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A review by nancyotoole
Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis by Kaare Kyle Andrews, Warren Ellis
1.0
It looks like I won't be reading Astonishing X-men anymore. This is a pity, because the first four volumes (written by Joss Whedon) were consistently strong. The same cannot be said about the series since Warren Ellis took over. Ghost Box (vol 5) was very uneven. Exogenetic (vol 6) while not perfect, was at least a step up. Xenogenesis, on the other hand, delivers the weakest volume in the series by far, failing on pretty much every level.
Let's start out with the artwork, done by Kaare Andrews. Admittedly, while there are some promising panels here and there, Andrews is just not that good at drawing people. This is especially true with the way he draws the female X-men. The first one to grab my attention was Storm. Turn to the back cover and you'll see just how scarily skinny she appears, complete with protruding ribs and hip bones, and a waist so narrow you have to wonder where she fits certain necessary internal organs (but don't worry guys! She still has breasts!). The next offense is Armor. Fortunately, the artist wisely choose not to sexualize this teenage character, but he also seems to forget that she's Japanese, as she looks completely Caucasian here. But the worst example of all has to be with Emma Frost. Listen, it doesn't take much to make Emma Frost sexy. With her skin tight white outfits, that's just who she is. Apparently, it's not enough for Andrews, who insists on drawing her constantly thrusting her breasts towards where the camera would be. I guess he wants to make sure that they're the first (or even only) thing you really notice about her. The male X-men, by comparison, just look like big goofy lugs, which isn't great, but a hair less ridiculous.
During Xenogenesis, Storm (who is currently married to Black Panther, and therefore Queen of Wakanda) and the rest of the X-men are called in to investigate a small African town where a large number of mutant babies have been born en masse. Xenogenesis makes a lot of noise about trying to shine a light on the issues facing Africa today, and then completely undercuts that by having the majority of the African characters be nothing more than ineffective window dressings. There is one notable exception, leader Joshua N'Dingi, but given that he mostly comes across as an asshole, I'm not sure how encouraging that is. As for the story itself, I must admit that I found it to be rather dull most of the time. I was also annoyed by some of the inconsistencies I found between graphic novels. For example, in Ghost Box, Storm is very worried about getting involved in the affairs of another country. As the queen of a nation, her actions can have disastrous results, and may even lead to outright war. In Xenogenesis, this is somehow no longer an issue. You expect certain disconnects in comics, given that you can have several writers working on a line, but BOTH of these volumes were written by Warren Ellis so it just looks like he's not even trying.
As a result of my dislike of Xenogenesis and Ghost Box, I will no longer be reading Astonishing X-men. There are tons of X-men lines out there, both past as present, so it's not worth wasting time on one clearly caught in a rut. Hopefully, the next comic I pick up will be more consistent.
Let's start out with the artwork, done by Kaare Andrews. Admittedly, while there are some promising panels here and there, Andrews is just not that good at drawing people. This is especially true with the way he draws the female X-men. The first one to grab my attention was Storm. Turn to the back cover and you'll see just how scarily skinny she appears, complete with protruding ribs and hip bones, and a waist so narrow you have to wonder where she fits certain necessary internal organs (but don't worry guys! She still has breasts!). The next offense is Armor. Fortunately, the artist wisely choose not to sexualize this teenage character, but he also seems to forget that she's Japanese, as she looks completely Caucasian here. But the worst example of all has to be with Emma Frost. Listen, it doesn't take much to make Emma Frost sexy. With her skin tight white outfits, that's just who she is. Apparently, it's not enough for Andrews, who insists on drawing her constantly thrusting her breasts towards where the camera would be. I guess he wants to make sure that they're the first (or even only) thing you really notice about her. The male X-men, by comparison, just look like big goofy lugs, which isn't great, but a hair less ridiculous.
During Xenogenesis, Storm (who is currently married to Black Panther, and therefore Queen of Wakanda) and the rest of the X-men are called in to investigate a small African town where a large number of mutant babies have been born en masse. Xenogenesis makes a lot of noise about trying to shine a light on the issues facing Africa today, and then completely undercuts that by having the majority of the African characters be nothing more than ineffective window dressings. There is one notable exception, leader Joshua N'Dingi, but given that he mostly comes across as an asshole, I'm not sure how encouraging that is. As for the story itself, I must admit that I found it to be rather dull most of the time. I was also annoyed by some of the inconsistencies I found between graphic novels. For example, in Ghost Box, Storm is very worried about getting involved in the affairs of another country. As the queen of a nation, her actions can have disastrous results, and may even lead to outright war. In Xenogenesis, this is somehow no longer an issue. You expect certain disconnects in comics, given that you can have several writers working on a line, but BOTH of these volumes were written by Warren Ellis so it just looks like he's not even trying.
As a result of my dislike of Xenogenesis and Ghost Box, I will no longer be reading Astonishing X-men. There are tons of X-men lines out there, both past as present, so it's not worth wasting time on one clearly caught in a rut. Hopefully, the next comic I pick up will be more consistent.