Astonishing X-Men Annual #1 is a bit of an oddity. It features the same cast that Marjorie Liu has been exploring since she took over the series. It springboards from the massively hyped wedding between Northstar and Kyle in issue #51. But Liu herself is absent from the book. Instead, it serves as a reunion for the former X-Men Legacy team of Christos Gage and David Baldeon. Luckily, the two creators are more than suited for the story at hand.
Because it's a natural law that superheroes can't enjoy a vacation without it being interrupted by villainy, Jean Paul and Kyle's Paris honeymoon is cut short in this issue when the Friends of Humanity decide to order assassination hits on the various friends and family members of the X-Men. That's really not very friendly or humane of them.
What follows is a fun little standalone tale that concerns itself more with Kyle responding to being put in lockdown rather than the actual battle against the FoH. Brief action shots punctuate longer scenes as Kyle interacts with the likes of Karma, Deathbird, and Gambit. Each of these X-Men has sage advice to offer on the perils of being an X-Man with a family life and marriage in general. The issue isn't necessarily goofy, as some of the discussion is fairly grim and serious, but overall the tone still manages to be lighthearted and enjoyable. Conversely, the climax injects a welcome dose of drama to the dialogue-heavy script. I actually found myself enjoying this material more than the actual marriage and the build-up prior to it.
Baldeon's artwork certainly doesn't hurt matters. His clean, expressive characters are equally engaging whether locked in battle or merely conversing in a hotel room. Given that Baldeon's Legacy stint didn't end up lasting very long, I'd love to see him pop up elsewhere in the franchise in the near future.
Unfortunately, Marvel had to go and spoil things to an extent by pricing this issue at $4.99. The main story is no longer than an average issue of Astonishing. Padding out the remnant is a reprint of the Alpha Flight issue where Northstar originally came out of the closet. Historical significance notwithstanding, that alone doesn't justify an extra dollar, and I wish Marvel would stop acting as if annuals automatically need to cost more. The reprint isn't even worth the hassle of reading. The hardcore 90s artwork, with its muscles piled on top of more muscles and criminal overuse of crosshatching, is enough to make your eyeballs leak out of your skull. Trust me. I'm writing this review blind thanks to this book.
Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
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