Pick of the Week
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Size: pages
Price: 4.99
This was the last book I read in a stack of many. It was going pretty well, and my fears of not knowing what to pick were nearly assuaged, but I wasn’t quite sure yet. Then I got to this:
“Can I help?”
“Are you a beer?”
We have a winner! Ding ding ding!
Can anyone reading this book honestly tell me that they wouldn’t like to see either Joss Whedon or John Cassaday on any of the Marvel titles they are currently reading? Every page I turned, I saw or read another character, and thought to myself, “they just nailed that character.” Look at the first double page spread of Spider-Man. I mean, Cassaday is just otherworldly, isn’t he? Somehow, in the midst of a giant story (giant size some might say), featuring way too many characters already, Whedon opens up the Marvel toy chest, and just goes to town. You’ve got other X-Men, a dead on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, a really good Fantastic Four. I’ll even forgive The Sentry. It was probably somewhere in his contract. That was a little mini story that came out of nowhere, and it was so much fun.
There is certainly a fault to this book. It is that every issue, I find myself wondering who these people are, and what they are doing. The plot for this was absurdly complex, and it’s been going on for literally years. Yet every time, I get over that, and basically remember what the overall deal was about halfway through. The thing that helps is that it gets more and more fun as you go through the pages. Each time a character speaks, it’s better than the last time they showed up. I don’t know how he does it. I’m not really sure why all those heroes were gathered, and it wasn’t really explained why they had hallucinations, but for some reason, Whedon and Cassaday made me just not care.
The other thing I find very impressive is that I’m not an X-Men fan, and when I first started picking up these books, somewhere around issue #13, I saw the cast involved, like the green haired lady I didn’t know, and was very uninterested in the characters. But the strength of the writing got me way past that. In fact, by the end of this issue, I sincerely got chills as I read the wrap ups of each of the characters. While it almost seems that Kitty’s ordeal was clichéd, it was more that the story was perfect. After all this time, she finally got what she wanted, but of course, the rules of drama dictate that it cannot come without a dear cost. That’s one thing Whedon clearly understands (as opposed to deadlines), is that you must take from the characters you care about, and never let them actually be happy. It’s an emotional grind for the reader, but damn if it doesn’t keep you turning pages.
There are things about Cassaday’s art I don’t like. Some of the people just look weird. Un-visored Cyclops and non-metal Colossus are fairly similar. Johnny Storm looked vaguely like he was on a women’s collegiate softball team. But really, none of that matters. The man does figures and page layouts like no one else. It’s so clean and pretty that it’s mesmerizing. The man might be the most talented artist in comics if, for no other reason, that he does the best Logan out there, hands down. This is no mean feat, since he’s been drawn thousands of times, but never better, especially when drunk. His two-page spread of the bullet sinking into Manhattan was epic. The torture on the face of Kitty when she accepted her fate was touching. The quiet sadness of Peter’s face was perfect. Apparently this is his last hurrah in comics for a while, which is just awful. He raises the bar for everyone else in comics. Jimmy Cheung and Steve McNiven are close, but Cassaday is clearly at the top of the pack when it comes to this style of art, and I think Cassaday is the closest thing we have to a modern day Neal Adams.
Much like everything else Whedon has touched, from Firefly to Toy Story, he can and will make you both laugh and cry. This book touched on every emotional peak it could find, and the next step in the plot was never without just one more twist. The characters felt as real as I’ve read them, and the love was on the page, which I feel is a little unusual for such a high profile book from a high profile team. I really get the sense that Whedon put everything he could into making this a great story, and he succeeded completely, as he did with the entire series. This is clearly the legendary X-Men story of our time, and I’m very glad I was on board when it happened, because people are going to be recommending this story for decades to come.
Josh Flanagan
Admit it, you were expecting Fables.
josh@ifanboy.com
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
Nice pick Josh. This was an awesome issue to end an awesome series. Part of me wishes Whedon would only write trades because none of his books come out regularly. DAMN YOU RUNAWAYS!!!
