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I grew up reading Marvel’s X-Men comics, both the original and the late ‘80s and early ‘90s incarnations. So, when the animated series popped up in the ‘90s (even though I was in my mid-20s at the time), I, like many other fanboys and geeks at the time, could not help but salivate at the prospect of seeing out favorite characters like Wolverine, Beast, and Gambit come to life.
What sent me over the top with the series was the fact that the producers decided not simply to tell completely new stories in the lives of the students at Xavier Institute but to animate some of the more intriguing and defining stories in the X-Men mythos. Fans of the comics and graphic novels will know what I’m talking about. Seminal story arcs such as “Days of Future Past,” “Out of the Past,” and the classic “Phoenix Saga” burst off the screen in that jerky type of animation that defined many of these cartoons in the ‘90s. But I still loved it. These were the comic books I loved so much, moving for the first time. The character traits remained intact, and the voices for each were perfect. And even though these episodes were created with kids in mind, the producers were very much attuned to the fan base. The narratives themselves were surprising complex thematically.
This month sees the release (finally) of the X-Men series in two double-disc volumes. What can I say? Again, sure, the animation still looks a little jerky. But that’s a part of its charm. It is, after all, a comic book come to life, and we’re talking a few years before computer animation would change cartoon aesthetics forever. But what holds these volumes together is the fact what we have the classic stories all in one place.
In Volume 2, we have the above mentioned “Phoenix Saga,” captured in not one part—as most cartoons are wont to do where 10-year-old attention spans are involved—but five, an epic story arc, which needed an epic length. For those unfamiliar with the comic, the “Phoenix Saga” is played out in live action in the third X-Men movie, X -Men: The Last Stand. Even then, it was passed over, buried in a myriad of other story strands. Here, we get to see the narrative developed and lovingly told. Yes, I said lovingly. The audience for these volumes is pretty set: young boys and comic book fans.
These classic cartoons are not your Hollywood version, which, let’s face it, was created to appeal to the largest audience possible, what with hunky man meat Hugh Jackman as the slightly bigger and less hirsute Wolverine and sexy Halle Berry as the perfect Storm—all great fun for movie fans, which also so happened to appeal to the fanatical fan. But these animated stories are where it’s at. They’re as close to the comic books and graphic novels as you’re going to get.
As I said, the serious fan base will love these DVD sets. Fathers (and mothers, too, because I know there are many female fans of the genre) who were fans in the ‘90s can at last open up their kids’ minds to intelligent cartoons with some serious and energetic storytelling. The DVDs lack any extras, but, for a change, I don’t mind. Having these episodes on hand to watch and relive is reward enough.
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