After Grant Morrison left Marvel, there was a star vacuum on the X-Men books. Marvel would go outside of the world of comics to get a new writer, bringing in Joss Whedon, at the time known for his creation of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and teaming him with artist John Cassaday. Together the two would start the Astonishing X-Men book.
The book immediately made a splash with readers, keeping the X-Men at the top of the sales charts. With a who's who of great X-Men on the team's roster, Astonishing X-Men has a timeless feel to it that makes it one of the most recommended X-Men books of them all. Does it still hold up?
10 Aged Well: The Art
John Cassaday's art is one of the best things the book has going for it. Cutting his teeth and refining his style on DC/Wildstorm's Planetary, he would join Whedon on Astonishing X-Men at the height of his artistic powers and fans wouldn't be disappointed. His clean, detailed lines made everything look amazing.
With a team full of the X-Men's best and brightest, the art needed to be great and Cassaday brought it with every issue. While he didn't always hit monthly deadlines, fans didn't mind so much because the comics they were getting looked so great.
9 Hasn't Aged Well: The Hellfire Club
Whedon's third story on Astonishing X-Men saw the Hellfire Club attack the team. The group, consisting of Cassandra Nova, Sebastian Shaw, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, and Emma Frost, were able to completely get the jump on the X-Men, with Emma's betrayal of the team helping the Hellfire Club easily take down the team.
However, it was revealed that it was all a ruse, with Cassandra Nova controlling Emma Frost and trying to get back her old body. It was kind of disappointing. It also didn't really make much sense, since Emma was the only actual person in the mansion taking on the team and there's no way she would have been able to defeat the whole team.
8 Aged Well: Emma & Cyclops Sitting In A Tree
As Whedon got handed the new Emma Frost and Cyclops relationship, it was up to him to give readers their first glimpse of the two of them as a couple. Thankfully, he did a phenomenal job at it. There were a lot of readers who weren't too keen on the whole thing, especially as Emma had forced a wedge between Cyclops and Jean Grey during Morrison's New X-Men.
Whedon was able to sell readers on the Emma and Scott relationship, showing why they belonged together.
7 Didn't Age Well: His Use Of Wolverine
It's sort of an unwritten rule that Wolverine has to be on the X-Men. He's the most popular character and has been a staple of the team since Giant-Size X-Men #1. Whedon put him on the team and then kind of barely used him at all. Now, this isn't that bad of a thing, as Wolverine doesn't have to be the focus of every X-Men story; however, it almost seemed like Logan was on the team only because he had to be.
There were only a few places in the book where Wolverine was integral to the story and even then, it could have easily been another X-Man in the story. It just kind of feels like he's there by rote, which isn't a great feeling. The only time Wolverine feels like he needs to be in the book is in the last story arc when he starts to mentor Armor.
6 Aged Well: The Return Of Colossus
Colossus had been dead for a while when Astonishing X-Men started. The fan-favorite mutant would make his return during Whedon's run in a great fake-out moment, as all of the hints pointed to it being Jean Grey. His return to life was a big deal and was played perfectly, bringing back one of the team's most formidable members.
Colossus would become integral to the story that Whedon was telling and fans were happy to have the man of organic steel back.
5 Hasn't Aged Well: Ord
Ord was the big bad of the first story arc and a recurring villain throughout the whole thing. While the first story arc sold him as a powerful alien threat, the rest of his appearances were very different, playing him for laughs than anything else. It was a very weird tonal change; at first, Ord was a big intimidating bad guy and then he was just sort of a pathetic idiot.
The whole thing felt out of place, especially later when his species was revealed to be so dangerous and powerful. Whedon's reasoning for the shift is anyone's guess.
4 Aged Well: Professor X Is A Jerk
Professor X has long been portrayed as kind of shady...and worse than shady sometimes. Whedon used his Astonishing X-Men run to highlight one of Xavier's biggest sins: slavery. At some point in the past, Danger Room's computer system gained sentience and Xavier knew about it. Instead of freeing it and allowing it to live its new life, he kept it at the mansion.
This would drive the sentient computer crazy and it would eventually break free, making life horrible for the X-Men and killing an innocent young mutant.
3 Hasn't Aged Well: Its Retro Feel
Whedon's Astonishing X-Men followed Grant Morrison's New X-Men and was a huge tonal shift. It wasn't just putting the X-Men back into their costumes; Morrison had used the X-Men and mutants to tell a story that was completely new and groundbreaking.
Whedon, though, was taking a much more retro approach to the X-Men. In fact, his book felt a lot like early Claremont. While that wasn't a bad thing, it definitely felt like a step back from Morrison's run, which had a decidedly more progressive feel to it.
2 Aged Well: A Kitty Pryde Story
Whedon was known for writing strong, butt-kicking young women and he used Astonishing X-Men to continue this, focusing a lot on fan-favorite Kitty Pryde. Kitty had been gone from the team for a few years, since the end of Claremont's short second run with the team in the year 2000, but Whedon brought her back and put the spotlight on her.
Pryde's story ran through the back of the whole thing. The book featured Pryde's reunion with Colossus, explored her antagonistic relationship with Emma, and showed her saving the day over and over again. The whole run ended with one of Pryde's most heroic moments ever, putting a bow on Whedon's story with her.
1 Didn't Age Well: The Last Issue
Whedon and Cassaday ended things with Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men. The cover of the book sold a big blow out with the heroes of the Marvel Universe teaming up with the X-Men, but what readers got was way more underwhelming than that. Whedon had been building the final issue as something epic but what fans got was kind of boring.
The ending itself was great but that doesn't make up for the rest of the issue. It was just lackluster for the most part, not a fitting way for a great book like this to end.