Marvel Monday: Astonishing X-Men

I was going to start off my new blog incarnation by reviewing the Avengers. However, I figured that has a) been done to death and b) any geek worth their salt should have seen it by now. In short - it is excellent, go and see it. The 3D doesn't detract from but also doesn't improve the film really. Anyway onto this review...

"They're Gifted. They're Dangerous. They're Torn. They're Unstoppable" ... and they definitely astonish!

Astonishing X-Men is a hardcover omnibus which covers Joss Whedon's full run behind the wheel of the comic. There's 672 full colour pages of awesomeness contained within.

[A note on SPOILERS: There won't be any as long as you don't consider mentioning the names of X-men a spoiler (they are on the cover after all) or vague allusions to awesomeness]

The Cast

The main cast features Wolverine, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Kitty Pryde & Colossus (see cover & pic above). There's also your usual Marvel background organisations around (S.H.I.E.L.D. etc.) and a new main villain introduced early in the story :)

Personally my favourites have to be Wolverine, Kitty and Emma. They have the best humourous lines and scenes in the comic. Emma Frost is still the catty queen of put-downs and well Kitty can phase through walls with sometimes hilarious consequences.

The Art

The artwork is second to none when it comes to quality and equally has a sense of humour with some of the best humourous facial expressions I've seen (see this individual comic cover which cracked me up ->).

Also the characters are all reasonably presented - no impossible curves or muscles. I think I prefer the characters like this but that's a personal choice. Although Beast does look more like a cat than usual which is a little odd.



The Writing


If you've seen anything by Joss Whedon you should be expecting excellent writing and he doesn't disappoint! There is humour, darkness and some surprises in store. I laughed out loud several times while reading this series and couldn't put it down :)

The Awesomeness


Pretty much every page - some of the double page artwork blew me away. As did most of the dialog!

The Conclusion


If you do read comics - this is definitely a read you will enjoy.

If you don't read comics - I would definitely suggest this as a way to get into them - it's excellent!

Next week on Marvel Monday - The Definitive Thor!

Tom out! :)

The Link


http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0785138013/

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