X-Men & The Evolution.

This was the first cartoon that I ever remember watching and getting sucked into it's vortex. There was Professor X., Storm, Cyclops, Beast, Jean-Grey, Jubilee, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, and a short cameo by Morph. Together they battled inner conflicts between each other, outer conflicts usually inflicted by Magneto, Sinister, or Apocalypse, and finally worldly conflicts such as forces of the Phoenix. Every episode written strategically to give the subliminal moral messages portrayed in each story. This show definitely wasn't about to give you the candy coating topping either, it delivered all of its messages in an effective way. I really enjoyed the actual animation of this series. It was done in a way to really portray the the characters well. The actors of this series shaped the way casting was looked at for anything X-Men in the future.Then the series was finished and it went off the air, sure rerun episodes were on, but I was looking for more. it would be three years before anything X-men would return.

Finally the first film arrived and it was a perfect fit for me at the time. Every actor fit their roles well, esp Sir. Ian McKellan as Magneto, and Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier. These were the key actors to providing a proper foundation to work off of. Don't get me wrong there many other cast members to the film that fit there roles indefinitely, however think of those two actors as the heart and lungs of X-Men anything. The first film was followed by X2 United, which peaked the franchise at the time with a continued cast, and a great storyline to go with it. Finally X3-The Last Stand makes it back on the market, but things weren't so necessarily the same. It was hard with the first movie, to swallow different important elements of the storyline that changed the foundation in which the X-men movies would have to work off of. One such instance is the Phoenix and it's involvement with the Sh'iar like in the animated series. This was hard at first to really take down because the Phoenix was one my favorite characters and when I was a kid this is how I accepted the Phoenix to be. Now with the film I think that they did a great job at modernizing a feasible aspect of the inner inert strength that Jean-Grey possessed. I did really have an issue with the de-materialization of Professor X., but we'll get into that in a few.

During the downtime of X-Men and X-2 United, another cartoon series poked it's little head out of the ground. Marvel knew that they got the franchise back and it's consumers were starving for another series. X-Men Evolution premiered in 2000 and lasted until around late 2003. I was excited to see another X-Men series, so I quickly found what channel it was on and began watching. Now considering that I was much, much, older and felt that the original series had a such a huge following; I expected X-Men Evolution to be up to par with its predecessor. Unfortunately all I was left with was a bad taste in my mouth from the screen. The stories weren't so bad, they were a little campy in a "hi i'm 12" like humor. I didn't care for the animation at all, it was too wishy-washy and nothing like the animation of the original series which had some intimidating characters at times. X-Men Evolution failed to deliver any sort of nostalgic feeling of the original series, thus I discontinued watching the show soon after I began. Now with the final movie of the trilogy out where is the animated series that will live up to the original?

The same year X-3 The Last Stand in 2006 came out, a tv-series was created to alleviate the itch it started in 2000 with the first film. Heroes marked it's passage on NBC and this show, though it had nothing to do with X-Men, changed the way we looked at superheroes. Marvel had brought us up to perceive that only superheroes are the people that can have abilties. With Heroes it explored everyday people that have abilities and the trials and tribulations were very feasible and acted out very well. I also enjoyed the different non-stereotypical abilities that Heroes incorporated, or rather abilities that we were used to. I think that single concept of wondering what ability they were going to bring to life next, really kept me going with the show. Heroes had its own trials and tribulations with the writers strike and all. When the show finally premiered back on tv it was good enough for me, but there's thousands out there that disagree.

Now here we are in 2009, Wolverine/Hugh Jackman, got his own spin-off movie entitled X-Men: Origins Wolverine, where we explore a somewhat re-telling of Wolverine's past with the Weapon X project, and we get to see brought to life some Marvel children not previously on the big screen. Some such as Domino, Deadpool, and others. Now that the focus of everything Marvel and really the X-Men as a whole is on Wolverine. How were they to really solidify his existence in the book of X-Men legends like Professor Xavier? Well the answer was simple, it must have been "Let's re-create the series with a twist". To let you know how serious of a twist, I'll start it off by saying that you get to see Professor X., walk most of the season.

