Writer: Joss Whedon
Pencils: John Cassaday
Colors: Laura Martin
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Mr. Whedon's Astonishing X-Men comics, collected in trade, sit on my nightstand in perpetuity waiting for the Re-Leaf treatment. Upon my return to comics, this was one of the titles suggested most by my area retailers. "If you are a fan of the X-Men, you have to read Whedon's run. Best X-Men stories in a decade."
I was already a fan of Firefly and Buffy and Angel. If all they had said was "Whedon", I would have purchased. As it was, I did.
My only then-contemporary experience with the X-Men was the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men titles I was busy collecting as part of the 2009 Utopia crossover. Things had changed much since the old X-Men cartoon series of my college years that had caught me up on so much that I had missed in print.
Whedon is, simply, a great storyteller. This isn't news to those who have seen his work listed above or last year's Marvel's The Avengers. He is able to integrate in-depth character motivation and development seamlessly into high-stakes action and adventure and to world-build as well as any writer I've read. Astonishing X-Men #1 is an excellent example of his storytelling talent.
Whedon establishes in relatively few pages and words the dynamic of the latest incarnation of the X-Men team. Cyclops is the leader of the team, inwardly unsure of himself every bit as much as he is outwardly commanding. Emma Frost is his reformed partner and co-leader, a mutant with psychic and transformational abilities and a penchant for showing off "the best body money can buy". Beast is the aptly-named, blue, furry academic of the group. Wolverine is...well...Wolverine...the muscle with a highly developed sense of honor and loyalty and the emotional detachment to get even the toughest jobs, the morally questionable jobs, done. Kitty Pryde is student-turned-teacher, returning to the Xavier school to give back. Her intangible "phasing" skills make her as stealthy as they come and her youth and relative innocence maker her a possible face of the school.
Whedon sets the tone of this new book on page one with the dreams of a young mutant...reliving a nightmare where her presumed alter ego is killing her parents and enjoying it. She is quickly comforted by a doctor as a mystery figure looks on from behind a two-way mirror. It is the horror of the nightmare, the fear that mutants may enjoy killing their less genetically advanced "cousins", that fuels human fear of mutants in the Marvel universe. Whedon taps into it in 41 words and John Cassaday's haunting first ten panels.
Pryde returns and takes us on a journey of her Xavier school memories before phasing into an introductory meeting of faculty and students of the Institute. Her tardiness and shocking entrance (hey, she walked through a wall) allow for immediate tension between her and Frost. They clearly do not like each other, neither giving an inch in the verbal sparring department. After a brief Danger Room simulation (I always loved those, and Kitty's reminiscing strikes just the right nostalgic and comedic chords), we are treated to Cyclops' and Wolverine's renewed physical rivalry as the two "teachers" try to kill each other on the front lawn in full view of the students (not much different from public school, as I recall). The irony of Emma's warning that violence will not be tolerated on the previous page again makes with the haha.
Cyclops realizes that he and the X-Men have lost their focus and they need to get back to doing what they do best - they need to be superheroes. This inspired speech is peppered with pithy comments from his team, who clearly do not like each other all that much - a dynamic that makes for interesting dialogue, but belies the true nature of the best teams - comic or otherwise; you don't have to be best friends with everyone on the team, you just have to be good teammates.
Cassaday uses the occasion of this speech to play with the enormity of what Cyclops is suggesting and the setting in which he suggests it, a visual gag not lost on the characters (or the readers).
It is here that Whedon and Cassaday begin playing storyline pinball, bouncing back and forth between Cyclops' (Whedon's?) desire to redefine the purpose of the X-Men, a horrific terrorist menace (and new baddie) that threatens to "peel and roast" the flesh of his captives, and the doctor from the opening pages announcing that she has found a "cure" for the mutant gene (sound familiar? X-Men: The Last Stand). Three intertwined story lines make for a frenetic finish to the first issue and leads to the payoff: Cassaday's newly-designed costumes (hey, every superhero needs one):
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| Look familiar? Check out the X-Men: First Class poster this art inspired... |
Whedon's run lasted twenty-four issues and is collected in four trade publications (Gifted, Dangerous, Torn, and Unstoppable). The books are full of innovative stories, interesting characters, and some pretty, pretty pictures. Like most of Whedon's work, you will come to love these characters...just in time to watch them tortured, pulled apart and examined by a master, and put back together just in the nick of time. Okay, okay. I am willing to concede that love may be too strong a word for some - at the least you will appreciate the depth of these characters and the functional dysfunction with which they interact.
Re-Leaf Review (out of 5):
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