Astonishing X-Men #7 Review

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Reviewer: Tim Byrne
Story Title: Dangerous

Written by: Joss Whedon
Art by: John Cassaday
Colored by: John Kalisz
Lettered by: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Well, I certainly knew that this guy Joss Whedon wrote some kind of vampire / high-school horror / comedy thing, but apart from vague glances during group gatherings, I never really gave it that much of a chance.

Based on Whedon’s run on this comic book, and his ability to write brilliant dialogue, I am now beginning to become aware of what may just have been a colossal misjudgement.

The new story-arc begins (after a quiet interlude which I’ll mention shortly) with an object lesson to many, many other writers on how to write (a) dryly humourous dialogue and (b) a scene where heroes guest in another heroes comic book. The X-Men, partly as a public relations exercise, start to battle non-mutant bad-guys, in yet another attempt to improve their standing with the world at large. This is particularly necessary given the events of the last story-arc, with the alleged mutant ‘cure’ being brought into play.

Wolverine and the Thing (among others) have several laugh-out-loud moments, and the whole fight scene has an absolutely wondrous sense of fun. This is skillfully balanced by grim looks at the life of Wing, who faces the realities of life without the powers brought about my his mutation. His plight opens and closes the issue, and brilliantly serves to ground the light and fluffy tone of the above-mentioned fight scene.

Other facets of the issue include the continuing tension between Kitty and Emma Frost, and well as the very believable stumbling as Colossus attempts to find his feet again, both with Kitty and the team at large.

Special Agent Brand also appears, in a cross-examination scene that appeared weirdly out of place. I may regret it with later developments, but this scene really appeared unnecessary. We know what happened previously, and this grilling doesn’t add much to proceedings.

Mr Cassaday’s art is, as always, a marvel. While nothing here has the same visceral thrill as the ‘fastball special’ splash page seen previously, there are wonderful shots of the fight scene, coupled with intimate portraits of Wing’s clearly conflicted and difficult emotions.

The book closes with an image that poses many questions, and on first glance appears to be a breach of continuity regarding certain features of the Danger Room, although time may tell.

In brief, this run only seems to get better, and its certainly not to late to get on board, with the first trade just surfacing in time for Christmas.