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crookedtreehouse's review
2.0
Marjorie Liu's strengths as a writer do not include tha bility to write team books, or superhero comics. Monstress proves that she's a solid fantasy writer, but the dialogue and storytelling in her X-Men work is tone deaf. None of the characters speak or act like they do in any other X-Men book. And if they were the first volumes of superhero books with characters I was unfamiliar with, I'm pretty sure I'd just stop reading them.
I stopped reading this, instead just scanning for plots, about halfway through.
I stopped reading this, instead just scanning for plots, about halfway through.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
This book could have been a lot better.
First of all it is confused, mostly due to the story-line around Karma and the various mind control bits. That story seems to have started before this book and presumably ends after - but in this one it is hard to tell what's real.
And then there are the main players. Jean-Paul and Kyle. I don't know them. But what I've seen before of Jean-Paul/Northstar really never had an impact. So making the comparison to a Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson or a Clark Kent/Lois Lane - it's really just not in the same league.
But the writing was good and insightful. And the throwaway comments from say Rogue and Puck were interesting. And a lot of the art was a little better than typical. And Kitty wasn't horribly awful, though Lockheed was done better. 3.5 of 5.
First of all it is confused, mostly due to the story-line around Karma and the various mind control bits. That story seems to have started before this book and presumably ends after - but in this one it is hard to tell what's real.
And then there are the main players. Jean-Paul and Kyle. I don't know them. But what I've seen before of Jean-Paul/Northstar really never had an impact. So making the comparison to a Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson or a Clark Kent/Lois Lane - it's really just not in the same league.
But the writing was good and insightful. And the throwaway comments from say Rogue and Puck were interesting. And a lot of the art was a little better than typical. And Kitty wasn't horribly awful, though Lockheed was done better. 3.5 of 5.
melhara's review
2.0
I really wanted to love this one for two reasons:
1) A Canadian superhero (YAAAYYY!)
2) A gay superhero (DOUBLE YAY!)
...but I just couldn't bring myself to like Northstar. He's needy, selfish, and annoying. He's not much of a superhero and he doesn't seem to be a great boyfriend either.
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Average rating for the entire series (minus Volume 12): 3.1/5
Check out my reviews for the rest of the series:
Volume 1: Gifted | Volume 2: Dangerous | Volume 3: Torn (no review) | Volume 4: Unstoppable (no review) | Volume 5: Ghost Box (no review) | Volume 6: Exogenic (no review) | Volume 7: Monstrous (no review) | Volume 8: Children of the Brood (no review) | Volume 9: Exalted (no review) | Volume 10: Northstar | Volume 11: Weaponized (no review) | Volume 12: Unmasked (TBR)
1) A Canadian superhero (YAAAYYY!)
2) A gay superhero (DOUBLE YAY!)
...but I just couldn't bring myself to like Northstar. He's needy, selfish, and annoying. He's not much of a superhero and he doesn't seem to be a great boyfriend either.
----------------------------------------------
Average rating for the entire series (minus Volume 12): 3.1/5
Check out my reviews for the rest of the series:
Volume 1: Gifted | Volume 2: Dangerous | Volume 3: Torn (no review) | Volume 4: Unstoppable (no review) | Volume 5: Ghost Box (no review) | Volume 6: Exogenic (no review) | Volume 7: Monstrous (no review) | Volume 8: Children of the Brood (no review) | Volume 9: Exalted (no review) | Volume 10: Northstar | Volume 11: Weaponized (no review) | Volume 12: Unmasked (TBR)
renatasnacks's review
4.0
OH GOD Marjorie Liu will you please write X-Men always?! I loved everything about this. Especially Jubilee and X-23 watching the wedding from a tree. CUTE but also made me mad again that X-23's solo series got canceled. But whatever, now Marjorie Liu can write this! Yay!
Also the vintage comic at the end with Northstar's coming out is BONKERS. Highly recommended. The plot hinges around Northstar adopting an AIDS baby and it's VERY 1992 melodramatic. But also groundbreaking and cool. In an afterschool special way. With superpowers. So, best.
Also the vintage comic at the end with Northstar's coming out is BONKERS. Highly recommended. The plot hinges around Northstar adopting an AIDS baby and it's VERY 1992 melodramatic. But also groundbreaking and cool. In an afterschool special way. With superpowers. So, best.
nerdinthelibrary's review
4.0
Buzzword Readathon #2
Okay so objectively this is a 3-star read but I legitimately started crying at the end so it's getting bumped up.
You would be correct in assuming that I haven't read the previous nine volumes of Astonishing X-Men, and frankly it's pretty unlikely I ever will. I'm just here for Northstar and Kyle's wedding, and oh boy did that deliver. The romance was great the whole way through, which unfortunately was a detriment on the plot sometimes but not so much that it was distracting. It's also just nice to see a bunch of superheroes gathering for a happy occasion, something which happens almost never for more than a page.
Rogue wondering whether her mother's would have wanted to get married was what initially made me start to get a little teary, but then just seeing two male superheroes getting married really pushed me over the edge. The ending is a cliffhanger setting up the next volume that I'm almost 100% sure I won't be reading.
This is my first Marjorie M. Liu comic and it makes me very excited to read more of her work in the future. I also really enjoyed the art style. There were a few panels in issue 49 that genuinely took my breath away with how beautiful they are. While this comic is fairly lightweight in terms of plot, it is by no means disposable and is still an enjoyable read.
Okay so objectively this is a 3-star read but I legitimately started crying at the end so it's getting bumped up.
You would be correct in assuming that I haven't read the previous nine volumes of Astonishing X-Men, and frankly it's pretty unlikely I ever will. I'm just here for Northstar and Kyle's wedding, and oh boy did that deliver. The romance was great the whole way through, which unfortunately was a detriment on the plot sometimes but not so much that it was distracting. It's also just nice to see a bunch of superheroes gathering for a happy occasion, something which happens almost never for more than a page.
Rogue wondering whether her mother's would have wanted to get married was what initially made me start to get a little teary, but then just seeing two male superheroes getting married really pushed me over the edge. The ending is a cliffhanger setting up the next volume that I'm almost 100% sure I won't be reading.
This is my first Marjorie M. Liu comic and it makes me very excited to read more of her work in the future. I also really enjoyed the art style. There were a few panels in issue 49 that genuinely took my breath away with how beautiful they are. While this comic is fairly lightweight in terms of plot, it is by no means disposable and is still an enjoyable read.
depreydeprey's review
3.0
First of all crazy props to Marvel for having a gay wedding of one of its heroes long before it was the law across the land. That alone makes this collection historical. Additionally, Liu writing and character development here are perfectly draw out the chemistry and challenges of Northstar's relationship to his partner Kyle really far better than she does the super conflicts in this story. I'm dinging this collection for the art which, wedding aside, makes the story hard to follow and through the main conflict I never had a sense of where things were happening or scale or who was involved.
A bonus to this collection is Alpha Flight #106. The landmark issue where Northstar comes out as gay. The story is dated and so...Canadian. The bad guy is more of an emotional open wound as a father, and naturally former Canadian super hero, who lost his son to AIDS and it feels a little after school specially rather than revolutionary but it was probably the best Marvel thought they could get away with in 1992.
A bonus to this collection is Alpha Flight #106. The landmark issue where Northstar comes out as gay. The story is dated and so...Canadian. The bad guy is more of an emotional open wound as a father, and naturally former Canadian super hero, who lost his son to AIDS and it feels a little after school specially rather than revolutionary but it was probably the best Marvel thought they could get away with in 1992.
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