Editor's Note: X-Men Origins: Beast arrives in stores Thursday, September 4.

The latest issue of X-Men Origins brings us the story of Hank McCoy, a.k.a Beast, tracing his journey from gifted high-school student to pupil of Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. Mike Carey doesn't make any major changes to Beast's established backstory here bar a couple of small tweaks, preferring instead to flesh out his character with extended scenes of his home life and school career. As with the previous Jean Grey one-shot, it serves to add a welcome human element to what could have been a by-numbers retelling of a fairly simple story, giving even those readers who are familiar with Beast's roots a good reason to pick this issue up.

Carey's take on the Beast's origin includes the kinds of details that knowledgeable fans of the character would probably want to see, such as his father's exposure to radiation a couple of years before Hank's birth (which acts as a possible trigger for his mutant gene), or the encounter with the unintentionally hilarious supervillain "The Conquistador" that takes place before Hank joins the X-Men. However, it's the writer's strong grasp of Hank's character that is the real attraction, with McCoy displaying the kind of wit and intelligence that has always made him such a firm favourite X-Man, and giving him a tender, sensitive side that's demonstrated by his close relationship with his female classmate. There's humour here, too, with Carey getting a fair amount of mileage out of Hank's triumphant one-upmanship of his wisecracking peers as he joins the high school football team, and even managing to get a couple of good quips in during the slightly more serious second half of the issue (I loved the part where the Beast starts pointing out the discrepancies between the various religious mythologies that the deluded Conquistador is drawing upon).

The artwork suits the story well. JK Woodward's style is painted, and although it isn't quite as sharply-focused and detailed as Mike Mayhew's work in X-Men Origins: Jean Grey, the effect is similar. Woodward keeps the colours fairly light and bright, giving the book a nostalgic aura that suits the period of the story well (the issue opens with a montage that establishes the era as that of the very early days of the Marvel Universe). That nostalgic quality is also compounded by the similarity between this artwork and the work of Alex Ross on the classic Marvels series. I know that it's a cliché comparison to draw for painted artwork, but Woodward's visuals really are reminiscent of Ross' work on that book - and they share Ross' weaknesses, too, occasionally feeling a little stiff and posed when a more dynamic approach might be desirable. For the most part, though, it's a good-looking book.

Some readers might be disappointed by the fact that the more recognisable blue version of the Beast is almost entirely absent here: aside from a couple of images of the modern-day Beast that can be seen in a visual montage, the book deals exclusively with the pink-skinned, human-looking incarnation of the character. That said, Woodward does capture some facial expressions that evoke the modern-day Beast, and at least the cover accurately reflects that it's the original Lee/Kirby version of the character that is going to form the basis of this story, not the evolved version that is around today. This is hardly an essential comic, even for X-fans, but Carey's enjoyable script and Woodward's art combine to execute the series' concept very well, adding just enough to Beast's origin to make the issue worth picking up - even for those who are familiar with the story already.

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