In the Spring of 2009 the delayed release of Wolverine & The X-Men finally commences and within the first episode an evolutionary tone is set that is carried out through the season. Within the first episode Professor X., disappears in the midst of a blinding light and so does Jean-Grey. With the professor and Jean missing, the X-Men slowly but surely dismantled. Left to pick up the pieces was none other than Wolverine. The series really goes far beyond any previous attempt (even with the film) to explore this character and his origins. We were used to seeing Wolverine as an unstable character with the inability to take formal direction, let alone give orders; we've known him as an animal and now all of a sudden he's the only link strong enough to pull the X-Men back together.

The first season was very excellently written, the season flowed through very well with a written scheme of "Major Conflict" episode, then "sub-plot" episode, and fragments of clues to in every episode that lead to the final episode. I feel that the writers created the proper vortex as to which the series worked off. One thing that I was really hoping for that the previous animated series both X-Evolution and X-Adventures (90's), was that the writers would properly explore more Marvel children not previously explored. What you get in Wolverine & The X-Men are an ARSENAL of "mutants", most of which remained as supporting characters throughout the series with many appearances. This series was not concerned with episode cameos more so than it was with character longevity. A huge character twist that was very cohesive and important was Emma Frost aka The White Queen. As many of you X fans know, The White Queen appeared in the very first animated cartoon called The Pryde of The X-Men. She then made another major role in the animated series in the 90's during the Phoenix Saga. We knew her to be just a manipulative character that was always filled with ill intent. In Wolverine & The X-Men, Emma is a part of the team because she's the only telepath capable of using cerebro to try and locate Professor X. and Jean-Grey. We get to see a completely different side of Emma Frost throughout the entire season, but don't worry everyone she's The White Queen before anything else which means that she's always two steps ahead.

The retelling of the Phoenix coincided with the standpoint that the film took. Being that Jean-Grey manifests the inner destructive force and it does not have anything to do with Shi`ar like X-Adventures. Magneto also shocks viewers with his more broadly explored contempt and view of the world. I feel that the films really helped to shape the way this Magneto was written. I also feel that the original series did not fully explore the intent of Magneto, thus painting this complete villain out of him. With Wolverine & The X-Men, we see a much more evolved Magneto. In fact we see a much more evolved everything; every character has a much more well rounded placement with the X-Men. The series does go a little Terminator Salvation, I felt the similarities were highly present towards the end of the season, but the mark of originality is solidified by usage of the Sentinels, which were present in X-Adventures. It was nice to see that though the re-telling of the stories were different, it still carried enough similarities to fully accept that this is where the X-Men are at now.

In the above columns I mentioned how I had a problem with the animation of X-Men Evolution. I am very glad to say that the animation for Wolverine & The X-Men was executed exceptionally. Wishy-washy put aside, this series was in it to win it. There was no holding back with violence, well because this series takes place in an exponentially more violent time far worse than what we were exposed to in the the original series. The animation fully complimented the writing, and together it made a series that some Marvel fans may be afraid of, but shouldn't be because it's a winner. Lastly, with the films providing a solid infrastructure and audience to work off of, the complexities incorporated in this series help to build a strong foundation for this animated series to surpass the original. I am looking forward to watching Season 2 and I'll let you all take one guess at the villain, it starts with an "A".

The creation of this series has set a great tone for the X-Men franchise, this cash cow will continue to milk for some time to come. A new film is also in production called X-Men: First Class based off the recent comic book series. I hope this film is capable of keeping it's audience as did with the previous films. However with the introduction of a whole new story I feel that this film definitely has a 50/50 chance of doing something great, or failing completely. With the way that things are going now, there could probably be a million films using Marvel characters. We can hope that with the better technologies, and advances in digital cinema, that directors will be able to bring a little more life into every character with every on going film.

As far as a future with a cartoon series goes. I feel that X-Men will always have to hit a young audience to maintain it's consumers. However with a very large portion of the original audience and followers getting older, I feel that it wouldn't hurt Marvel to eventually take an animated series to another level to help keep the audience that originally supports it. X-Men should grow with it's watchers and being that I'm already 17 years in, it wouldn't hurt to see something in the sense of a series like Spawn on HBO. Wolverine & The X-Men explores a very dark time for the X-Men, and with an imminent super-villain on the rise, what better way to expand your series than to explore the most turbulent and chaotic time in the series called "The Age of Apocalypse", than to have an animated series suited for the age of it's original audience.