Written by Joss Whedon
Artists: John Cassady and Laura Martin
Collects Astonishing X-Men 1-6
Publisher: Marvel
Publication date: 2006

I’m a fan of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly, and I’m also a long-time X-Men fan, so I had high expectations for this comic. It was originally printed in the Finnish edition of X-Men in 2006, so I’ve read it a few times. 🙂

The stories have a lot of classic X-Men vibes: the us (mutants) against them (humans), a great moral dilemma, and villains to bash. There’s nothing wrong with that; in fact I was relieved that I recognized all the main characters. But at least the first few issues don’t really give anything new. In fact, the old Logan/Scott conflict is resurrected.

The story starts with a little girl who is afraid. Later we learn that she has frightening mutant powers she can’t control and that a doctor of genetics has research a “cure” for all mutants. Then we witness Kitty Pryde’s homecoming at Xavier Mansion. Later, Scott tries to make his small group into a team (again). The line up is: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, Wolverine, and Shadowcat. Cyclops and Wolverine are at each other’s throats and Kitty doesn’t trust Emma who apparently loathes her.

The geneticist Kavita Rao declares that she has found out that mutants are just sick and she has a cure for them. Meanwhile, Ord from Breakworld and his human merchenaries has taken a bunch of upper class people hostage and the X-Men are quick to engage Ord and his men. Ord almost wipes the floor with them but Lockheed arrives just in time to save the team.

Meanwhile, the mutant kids at the Mansion have heard the news about the cure and some of them want it. The X-Men investigate it, of course. It turns out that the vaccine has been developed from a mutant who is dead so the X-Men raid the Benetech building where Rao does her research. While they’re away, Ord attacks the mansion and the mutant kids.

The story has a great mix of character moments and action, and no wonder. The X-Men have a lot of internal tension which is always good. The story starts with a brief Scott/Logan fight, over Jean, of course, but they don’t seem hostile for long. Then there’s Kitty who doesn’t trust Emma and never will. There’s a great moment between them in the second issue where Emma asks Kitty to keep an eye on her and Kitty says that for her Emma’s face is synonymous with evil. (I tend to agree with Kitty, by the way. I encountered Emma for the first time during the Dark Phoenix saga when Emma was mind torturing Storm (one of my favorite characters ever), and now she’s teaching ethics for the next generation of mutants? Riiiight. I’m patiently waiting for her to show her real colors.) Then there’s Beast, who really wants to use the cure on himself and is trying to somehow evaluate it impartially.

The cure is an interesting source of conflict. I can believe that a lot of mutants with visible mutations would be eager to get it. Wolverine is fully against it. He doesn’t want to be called a disease and he doesn’t want any of the other X-Men to quit. The cure also causes riots although we don’t really see them except for the one near the end.

There’s also conflict between the X-Men and Nick Fury. Fury has sometimes been even friendly towards the X-Men but here he’s again shown to be their enemy. And I think Fury’s quip about how Scott haven’t yet earned a right to yell at Fury was a bit uncalled for. They’ve known each other for decades, real world time, and in Marvel time they’ve saved each other at least a couple of times. Otherwise, I rather enjoyed the banter.

I wasn’t impressed with Ord. He seems to be pretty generic super strong alien. He’s a new character and yet he seems to have a personal vendetta against the X-Men. We slowly find out that he has a reason for it but it’s told, not shown, so it’s never really believable to me.

The ending is open, of course. The cure still exists and the Ord is after the X-Men. There’s also a prophecy about interstellar war started by the X-Men.

This is very much a beginning volume.