I read X-Men: First Class as well, and it was definitely similar in its unabashedly feel-good tone. I doubt I'll stick around for Uncanny X-Men: First Class, though. Part of what attracted me to the first series was the original 5, since they've evolved so far beyond that now that they're practically different characters. Nightcrawler, Colossus, et al., though? They're close enough that I might as well just read a modern X-Men comic.
I do hear you about missing the founding five. Jeff Parker really had fun with them while updating their dynamic a bit (even if Jean Grey, there, here, and everywhere, was always "token girl" and hasn't recovered as a character from that I think; Phoenix is just a big bright distraction to that dilemma). That said, Parker did go on with that line-up of the founding five X-Men for a good 30 issues of material; that's about how many issues they lost to reprints in the 70's.
The Uncanny line-up, I agree I was skeptical of it since, well, it has been done to death by Claremont et. al., but it still has some charms to it. Banshee is there, for one, and I always lamented his senseless sacrifice to Vulcan four years ago. He was always one of my Top 10 X-Men (even if not the Top 7). It may be "more like current X-Men books", only with one difference; it's FUN. The characters aren't tortured bags of misery and "wangst". No Greg Land, no M-Day, and no Claremont revisions or returns. And, well, I imagine Scott Gray will not have as dated a style of dialogue for them as Claremont did, and without a clog of "telling as the artist is showing" narration panels. I was impressed enough by this special to continue on. This was back when Nightcrawler was a fun, non-priestly swashbuckler. Before literally everyone in Colossus' emotional life was killed. Before Jean died/was replaced. Before Storm became a walking fetish for Claremont's repressed kinky side (I mean, seriously, she had her "punker borderline lesbian" moments with Yukio and quite a lot of bondage in the X-Treme era). Before Cyclops decided that killing was the first and only option for even teenagers to consider. While of course it's not the same as Angel and Iceman, I do see some potential.
(Besides, Angel did come back for visits sometimes during that line-up. He just never got along with Wolverine.)
Still, the title "First Class" really makes little sense without the, well, First Class. Perhaps more could have been done with that format, maybe a few issues from when Mimic was a member, or when Havok and Polaris replaced Beast. But, hell, WOLVERINE: FIRST CLASS makes even less sense as a title. That one's fun I hear, but I'm not into more Wolverine. Least in Uncanny in theory he is just one of the team. His chapter in the special was hilarious, though. Who knew Logan had a sense of humor that didn't involve killing drunks in bars in Madripoor?
I do hope the FIRST CLASS franchise can find a new way to tell their stories without relying on endless team-up's.
Yeesh, totally different experiences here, Dread. Really. They bend over backwards fer me (probably since I drop a good $70 or more a week). My only complaint is this one mope who hangs out there from open to close on Wednesday. The type that gives us comic fans a bad rep.
BTW, they got THREE stores now. I need to visit Robin at the third one of these days.
Hell, $70 a week they SHOULD bend over backwards for you. I guess my measly $20 a week makes me a rube, and I'm worth wrestling with the eBay hawkers for the issue.
.
A third store to chase comics at? Cool. Hopefully they have a new business card to grab so I can nab an address.
