"Astonishing X-Men: Gifted"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Astonishing X-Men: Gifted” by Joss Whedon as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            Mutants are humans born with a genetic quirk that give them abilities that ordinary humans do not. Because of this, regular humans fear and even hate mutants. Charles Xavier formed the X-Men on the hope that one day, humans and mutants will one day live together in peace and harmony. He founded the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning as a home for the X-Men and as a school to teach mutants how to use their gifts properly. However, he left the school to reside on the devastated mutant island nation of Genosha to help rebuild and left the Xavier Institute and the X-Men in the hands of Scott Summers/Cyclops and Emma Frost.

Cyclops assembled a team of X-Men consisting of himself, his lover Emma Frost, James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine, Henry “Hank” McCoy, and Katherine “Kitty” Pryde as a public face for mutants aiding humanity. However, the team had not been gelling right away. Kitty met Emma Frost the day she first met the X-Men, Emma having formerly been the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, an organization that the X-Men clashed with for many years, and Kitty was apprehensive about a former villain now leading the X-Men. Logan had been unaccepting of Scott and Emma’s new relationship, Scott having just lost his wife Jean Grey, the woman both Scott and Logan loved.

The day for the X-Men to go public arrived when an alien named Ord led a team of mercenaries to an art preservation gala. They came wielding stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. technology. (S.H.I.E.L.D. is a world peacekeeping organization led by Colonel Nick Fury.) Scott led the team against Ord and the mercenaries. Though the X-Men were able to safely evacuate all the hostages and take out the mercenaries, they were unable to defeat Ord. It took Kitty’s alien dragon companion Lockheed to drive Ord away. While the X-Men were on their first mission, a scientist named Doctor Kavita Rao dropped a major bombshell at a press conference. She had been working with a young mutant subject named Tildie Soames, who was able to physically manifest her nightmares. She announced to the world that the laboratory Benetech had developed a “cure” for mutation, a vaccine that would permanently turn a mutant into a normal human being.

The students at the Xavier Institute were highly divided. Some wanted the cure, wanted normal lives. The X-Men were tasked with holding the students together. Wanting to know if this cure was legitimate, Hank broke into the main Benetech laboratory in New York in an attempt to steal the cure. He was caught by Doctor Rao, who agreed that Hank should, in fact, test the cure and gave him a sample. This led to a conflict between him and Logan that Emma had to resolve telepathically. While testing the cure, Hank noticed that the cure had traces of DNA from a mutant in the Xavier Institute files, and he went to Scott, who gathered the X-Men to break into the Benetech laboratory to investigate. Scott and Hank were under the assumption that the was being done on a corpse, as the mutant on file was believed deceased. While investigating, Kitty used her phasing powers to pass through a metal that gave her difficulty. Upon arriving in a subbasement, Kitty discovered Piotr “Peter” Rasputin/Colossus, the mutant who was the test subject, who was believed to be deceased, and was Kitty’s former lover.

While the X-Men were investigating Benetech, Ord went to the Xavier Institute, looking for the X-Men. Upon learning that the X-Men were not at home, he decided to “leave a message” by using the cure on a student who called himself Wing, a young mutant whose wish upon graduating the Xavier Institute was to join the X-Men.

The X-Men encountered the government organization Sentient Worlds Observation and Response Department, led by Special Agent Abigail Brand, who informed the X-Men that Ord’s people were actually the ones behind the cure and not Benetech. A mutant, probably an X-Man, was destined to destroy the Breakworld, Ord’s home, sometime within the following three years, and the cure was a preventative measure to avoid a war between Earth and the Breakworld. Ord returned to Benetech and attempted to escape with the cure and Tildie, and it was up to the X-Men to prevent Ord’s escape and rescue Tildie.

The X-Men then teamed up with the Fantastic Four to drive a giant monster out of Manhattan. The Xavier Institute had a training facility called the Danger Room. It was equipped with alien Shi’ar technology that could replicate enemies and environments. It also had sentience. Its artificial intelligence tricked the depowered Wing into helping it break its programming. It then used a frequency pulse that incapacitated all the psychics in the Xavier Institute and took over all the electronics in the school. It also brought a Sentinel (a robot programmed to hunt and destroy mutants) to the school to attack the X-Men. The X-Men herded all the students into the Danger Room where they thought the students would be safe, but Kitty discovered that the Danger Room was now attempting to gain form. She was unable to prevent the other X-Men from destroying the Danger Room’s power core, which inadvertently freed the Danger Room’s programming and created a new threat: Danger. The X-Men then confronted Danger but were all taken down quickly. Danger knew all the X-Men’s moves, powers, and strategies, having trained with them for years. But defeating the X-Men wasn’t enough for her. She decided that to attain fulfillment, she had to take out her “father” and captor: Charles Xavier. She then set off for Genosha to complete her mission. Scott revealed to the other X-Men Xavier’s location, which had been kept secret from them, and the X-Men then set off for Genosha to save their mentor.

