ASTONISHING X-MEN #11 REVIEW

[Brian Wilkinson]

Reviewer: Brian Wilkinson, bewilkinson@comixfan.cjb.net

Mind games are the least of Danger's problems...

Written by: Joss Whedon
Penciled/Inked by: John Cassaday
Colors by: Laura Martin
Letters by: Chris Eliopoulos
Assistant Editor: Cory Sedlmeier & Stephanie Moore
Editor: Mike Marts
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics

Reading this issue makes me feel like a 12-year-old again after seeing a blockbuster movie like Terminator 2 or Aliens for the first time. Your adrenaline is up, and you feel like punching the air and yelling something ridiculous like "kick a$$!!"

It's no secret I'm not a huge fan of the villain "Danger" and indeed many of the elements of this arc so far. That said, in Whedon's penultimate issue before he and artist John Cassaday take a bit of a break, they pull out all the stops and make Xavier into the biggest bad-a$$ I've seen in a comic book in a long time.

Though he's been portrayed as tough-as-nails in the past, there is something much more viceral about Xavier in this issue. Despite the fact that he's crippled and he's powers seem more existential than tangible, he beats the living crap out of a machine that single-handedly smacked down the whole team last issue.

You get a bit of a giddy thrill seeing Xavier driving a big rig, smashing through walls, and then just sitting propped against a wall with a hatchet in one hand and Danger's head in the other. As he drags himself back towards his chair, she utters one simple word, "bastard," that not only made me laugh but sets the mood for the rest of the issue.

The X-Men arrive after being conveniently healed by the Institutes stock of healers (comically used at that), only to have Xavier chuck Danger's head over his shoulder into Peter's waiting arms. Admittedly, I would have liked to have seen more of a moment between the two men who have had a lot of friction in their past (Peter's defection for Magneto's team at one point) but Whedon doesn't stop things there to allow for more to happen.

It's fantastic stuff. It is cinematic in its approach, which obviously speaks to Whedon's background, and yet it plays off of everything so well that despite the long wait between issues, you feel that the payoff was worth it. That said, I don't want to wait another two months for the final part.

The complaints about this issue are minor for th e most part, with my biggest gripe being the overly sensational impaling of Shadowcat and Colossus last issue to them having nothing more than a scratch here after some quick healing. I'm pretty sure that should have killed them instantly, but for the sake of exciting storytelling it is more fun to keep them around.

No one believed they were dead anyway, but the whole team looked as though they should be dead by the end. Whedon at least uses healers in a fun way to show that the team was beat up, and the resulting moment between Shadowcat and Colossus was handled so beautifully in a way that had not yet happened in the series, that I'm willing to ignore this impaling of Whedon's.

The art here by Cassaday isn't as strong as it has been in issues past and leaves a little bit to be desired. His splash pages are done well, particularly with the arrival of another threat at the end of the issue as well as his Shadowcat/Colossus scene, but other panels seem a bit more rushed than I would have liked.

I'm glad Whedon and Cassaday are staying on for another year, because I'm enjoying this book in ways I hadn't enjoyed X-Men in years. There is a playful nature to it despite the serious undertones which results in fabulous entertainment. For those looking for a serious side to the team and a good solid 12 issues of storytelling, this is the series for you.

I can't wait to see what happens next, how it ties into House of M, and why the last page teases that next issue, "Xavier's a jerk!"

ART:


STORY:


OVERALL:


Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics and save!

[Anand Khatri]

This was a great issue. Only problem with it is the lateness, thats about it. Love this book.

Originally Posted by Brian

I can't wait to see what happens next, how it ties into House of M, and why the last page teases that next issue, "Xavier's a jerk!"

That made me laugh when I saw it.

Great Review!

[Kizmet]

Originally Posted by Brian Wilkinson

The X-Men arrive after being conveniently healed by the Institutes stock of healers (comically used at that).

Yeah great joke, it's sooo funny that Academy X's Headmaster, Headmistress and several teachers treat their student like empty bottle of asprin.

