Whedon's Astonishing X-Men #4: Return of...SPOILERS

[stevelabny]

You gotta love the way this goes down:

Last issue, Beast finds out how the "cure" for the mutant gene is being processed and turns to Cyclops with the ominous line "Why cant they leave the dead buried?"

Scott responds "Jean?" Cuz hey, he WANTS it to be Jean, and believes that since shes the Phoenix it HAS to be her who Hank is talking about.

The whole month passes and fanboys speculate why Marvel is brining Jean back again already. "But wait," cry some protestors, "we have no proof that its Jean, it could be a red herring."

But then in the preview on MileHighComics.com, there is "accidentally" a page posted that shows the reflection of the Phoenix force in Cyclop's visor.
The fanboys are sure this means Jean is the one.

A poll is put up on Marvel.com asking which X-man you think is coming back. Phoenix? Magneto? Psylocke? or Longshot? Of course, Magneto is already back and nobody really cares about the other two so it HAS to be Phoenix.
Or so most people say.

But I cried foul. The end of issue 3 was a red herring for sure, the "accidental" page reeks of a planned false leak, Phoenix JUST died and plus theres a telepath on the team already. Add in the fact that NONE of the X-titles have a big strong guy, that Shadowcat just rejoined the team and that there was a glaring omission of a certain dead X-Man on the poll and there's only one logical choice.

Some fans love the idea, some hate it, but we're all anxiously awaiting #4 to see who it is....
And the alternate cover has him on the cover.

Big. Shiny. Steel. COLOSSUS

Way to work all month to keep it a secret just to blow it at the last minute dimbulbs.

This issue almost seemed like one of the modern trend of stretching out a 4 part story into a 6 parter to make a better trade paperback, but that least 3 pages were PERFECT.

The look on Kitty's face as Piotr walks through her and his reaction to realizing its her were AMAZING.

Colossus is one of the few comic characters who had a noble death AND a body, so I've been sitting on the fence about his return. But it mighta been worth it for those three pages alone.

Hopefully next month we'll get an explanation. In Joss I Trust.

 

[LrdApoc]

I guess the death is permenant moral they extoled when they killed him was just hype from Quesada.. sigh.. another reason not to collect X-Books.. despite what I think has been an excellent stroy by Whedon, this reversal really bugs me.

That and the fact they are bringing Jean back fro a mini-series..but then again her name is phoenix.. so I can almost accept that.

 

[Staffan]

I hadn't seen this, but... since Colossus died while releasing the cure for the Legacy Virus, might this "cure" for mutancy be related to that?

Also, didn't they cremate Colossus? I vaguely recall Kitty travelling to Russia to spread his ashes in his home land, and then not going back to the X-school but instead trying to live a normal life, asking Xavier to delete everything about her from the school records (and as I recall, he complied).

Which reminds me of another incongruity: how did they get hold of Kitty to ask her to join the new X-team? AFAIK, she never told anyone her contact info, and while Xavier could probably contact her telepathically, he's busy over in Genosha, and I doubt she'd respond to a request by Frost.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

Yes, Piotr was cremated. Yes, Quesada's a pigheaded idiot.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I quit reading the X-Books long before Colossus died, and nothing I've seen so far has made me regret that decision.

But hey, if Norman Osborn's amazing death can be ruined so can any other Marvel death.

 

[Umbran]

I always considered that anyone who believed that a Marvel death was really and honestly sure to be permanent fit into P.T. Barnum's "sucker" category.

That being said, I am.. conflicted. On the one hand, Colossus being really and truely dead makes his story more powerful. On the other hand, Wheadon's TV work has left me with the motto, "Trust the Joss". In the long run, he doesn't let you down.

I seriously doubt they'd ressurect Colossus unless he had some really good story ideas for him. The character was given short shrift in his first life. maybe there's some cool plans for his second?

 

[Elemental]

< Ray Park >

"Don't you people ever die?"

< /Ray Park >

 

[stevelabny]

The "i'm not a writer, but i've read/seen comics/books/movies/tv before" way out of colossus being dead and cremated...

beast finds a cure for the legacy virus, unfortunately SOMEONE has to die to release it. without giving dr mccoy ANY more time to study and fix the cure, the distraught colossus makes the sacrifice himself in a noble suicide. (he was upset that his brother and sister had both recently died, and was an emotional wreck. anybody who claims this was a "stupid death" is just letting their love of colossus blind them to good storytelling)

Now, we know that Colossus is dead, and we actually have a body.
But the cremation? Again... did you see it happen? Do you think the X-Men have a crematorium in their basement?
Beast probably had to call one of his doctor associates to arrange a cremation. Maybe Dr. Kavita Ro (the doctor who invented this "cure" for mutants) She in turn takes the body and experiments with it, giving the X-Men a pile of ash belonging to someone else.
She's had years to study the body, find a "cure" for the mutant gene AND have her experiments basically remove the death side-effect of the legacy virus cure.
Its simple, it fits, it doesnt violate anything we've seen on panel, and would still change peters sacrificial suicide into a noble sacrifice/attempted suicide.


To answer some other questions: Kitty hasn't been completely MIA since she left the X-books after Piotr died. She showed up in the middle of X-Treme X-Men and also had her own mini-series MekaniX. She was going to college and living with former NewMutant Karma.Then she came back to X-Treme X-Men for the God Loves, Man Kills 2 storyline (not as good as the original) So the X-Treme X-Men team definately knew how to get in touch with her, and Karma had come to teach at the school in NewMutants v2 (now known as New X-Men, Academy X although the NEW students have taken more of the spotlight from the old ones) so the X-people at the school would also easily be able to contact Kitty. Throw in everything thats happened recently (Fake Magneto destroying Manhattan, the school blowing up, etc) and Kitty finally decided to return home.

 

[Staffan]

To answer some other questions: Kitty hasn't been completely MIA since she left the X-books after Piotr died. She showed up in the middle of X-Treme X-Men and also had her own mini-series MekaniX. She was going to college and living with former NewMutant Karma.Then she came back to X-Treme X-Men for the God Loves, Man Kills 2 storyline (not as good as the original) So the X-Treme X-Men team definately knew how to get in touch with her, and Karma had come to teach at the school in NewMutants v2 (now known as New X-Men, Academy X although the NEW students have taken more of the spotlight from the old ones) so the X-people at the school would also easily be able to contact Kitty. Throw in everything thats happened recently (Fake Magneto destroying Manhattan, the school blowing up, etc) and Kitty finally decided to return home.

Ah, that would explain it. I hadn't seen the Xtreme stuff, so I figured she'd been off-screen since Piotr's death.

 

[Desdichado]

That being said, I am.. conflicted. On the one hand, Colossus being really and truely dead makes his story more powerful. On the other hand, Wheadon's TV work has left me with the motto, "Trust the Joss". In the long run, he doesn't let you down.

I seriously doubt they'd ressurect Colossus unless he had some really good story ideas for him. The character was given short shrift in his first life. maybe there's some cool plans for his second?

I can buy that. And I agree that Piotr got pretty short shrift the first time around; he was always one of my favorite X-men.