Description
Comic and Graphic Books. Fiction. HTML: Collects Astonishing X-Men (2004) #25-30, Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1-2. The X-Men are back to business �?? with a new look, a new base of operations, and a mystery to solve that will take them into previously uncharted territory and test them to their core. It all starts on a spaceship hovering 300 hundred feet above the twisted wreckage of Chaparanga Beach. Its sole inhabitant: the mysterious Subject X.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2008-07-02 - 2009-06-24
Physical description
184 p.; 6.75 inches
Publication
Marvel (2009), 184 pages
Pages
184
ISBN
0785127887 / 9780785127888
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User reviews
LibraryThing member MikeRhode
I don't like the X-Men as killers.
LibraryThing member nsblumenfeld
Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Box collects the first arc of Warren Ellis' run on the book, and it's a decidedly mixed bag.
The art: Simone Bianchi makes pretty pictures. Unfortunately, as has been frequently pointed out, his storytelling sensibility is pretty awful; there's rarely any sense of flow. This
The writing: The first few issues, Ellis seems to be having too much fun playing with these characters' voices to concentrate much on the plot. He overcompensates in the second half of the story by sometimes recapping the plot multiple times per issue. It doesn't help much, though, because I never got a sense from the story itself that our heroes were facing a particularly relevant threat. There was nothing in the writing of the main story that felt like it was leading up to events of the proportions of what we see in the "Ghost Boxes" vignettes at the end -- which are, by the way, despite their origins as over-priced, underweight filler between delayed issues, the most compelling part of this volume. Also, this all seemed more random than Astonishing. Ellis seems to be really keen on bringing big ideas into his X-Men -- starship graveyard! zettawatt cannon! mutant genome fun! -- but his implementation is underwhelming. This story is at its best when characters are bantering without the plot getting in the way. That is not as it should be.
I expect more and better from Ellis. Here's hoping he manages to turn things around with his next story, "eXogenetic".
The art: Simone Bianchi makes pretty pictures. Unfortunately, as has been frequently pointed out, his storytelling sensibility is pretty awful; there's rarely any sense of flow. This
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is especially apparent in hand-to-hand combat scenes. Also, despite his sometimes insane attention to background detail, faces are sometimes awkward, and he seems to have a lot of trouble drawing male nipples. No female nipples on display, but Armor's boobs are frequently lopsided.The writing: The first few issues, Ellis seems to be having too much fun playing with these characters' voices to concentrate much on the plot. He overcompensates in the second half of the story by sometimes recapping the plot multiple times per issue. It doesn't help much, though, because I never got a sense from the story itself that our heroes were facing a particularly relevant threat. There was nothing in the writing of the main story that felt like it was leading up to events of the proportions of what we see in the "Ghost Boxes" vignettes at the end -- which are, by the way, despite their origins as over-priced, underweight filler between delayed issues, the most compelling part of this volume. Also, this all seemed more random than Astonishing. Ellis seems to be really keen on bringing big ideas into his X-Men -- starship graveyard! zettawatt cannon! mutant genome fun! -- but his implementation is underwhelming. This story is at its best when characters are bantering without the plot getting in the way. That is not as it should be.
I expect more and better from Ellis. Here's hoping he manages to turn things around with his next story, "eXogenetic".
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LibraryThing member 59Square
Merideth says: This book, the first in the Astonishing X-Men relaunch without Joss Whedon, falls squarely in the "good not great" catergory. Ellis takes the story into a much more morally ambiguous place, with the much diminished X-Men, with a change in mission since mutants were virtually wiped
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out by the Scarlet Witch (House of M). It was interesting to see the team dynamic with a newly returned Storm, and see how the lack of mutants has changed the X-Men. This story delved a little bit too deeply into the X-Men backstory for me, but Ellis is an excellent writer, and managed to keep it accessible. Bianchi has a moodier style that former artist Cassady, but it fits with the newly grim X-Men. Show Less
LibraryThing member grunin
I'm a big fan of Warren Ellis, which is why I picked this up, but this is one of his most generic efforts. The story is nothing special, and the dialog has little of Ellis's usual sparkle. If I hadn't known it was his I would never have guessed.
Bianchi's draftsmanship is gorgeous, but the page
Bianchi's draftsmanship is gorgeous, but the page
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layouts are often poor, and the action sequences difficult to follow. Show Less
LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
Joss Whedon left and this series went all sorts of to hell. The biggest problem with this volume is that, in the previous installment, Joss, as he is wont to do, had a character sacrifice herself to save the rest of the X team. She wasn't dead, but she was certainly going to be gone for quite a
The plot of this is just awful and mostly doesn't make sense. The last chapters are depressing and come out of absolutely nowhere. The group had won a battle with the bad guys and then all of a sudden things are different. And apparently they lost. But there's no explanation of what's happening. I can't say whether the last sections were, fittingly, an alternate universe thing or if the series is over or what. I suspect it was an alternate universe, but that should definitely be made more apparent.
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while, assuming she ever made it back, and it was all very emotional. This volume never mentioned that. At all.The plot of this is just awful and mostly doesn't make sense. The last chapters are depressing and come out of absolutely nowhere. The group had won a battle with the bad guys and then all of a sudden things are different. And apparently they lost. But there's no explanation of what's happening. I can't say whether the last sections were, fittingly, an alternate universe thing or if the series is over or what. I suspect it was an alternate universe, but that should definitely be made more apparent.
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LibraryThing member fighterofevil
So yeah, this was garbage. I expect so much more from Warren Ellis. It was practically unreadable. Art was terrible to behold. Seriously, why was this published?
LibraryThing member ragwaine
Favorite line, "Emma is that you? I didn't recognize you with your legs closed."
Loved everything about this, the art, the writing and especially the alternate reality stories that I'm assuming happened on "other Earths". This was dark and still occasionally humorous, just like I want my X-Men
Loved everything about this, the art, the writing and especially the alternate reality stories that I'm assuming happened on "other Earths". This was dark and still occasionally humorous, just like I want my X-Men
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stories to be. Show Less
LibraryThing member quinton.baran
This book has excellent artwork, and the story line keeps up with that art as well. I found the story to be gripping and interesting. There are also a few alternate timeline type stories that are interesting here as well.