I came across this cartoon find. 26 episodes of Marvel Universe fun in a complete series box set.
I grew into the Xmen primarily due to the Fox cartoon during the 90's. Not to mention the Xmen Evolution during the early part of this decade. Both cartoons had their flaws and both had many great moments and awesome character takes on the Xmen Universe. So Wolverine and the Xmen was already starting behind the 8 ball as series when I saw the dvd box set on sell last week. Three disks, 26 episodes, and a couple of making of documentaries later… and I'm ready to give my assessment. To sum it up in one word sentence: "The cartoon was okay, with some really cool pay-offs".
Wolverine and the Xmen was the answer to the popularity of the Up-coming Xmen Origins: Wolverine movie, that at the time was in the works. Executives wanted a Wolverine cartoon and the writers emplored the company to include Xmen. So around the Focus of "Logan" as the center point, the concept grew. Wolverine would be put in a situation where Charles Xavier was unable to lead and Scott Summers would be the Loner of the team. Basically a role reversal of every other incarnation of the Xmen. And it works. Sort of.
I've written and re-written a couple of reviews and I keep going back to things that bother me about the series. Ultimately is ok. It really is worth a watch. But of the 3 (4 if you count the stuff that came in the mid 80's), it’s the poorest version of animated xmen. I can't seem to get ahold of Steve Blum as the voice of Logan… it needs to be raspier, grittier. Scott shouldn't be such a down daisy. I understand they wanted Logan to run the show, but did they really have to make Scott suck so much? And the fact that Magneto has signs all over the road with his face on them… might as well have "Welcome to Genshoia" postcards floating out there too. The plot really tried to keep it simple and edgy, but sometimes it really felt like a kids cartoon and others it felt like it was ONLY geared towards geeks. That was my favorite part of Xmen Evolution, it really knew the balance of core fans and children. Ok that’s the bad.
The Good! Kurt Wagner was awesome. They nailed Nightcrawler! Perfect. A few solo stories and a possible love interest with of all characters, The Scarlet Witch?! I loved the episodes with Kurt. EVEN the episode with Mojo… who is my least favorite villain, IN ANY UNIVERSE. Also the having Charles in the Future with Bishop and older versions of Xmen easter eggs was genius! I liked how they handled the Mr. Sinister shadowy figure and I can't say enough about how they end the series. Truly ending it on a home run, making you long for more episodes.
This cartoon was well worth the buy for Xmen fans. I enjoyed each episode. But honestly, Marvel… this isn't as good as other hero cartoons out there. JLA and Teen Titans blow this away. I think Xmen Evolution was incredibly stronger than this incarnation. What happened to the momentum of the Hulk VS cartoons and not to mention the Next Avengers?
I was really into X-Men Evolutions, and the nineties was pretty cool (and love that theme music). I caught a bit of this and also thought it was okay. Though I found the alternate Wolverine voice kind of interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think this shows the most important lesson when adapting superheroes into other media, you either need to play it safe or be willing to take some major risks. This whole middle ground approach at best makes something watchable. When you play it safe you can draw on all the past stories and tweak them so they work out for the medium. But honestly being willing to take risks makes things so much more memorable. I mean just look at what BTAS did, among it's many achievements they basically recreated Mr. Freeze into one of the more compelling villains in superhero stories. That middle ground is just forgettable, like no one is going to remember The Batman.
ReplyDeleteWell all we can do now and see what Disney does with the next X-Men cartoon. There is also that Warren Ellis written X-Men Anime coming in a year or two, which frankly doesn't excite me much considering his recent run on Astonishing.