Volume 37: Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous

Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous

Author: Joss Whedon  |  Illustrator: John Cassaday

"I want this thing off my lawn."

Dangerous picks up from where Volume 36: Gifted left off. I was hoping for more of the same quality as before, but it's different and not always the good kind of different. The story hits the ground running. Bang! Straight in. No foreplay! From then on it's a roller coaster ride of semi-exciting highs and face-palm lows.

The danger level is cranked to maximum. There's the feeling that we're getting something that could do some real and lasting harm for a change, but it shits the bed and delivers something that isn't very dangerous at all.

Five minutes after the initial battle everyone is fully recovered and ready for more. You were dead but you're okay now. Let's get snacks.

Whedon has proved over time that he gets it right more often than he gets it wrong, but he wrote himself into a hole this time. Either he got lazy or was busy with a hundred other projects and forgot how to 'astonish' with the X-Men. He even forgot that Professor X is paraplegic, or did I miss something prior to this story?

The plot's ridiculous. The ending feels like it was pulled from a hat. If Wolverine had started doing card tricks it wouldn't have felt out of place. What held my attention was the continued character development, particularly between Kitty and Peter.

I like Joss' ability to balance characterisation and action in the same instance; he doesn't need to stop one to focus on the other.

I also liked the role given to Beast and how artist John Cassaday translated that role to the page. Needs. More. Beast.

Volume I left me very eager for more. Volume II left me asking myself do I even want Volume III? If it’s on sale... maybe.

The book collects together Astonishing X-Men (Vol 3) #7–12.

Verdict:

Volume 36: Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

Author: Joss Whedon  |  Illustrator: John Cassaday

"Maybe Scott and Logan could fight on the lawn again. The kids love that."

Astonishing X-Men is a continuation of Grant Morrison's New X-Men title, although it makes some big changes, not least in the costume department. Joss Whedon assumes writing duties. He's something of a comic nerd. He probably earned his hundred-metre nerd dash badge in high school. But such folks often write the best comics because they care about the material; it's not just a job, it's a passion.

For me, Joss' clever puns actually work better in written form. When Wolverine delivers a Whedon put-down it makes me grin insanely, but in live action they more often than not seem forced and immature.

The author's greatest strength as a writer, however, is the group dynamic. He strips away all the unnecessary action scenes that can plague a title like this and finds the real heart of the story by focussing almost completely on the character relationships.

Scott leads the team but is struggling to make his authority felt. With Jean gone he's lost in a kind of limbo. He tries not to show it for both personal and professional reasons. He needs the support of his friends but they're busy squabbling amongst themselves.

Furthermore, the discovery of a mutant "cure" puts the team on alert. The story studies the effect it has on the mutant population as a whole, and the tightly knit X-Men team as individuals. Yes, it's the story they took the idea from for the third film, but don't hold that against it; it shits all over the film from a very great height.

There's a purity and focus evident herein that team-based comics often struggle with. It's not bogged down by a convoluted continuity or filled with excessive characters that have no real agenda.

The book collects together Astonishing X-Men (Vol 3) #1–6.

Verdict:

Volume 24: New X-Men: Imperial

New X-Men: Imperial

Author: Grant Morrison  |  Illustrators: Frank Quitely / Ethan Van Sciver / Igor Kordey

"Hey, it's those pesky X-Men."

Now they ask the obvious questions~. I'm not sure if that redeems them or further highlights how blinkered they were before.

Imperial continues the story that began in Volume 23. It's a much bigger book, containing over twice as many issues as before. But like a guy with small feet might say, size is no indication of quality. In fact, Imperial is even less enjoyable than the previous book.

A lesson that has been well-learned countless times before is given another airing: that when you make yourself a target (or someone else makes you one), there's no shortage of people willing to take up arms and cast their stones in your general direction.

As the story grows more and more chaotic it seems as if Morrison was respectfully acknowledging an old way of plotting, but at the same time giving it a new skin to live in. The wild comic book fantasies exist alongside real world concerns, the latter functioning as occasional much-needed grounding to the former.

The Nuff Said! event that I first mentioned in the Volume 22: The Amazing Spider-Man: Revelations and Until the Stars Turn Cold post hit New X-Men at issue #121, which is included. It's interesting.

