So I was looking at the cover of "Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes" #2 trying to decide if that was supposed to be Emma or Storm (and really, should that ever be a question one has to give thought to?) when I decided that despite looking relatively white and blonde, the big hoop earrings meant she must be Ororo. The facial structure actually looks a ( Read more... )

OMG Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1 gives us steampunk X-Men in an alternate San Francisco (Emma, Scott, Hank and Logan, led by Emma). It is absolutely glorious with painted artwork, and I want want want MORE of this. Sadly it is only 8 pages (and the whole issue has only 16 pages of story for $3.99- WTF?) but all four characters are *perfect ( Read more... )

It's no secret to those few folks who read this LJ that I was, all in all, not a fan of Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. It had its good moments. The dialog was snappy. John Cassaday and Laura Martin's art was gorgeous (although I still prefer Quitely's design for Beast). But the pacing was dreadful, some of the plots were dodgy, the big ( Read more... )

In which Joss Whedon's much delayed (and overly prolonged) storyline comes to an end. Looking at this issue purely on its own merits, this is really quite good. Snappy dialog (of course) and, within the framework of Whedon's own viewpoint, good character work as well. The beginning does feel a bit indulgent in a "let's have Joss Whedon write ( Read more... )

Well. That was actually... quite good. I'd say it's the best since Whedon's first storyline.

( Read more... )

This week both X-Men and (astonishingly) Astonishing X-Men shipped new issues. And it's really interesting to contrast what the two books (and their authors) are doing ( Read more... )

Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men #22, which was originally scheduled for 4/18, was supposed to come out this week (7/4, or really 7/5 in the U.S. since there's a holiday). It has now been pushed to 8/15. Issue #23, which was supposed to come out then, is now scheduled for 9/26, although I find that highly unlikely.

Let me emphasize this: #22 is ( Read more... )

This is actually quite good. I know it will come as a shock to many of you to hear me say that given that I've been relentlessly pounding AXM for the past year or so. But there's a lot to like about this issue, and it gives me hope that Whedon's run will end on as strong a note as it began (but he's disappointed me before on this title, so I'm ( Read more... )

Well, that was predictably disappointing. As usual, some great dialogue, but Joss Whedon really needs to learn that witty banter isn't all there is to writing a good comic. At least attempting to make your storyline fit with ones that came before is nice. Not wasting time on cutsey (but supposedly shocking) in-jokes with yourself is also nice. ( Read more... )

At this point, I'm starting to not care what Whedon does over in AXM. But it's interesting to look at what he's doing that's so underwhelming. In this issue, his version of the Hellfire Club, who have secretly been hiding in the mansion and using (forcing?) Emma to act as a double agent make their move. This leads to several characters being ( Read more... )