Rating: Country: USA Release Date: October 12, 2009 Distributor: Lions Gate Cast: · Steve Blum · Kari Wahlgren · Jim Ward · Nolan North Grade: A

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When Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson were tasked to develop a cartoon series centered on Marvel's Wolverine, to capitalize on the film of the same name, they were challenged with taking the X-Man who should never be in charge of anything and putting him in a leadership position of the X-Men. Drawing inspiration from the classic X-Men story, "Days of Future Past," they chose to set their tale slightly in the future. A mysterious explosion has rocked the X-mansion. Professor X is missing and presumed dead, as is Jean Grey. Dispirited by the attack and lacking leadership, the team disbands.

But Professor X is alive -- albeit in a coma from which he won't awaken for many years. From his vantage point in the future, he projects a mental message back in time to Wolverine, telling him about the horrible events that will plague the world if he doesn't change history.

The future destruction of the world comes at the hands of the Sentinel program -- giant robots programmed to seek out and detain (or, optionally, destroy) people possessing the mutant gene. They're the big guns that back up the paramilitary police organization named the Mutant Response Division, which features regularly in the series. Wolverine's mission is to seek out and destroy the main artificial intelligence behind the Sentinels -- Master Mold -- which will eventually go rogue and take over the world. But to do that, he's going to need the X-Men back together, and they're not all that eager to be on a team anymore.

Even though the series occurs in the near future, many of the stories told are reinventions of things that have occurred in past comics. The classic battle of Wolverine vs. Hulk vs. Wendigo, for instance (which was the first introduction of Wolverine, ever, for you trivia buffs out there, and it happened in Incredible Hulk #180-182). Warren Worthington, the high-flying Angel, turns to Mr. Sinister to become the blue-skinned blade-slinging Archangel. Magneto prepares the sovereign island nation of Genosha, a haven for mutants, to go to war with humankind. These are the kinds of things we've already seen, but it was interesting to see the writers draw on these touchstone moments and incorporate them into this new vision of the X-Men.

Steve Blum voices the main character, joined by Kari Wahlgren, Jim Ward and Nolan North as Emma Frost, Professor X, and a despondent, short-fused Scott Summers, who has never been the same since Jean disappeared. The rest of the X-Men show up as well, of course, but never really in force -- and that's a good thing. With each episode focused on just a few characters at a time, the viewer is rewarded with more storytelling and less filler. Yes, there are the throwaway moments with recognizable characters who show up in passing, but for the most part the stories concentrate on Wolverine and just a few others, allowing for some nice character development. (I particularly liked the direction they were taking regarding a relationship between Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch.)

Alas, the biggest spoiler comes with the labeling of the disc. Noting that this collection is "The Complete Series" rather than "The Complete First Season" would seem indicative that the post-climactic new future -- which is almost as problematic as the one Wolverine and the X-Men strive to prevent -- won't be the crux of a second season of animated adventures. This is a little disappointing, but hope springs eternal that it may be revisited with yet another series -- possibly when "Wolverine 2" makes its way into theaters.

I have to give very high marks to this DVD set when it comes to the bonus features. Every single episode comes with an optional commentary track by Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson. Most of the time, they're joined by Chris Yost, and the first three episodes that set up the story also have a secondary commentary track with Boyd Kirkland and Steve Gordon. Additionally, the third disc has two featurettes that bring together the creative team and voice actors to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the character designs and story development, as well as some from the actors about working with directory Craig Kyle.

Previews on this release include "Alpha and Omega," "Thor: Tales of Asgard," "The Spy Next Door," "Planet Hulk," "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow," and "Battle for Terra."