Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous | Joss Whedon, John Cassaday

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous | Joss Whedon, John Cassaday | To be cliched: Astonishing!

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Astonishing X-Men ...

	Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous Joss Whedon, John Cassaday Marvel Comics, 2005 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Whedon and Cassaday continue to Astonish

Professor X is kind of a bastard.

No, seriously, think about it for a minute. He regularly allows the children in his care to believe he's dead, has at times usurped battlefield command of the X-Men from far more competent combat leaders, has put the lives of his students at risk in the name of his "dream," has routinely disbanded the group whenever it suited him (whether or not his students wanted or need to continue on, which they almost always did). He's alienated former students and lovers, mind-wiped Magneto, and let's not forget the whole Onslaught thing. In his own way, he's just as fanatical as Magnus is, willing to do almost anything in the name of his "dream."

Oh, and he harbored sexual thoughts about the teenage Jean Grey for years. Seriously.

Granted, Professor Xavier still usually enjoys a good reputation and the loyalty of his students. Even Jean. But, given the evidence building up throughout the pages of the various X-titles for over 40 years, it's not that difficult, in hindsight, to see how writer Joss Whedon came to the above stated conclusion.

The story in "Dangerous" is a sequel to the previous Astonishing X-Men arc, "Gifted" (also available in trade paperback). It's not necessary to have read the previous story, but it helps a whole lot. And, let's face it, if you're an X-fan, chances are you already have. If not, do it. Go, right now. I'm serious, go read it. You finished? Good. Wasn't that awesome? Now you're ready for "Dangerous."

The following conatins some major SPOILERS:

The students at Xavier's Institute (currently headed by Cyclops and Emma Frost) are still reeling from the events of "Gifted," particularly the young mutant named Wing, who was infected with the "Cure" drug and lost his powers of flight. The boy commits suicide in the Danger Room, which is actually worse than it sounds. See, it turns out that the Shi'ar technology that years ago was used to rebuild the Danger Room from a gym with some robot arms to an almost-lethal holodeck has a basic level of sentience. For years, it's been studying the X-Men as they've trained there, and it's longed to kill them (that's it's programming, after all, to threaten them), but a separate program that Xavier installed has always prevented it from doing so. Now that Wing has been able to override that protocol, the room's free to do as it pleases. And what is pleases is to kill the X-Men (and what have we learned kids? Always incorporate your "no killing" software directly into your "try to kill `em" software, not as a separate, overridable file). After fatally injuring every member of the group, it heads to Genosha to kill its creator and captor, Professor X himself. He manages to stop it, but then it hops bodies into one of the meglo-Sentinels that was responsible for the slaughter of Genosha a few years back, and imbues that Sentinel with a form of consciousness as well. Oops. So, the X-Men have to kill the thing that's a bigger, badder version of the thing that just killed them. Can they? No, but Kitty manages to convince the newly birthed "sentient Sentinel" that Danger is hiding something. That something happens to be the memory of what the Sentinel did to Genosha, and once it remembers, it is stricken with grief and heads off for parts unknown. Preofessor X, it turns out, knew that "Danger" was self aware all along, but chose to ignore that because he needed to train his students. He just did "what had to be done." Isn't that always the excuse? Meanwhile, we find out who Emma's mysterious council (heard, but not seen, in the final pages of "Gifted") are: her old pals at the Hellfire Club. And all the while, the mystery of Ord and SWORD deepens.

END SPOILERS

Joss Whedon, having nothing left to prove after his first 6-issue run, is more than comfortable shuffling the X-Men players around the chessboard. Characterization is handled remarkably well without resorting to Claremont-esque thought bubbles that spell out each and every thought and feeling of each character. Colossus is still dealing with his recent resurrection, and not necessarily handling it well (preferring to ride on top of the X-Jet rather than in it). Cyclop's relationship with Emma gets a bit touchy, and explodes by story's end. Kitty is still dealing with Peter's return, and trying to provide council to the student body, but isn't doing too good a job of either. And Logan, well, he likes beer. The characters are all brilliantly utilized, and the dialogue crackles with Whedon's trademark wit.

Whedon again demonstrates why he's a godsend to the X-Men universe. He manages to continue setting the X-world straight, by pushing Peter and Kitty back together, Scott and Emma away from each other, and revealing that, no, Emma is not to be trusted. Some have accused him of being too retro, to which I say... well, I can't print what I say on Amazon. He's brought the X-Men back from being "Grant Morrison's black-leather-brigade" to being the X-Men again. No, he doesn't move things into some far-out realm or completely reorder the world. He just tells damn good stories with damn good dialogue. And sometimes that's enough. You don't need to constantly reinvent the wheel; sometimes, you just need to make a damn good wheel. And Whedon's wheel is as good as they come.