Great review Josh and an excellent pick
Good pick. Very deserving.
Still waiting for the Omnibus on this series. This means it’s coming soon, right ;)?
The best thing I can say about this is that it was almost worth the wait. Almost. I found the ending to be especially poignant which all things considered is frankly amazing. It wasn’t what happened, as we have seen similiar events play out many times before, but the way Whedon wrote them. The poem/dialouge/narration/whatever that Whedon used to close out the story was especially moving in my opinion. Again this is a device I’ve seen done many times (as recently as The Three Shadows which also used it to amazing effect and off topic is one hell of a graphic novel that everybody on this site should give a read through. Had me in tears and that almost never happens to me with comics.) but he did it so well and so lyrically that when combined with the best work of Cassaday’s career you cannot help but be moved if you care even the slightest iota for these characters. And if you are a long time X fan like me that first got into the book years ago when we moved into a new home and found up in the atic a box full of the enitre Claremount run of X-men up through after Inferno… Well done guys. Well done indeed. Oh and a Wheedon Spidey run NOW! This I command.
Dammit, Josh, now I have to read this again! It’s funny because I’ve been a huge fan of this series from the first trade — it was the first comic I ever felt compelled to read as it came out — but my initial reaction to this issue was that it didn’t work for me. But then I remembered that has been my initial reaction to this series A LOT, and sometimes it takes a few times through for things to click. So I’ll give it another go before the podcast. and maybe dig through my old issues, and see if it starts to work.
And speaking of Whedon’s ability to write any character — for no special reason, I *love* his Reed Richards. I’ve never been hugely interested in the Fantastic Four (post-Stan/Jack), but I’d happily buy an FF book every month (I mean, every 6 to 12 weeks) if these guys did it.
I still haven’t gotten remotely near the bottom of my giant-size stack of comics so I’ll probably have more thoughts later. BTW, Josh, now that it’s over, you should really go back and look at the first couple trades of the series if you haven’t. The first one is especially brilliant, and a lot of thematic stuff flows through all the issues.
I’ve read the first two trades, but not until after I started reading at 13.
wow josh, you totally surprised me with this pick. i bet ron is psyched to do the podcast.
Great review. Looking forward to the podcast.
My favourite panel = Spidey stopping the bullet and saving the world. Hilarious.
Uggh.. well I agree with you that Cassaday’s art is pretty. And I liked the opening scene with Spidey. But the rest of this book didn’t do anything for me. The plot was, as you say, absurdly complex… made all the worst by the long delays in the book coming out. I can’t tell you, to be honest, what the heck actually happened throughout most of the book– what was the mind control thing? Who was doing that? Xavier, for some reason? What…?
I didn’t really care a bit about this Brand/Beast thing that sprang from nowhere (maybe it was developed in an earlier book, but I can’t remember any comics that came out during the Reagan administration).
As for the "poignant" ending… I’ll just say this. It was a suprising turn, the sinking into Manhattan thing. But what was said after that about Kitty rang very untrue to me. They can’t find her… really? Reed Richards can’t find and save Kitty? He has a record of the exact path the bullet was on, it’s speed, etc., and Reed Richards can’t tell us where the bullet is now…? Or, you know, go to the trouble of saving the girl that just saved Earth…?
Beyond that, the door was left so wide open for Kitty to return at any given moment, which, this being comics, will happen sooner rather than later, that I didn’t place much weight on this supposedly emotional ending.
All in all, this was a pretty issue to look at, but I wouldn’t rate the story very highly.
How are you not reading All star superman?
This is definitely one of those weeks when I’m glad I don’t have to read all my books by the end of the day.
That said, I’m extremely excited to see that this one’s a winner… actually, Astonishing has been the PoW like four or five times, hasn’t it? Is that some kind of record?
