Astonishing X-Men

AUTHOR: Whedon, Joss

ARTIST: John Cassaday (illustrator); Laura Martin (colorist)

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2004-2008

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2004-2008

Publication History

In the 2000’s, American comic book companies faced dwindling sales and increased competition from Japanese manga. In an attempt to attract new readers, companies began recruiting well-known writers from outside the industry. Although Joss Whedon had written for comics before this point, he was best known as a producer of fantasy and science-fiction television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Angel (1999-2004), and Firefly (2002). Whedon had loyal fans, and his collaboration with Marvel Comics on its most popular superhero team generated much excitement for the debut of Astonishing X-Men. The collaboration was also an excellent fit for Whedon, an X-Men fan himself.

The series was unable to maintain the kind of monthly schedule expected by regular comic book readers, and meeting a bimonthly deadline was also difficult. Despite the delays, the series remained popular. Whedon’s run on the book lasted for twenty-four issues and concluded with a special Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men issue 1 in 2007. John Cassaday was the artist for the entire run. Astonishing X-Men’s relatively contained story arcs made the series ideal for collection into trade paperbacks.

Plot

The X-Men are a team of superheroes whose powers are derived from genetic mutations. Feared by the public for this reason, the X-Men battle this prejudice in two ways. As educators, they run the Xavier Institute, a school designed to help mutants learn about their powers and to promote understanding. As superheroes, they fight evil mutants and human bigots who seek to eliminate mutations or mutants themselves.

The series can be broken into four six-issue arcs. In the first arc, Cyclops assigns Emma Frost, Wolverine, Beast, and Kitty to be the lead teachers at the Institute. Interpersonal conflict occurs as they grow into these new roles and gain prominence as superheroes, particularly as Cyclops deals with the effect of the recent death of Jean Grey on his relationship with Emma Frost. Kavita Rao’s announcement of a cure for the mutant condition puts the team into conflict with Ord, Rao’s mysterious backer, and with Nick Fury and Agent Brand. Beast is tempted to use the cure to stop his own devolution. Kitty then discovers that Colossus, her lost love who was presumed dead, has been kept alive for experimentation by Ord.

The next arc centers on the emergence of Danger. Working subtly, Danger uses the holographic technology of the Danger Room, the X-Men’s training facility, to persuade Wing, who lost his powers when Ord used the mutant cure on him, to commit suicide. Knowing that the X-Men will send their students to the supposed safety of the Danger Room, Danger revives a damaged Sentinel robot to confront the team. After defeating the Sentinel and exposing Danger, the X-Men lose a fight with Danger’s new humanoid form. Danger then goes after Professor Xavier. After an intense struggle, Danger is defeated, but not without emotional cost to the X-Men when the team learns of Charles Xavier’s secret connection to the artificial intelligence.

The third arc focuses on Emma Frost’s apparent betrayal of the team and the attack upon the group by the new Hellfire Club, composed of Emma, Cassandra Nova, Sebastian Shaw, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and the mysterious Perfection. This attack is psychically brutal, and many of the X-Men’s personal or emotional vulnerabilities are used against them. Cyclops is left in a vegetative state, while Beast regresses into a feral state and begins attacking people. In a comedic reversal, Wolverine reverts to the foppish persona of his childhood. Kitty is forced to live a fantasy of a future life in which her son from a marriage with Colossus is stolen from her by the X-Men. During this chaos, Ord and Danger join forces and also attack. The X-Men heroically struggle back from this near defeat, discovering that Emma’s actions are the result of manipulation by Cassandra Nova. At the end of the story, the X-Men, Ord, and Danger are whisked away by Brand.

