Astonishing X Men by Joss Whedon. Is it any good?

[LocoSteve]

Its great. Highly recommend you pick it up. All the story arcs are really good.

[Kuwagaton]

Beast was super fun back in the day. Basically from early in Stan's run(it took him a couple of issues to really decide what his personality should be) all the way up to Morrison's run, he's been the go-to for silly word play and gregariousness. Lobdell really liked to play that tune.

Ah yes. I have to imagine Lobdell loved him, the way his typical dialogue fit Beast so well.

>I dislike the way Whedon makes all of his characters talk; I've always thought that his dialogue can easily be switched across his characters and even shows and everyone would still sound in character... and that ain't good. It's like Bendispeak but only slightly better.

This is one thing about fiction that isn't observed as normal otherwise, that natural dialogue can be comprised of distinct, personal lines. But that being the case, I don't think Whedon worse than others:

"I haven't looked anyone in the eye since I was 15"
"You're so unpleasant even I'm impressed."
"Monstro was practically capped 'fore you bothered to show"
"This is why I don't make so many jokes. I never know when is good."
"Don't ever disparage sentiment, until you've actually felt one."
"Oh God, you teach ethics?"

I don't think you have to read the story to pick up who has each line, if you know those characters.

[nx01a]

Emma's lines for the most part were pretty witty and perfectly bitchy. That one line she told Abigail Brand about how unpleasant she was cracked me up.
I do agree with you that Kitty was an annoying hag in this series and stood out like a sore thumb in an otherwise descent lineup. She really brought nothing to the series but just annoying banter. She didn't make a good Jean Grey replacement (the astonishing lineup was basically morrison's lineup swapping jean out for kitty)

I believe Whedon wanted to bring Jean back just like Morrison did but he was over-ruled, so he brought Colossus back. While Peter's return works well for a story focused on Kitty, it was a story focused on Kitty. Ew.

[nx01a]

Ah yes. I have to imagine Lobdell loved him, the way his typical dialogue fit Beast so well.
This is one thing about fiction that isn't observed as normal otherwise, that natural dialogue can be comprised of distinct, personal lines. But that being the case, I don't think Whedon worse than others:
"I haven't looked anyone in the eye since I was 15"
"You're so unpleasant even I'm impressed."
"Monstro was practically capped 'fore you bothered to show"
"This is why I don't make so many jokes. I never know when is good."
"Don't ever disparage sentiment, until you've actually felt one."
"Oh God, you teach ethics?"
I don't think you have to read the story to pick up who has each line, if you know those characters.

I can easily see any character saying any of those lines apart from the obvious Cyke and Wolverine ones. At any time, any character could spout one of the other lines and... OK. It's a Whedon script, they're all expected to spout stuff like that. Witty quips coming out of the mouths of non-witty or non-mouthy characters is par for the Whedon course. They're very fun to read but not appropriate unless everyone else in the scene is completely shocked by who just said what.

For me, Whedon is good in small, short doses. I absolutely love the Serenity movie but couldn't get through all 13 Firefly episodes, for example.

[The_Phenom2893]

Well there's is a what if? Issue. Where instead of Peter being alive it's was Jean. I guess my favorite part of that issue was that Emma broke Beast neck

[Kuwagaton]

I can easily see any character saying any of those lines apart from the obvious Cyke and Wolverine ones. At any time, any character could spout one of the other lines and... OK. It's a Whedon script, they're all expected to spout stuff like that. Witty quips coming out of the mouths of non-witty or non-mouthy characters is par for the Whedon course. They're very fun to read but not appropriate unless everyone else in the scene is completely shocked by who just said what.

For me, Whedon is good in small, short doses. I absolutely love the Serenity movie but couldn't get through all 13 Firefly episodes, for example.

*shrug* well, if you took an honest guess at who said what, you probably wouldn't get them wrong. I don't remember Colossus or Wolverine being very witty.