Astonishing was the book that got me back into comics after about a 12 year break. Now I’m back to trekking to the LCS every wednesday and I have Josh Whedon to thank for it. While I enjoyed this issue, I can’t say that it struck me as a standout for the series. I have to say that I’ve enjoyed just about every issue, and they read even better in trade/sequence. I can’t wait for this omnibus to come out so I can stick it on my bookshelf next to Cap. Let’s just say my Christmas list has item #1 already.
@JediShaft – I bought the first ASSM hardcover, and I’ll be buying the next.
@Jimski – I believe Gothan Central is the all time record holder, and Powers is somewhere behind that.
My only regret is that Whedon won’t be around to write Kitty’s eventual return and reunion with Peter.
Oh, and also, after reading this issue, that Whedon never got to write Spider-Man.
My only two regrets.
And also that instead of just ending the series (which was really just a vanity project for Whedon and Cassiday) their continuing it with Warren "I hate super-heroes" Ellis a the helm. Oh, well…at least with Ellis writing it, it will probably continue the tradition of being extremely later coming out.
re: JediShaft
Josh reads All Star Superman in Hardcover
But SixGun doesn’t read the posts above his.
😉
@ MikeFarley – Ellis claims he is already ahead of schedule on this. For what’s that worth. And isn’t it Whedon who said that Warren Ellis loves everything he claims to hate, superheroes included? I’m honestly psyched to see him do an X-men arc, whether it’s closely related to this one or not.
re:Josh
Sorry 😉 the site updates really oddly for me, when I hit refresh no one had posted since JediShaft.
Also, the hallucination thing was, as best I can figure was Dr. Strange trying to contact Kitty and when Tony distracted him the spell backfired and messed with everyone’s head.
Very good review Josh. I agree with your comment "This is clearly the legendary X-Men story of our time", because like you I’m not all that much of an X-Men fan, but I’ll definitely be recommending this run to friends.
After reading it, I kept thinking "This is going to be one awesome collected hardcover!"
And even better news that Ellis and Bianchi are taking over.
I had a couple of rough spots where I didn’t quite know exactly what was going on but overall the great moments made this an enjoyable read. Truth be told I could probably just look at the pictures without reading anything and enjoy the story thanks to Cassaday’s art.
It was a nice issue. I still think I enjoyed the "Torn" arc more than "Unbreakable", and "Danger" more than "Gifted" (blasphemy, I know!).
But can anyone explain to me why the Earth’s heroes were paralyzed, drooling and lost in fantasies? When I saw that I suspected Cassandra Nova… but it just wasn’t explained at all, was it??
SixGun had a theory just above here, but I couldn’t figure out why either. I went back and read it to make sure I didn’t miss something, and didn’t find anything. But as I said, I didn’t really care, plus the drooled.
Okay, I think I got it! At some point when this arc was set up over the past 17 months (I thought that was an exaggeration, but it actually isn’t) — it was established that the missle has magical defenses. It is, literally (as the title of the last arc said) Unstoppable. One of the things that makes it unstoppable is that there’s a spell programmed into it that makes everybody in the room think they are saving the day in their own special way. McGuffin, sure, but it’s very Joss.
Good choice sir! I had chills at the end as well. Before reading this, I thought "This should be ok. But how good could it be? They already spoiled the ending." Well every one of your points was true and this was definitinely the pick of the week.
2nd place? I think Action Comics was a really cool Toyman story and All Star Superman and Green Lantern were more of the same goodness they’ve been delivering.
Nice review. I was worried that the end of the story would dissapoint. I agree with being glad that I was here to read this as it was coming out. This is easily one of my favorite X-men stories ever and I’ll be giving this to others to read for some time.
Shouldn’t be pick for one simple reason: timing – how long had it been since the previous issue?
I feel you should be able to remember what was going on in a book for it to be effective. You shouldn’t need to re-read the previous issue to catch up on what was going on. I bought enough books this week, so I didn’t need to re-read a book that came out months and months ago. (Not to mention it had kinda already been spoiled).
