Aaron's Pick of the Week: Joss Whedon is My Master Now

For the week of November 7:

Astonishing X-men #23

by Whedon (w) and Cassady (a)

As I headed to my local comic book shop last Wednesday, I walked with an unusual bounce in my steps. This week was a particularly heavy week in terms of quality books, with such titles as Y: the Last Man, Criminal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, and Super-Villain Team-up. Each of these books are Pick-of-the-Week-worthy on their own, and the fact that they all came out on the same day means good times for the reader.

Of all the comics I was hoping to pick up, only Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-men #23 was sold out before I got to the store. I didn’t think too much of this at the time, as I had all those other titles to keep my mind occupied.

And keep my mind occupied those other titles did. For the most part, these titles really delivered, and I had decided that my Pick of the Week was to be Criminal #10, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. I had written about half of the review in my head, however, before I managed to get my hands on Astonishing X-men while in Toronto. I read it, and knew I had to rewrite my post.

Keep that in mind: Astonishing X-men #23 was so good that I was willing to completely abandon my original Pick of the Week just so I could talk about it.

Usually, when people ask me what I think of the X-men at the moment, I screw up my face and say something like “blech.” And that’s because, for the most part, X-men have been terrible for quite some time (note: when I refer to X-men I am referring to the “X-titles,” which include Uncanny X-men, X-men, New X-men, X-factor, Excalibur, and the up-and-coming X-force, not to mention various mini-series and one shots). One exception to this rule is X-factor, which is actually incredibly good.

Oh, and then there’s Astonishing X-men.

Joss Whedon’s been responsible for some of my favorite television shows (Buffy and Firefly), and I’ve always had a soft spot for his snappy dialog, so when in 2004 I heard he would be writing his own X-men book I was somewhat intrigued. At the same time, though, I was aware of the fact that a good writer of one medium is not always going to translate well into a different one. An example of this is Orson Scott Card who, despite his wonderful work on the fan-favorite Ender novels, went on to write the lackluster Ultimate Iron-man.

But Joss Whedon proved early on in his series that he wasn’t just a good television writer. He was a good writer period. From what I’ve witnessed from his comic book career, not only in Astonishing but in titles like Runaways and Buffy, Whedon has shown that he’s done his research and understands what makes the graphic novel medium unique. He is able to manipulate dialog in ways that an auditory medium (like TV, where you don’t see, but rather hear the dialog) would not be able to capture. By using techniques like removing punctuation in parts or otherwise playing with the appearance of the words, he makes the dialog more effective than it could be in any other medium.

That’s just one of the many techniques Whedon has used in the past – techniques that I had never seen before reading his comics, and ones that have left a lasting impression on me. In Astonishing X-men #23, Whedon uses another technique that I have never seen before, and frankly left me stunned. I don’t want to give too much away, but this issue contains a very interesting plot twist that, once again, would not nearly be as effectively conveyed were it not written for the medium of comics. It involves a page from issue #22 replayed panel-by-panel, only thought balloons replace word balloons and… ah, you have to see it for the full effect.

Even if you’re not a huge nerd like me, and don’t give a crap about “techniques” that Whedon employs, this issue still delivers in terms of action and especially characters. One of my other favorite things about this run is that Whedon took Cyclops, a character who has been considered “lame” for quite some time (but not by me!), and made him really, really, cool. The final action sequence of this book depicts probably the most impressive Cyclops moments since… ever. The final page sent shivers down my spine, although I’ll admit it could have been one thought balloon shorter for maximum effect.

None of this could be possible, however, without John Cassady’s beautiful artwork, which hopefully you are experiencing through the images I included (all taken from Comic Book Resources). He’s one of those rare comic book artists who is a perfect blend of dynamic artwork and crisp storytelling (you’d think it would be a given, but it’s actually something you come to appreciate in the world of comics). It makes the fact that this book only comes out once every 2-3 months almost worthwhile.

That’s pretty much my biggest complaint with this book. It doesn’t come out often enough, and I don’t just say that because I’m impatient. The book’s slow schedule means that it takes 2 years for a storyline to conclude. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to keep me excited for such an extended period of time. But then again, all it takes is an issue like this to make me a gushing fanboy again.

Oh, and I’m going to start having a ratings system from now on, out of ten (with decimals), because why not?

RATING: 9.7