Hey guys! I apologize for this review being so late. I’ve had a lot of personal issues lately (work, graduate school). But I’m back with a brand new review!
Spider-Man and the X-Men #1
Written by: Elliott Kalan
Art by: Marco Failla
Colored by: Ian Herring
Cover Art: Nick Bradshaw and Ian Herring
Summary
Wolverine has asked Spider-Man to go undercover as a teacher at the Jean Grey School to investigate a possible mole. The only problem is that Spidey can’t tell anyone why he’s there, so his assignment has aggravated a number of the X-Men. Specifically, Storm, Beast, Iceman, and Phoenix. After defeating Unus the Untouchable (real name) and unpacking his suitcase, Spidey meets his class of students: Hellion, Rockslide, Shark Girl, Glob Herman, No-Girl, Eye Boy, and Ernst. Unfortunately, the first class doesn’t go so well, Spidey webs Hellion’s mouth shut and gets his shirt taken by a Bamf (little Nightcrawler clones). Spidey then takes his class into the Danger Room, where Rockslide punches him into a killer robot. Spidey escapes and criticizes Rockslides for his behavior.
Believing that his students spend too much time fighting, Spidey takes his class to the Natural History Museum in NYC. While trying to teach the students a lesson on evolution, Spidey and his students are attacked by Stegron and Sauron, who knock the class (and Spidey) out, tie them up, and bring them to the New Savage Land on Staten Island.
The Good
This is evidently Elliott Kalan’s first time writing a comic book. According to interviews he’s done before the series started, he’s a writer on The Daily Show. The humor comes across in his writing (but more on that later). I personally like the idea of Wolverine asking Spidey to help keep an eye on his school. It shows a level of trust and friendship within the two heroes that doesn’t come across that often. As this issue showed, there’s a lot of interesting storylines that could come from this.
Another thing I liked was the use of Stegron and Sauron. Someone with more knowledge of Spider-history than I (J.R., Brad?) would have to tell me when the last time we saw either one of them in a Spider-Man comic. I remember seeing Stegron in an issue of Sensational back in the 1990’s and Sauron was in the first arc of the New Avengers.
The concept of Spidey teaming up with the X-Men in general is an interesting concept as well. We’re used to seeing team-ups with the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, but team-ups with the X-Men are few and far between. Seeing this is a welcome change of pace.
The Bad
The way the X-Men and Spidey interacted irritated me. I get there’s been tension between the Avengers and X-Men in recent years, but I always thought that the relationship between Spidey and the X-Men was better than that.
The “Meh”
One issue in, I really don’t know what to think about the students that were introduced in this issue. At this point, I don’t like them, but I don’t dislike them either. I’m kind of apathetic at this point, which isn’t a good thing for a new comic.
Final Verdict
Overall, I’m giving this comic a B-. It’s a pretty good comic overall and if you have the extra cash, I’d recommend it.
