I've never read a single issue of Astonishing X-Men. That is, before I read Warren Ellis's Xenogenesis arc. I have tried to make this blog a place to complain about comics that either suck completely, or suck in very specifically annoying ways. I am failing you all because I get excited when I read a good comic and I don't want to talk about the ones that piss me off. Case in point. I really liked these books.
I loved the way all of the X-Men are characterized. My only complaint is that I pretty much forgot that Armor was in the story at all. Wolverine is on par with what you would expect, and I am happy to see him throwing himself at the baddies with abandon. Really, we all know that Logan is reckless with his own safety, yet some artists draw Wolverine in a conservative, defensive manner. If you fire a bullet at The Wolverine, he doesn't do something fancy like blocking it with a claw and splitting it in two, he takes the bullet in the face and splits the guy in two who fired it. Cyclops is the perfect mix of business and indifference that we've grown to enjoy from him. Beast is analytical and frazzled, but all fists and feet when the fighting starts. Storm is mohawked and in charge. I always feel like I would do anything she ordered me to do as long as she had that mohawk. Finally, Emma is spot on with her combination of disgusted abhorance and snark that makes you forget that she's one of the good guys.
Kaare Andrews' art makes for a great completion to the great writing. I've never seen his work before. It's very distinct and it pleases me. That's all I can say, to be honest.
I guess the most striking aspect of this batch of books is that it has balls. Lots, and lots of balls. Not the kind of balls that Image thought they had in 1995, I'm talkin big, beautiful, bloody laser balls. I have missed comics with balls. When Wolverine takes a guillotine to the neck courtesy of a freakish alien cyborg thing, that's when the party starts. Take note. He spends the rest of the arc holding his small intestine in one arm. Tasty.
This post has outlasted my attention span. Give these a read. I'll never say a comic is worth the $3.99 I paid, but it's a better read than other $3.99 books that I've read in recent memory.
Laser nuts.
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