I wasn’t going to post this without talking to more knowledgeable people on the subject when I realized that this site isn’t called ‘Well Thought Out Judgments’ and have all the free reign I want to say stupid things as opinions.
LET US BEGIN!
So, ever read a particular author and totally lose the story he or she is trying to tell due to their pet writing style or quirks? When it becomes less a Spider-Man story and more of a ‘JMS Story’? When you pick up a Judd Winick title and wonder who’s gay and/or has AIDS? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he’s getting the word out but at the same time, it’s turning into a drinking game.
I have never liked Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have never liked Angel. Joss Whedon and I can pretty much only agree on Firefly and after the movie, I’m pretty sure that’s the end of that. I have forsaken my ovarian right to adore everything he does (OMGSQUEE!) and get a good story out of his stuff from time to time. Now that he’s on the X-Men flagship ‘Astonishing X-Men’ (because having Uncanny, the first X-Men title be the flagship would be silly), I’m reading along with him the lively tales of his stereotypical character archetypes and it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even feel like I’m reading an X-Men book, just an episode of Buffy in costumes.
Yeah, I know, Buffy was inspired by Kitty Pryde, but why is Colossus so quiet? Why is Kitty leading the team more than Cyclops? And why in God’s good name did Wolverine have to fall to comedic wuss? While it’s funny for him to jump about in fear talking about ‘a blue moose’ (while moose is a very funny word, there is no way Beast could be mistaken for one.), it’s also annoying and trite. And he does this all the time, the macho males are always taken down to the level of fools and the smallest girl is always the most deadly. It’s turning a cliché, but there are only so many times before you start to scream ‘YES! WE GOT THE POINT NOW THANK YOU!’.
From my limited ’snappy’ knowledge base, Kitty has become every token young girl who ‘kicks butt’ he’s nearly ever written, Colossus is now the ‘angsting quiet boyfriend who may or may not lead to some sort of destruction’, Beast is the ‘means to ends’ for information, Cyclops is horribly broken down for a guy used to telepaths, Emma is a bitch (despite it having been years since she’s been on the side of evil, why is this all coming up now?) and Jerry Mathers is the Beaver. If this is the flagship, there should be characters in here that have been solidly confirmed for many many issues, and while the changes to motivation and characterization would be fine if there was a little more reasoning behind it, I just can’t shake the name of the author.
Now that Whedon’s going to Runaways after Vaughan, how long do you think it will take before Molly Hayes becomes some sort of super soldier fighting bad ass?
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I understand…I’ve always been an X-men reader and loved Whedon’s Firefly but you’re right about Astonishing X-men and it does make me worry about Runaways. I’ve been reading Runaways since the first issue of the first run because I thought back to my first and still favorite comic The New Mutants. I’ve always enjoyed comics more when they’re about people discovering their powers and not knowing how to reconcile those alongside all the other day-to-day crapola people have to deal with and the Runaways was great. I hope he doesn’t ruin it. I expect change…which is good…right???
Hmm, so that would make Colossus Angel? Poor Russian, being transformed into that soul-having poof (I have to confess, I love channeling Spike).
I guess it’s a good thing Seasons 6 and 7 of Buffy soured me on Whedon, or I might have bought this.
Nah, probably not.
Thank you. Seriously, thank you. I feel like the rest of the world, (that I’ve seen so far) is going ‘Wheee Whedon’ while I’m still smarting over Emma having inexplicably turned evil. I’m still wondering what Joss has against valid, mature, sexual relationships.
I’m going to buy Vol 2 of Runaways and I’m doing to leave things at that. It’s great that Joss is a fan and all that but I’ve no wish to see Karolina turned into Willow. I’ve no wish to see sex= evil things. And I sure as heck don’t want to see Joss even touch Cloak and Dagger is there’s an interlude with them again.
Chris Laffoon: I’m big on Runaways for the same reasons you are, that these are people with problems who also have powers. They never forget that these are just kids making it in the world and Whedon just strikes me as very hyperbolic in his portrayal of ‘real people’. They are more caracature than human and… boy is this going to be a rough transisiton.
CalvinPitt: Hey, I’ll thank him for bringing back Piotr who died a stupid death but there’s only so much you can really give the guy besides a Thank You.
Willow: Hey! Thank you right back! I’m glad I’m not alone too considering my work place has a small shrine to Whedon and his OMGBUFFY. I know he can still pull up out of this ‘Emma is suddenly EVIl now because that’s all we know to do with strong female leads!’, but it’s going to have to be a good payoff. Like, really good.
We’ll always have Runaways vol. 1 and 2. Like having Paris, in a way.
And you can only get so far on merely mining pop culture.
And I have noticed sex = evil so often to Joss.
I’m a guy, so, feel free to take this with a grain of salt. (For the record, I don’t care much for Buffy or Angel, either, and I also liked Firefly.) But…
I agree that the Beast does not resemble a moose. He looks like a big blue kitty cat. Not sure why Whedon brought in the moose. But look, Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men is more fun than any X-title in years. Yes, there’s something TV-stereotypical about it, but I’d argue that he’s playing with the character’s stereotypes in creative, clever ways.
And his Kitty Pryde rocks. She’s leading the team and pushing Cyclops aside because Cyclops has been weakened while she’s gotten stronger. She’s down to earth, smart, powerful, and determined. Over the years I’ve been consistently frustrated with how post-Claremont writers have gotten Kitty’s character wrong; in my half-assed snap judgement, Whedon is the first to really nail it and shed the image of Kitty as a kid. It’s great to see her fully mature and in command of herself and her powers.
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