The final arc takes the X-Men to Ord’s home planet, Breakworld. There, an ancient prophecy, promoted by Aghanne and feared by Kruun, tells that the world shall be destroyed by Colossus. Ord is shamed because he revived the very mutant that will bring Breakworld’s doom. Attacked by alien forces in space and on the planet, the X-Men wrestle with the ethical question of whether to destroy Breakworld to save Earth. Cyclops exercises his strategic leadership skills, while Wolverine takes on Armor as a sort of sidekick and Emma discovers Danger’s weakness. Although Colossus does not destroy the planet and his actions lead to the exposure of the true villain behind the scenes, the team cannot stop Breakworld’s ultimate weapon from being fired at Earth. Kitty makes a terrible sacrifice to save her world.

Volumes

•Astonishing X-Men: Gifted (2004). Collects issues 1-6. These issues explore the development of a new X-Men team and the threat of a cure for mutants.

•Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous (2005). Collects issues 7-12. In these stories, the X-Men battle a new artificial intelligence with connections to their own history.

•Astonishing X-Men: Torn (2007). Collects issues 13-18. In this arc, the X-Men are betrayed by one of their own and must fight a battle to restore their minds.

•Astonishing X-Men: Unstoppable (2008). Collects issues 19-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men issue 1. The X-Men must decide whether to destroy an alien world in order to save Earth.

•Astonishing X-Men Omnibus (2009). Collects issues 1-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men issue 1. This collection features the entire story in one book.

Characters

•Cyclops, a.k.a. Scott, a protagonist, has a slim build and brown hair. He must wear a special visor or glasses because his powerful optic-force blasts are beyond his control. Cyclops is often conflicted by his responsibilities as leader of both the X-Men and the Xavier Institute. Although he is in a relationship with Emma Frost, he still has feelings for Jean Grey, his deceased wife who operated as Phoenix.

•White Queen, a.k.a. Emma Frost, a protagonist, is an attractive blond who wears revealing, all-white clothing. A powerful telepath, Emma has a secondary mutation that allows her body to turn to diamond. An aristocratic and sarcastic former enemy of the X-Men, once a member of the Hellfire Club, Emma struggles to understand her new role as a hero and her relationship with Cyclops.

•Wolverine, a.k.a. Logan, a protagonist, is short with unusual hair. He is aggressive and instinctual, and his indestructible claws and regenerative healing ability make him a terrifying opponent. The 2001 book Origin revealed Wolverine’s surprising roots as a weak, wealthy boy in nineteenth century Canada whose life is destroyed by his mutant condition.

•Beast, a.k.a. Hank, a protagonist, is blue-furred and somewhat feline. Beast learned to use humor and empathy to offset the surprise of his appearance. However, a manifestation of a secondary mutation rendered him more like an animal. Afterward he became more agile and strong, but he fears the loss of his powerful intellect and sense of humanity.

•Kitty Pryde, a protagonist, is a young brunette woman who frequently wears the classic black-and-gold X-Men costume in combat. She is able to pass through any solid object. Intelligent, brave, and caring, Kitty is the heart of the team. Returning after a long absence, she is uncertain of her new place at the Xavier Institute. She has a deep love for Colossus.

•Colossus, a.k.a. Peter, a protagonist, is a Russian mutant able to turn his body into solid steel. The strength of his new form is matched by the strength of his compassion for his friends and others. Kitty is his beloved. Colossus once sacrificed himself in order to save the world from a deadly disease known as the Legacy Virus.

•Armor, a.k.a. Hisako, is a dark-haired student from Japan. Her mutant abilities allow her to create powerful armor around her body. She desires nothing less than to be a member of the X-Men. Though still learning about her abilities, she is quick-witted and brave.

•Charles Xavier is bald and is frequently shown in his wheelchair. He is a powerful telepath. The founder of the X-Men, Xavier is dedicated to promoting equality and understanding between mutants and humans. His concern for his students can lead him to mistakes in judgment. He works on the island of Genosha, where the mutant population was devastated by Sentinel robots.

•Lockheed is a small purple dragon. He flies and breathes flame. A longtime loyal companion of Kitty, Lockheed has hidden depths.

