Oh X-men. You wayward children of the atom, long neglected by your caretakers, the forgotten sons and daughters of Lee and Kirby, how I adore thee. The franchise is currently toeing the line of irrelevance in the comics but it wasn't always that way. The X-men have some of the best characters and stories in the superhero genre, from the immortal run of Chris Claremont to the more recent romps penned by Jason Aaron. So rather than dwell on the sorry state of X-books, I wanted to take the time to look back on one of the best runs in the history of the book's publication - Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-men.
Before Whedon directed the two biggest comicbook movies of all time, his relationship with Marvel began in 2004 picking up where prolific comicbook author Grant Morrison had left off. Morrison's lengthy run on New X-men was controversial to say the least (though mostly excellent and absolutely worth reading), and Whedon was an unproven talent in the comicbook world. He had created a few original titles and developed books based on his TV works such as Buffy but had yet to try his hand at long established characters such as the X-men who had decades of history and baggage. Morrison had heavily altered the landscape of the X-men universe with a plethora of new characters, teams, and major changes to established character arcs. Jean Grey had just died (again), Magneto was evil once more, and Charles Xavier was no longer the illustrious headmaster at his school in Westchester. Whedon hopped on board at a time of major shift in the X-men and he took full advantage of that fact.
There were several changes that Whedon implemented right from the start to differentiate himself from Morrison's run. The most obvious at first glance was the reduction of cast members and the return to a core team. While Whedon still took the opportunity to create several new mutants, it was immediately apparent he would be focusing more on returning to legacy characters in place of the large selection of young (and occasionally bizarre) mutants Morrison had established on New X-men. Instead, the team would be comprised of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, and Kitty Pryde. Colossus would eventually join the team as well but we'll get to him later. In typical Whedon fashion, the book would focus not only on what happens to these characters but also heavily on their interplay amongst each other. Every character provides a unique perspective to events that's informed by their individual checkered pasts. In addition, Whedon created his stories by drawing from the X-men's previous arcs to create something brand new. In that way, his characters drew from history and prior story arcs but never felt reliant on nostalgia, rewarding both newcomers and old stalwarts alike.
So let's get to some of the meat of what I loved about this run.
Cyclops
Mother-fucking Cyclops. Scott Summers is often unfairly viewed as a boy scout, a teacher's pet, basically the Leonardo of the X-men, the defacto leader that's the leader because that's how it's always been. I blame the bland portrayal of the character in the X-men movies and the one note take of the 90s cartoon (JEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAN!!!!). All of this is a shame because the character is secretly awesome. Scott Summers is not the pretty boy preppy kid who grew up as Xavier's favorite like people tend to believe. Scott's childhood is all kinds of fucked up, which then translated to a fucked up adult life as well. Whedon picked up the character shortly after it was established he had a telepathic affair with Emma Frost and immediately following the death of Jean Grey. The Scott/Emma pairing was created by Morrison but I don't think it was until Whedon got his mitts on the characters that we really saw why they were great together. What I love most about Whedon's Cyclops is how it explores the character's inherent insecurities of unworthiness, his fear of losing control, and how his natural strengths as a leader come to the surface whenever the situation demands. This was the last time I really felt like I could relate with the character and the last writer who made Scott Summers into a total, unadulterated baddass.
Nowadays, Summers is mostly playing revolutionary
, and though I find his cause sympathetic, the character's newfound zeal is a lot less likeable.
Beast
Beast has turned into a complete jackass. But before he was ruining timelines and catching shade from The Watcher, Beast was an immensely sympathetic character. Gifted with both a genius level intellect that flies in the face of his increasingly feral appearance, Beast has his own share of insecurities that Whedon deftly explored. The mutant cure storyline was the basis of the abysmal X-men 3. Before Brett Ratner got a chance to ape material from his betters, Whedon laid the groundwork with the Hope Serum and effectively used its creation to explore Hank McCoy's desire to regain his lost humanity. Beast also strikes a relationship with new character and director of S.W.O.R.D. Abigail Brand, one of the better love interests in the history of the character. She's pretty awesome in her own right.
Colossus and Kitty Pryde
For those not in the know, Colossus had tragically died in order to save mutant-kind from the deadly legacy virus. In true comicbook bullshit fashion, he's not dead after all and was in fact resurrected for nefarious purposes. But who cares, Colossus is back! Ok, I know he's the X-men's #1 jobber, but even so, his return in Astonishing was very welcome. On top of that, his relationship with Kitty Pryde was wonderful, particularly how it eventually plays out
Kitty is somewhat a victim of Whedon's "strong tiny girl" trope he tends to plug into all his stories but that doesn't make her one dimensional. Kitty's rivalry with Emma Frost is entertaining throughout the entire run and is concluded perfectly.
