Astonishing X-Men is in an odd spot. It's really existed only as a vehicle for Joss Whedon to tell stories beautifully illustrated by John Cassaday and Laura Martin. It came out too infrequently to relate to the other X-books much, and certainly wasn't driving the direction of the line the way Grant Morrison's New X-Men had before it. It sells a lot, though, so Marvel's right to capitalize on the name.
Enter Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi. Bianchi is definitely a good choice. Like Cassaday he produces gorgeous, distinctive artwork. And yet his style is different enough that he can make the visuals his own rather than be stuck trying to *be* John Cassaday. There were a few panels I felt were a bit rough, but on the whole I loved his artwork, loved the realism, and found a few panels (such as the closeup of Ororo's face) to be breathtaking. My only complaint was in the coloring- not the choice of colors, but the darkness of the printing. There were a few key panels, most notably the first appearance of the whole team in "street gear" where I could not see much of the detail I could tell was present. Hopefully that will be corrected in future issues. The art is too strong to hide in murkiness.
And now for Warren Ellis. I love much of his work- Fell and Nextwave being two recent and very different examples. But straight ahead superheroes haven't really been his first love, so I was nervous about him taking over this title. For the most part, I'm pleased with this result. So first, the good things:
Excellent character moments between most pairs of characters. Scott and Emma's relationship, Ororo and Emma addressing their difficult history, Hank's concern over Scott's brooding tendencies, and Hisako developing relationships with more members of the team than just Logan (and being a bit overwhelmed by Ororo).
Snappy dialog, which is key to retaining the Whedon audience. It's dialog in Ellis's own style, of course, but there are enough similarities that it feels like a good continuation.
The "street clothes" idea for working in public despite the current anti-superhero mood. I like that someone's paying attention to fitting this all in, although we'll need to wait for Uncanny X-Men #500 to see the whole setup.
And now the not-so-good things:
The dialog, while snappy, gets a little *too* snappy at times. Ororo's not quite as regal as she usually feels- her voice doesn't filter through Ellis easily. And Emma should be snarky, there's such a thing as overdoing it. In general, everyone was in one-liner overdrive.
While I like what he's doing with Hisako, someone needs to explain why she's still with the core team. Maybe UXM #500 will cover it, but it stands out as odd here.
But these are minor things, and there's plenty of time to correct for them. The plot so far is serviceable, and while the last page stops a bit abruptly, the pace is pretty decent. Overall, I'm optimistic. But let's see if it ships on time.
