Reload finishes up with the new flagship title, Astonishing X-Men.  After months of rumour and hype, it has a lot to live up to.

And therein lies the catch.  Astonishing X-Men #1 is a perfectly good comic.  Snappy dialogue.  Good understanding of the characters.  Nice enigmatic opening scene.  And, most of all, absolutely fabulous art. 

Whedon's central idea for his team is that Scott's decided to put more effort into the PR side of the X-Men.  After all, they're supposed to exist in order to promote greater understanding between humans and mutants.  They're not meant to be primarily about fighting lunatics in costumes.  So PR ought to be a major concern to them, and yet historically, it's kind of fallen by the wayside.

I have no problem with that idea.  Actually, I've thought for years that it was something that wasn't being explored properly.  The X-Men are supposed to be promoting a political agenda and really ought to pay a bit more attention to that side of things.  Okay, I roll my eyes at the idea that this involves getting back into spandex - an editorial edict which nobody involved seems to have approached with particular enthusiasm.  Cyclops mumbles that the black leather was off-putting, and then proceeds to dress his team in... black leather.  Sure, whatever.  Still, the basic premise is perfectly sound.

And then we have the art.  John Cassaday can always be relied on to produce absolutely beautiful work, and this issue has all the grace and delicacy you'd expect from him.  There's some good dynamic action sequences, and Laura Martin's colouring is as impressively subtle as ever.  It looks absolutely wonderful.

By normal standards, then, it's a good book.

But the weight of expectations means that normal standards don't entirely apply.  What's missing here, I think, is a sense of occasion.  There's no momentous shift here, and Whedon isn't taking the book in any particularly new direction.  It takes Morrison's run as its starting point and mid-eighties Claremont as its inspiration.  Nothing wrong with that, but little about this truly seems original.  It's more the sort of comic that you wish Chris Claremont still made.

And the complaint that the X-Men don't look after their PR isn't as valid as it used to be.  They used to completely ignore it under Claremont, but under Morrison it at least seemed to be a concern, even if organisations like X-Corp weren't the focal point of stories.

It's still good.  And the art is absolutely stunning.  But it doesn't feel different.  Rather than taking the ball and running with it, Whedon takes the ball and goes for a genial amble in the park.  It's a beautiful park.  I like the park.  I don't mind seeing it again.  But nonetheless, it doesn't feel like an event.  And it was meant to, wasn't it?

Rating: A-

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