comic book tenure. Another fun ride. 4/4 (11/11).
-X-Men: Emperor Vulcan #’s 4-5- This concludes the mini-series where Havok and the Starjammers team-up with Vulcan to stop an alien race who wants revenge on the Shi’ar. The fourth issue features Vulcan taking control of the weapon and turning on Havok in a great battle issue, but the fifth issue kind of deflated a bit. Havok defeats Vulcan, the X-Men and Starjammers leave, Lilandra is shown she isn’t wanted, and Vulcan is still in control of the Shi’ar. They end with the alien attackers fomr 13,000 years ago in a tag-on I didn’t quite get. The first four issues featured a really good premise, but it died by the fifth issue. 1/2. (12/13).
-X-Men: Origins #1- I don’t understand the premise of these stories, as most of the X-Men have origins that are pretty well defined, and I think the origin was looked at in the Bloodlines mini-series from a few years ago. Anyway, Colossus turned to steel after his brother died, one of his friends finds out but doesn’t tell the government, the government finds out and tries to take Colossus and the friend but Xavier interferes, Colossus turns to steel to save his sister and he becomes an X-Man. I don’t think it was a bad issue, just unneeded. We know a lot about Colossus already and this $4.00 book really didn’t add anything new. 0/1 (12/14).
-The Bottom Line- This was quite a strong showing for the all-age type titles but not a great one for the mini-series. The mini-series lacked that panache that makes a comic memorable and so it only had a 1/3 showing. First Class is everything I enjoy about comics, great stories, a fun attitude, and it never takes itself too seriously, like Stan and the old Soapbox Marvel days. The stories are easy to understand and actually tell decent stories that don’t insult your intelligence as a reader. First Class rules all, and they are the stars of this feature.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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