In the later season of BtVS/AtS I started noticing a trend to include OOC moments for the sake of a punchline; this scene strikes me as being in that vein. Who cares about portraying the X-Men as being concerned about the lives of their student when you can include an incredible joke like the nearly unconscious Josh's "You're welcome" in response the the X-Men's lack of a thank you, or even the faintest hint of concern, when he drains himself to the point of collapsing to save their lives.

A little levity is nice but Xaiver is far from the only 'jerk' featured in this story.

[emesem]

"Professor Xavier is a Jerk"

ahh..UXM 167 I believe...

quite possible one of the best singl issues of all-time. Like me, Whedon obviously had a huge crush on Kitty when he was a kid.

[Robert Gill]

Great issue, I just pray #12 comes out next month...or at least before House of M is over

[Will Carper]

Originally Posted by emesem

"Professor Xavier is a Jerk"

ahh..UXM 167 I believe...

quite possible one of the best singl issues of all-time. Like me, Whedon obviously had a huge crush on Kitty when he was a kid.

Do you mean of Uncanny X-Men, or of comics period? because i can come up wth hundreds of single issues better than that and they have Sandman on the cover (or the Invisibles, Watchmen, Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Preacher, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, The Filth, We3, Sin City, Maus, DKR...... ).

Originally Posted by Kizmet

Yeah great joke, it's sooo funny that Academy X's Headmaster, Headmistress and several teachers treat their student like empty bottle of asprin.

I agree. though it was funny, it was out of character, especially for kitty and peter, who are both very sensitive people (josh healed them, i believe).

overall, i liked the issue (except the cover-ughh!), and i can't wait for the finale--whenever it will come.

[RingoStarr]

I obviously must be in the minority, but I really feel that this is the most over rated book I have read in a long long time. Yeah, the stories are good, but they aren't great. They don't seem too original to me. And people say that it is great characterization but there desn't seem to be that much imo. I hate 6 issue archs where not much is accomplished, especially when those 6 issues take closer to a year to come out.

Yes, I read it, but unlike a lot of people I don't think it was worth the wait. It was an ok book, that shipped a few months late.

[Clay Olsen]

I enjoyed it immensely and did think the joke with the healers was funny. I also liked Xaviers comments on Jean being the only one who knew who he really was.

[Colonel Cortez]

Does anyone think that Emma will become leader after this story? SPOILER! In HOM#4 Logan calls her leader of the X-Men.

[John Gleason]

I have loved every issue of Astonishing. I think Whedon even if he is not doing fresh new things with the title, he makes it feel fresh. He's taking these arcs that sound very standard and making them special. He plays into past stories and adds further to the entertainment factor. I can't wait for issue 12.

[heffy]

Holllllllllllllllllllllllllllld UP?!

Anyone else not suprised by what happened at the end?????

about where "IT" went........

.....anyone remember what happened at the end when Polaris first left genosha with when she made the Memorial statue of Xavier, magneto, and phoenix...........

.........anyone remember what she used to make it??!?!


Just seeing if anyone else remembered that...........I just really bothers me seeing how the issue ended thinking of that......

....It happened in Uncanny X-men On Darkest Knights Part 2...........check it out!

[Ken Boehm]

Originally Posted by Colonel Cortez

Does anyone think that Emma will become leader after this story? SPOILER! In HOM#4 Logan calls her leader of the X-Men.

Emma is co-leader/headmaster with Scott.

Flipping through this issue at the store I wondered about SPOILER! that Sentinel as well. I remember it being used in Morrsion's X-Men as a statue to magneto and then seeing it again with Austen's follow up. Then again, Marvel crapped on everything else that occured during that time so why stop now!

[ghostly1]

I'm also not thrilled with this arc as a whole, but the Kitty/Piotr moment really made the whole issue up for me, so I gave it 3.75 stars on my own site.