Okay, so some of you may remember from way back when that I did a review of the prose novelization version of “Astonishing X-Men: Gifted,” right when I started this blog. The book in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format just came out last week. So some of you may already know some of this story if you’ve read that review, and this current review does have spoilers to the previous review, having a second story arc contained in it, so sorry if you’ve been with me an still haven’t read either version of this story. Anyway, you probably want to know my thoughts. I opted not to go into detail about all of the individual X-Men’s powers and histories, I thought that might take too long and really would have no true impact on this particular review, so if you couldn’t follow this review because you had no idea who the heck I was talking about, I apologize. If this were just an individual character, I would have gone into more detail, but seeing as how this is a team, I felt that just explaining the point of the team itself should suffice as background information. Besides, it gets boring when I yammer on forever, which I am doing right now, so let’s just move on. Now, the issues in this book were released between 2004-2005. I remember it from back then. I remember getting “Astonishing X-Men” #1 in 2004 and reading “And now, at last… we have found a cure.” And thinking “HOLY (word I’m not using; this blog is G-rated)!” It was a HUGE shocker. Joss Whedon handled this series so well. He had so many good twists and turns in his narratives. Bringing Colossus back wasn’t my favorite choice at the time. Colossus died curing the Legacy Virus, which was basically Marvel’s allegory for superhuman AIDS, and I did feel like it was an affront to both the character and the writer who made the choice to kill him off to bring him back this way, but I did eventually get over it as he proved useful in future storylines. Grant Morrison was the one who decided to ship Scott Summers and Emma Frost, which, at the time, I thought was bizarre, but Joss Whedon made it work. “Dangerous,” the second story arc, also had its surprises. The Danger Room becoming sentient was actually an interesting concept, especially making this a villain who knew everything the X-Men were going to do before they did it, having studied them for years, the only one she didn’t know was Charles Xavier. I know some AI stories can come across as rather cheesy, but I have to say I didn’t feel like this was one of those. I also have to give great praise to the artist, John Cassaday. His artwork, to me at least, was BRILLIANT! I know a lot of my regular readers hear me moan about the artwork a lot in my reviews, especially my reviews from this year, 2024. I don’t think I’ve yet been able to say I consistently liked the artwork in any of the Modern Era Epic Collections I’ve reviewed, so me saying that is a big deal. Also, this has been the only one with only one artist, so that’s another reason, but kudos to Cassaday, both to his talent and to his dedication to the series, ultimately penciling twenty-five consecutive issues of the series, so if Marvel releases a second consecutive Modern Era Epic Collection of “Astonishing X-Men,” you can expect to see my praise for him again. I just thought he had such amazing talent, I loved his style, his details, it was just so appealing to me, and I really appreciated it. Hopefully Marvel does release a second Modern Era Epic Collection of the series, I would love to review it.

Anyway, if you know my reviews, you always see me write about accessibility. For those of you who are new and have no idea what I mean, let me explain. My use of accessibility means how easy it is for casual or new readers to be able to pick up this book and understand it. I have to say, if you’ve never even HEARD of the X-Men but saw this book on the shelf in a bookstore or found it browsing online or if someone told you about it and you still want to read it, I wouldn’t say it’s a PERFECT jumping on point, but it’s a GOOD one. What I mean by that is, to me, it feels like I think you should have SOME background knowledge of the X-Men, but I don’t 100% feel like it’s a necessity. It helps to know about it, sure, especially since this follows the works of forty years, but this book is very self-contained and doesn’t crossover with any other series or storylines from the time period like many other Epic Collections and Modern Era Epic Collections do. I felt like the main characters were all adequately explained, their names and powers established. There are also a bunch of characters that debut in this volume, so they have no prior backstories. I feel like if you want to start reading X-Men comics, this is a good place to start. Again, not perfect, but good. There are other points you could start at that would be better for sure, but this is also the first X-Men Modern Era Epic Collection published, so if you’re planning on starting there, you really have no other choice at the moment of my posting this review.

Okay, I’ve probably bored you long enough, you just want to know my numeric score. It’s very simple, all my prior readers know it, but I have to say it again for the newbs, so bear with me. I score on a scale of one to ten. One means it’s such a failure it didn’t even deserve to be published; ten means sheer perfection. Now, since this is a graphic novel, I have to take EVERYTHING into consideration, story AND art. Some of my prior readers know that artwork has actually knocked points off some of my reviews and added points to others. John Cassaday’s artwork deserves a ten, but there was just something about “Dangerous” that detracts from me calling Joss Whedon’s story perfection. So, you can probably guess that that means that this book is receiving a… NINE! Hey, that’s still pretty darn good! I’m a hard scorer, I don’t just go around handing out perfect scores.

