'X-Men'

The X-Men comic book series has been adapted many times before. Disregarding any recent movies, some of the TV series based on the comic book include the current Wolverine and the X-Men, as well as 1992's X-Men and X-Men Evolution in 2000.

X-Men begins abruptly, with Cyclops and the other X-Men begging Jean Grey to fight the evil forces within her before she goes supernova. The X-Men (who include Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm and Beast in this installment) disband after the death of Jean (Phoenix). Professor Charles Xavier brings them together again when he receives a call from distressed parents that their young daughter, a mutant, has gone missing in Japan. The team reassembles, including the depressed and reluctant (beefy and cut) Scott, flying to Japan to find the girl and discover what's really going on.

X-Men provides little backstory, assuming anyone watching the show knows the history of the characters. For instance, if you didn't know Wolverine carried a metal torch for Jean Grey, you might not understand some of his comments to Cyclops, Jean's paramour. Viewers are expected to be caught up on X-Men enough to jump right into the story.

The X-Men characters are based on the comic book universe, rather than any movies or TV shows.

Professor Charles Xavier is taciturn, as always. He is represented as the head of the X-Men, but doesn't actually do much more than a secretary, taking messages and passing them on to the team. Hopefully, in future episodes we'll see more of his power put to use.

Beast is a fairly well fleshed-out character able to coolly put Wolverine in his place, while thinking through problems with Xavier or teaching his classroom of clownish students.

Storm is stylish, and her powers are impressive, but her dialogue leaves much to be desired. She has a few lame quips to Beast and the crowd on a cruise ship, but she spends most of her talking time trying to placate Wolverine and Cyclops.

Wolverine (Steve Blum, Wolverine and the X-Men) is the star of the show, as he usually is. His gravelly voice grinds out the most lines and the most jokes. ("Lady, the problem isn't in my pants." Shing!) But he's a little too one-dimensional, focusing almost solely on berating Cyclops.

Cyclops (Scott Porter, Friday Night Lights) started as one-dimensional, doing little more than moping about. But he starts to show signs of depth when he's fighting a kidnapped mutant-gone-wrong.

Jean Grey is obviously going to return; even if you don't know the story of the comic books you see signs of it in the cartoon, like the tombstone that reads, "She Will Rise Again." I don't think that's meant in a Christian way.

The anime style of X-Men is old-school and not my taste. The pace of the story was too slow and too boring. The first fight didn't occur until halfway through the second episode. Most of the time we're left staring at pretty pictures, or watching the "camera" pan across still shots. Mouths didn't match the dialogue. And why is Wolverine's hand extending toward the camera in the War Room scene?

The painting is certainly pretty to look at. The locales are desolate and bleak, which lends itself to the desperate feeling of the team. The characters are all contrast colors, shadows and light.

It should be noted that the heroes are drawn and painted in comic-book style more than anything natural. Wolverine and Beast are the size of three men put together; Storm is expectedly shapelier than most women; Jean Grey exceeds expectations with breasts that are the size of watermelons and defy the laws of physics.

A lot of the story or action didn't make sense. For instance, we find out that one girl has gone missing in Japan, and Storm immediately says there's a plot to kidnap all mutants. Where did that come from? We see pirates firing several automatic weapons at a cruise ship, but the passengers are standing at the rail, watching. Are they all wearing Kevlar? A Japanese store owner starts bad-mouthing mutants to two enormous guys wearing black and gold, skin-tight jumpsuits. Um, stupid much?