I'm going to stop here because this post is already longer than I originally intended. I'd be remiss though if I didn't mention a few other things I loved about this run including the creation of Danger, Wolverine's mentorship of Armor, and Cassaday's phenomenal art. This is one fine looking book! Both Cassaday and Whedon knocked it out of the park. I've said it before but it bears repeating, this is the last time I can remember rooting for the X-men as a whole. No petty infighting, no stupid grudges, no horrible character assassinations, it's just a great team book where every character is able to reach their potential. I don't know when we'll get another X-book of this caliber but hopefully it's sooner rather than later. Considering the recent output though, I'm not too optimistic about Inhumans vs X-men and the eventual fallout from yet another massive event.
Before Whedon directed the two biggest comicbook movies of all time, his relationship with Marvel began in 2004 picking up where prolific comicbook author Grant Morrison had left off. Morrison's lengthy run on New X-men was controversial to say the least (though mostly excellent and absolutely worth reading), and Whedon was an unproven talent in the comicbook world. He had created a few original titles and developed books based on his TV works such as Buffy but had yet to try his hand at long established characters such as the X-men who had decades of history and baggage. Morrison had heavily altered the landscape of the X-men universe with a plethora of new characters, teams, and major changes to established character arcs. Jean Grey had just died (again), Magneto was evil once more, and Charles Xavier was no longer the illustrious headmaster at his school in Westchester. Whedon hopped on board at a time of major shift in the X-men and he took full advantage of that fact.
There were several changes that Whedon implemented right from the start to differentiate himself from Morrison's run. The most obvious at first glance was the reduction of cast members and the return to a core team. While Whedon still took the opportunity to create several new mutants, it was immediately apparent he would be focusing more on returning to legacy characters in place of the large selection of young (and occasionally bizarre) mutants Morrison had established on New X-men. Instead, the team would be comprised of Cyclops, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, and Kitty Pryde. Colossus would eventually join the team as well but we'll get to him later. In typical Whedon fashion, the book would focus not only on what happens to these characters but also heavily on their interplay amongst each other. Every character provides a unique perspective to events that's informed by their individual checkered pasts. In addition, Whedon created his stories by drawing from the X-men's previous arcs to create something brand new. In that way, his characters drew from history and prior story arcs but never felt reliant on nostalgia, rewarding both newcomers and old stalwarts alike.
So let's get to some of the meat of what I loved about this run.
Cyclops
Mother-fucking Cyclops. Scott Summers is often unfairly viewed as a boy scout, a teacher's pet, basically the Leonardo of the X-men, the defacto leader that's the leader because that's how it's always been. I blame the bland portrayal of the character in the X-men movies and the one note take of the 90s cartoon (JEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAN!!!!). All of this is a shame because the character is secretly awesome. Scott Summers is not the pretty boy preppy kid who grew up as Xavier's favorite like people tend to believe. Scott's childhood is all kinds of fucked up, which then translated to a fucked up adult life as well. Whedon picked up the character shortly after it was established he had a telepathic affair with Emma Frost and immediately following the death of Jean Grey. The Scott/Emma pairing was created by Morrison but I don't think it was until Whedon got his mitts on the characters that we really saw why they were great together. What I love most about Whedon's Cyclops is how it explores the character's inherent insecurities of unworthiness, his fear of losing control, and how his natural strengths as a leader come to the surface whenever the situation demands. This was the last time I really felt like I could relate with the character and the last writer who made Scott Summers into a total, unadulterated baddass.
Nowadays, Summers is mostly playing revolutionary
when he's not dead
Beast
Beast has turned into a complete jackass. But before he was ruining timelines and catching shade from The Watcher, Beast was an immensely sympathetic character. Gifted with both a genius level intellect that flies in the face of his increasingly feral appearance, Beast has his own share of insecurities that Whedon deftly explored. The mutant cure storyline was the basis of the abysmal X-men 3. Before Brett Ratner got a chance to ape material from his betters, Whedon laid the groundwork with the Hope Serum and effectively used its creation to explore Hank McCoy's desire to regain his lost humanity. Beast also strikes a relationship with new character and director of S.W.O.R.D. Abigail Brand, one of the better love interests in the history of the character. She's pretty awesome in her own right.
Colossus and Kitty Pryde
For those not in the know, Colossus had tragically died in order to save mutant-kind from the deadly legacy virus. In true comicbook bullshit fashion, he's not dead after all and was in fact resurrected for nefarious purposes. But who cares, Colossus is back! Ok, I know he's the X-men's #1 jobber, but even so, his return in Astonishing was very welcome. On top of that, his relationship with Kitty Pryde was wonderful, particularly how it eventually plays out
with their final roles reversed and Kitty sacrificing herself for the Earth.
I'm going to stop here because this post is already longer than I originally intended. I'd be remiss though if I didn't mention a few other things I loved about this run including the creation of Danger, Wolverine's mentorship of Armor, and Cassaday's phenomenal art. This is one fine looking book! Both Cassaday and Whedon knocked it out of the park. I've said it before but it bears repeating, this is the last time I can remember rooting for the X-men as a whole. No petty infighting, no stupid grudges, no horrible character assassinations, it's just a great team book where every character is able to reach their potential. I don't know when we'll get another X-book of this caliber but hopefully it's sooner rather than later. Considering the recent output though, I'm not too optimistic about Inhumans vs X-men and the eventual fallout from yet another massive event.