Joss Whedon

No vampires yet.. two points!

Reviewer: James Hatton
Story Title: N/A

Written by: Joss Whedon
Art by: John Cassaday
Colored by: Laura Martin
Lettered by: Chris Eliopoulos
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Bless Whedon. Bless his ability to make X-Men enjoyable again. First off, I’m not such a huge fan of his other work to merit the thought that I would have enjoyed anything he decided to write, but given the last batch of X-Disappointments in Austen, Claremont, and yes - even the non-status quo Morrison, Whedon is making me start to enjoy the franchise again.

I didn’t even need something so shocking to do it...

Story!

Whedon has wanted to write these characters for a long time. You can tell by the craft that he has put into their verbal exchanges. This issue features a tet’a’tet between Kitty and Emma that gives you a perfect insight into Kitty’s problems with the White Queen. Beast goes off and in one page admits his true feelings about his own personal abilities. These are the personalities that I hope most X-fans have come to love and accept.

The storyline of Doctor Rao, who says she can cure the disease of the X-Gene with some genetic maneuvering continues on, and our new team starts to react to the threat of a hostage situation. The fight between them and ’Ord of Breakworld’ ends with a bit of a ’Deus Ex Machina’, but it could have been much worse. Trust me.

There was no Wesley Crusher.

Art!

Let me just comment on the cover of this issue. It’s a damned nice cover. I’ve recently decided I’ll review the cover of the books as well, if only because they are what is supposed to draw me to buy it in the first place, right? When it comes to this one, if it hadn’t already been on my pull list, I would have picked it up off of the simplistic and powerful color job this cover does.

Now, internally Cassaday and Martin are a strong team. The faces, expressions, and actions are easily recognized for what they are. The shadows define the emotions of each character, and sometimes are revealing to the plot. Read the issue once. Read it again, paying attention to the Beast. Kinda neat, eh?

My one minor gripe is the consistency of Emma’s face. For a minute, I thought that Adam Hughes did the faces for a moment. I blinked, flipped the page and it was gone. Then another page later, it starts to look like Emma’s turning into Mrs. Howell. It’s subtle, but altogether creepy as hell.

Overall!

Whedon isn’t rushing his story, nor is he keeping it slow and plodding. It’s moving just as I would want a comic to move. As he continues to establish our plot and the different interactions between characters, my guess is we are in for a lot of treats. Mmm.. treats!

The 411 .::. Whedon continues to show us that there is good writing left in the X-Verse, and he’s going to give it to us.

Final Score: 7.5