Wolverine and The X-Men #1

By Jason Latour and Mahmud Asrar

Jason Aaron’s run was praised by both critics and readers. Personally, I thought it only brought us a great book every 5 or so issues. However, I can’t deny the charm of it all. Now, Latour has taken over with a brand new #1. While Latour manages to keep the unique voices of the characters intact, we’ve lost that signature charm. Without that, what we’re left with is a mediocre X-book.

Quentin Quire is a fun character to read. Now that he’s a teacher’s assistant at the school, you would think that he can really flourish. Not here, though. The entire issue, Quentin just whines about not being the rebel that he used to be. That comes off like an old dude that still wears his Letterman jacket to high school football games. Plus, he’s already had a chance to complain in this capacity.

Latour tries to bring in Wolverine’s current predicament in Cornell’s series and does so to great effect. Logan’s lack of healing factor is a cool story angle to work into this series. If anything, this will probably be the reason to hang on to Wolverine and The X-Men. He also appears to have a better handle on Fantomex, which can be a hard character to nail down. Mahmud Asrar does a decent job. His art has a darker tone, signifying the more serious nature the series is now taking. His character work is mostly great, but can occasionally lack detail and/or look rushed.

Wolverine and The X-Men has seen better days. The new #1 will alienate both longtime readers and new ones, so this issue will satisfy no one. There are some positives to take from this, but it’s not enough. Issue 2 will really need to impress if Marvel expects anybody to stick with this series.