Now, I’m obligated to tell you if I recommend this book to you or not. If you’re reading this review and have ANY interest in reading this book whatsoever, then I TOTALLY feel like you should go for it! I’ve always thought this was stellar work for twenty years now and still holds up to this day. If you’re an X-Men fan, this is, in my opinion, a must-read, and I honestly DO NOT say that often, so if I say it, then there must be SOME meaning to it.

Well, I feel like I’ve rambled on long enough. There’s plenty of other content on this blog, I’ve posted literally dozens of other book reviews, I’ve posted short stories, poetry, editorials, articles, all kinds of content, so please, feel free to continue browsing. And you can expect another post from me within the next couple of weeks, so be sure to be back for that if you liked this review. And I leave you now and say until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"Daredevil: Underboss"

 

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Daredevil: Underboss” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

            When Matthew Murdock was a boy, he was blinded in an accident involving radioactive chemicals. Though he could no longer see, his other senses were heightened. He then had a radar sense, allowing him to “view” the world in a way no one else could. Seeking justice, he studied hard and became a lawyer, but not satisfied enough, he used his gifts to become the vigilante Daredevil. He tried to keep his identity secret, but several people found out, including his law partner, Franklin “Foggy” Nelson; reporter for the Metropolitan newspaper the Daily Bugle, Ben Urich; and his greatest enemy, the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk.

            When first blinded, Matt trained with a blind man called “Stick.” Stick was the one who taught Matt how to hone his gifts and become a fighter. When Stick died, all Matt had left of him was a staff. But there was another master, Stone, who trained with Stick. Stone was in a war with the ninja organization the Hand and required Daredevil’s assistance. He sent his apprentice to steal the staff, then drug him and bring him to Japan to fight in this battle.

            Ben Urich was following up on a story involving one of Daredevil’s foes the Vincent Patilio/Leap Frog, who mysteriously disappeared. His son Timmy witnessed the battle between Daredevil and Leap Frog, which traumatized him causing him to create a fictional world where Daredevil fought a villain, the Fury. Despite the publisher of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson’s protests that this was not a story, rather the Kingpin going blind and going on trial, the story Jameson intended to assign Urich, Ben felt this was the story that needed his particular attention most. Ben wanted to find out just what happened between Daredevil and Leap Frog that caused the mysterious disappearance and maybe bring young Timmy out of his catatonic state.

            Matt and Foggy hired an investigator for their law firm Nelson & Murdock, Elaine Kendrick. Elaine was eager to please. Samuel Griggs arrived at Nelson & Murdock with an unusual proposition: he wanted to sue Daredevil. He claimed that Daredevil destroyed his greenhouse recklessly and wanted compensation and for super humans to be held accountable for the damage caused in their fights. Matt, who did not believe that he was involved in this conflict, encouraged Foggy to accept the case so he could investigate just what exactly happened. Griggs, a very rich man, also promised to donate to the Foundation for the Junior Blind if Matt and Foggy took the case through. Griggs and Elaine got eager and decided to publicize the case, going so far as to make a publicized serving of the subpoena to Daredevil. Daredevil needed a lawyer, but Matt wanted a lawyer that would not ask for his secret identity. To that end, he found Kate Vikonur to represent him. Matt and Daredevil had to play to the media circus to prove Daredevil’s innocence, but the difficulty lied in getting both Matt Murdock and Daredevil in the same courtroom at the same time.

            Following this trial, Sammy Silke, and underling for Wilson Fisk, decided to be ambitious and take Fisk down. Silke learned Daredevil’s secret identity from Fisk’s crew and decided to place a hit on Matt Murdock, hiring several super villains to go after the blind vigilante. Meanwhile, the family of Wilson Fisk had to deal with the former Kingpin’s takedown and decide how to move on from there.

