Customer Reviews

Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 2 (v. 2)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Joss Whedon used the comic book series Fray to prove that he could successfully write a compelling, original comic book story. Astonishing X-Men not only further proves his abilities as a comic book writer in general, but it shows that he can take an existing franchise and simultaneously make it his own as well as staying very loyal to the source material and backstory. In the next six issues of his X-Men story, things go from bad to worse (although fans of Whedon's work tend to expect that kind of thing from him), making for some very interesting plot twists.
In the wake of the mutant cure, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Wolverine, Shadowcat, and the recently "ressurected" Colossus are still trying to deal with the fallout. Compounding the problem is that one of their students, a young boy who took great pride in his ability to fly, was "cured" against his will, and now he is suicidal. He allows himself to die in the Danger Room, starting a chain of events that causes the new programming in the Danger Room to go beserk and ignore the "No Kill" safeguard that Prof. Xavier programmed.
By the end of these six issues, the Fantastic Four will show up, one of the X-Men will begin to lose their faith in what they are doing, and a mole will be revealed (to the audience). Furthermore, relationships will be pushed to the breaking point (another Whedon staple).
Astonishing X-Men was originally going to be a 12-issue series, but due to the immense popularity, Marvel has ordered another 12 issues. Whedon and artist John Cassiday are taking a few months off, but fans everywhere are most likely on the edge of their seats in anticipation of the next group of issues. I know that I am...

Collecting the second half of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's first year run on Astonishing X-Men, Dangerous finds the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity creator weaving another superbly done tale starring Marvel's merry mutants. Beginning with a team up with the Fantastic Four, the X-Men are re-grouped and re-organized with Colossus back in the fold. However, there is something very wrong with the X-Men's training facility, the Danger Room, and now it has manifested itself as a sentient being with intentions of killing the X-Men, and most of all their creator, Charles Xavier. While Dangerous isn't as jaw dropping or surprising as Whedon and Cassaday's first arc, Dangerous proves to be a just plain great X-Men story, with Whedon taking Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma, Shadowcat, Beast, and Colossus to new heights. Not to mention that by the time Professor X enters the fray, it is undoubtadly the most fearsome and powerful the character has been written in some time. Planetary artist John Cassaday continues to impress with his dynamite art, giving the book a cutting edge look. All in all, Dangerous continues the astonishing (no pun intended) first year of Whedon and Cassaday, and by the time you reach the surprise last page, you'll be begging for more.

This is basically a rehash of the "Cerebro as villain" story a few years back. Not only that, but the villain is a bit of a yawn, the story is slightly unbelievable in terms of certain characters motivations and there are some large & convenient plot holes (as one example, the villain says her only goal in life is to kill the X-men- it is her overriding purpose- and then when she can, when she has all the time in the world to kill them, she just leaves without trying).

The arc is not particularly tight and focused. There is quite a bit of padding and in fact its the third issue before you even know whats going on.

However, the art is quite good (if a bit sterile at times) and the dialogue is funny and witty, sometimes bordering on the silly but usually excellent. The lack of soap opera dramatics and enormous thought bubbles is refreshing. Compared to the other books, the story is downright outstanding anyway, so if you're looking to pick up one of the main 3 X-books, this is it.

With so many X-Men related books out there, it's tough to tell what is worth your time and money. Ultimate X-men can be fun, but if you're looking for something set in the original Marvel universe Astonishing X-men surpasses them all.

So why only four stars? After reading Vol 1: Gifted, I was blown away. The story, art, pacing, action, and dialogue were all top-notch. It's a book you'll want to read more than once.

I ordered Vol. 2: Dangerous and was expecting the same WOW feeling. Although the book is very good, it doesn't quite measure up to the first. The story is clever, but it doesn't really grab me. The artwork is fine, but seems a little rushed. Keep in mind that I'm comparing it to a near-perfect book (Gifted). On it's own, Dangerous is an action-packed book with some excellent artwork and writing. It may not be perfect, but it's like Shakespeare compared to other X-titles. All gripes aside, I'm glad I ordered it.