I fear my eventual scoring will overshadow the books strongest aspect; i.e. the art. I want to draw particular attention to Ethan Van Sciver's backgrounds, all of which are detailed and beautiful.

If Sturgeon's Revelation (aka Sturgeon's Law) is accepted and ninety percent of everything is crap, then statistically team-based adventures make up a sizeable potion of Marvel's ninety percent.

The book collects together New X-Men #118-126.

Verdict:

Volume 23: New X-Men: E is for Extinction

New X-Men: E is for Extinction

Author: Grant Morrison  |  Illustrator: Frank Quitely / Ethan Van Sciver

"...[G]allows humor is currently the only thing keeping us sane."

Both Morrison and Quitely are fully deserving of inclusion in the collection, together they've produced some excellent work — DC's All-Star Superman is a good example — but E for Extinction is neither man's best work; in fact, it's probably some of their worst.

The book's cover neglects to mention that artist Ethan Van Sciver also contributed; he illustrated a full one quarter of the content. I'm not familiar with his work elsewhere, but here his art is detailed and dynamic, and his version of Beast in his current form is excellent.

It's a thin volume, just four issues, but should really have been only three because it's a three-part story. The fourth issue does keep continuity but feels like it doesn't belong, like it should've been moved to the next volume in order to preserve the completeness of this one. I suspect it was added to boost the page count, which, as you'll see, is something that Volume 24 had plenty of already.

The ongoing series having the word 'New' added to its title wasn't the only new thing to happen: it was Grant Morrison's first issue; Professor X got a new sci-fi toy to play with; it was almost the beginning of a new school term; and the team got a new member, which feels rushed and is accepted all too quickly by the remainder of the group, namely Cyclops, Jean, Wolverine, and Beast.

A similar criticism can be applied across the board, with many of the major events hurried and failing to make the impact they deserve.

One example is when a lot of people die; because the build-up was lacking, I'd no connection to them whatsoever and didn't feel anything when they were snuffed out. It was like crossing items off a list.

I had just as many problems with the relationship side of things. Wolverine and Cyclops cooped up together in a small space had the kind of strained atmosphere you'd expect, but elsewhere a few people were doing things that felt unnatural and forced.

One of the major scenes involves such an action, but the others accepted it when in reality they should've been almost enraged. As it is, they felt false and it pushed me even further away from caring about the plight of those affected. I'm all for changing the X-Men formula because I consider them a boring bunch a lot of the time, but I just wasn't able to connect with what we got.

The book collects together New X-Men #114-117.

Verdict:

Volume 02: Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Author: Chris Claremont  |  Illustrator: John Byrne

"I can pick your mind clean in the blink of an eye — "

I like the X-Men, but not to the extent that I'm unable to acknowledge the collective's many flaws. Scott Summers is a bore. Jean Grey is overpowered. Wolverine overshadows all the others. (Actually, that last point is also a strength; they'd be less interesting without him.)

It's only my second post and already I'm going against popular opinion because, as you've probably guessed, Volume 02 is mostly about Jean and while it's much-loved by fans of Jean it bores the shit out of me.

John Byrne's art is excellent and there's a potentially great storyline smothered beneath the rigid text, but it's a victim of the Marvel need to make the team seem more mature by having them be super-serious even during times of outright stupidity. That approach coupled with the usual complex-nearing-convoluted events that have come to define the X-Men series over the years make it difficult to connect to the characters. Or maybe that applies only to me? I don't know. I read the book twice to try and overcome any kind of unfair dislike that I may have unconsciously created. It didn't help. It mostly served to make me cringe even more at the overuse of self-commentary.

Some positives to end with: Prior to the book's central arc, Jean had died but hadn't, the team were killed but weren't, and the world was saved. Because together they're so powerful, a pattern develops where over time the enemies have to get bigger and stronger in order to seem threatening. For a while the primary villain in the Dark Phoenix saga instead goes smaller, attacking from afar, quietly and unnoticed. It was absolutely the correct approach to take in order to achieve the specific goal that the author was hoping to address.
I thought the design of the Black Queen was fantastic.
Wolverine is seen reading Penthouse; that's good characterisation.

The book collects together Uncanny X-Men #129-137.

Verdict: