Speaking of comics (and the US Postal Service) I have lately been slotting X-men Evolution into my Netflix routine.
For those who don't know, Netflix is a service that sends you DVDs in the mail for a monthly fee. No late fees, postage paid both ways, no leaving the house (I'm big on that). Of course it loses the immediacy of going to the store and getting something NOW, but that's cool with me. I can still hit Blockbuster for those emergency movie joneses and still get movies in the mail regularly.
X-men Evolution was always a show that interested me, but one that I almost never caught. The reason? On wayyyy too early. If you don't understand why that would be a problem see "ass dragging" in the last quick hits above.
The more I see of this show, the more I feel that it's what Ultimate X-men should have been. I like Mark Millar as a writer, but his Ultimate X-men has absolutely none of the... innocence that makes Ultimate Spider Man such a trip.
Maybe that's nostalgia, but I dont think so.
There's really something going on in Evolution that is sure to appeal to younger viewers. All the adults in the show are a bit on the creepy side. Mystique is the school principal where both her Brotherhood and Xavier's Institute kids attend. And really it seems like the two teams (the X-men and the Brotherhood) would work it out and get along better if not for Mystique and Xavier.
I like that and it evokes an emotion Im sure many kids empathize with. If you have ever been to a high school football game where the two teams both want to win but are playing perfectly good ball, until a parent starts yelling and cussing for his kid's team to start breaking legs you have an idea of the vibe I get.
Spyke (one of the X-men) and Quicksilver (one of the Brotherhood) seem much more concerned about outdoing each other on the basketball court than on the battlefield.
Avalanche (one of the Brotherhood) pulls dangerous stunts as much to impress Kitty Pryde as to further any "mutant agenda".
Boom boom starts out as one of Xavier's kids but is driven to the Brotherhood by an abusive father.
When Xavier leaves Cyclops and Jean in charge, Nightcrawler and Kitty conspire to strand them (and cyclops' cherry red convertible) at a classic makeout spot so they can invite the kids to a party. A party that is crashed by a teenage Arcade who hacks into the Mansion's defenses and tries to hunt down the X-men... but he thinks its just the coolest video game ever made!
All in all, I am extremely impressed by this show and rate it as one of the freshest, most interesting takes yet on the X-men mythos.
Chuck
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