Comic World News

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Astonishing X-Men Volume One: Gifted

Review by Michael May

Written by Joss Whedon
Illustrated by John Cassaday
Colored by Laura Martin
Lettered by Chris Eliopoulos
Marvel; $14.99

I needed to see what the fuss was about.

I'm as tired as everyone else of new X-Men books on the shelves every time I turn around. X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Treme X-Men, New X-Men; you know what I'm talking about. It's confusing for long-time readers, much less new ones. So the concept of an extra Astonishing X-Men book didn't thrill me. Even if it is written by Joss Whedon.

I loved Whedon's short-lived Firefly TV series, but I think I've seen a total of maybe two Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel episodes. And John Cassaday's pretty and all, but I don't think that anyone's so pretty as to get me to fork over another three bucks a month for yet another X-Men book. Buffy fans proclaiming Whedon as the savior of the franchise notwithstanding. Then, when I started hearing about Whedon's resurrecting an old character from the dead, I decided that I'd chosen wisely in passing Astonishing by.

I won't bore you with a rant on character resurrection. Let it suffice to say that I'm generally against it and felt very comfortable judging Whedon about it. But when I talked to people about it, I got mixed feedback. Some proclaimed it the greatest story since Claremont's legendary early days; others criticized it for reversing Grant Morrison's progressive contribution to the franchise and settling for nostalgia. Sometimes, you just gotta bite the bullet and find out for yourself. So I did.

Let me get the art out of the way quickly. John Cassaday's detailed, convincing work pushes my buttons. It brings characters to life like no one else except maybe Alex Ross and Laura Martin's rich, atmospheric colors lend heavily to the realism. But Alex Ross needs Kurt Busiek to make Marvels and Astonishing X-Men needs more than purty art to make it good.

Since I've mentioned it already, let me talk about the resurrection first. Those who like the book say that it was executed cleverly enough and with enough emotional honesty to be convincing. Which didn't convince me in the least that it was a good idea. Resurrections are cheap by nature. A way for writers to undo something they didn't like about a previous writer's work. "You killed off that cool character? Screw that, I'm bringin' him back!" Sorry, I guess you got part of that rant after all.

But technically, Whedon's resurrection isn't a resurrection at all. He's brought the character back, but not from the dead. Not anymore than Arthur Conan Doyle brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead. Mentally, I know that this isn't a significant difference. It's still cheap. But on a visceral level, it works. I have to think about it to remind myself that I don't like it. It is clever. It is emotionally honest. But what about the rest of the story?

After the depressing wringer that Grant Morrison put the X-Men through, Cyclops decides to turn the team around and lighten up their image. He puts away the movie-inspired leather outfits and brings out updated versions of their classic costumes. He proclaims that they are indeed superheroes and that they need to start acting the part. In order to stop being feared and hated, they need to "astonish" the world.

Meanwhile, a scientist has discovered the "cure" for mutation and is in the process of developing a serum that will turn any mutant into a normal human. How this discovery affects various members of the X-Men is the point of the story. Some are frightened by it, some are disgusted and angry; others are curious. Then, when it becomes apparent that the scientist has had extraterrestrial help in her discovery and that this help still takes a vested interest in mutant affairs, the drama goes to a whole new level.

The problem is that none of this is new. There have been countless stories in which mutant powers have been cured. Almost as many as there've been stories about aliens and X-Men coming back from the dead. Whedon's dialogue is genuinely funny and there's a great sense of adventure to the whole thing, but being fun doesn't make it original.

There's a feeling of familiarity to this book that's like snuggling under an old, favorite blanket when you're sick. Long-time fans can hear the pain in Kitty Pride's voice as she reminds Emma Frost, now one of the X-Men's leaders, that she was the first enemy Kitty faced with the X-Men and says, "When I think about evil, whenever I think about the concept of evil, yours if the face that I see." These fans can feel Wolverine's elation as he and Colossus execute a familiar combat move for the first time in years. They'll get an even bigger kick out of Wolverine's requesting the move by telling Colossus, "I got just two words for you, bub," then without his even having to utter those words, the Fastball Special is on. For these fans who've been sick of either the differences of Morrison's tales or the soap-operatic nature of everyone else's, Whedon's clever, comforting blanket is undoubtedly a welcome relief. Readers looking for freshness and innovation however, are going to need to keep searching. And unfortunately, so will those new readers who don't like feeling like a spouse at a high school reunion.

These characters have a lot of history together and we're meant to get a warm feeling when Colossus, having been away for so long, starts to fall back into the conversational shorthand that long-time friends and fellow soldiers have with one another. It's a beautiful idea if you share the same history that these characters do, but if you don't, you'll never know what "two words" Wolverine was referring to and you'll feel left out. The familiar, old blanket without the history and nostalgia that give it meaning is just an old blanket, kind of threadbare and leaving you feeling exposed.

Astonishing X-Men: Gifted is available to purchase online at www.amazon.com.