Granted, the book was wonderful. I just didn’t remember many of the important details. Cassady draws some beautiful pictures, but (as already stated) his FF was pretty poor – no one even mentioned the poor Thing.
This is mos def my pic of the week, Spider-Man being the first to realize that he has no business saving the world from a giant bullet had me going, "boy this guy knows him some spider man".
Oh yeah I’m new here…. I have been listening since the very first podcast… thats allot of hours listening to three other nerds opinions, but always worth the price of admission!
My P.O.W. is Batman 677. I have no idea why I am am not seeing the buzz after this issue. So many wonderful plot twists and questions. Forget Secret Invasion’s "Who do you trust", Batman’s world holds the true rights to that query!
the Tiki
@StorytellerSJK… Three Shadows was a great indy book. I get your reference perfectly.
the Tiki
@Tiki – I thought Batman 677 was really good, as well, even better than the last issue. Tony Daniel is rocking the art, and the story is slowly but surely coming together. The last page had me worried, and anxious to see how bad the sh*& will hit the fan next issue.
My POW thus far is All Star Superman. I can’t get over how damn good every single issue of this is. I will definitely pick this up in oversized HC, hoping that they’ll do an Absolute or other premiere HC type version in the future. I think it definitely deserves the oversized treatment.
I think the illusions were the magical defenses. The "magical defense was just a defense against magic", I think, was just what the Breakworld intended so that the heroes wouldn’t question their fantasies about stopping the bullet as much.
okay i want rons take… point me in the direction…
i’ve seen this is pick of the week…by josh? heck yeah
but FUCKING WHEDON… he kills me every time… on buffy, oh yes i love this couple they will be happy, its so perfect….BOOM he kills it… he is the killer of happieness
people have shirts that say he is their master… f-that he is the kick you in the nuts guy…
but damn him for grasping the characters and making them his own…
arghhhh, it was an okay story
i need to know though… i’m not crazy about the x-force art, but just maybe damn that might be the best X book out there after this last issue…
given i’m not too x-factor savey, but WOW…x-force is hitting all the right cords, its more than a you got claws and fangs book…i almost wrote it off as such…
tell me i’m not all crazy
"Whedon is my sorrow"
Great pick, Josh… kitty and frost telepathic conversation has qualified this book to be a definite PotW, and that says alot with final crisis AND all-star superman (my regular PotW) AND bru and rucka’s DD in the same week.
This week was a really good week. All-Star Superman, Astonishing X-Men, Final Crisis, Batman, Green Lantern, Daredevil, X-Force, Uncanny X-Men and Iron Fist all out on the same week. That’s just amazing to me. On the other side, New Avengers blew, but that’s okay. It was overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of everything else I read.
POW statistical geekery — I believe that Ron, Conor, and Josh have all picked this book at one point or another, am I right? Are there other books that’s true of? And considering there are only 25 issues in all (even Gotham Central got up to 40) that’s a pretty impressive record.
Actually, I was expecting Final Crisis. This was the best book that came out this week, but there really were a few books competing with it.
I read Astonishing, Batman, Daredevil, All-Star Superman, Ultimate Spider-Man, The Sword, and Final Crisis. Astonishing was by far the best, Batman was second, and Final Crisis was the weakest of all the books. My expectations were high for it, but it didn’t deliver anything except more Countdown-like story beats.
Also, I need to express my love for Emma Frost. She and the all-new, all kick-ass Cyclops go great together. It’s going to be great fun to see what Warren Ellis does with her. Expect some great one-liners.
Speaking of Cyclops: he’s Marvel’s Green Lantern. For years he’s been considered dull but a new generation of comic writers are elevating him to greatness. Great image makeover.
See, I just can’t pick a book when such a huge part of the story is left unexplained, I know there are theories in the posts above but the fact that they are just that, "theories" gets to me. We should know why the heroes are drooling. If not DON’T make it such a huge part of the story.
My Pick? Teen Titans. That was great.
