Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

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Summary: Written by and for the Internet Geeks...
Review: After X-Men was largely butchered by the no talent writing of Morrison, Marvel head comic geeks Joe Quesada and Dan Buckley hired Joss Wheton to script the series. The choice was a terrible one. Wheton's writing has all the talent of a two year old. The flat dialoge and John Cassidy's terrible manga style drawings make this little more then material not suited for anyone intelligent enough to read. Despite what you might hear Comic sales just do not make the money or the large sales figures anymore and the suits at Marvel are strongly considering shuting down their comics business and calling it a day for good. I hope they do.

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Summary: Joss Whedon comes up with a cure for the Astonishing X-Men
Review: "Astonishing X-Men: Gifted" brings together the first half of the twelve issue mini-series scripted by Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy the Vampire," "Angel," and "Firefly." I have been reading this series because Whedon wrote it and except for the "Ultimate X-Men" this is my first time reading one of the titles about Marvel's Merry Mutants in many years (when we got to the "New Mutants" the whole proliferation became too much for me). So when Kitty Pryde returns to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and walks through a wall to find Emma Frost addressing the student body, I knew that I was going to have a bit of trouble catching up with what had happened to that old gang of mutants. However, Whedon's storyline is grounded what has been the backbone of the "X-Men" storyline since the beginning: that humans will always hate mutants. Professor Xavier's approach has been to exercise control and non-violence to prove that mutants are a peaceful people.

But the interpersonal problems of the X-Men (Scott and Logan are still coming to blows over Jean) quickly take a back seat when the renowned geneticist Dr. Kavita Rao tells the world that mutants are neither angels nor devils, they just people...with a disease. Therefore, mutants are not the next step in evolution or the end of humankind, they are simply the victims of a corruption of healthy cellular activity and Dr. Rao announces that she has found a cure.

What made the X-Men the most interesting of Marvel's super groups for me, more than the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, or any of the other groups created over the years, was that they were considered outcasts because they were mutants. As such, the X-Men were the counter-part to Spider-Man, as superheroes who were more commonly treated as villains by the public at large. The sub-text was always the oppression of the minority by the majority, which I always found to be un-American (specifically in the sense embodied by the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy, which is characterized by a respect for the rights of the minority by the majority). As a minority mutants have represented the "other," so that it was never a specific minority group. But when we talk about curing the disease of the mutant gene it seems to be that the subtext is now much more specific because there is only one minority in modern society that is defined by some as needed to be cured of their disease (although it is explicitly stated that homosexuality does not represent a threat to human existence, a point that clearly would be debated in the current political climate.

Meanwhile, the X-Men have become a group of superheroes again, just trying to use their powers to help the community at large. When they learn that mutation can be reversed Frost votes for killing her and Scott does not know what to do. But it is the Beast who goes to see Dr. Rao, not to discuss the ethics of her "mutant cure" or to destroy it, but just to know if it works. The next day there are over sixteen hundred mutants lined up outside Benetech labs demanding the "cure." Hank McCoy is the perfect choice to have be tempted by the cure because he is in a secondary stage of his mutation and he may well be devolving.

Of course there is more going on. Ord of the Breakworld, an alien, is after the X-Men because they are a threat to his planet, and Kitty discovers that somebody they thought was dead is very much alive and kept in a cell at Benetech. There are no coincidences in the "Astonishing X-Men," and by the end of the six issues making up "Gifted" we know most of what is going on, but the fun is just beginning. I have some suspicions as to what we will find out in "Dangerous," the second-half of the series, but I am sure there will still be some surprises.

Those familiar with Whedon's television shows will find the familiar quick quips thrown into the dialogue mix (even Scott makes a joke), and it is not surprising that his focal character is going to be Kitty Pryde. The "Gifted" storyline is character driven, which is what you would expect with Whedon and focusing on Beast, Kitty and the resurrected character allows him more liberty than emphasizing Logan and Scott, not that the supporting characters do not have their moments.

The idea of "curing" mutants is certainly a different approach to the efforts of humanity in general and the U.S. government in particular to solve the mutant problem. The key idea is that this cure is something mutants might actually embrace, especially when the alternative is the Sentinels or something equally cheerful. John Cassady's artwork has an interesting quality: I keep wanting to say they look like free frames where motion is always captured but without the sense of dynamism you usually expect. "Gifted" is a twist on the basic humans hate mutant storyline and while I am in no position to judge its freshness relative to what has been happening in the "X-Men" comics the last decade it strike me as being interesting enough. Besides, this is only the first half.

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Summary: Best X-MEN Story Ever.
Review: Affter reading Astonishing X-Men number one I can defenitly say Astonishing X-Men is one of the best X-Men stories ever. Cyclops and Emma Frost reform the X-Men but the new mutant cure could derail there plans before they even get started. I highly recomend it.

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Summary: renewed my faith in the X-men
Review: I had totally given up on the books. Too many titles crammed out at once and poor quality writing ended my comic habit nearly eight years ago. I picked this book up because of Whedon (and my love of all things Buffy) and am impressed by his writing and his knowledge of the characters that is evidenced in his treatment of the story. (It helps that he spotlights Kitty, who has always been my favorite of the X-men). I'm looking forward to the next installment, and I haven't said that in far too long.

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Summary: Amazing!!!
Review: I haven't been buying much of the newer x-men comics lately... but I read some good things about this title in Wizard and I picked it up...

What can I say? Astonishing X-men is amazing! The first thing you will notice is the artwork, which is beautiful! The artist has captured the emotions of the characters perfectly! At times it will take your breath away.

The story of this comic is what really stands out to me though. Each issue will leave you hanging on every word, glued to the pages not wanting to miss a bit of it.

