Featured TV on DVD Review: Wolverine and the X-Men: The Complete Series

November 5, 2010

Wolverine and the X-Men: The Complete Series - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray

When Wolverine and the X-Men was first announced, there was some skepticism expressed, as people were concerned they were making Wolverine the leader of the X-men merely to cash-in on the popularity of the character from the live action movies. Now that series has ended, were they able to prove the critics wrong?

The Show

This will be quite a short review, as I've reviewed the entire series before when it was released on six individual volumes, starting with Heroes Return Trilogy (Review). The first three episodes setup the main story and how Wolverine was leaving the X-men. (It was on amicable terms, more or less.) As he was getting ready to leave, there was an explosion and in the aftermath both Jean Grey and Professor X are gone. Throughout the run, the show bounces between episodes that examine that story, some stand-alone episodes, and a few fan service episodes. (Hulk vs. Wolverine definitely falls in the last category, but it is a highlight of the season.) As the season progresses, there are fewer stand-alones and the storytelling becomes a lot more intense and even at its weakest, it is still a top-notch adaptation.

(For more detailed reviews on the individual releases, go check out Deadly Enemies, Beginning of the End, Fate of the Future, Revelation, and Final Crisis Trilogy.)

I am very happy with this series, but I'm quite pissed off that it won't be continuing. Hopefully the creative force behind this show will get another chance to work with these characters.

The Extras

Extras on the 3-disc set start with audio commentary tracks on all 26 episodes. In fact, the first three episodes have two audio commentary tracks each. As I mentioned during the individual reviews, the audio commentary tracks are highly entertaining and add a great deal of entertainment value to the set. On the final disc there is a short 5-minute making of featurette, and a more in-depth 19-minute making of featurette. As for the show's technical presentation, I'm of two minds. On the one hand, the show was made for TV, so you can't expect the same detail level that a theatrical release would have. On the other hand, the colors are amazing, strong black levels, little to no compression artifacts, etc. Likewise, the audio is crisp and clear with enough use of surround sound speakers to not seem boring, but not as much as a theatrical release would have.

The Blu-ray does cost quite a bit more than the DVD does, which is an issue.

The Verdict

Wolverine and the X-Men is a must have for fans of these characters, or of comics books in general. The Complete Series is a much better deal than buying the sets individually, but the price difference between the DVD and the Blu-ray is too much for my liking. But that is the only real negative thing I have to say about the season.


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