Written by Christos Gage
Illustrated by Juan Bobillo“MEANWHILE” Cyclops, Emma, Wolverine and Armor are off in Japan dealing with giant monsters. Meanwhile, something dire happens that demands the attention of the X-Men. With their leaders away, should the X-Men deny their help? HELL NO! Storm, Colossus and Kitty Pryde join Beast and Agent Brand to take on the Brood. But when intergalactic law prevents the destruction of an enemy who can only be defeated by extermination, the X-Men have a problem. Are Storm and her crew up to the task? And what is Cyclops going to say when he learns of this? This adventure takes place at the same time as the MONSTROUS arc concurrently happening in Astonishing X-Men in a way never before seen!
There are a lot of things that I love about Marvel – I’m not ashamed to admit that in any way. Some people don’t like to show blatant loyalty to any company or brand, but me? Make Mine Marvel. Don’t get me wrong – I love DC/Vertigo, Image, Dark Horse, Top Shelf, Archaia, BOOM! Studios, Oni – you name it. If it’s a comic book, I’ll want to read it. But I started comics as a Marvel fan, and if I had to pick, I’d stay with.
Why? Well, there are many reasons, but two of the big ones are the Ultimate line and the recently revamped Astonishing line. I love the notion that you can have an in-continuity story that’s out-of-continuity at the same time, and mainly a place for talented creators to tell fun stories starring some of their favorite characters in a particular group. In this case? The X-Men. And now, we have two creators telling different stories every other issue in the pages of Astonishing X-Men, where it all started.
Now – I’ve already professed fond enjoyment for Daniel Way’s over the top monster story featuring Jason Pearson’s fantastic artwork. However, I’ve more often praised Christos Gage’s work than I have Way’s, and Gage is the writer of the second story with an artist I am admittedly unfamiliar with. So does the trend continue? Does Gage continue to beat Way, or does Way pull a surprising victory at the last second?
Lets find out after the cut.
To cut a long story short – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – I prefer Daniel Way’s story. It’s not something I ever thought I’d say given how much I’ve enjoyed Gage’s career the more I followed, but sometimes a creator is just not a good fit for the type of story he’s going for, and in this case both Gage and artist Juan Bobillo strike out.
The second story of Astonishing X-Men finds our team comprised of Colossus, Storm, and Kitty Pryde helping out a concerned Beast as he makes an effort to save his girlfriend, Abigail Brand – one of the few women in comics who can always take care of herself no matter what the situation. As Kitty and Lockheed finally reunite, the crew flies off to help Brand fight a Brood invasion on one of SWORDS secure facilities, and just like every sci-fi horror film you’ve seen on a space station, something goes wrong. In the case of the issue, it’s two-fold; on the one hand, everything goes wrong for the characters (obviously, or else there wouldn’t be a story to tell), and on the other hand it goes wrong for the creators.
There is something rather unfortunate at play here, but it’s something that can’t be ignored: this arc, in many ways, is a “sequel” to two other arcs. For starters, it’s a sequel to earlier Astonishing X-Men runs, adding to Joss Whedon’s work on the relationship of the X-Men and SWORD as well as Warren Ellis’ unresolved Brood elements (which I suppose were resolved to an extent, but not a specifically satisfying one). Secondly, it’s a sequel to Kieron Gillen’s work on the book SWORD, which really developed SWORDS purpose beyond a blank slate of ideas and suggestions, moving them from the “occasionally used organization” to an organization with a purpose. So what’s really unfortunate for Gage is that while he’s writing an accidental sequel, we already have a legitimate sequel coming out in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, the flagship title of the franchise. Kieron Gillen is also writing a story with Kitty and Colossus dealing with the fallout from Whedon’s run while also playing off of elements of Gillen’s run on SWORD – and he’s also doing it directly in-continuity with a specific purpose. So while I hate to throw the word “matter” around, the question still remains: do we really need two stories kinda sorta doing the same thing at once? The answer is no, and with two issues under it’s belt the Uncanny story is by far the superior one.
Continued belowGage’s story also clashes against Wade’s story. I suppose, while not necessarily being the strongest argument in the world, one thing is for sure – Way is writing a much more fun comic. I know we live in the world where people don’t specifically go to comic books just to have a fun and enjoyable read, but the X-Men against a bunch of giant monsters in Japan? SO much fun. The X-Men in space once again fighting the Brood to a stand still? Eh. Not so much. Gage is certainly a creator who is capable of writing comics that really are just pure fun (see: the recent super hero prom issue of Avengers Academy) that also double as comics that “matter,” but that’s not really the case here. The title drags, especially in the middle, and the character interpretations here seem generally off. In the past few years, we’ve seen a very mature version of the X-Men, not one that is so overtly familiar to the point the dialogue just seems forced from the character’s mouths. There is a strong difference between writing snappy dialogue and really trying to write the snappy dialogue, and given the characters that he is using most of the lines that Gage has written here just don’t work. And by the time you get to the end of the story, the “twist” just seems rather telegraphed and uninspired. It’s just … well, it’s just ordinary.
It also doesn’t help that this is probably the lowest point artistically for the title. I remember back when SWORD was coming out and some people didn’t really care for some of the visual interpretations of characters like Beast, but I can imagine that most people would prefer Steven Sanders’ elongated snout Beast to the shaggy hairy furball mess that is Bubillo’s Beast. I don’t think I’ve ever said this about a comic character before, but Beast either needs to invest in Maybelline and a proper hairdresser, because he looks like a Lady Gaga costume reject. That’s without even mentioning Colossus’ overly blocky head and jaw, Kitty’s incredibly awkward face and oddly redesigned costume, and Lockheed’s mildly cute character designed turned into some kind of freakish being. On the one hand, I feel like I can kind of guess what Bubillo was going for with the art. He wanted it to look unique, and to give these characters in this book a really original feeling to them so that the title would stand out from all the other X-Men books (and there are quite a few). However, while the book does look unique, it also looks really bad – and when you compare this story to the Jason Pearson story, which features vibrant and stylistic art that jumps off the page with an edge akin to Bachalo, there is just no contest.
I’m not happy that I don’t like this book. I don’t want to dislike it. Like I said earlier, I’m quite a fan of Gage. He wrote three comics this week between this, Avengers Academy, and Amazing Spider-Man; the other two books were great! Avengers Academy is quickly becoming a priority read title the more into it we get, and while I already miss Slott on Spider-Man, Gage’s pseudo-crossover was a very fun read. But Astonishing X-Men? Nothing about this fits. The characters all seem out of focus, both in the way they’re written and drawn, and the title isn’t fun anymore. If you look at the other three writers who worked on the title, they always brought a unique edge to the table. Whedon’s emotionally gut-wrenching yet light-hearted and continuity steeped run with John Cassaday is the obvious highlight of the book, with a story that is accessible to anyone regardless of if they actually like the X-Men or not; Ellis’ run with three different artists on the title was over-the-top, a tad ridiculous, but with his trademark form of insanity that is really a quiet brilliance (with the last page of his run being excessively poignant); Way’s current story is, pure and simple, a damn good show with Jason Pearson at his side. Gage and Bubillo? A miss and a miss on both accounts that, by all accounts, should have been a home run.
So what do we have in the end? We have a book that has a few nice moments and lines, but mostly a title that is slow and awkward looking, and by all accounts one of the biggest let downs of the week. While I still wish to follow Gage in other endeavors, there isn’t much more to see here.
Final Verdict: 2.0 (for the Kitty/Lockheed reunion scene) – Pass and stick to Way and Pearson’s half