While I had nothing but praise for mastermind Joss Whedon's first X-Men trade paperback (Astonishing X-Men Vol. 1: Gifted). I found the second arc of the series ("Dangerous") to be problematic. The story threads started and unfinished in "Gifted" were hardly touched at all in this arc, and a whole new, very confusing story starts. Those unfamiliar to pre-Whedon X-Men are going to find themselves lost when the mythology of "the Danger Room", Professor Xavier, and Genosha come into play, as they were hardly even mentioned in "Gifted."

This trade paperback collects the entire "Dangerous" arc, made up of six issues, and there are certainly many good points to be spoken of. The first and some of the sixth issue read very well, and--as with any Joss Whedon work--the character interactions are done perfectly. The character of Wing and his situation had a lot of potential for a great story, but what was done with him was convoluted at best. The baddie in this issue (a personification of the Danger Room itself) spends more than half the issue explaining itself, and I'm simply left saying "Huh?" Whedon even admitted his mistakes in this arc, saying that he was "so fascinated with the idea of new intelligence that (he) neglected the action and thus prevented the story from flowing well."

Overall, don't let this trade paperback change your view of Whedon. He was the best writer television has ever seen, and he's making a crater sized dent in the world of comics with this Astonishing X-Men, his arc of Runaways, and his Buffy: Season Eight series. Every writer has a bit of a slip up. This is Joss's.

6/10

I am an old collector of the X-men since the days of Claremont and Cockrum. I actually pulled from the old spinner racks all the issues of Claremont/Byrne and I actually read X-Men 135 during my social studies class in high school. Why do I mention any of this? It's because the Astonishing X-Men made me feel like I did when I read those books before. These are excellent books and definitely worth the investment and time.

Professor X is kind of a bastard.

No, seriously, think about it for a minute. He regularly allows the children in his care to believe he's dead, has at times usurped battlefield command of the X-Men from far more competent combat leaders, has put the lives of his students at risk in the name of his "dream," has routinely disbanded the group whenever it suited him (whether or not his students wanted or need to continue on, which they almost always did). He's alienated former students and lovers, mind-wiped Magneto, and let's not forget the whole Onslaught thing. In his own way, he's just as fanatical as Magnus is, willing to do almost anything in the name of his "dream."

Oh, and he harbored sexual thoughts about the teenage Jean Grey for years. Seriously.

Granted, Professor Xavier still usually enjoys a good reputation and the loyalty of his students. Even Jean. But, given the evidence building up throughout the pages of the various X-titles for over 40 years, it's not that difficult, in hindsight, to see how writer Joss Whedon came to the above stated conclusion.

The story in "Dangerous" is a sequel to the previous Astonishing X-Men arc, "Gifted" (also available in trade paperback). It's not necessary to have read the previous story, but it helps a whole lot. And, let's face it, if you're an X-fan, chances are you already have. If not, do it. Go, right now. I'm serious, go read it. You finished? Good. Wasn't that awesome? Now you're ready for "Dangerous."

The following conatins some major SPOILERS:

The students at Xavier's Institute (currently headed by Cyclops and Emma Frost) are still reeling from the events of "Gifted," particularly the young mutant named Wing, who was infected with the "Cure" drug and lost his powers of flight. The boy commits suicide in the Danger Room, which is actually worse than it sounds. See, it turns out that the Shi'ar technology that years ago was used to rebuild the Danger Room from a gym with some robot arms to an almost-lethal holodeck has a basic level of sentience. For years, it's been studying the X-Men as they've trained there, and it's longed to kill them (that's it's programming, after all, to threaten them), but a separate program that Xavier installed has always prevented it from doing so. Now that Wing has been able to override that protocol, the room's free to do as it pleases. And what is pleases is to kill the X-Men (and what have we learned kids? Always incorporate your "no killing" software directly into your "try to kill `em" software, not as a separate, overridable file). After fatally injuring every member of the group, it heads to Genosha to kill its creator and captor, Professor X himself. He manages to stop it, but then it hops bodies into one of the meglo-Sentinels that was responsible for the slaughter of Genosha a few years back, and imbues that Sentinel with a form of consciousness as well. Oops. So, the X-Men have to kill the thing that's a bigger, badder version of the thing that just killed them. Can they? No, but Kitty manages to convince the newly birthed "sentient Sentinel" that Danger is hiding something. That something happens to be the memory of what the Sentinel did to Genosha, and once it remembers, it is stricken with grief and heads off for parts unknown. Preofessor X, it turns out, knew that "Danger" was self aware all along, but chose to ignore that because he needed to train his students. He just did "what had to be done." Isn't that always the excuse? Meanwhile, we find out who Emma's mysterious council (heard, but not seen, in the final pages of "Gifted") are: her old pals at the Hellfire Club. And all the while, the mystery of Ord and SWORD deepens.

