Wolverine and the X-Men #7

By: Jason Aaron (writer); Nick Bradshaw (pencils); Walden Wong, Norman Lee, and Nick Bradshaw (inks), Justin Ponsor (colorist)

The Story: As Logan and Quire try to make their getaway from a space casino, Broo tries to reason with his would-be assassin, and the X-Men try to remove a malignant growth in Kitty’s body.

The Review: Back in this series’ first issue, Jason Aaron introduced us to our villain and his motivations in a pretty straightforward fashion; he had the villain walk up to Logan and introduce himself and his motivations. Now, this is a fairly standard trope in all genre works, but many reviewers considered this to be distracting, and cited it as the only negative aspect of the first issue. It seems that Aaron learned from that mistake however, and this time around we have a much better explanation for our villain monologue.

It turns out that our bad guy, the hulking alien intent on killing Broo, is Xanto Starblood, a Professor at the University of Rigel-3 and a zoo-terrorist. Being a scholar, he’s happy to engage in a debate about his guiding principles, and he even requests a critique of his own work. You’ve gotta love this; at once, it allows him to explain his motivations and give credence to those motivation at the same time. As Starblood explains, he believes that Broo’s friendly disposition is a step too far for evolution, and the leap he represents could well shake the balance of life in the universe. The only solution, as he sees it, is to exterminate Broo and his genetic stock before it’s too late.

The other story threads in this issue—the casino robbery and the battle in Kitty’s belly—are kind of on autopilot at this point, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not entertaining. Aaron manages to make each panel interesting by filling it with great characterization and clever dialogue. Whether it’s Quire honing his Psychic powers (“Psychic Shotgun. Suck it, alien pinheads.”) or Kid Gladiator reacting to being turned into a Brood (“I demand that you leave me like this! Kid Gladiator looks unbelievably awesome!”), Aaron makes it look as though his masterful handle on the characters is effortless.

He also uses this issue does a great job of displaying just how many security measures the school has in place. Even with most of the heavy hitters in the faculty occupied, Prof. Starblood still has the Danger Room program, a living landmass, and interdimensional gremlins to contend with. The fight makes for a visual feast. You know there is a lot of good going around when “Logan and Quire versus alien casino guards” is the least visually dynamic action scene in a comic.

Bradshaw keeps serving up richly expressive and detailed art. The layouts and panel work, though rather conservative, do a fine job of storytelling. Personally, I’m a little disappointed that this issue features smaller panels in general and has no splash pages at all, because I love seeing how much Bradshaw can pack into the bigger frames. However, the flow of the action and fantastic consistency in the sense of location in this issue more than compensate for their absence. The only complaint I can level at Bradshaw is about the second-to-last panel of this issue: it isn’t quite as shocking as it could be. But, I think it’s a good sign when I have to isolate one panel to say something negative.

The inks on this issue are an improvement from last time around; with fewer inkers for this installment, it seems it was easier to give a greater sense of depth to the art while maintaining a consistent aesthetic. Justin Ponsor on colors again is the perfect match for Bradshaw, keeping the look of this issue cheery and fantastical. However, the universally vibrant colors throughout actually makes the Plandanium Nugget look somewhat dull by comparison. I’d expect a space casino to be gaudy and decadent to the extreme, but set alongside the interiors of the school’s ice tower and Kitty Pryde’s body, it fails to wow.

The Conclusion: Yet another win for Wolverine and the X-Men. Best X-Book out there, hands down.

Jumping on point?: Definitely not, but be sure to jump on next issue.

Grade: A-

-Jim Middletin

Some Musings: -About halfway through this issue, Starblood hints that the Bamfs may not, in fact, be “Bamfs.” I’m not sure what to make of this, as I never really thought that the name “Bamf” was an official designation, just that it was an off-hand name for the campus pests. Curious to see where this goes.

-The resolution to the school’s financial problems is freaking awesome. I love everything to do with this aspect of the book.