@Cam
I don’t think Whedon was being deliberately obtuse. He just didn’t want to spoonfeed us with unnecessary exposition. It’s fairly clear that the bullet was the culprit if you don’t read too much into it. Good stories don’t need to explain everything clearly. Leaving things open to debate and interpretation is what makes a great story.
awesome pick. This is, literally and unequivicably, the biggest comics week for me ever. And this is the only monumental comic from my stack that I’ve read yet (the stack was so portentious that I saved it for a saturday marathon). Unless one of the 3 books from my favorite writer (Morrison) teaches me the meaning of life, I’d say this was a solid pick. Because this pick really taught me. Josh said this was the definitive X-Men story of our time, I say this is the definitive X-Men story period. When the fastball special happened in issue #6, I thought "this is the best piece of nostalgia ever". But then I realized, No!, it’s not just nostalgia, it’s the culmination of something you can ONLY do with a really really long story, a story you’ve grown up with. One letter in a letter column said "my friends are back". God I love superhero comics!
When I say this issue taught me, I’m mostly referring to the reiteration of the "the dust is your life" monologue. That speech has more relevance to my real life than anything I’ve encountered in narrative media in the last many many many years. It was a perfect way to end the best X-Men story ever. Dark Phoenix was awesome (and the climactic moment where Jean and Scott face incredibly insurmountable odds and, holding hands, she says "You’re a special man Scott Summers" and he says "No more special than the woman I love" then then they say "Ready?" "Ready." "Then… Let’s Go!" into the fire; that might be the most romantic moment in history), but Astonishing X-Men is the climax.
@Horatio
Fairly clear? In this thread alone we have people thoerizing that the culprit was Prof X, Backlash from Doc Strange’s Spell, THe Breakworld’s Magic Defense, and now you saying "the bullet?"
Good Stories don’t need to spoon feed, but that’s not even Shovel feeding us.
Leaving things open to debate works when it’s questions of motivations or morality, debating "what the hell is going on?" isn’t good storytelling, sorry.
THat said, don’t get me wrong, I loved it for a lot of the same reasons Josh did, I’m just saying it wouldn’t be my pick of the week.
@Cam
It’s fairly clear if you don’t read too much into it. We’re so used to reading tie-ins and following continuity that the obvious is missed. When I say ‘the bullet’, I mean ‘the Breakworld’s magic defense’.
Yeah, the bullet defense seemed pretty clear to me too. It’s the same reason why they can’t find it in the end. It’s magically shielded.
I was insanely amazed by the fact that i didn’t get the bullet defense. This is the first time that I was glad something was spoiled (I didn’t believe it was possible, I avoid spoilers like they were plauge rats) . I was prepared for ultimate sacrifice from one of my favorite characters, and , because that the the fake-out death genuinely faked me out (yes Emma, Kitty is fu##ing astonishing). Josh said Whedon makes you both laugh and cry. Yeah, there was beer involved, but with the knowledge it would mean her death, the double page spread of Kitty saving the world made me burst into tears. Thanks, Joss.
I love this comic, but it usually takes at least two readings to get everything. I think it’s some combination of Joss being a TV writer and Cassaday’s art, that they don’t always spell things out. But I don’t mind having to read back over it because (unlike some writer/artist teams) I trust that it’s eventually going to make sense.
And I’m really looking forward to Ellis writing Emma; I feel like her character has been kind of treading water in books besides this one, but Ellis is too good with smart, bitchy women to let that happen. I’m also looking forward to Kitty coming back from space with some kind of weird transformation of her powers, and a message for the people of earth, because that seems like the kind of thing he’d come up with. I seriously doubt we’ve seen the last of Kitty in this story.
My semi-understanding of Cyclops’ control of his powers was that he had acheieved some sort of clarity of vision (no pun intended), and now with the threat he was focused on taken care of, he couldn’t keep that focus going to control the optic blasts. At least that’s the explanation I worked out in my head.