So far, X-Men: First Class has largely steered clear of X-Men continuity in favour of guest stars or original characters.  If you want to tell lighter, simpler stories for a younger audience, it's probably a smart decision.

Wolverine: First Class has followed a similar formula with "The Last Knights of Wundagore", a two-parter featuring the likes of the High Evolutionary and his evolved humanoid animals.  Come to think of it, the Evolutionary ought to be a good fit for the X-books.  But this is more of a "world tour" story, with Wolverine and Kitty simply meeting another Marvel Universe concept in their natural habitat.

The tricky bit with this formula is to make sure that the story is still ultimately about Kitty and Wolverine, and to find a way of making them more than just interchangeable protagonists meeting the guest star of the month.  Fred Van Lente clearly has an eye on that pitfall.  Frankly, the story is mainly about the New Men fighting the Man-Beast; on a broad level, the heroes could easily be swapped out.  But Van Lente works hard to personalise it, playing up Kitty's reaction to being given responsibility, and Wolverine's response on losing his berserker rage.

Salva Espin's art is in the solid, traditional Marvel house style.  That's fine for this book, and the humanoid animals are really rather cute.  It's not a flashy comic, but the storytelling is sound and the characters are expressive.

But the book falters with some ropey plotting, mainly in the areas where the two X-Men have been shoehorned in.  Considering that she's been turned into a humanoid cat against her will, you'd think Kitty would be a bit more upset about it.  If anything, she takes it in stride to such a degree that it undermines the idea.  And I honestly have no idea what's going on with Wolverine's subplot; if the High Evolutionary didn't really do anything to him, then why was he acting out of character at the start of the issue?

These are problems, but they're around the edges of the plot.  It's still a polished effort which should appeal to readers who simply want to see the X-Men doing some old-style superheroics.

Rating: B+

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