The fight between Cyclops and Wolverine was a long time coming. This was not one of their normal training in the Danger Room fights. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for both X-Men. Wolverine felt Cyclops was treating the mutants kids like soldiers and Cyclops felt he needed to train these kids to survive. So Wolverine decided to leave the island of Utopia and reopen Xavier's school under a new name. Thus "The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning" was opened. Wolverine...Professor Logan took Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Rachel Grey, and Beast with his and they became the head staff of the school. The school was opened to not just mutants (seeing as how there weren't a lot of them left at the time), but anybody with special abilities that needed a place where they could be educated and not persecuted. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
Let's start with day one. Professor Logan used the last of his opening the school and was stressing that he had no idea where he was going to get money from the first time the school is inevitably attacked, destroyed, or just needs general repair. Beast is stressed out of his mind and isn't his normal loveable self. Paige Guthrie is going crazy. Kitty Pryde wasn't as confident as she should be (when you're running a school full super powered kids with their hormones running at a thousand miles per hour that tends to make people nervous). And to top it all off, the school board was there to inspect the school and already had it set in their mind that the school would be shut down. Thank goodness the school just opened and there aren't any super villains that already want to attack them. Wait...there is. A new Hellfire Club run by a group of genius kids have decided to take out the X-Men. Despite their age, they did a pretty good job planning and executing. Welcome to Jean Grey's School for Gifted Youngsters. Hope you survive the experience.
Writer: 9
For almost a decade, Jason Aaron has been THE Wolverine writer. Aaron wrote Wolverine like he knew him personally and added more layers to his personality. His run of "Wolverine and the X-Men" just made Wolverine a much better character. In this first book, is al about the staff getting settled in and slowly used to being teachers and not soldiers. For Beast and Kitty Pryde, the transition was pretty easy. But for someone like Bobby Drake (Iceman) who is Wolverine told that he needed to step up, the transition was a bit bumpy. The absolute best part is what Jason Aaron did with Quentin Quire. Jason Aaron took a character that used to be an annoying little snot and slowly turns him into a hero.
image source "comicvine.com"
Artist: 7
Chris Bachalo does a superb job drawing the first few issues of Wolverine and the X-Men. It may not grab your attention as soon as you pick up the book, but it fits well with the story and the characters. The comic was meant to be fun and kind of cartoony. So using Bachalo was a great artist to start this run. His scene when he drew multiple ice creation Bobby Drake made is a perfect example of how great the art worked well with the story.
In Conclusion:
The first few issues of this run are great and it keeps getting better. While the title may star Wolverine, it is more about the school as a whole. The first arc gives you a little taste of what to expect and that little taste is more than enough to keep you interested.
