Wake Me When the Humans are Dead - Review Wolverine and the X-men #4

WOW!  What…a great issue.  After an exciting and exhausting opening arc, the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning decided to take it easy for some at home R and R (Recoup and Repair)…which of course never goes QUITE as smoothly as everyone hopes.  Additionally we saw the school’s brand new additions, which are all but guaranteed to shake things up (in the case of Krakoa literally).  All this and a glimpse into the future we’ve never seen!

Let’s start off with some new additions first shall we?  Well we already knew about Krakoa from last issue, but it’s nice to know that the living landmass (which is a bit more accurate than the Island That Walks Like a Man) is settling into its new surroundings so well.  You have to marvel (heh…marvel) at the writers decision to put the New X-men’s very first foe as a student at the new school.  And speaking of old foes as new students, say it with me everyone: Apocalypse!  Yeah fine, we’ll call him Evan if it makes you all feel safer but let’s be real here people.  It’s teenaged Apocalypse with no memory.  Unfortunately for him, he looks like a villain that he’s never even heard of (but everyone else has) and that basically makes him the mutant equivalent of the school Goth kid (as opposed to Kid Gladiator’s jock).  And let’s talk about Angel…  Wow.  I mean we got a brief glimpse of his condition over in X-Force, but…I mean…just Wow.  It was one thing to just bring him back to life with no memory, I was already down with that.  But this?  Healing power is reinstated…check!  New combination of skin color and wings….check (he’s never been white colored with metal wings)! Oh and he thinks he’s a real damn angel!  All this adds up to Warren Worthington III being a student once again at the school he helped build for years.  I think we can safely say that these new additions to the school will make for some very interesting stories in the months to come.

Today’s lecture by guest teacher Deathlok gave us some amazing insight into the future of the X-men. Over the years we’ve seen many different version of the “future X-men” and they always include some staples.  Old Man Wolverine.  Sorceress Storm.  Rebellion leader Cyclops.  Even evil Nightcrawler.  But this time we got a view of a whole new and different team.  We always picture the future of the X-men being led by one of the New Mutants or even Generation X, but what if the team leader in the future was Omega? Or Gladiator?  Or how Ironic would it be if the next brilliant Beast character to head the science squad was alien mutant Brood, one of the X-men’s deadliest foe, Broo?  And I’m sorry but was that a Phoenix emblem I saw on Quentin Quire’s uniform?  Screw Hope Summers, what if Quire was the Phoenix host of the future?  And of course, what incarnation of the X-men would be complete without an Apocalypse of their very own to fight?  Unfortunately this time Apocalypse will take on the form of a dear friend and team mate.  I think this most recent look into the future of the X-men was one of the more insightful and creative takes on the future team we have seen in a very long time.  Bravo!  Now let’s just see if any of it ever happens…I mean Sam Guthrie and Dani Moonstar are full-fledged X-men now so why couldn’t they be?!

This title just keeps getting better and better.  It’s so wonderful to see the heroes that we have known for years acting as mentors and teachers rather than super heroes.  Even Iceman, who is historically THE wisecracker and joker of the entire X-men structure, has taken on no small measure of responsibility as not just as a teacher but as the caretaker of one of his oldest friends.  I definitely got a huge laugh at Husk (who I didn’t even recognize under that hood until my second read through) still being all crispy and healing during the faculty staff meeting.  These new sides of our old favorites, as well as the new students of this increasingly more exciting and populated school, tell me that we are in for quite a semester at the JG School for Higher Learning.  Oh and did I forget to mention Kitty Pryde is pregnant with god know what?  Yeah...that happened too.

School's in Session - Review Wolverine and the X-men #1

LOVED IT!  Completely flawless, and everything we could have hoped for.  I was hesitant to say the very least when it came to this entire splitting of the X-men idea.  I just didn’t think it was necessary to have two completely separate and opposing camps of the same mutant team, going by the same name, with the same general set of ideas (the betterment of mutant kind).  But opening day Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning was absolutely everything it could have been and more!  Plus it honestly read like an old issue of Uncanny X-men from the 80’s.  I love that the first thing we see is Wolverine getting approval from Professor X, something of a passing of the torch from the old vanguard to the new.  Charles was somewhat missing from the entire Schism ordeal, except for his role in the Prelude, and with such a huge division of ideals and forces its almost ridiculous to think that he wouldn’t have some role or say in what’s going on.  Also, during the ReGenesis one-shot he was also one of the few major mutants that we didn’t see choose a side, but it no seems as though he will be staying with Scott, his “son”, for the duration of this upheaval.

Moving on to the faculty.  BOTH AMAZING AND HILARIOUS!  Kitty Pryde as headmistress is the most perfect and logical choice there was, and the rest of the faculty (right down to Toad as the janitor) was perfect chosen.  And Aaron’s decision to set the story against a Department of Education inspection was not only funny but also made it very easy to show us what the other characters are up to and even some of the classes being taught.  Of course anything that could go wrong DID on this wacky tour! From the Danger Bathroom to a coffee pot through the inspector head, this walk through the brand new Mutant U was doomed from the very start.  Seeing the new generation of teachers, such as Husk and Rachel Summers, was great for nostalgic fan who remember when the faculty was Professor X and Emma Frost.

We got some updates on current situations while also meeting new characters.  It was very sad to see Idie’s outlook of herself and her fellow mutants has not changed but I am hoping that this is something we will see changes in soon.  On the other hand seeing Quentin Quire begrudgingly back at school gave a nice light contrast, something tells me that he will be in detention a lot.  I can’t wait to hear more about our new Shi’ar residents, Warbird (no relation to Carol Danvers) and Kid Gladiator, and how they came to be at the Grey School.  Glad to see Broo (the new Brood mutant who has feelings and morals) found a home here, as a lot of things that happen over in Astonishing X-men don’t always make it over to the main books.  And the absolute nerve of that brat Kade Kilgore to show up at the front door, confess everything he did to cause the Schism, and pledge to more badness right to Wolverine’s face!  If you ask me, Logan should have SNIKTed him where the sun don’t shine.

I had my reservations but this issue more then put those to rest!  I loved this issue, really brought me back to a more classic feel for the team.  I look forward to seeing Scott continue his mission over in Uncanny X-men, but this is the book for people who remember the more light hearted feel for the mutants, back when entire issues were bedtime stories and baseball games.  Not that it was really in doubt, but I am definitely going to continue with this book only now I will be looking forward to it not just keeping up with continuity.