Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Astonishing X-Men #29

By Patrick Bérubé
April 23, 2009 - 21:00

The X-Men have captured some unknown mutants and are interrogating them Wolverine-style. Even Storm plays badass to get the answers the team is looking for. What they will learn will lead them to seek out their old teammate, Forge. It seems that with his tinkering mutant ability, he has been traveling through parallel universes and has, all by himself, created a new race of mutants to stop an invasion force from another dimension.

The story of this issue revolves a lot more on revelation than on action. The plot summary may seem thin, but there is honestly not much more to say about it except some minor plot points. And this could also be said for the previous issues, since Warren Ellis took over the writing duties. I follow many of his other titles, and Astonishing X-Men is far from his best effort of recent years. I'm used to a lot more content per issue from him than is the case here. Add to that what seems to be an irregular release and I'm slowly losing interest.

The art has redeemed this comic book a bit. I like Simone Bianchi's pencils, and he uses interesting layouts and his shadowy style creates a dark mood to the story. The only let down would be that the characters blend in too much with the backgrounds, and it's sometime hard, at first glimpse, to distinguish who is doing what. There are two inkers and three colorists assisting Mr. Bianchi on the art. This usually bothers me, but in this case it took careful inspection to see where the differences between each inker were. On a side note, will someone please tell me why European artists working in American comics can't produce interesting work like they do back home. Even if Bianchi's art on X-Men is great, I appreciate his work for European publishers more. Maybe it's the format, the more constricted deadline or the work-for-hire, but it seems like a continuing situation, and it surely does not help American readers appreciate what Europeans can do.

I'm slowly losing my interest in this title (like many X titles for that matter...). I might have been ready to wait a few months for a Whedon/Cassaday Astonishing X-Men issue, but I am not ready to wait two months for each of Ellis/Bianchi's Astonishing X-Men where the story slows to a crawl. I also have not yet digested the whole Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes miniseries which does not help matters.

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12