In ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ #5 we left with most of the multiple story lines close to wrapping up. If I can give Jason Latour positive credit on anything in this issue, it’s that he brings the majority to a close. That is really the highpoint of the issue. I’m not going to nitpick the time travel and how tiring it is lately for the mutants as I did in the last review and hopefully the next story arc just won’t cover it.
What I will nitpick is the art. While good writing can carry bad art and vice versa, if you have a weak plot and bad art combined, it is hard to enjoy or get into the characters. The art throughout this issue felt completely disjointed as it jumped through styles and it did not continue in a cohesive tone all the way through by any stretch of the imagine.
That moves us to the writing. Yes, the story arcs were finished up but the only character I felt even remotely invested in was Quintin Quire. The way they abruptly ended his part of the story (in a very clearly unlabeled To Be Continued for his arc) was nothing short of annoying. I’m sure it won’t be long until he is back, but he really feels to be the only well written and interesting character here. Which is a far stretch from the annoying brat he was long portrayed as. On top of that, when moving from past to future to The World, it felt rushed and didn’t always swap fluidly between scenes. Again, that could have been due to the art styled used.
Evan’s choice for being Apocalypse or not? It was put off but taken care of for now. Quire ending up as The Phoenix? Hasn’t happened yet but most likely still will. How he acts when he gets the power is clearly now in question. How the X-Men dealt with Honest John? Clearly he’ll be back down the line at some point.
So yes, the story arcs were closed but we weren’t given much real resolution.That is where the comic fell short and that is what hurt it the most.
Now that it has concluded, I have to say that I’m glad to see it go. Quinten as The Phoenix and Evan becoming Apocalypse in the future, duking it out, mass chaos for mutants. It all sounded good in theory but in practice, it felt like another convoluted time traveling mess. The Phoenix corporation is still around in the present with how they ended it? I’m not a fan. This is not only my least favorite issue on the run so far, but I believe it is my least favorite X-title in the past 3 years. I can only hope it goes somewhere more interesting from this point on. Of course, with the book losing Wolverine soon I’m not sure if the students will be able to carry my interest without Quire if it continues in the trend of this first story arc.
WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN #6
Writer: Jason Latour
Artist: Mahmud A. Asrar
