Joss Whedon

A Good Starter for Comic Book Newbies

Joss Whedon, known for writing and creating the cult hit television shows "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly" is now the writer and creator of the "Astonishing X-Men" series. Whedon has been writing this series for three years.

The series is released bi-monthly so there are only a total of 18 issues thus far, but they have been an exceptional 18 issues both from the story aspect and from the artistic aspect.

Joss Whedon is a comic book geek, so he writes this book for comic book geeks. As such, this is an X-Men book that I have trouble recommending to people who do not already have a fairly good knowledge of where this X-Men story is taking place in continuity.

The one thing I find most interesting about the way Whedon writes this book is how it lacks the voice-over that most super hero comics are trademarked for.

At times he tells the story more visually, perhaps by having artist John Cassaday draw just the characters’ facial expressions. This enhances the story by making the book seem more personal as well as giving the illusion that the events are actually happening as you read the book.

Unfortunately I find no way to explain this book without ruining the two previous books.

All I can say is that this specific volume continues to keep up the quality that Whedon has established with his first two volumes. He continues to take these characters to new emotional depths, especially Cyclops and Kitty Pride.

If you have an interest in the X-Men and want to get into the comics this would probably be the easiest way to start, considering how few issues there are. If you are a fan of Whedon’s previous work, you would probably enjoy this series even without fan knowledge of the X-men, specifically because after the first two or three issues you quickly get an idea of who the characters are.

This has consistently been one of the best comic book titles for the last few years and I am saddened to find that after this last story arc, Whedon and Cassaday will be leaving the book.

It has not been decided yet who will take over, so as for this year, I will enjoy the book and hope that you will too- once you catch up.

Until next time, true believers, this is Comic Book Boy saying: "Take care!"