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threemonkeysMy but there seem to be a lot of streams of the X-men comics these days. I suppose I could do some research and find out just how many but I just really don't care that much. I am not really a big comic fan, but X-Men rates high enough that I will read it if it comes past me. But I will not go out of my way to read it let alone buy it. But, I am a big time Joss Whedon fan. I am hardly alone in that - he has a huge following from his TV work. Which is why Marvel got him to write the first 6 issues of the new Astonishing X-Men stream. This isn't new - the comics people have been getting celebrity guest spots to kick off new series for a while. Neil Gaiman seems particularly prone to this. It isn't as if Joss Whedon hasn't done comics before either - I also have a copy of the very good Fray. So combining all that, it was inevitable that I would buy the graphic novel style collection of the six Joss penned stories.
The first thing to say is that I really liked the artwork of John Cassaday. The look of X-Men is pretty well defined by now but this was a cut above the usual. What really impressed me was the use of colour indicating mood - I'm not sure if this was down to Cassaday or Whedon or colourist Laura Martin. Again not unique but very well done.
But obviously the important thing is the story and dialogue. In terms of the story, I have to assume that Marvel imposed a story outline and some sort of character guide to keep things within the X-Men canon. That probably explains why the story is not really all that startling - especially in the first few issues. It does get more interesting further along. The characters seem fairly well done - interesting interpretations and extensions of the well established personalities without being startling. The dialogue has some moments of Whedon cool about them. Not a huge number but enough to lift this comic above the ordinary. And when all said and done isn't that what it was all about. Still I'm not sucker enough to buy any more without Whedon at the writing desk.
The first thing to say is that I really liked the artwork of John Cassaday. The look of X-Men is pretty well defined by now but this was a cut above the usual. What really impressed me was the use of colour indicating mood - I'm not sure if this was down to Cassaday or Whedon or colourist Laura Martin. Again not unique but very well done.
But obviously the important thing is the story and dialogue. In terms of the story, I have to assume that Marvel imposed a story outline and some sort of character guide to keep things within the X-Men canon. That probably explains why the story is not really all that startling - especially in the first few issues. It does get more interesting further along. The characters seem fairly well done - interesting interpretations and extensions of the well established personalities without being startling. The dialogue has some moments of Whedon cool about them. Not a huge number but enough to lift this comic above the ordinary. And when all said and done isn't that what it was all about. Still I'm not sucker enough to buy any more without Whedon at the writing desk.