[M-Angel]

Good issue, always a good read.
I dont agree with the rating you give the art, I thought the art was perfect, the problem is that because of the very detailed art John Cassaday takes his sweet time and issues are always late (Just like Planetary)

One question
I have many theories about this..half of them involve a pretty heavy object.
How does Xavier drive?

[Drew Shirley]

Originally Posted by Kizmet

Yeah great joke, it's sooo funny that Academy X's Headmaster, Headmistress and several teachers treat their student like empty bottle of asprin.

In the later season of BtVS/AtS I started noticing a trend to include OOC moments for the sake of a punchline; this scene strikes me as being in that vein. Who cares about portraying the X-Men as being concerned about the lives of their student when you can include an incredible joke like the nearly unconscious Josh's "You're welcome" in response the the X-Men's lack of a thank you, or even the faintest hint of concern, when he drains himself to the point of collapsing to save their lives.

A little levity is nice but Xaiver is far from the only 'jerk' featured in this story.

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be that they were dishevled, had just had their collective asses handed to them, in a hurry, and were trying to figure out what to do next.

Couldn't possibly have been that. They should've baked Josh a cake and thrown him a party.

[Kizmet]

Originally Posted by Drew Shirley

Yeah, it couldn't possibly be that they were dishevled, had just had their collective asses handed to them, in a hurry, and were trying to figure out what to do next.

Couldn't possibly have been that. They should've baked Josh a cake and thrown him a party.

No, Logan should have caught him before he hit the floor instead of standing over him and annoucing "This one's used up." And since the X-Men routinely quip while fighting for their lives, I don't think it's too much to expect one of them to pick the kid off the floor and put him on a bed at some point during the three pages they spend figuring out that Danger's gone after Xavier.

Colossus had time to offer Scott a hand up off his bed, Logan had time to offer Kitty a hand up off her bed, Kitty and Colossus had time to discuss their love-life, but still they were in such a hurry that they leave Josh lying on the floor while they go off to call the FF or the Avengers (and for Colossus and Kitty to talk about their relationship, can't forget that).

[John Gleason]

Originally Posted by heffy

Holllllllllllllllllllllllllllld UP?!

Anyone else not suprised by what happened at the end?????

about where "IT" went........

.....anyone remember what happened at the end when Polaris first left genosha with when she made the Memorial statue of Xavier, magneto, and phoenix...........

.........anyone remember what she used to make it??!?!


Just seeing if anyone else remembered that...........I just really bothers me seeing how the issue ended thinking of that......

....It happened in Uncanny X-men On Darkest Knights Part 2...........check it out!

SPOILER! My theory is this. There were two super sentinels that made it to Genosha and yes one did become a statue, and yes it appears that is the one that showed up in this issue. I think it was a simple mistake an the wrong sentinel was drawn in. I can live with it. I eally wouldn't have enjoyed the issue more or less had it been the sentinel that has not been seen since New X-Men.

[Stephanie Kay]

Originally Posted by RingoStarr

I obviously must be in the minority, but I really feel that this is the most over rated book I have read in a long long time. Yeah, the stories are good, but they aren't great. They don't seem too original to me. And people say that it is great characterization but there desn't seem to be that much imo. I hate 6 issue archs where not much is accomplished, especially when those 6 issues take closer to a year to come out.

Yes, I read it, but unlike a lot of people I don't think it was worth the wait. It was an ok book, that shipped a few months late.

I too am a little underwhelmed. It's good, but something leaves me a little cold about it - on second reading, it feels a little, hmm, preachy - it literally tries to hold more meaning than is actually there, and just comes across as contrived to me. The plot is well put together, though the overall story is pretty unoriginal - and everything is balanced and unassuming I suppose. It was nice to see Colossus actually used in a manner which was memorable.

I'd give the art slightly more and the story less, but it was a very good review.

[Ann Nichols]

Originally Posted by heffy

Holllllllllllllllllllllllllllld UP?!

