Comics Corner: Astonishing X-Men by Charles Soule - Life of X

Astonishing X-Men

Ever since Joss Whedon wrote the first 24 issues of "Astonishing X-Men," the title has served as a way for well known writers to play in the X-Men sandbox without having to worry too much about the convoluted continuity the franchise is known for. After Whedon and artist John Cassady left, Warren Ellis, Simone Bianchi, Kaare Andrews, Greg Pak, Phil Jimenez and Marjorie Liu all tried their hands. 

For the most recent volume of "Astonishing X-Men," Charles Soule took the reins. Soule has been a rising star in the comics industry for the past few years. He started out at DC writing everything from "Swamp Thing" to "Superman." He moved to Marvel in 2014 and wrote an amazing run of "She-Hulk." He helped bring the Inhumans to the forefront and shepherded the death and return of Wolverine. It's not a huge shock that Marvel decided to have him take over and he had big plans.

Art by Jim Cheung

Astonishing X-Men Vol 4 #1-6 -  When Betsy Braddock aka Psylocke is the target of psychic attack, she lashes out and summons any X-Man close to London. She reaches Old Man Logan, Angel, Rogue, Bishop, Beast, Gambit and Fantomex. Betsy recognizes the attack as the work of her old enemy, Amahl Farouk aka the Shadow King. He's threatening to poison the minds of everyone in London. Betsy takes Rogue, Fantomex, Beast, Gambit and Old Man Logan into the psychic plane to confront Farouk. Angel and Bishop stay behind to guard their bodies. Once on the psychic plane, the team finds out that Beast is actually Mystique in disguise. And it seems that Farouk's plan is even more insidious than they thought. It turns out that Farouk is holding the mind of the X-Men's thought dead mentor, Charles Xavier, hostage. It's up to the X-Men to stop Farouk from escaping the astral plane and try to rescue Xavier from him. 

Art by Carlos Pacheco

When the X-books rebooted after Inhumans v X-Men, there were some fan favorite X-Men that were missing from the line ups of the two main X-books. Fans were upset. But of course, they shouldn't have been. The announcement of this new volume of "Astonishing X-Men" put their minds at ease. Psylocke, Arhcangel, Rogue, Gambit, had not been left at the wayside. 

The first arc of "Astonishing" deals with something that a lot of fans have been wondering about for a while: Is Professor X really dead? The answer to that is not a simple one. While the Professor's physical body is dead, his mind was snagged by his nemesis, Farouk, and he's been trapped in the psychic plane ever since. (For those who don't know, Xavier was killed by Cyclops while he was possessed by a portion of the Phoenix Force.) 

It's a smart decision by Soule to make the rescue of Xavier the focus of his time with the book. Sometimes I feel like what happens in "Astonishing X-Men" can be inconsequential since it doesn't feel connected to the rest of the X books. That's definitely not the case here. If Xavier gets resurrected or if he doesn't, this will have long lasting ramifications that will be felt across the X universe. It creates real stakes and immediately you're hooked. Soule's characterizations are spot on. I really enjoy Fantomex as a character. I'm sure I have mentioned not being a fan of Grant Morrison's X-Men run as a whole, but there are pieces that I really enjoyed and Fantomex is one of them. They've really weaved him into the fabric of the X tapestry and his history with Psyclocke really adds some nice dimensions to the story.

It's also nice to see Mystique amongst the X-Men. I love it when a character is around whose motivations are their own. It definitely can come off as cheap, but Soule plays it just right. There's also a lot of ambiguity with Xavier. Is he the real deal or is he an illusion that Farouk has created? If he is real, can the X-Men trust his motivations or has Xavier's time with Shadow King twisted him?

Art by Ramon Rosanas

The art for "Astonishing X-Men" is handled by a different artist for each issue. Issue 1 is penciled by Jim Cheung who is one of my favorite artists out there right now. He has a really clean style and his figures are all really expressive. Issue 2 is penciled by Mike Deodato, Jr. Deodato has sort of a sketch style. Heavy lines. I don't hate it, but it's not my favorite, because I feel like a lot of detail can be lost. Ed McGuinness works on issue 3. I love his cartoony style. It screams super hero to me and I never get tired of seeing it. Carlos Pacheco is up for issue 4. I like Pacheco. Everything looks really great, but it sort of looks staged, rather than fluid. His facial work can also be a little undefined. Ramon Rosanas is on issue 5. His art is probably my least favorite. It just feels really bland. There's nothing special about it. It's competent and doesn't hurt my eyes, but up against the other artists it just falls short. Mike del Mundo finishes out this first arc and his psychedelic style is a perfect fit for the astral plane. It's crazy and imaginative and it's what comic art should be. 

I will say I don't typically enjoy a bunch of different artists on a single arc, but since this was the plan going in, I feel like they found to make it work. The color palette is the same. Each artist brings something to each issue. For the most part, these are pretty heavy hitters and especially when they are on the psychic plane, the shifting art styles help sell this idea that nothing is as it seems.

Charles Soule opens this new volume of "Astonishing X-Men" with a bang. It's full of exactly what you read "X-Men" comics for. Big action, big character drama (Fantomex I'm looking at you) and big surprises. (Again, all you Fantomex.) 

You can pick up these issues collected in Astonishing X-Men by Charles Soule, Vol. 1: Life of X. If you're local, check out Mayhem or it's available on Amazon.