Classic. That’s what this book is, it’s classic. Classic in its approach and classic in its look. Not only does this book go back to what some might call the glory days of Marvel comics, but it does so artistically as well. If you didn’t know any better you would swear that this book was written and drawn in 1986 which is just too cool.

X-men and Spider-Man is a four issue miniseries that retcons the history between Spidey and the X-Men just a bit. The first issue involves Kraven the Hunter some time after he and Spidey’s first meeting. The cool part is the old gang of Harry Osborne, MJ, Flash Thompson and Gwen Stacey all make an appearance that helps set the tone for the book.

It was cool to see the X-Men out of costume and mingling with Spider-Man’s original supporting cast, it made for a really funny scene between the young characters. The two groups get off on the wrong foot (hot girls will do that for ya) and are completely interrupted by Kraven who is on the hunt for Spider-Man. You see Kraven made it known to the world that Spider-Man was a mutant. That prompted the X-Men to seek him out and offer protection, which is how the crew came together.

The artwork in this issue is simply amazing. Peter looks like John Romita Sr. drew him and that’s awesome, the X-men are in their original costumes and feature the original team to boot. I really appreciate the idea of exploring the relationship between Spidey as a loner and the X-Men as the ultimate family of super heroes (no offense to the Fantastic Four but they’re adventurers, not heroes). The X-men offer Peter Parker safe haven but of course he turns it down.

The book ends in an interesting manner that could have implications to current Spider-Man or X-Men stories. Considering that this is a four issue series those implications could be explored sooner rather than later. The last few pages show a meeting between Kraven and Mr. Sinister who is up to his old tricks of DNA stealing. He also alludes to being interested in Kraven’s DNA as well, which could help explain a lot about the character going forward.

These kinds of books are fun to read because it has a lot of fun with the history of Marvel comics. Going back and making changes to storylines can sometimes be opening a can of worms but for the most part it makes one or more stories that much more interesting. Remember when they wrote the story of Cap and Wolverine fighting together back in WWII? This story is cool like that, and so far it makes more sense.

If you’re a fan of either Spider-Man or the X-Men or both then this is the book for you, especially if you’re a huge fan of the old X-Men Classic books that Marvel used to publish.

Crave Online Rating: 9 out of 10