2.5 stars

Band of Brothers is a rocky stretch of X-Men First Class issues. This volume had more duds than I'd have liked. The Man-Thing-centric Adventure Into Fear issue was convoluted and confusing. The story lacked enough set up to explain the premise and the unengaging action scenes left nothing for me to engage with

I also found the SHEILD-centric issue involving Scarlett Witch and Jean joining up with Black Widow to fight HYDRA lacking in interesting character dynamics I expect in a team-up. There was some forced drama between Wanda and Jean and overall the issue left me cold as nothing truly interesting happened throughout.

I would say a standout character in Band of Brothers is Scott. he by far had the most interesting moments throughout the five issues in this volume. His powerless takedown of the Sentinels was a great demonstration of his quick wit and skill and his solo issue Frederick while simplistic did offer an engaging demonstration of his pathos 

Despite that, I did adore the chibi comic strips at the end of every issue. The over-the-top silliness of the stips and very lighthearted takes on characters as well as the adorable art style bad them a treat to read after every issue 

Band of Brothers as a whole was mainly lacking in interesting characterization and team dynamics. Because the stories are so simplistic and I'm not that fond of the art style of First Class what keeps me reading is a more lighthearted take on the original X-Men and unfortunately for the most part Band of Brothers wasn't up to snuff. It did have its moments which makes me willing to read further on into the series.