But I'll admit that his type of dialogue works a lot better on page to me. When someone like Whedon or Geoff Johns writes for the screen, the sass and wordiness are very awkward to deliver. I don't think I'd go for a movie or tv show written by him unless I really dug the property already.

[paurru]

I have so many questions about Astonishing X Men lol.


But one thing I'd like to know since its been since 1996 I read X Men related.


So why does Kitty Pryde hate or can't stand Emma Frost? Why did Kitty arrive back at the mansion if she's gonna act like that?

[Assgardian]

So why does Kitty Pryde hate or can't stand Emma Frost? Why did Kitty arrive back at the mansion if she's gonna act like that?

Emma used to be a villain, and she and Kitty have a history. When Kitty was first approached by the X-Men to join their school, Emma also approached Kitty on behalf of the villain group, the Hellfire Club. They fought, etc., and of course Kitty ended up with the X-Men. Years passed, Emma joined the X-Men, got with Scott, and here we are. Kitty returns, and she's still untrusting of Emma, mainly because of the first interaction they had. Can't blame her! But the readers have seem Emma grow as a character, whereas Kitty has not seen that. Their interactions in Astonishing are fantastic!

[Selina]

Emma used to be a villain, and she and Kitty have a history. When Kitty was first approached by the X-Men to join their school, Emma also approached Kitty on behalf of the villain group, the Hellfire Club. They fought, etc., and of course Kitty ended up with the X-Men. Years passed, Emma joined the X-Men, got with Scott, and here we are. Kitty returns, and she's still untrusting of Emma, mainly because of the first interaction they had. Can't blame her! But the readers have seem Emma grow as a character, whereas Kitty has not seen that. Their interactions in Astonishing are fantastic!

kitty always had that. she couldn't stand rogue either when rogue became an X-MEN because rogue used to be a villain.

[Ricochet Rita]

Emma used to be a villain, and she and Kitty have a history. When Kitty was first approached by the X-Men to join their school, Emma also approached Kitty on behalf of the villain group, the Hellfire Club. They fought, etc., and of course Kitty ended up with the X-Men. Years passed, Emma joined the X-Men, got with Scott, and here we are.

Also, between those two episodes (seen in The New Mutants), the White Queen kidnapped Kitty and threatened her in the worst of ways.

[Ra-El]

Also, between those two episodes (seen in The New Mutants), the White Queen kidnapped Kitty and threatened her in the worst of ways.

Man, I love Emma.

[Stryfe8]

Yesterday I went to the comic book shop and picked up some goodies both new and some old stuff from the 1980s and 1990s.

I even picked up the Superman Rebirth issue 1 stuff.

I also bought the Ultimate trade paperback of Astonishing X Men where it has issues 1 to 12 and it was on sale dirt cheap for 6 bucks at the comic shop.

I have heard that the Danger Room becomes sentient yada yada.

is the first few issues of Astonishing X Men good to get into? Also how well are the later issues of Astonishing X Men?

its the only time in the pas 20 years that x-men was well written..he even managed to make cyclops cool without turning him into a dick.

[Havok83]

Its HIGHLY overrated

[x-men_fanatic]

I'll admit that for the longest time, I wasn't a big comics fan so I would only watch the tv series and the movies, which yes, I know... not everything is covered in the shows or the movies. But after much back-and-forth, I decided to go ahead and buy my first X-Men comic. Astonishing X-Men was the first comic I've read in the X-Men series and it has not disappointed. I'm currently reading Vol 4 (unstoppable) and the previous volumes were so interesting to read.

Without giving too much away, the main characters are: Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast and Kitty Pryde. Other characters are introduced as the story goes on.

One thing I enjoyed about this series is the dialogue between Emma and Kitty. I am 100% behind Kitty.

10/10 so far

[JmH Reborn]

The villains were sorely lacking - but the X-Men themselves were awesome.

My biggest gripes overall were the crappy villains and the inclusion of Beast - and that's more personal bias on my end