I wanted to like this more than I did. Fred Van Lente writes good all-ages material in the Marvel Age line, and this First Class title is kind of a bridge between the normal continuity and the kids' line. It's weird, since I actually enjoyed each issue as a single issue, but read together in a trade the book doesn't hold together as well. Wolverine faces off against a new mutant, Sabretooth, and finally the High Evolutionary and the Man Beast. I really like Van Lente's take on the X-Men team of this era, with Nightcrawler still seeming so weird and Angel so full of himself. Kitty Pryde is a lot of fun here, and I've never been a fan, so that's saying something. She is especially cool when she deals with Sabretooth in issue 2. The book has all the right elements that I enjoy in my books, but like I said, taken all in one sitting it felt repetetive. Kind of like how I can't read a bunch of Marvel Essential or DC Showcase issues right in a row. It is also probably unfair that this trade was sandwiched between All-Star Superman and Fantastic Four: World's Greatest on my reading list.
Andrea De Vito's art is better than Rafa Sandoval's but both are ok. Sandoval's art gets a little too cute for me. His Man Beast isn't threatening at all, and everyone looks kind of silly. De Vito's Byrne-influenced style works perfectly on the first pair of issues though. His X-Men look awesome.
Fair
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