I couldn't finish without paying respect to the art of John Cassaday. He's clearly gotten more comfortable drawing the X-Men, as he's able to tweak the models without loosing anything (letting Kitty's hair down, for example). His style continues to be very realistic, which only works in the books favor. His pencils make to believe that live-action Sentinels could work (a message the makers of the X-Men movies might want to get in on). He looses a bit of that when dealing with Danger and the meglo-Sentinel, but is still able to hold things together through the most fantastical story elements. And through the most human elements as well. When Peter and Kitty have a heart-to-heart chat, the dialogue is almost unnecessary (and to make Joss Whedon's dialogue seem unnecessary is quite a feat).

In short, this is one of the best X-Men books in years, a worthy follow-up to "Gifted." Whedon and Cassaday have already achieved the legendary X-creator status of such teams and Lee/Kirby and Claremont/Byrne, and deservedly so.

Now, if only someone would get started on a book about how much of an ass Cyclops really is (cheating on his girlfriends, cheating on his wives, leaving his wife and sick child...)

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To be cliched: Astonishing!

This is one of the best X-Men stories I have read in a long time. My only gripe is that it's too short, but then these things have a set number of pages anyway. I loved every minute of this story. I don't want to spoil anything, because I found that half the fun was in the mystery (or multiple mysteries, as it were), but the re-imagining of an X-Men staple as an enemy was fabulous. Critics complain that it's been done before, but frankly I don't care. Each character is very well thought-out, and their inner monologue in issue #7 is fantastic. It's also nice to see the X-Men interacting with other superhumans (Fantastic Four directly, mention of the Avengers and Spider-man), something that is not often done with the X-men.
Everyone occasionally has to strain with the X-verse and suspend a little more disbelief than usually necessary (how many times can we use the ol' Skrull impostor bit? How many times can Jean Grey REALLY die?) But this series is a refreshing departure from those previous convoluted storylines. An apparent continuation of Grant Morrison's New X-Men storyline (which I have not read, but plan on reading after this bit), this arc by Whedon is doing fantastic things for the X-Men. However, I heard that Whedon may not be continuing on this, but he is contracted to finish out one more year of Astonishing. Let's all hope it's equally as good. Buy this book immediately.

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Review of Dangerous

Dangerous picks up where Gifted left off. The story begins with a member of Xavier's school committing "suicide" in the Danger Room. Eventually, the X-Men discover that there is more than what meets the eye and that the Danger Room is the key. At the end of the story it is revealed to the reader who Emma Frost has been meeting in secret which leaves the reader wondering why and how? Cassaday's art is great and Whedon's story moves at a reasonable pace...not too slow and not too fast.

Entertaining but a bit of a filler and painfully short

Synopsis: A few years ago the calm of the X-Mansion was disrupted when one of their signature bits of hardware suddenly gained consciousness, followed by a desire to kill our mutant heroes. In Astonishing X-Men volume 2 it happens again (only to a different piece of equipment). The story begins with a colorful exchange between the X-Men and the Fantastic Four over who has the right to fend off the rampage of a giant monster on the streets of Manhattan. Meanwhile, one of the institute's students, Wing (who lost his powers in vol. 1), has gone missing around the same time the battle-scarred remains of a Sentinel (the monolithic brand) assaults the campus. While the rest of the team takes out the Sentinel on their front lawn, Shadowcat is left alone to defend the student body from the true threat that is practically the mansion itself.

Eventually the X-Men beat back their assailant but have to make a quick trip to Genosha, where Professor Xavier is in the middle of a showdown with the new menace. The wild Sentinel that brought genocide to Genosha in New X-Men vol. 1 hounds the X-Men, and when the dust settles the X-Men find themselves estranged from their mentor.

Pros: Throughout the story there are hints that Emma Frost has a dubious secret, and the quick appearance of the Hellfire Club most certainly has something to do with it. Also, it seems S.W.O.R.D. has a mole in the X-Men's organization, hinting at the possibility that the return of Colossus might be more complex than it seems. The characterization and dialogue is top of the line, Grade-A brilliance that will hopefully continue in Astonishing X-Men and inspire the other current X-Men titles. The art-work is as good as the scripting, and has a very nostalgic feel to it; the X-Men look more like they did back in the late `70s and early `80s (except for the Beast, but he still looks pretty cool) while retaining their sleek image from the New X-Men.

Cons: The only drawback to the story is the main villain. This scenario was done before when the X-Men had to face off against Cerebro (which is why it is now called Cerebra), and the villain just looked a little goofy as well. The threads involving Frost's likely conspiracy with her old allies in the Hellfire Club and the S.W.O.R.D alliance with a mutant-hating alien nation were much more interesting, and result in giving this volume a bit of a "filler" feeling. On that note, the reasoning behind the estrangement between Xavier and the X-Men was really stretching it; the initial idea behind the villain was dull enough with out forcing a last minuet sin onto Xavier's palette.

If the monthly issues and the collected volumes of this title didn't take such a painfully long time to come out I would be less annoyed by this volume being a "filler" story. Basically the only failing with this collection is that it is the only great X-Men or related title being published right now and as such expectations and desires for it are higher than normal. When you are done with it (and it's an extremely quick read) the realization that it will be at the very least 6 months before the next volume comes out you might feel a little cheated that there wasn't more depth to this story.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6

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