Homepage > Joss Whedon Crew > Joss Whedon > News > Joss Whedon - "Astonishing X-Men" Comic Book is one of the books that (...)
« Previous : Sarah Michelle Gellar - "Southland Tales" Movie Cannes Premiere - High Quality Photos 3
     Next : Buffy The Vampire Slayer - "After Image" Book - Sfx.co.uk Review »

Philly.com

Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon - "Astonishing X-Men" Comic Book is one of the books that inspired X-Men 3

Friday 26 May 2006, by Webmaster

While most people realize the "X-Men" movies are based on popular comic book characters, far fewer realize the current movie loosely adapts two mutant epics in particular.

"X-Men: The Last Stand" draws, to a significant degree, from Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s 1980s opus "The Dark Phoenix Saga" (originally published in "Uncanny X-Men" Nos. 129-137 and collected in a trade paperback edition) - which saw Jean Grey gain almost omnipotent power, become corrupted by it and ultimately die - and Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s recent "The Gifted" story arc (originally published in "Astonishing X-Men" Nos. 1-6 and also collected in a trade paperback edition), which features a "mutant cure" storyline that literally has Wolverine and The Beast coming to blows over the latter’s considering taking the cure.

Both stories are perfect fodder for a film, as they still resonate with creators and fans.

"In my book, ’Comic Creators On X-Men,’ virtually every comic book writer working on X-Men referenced Chris [Claremont], his work and specifically the ’Dark Phoenix Saga’ as a major influence," said former Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief Tom DeFalco.

"It’s an idea so good it still gets ripped off regularly and I hope to steal from it eventually myself," said writer Gail Simone ("Birds of Prey").

" ’The Dark Phoenix Saga’ is legendary," said "Law and Order: SVU" writer Christos Gage, who recently wrote a Batman story for DC. "Along with John Byrne, Claremont crafted a storyline that set the bar for epic tales from that point on. It was also one of the first and most shocking uses of something that’s become commonplace today - the death of a major character."

"I started reading the X-Men right after that story and it was obvious something huge had happened," Gage continued. "The fans were furious Phoenix had died!... Claremont and Byrne were being called murderers... If the Internet had existed, it would have been a witch hunt... When I finally read the story I was amazed by its skillful balance between epic scale and human emotion. It still holds up perfectly."

"As for Whedon’s ’cure’ storyline, I think it touches on something at the core of the X-Men characters: whether what makes them different is a blessing or a curse," Gage added. "Like all the best X-Men stories, it draws parallels to the real world. If you have the opportunity to fit in, should you? If you’re gay, should you stay in the closet or be out and proud? If you’re deaf, should you get cochlear implants that may restore your hearing? Or is that removing a fundamental part of who you are? There’s intense debate about issues like this and Whedon’s story reflects it."

Brian K. Vaughan, the award-winning writer of "Y: The Last Man" agreed.

"No offense to the other X-Men writers - myself included [Vaughan recently finished a run on "Ultimate X-Men"] - but I feel like Whedon and Cassaday’s storyline has been the only real worthy successor to Claremont and Byrne’s ’Dark Phoenix Saga,’ " he said. "The ideal X-Men story combines epic action with more human soap opera moments, all of which works as a powerful metaphor about those of us who are feared or hated for being different.

"Stan Lee and Jack Kirby pioneered the concept, Claremont and Byrne perfected it and Whedon and Cassaday have reinvented it for a whole new generation of readers."