I know that by bringing up Joss Whedon’s resurrection of Colossus that I’m no doubt beating a horse long dead, but I only just got an opportunity to read the first Astonishing X-Men storyarc, Gifted.
I have to preface any praise I have with the fact that I’ve been completely in the dark regarding comics for a couple years, and can’t say I knew a single thing about this before I picked it up at Chapters. For instance, I didn’t know John Cassaday was the artist, I didn’t know Colossus was being brought back, so no doubt a lot of my impression stems from those facts.
If this comic was made for anyone, it’s me. I was hooked on the first page with Kitty Pryde. Whedon’s preference for dialogue suits this comic, and the interaction between characters is believable and well deserved. As for Colossus’ return, well, it certainly didn’t hit me that hard, mostly due to the fact that it barely registered when he died, the character so badly mangled he was unrecognizable. No, what got to me was the reaction of the other characters, Kitty Pryde’s tears, the unspoken Fastball special, I bought in right away, coming back to life made natural.
And that’s the crux of my feelings—Beyond everything else, I appreciate the respect Whedon gives these characters, and feel this is the closest the X-Men have been to their core in a very long time. I’ve always believed that someone would come along and not just breathe life into the series, but come with a very reverent and comfortable understanding of what the characters really are. This may seem nostalgic, and I can’t deny it to some degree, but the X-Men have been maligned for more than a decade, and it’s nice to see a return to form, albeit more modern.
All I can say is, this comic needs Nightcrawler. I don’t care how, it just has to happen.
I totally agree. But i especially agree with the last sentence. Bring back the ‘crawler yo.
Nostalgia. Retarding the growth of the comic industry since time immermorial.