Wolverine and the X-Men Revelation Review
There’ve been several attempts made at animating the X-Men over the years. The first successful series ran for 6 seasons and is what initially got me interested in the characters to begin with. The animation was very hard edged and ‘chromey’ (reminiscent of G.I. Joe or Jem) but captured the classic look of the comic books. Since then the Marvel movies have helped to explode the popularity of the X-Men and newer series have hit the tube, including the latest for Nickelodeon, Wolverine and the X-Men. The animation has gotten better and the storylines are more mature. Unfortunately, the series only lasted for one season and isn’t currently available as a whole on DVD. 5 episodes of the series are available however, episodes that wrap up the season pretty cleanly, collectively called Revelation.
Revelation contains episodes 19 through 23 of the series that completes this particular version of “The Phoenix Saga” of events X-Men will be familiar with. The disc also includes a few trailers of other Marvel toons and animated movies as well as episode commentary from supervising producer Craig Kyle, head writer Greg Johnson, and writer Chris Yost.
I much prefer the animation of these newer toons than their predecessors and the widescreen presentation coupled with 5.1 surround sound make it a better experience all around. The commentary wasn’t half bad either. The writers have a clear respect for the content, but don’t hesitate to have a little fun as well. Listen for the ‘evil bench’ bit for a good laugh.
The included episodes are a good representation of the series, but anyone no privvy to the previous 18 episodes might quickly find themselves lost, being that the storyline shifts between the future and the present pretty frequently and abruptly. Therein lies the problem: without already being a fan it might get confusing, but a fan is likely to wait for the entire season/series to come out.
Instead, this might be a good pick for younger fans, since they’re less likely to care about the storyline and more about the battles. Problem there is that there aren’t any good kid-friendly bonus features on the disc. Still this was a good series and the DVD is a good presentation of the chosen episodes. Wolverine and the X-Men: Revelation is an entertaining couple of hours and a unique way for Marvel fans, old and new, to see a myriad of their favorite heroes and villains come to life.