Anyone else not suprised by what happened at the end?????

about where "IT" went........

.....anyone remember what happened at the end when Polaris first left genosha with when she made the Memorial statue of Xavier, magneto, and phoenix...........

.........anyone remember what she used to make it??!?!


Just seeing if anyone else remembered that...........I just really bothers me seeing how the issue ended thinking of that......

....It happened in Uncanny X-men On Darkest Knights Part 2...........check it out!

Oh, there were far more mistakes than just claiming there was one Mega-Sentinel that destroyed Genosha instead of two. I spent hours pouring over back issues (well, most reprint volumes for "New X-Men" vol. 1) to cite the evidence in my spoiled summary of this issue.

Wouldn't it have been just as dramatic if Danger had brought the vertical Mega-Sentinel to life with the Magneto & Xavier heads showing and taunting them with the idea that they thought it was dead but they were wrong?


HOWEVER, judging by by the fact that we see the back of the departing X-Men's legs from thighs to the upper calves behind Josh's profile (instead of boots), suggests to me that Josh was indeed laid on one of the vacated med-beds.

[RingoStarr]

Originally Posted by Stephanie Kay

it literally tries to hold more meaning than is actually there, and just comes across as contrived to me.

You said exactly what I was trying to say. Thanks

[emesem]

Originally Posted by solofire6

Do you mean of Uncanny X-Men, or of comics period? because i can come up wth hundreds of single issues better than that and they have Sandman on the cover (or the Invisibles, Watchmen, Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Preacher, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, The Filth, We3, Sin City, Maus, DKR...... ).

sometime greatness means more than just the technical brilliance but instead refers to a point in time and the impact it had to this once young comic reader.

And yes claremont/smith xmen trumps all of filth, Sin City, preacher, WE3. maus wasnt my thing but of course Swamp thing, watchmen, invisibles and dkr are all classics but whedon here obviously is more influenced by 80's claremont than by moore, morrison, miller et al.

[Clay Olsen]

I thought there was 3 mega sentenels sent to Genosha... am I wrong?
I know one became the monument... and yes it would have been much cooler if it had been that onethat got up... but for some reason i remember there being 3 of them...

[Rictor]

The issue started off surprisingly well. The ChuckTruck scene being my fave, but the longer the issue went-on, the more i began to distance myself from it. The end baddie being the straw that broke the camel's back. Flashes of brilliance in this arc, dont make up for what is essentially a poor story. Is anyone else just hoping that they release #12 post-haste, so we can put it behind us and look forward to 2006 whilst still thinking fondly of "gifted"?

[Ann Nichols]

Originally Posted by AdamWarlock

I thought there was 3 mega sentenels sent to Genosha... am I wrong?
I know one became the monument... and yes it would have been much cooler if it had been that onethat got up... but for some reason i remember there being 3 of them...

There were 4, but only two made it to Genosha. The one that shows up here is clearly meant to be the Mega-Sentinel that became the monument because it has four heads and the other one had only one. See the last page of NXM v.1, #115. (You get a overhead view of the "horizontal" Mega-Sentinel a page or two before that -- only one head.) I call it the horizontal Mega-Sentinel because it flew and stood as if it were a beetle.

Check the top right half of the double title page spread of #115 for the four Mega-Sentinels leaving the Master Mold.

[Kyle Wagner]

Originally Posted by RingoStarr

I obviously must be in the minority, but I really feel that this is the most over rated book I have read in a long long time. Yeah, the stories are good, but they aren't great. They don't seem too original to me. And people say that it is great characterization but there desn't seem to be that much imo. I hate 6 issue archs where not much is accomplished, especially when those 6 issues take closer to a year to come out.

Yes, I read it, but unlike a lot of people I don't think it was worth the wait. It was an ok book, that shipped a few months late.

There are times when I feel like I'm in your minority, and I agree that the six issue arcs are starting to get old (actually replace "are starting to get old" with "are starting to drive me crazy). Still, I don't not like either

Kyle