            Okay, now that you know the main point of the story, you get to know my personal opinion. This book had two writers, Brian Michael Bendis and Bob Gale. Bendis is actually one of my favorite comic book writers. He’s done a lot of work for Marvel in the 2000s, and I really loved it. His run on Ultimate Spider-Man has been one of my all-time favorites. So of course, learning he had worked on this book, I got very excited. And yet, oddly, his stories were not my favorites in the book. Gale’s story “Playing to the Camera” the story of Daredevil on trial was actually my favorite in the book. I thought it was brilliantly crafted, with plenty of twists and turns. I didn’t know what to expect there, how Matt would be able to prosecute Daredevil and be defendant at the same time, and I really enjoyed that one. The Ninja storyline was just okay to me, didn’t really grab my attention all that much. The Leap Frog storyline was well thought out. I enjoyed the concept, investigative reporting. As some of you may know, I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in journalism, which is one of the main reasons I write this blog, and I loved the idea of Ben Urich taking this “fluff” story and running with it. The whole mystery of what happened to the Leap Frog and trying to bring Timmy out of his traumatized state was compelling. I also must state that I have seen a movie exactly like this, I can’t remember what it was called for the life of me, but I remember enjoying it, so this story was a little too redundant to me. Yes, the story of exactly what happened to the Leap Frog was interesting, and trying to cure Timmy was interesting, but I’ve seen it before. As for the titular storyline Underboss, I found it to be highly enjoyable. I have to say, I did not see then ending coming, and it definitely leads into the next volume, which I now can’t wait for, but I’m warning you, you may have spoilers if you read another “Daredevil” review, and I apologize for it, so I am not going to reveal the title in an attempt not to spoil the ending because it probably will spoil the ending if I give you the title. Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the stories, I did have issues with a few of the artists. Rob Haynes, David Mack, and Alex Maleev are not artists I enjoy, sorry to say. I’m particularly familiar with the work of Maleev from my many years of reading comics. His gritty style just doesn’t appeal to me. However, Phil Winslade and Dave Ross blew me away. Their work on “Playing to the Camera” was visually pleasing to me and saved a lot of my opinion of the book. In my opinion, they drew what a comic book is supposed to look like. Maybe that is my problem with some comic artists is my expectations to see a “comic book” and that creates bias, but we all have our preferences, and I enjoy seeing a comic book that actually LOOKS like a comic book more than stylization artwork. I’ve had this issue a lot, and many of my prior readers will know this, so if you’re new to my blog, you now know.

            Now, I have to say who I think will find this book accessible to read. I think this is actually very accessible. I found the book to be standalone and self-contained. If you’ve never read a comic book before and never even heard of Daredevil or know anything about Marvel but want to pick up a book and start, I wouldn’t say this is the PERFECT book to pick, but I think you would probably be able to follow it pretty well. If you know a little about Marvel or Daredevil that will of course help, but this is a fairly good jump on point. It really doesn’t continue directly from any prior storylines. Yes, there are connections, such as the Kingpin’s blindness, which is a storyline even I’m not totally familiar with, but I didn’t find that to be a hindrance, and I don’t think it would be to new readers either. But I don’t think it really digs on from past storylines directly, so following it shouldn’t be too hard, in my opinion.

            Now, of course, we have to go to the main reason just exactly why we’re here: my numeric score. If you’ve been here before, you know the drill, but if you’re new, you don’t, so I have to give the rundown, but if you know, just bear with me for a few sentences. I score on a scale of one to ten. One is the lowest score, meaning this is a total piece of garbage and not worth reading. Ten means this is one of the best books I’ve ever read and you should make every effort to read this upon finishing reading this review, or even don’t need to finish, just get the darn thing already. Based on reading all I’ve written so far, you can probably guess I’m not giving this a ten, and that is mostly due to the artwork. Also, I didn’t feel the stories were to perfection. If this were just a novel alone with no pictures, I would give this book an eight, but this is a GRAPHIC NOVEL, and everything has to be taken into consideration. If it were just art alone with no pictures, I’d score this at a five. Winslade and Ross’ artwork saved the entire book in my opinion. So, you can now guess that as I score this book, it falls at a point between this. So, put together, all in, I score this book at… seven. I feel there was just enough of a balance in there to score it at this rating. The stories were good enough, the art by Winslade and Ross appealed to me, so despite Haynes, Mack and Maleev, I feel that I don’t need to dock too many points off of my score, so I think seven is very fair.

            Next off, you probably want to know if I recommend this book to you. This book gets a high recommendation rating. If you’ve read the entire review to this point and are interested in the whole story as I’ve presented it, I would say you should definitely make every effort to read this book. The quality of the stories was relatively high, so reading it would be enjoyable to Marvel fans like myself, even new readers would possibly find this appealing. So, this book DEFINITELY gets a recommendation from me, which as prior readers may know, does not always happen, so if I say this, you should know that this is probably a good read.

            So now, if you’re still reading this, I have to say, you are THE BEST! I know my droning on can be boring sometimes, sometimes even I get bored with myself, but seriously, thanks for sticking with me for this long. So now, I release you from your mortal bonds with just three more words: Tim Cubbin… OUT!