Spinning off the Fox Kids tie-in comic Adventures Of The X-Men seems to be an original continuity, following the same cast as the show but with different adventures.
They made a snarling Wolverine look unintentionally cute. Who does that?
Adventures Of The X-Men #5
Marvel (August, 1996)
“Back In the USSR” part 1: “Armageddon In Red” WRITER: Ralph Macchio PENCILER: Ben Herrera INKER: Gary Martin COLORIST: Matt Webb COMPUTER COLOR: Malibu LETTERER: Ul Higgins EDITOR: Mark Powers
When Asteroid M is forced down in Russia, Magneto assumes it was an attack hoping to use the crash into Moscow as a way of starting a war on mutants. “Luckily” finding a missile base, Magneto and his Brotherhood Of Mutants (consisting of Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Toad) attack, with the others unaware of Magneto’s attempt to launch the missiles and start a nuclear nightmare between the humans. Although Nick Fury gets the X-Men to the base they are unable to stop the launch…which is all according to the plan of Apocalypse!
What they got right: It’s kind of interesting to see the “almighty” Magneto tricked like this. Each character gets a personality for the writers to hopefully build on. (And if they don’t this will be part of the “got wrong” because that’s all they have besides their powers.) Toad is a sycophant begging for Magneto’s approval above all others. Quicksilver questions Magneto’s methods, and Scarlet Witch tries to keep peace, almost as loyal as Toad without demanding constant affirmation. I like how the X-Men (sans Jubilee, who has to stay behind with the Professor, which will factor into the next story arc) work together to take the Brotherhood down.
What they got wrong: Like I said, if they don’t go past the one-note personality traits it’s going to be disappointing. Then there’s the art. Frankly I kind of like the style, even though it looks like the 90s tried to corrupt anime, but it just looks odd for this story. Jubilee looks like a puppy dog as the Blackbird takes off with out her.
Recommendation: I haven’t really enjoyed this series, partly because I’m just not into the X-Men to begin with. However, I’m kind of enjoying this story so far. We’ll have to see where it ends, but so far it seems worth checking out.
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