Wolverine and the X-Men #6
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Nick Bradshaw, Walden Wong, Jay Leisten, Norman Lee, Cam Smith, Justin Ponsor, and Matthew Wilson
The short of it:
Wolverine and Kid Omega go space gambling at the edge of ungoverned space with plans to cheat to win enough money to keep the school financed. Meanwhile, mini-X-Men fight mini-Brood inside of Brood-pregnant-Kitty in the attack of the hyphens. Not to be outdone, Kitty has to fight Brood while everyone fights Brood inside of her, to make this the most Brood for your buck that you can possibly get this month. Kid Gladiator does some incredibly awesome things inside of Kitty while Quentin steals the show in space. But who is the guy who keeps the Brood as pets? And just who is his real target? And can Wolverine and Kid Omega get out of the space casino in one piece?
What I liked:
- Kid Gladiator.
- Logan and Quentin space gambling may be the single most entertaining thing I’ve seen in a comic this month. Quentin is believably over the top, and the reasoning for him being brought along is perfect. On top of that, the way Aaron writes the two is the odd couple buddy cop comedy from hell. The grizzled veteran and the obnoxious rookie that can’t see past his ego.
- I don’t know what’s better, the micro-X-Men versus the micro-Brood inside of Kitty, or powerless pregnant Kitty having to fight them in a building made of ice.
- When I saw that there was something called “The Worm” I guessed at what it was and wound up being right, what I didn’t guess whatever is what would actually happen with it. Again, pure awesome there.
- Nick Bradshaw providing the alternating art for this book is an inspired choice. I mean, they promoted Chris Bachalo as the main artist on this title, and Nick Bradshaw is no way similar in style. The end result is actually a clearer art style that maintains the kinetic feel of the story. I love anything Bachalo does, but I’d happily take Bradshaw on this book any day.
- An issue without Idie speaking is a good issue.
- Quentin Quire may very well wind up being the star of this book. He cracks me up; he’s the right combination of sociopath and a guy who’s too immature to handle his first round draft pick. He’s got the ability, he knows he has the ability, he lives in the fact that he’s completely awesome, and he fails at knowing when he’s bit off more than he can chew.
- ……alright, so Quentin Quire is Barney Stinson.
What I didn’t like:
- ARMY OF INKERS!
- What is space money really going to do for the school’s financial issues? What’s the conversion rate?
- Warbird seems intersting enough, but she has quite literally no character outside of being Kid Gladiator’s bodyguard. I expect more from her in the coming months as she’ll be part of Marjorie Liu’s Astonishing lineup, but I’d like to see her get some character work before then too.
- Kitty may be the fastest and most mobile pregnant person ever. She clears across campus with a stubby legged wingless Brood while out running a big sized Brood and it’s master. Without powers.
Final thoughts:
I’m not shy with my thoughts on Jason Aaron and how I’ve never read a second story arc by him that I liked as much as the first, but this issue is proof that there’s hope for him yet with me! This is far and away my favorite issue of the book thus far. There’s great dialog, really good pacing, and characters that I’m enjoying to read about. It’s exactly what I want out of this book.
I’m still not sure how gambling in space was going to help the coffers at Wolverine’s school, but the execution winds up hiding any and all issues I have with the premise. Like I said before, the dynamic between Logan and Quire is perfectly executed here. I like this Quentin Quire, I think he has legs to last on.
This is just really a great issue. The X-Men as a whole have been better in the past few months than they have in years, and Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen are who we have to thank for it. I’ve been reading X-Men more or less non stop across the board since….I want to say House of M is when I just picked up the line and not just a few books, and this is the best it’s been since then. It’s over the top to the point where you’d expect it to get ridiculous, but then it just works. The X-Men are fun.
Chris Bachalo and Nick Bradshaw as alternating artists is so much better of a combination than Carlos Pacheco and Greg Land. I mean seriously, Greg Land destroys that combo.
Idie went from my favorite character in Generation Hope to the one of the characters I dread seeing show up in this book. Thankfully we had none of her and her one dimensional “we’re all evil and going to hell” that somehow makes her comic relief. She’s one of the two characters that have suffered from the transition to this title, Angel being the other. Idie is coming out of Generation Hope where she was the deepest character on the roster and now she’s regressed to being nothing more than her character description. Angel, on the other hand, was just brought in far too early after the Dark Angel Saga, especially when you consider that it took about a month for Warren to go from his biggest story ever to being a comedy character that can’t keep his pants on. I can happily live without seeing either in their current forms.
Overall: 9/10