•Wing is a sandy-blond mutant with the power of flight. A student at the Xavier Institute, he enjoys his ability to fly. His loss of power and death make him a tragic figure in the story.

•Abigail Brand is a green-haired, attractive woman who usually wears a skintight, green combat suit. She takes her job as leader of the Sentient Worlds Observation and Response Department (S.W.O.R.D.) with deadly seriousness. Cool and sarcastic, Brand will do anything to defend Earth from intergalactic threats.

•Nick Fury is the gray-templed, eye-patch-wearing director of the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.). An old soldier with a grizzled attitude, Fury is a useful source of information, when he is willing to convey it.

•Kavita Rao is a dark-haired scientist from India. Her sophisticated knowledge of genetics has led her to a cure for the mutant condition, which she considers a disease. However, Rao’s motivation is medicine, not bigotry.

•Ord, an antagonist, is the tall, green-skinned alien ambassador who typically wears a metallic band across his face. Ord’s mission is to prevent the prophesied destruction of Breakworld by an Earth mutant. Aggressive and savage, he is not a careful planner.

•Danger, an antagonist, appears to be a female robot of wild design. She is the evolved consciousness of the Danger Room, a facility created by Xavier to train the X-Men. As such, she knows all the X-Men’s strengths and weaknesses. Danger sees Xavier and by extension the X-Men as cruel oppressors and seeks revenge.

•Cassandra Nova, an antagonist, is a bald woman who wears a pith helmet. A parasitic being able to jump into new hosts, she once possessed Xavier. Her hateful nature and powerful telepathic abilities combine for sadistic effect. She enjoys being evil.

•Sebastian Shaw, an antagonist, is a dark-haired man in period costume. Shaw once led the Hellfire Club, and he lorded over Emma Frost. His ability to convert kinetic energy into strength and his manipulative leadership skills are deadly.

•Negasonic Teenage Warhead, an antagonist, is a blue-skinned girl in fringed black clothing. Her undefined abilities appear to make her dreams reality. She is an unfocused and annoying teen.

•Aghanne is a green-skinned alien on Breakworld. A former gladiator, she despises the brutality of her planet. Although not a direct player for most of the story, her actions set about the main conflict with the X-Men.

•Kruun is the green-skinned alien dictator of Breakworld. His brutality is matched only by his contempt of Ord. Kruun seeks to save his world only to continue to rule it.

Artistic Style

The effect of computer art, a powerful tool in graphic novels and modern comics, is evident in the color and shading of the stories. Cassaday’s art style is crisp and cinematic. As befits a series focused on emotion, reactions, and connections, Cassaday’s faces are expressive. This is particularly evident in the haughty arrogance of Emma Frost. In another example, Wolverine’s personality reversal in issue 15 features his giddy smile of accomplishment after cutting out a paper-doll chain.

For many years before Astonishing X-Men, the X-Men appeared more often in dark team uniforms influenced by the characters’ film appearances. Cassaday pushed for the return of superhero costumes that promoted the individuality of the characters. Surprisingly for a superhero book steeped in action, there are few motion lines in this artwork. Instead, motion is often conveyed through impact upon environmental elements. This is especially noticeable during the fight between Beast and Wolverine in issue 3. In one panel, Beast kicks Wolverine into the ceiling. The cracks in the ceiling and the debris raining down in the next panel demonstrate how hard Wolverine hit. A few pages later, Wolverine drives Beast through a door, splintering wood into slivers that appear to be heading toward the reader. Only the most powerful and dramatic of movements get action lines, as when Shaw boxes Colossus on the ears in issue 15.

Themes

In Whedon’s works, happiness is a miraculous but fragile state, and love brings connections in surprising ways. Cyclops and Emma Frost are opposites, but they bond through adversity. Aggressive soldier Brand is drawn to an unlikely partner, the humanist Beast. The relationship between Kitty and Colossus is the best demonstration of this theme. Kitty’s jubilant rediscovery of her lost love and Colossus’s sad farewell to her serve as powerful bookends for the series. In between, there is a growing intimacy, made brighter by its tragic finale.

