Review: Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron, Volume 2

When Wolverine runs out of money to pay for the expenses to run the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, he and Quentin Quire go on an intergalactic mission to secure more funding. Meanwhile back at home, Kitty Pryde finds herself mysteriously pregnant and the truth about her situation proves to be quite disturbing.

Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron, Volume 2 collects issues #5-8 of Aaron's run on Wolverine and the X-Men.

Let's get this out of the way, Jason Aaron's decision to violate Kitty Pryde's body as a plot device is disgusting and appalling. He essentially rapes the character with this unwanted pregnancy and spends three issues playing it for laughs as if it's somehow funny. It's not simply that it's an instance where a male writer shows a lack of respect for the female body, but it's also incredibly cliché. We've seen this plot device many times over in both comics and television (remember that episode of Angel where Cordelia ends up pregnant with demon spawn? Yeah, that episode was crap too). To make matters even worse, Aaron decides it's not enough to have Kitty's body invaded once without her consent so she is then pumped full of miniaturized X-Men in an attempt to (in essence) abort the pregnancy. It's a sickening storyline that would have only been slightly funny if it had happened to a male character instead.

Despite the ridiculous pregnancy plot, this collection does have some redeeming qualities. For one, the interactions between Wolverine and Quentin are priceless. They make a surprisingly good team and it helps to make Quentin that much more tolerable. Although, the scenes where we're supposed to believe Quentin intends to sleep with female aliens is a little bit of a stretch (I mean really, he looks like Tim Gunn with pink hair). The other great thing about this book is the further development of Broo, the Broodling with a conscience. His design is adorable and he easily stands as the most well-written character in this collection. Aaron's exploration of morality and how much of that is innate works well for Broo's character. Can a species so deadly truly be saved of its baser impulses?

Much like the first volume of Jason Aaron's run on Wolverine and the X-Men, this trade paperback is equally as good as it is bad. The scenes with Wolverine and Quentin Quire are amusing, but the gross-out moments involving Kitty Pryde's pregnancy are incredibly inappropriate and gratuitous. Aaron's lack of respect towards the female body haunts these issues and shows a lack of sensitivity towards unwanted pregnancy (and the affect pregnancy has on a woman in general). For that reason, this makes the narrative nearly unbearable. What is most regrettable, however, is that the ultra-talented Nick Bradshaw was responsible for the art in the issues in question. His pencils are fantastic, so it's disappointing that they're wasted on such bile. For the most part, I suggest avoiding this collection altogether. It's cliché and shows a serious lack of innovation. If there's one thing comic book writers need to learn it's that pregnancy (especially unwanted pregnancy) is NOT a plot device. Treat your female characters and their bodies with respect, otherwise you end up veering into some very dangerous territory.

Rating: D