Whedon on X-Men?

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I've heard scattered news about Joss Whedon doing a new X-title called Astonishing X-Men, but does anyone have any solid info on it? I'm not a comic collector anymore but Whedon could lure me back, especially if it doesn't come with a lot of current-continuity baggage as I haven't read X-Men in 5+ years.

For bonus points, wasn't Astonishing X-Men the name of an Age of Apocalypse title? Any relation?

 

[LrdApoc]

Yes Whedon is in fact doing Astonishing X-Men (a new title set to Launch wih the upcoming X-Men 'reboot') in April/May I believe.

Yes Astonishing was the Age of Apocalypse title.. though this book has no relation to it.

One of Whedon's missions on the book's 12 issues commitment is to return the X-Men to spandex wearing super heroes.. I gather the concept is that Cyclops and Emma Frost are setting out to prove to the world that mutants are hroes so they try and set up a mutant superteam in the public eye.

He's only contracted for 12 issues, and based on his perfromance on Fray i think he can write the book, but it will probably feel more like the buffyverse version of the X-Men.. lots of quips and humor, possibly adding some life to long dead characters like Scott.

Here's the link to confirm the story:
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazines/wizard/WZ20040217-xmen.cfm

 

[DanMcS]

Don't follow comics too terribly closely, so what exactly do you mean by "reboot"?

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

Don't follow comics too terribly closely, so what exactly do you mean by "reboot"?

Probably like how the Ultimate line is to the standard Marvel titles or Supreme Power is a new version of the Squadron Supreme miniseries. Basically it dumps all the baggage over years of writing and gives a clean slate to work with.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

"Reloaded" because it's the end of one era for X-Men with the departure of New X-Men's writer Grant Morrison (who also did The Invisibles, Filth, Arkham Asylum, Animal Man and more) to his exclusive contract with DC Comics/Vertigo.

The main differences in the last few years was he was writing X-Men as more sci-fi (with some weird ideas), and depict the X-Men more as political activists rather than superheroes.

Here's a short summary of what happened (there's some spoilers below)....

The school expanded from having about dozen students to having hundreds of students much like the movies. Professor X came out of the closet on being a mutant, and made the X-Men public. The X-Men became international as the X-Corporation having to staff it with second-tier X-team members like Domino, M, and Sunfire. There's a cult of humans running around wanting to become mutants by grafting mutant parts to themselves. The mutant nation of Genosha was wiped out by mega-sentinels.

An entity known as Sublime was behind everything. Most of the time a group of students mainly composed of the Stepford Cuckoos a group of telepathic sisters who took after Emma Frost, Angel Salvadore a part-fly/trailer-trash girl, and Barnell "Beak" Bohusk a Dutch kid who looks like a chicken saved the X-Men many times.The phoenix entity returned and Jean Grey died yet again. Magneto is dead yet again. Weapon X was revealed to actually be Weapon 10, as Weapon XII, XIII, XIV and XV showed out. Prof. X quit as the headmaster of the school, and Emma Frost and Scott Summers who are now a couple are the headmasters of the school.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

"Reloaded" because it's the end of one era for X-Men with the departure of New X-Men's writer Grant Morrison (who also did The Invisibles, Filth, Arkham Asylum, Animal Man and more) to his exclusive contract with DC Comics/Vertigo.

Grant Morrison? Guy who swore he'd never work for DC/Warner Bros. ever again? That guy? Sheesh, I see what "principles" mean when enough cash is dangled in front of you.

The main differences in the last few years was he was writing X-Men as more sci-fi (with some weird ideas), and depict the X-Men more as political activists rather than superheroes.

Here's a short summary of what happened (there's some spoilers below)....

The school expanded from having about dozen students to having hundreds of students much like the movies. Professor X came out of the closet on being a mutant, and made the X-Men public. The X-Men became international as the X-Corporation having to staff it with second-tier X-team members like Domino, M, and Sunfire. There's a cult of humans running around wanting to become mutants by grafting mutant parts to themselves. The mutant nation of Genosha was wiped out by mega-sentinels.

An entity known as Sublime was behind everything. Most of the time a group of students mainly composed of the Stepford Cuckoos a group of telepathic sisters who took after Emma Frost, Angel Salvadore a part-fly/trailer-trash girl, and Barnell "Beak" Bohusk a Dutch kid who looks like a chicken saved the X-Men many times.The phoenix entity returned and Jean Grey died yet again. Magneto is dead yet again. Weapon X was revealed to actually be Weapon 10, as Weapon XII, XIII, XIV and XV showed out. Prof. X quit as the headmaster of the school, and Emma Frost and Scott Summers who are now a couple are the headmasters of the school.

Wow. Those are some of the WORST ideas I've ever heard. Why does every new writer have to reinvent the wheel?

I mean, why is it OK for the comic writers to completely eviscerate 30+ years of stories, change the team into a corporation (WTF?!?!?), kill Jean Grey AGAIN but have Cyke hook up with the White Queen, and have a bunch of freaky students bail out the team? I mean, if Bryan Singer had done half of these things X-Fans everywhere would have called for his head on a pike. But I, old school fan, can't pick up the comic now without saying "Who are these people? Why does that dude have a beak? Scott's sleeping with WHO?"

Do I need to read Ultimate X-Men or something? I need a friggin' road map here. I just want to see Cyke and Jean Grey, a bouncing blue Beast, and Wolvie laying into Sabertooth or something. Not the West Wing with spandex.

 

[Kesh]

That settles it. I won't touch an X-Men comic other than Unlimited. At least it sounds like a decent attempt to reset continuity. This... gack...

 

[Taelorn76]

Do I need to read Ultimate X-Men or something? I need a friggin' road map here. I just want to see Cyke and Jean Grey, a bouncing blue Beast, and Wolvie laying into Sabertooth or something. Not the West Wing with spandex.

Believe it or not what was described above is the regular continuity and has nothing realy to do with Ultimate. I think they are doing the reboot because it has gotten so far from the mutant superhero stories.

Let's hope it works out and they clean out the X-Mansion, of some unneeded mutants.

 

[Kesh]

It really sounds less like a reboot, and more like what happened when they made 'New' X-Men back in the mid-90s. Basically, giving the writing & art a kick in the pants, creating new teams, and leaving continuity intact.

When I think of a reboot, I think 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' or 'Ultimate X-Men': something that redefines continuity and updates the characters.

Ah well.

 

[pensiv]

Do I need to read Ultimate X-Men or something? I need a friggin' road map here. I just want to see Cyke and Jean Grey, a bouncing blue Beast, and Wolvie laying into Sabertooth or something. Not the West Wing with spandex.

the funny thing about all this (and the point of Morrison's run) is that thanks to all of that, the slate is much much cleaner now for future writers to work with and future readers to come into without having to learn 30 years of back-story.

Also, in spite of all naming, it's not a "reboot." This isn't Crisi on Infinite Earths or Ultimate Marvel. It's just a change of direction for the titles.

To clarify my stance on this: I enjoyed Morrison's run much much much much more than I've been liking Chuck Austin's run on Uncanny. I'm really loathing Uncanny these days, and although I enjoyed Claremont's early work on the X-Men, I'm not looking forward to him picking up Uncanny again (judging from the state of X-treme X-men).