Comic Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #6
Issue: Wolverine and the X-Men #6
Name: Mutatis Mutandis Part Two: Always bet on X!
Published: February 2012
Blurb: 
Creators:
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Nick Bradshaw
Inker: Walden Wong, Jay Leisten, Norman Lee, Cam Smith
Colorist: Justin Ponser, Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Rob Steen
Characters:
The Good: Wolverine, Quentin Quire, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Beast, Warbird, Kid Glasiator, Lockheed, Rachel Grey, S.W.O.R.D., Krakoa, Doop, Husk
The Bad: Microscopic Brood, Xanto, Brood, The Worm, Casino Guards
The Undecided:
My Reading:
This issue starts right where the last left off – Kitty Pryde in the medical lab with a horde of microscopic Brood attacking her from the inside out, Wolverine headed somewhere in space with Quentin Quire, and a mob of aliens, including Brood headed to the school from orbit. It’s a pretty crazy situation and it only gets more weird when we see that the destination of Wolverine is Planet Sin, one of the largest casinos in the galaxy. Apparently to get the funds to keep the school open, Wolverine has decided to use Quentin to cheat the casino.
Meanwhile, while Kid Gladiator was the only one to get small and head in to fight the Brood inside Kitty last time, the rest of the adults figure they’d follow him this issue, and I really love the contraption Bradshaw drew to give Lockheed the ability to breath fire through his helmet. Unfortunately, they left Kitty alone in the med lab and I worry about that. She’s waiting for the SWORD medical team to show up and help out but they’ve been attacked by Xanto and his Brood buddies just outside the school. Now that they’re on school grounds though, Krakoa gets a chance to fight and between him and the danger room, most of the Brood are taken out but Kitty and Broo, who found her from the psychic link he has to all Brood, are running four their lives as Xanto heads into the school.
Back at the casino, things start to heat up as Wolverine and Quentin start winning handily. Soon the casino operators notice though and call in something called “the Worm”, which soils itself and dies – I guess that’s how it’s telepathy works. In any case, the gig is up and Wolverine and Quentin need to fight their way out of the casino.
Back at the school, Kitty locks Broo in a suspension field to protect him as she takes on the last Brood in the school. She thinks she’s safe but then Xanto attacks her from behind and it turns out he’s the one who sent the microscopic Brood to attack Kitty. But his primary target isn’t Kitty, it’s Broo, and now that Kitty is knocked out, he’s helpless in the protection field.
Inside Kitty isn’t going so well either as they take out most of the Brood only to get thrown about when Xanto attacked Kitty. As they are sent in all directions, Kid Gladiator must have lost his helmet because he gets infected by the Brood and now is attacking the X-Men.
Lotsa action in this issue and three different cliffhangers leave me really glad I’m not reading this on a monthly schedule.
What did I learn:
- Brood have some kind of psychic link to eachother
- Quentin is considered one of the smartest mutants in the world
- Quentin has a low level of telekinesis along with this telepathy
My Thoughts:
There’s a lot going on in this issue and that’s a good and bad thing. I think it may have been a bit overambitious to have 3 complete and basically separate story lines in 23 pages of comic but on the whole, it still works. I think I would have preferred this being split into 2 issues but even as a single one, it works out. So many characters get the focus and with 3 different fights happening, it’s no wonder Bradshaw needed help working on all the details.
My Rating: B+
This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited, Comixology or at your local comic book shop, and right now, it’s available on Comixology Unlimited so you can borrow it from there.