So apparently a few years back, Joss Whedon (of Firefly, Buffy and recently, Avengers fame) wrote an X-Men series for Marvel, called Astonishing X-Men, which has since been taken up by other writers in the later years (still ongoing afaik). More recently, a group called Marvel Knights have committed several of these to animation, in what they call a ‘motion comic’ – I would call it a cross between the South Park style of crude paper-type animation with some anime influences but far better art in most cases than either of these. It’s not full-on animation though – it’s more like moving pictures matched with dialog. Different, but pretty effective when watched.

So there are four DVDs/Blu-Ray out now (for Astonishing X-Men, there are other shows done by Marvel Knights too, see above) – the series starts with Gifted (2009); Dangerous (2009); Torn (2012) and the most recent, Unstoppable (late 2012). Each disc contains a series of interconnected stories that have many, many side plots, subplots and in some cases, peripheral characters coming and going all over the place. Naturally it helps if you are very familiar with the X-Men already, and with other Marvel heroes too (because many outsiders also pop in from time to time).

While this isn’t Pixar or Dreamworks cgi-style animation, I have to say I liked the style here. Because the animation isn’t intended to carry the story, they can spend far more time on dialog, plot points and character development, and in most cases, they succeed. There are sometimes where this falls down or the pacing is a bit too slow, but overall these are solid entertainment and if you like the comic stories but don’t really get into reading comics otherwise – this is a nice way to go. And unlike the crapshoot that live-action comic movies can be from time to time (all the early Batman movies prior to Batman Begins, many of the Marvel one-off comic movies, i’m talking to YOU), here the writers and art don’t have to veer so far away from the comic stories as in live-action. They can stay far truer to their roots and just go big on over-the-top scenarios that work well in the comic world but can start to look fairly ridiculous when live-action movies are made (see comments on the Avengers movie on that score).

I also liked that they changed the characters around a bit from the X-Men movies and even vs. the traditional X-Men team, but still kept a core team consistent from show to show (Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast) and added a few new/returnees along the way (Emma Stone, Kitty Pryde, Colossus) to mix it up. And it’s not all centered on Professor X or regularly recurring bad guys like some of the older stories or even the movies, e.g. no Magneto. Additionally, SHIELD and SWORD have an increasing role as you proceed through the series – which opens up more tangential plot holes if you care to analyze too closely – so just don’t – roll with it and enjoy instead… 🙂

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