X-Men: The Making of the Animated Series by Eric and Julia Lewald

The day of Halloween 1992 It was special, and not because some leading horror movie was released (few did in that decade, really). In fact, this time the focus is on the small screen, because that afternoon the legendary X-Men: The Animated Series. The show, produced by Saban Entertainment and Disney TVlasted for five seasons with a total of seventy-six chapters and for many it is the best animated series starring the mutants of Marvel.

In Spain it did not take us too long to be able to enjoy it. Was Telecinco the chain responsible for programming it in the afternoon in a memorable session that had other mythical series as broadcast partners such as Power Rangers, Conan, Knights of the Zodiac or Batman: The Animated Series (comparisons hurt, but we won’t draw blood). However, for a while he had to face, at least in the capital of the kingdom, Dragon Ball Z. Without a doubt, a close fight.

Finished the prologue, I better go to work with this X-Men: How the Animated Series Was Made. I find it striking that books like this one, or the one by marvel vs dc, are published by Planeta. Let’s remember that the publisher lost the rights to the Casa de las Ideas characters in 2004 and that, since 2005, Panini has been offering us his adventures. As this material has not been properly published by Marvel, Planeta has been able to get hold of it to offer it in an edition traced to the original.

Eric and Julia Lewald They are responsible for collecting a huge amount of information that spans the creation of X-Men: The Animated Series from its mere conceptiongoing through the entire process of creating characters, finding the focus, stories… He even tells us about episodes that were never produced but were written and planned. Almost three hundred dense pages to enjoy in a measured way, in small doses, of a series that, despite its fair animation, has become part of the Olympus of pop culture.

This making off of X-Men: The Animated Series starts with the reproduction of several acetates of the first chapters. From there we move on to a prologue written by Lydia Castillo (regular writer for Panini) and the index that allows us to find all the information in an orderly manner by seasons.

Thanks to this work we will be able to know budget information for X-Men: The Animated Series. In this way, we will see the concept and final designs of most of the main mutants. We will also find graphics of characters that were or were not included in the plans for each string of episodes. Likewise, we will see reproduction of scripts, a multitude of curiosities and much, much, graphic material to get an idea of ​​the previous work of the animators before “giving life” to these creations. Some creations that were influenced by Jim Lee’s designs for X-Men 1, the best-selling comic in Marvel history.

Personally, I really liked seeing the storyboarding of the mythical opening sequence of X-Men: The Animated Series, as well as the score of its no less legendary melody. But I will not talk more about the content of the work, because if you are not interested in this series or simply the process of creating a cartoon series, you will surely enjoy it in a big way.

I don’t know about you, but it’s talking about this book and after enjoying it I really want Disney + to release the sequel X-Men ’97. The nineties comics that expanded his universe were not bad (especially those drawn by Ben Herrera), and the series published under the protection of the Secret Wars by Jonathan Hickman… But nothing like seeing this gang of superhero outlaws on the move, no matter how stiff this is.

In short, the making of X-Men: The Animated Series is a product that will delight mutant fans in its most cathodic aspect. Furthermore, the edition of comic planet is excellent, with a reproduction of the materials and a translation of Nacho Benz quite correct.