Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, New comics, Box summary

New comics!

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity 7

More of the same, which isn’t bad.  Looking forward to reading this all at once.

Captain Marvel 25

Same comment here.  Lee Garbett can draw the heck out of a good action scene.

Shang-Chi 5

A total letdown of a series, I’m probably not going to keep this after the re-read.  There was one little bit that I liked:

Strange Adventures 8

We’re two thirds of the way through, and finally starting to get somewhere.  It’s fun to see Batman not be good at something.

Astonishing X-Men 19-24

The X-Men on Breakworld.  They hate on Agent Brand, Armor becomes a full-fledged X-Man, and Whedon uses telepathy in a way that I’ve never seen before.  It catches me by surprise every time I read it, and it’s absolutely brilliant.

The original two-page scene.

One issue later.

God, it's brilliant.

Everyone else is wrong, Peter is hilarious.

This would work even better as a filmed cut.

Scott is channeling Giles here.

More excellent optic blast coloring by Laura Martin.

Joss letting them be happy is a clear sign something bad's going to happen to one of them.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men 1

The conclusion of the Breakworld arc and Whedon/Cassaday’s run.  (How in the world did Cassasday maintain a regular schedule?  Ah, it was basically bi-monthly.)

Kitty sacrifices everything to save the world.  It’s absolutely heartbreaking.  I didn’t even want to cry at the end, I just felt hollow and silent inside.  I have a lot to say about how Joss Whedon’s use of death often feels less plot-driven and more emotionally manipulative, but when he does it right, there’s no one better at it.  Nothing will ever surpass Buffy’s The Body, but this is close.  

I never realized until now that Peter's mirroring Kitty's body language.

The world is a horrible, mean, cruel place and no one will be happy ever again.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy (In a “makes me want to die of sadness” kind of way.)

Box summary

Time spent reading: 21 hours 41 minutes

Issues read: 196

Issues cut: 24

Highlights (Good or better): New X-Men 114-126, Messiah Complex, Second Coming, Whedon/Cassaday Astonishing X-Men 

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 32 days, 23 hours, 19 minutes

Issues read: 6769

Issues cut: 839

Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men

Astonishing X-Men 1-6

Joss Whedon’s X-Men!  This is exactly as good as I remember, which is really damn good.  This is Whedon at the peak of his writing powers, mixing action, touching personal moments, and laugh out loud hilarity with the deftness that he exhibited in the best of his episodes of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly.  

John Cassaday is just as good.  His work here is on par with Planetary, a true apex run.  There are going to be a lot of images coming up…

The first arc covers the mutant cure, the return of Colossus, and the first battle with Ord of Breakworld.  Whedon sets up everyone’s personality, and while they all sound like Whedon, they’re still distinctive and unique.  As Whedon does.  

So simple, so iconic.

Joss is a master of pulling the nostalgia strings on the reader.

Way back in Uncanny 168.

There will be much Kitty/Emma snark in these reviews.

And once in a while it escalates beyond snark.

But mostly it's snark.

Great atmosphere.  Laura Martin on colors.

Hee.

What a reveal.

Cassaday conveys everything Kitty's feeling in these panels.

Over the top?  Maybe.  But priceless nonetheless.  (They're seeing resurrected Peter for the first time.)

They recover nicely.

More nostalgia chills.

I love how Laura Martin colors Cyclops' eye blasts.  I'll be showing more of these.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Astonishing X-Men 7-12

The Danger arc.  (The Danger Room gains sentience and tries to kill the X-Men.)  Less good, mostly because Danger herself is a less than inspiring character. 

The snark remains top notch, though.

Poor Kitty.

It's the silhouettes that make the eye blast effect pop, I think.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Astonishing X-Men 13-18

The X-Men fight the Hellfire Club, which turns out to be Emma Frost controlled by Cassandra Nova.  I think.  Whedon (through Emma) performs the most effective dissection of Scott’s psyche that I’ve ever read, it’s pretty impressive.  This isn’t the first or last time someone’s given a false life for nefarious purposes, but the one Kitty has to go through is particularly harrowing and devastating.  I still don’t understand how they end up beating Nova, that part seems to get swept under the rug at the end of the arc.

By the way, Whedon is clearly in love with Kitty Pryde.  She’s the hero of his entire run.  I love it.

It's Cassaday's art that sells this whole bit.

Okay, the writing's got a little to do with it too.

Beer, of course, saves the day.

The pose is a little awkward, but I still got tingles.

(John Byrne in the Dark Phoenix Saga)

Possibly my favorite comic one-liner ever.

She really doesn't like Emma.

I think this is where they win?  It's never mentioned again.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good