Who's read Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men?

[Viking Bastard]

Shouldn't this be a tertiary mutation? I thought the Beast becoming grey and furry (and then blue) was a secondary mutation that Hank induced himself.

The magical words here is '..induced himself'. It wasn't natural.
Just a result of a failed experiment to cure himself.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Shouldn't this be a tertiary mutation? I thought the Beast becoming grey and furry (and then blue) was a secondary mutation that Hank induced himself. I'm not a big fan of this new cat-man look either. It doesn't seem like the Beast actually got any sort of power boost or new powers. They just started drawing him cat-like.

I believe (not positive) that it was Morrison who wanted him to look like something out of "Beauty and the Beast" and instituted the change. (I know Morrison introduced the "secondary mutation" idea.)

You're right, though- there doesn't seem to be any real rationale for it (he didn't gain anything that I know of, either). In fact, IIRC, it was used mainly for comedic effect- such as having the Beast use a litter box at one point. Stupid.

(Note: I didn't actually *read* any of Morrison's stuff, just about it and flipping through it on the stands, so if anyone knows something different, I'd be interested in knowing if the change had any purpose.)

Does anyone else think that Wolverine wearing yellow and blue is just plain silly? I always hated that color scheme on him. The new costume design is fine, but why not go with the old brown color scheme? Black and brown would look good on him, I think, but not bright primary colors. Ah, well... Take the bad with the good, and all that...

I used to kind of like the blue and gold, but I've gotten tired of it. I definitely like that they ditched the leather X costumes, but Wolverine is one of those characters that actually works a bit better *without* a costume at all.

Still, I do miss the old brown costume. I think I remember reading somewhere that it's supposed to be making a comeback. That was a while ago, though, so I might be wrong.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

The magical words here is '..induced himself'. It wasn't natural.
Just a result of a failed experiment to cure himself.

See, this, to me, is exactly why his "cat form" mutation doesn't make sense. All the other "secondary" mutations are just evolutions of the mutants original power bases, from what I understand (even though some- such as the White Queen, a telepath, gaining the ability to turn diamond hard- don't really seem to make sense, or at least be thematically related).

Hank's furry form, on the other hand, was an artificially induced mutation, and not tied in with his original powers. So why would his "secondary mutation" affect him this way? Why wouldn't it be some other power, or somehow related to his mutant powers? Unless the point they are making (or maybe actually came out and made- I didn't read them, so I'm not sure) is that his secondary mutation was always going to turn him into a "beastlike" form in the first place, and his experimentation merely jumpstarted the process?

(Somehow, I have the feeling that the explanation I offered above- which seems, by comic logic, reasonable- is a lot more than Morrison offered...)