Alex Burr
Astonishing #13
There is a reason I got back into comics recently. I don't know precisely what that reason is, but Astonishing X-Men has a lot to do with it.
It’s been a long wait, but any wait is worth it for this series. Whedon has hit another home run with this issue, and as usual Cassaday’s art is fantastic. This is a slow issue, with no real action and mostly character conversations, but I for one welcome that. I mean, seeing Colossus throw his teammates around is all well and good for a while, but every now and then you need a bit of a story.
Kitty Pryde in particular is a real success lately. I don’t think any creative team has quite gotten Kitty the way these two do, and I’m very glad to see her developed into a more robust character. And Cyclops—who is rapidly being restablished as my favorite X-Man—is an actual leader in this series (unlike when he shows up in other books to bark a few orders that no one obeys).
The evolving story with Emma, her secondary mutation, and the question of her loyalty is intriguing. Personally I could take her or leave her, as I wasn’t reading comics when she was established as an X-Men ally. Last I knew she was in the Hellfire Club—which seems to be the case again—and therefore a persona non grata. But it’s interesting to see where Whedon will be taking her story, particularly all that diamond nonsense.
I await the end of the Whedon/Cassaday run with baited breath and skepticism. Whoever takes over next year will have to really bring it to avoid being a disappointment. Who could fill Whedon’s shoes as a writer? Hopefully the foundations he’s laying can provide inspiration for his successor. And John Cassaday – the only artist I can think of who comes close to his style (which, as far as I’m concerned, is the look of Astonishing X-Men until the end of time) is maybe Alan Davis.
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