Wolverine and the X-Men #27AU Review

For better or worse, Age of Ultron is a event where it seems that all the tie-ins can be safely and completely ignored. Wolverine and the X-Men #27AU has the distinction of neither tying in at all to the events of Jason Aaron's series nor adding much to the ongoing drama in Age of Ultron itself. And despite the fact that Age of Ultron #6 made it seem as though there was plenty of potential in the Wolverine/Invisible Woman team-up, this issue does nothing to reinforce that idea.

This is one of those tie-ins that selects a small gap in a story and attempts to fill it with more complications and side adventures. Matt Kindt picks up shortly after Logan and Sue hijacked Nick Fury's flying car in Age of Ultron #6. But rather than make a beeline straight for Hank Pym's lab, the duo are stuck dealing with a breakdown and forced to infiltrate a S.H.I.E.L.D. lab in search of a replacement battery. From there, each learns a hard lesson about how even the simplest of actions can have a cascading effect on the future.

The premise is sound enough, if pointless in the grand scheme of things, but the execution falls flat in a number of ways. Writer Matt Kindt relies too much on dual narrative captions that tend to reiterate the same information over and over. His characterization of Sue seems off, as she essentially closes out this issue ready to murder Pym, in stark contrast to her conflicted portrayal in Age of Ultron #6. This issue also continues the annoying trend in recent years of making Wolverine be the genesis, accidental or intentional, or practically every significant event in X-Men history.

Paco Medina's art is decent for most of the issue. His scenes of Wolverine battling escaped lab creatures are the highlight of the issue. His overly endowed portrayal of Sue somewhat less so. The biggest visual disappointment is that Medina didn't follow Carlos Pacheco's example in trying to lend a more retro style to his work. Even the S.H.I.E.L.D. car has suddenly morphed from a classic muscle car to a modern, sporty coupe.

This issue might have proven enjoyable, if not essential, but it just doesn't have much to offer fans of either Age of Ultron or Wolverine and the X-Men.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com