END SPOILERS

Joss Whedon, having nothing left to prove after his first 6-issue run, is more than comfortable shuffling the X-Men players around the chessboard. Characterization is handled remarkably well without resorting to Claremont-esque thought bubbles that spell out each and every thought and feeling of each character. Colossus is still dealing with his recent resurrection, and not necessarily handling it well (preferring to ride on top of the X-Jet rather than in it). Cyclop's relationship with Emma gets a bit touchy, and explodes by story's end. Kitty is still dealing with Peter's return, and trying to provide council to the student body, but isn't doing too good a job of either. And Logan, well, he likes beer. The characters are all brilliantly utilized, and the dialogue crackles with Whedon's trademark wit.

Whedon again demonstrates why he's a godsend to the X-Men universe. He manages to continue setting the X-world straight, by pushing Peter and Kitty back together, Scott and Emma away from each other, and revealing that, no, Emma is not to be trusted. Some have accused him of being too retro, to which I say... well, I can't print what I say on Amazon. He's brought the X-Men back from being "Grant Morrison's black-leather-brigade" to being the X-Men again. No, he doesn't move things into some far-out realm or completely reorder the world. He just tells damn good stories with damn good dialogue. And sometimes that's enough. You don't need to constantly reinvent the wheel; sometimes, you just need to make a damn good wheel. And Whedon's wheel is as good as they come.

I couldn't finish without paying respect to the art of John Cassaday. He's clearly gotten more comfortable drawing the X-Men, as he's able to tweak the models without loosing anything (letting Kitty's hair down, for example). His style continues to be very realistic, which only works in the books favor. His pencils make to believe that live-action Sentinels could work (a message the makers of the X-Men movies might want to get in on). He looses a bit of that when dealing with Danger and the meglo-Sentinel, but is still able to hold things together through the most fantastical story elements. And through the most human elements as well. When Peter and Kitty have a heart-to-heart chat, the dialogue is almost unnecessary (and to make Joss Whedon's dialogue seem unnecessary is quite a feat).

In short, this is one of the best X-Men books in years, a worthy follow-up to "Gifted." Whedon and Cassaday have already achieved the legendary X-creator status of such teams and Lee/Kirby and Claremont/Byrne, and deservedly so.

Now, if only someone would get started on a book about how much of an ass Cyclops really is (cheating on his girlfriends, cheating on his wives, leaving his wife and sick child...)

Volume Two of Astonishing X-Men wasn't as good as the first, but still quite enjoyable. The story continues what was started in Gifted, but only loosely connects back to the events that happened. Instead, the X-Men face a new foe, one that knows all their moves and formations and is extremely powerful.

This collection revealed a bit more about the world outside the mansion. We learn about Genosha and the Professor's whereabouts. We get a little more insight to S.W.O.R.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. This worldbuilding was nice to have with the team.

As always, Joss Whedon crafts great characters, and it is the team's characterization that is the most enjoyable for me to read. I like the dynamics between the heroes, especially Emma Frost and Kitty's dislike for each other.

Overall, if you're interested in a fresh, new look for the X-Men, check out the Astonishing series. So far, so good.

I'm old enough to remember when there was just one X-Men comic, which made following that universe fairly simple. Today, I don't have the patience (or the funds) to follow all of the various titles, but I can enjoy one series without all of the others, and this is it. I also have no interest in heading to the comic book store once a week, so this collection makes things easy.

As always Joss Whedon focuses in on the story, the interaction between characters and a twist here and there. I've been an X-Men fan for a very long time (since 1980) but have not collected for some 15 years. I took the extraordinary writing of Joss Whedon to get me back to collecting. I can't wait for more X-Men from Joss and John Cassaday.