X-MEN FIRST CLASS V.2 #4
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Julia Bax
Marvel Comics
How many times now has Marvel gone back to the “Let’s look at the early years of the X-Men” well? Was there not a series in the ’90s called Professor Xavier and the X-Men that did essentially the same thing that X-Men: First Class is doing; namely, revisiting the original five X-Men, and putting perhaps a new spin on them?
We get it, everyone loves the originals.
First Class, I assume, exists to bring some levity back into an X-verse that has gotten altogether dark over the years. Remember Wolverine’s question of Storm waaaay back (relatively) in Uncanny: “When’d life start kicking us so hard we forgot how to laugh?”
So First Class brings us back to when the X-Men were the “Strangest teens of all!” and could have some fun (amazing that X-Men basically started out as a Teen Titans-type group. This issue especially is supposed to be fun, with Iceman and Beast going on a roadtrip in Angel’s car.
The premise is fine. Love Iceman. Love Beast. Roadtrip should be keen. Since when is Beast such a nerd, though? Of course, he has always been the brain of the group, but he is portrayed as a bookworm slow on the uptake and pretty square.
This is the same Hank McCoy that was a star football player in high school. The same Hank McCoy that became one of the most fun-loving Avengers ever. It seems pretty unrealistic that Beast was ever this square.
For everyone who gets tired of perfect six issue arcs, hopping from one event to the next with no breathing room in between, this is a nice, self-contained issue that involves Iceman and Beast getting some bonding done.
