What’s Covered?
Astonishing X-Men # 1 - 6
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Astonishing X-Men # 1
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
The first character we see in the series is my favorite, none other than Kitty Pryde. We're off to a solid start. We learn that she'll be a teacher and student advisor, and it immediately makes me wonder if we'll see her alongside Dani, Shan, and Rahne in Academy X (That's my next blog.)
While giving a speech on the first day of school, she fakes a Sentinel attack. This is the type of extreme teacher Kitty will be.
Logan finds Scott in bed with Emma and says:
“Which stage of grief is this? Denial?”
Holy shit. This is fire. This is immediately followed by Scott blasting Logan out of a window. Great role models for the students.
Scott's giving a speech about how they need to be super heroes again. Tights and costumes, goodwill missions, etc.
The new costumes are shown off.
Later, mutant terrorists take over a party led by Ord of the Breakworld. I'm not going to lie, Ord seems like a pretty Claremontian villain, and I don't mean that in a good way. Ord gives me inconsequential villain vibes like Vargas or the Neo.
While at the party, a doctor announces she found a cure to mutantdom.
Astonishing X-Men # 2
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
Kitty uses her phasing powers to pull the hostages through the ground. While that part of the mission is successful, Ord completely dominates the X-Men, thoroughly embarrassing them. He seems to know a lot about them and was even expecting them.
All looked lost until Lockheed showed up and burned him, allowing them to escape.
The team discusses the potential cure. Many of the students who suffer from physical deformities are happy, but all at the school are nervous.
Kitty clearly has a serious problem with Emma. She makes a serious accusation, insinuating that she is mentally controlling Scott and making him do what she wants. In a nice callback, Kitty recounts that she was captured by Emma during her first mission. Kitty thinks she's evil, and Emma admits that she brought Kitty on to serve as a check on her worst impulses. A comment that seems to impress Kitty.
Beast goes to the doctor to see if the cure is real. It's also hinted at him considering using it on himself.
Astonishing X-Men # 3
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
Beast is given a sample of the cure. He continued to debate whether or not he'll use it. Wolverine tries to stop beast from using the cure on himself. However, we learn that Ord is working with the doctor, so it's not clear whether all is as it seems with this cure.
Kitty and Emma argue some more. Kitty doesn’t like that Emma teaches ethics.
Emma: “ Kitty thinks I am mentally controlling everything you say”
Scott: “ But you’re not, right?”
Emma: “ You will never see me naked again.”
Astonishing X-Men # 4
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
The X-Men head to the lab once they learn that they are running tests on mutants.
We get our first introduction to Armor, who runs into Ord and punches him. This is my first time reading her, but I'm a big enough X-Men fan to know that she is a pretty big deal in modern X-Men comics. While Armor fairs well, another mutant boy (Wing) is given the cure and falls from the sky. The Cuckos call Emma for help. Great to see the Cuckos are still around in this series.
Kitty finds Colossus!
Astonishing X-Men # 5
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
Elixir (Josh Foley) is curing Wing, but he’s still powerless. Yay! An Academy X character getting some love in a mainstream X-Men comic!
Piotr says they switched his body after he died, and then revived him. They spent years running tests on him. This is convenient, but hey I'm happy to have the big guy back.
Emma: “ What’s next? Eliminating the Gay gene?”
Doctor: “ homosexuality doesn’t represent a threat to human existence.”
Emma: “ were clearly watching different televangelists.”
The X-Men defeat Ord's goons. Colossus destroys Ord and then says he’s made of rage, not steel.
Astonishing X-Men # 6
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
Nick fury asks how they know that this is the real colossus.
“ I read his mind. I matched his DNA. I smelled him. I also did that.”
Turns out SWORD, a government agency that watches for extraterrestrials, was working with Ord. Ord’s people can see the future and think a mutant will destroy his planet in 3 years. He brought back Colossus and developed the cure to stop all mutants.
Ord tries to get away, but we get a FASTBALL SPECIAL! Hell to the yea!
My Connections and Creators
Well here we are. Astonishing X-Men. The last series that seems to be universally loved until we get to Krakoa. Joss Whedon wass hot off the success of Buffy, Firefly, and countless other genre shows, so why not give X-Men a whirl.
Even though Grant Morrison's run was incredibly successful, it's clear that this is in direct response. Scott gives a speech about how they need to be super heroes again, which is followed by them marching out in their uniforms.
The idea of a mutant cure seems like an old hat to me, but I realize that this hasn't actually come up in the comics (outside of a random X-Force arc). It's been overdone in other mediums (including the disappointing X-Men 3: The Last Stand), but here we go in a core X-Men comic. I'm excited to see where this goes.
The first main villain is Ord of the Breakworld and I'm not overly impressed. We'll just need to see what happens in later arcs.
One BIG element is that Colossus has been brought back to life. I've never been a big Colossus fan, but that didn't mean I wasn't both surprised and excited to see him again.
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