Rating: 
(7 reviews)
Author: Joss Whedon
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Product Description
Strap yourselves in, folks! It’s Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s final arc on Astonishing X-Men! After the shocking and brain-smashing events of recent issues, the X-Men are off to protect the Earth from its destruction at the hands of the Breakworld. And when it’s all over, nothing will ever be the same! No, really, we mean it! Whedon and Cassaday prove they are more than Astonishing: They are unstoppable! Collects Astonishing X-Men #19-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1.
5 Comments
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I have to start by saying that I’ve loved Joss Whedan’s work since the moment I saw the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I own every video and DVD he’s worked on, including all of his television programs, and many (though not quite all) of the written media he’s created. I loved the first three installments of Astonishing X-Men. This one, however, is just plain bad.n
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The art is so sloppy that I couldn’t tell Cyclops from a powered-down Colossus. I could have done better with a crayon.n
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The story jumps so much that I couldn’t follow without re-reading pages over and over. Even then, I wasn’t sure I knew what was really happening in the story.n
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And Joss seems to have forgotten that this is a story involving the X-Men, not Buffy! His oh-so-famous witticisms would be more appropriate from Xander to Buffy, rather than from X-Men to Cyclops. I think that Joss confused these two characters (Buffy and Cyke) because they share the last name, “Summers.” Most of the quips are verbatim from the Buffy series.n
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I could elaborate much more, and give specific quotes, but this book simply isn’t worth the time. Do yourself a favor: skip this one.
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I am going to miss Whedon and Cassaday’s run with ‘Astonishing X-Men.’ During the 1980s and 90s X-men stories got so convoluted it was difficult to follow all the characters, much less explore the complex relationships between them. But Astonishing X-Men, from the very start, solved those problems by focusing on only a few team members: Cyclops, Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, and of course Wolverine. The interactions of these characters, particularly Frost and Pryde are at the heart of the new series, which also features Agent Brand of Sword and a new X-Man, Hisako, aka Armor. n
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This final story arc from Whedon cannot be read independently of the first three. ‘Gifted,’ ‘Dangerous,’ and especially ‘Torn’ are required pre-reads before tackling this volume. Without revealing any spoilers, the plot involves the X-Men on the Breakworld, the world Colossus, it is prophesied, will destroy. One plot twist follows another every couple of pages, but even careful readers will be surprised at the ending. Both the Breakworld and Earth are saved, but by who and how this review will not say. Suffice to add, Blindfold’s vision, at the end of ‘Torn’ is fulfilled and one of the X-Men will not return. Saddened as I am by the loss, I hope Marvel will not allow another unbelievable “back from the beyond” scenario. Even the greatest (and most sympathetic) of heroes need to rest in peace. n
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‘Astonishing X-Men,’ perhaps more than any other series, has captured the essence of the original comic: heroes who, for all their power, are all too human. Marvel, of couse, has made considerable money with ‘Astonishing X-Men’ from readers like myself who have returned to comics long after I thought I was “over” that phase. The series will, of course, continue under the title ‘Astonishing X-Men: Second Stage’ with writer Warren Ellis working with artist Simone Bianchi. But these keepers of the flame will have a difficult task on their hands. ‘Unstoppable’ was as close to perfection as one can get in the comic format. It is hard to see how it can be matched.
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Great series! Fantastic writing. Great art. A pleasure to read. Left me wanting more
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If someone told me a couple of years ago that a X-Men comic would move me to tears, I’d pat them on the shoulder and tell them to lay off the booze. Well, either Joss Whedon is one of the best writers in the field or I’m more sensitive than I thought, because with “Unstoppable,” Whedon finishes his redefining run on this title with an epic, action packed, character driven, emotional roller coaster that made me tear up on more than one occasion.n
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From Buffy The Vampire Slayer, to Firefly, to his Marvel work, Joss Whedon is pretty much my favorite writer of all time. However, it’s obvious that his run on Astonishing X-Men has been surprisingly uneven. The first volume was a solid introduction to the main story arc of the series, but the second and third volumes had pretty apparent plot problems and didn’t flow nearly as well as the first one. Despite those problems, Joss managed to develop the characters, particularly Kitty Pryde and newcomer Agent Brand, in ways that the X-Men certainly didn’t experience under the care of lesser writers, and not enough can ever be said about Whedon’s dialogue. But I feared that, like the previous two volumes, Joss would give us a somewhat muddled story with little payoff… but I should have trusted my favorite writer a bit more, because this is a climatic ending that surpasses the highest high point the series had achieved (probably in the latter issues of Volume One: Gifted) by far.n
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Joss brings the Breakworld saga to a great close, packing it with revelations, huge plot twists, truly heroic moments, and some really heart-wrenching drama. Joss makes up for his missteps in the previous volumes by concluding it in a way that only he could, utilizing John Cassaday’s cinematic style to truly make this feel like an experience at the movies. The coloring, the mood, the dialogue… reading this book isn’t just a pleasant experience, it’s akin to seeing a great movie in the theatre. The book isn’t perfect, and there were some loose ends that I wish Joss would have tied up. Instead of including other Marvel super heroes, under magical influence, falsely believing that they’re saving the world, that page space would have been better used to tie up the Danger plot line. Emma promised Danger something, and Joss leaves that plot a bit open ended, presumably for the next writer to tackle. However, Joss’s series is so self-contained that it really just felt like a long movie, so I’m left wishing he tied that up himself.n
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With great art all around and even better writing, Joss completely outdoes himself with this book. He doesn’t match what he’s done before, he completely surpasses it with this truly heroic story with a heartbreaking and utterly shocking, innovative ending that closes some doors but opens so, so many more.n
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Bravo.n
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9/10
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At last the final chapter of the most intelligent and strong X-men story in years, Joss Whedon’s way to tell this action tale is relly refreshing and Jonh Cassadays’art is AWESOME, the plot twist will leave you wanting more, I hope some day they will join again.
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