Unputdownable X-Men
Because I almost always buckle to Twitter pressure, I finally picked up the much-praised Joss Whedon/John Cassaday run of Astonishing X-Men. It should be noted that I bought the first trade of Astonishing back in February of 2008, where it sat on my books shelf and collected dust until it was boxed up for a recent move.
The reason for this is: the X-Men have always kind of scared me. Their continuity is vast and their line-ups varied. I can barely tell X-Force from X-Factor, let alone decipher the bramble that is the Summers family tree. Throw in a few alternate timelines, long-lost siblings and space pirates, and my head starts to spin before you can say Starjammer. Suffice it to say, I found the X-Men to be a bit more intimidating to get into than more other comics.
That’s not to say I haven’t tried. Before my dive into Astonishing, I was reading and really enjoying Jeff Parker’s resurrection of Exiles and Keiron Gillen’s S.W.O.R.D. - which I didn’t know was a spun out of Astonishing when I picked it up. Sadly, both series were canceled after their first story arcs. I’ve also picked up stray issues of various X-titles, but nothing ever really hooked me. I always felt I was missing something. So I wasn’t in any rush to cross Astonishing off the To-Read list. But when a few my tweeps posted they were reading it, I thought it was about time I dug out Volume one and started reading.
“Gifted” started off nice and easy. It was a reintroduction to, what I assume, the new core team of X-Men. There were references to prior events and I know I missed almost all the panels they were referencing in the beginning of the book, but I was expecting that. The story and the characters, mainly Kitty, kept me engaged the whole way through. When I finished “Gifted”, I liked it. It didn’t rock my world or change my life, but it was good, solid comic booking. And I was ready for more Astonishing X-Men.
So last Wednesday at my comic shop, I picked up the remaining trades of the Whedon/Cassaday run and started reading Volume 2 straight away. “Dangerous” started off pretty well for me. I really liked the concept that the Danger Room was sentient and wanted revenge. It had the great balance of action and creepiness and witty dialogue that I love about Joss Whedon stories. But then they go to Genosha, and the Hellfire Club pops up as a surprise ending. And now I feel like I’m missing something. Still a solid story, still a lot of fun. But I was picking up Volume 3 to more see if I could get some kind of explanation, and less because I liked the story.
“Torn” opens up with enough of an explanation to satisfy me, and then it’s off to the races. Volume 3 is where the series becomes unputdownable for me. I know there’s stuff I’m missing but I don’t care. There is an evil bald lady fucking with people’s heads and I cannot put this book down. These characters that have become very dear to me (except Emma) are being broken one by one, and I need to make sure they come out of this OK. Volume 3 ends on a cliff-hanger and I was very glad I had Volume 4 only a few feet away.
“Unstoppable” is where I fell in love. I fell in love with Scott. I fell in love with Kitty and Peter. I fell in love with Agent Brand. (I did not fall in love with Emma Frost. She’s still evil.) The final arc eloquently ties together all the threads introduced in the previous volumes. And, as Whedon is wont to do, the end is sad but sweet and leaves your heart aching for just a little bit more time in the universe he’s created. I had flown so quickly through Volume 4 that I didn’t have a chance to savor it until it was too late.
So, those are my adventures with the X-Men. They still kinda scare me. But at least I’ve got one fantastic run under my belt.
This was a great article. There are a bunch of other great X-books out there. You should check out Peter David’s X-Factor. You don’t really need to have any context for the team. It’s just a mutant noir. The Secret Invasion arc is not so great, but everything before and after it is good storytelling. Enough to get over the art in the later story arcs.
Agreed. X-Factor is a great book. It gets totally derailed by the various crossovers that pop up after the fourth trade but everything before that is really good.
I’ve jumped back on it now that we’re out of Second Coming and it’s pretty good.
The first two trades of Astonishing X-Men were the very first comic books I read. Ever. I was a big Joss fan and was into the X cartoons of the 90′s but had never made the jump to comics.
This run is, I feel, the best I have ever read in comics. I haven’t gone back and read a lot of the runs that many consider classic yet but I’ve read most everything since concerning the X-Men and I can safely say that nothing has surpassed Joss’ run.
my comic book reading experience has dwindled down to zilch since about the early 1990′s – but the xmen have always been my favorite title, especially the old claremont & byrne stuff… i returned for some of the ‘onslaught’ crossovers and some of generation x, but i dont think i’ve read an entire comic book from cover to cover in the 21st century. sadsadsad. but ever since i’ve gotten back into illustration i’ve been wanting to and i think you’ve talked me into paying them a visit….