Rating: 4/5 – A jam packed issue in terms of characters and story!
Wolverine and the X-Men number thirty-seven is the penultimate chapter in the fun and entertaining Battle of the Atom series that has ran through X-books. Multiple X-Teams from all different time streams have come together to fight over the original X-Men either staying, or being forced back to their own time. Throughout this series, multiple characters have been introduced with ties to previous X-Men characters. They all appear in this issue that’s packed with action and character development that sets the stage for the tenth and final part.
Writer Jason Aaron includes almost every character in this issue. It’s a dense read and you do get your entertainment’s dollar from this issue. Each page is packed with dialogue that’s interesting and revealing for all the characters involved. No one character really stands out in this issue and that’s ok. The spotlight is shared equally, and balanced throughout the issue. Aaron is able to provide a nice dose of humor to the serious tone of the book, especially with characters like Iceman and Quentin Quire. There’s a scene in the book where Quire is wearing a t-shirt that reads “Magneto was Left”. It’s nice little touches like this that makes Aaron’s writing of the X-Men have a nice charm to it.
In regards to the art, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Andrew Currie have their hands full with the amount of characters on each page. At times the art feels a bit rushed, but the amount of characters is understandable. Almost every page is packed and therefore, some facial expressions and background characters come off a bit stiff and undefined. The art still works for the issue, but not every page is as consistent as the last. There are quite a few exciting splash pages and panels though that show all the different characters created from the series, but given a bit more time to work on this issue may have made these pages stand out that much more.
One issue remains in what’s been a great X-Men epic. I’m looking forward to seeing how Bendis, Aaron and team handle all these new characters after this series is over, as a majority of them have me curious to see where their storylines go next. I can’t wait for the conclusion of this series, and where everything and “everyone” lands when it’s all said and done.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas – shawn@comicspectrum.com
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