To some degree, all Marvel comics ride the thematic wake of Amazing Fantasy issue 15, wherein Spider-Man learned the tragic lesson that with great power comes great responsibility. Astonishing X-Men tackles that theme explicitly. Although the theme becomes less prominent as adventures mount, the early story arcs put the main characters in the complex role of educators, deciding how best to guide young people. Throughout the entire series, the X-Men also transition into a more public role as superheroes, most notably in issue 7, when they fight a giant monster alongside the Fantastic Four.

Fans of X-Men comics will also see much nostalgia for the title’s glory days. When Kitty returns to the mansion in issue 1, her memories of events from earlier comics are shown to the reader. Cassaday also draws heavily on the art of various preceding X-Men comics. When Emma Frost psychically manipulates Cyclops in issue 14, she begins by evoking Cyclops’s last moment of happiness with Jean Grey in the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Finally, the X-Men series’ promotion of feminism is enhanced by Whedon’s own interest in the topic. The series depicts many strong female characters, both heroes and villains. Kitty and Emma Frost are depicted as equal, if not a bit superior, to their male colleagues.

Impact

Although by no means the first “outsider” to write for comics, Whedon was certainly the most prominent creator to cross over since Kevin Smith wrote Daredevil for Marvel in 1999. Name recognition became an important trend in the mid-2000’s, which saw the release of limited series by authors such as Brad Meltzer and Tamora Pierce as well as adaptations of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower novels. The Whedon connection had the intended promotional effect, but the delays in the series further supported the perception among fans that comics by outsiders would fall frustratingly behind schedule.

Astonishing X-Men also reintegrated the X-Men into the mainstream Marvel continuity. Since the Silver Age of comics, Marvel had suggested that almost all of its superhero characters lived in the same universe. Characters promoted their own titles when they guest-starred in another book. Beginning in the late 1990’s, the X-Men started to exist in a separate sphere, largely crossing over to other X-Men titles or spin-off series featuring other mutants. Astonishing X-Men reversed this trend, and the return of superhero costumes for the X-Men helped to further integrate the team into the Marvel Universe.

Finally, while not major characters, both Kavita Rao and Danger joined the massive family of X-Men supporting characters after appearing in Astonishing X-Men. Rao became a physician for the X-Men, serving in a group known as the X-Club. Danger continued the trend of redeeming former foes, becoming the warden for a prison of dangerous mutant antagonists held by the X-Men.

Films

X-Men: The Last Stand. Directed by Brett Ratner. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006. This film stars Famke Janssen as Jean Grey, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and James Marsden as Cyclops. The film differs from the novel in a number of major ways, drawing loosely upon the Dark Phoenix Saga for its main character drama. However, the development of a cure for the mutant condition and the character of Rao are imported into the film. The mutant cure is the threat that Magneto uses to organize a massive mutant army to battle against the government.

Further Reading

Claremont, Chris, et al. Uncanny X-Men (1975-1984).

Jemas, Bill, et al. Origin (2001-2002).

Morrison, Grant, et al. New X-Men (2004-2008).

Way, Daniel, Steve Dillon, and Mike Deodato. Wolverine: Origins (2006-2010).

Bibliography

Brady, Matt. “From Fanboy to Fan Favorite: Buffy Creator Joss Whedon Comes out of the Crypt.” Comic Buyer’s Guide (January 7, 2000): 38-40.

Housel, Rebecca, and Jeremy Wisnewski. X-Men and Philosophy: Astonishing Insight and Uncanny Argument in the Mutant X-verse. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Singh, Arune. “X Marks the Spot: John Cassaday Talks Astonishing X-Men.” March 12, 2004. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=3261.