I don’t usually comment on the many, many press releases that end up on CBR or Newsarama. There’s simply not enough time in the day to even look at them, let alone develop a reaction to them AND write about it. However, a certain number of key words that cross the threshold of my interest will cause me to read about something that somebody wants to promote.

In this instance, the combination of ‘animated’, ‘X-Men’ and ‘Wolverine’ was enough on a quiet day to click on this link that appeared in my Google Reader. It is for a new animated series from Marvel, called Wolverine and the X-Men. The name alone makes my inner fanboy twitch with righteous (yet impotent) indignation. You see, Wolverine is one of the X-Men; that’s how he started out, before he got all famous and guest-starred in other people’s books, or everybody swooned over Hugh Jackman. He’s part of the team – do we have Robin and the Teen Titans, or Captain America and the Avengers, or something equally stupid that I can’t think of right now? (Batman and the Outsiders doesn’t count – he created the team and he was famous before them.)

But it gets worse, with this line from the press release:

‘the most legendary of all X-Men, Wolverine’

Oh dearie me, no. No, no, no. Now, I was a big X-fan growing up, and obviously I liked the short, hairy Canuck as much as the next fanboy, but Wolverine is not the most legendary X-Men of all. You can try to persuade me all you like, but you won’t change my mind. I know he’s got the claws and the healing factor, and he’s been around a long time, but that does not equal ‘legendary’, not by a Longshot (in-joke for X-Men fans). I can understand why the makers want to make him the lead and the draw for a new series – he was, is and will always be the coolest mofo on the mutant team – but, please, tone down the ridiculous hyperbole. I know, it’s just a press release, but we should have standards, you know what I mean? And let’s not get into how he’s so not a leader …

Anyway, the trailer itself seems to be an X-fan’s wet dream – it seems that there is going to be an entire series based around the Days of Future Past concept, and trying to prevent it. Look at all the people and stories that turn up – you have Wolverine in his yellow costume (and a reference to Weapon X), as well as Emma Frost (in diamond form), the furry Beast, Iceman. There’s Rogue, Gambit, Angel (the feathered version), Wolfsbane, Domino, Maverick, even Morrison’s Dust. On the flip side, there’s Magneto, Polaris, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mystique (and did I see Vertigo from the Marauders in there?). We have Genosha and the Sentinels, and there’s even room for Mojo and Spiral for crying out loud. And is that Forge with the goatee at the end? Talk about a kitchen-sink mentality; no wonder they’re going to need an entire series … which it is unlikely I will ever get to see, except possibly via YouTube, seeing as all those lovely superhero cartoons don’t make it onto terrestrial or free-to-air digital channels.

To sum up: Wolverine should not be the star or the leader of an X-Men cartoon. However, my inner teenage X-fanboy really wants to see it. I am so conflicted …