Comic Book Wednesday: Wolverine and the X-Men

I recently discovered Wolverine and the X-Men, an animated kids show about the X-Men produced by Marvel Studios. I have already discussed why I love the X-Men, and being the sucker for anything X-Men that I am, I watched it, although I had some reservation at first because Wolverine is not my favorite character because I think he tends to be rather one note and boring. I mean, how many times can you do Weapon X and him not remembering his past and have it still be interesting? Once. The answer is once. Yet they still do it all the time.

Despite some early reservations, I still watched it, and it was awesome! I was hooked from the title sequence, which shows everything that I love about the X-Men: them fighting against human oppressors for the right of mutants to exist and live freely while also fighting against other mutants who wish ill upon humans. Pure awesome with a hint of dystopianism. Yes, Wolverine is leading the team, in a rather unusual move, but it doesn't really center on him, and they actually make his attempts to be a good leader, which goes against his loner nature, interesting, all the while also focusing on the various members of the team. I really never should have doubted Marvel Studios to make a great X-Men show.

What really makes it great is how much the creators care about the characters and their stories. All of the characters are spot on to the best part of the comics, with the team being made up of Wolverine, Cyclops, Shadowcat, Storm, Iceman, Beast, Emma Frost, and Rouge, with Nightcrawler, Angel, and Forge in recurring roles. This line-up is fairly similar to the Astonishing X-Men line-up, which is my personal favorite, so that's a plus. It also works really well, because it hits some of the major characters, without being bogged down by a too large team. Most of the other great characters make cameo appearances in roles that fit the character or harken back to their backstory, such as Gambit as a thief and Polaris as Magneto's daughter. Most of the secondary characters are also from the comics in one way or another, either from various X-Men teams, such as Psylocke, Domino, and Marrow, or from various other storylines, such as Dr. Rao and Tildy from Astonishing, who both make a brief appearance, and even a mention of the Morlocks and the Badlands, both classic X-Men stories. It is really rewarding as a fan of the comics to know who most of the minor characters are and to see some old favorites appear in cameos.

While the plot of the show is it's own distinct storyline, with Professor X working from a dystopian future to help Wolverine and his X-Men to prevent that future from happening, with the present is in the grips of Senator Kelly's mutant registration program and anti mutant fervor, it has shades of some of the great classic storylines, like "Days of Future Past" and "God Loves, Man Kills."It doesn't just retell old stories, but it does adopt some of the best parts of the best stories from the X-Men's history all combined with some of the best characters, which is really awesome, and helps to make the plot really compelling. The plot is also fairly complex and it takes some time to develop, with it taking several episodes at the beginning for the team to assemble, and plot points taking several episodes to pay off.

I think the X-Men are at their most compelling when they are fighting against human prejudice for the right to live their lives freely, which is one of the overriding themes of the show, with Senator Kelly's Mutant Registration Act and Sentinel Program being the overarching villain. This gives the characters purpose beyond just being superheroes and really makes them interesting, because they are fighting for basic civil rights and not just to save the planet, which they also do. This plot also allows Magneto's Genosha to play a role, which is nice because it let's Magneto be featured in several episodes without necessarily being a horrible villain they are always fighting. They certainly aren't on good terms with him, and he has some machinations happening in the background that are driving the plot, but they aren't fighting him every episode, which is good, because that's something that has been done so much as to be boring.

Bringing in Emma Frost as part of the team is great, because she's a really fun character to watch, but it wasn't something I was expecting to see, because part of what makes her so enjoyable is that she really isn't a particularly likable character, at least on the surface. She's the head bitch, who makes no attempts to get alone with the characters she doesn't like or to hid her distaste for some of the X-Men's practices. She's a former villain, but redeemed is not an adjetive anyone would use to describe her, which makes her really fun to read/watch, but not the prototypical animated kids show character. Having her on the team, and staying true to her character, including her rather skimpy outfit and cold demeanor, really shows that the creators of the series really love the X-Men and are in it for the stories and the characters rather than ratings.

All in all, I think Wolverine and the X-Men is an awesome show, and if you're anything like me, Imaginary Readers, and have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with everything related to the X-Men, I think you'll like it. If not, well, if you at all enjoy the X-Men or comic books, you should check it out. If you don't like/understand comics at all, and have no idea what I just spend 6 paragraphs talking about, you can skip it, but if you give it a chance, you might like it. The only think you have to lose is just under eight hours of your life, so it's up to you.