Astonishing X-men draws on themes of old, and it brings me back memories of the Clarmount/Bryne issues of years ago. Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma Frost, the Beast, and Shadowcat (my fave character) join up to restart the X-men school.

They are plagued with problems from the start- constant fighting between Emma and Shadowcat, bickering between Wovie and Cyclops... but then a sceintist discovers a cure for the mutant gene, and the Beast wonders if he still wants to be a mutant. A furious battle between Wolverine (who thinks beast is selling out) and Beast ensuies. I won't spoil it for you...

I just want everyone to read this comic.
And check out the old school x-men series- Excalibur.

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Summary: Overhyped, Overrated, Over-glorified
Review: I'll sum this up in one sentence; Pretty to look at but generic in content. But if you need more specifics, please read on...

There was no doubt on my behalf that John Cassaday's art work would be great. However, with all the hype by fans and positive surveys by on-line reviewers, I decided to purchase the initial story arc of the series. I figured that this could turn out to be a decent read if half of the hoopla about the title is actually true.

Once again, the gullible fanboys are easily overtaken.

Welcome back to the 1990s era of the X-Men folks! Joss Whedon has turned back the hands of time when the exploits of The X-Men were safe, predictable and contained plenty of soap opera style plotting while the story moved nowhere fast.

We are introduced to a formulaic villain whose intentions are unclear as to why he wants to confront the team or what his motives are. I cannot decide what is worse; the character's awful Doctor Doom like persona or how a pet dragon(!) conveniently arrives out of nowhere to save the X-Men from a decisive defeat at his hands. I was not aware that the likes of Ace The Bat-Hound & Streaky The Super-Cat were now en vogue again. As far as Ord from Breakworld *groan* is concerned, Whedon is simply borrowing J.M. Straczynki's shtick of presenting how a new rogue can be such a badass (Morlun anyone?) and in the same league as Apocalypse by having the heroes easily overthrown.

Whedon must certainly be a long time fan of the characters because just like Claremont, he loves to hammer down the obvious and rehash past events to fill up the page count through incessant bantered dialogue. It may be great for a television sitcom that is the science-fiction equivalent of Beverly Hills 90210 but with comic books, the person is required to keep the brain active to fully absorb the scope of the script. Was it necessary to have yet another clash between Wolverine and Cyclops? Why the recap on Emma's history as well as a shoe horned conflict between her and Kitty Pryde?

I will give credit where it is due. Whedon does allow John Cassaday to tell the story by not uselessly clogging up the action scenes with narration or dialogue. But once more, the customer is offered this lamentable trend of story telling where the plot is hauled to fit the trade paperback catalogue.

If it was not for the visual, this collected edition would simply be over-glorified toilet paper. Few artists can deliver cinematic vision like John Cassaday. He belongs in the same category as Frank Quitely and Bryan Hitch in presenting breathtaking angles that elevates the intensity of the script. Cassaday's photo-style realism is worth the price of admission alone. Each character has their unique facial features and while the protagonists would naturally posses athletic bodies, Cassaday does not exaggerate the men's muscle tone nor the women's mammary size to convey a sexual appearance about them.

The book is being described as 'perfect', 'innovative' and 'groundbreaking' when nothing could be further from the truth. Before you try to convince me that Whedon will bring in the Buffy viewers into the medium and increase sales, I would like to state that Kevin Smith did not bring in a flux of new blood and neither did J.M. Straczynski with their so-called star power. Please spare me that defeatist rational.

C'mon fanboy, I know you're going to click how this review was not helpful just to get a small measure of revenge against what is essentially, my speaking the truth of the matter!

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Summary: For hard-core comics nerds only. Indulgent and irrelevent.
Review: The highlight of Marvel's X-Men: Reload event is the launch of Astonishing X-Men, drawn by superstar artist John Cassaday (Planetary, Captain America) and written by famed Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel creator Joss Whedon. This first storyarc finds Xavier School co-headmasters Scott "Cyclops" Summers and Emma Frost re-opening the school and reformating the team. Ditching the practical black leather outfits featured in Grant Morrison's brilliant New X-Men run and replacing them with new variations of their classic costumes, the X-Men are presenting themselves once again as a super hero team, and thanks to Whedon's vast writing talent, Astonishing X-Men is truly something special. Cyclops, Emma, Wolverine, Shadowcat, and Beast find themselves among chaos when it is announced that a cure for the mutant gene has been found. However, it is somehow connected to a mysterious creature named Ord, who himself has plenty of secrets, including one of the biggest jaw droppers to be seen in comics in the past decade. The return of a dead X-Men member stirred much fanfare when it was first seen in these pages (and if you don't know I'm not going to spoil it), and it is one of the absolute greatest moments in X-Men history. Whedon's odes and nods to the classic X-Men stories he grew up with that inspired him to create Buffy are pleasent joys to behold, and Cassaday's art is just plain awe-inspiring. All in all, please ignore John Q's review below, and if you've ever considered yourself an X-Men fan pick this up, you won't regret it.

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Summary: joss whedon is a genius
Review: this is why i still read x-men. his first x-arc is amazing. basically (without giving too much away), a mutant cure was developed and is getting a major reaction from mutants and humans alike before it is even released. a strange alien attacks a crowd of people in what appears to be an attempt to lure the x-men out. how are the two connected? find out. also, one of the x-men comes back. and and it leaves with a nice little emma frost cliff hanger. the character interactions are great, especially between shadowcat and emma frost and the pencils, inks, and colors work together to creat masterpeice on every page. recommended for all who love the x-men and all those whove been avoiding the x-men due to some bad past writters.