X-Men ’97 #1 Review: A Better Episode Zero Than First Issue

X-Men animated series and comic book adaptations thereof go hand-in-hand, with Marvel having published several comic book series in tandem with the various animated X-Men adventures through the years. X-Men ’97, the newly-released follow-up to the original X-Men: The Animated Series from the 1990s, is no exception, with X-Men ’97 #1 being the first issue in a new comic book series tied in to that animated series.

Best of all, Marvel tapped writer Steve Foxe and artist Salva Espín to launch the book, following on from the duo’s previous work in this vein, X-Men ’92: House Of XCII. Unfortunately, while that series did some fun and inventive work within the realm of an animated adaptation, X-Men ’97 #1 fails to be much more than an obvious tie-in comic. 

Thankfully, X-Men ’97 #1 isn’t just a straight adaptation of the first X-Men ’97 episode, “To Me, My X-Men.” Rather, it takes place within the gap between the end of the original series and the start of the new one, roughly nine months before the animated series begins.

The issue opens on a familiar scene, with the X-Men fighting Magneto, clothed in his traditional supervillain attire. This is quickly revealed to be a Danger Room sequence, and while X-Men ’97 #1 isn’t directly adapting “To Me, My X-Men”, it hits some of the same beats, with Cyclops pushing the X-Men harder in the wake of Professor Xavier’s death. 

From there, X-Men ’97 #1 moves into a plot involving the Friends of Humanity kidnapping Dazzler before a big memorial concert she’s holding in Xavier’s honor. Like the animated series, Foxe draws on past continuity. This is the same Dazzler whom the X-Men met in the animated adaptation of “Dark Phoenix”.

Ultimately, the plot serves simply as a vehicle for setting up or adding context to events from the animated series. The X-Men meet Val Cooper for the first time, explaining their familiar relationship in “To Me, My X-Men”, Storm debuts her new look, and Jean tells Cyclops she’s pregnant (the panel featuring Wolverine’s silent slumped shoulder reaction upon overhearing this news is the highlight of the issue).

A fight breaks out involving the Nasty Boys, Mister Sinister’s 90s era henchmen who appeared in the original animated series, but they mostly exist to lose and prompt Sinister to tease the recruitment of new henchmen (all of whom are likely going to show up in the animated series), including his more classic team of goons, the Marauders.

All of these plot points are perfectly fine material to expand and deepen the narrative of X-Men ’97 the animated series, but therein lies the rub. That’s all this is.

There’s really nothing to it that allows X-Men ’97 #1 to stand on its own. It is a comic book companion to the animated series. It exists solely in service to that series, rather than a comic book set within the world of the animated series, in service to itself. Which is especially disappointing given that, in X-Men ’92: House Of XCII, Foxe and Espín showed themselves more than capable of threading that needle, of telling a story with all the trappings of the animated universe but which still stood on its own.

Perhaps it is unfair to hold this series to that standard, given that each is designed to be a very different thing. Certainly, Espín’s art is still fun and pleasing to look at, with clean, smooth lines that emulate the vibe of the animated series without looking like fumetti screengrabs (shoutout here to colorist Matt Milla, who aids in this effort via bright, bold colors that don’t lack depth).

Foxe has a good handle on the characters; it’s easy to read the dialogue and hear it in the voice of their animated counterpart. And while some of the plot beats may feel slight or repetitive, X-Men ’97 #1 is still a far sight better comic book than if it was simply retelling the events of “To Me, My X-Men” or any other episode of the animated series.

But, given the past work of the creators involved, it’s hard not to be disappointed that there isn’t another level to this, something that helps it stand on its own as a comic book series, and not just as a supplemental add-on to something else.