Astonishing X-Men Vol 2: Dangerous (2007)

Author: Joss Whedon | Illustrator: John Cassaday | Page Count: 144

"I want this thing off my lawn."

Vol II picks up where Vol I: Gifted (2006) left off. I was hoping for more of the same, 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 astonish. He even forgot that Professor X is paraplegic, or did I miss something prior to this story?
The plot is 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 issues 7–12

2½ purple helmets out of 5

Astonishing X-Men Vol 1: Gifted (2006)

Author: Joss Whedon | Illustrator: John Cassaday | Page Count: 152

"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 dept. Joss Whedon assumes writing duties. He's a bit of a comic nerd. He probably earned his 100 metre nerd dash badge in high school. Nerds write the best comics because they care about the material; it's not just a job, it's a passion.

For me, Joss' trademark clever puns actually work better in written form. When Wolverine delivers a Whedon put-down it makes me grin insanely.

Joss' greatest strength as a writer 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 has assumed leadership of 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 is a purity and a focus evident here that team-based comics often lack. It's not bogged-down by a convoluted continuity or filled with excessive characters that have no real agenda. I need book 2 in my life as soon as possible.

The book collects together Astonishing X-Men vol 3 issues 1–6

4 snide remarks out of 5

Serenity: Those Left Behind [2005]

Author: Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews |  Illustrator: Will Conrad & Laura Martin

Page Count:  104 Pages

“What’s up, Wash?”

”The usual -- crime

…and us trying to avoid punishment.”

You know the story by now:  Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon created a space western TV series called Firefly for the FOX network.  FOX hated it, tossed it around, seeming like they purposedly wanted it canceled and got their wish after 11 episodes.  Fans created an uproar, DVD sales skyrocketed through the roof, resulting in Firefly being taken to the bigscreen to tie up loose ends in the feature film Serenity.

Whedon didn’t have enough screentime to tie-up everything in 2 hours, so went to Dark Horse comics for a 3-issue mini-series that bridged the gap between the series finale and the feature film.  Serenity: Those Left Behind is not essential reading and answers some things I preferred left a mystery but is still a good time that captures the feeling of the series perfectly.

Written by Joss Whedon & Firefly/Supernatural writer Brett Matthews is probably why it seems exactly like a lost episode.  In fact, a little too much at times, as the format doesn’t translate into graphic novel form all that well.   What’s great though, is Whedon & Matthews don’t go “Oh look, it’s in comic form!  We don’t have a budget limit here, we can do whatever the hell we want!”  They stay true to the series and let the story pacing unravel at a slow, yet pleasant pace without ever relying on anything too huge.

As a huge fan of series I can recommend it to anyone else who’s a fan…however if you’re not, it really makes no sense at all, as it spends no time explaining the backstory and that’s where it falls short.

It's available as 3 out of print separate issues or collected into a TPB or HC edition which is worth purchasing for Nathan Fillion's entertaining foreward.

3 BIG DAMN blue hands out of 5


Nutted by cuckoo