X-Men love: Kitty Pryde
Noel Orosa reviews Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men series. Noel has been an X-Men fan since primary school. His first comic book: Ms Marvel.
I just finished Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men. I kept laughing at the witty dialogue. Then I cried at the end :-(
Magaling sobra ang bruho—although it’s not as profound as the Chris Claremont issues, it’s soooooooooo enjoyable! This is now my second favorite X-Men story arc after the Dark Phoenix saga.
In the X-Men film abomination, Kitty Pryde was played by Ellen Page.
I love how he made such a big deal of Kitty Pryde’s character. She’s now my favorite X-Man. Goodbye, Psylocke!
Sample
Setting: The spaceship that carries Agent Brand and some of the X-Men
Agent Brand: (Think of her as the intergalactic version of Nick Fury, safeguarding interstellar peace.) Plan A is we land before they find us, find this missile and disable it. Then we can figure out why – (Previous comic panel has revealed that said plan is too late as the Breakworld aliens have already found them.)
(Someone fires at their ship. It explodes.)
Cyclops: What’s Plan B?
Agent Brand: We all die now.
Cyclops: What’s plan C?
Anyway at a certain point since all the Breakworld ships are aiming at the huge ship that they’re in, they escape by ejecting themselves through two separate smaller spaceships. One ship contains Colossus, Wolverine and Kitty Pryde, Hisako aka Armor—all with powers that can protect themselves against a crash. In the other ship: Emma Frost, Beast, Agent Brand, Cyclops.
Wolverine: (looking at Hisako who has her eyes closed, unconscious from the unbearable stress) Kid’s out. How you ridin’, Kitten?
Kitty: (Sarcastic, eyes closed as well) Walk in the park.
Colossus: (as they hurtle into Breakworld, teeth clenched, eyes almost closed in fear) I worry…about the others…
CUT TO:
Beast, Agent Brand, Emma Frost, Cyclops having high tea thanks to Emma Frost’s telepathic projection.
Beast: This is very thoughtful of you, Emma.
Emma: Well, good Lord, why should we endure all that centrifugal nonsense? (Oo nga naman!)
(To Cyclops who’s holding the sugar) Two lumps, dear.
BWAHAHAHAHA!
Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, collecting Astonishing X-Men #1-6 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Php779.00
Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous, collecting Astonishing X-Men #7-12 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Php705.00
Astonishing X-Men: Torn, collecting Astonishing X-Men #13-18 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Php779.00
Astonishing X-Men: Unstoppable, collecting Astonishing X-Men #19-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday, Php1039.00
Astonishing X-Men graphic novels are available at National Bookstores.
* * * * *
We read Ultimate X-Men recently. Our first comic book: Hot Stuff the little devil.
In this extremely entertaining series, Professor Xavier’s mutants battle the Ultimates—the rebooted Avengers, who work for the US government. Ferocious action, black humor and lots of drama, from Cyclops’s never-ending relationship turmoil (You never do get over the one who keeps dying on you) to Magneto’s family issues. That’s what happens when you give your kids operatic names like Wanda and Pietro.
Madeline Miller’s rapturously-reviewed novel The Song for Achilles has just landed at our neighborhood bookstore. It’s a prose retelling of The Iliad. Sounds very Mary Renault but Jomari says it is more modern, with touches of magical realism. Of course it covers one of the most gossiped-about topics in history: the true relationship of Achilles and Patroclus. (Oo, sila nga.)
Note the similarity between Magneto’s helmet and the Greek helmet.
Could someone do a film of the Iliad, please? Troy didn’t really work.
Ultimate X-Men: Ultimate Collection, collecting Ultimate War #1-4 and Ultimate X-Men 26-33, written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Chris Bachalo, Ben and Ray Lai, David Finch and Adam Kubert, Php1409.00 at NBS.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Php725.00 at NBS.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 3rd, 2012 at 09:32
I need these X-Men comics. Since I read that Marvel encyclopedia/omnibus in high school I wanted to read them, but I was studying in a girls’ school in the provinces.
Also, OT but it’s Anderson Cooper: he’s out. http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/07/anderson-cooper-the-fact-is-im-gay.html
July 3rd, 2012 at 12:26
nbs should carry the omnibus edition of astonishing xmen.
it goes for 47 USD at amazon. even if nbs prices it at 3000 PhP+, it would still be worth every sentimo. besides compiling all the issues in one quality tome, there’s some nice bonus materials, like the email exchange between whedon and marvel editors during the planning stage of this x-men [standalone] series.
July 3rd, 2012 at 14:45
I’ll always tie John Cassaday’s fantastic art with his team-up with the legendary Warren Ellis on Planetary. Cassaday’s work is awe-inspiring in the sense that you forget that you’re reading a comic book because of the cinematic tone of his visuals. It also reminds me of comic book art that’s mostly European; (the late, great) Moebius most especially. His collaborative effort with Joss Whedon was most definitely a success.
This particular series was also the reason why I was confident Joss could handle an Avengers film: he knew how to respect the source material.
July 5th, 2012 at 00:14
And meanwhile, Leech is flying one of the smaller ships by himself.
July 6th, 2012 at 20:23
Don’t judge the X-men by the movies. As an omega level telekinetic/telepath, Jean Grey would’ve known if the Toad was right there about to spit vile stuff in her face and proceed to whup his ass without lifting a finger. Fave mutants/powers: Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Psylocke… and Blink at the start of Astonishing X-men; they make sense especially when you live in the Philippines. I wish they’d re-do the X-Men like they did Spider-Man. And because I hate Scott Summers in the books, they can keep James Marsden for the next franchise and make him sing in it (Mojoverse! Dazzler! Disco music!).