Sun, 25 Oct '09

Astonish Me, X-Men!

Mutant comic springs to life without the aid of hallucinogenic drugs or Hugh Jackman

While flipping through a comic book, there have no doubt been times when you’ve thought, “Wow, it would really be cool if these pictures started moving and I could hear the characters talk!”

Um, yeah, that’s called animation. You should look into it. It’s pretty neat.

But let’s say you had a slightly less common fantasy wherein those pictures moved, but in a jerky fashion, and the characters talked, but maybe in the dulcet tones of middling vocal talent. That’s like having a motion comic!

For those unfamiliar with the still-developing art form, motion comics are a weird half-stage between animation and still pictures. (Think flash animation.) On Wednesday, Marvel unveils their second stab at the format: Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, a multi-episode adaptation of the Eisner Award-winning Astonishing X-Men storyline from Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. Check it out on iTunes.

In their short history, motion comics have ranged from not good (Watchmen) to not bad (Spider-Woman). At the very least, Astonishing X-Men should be better then the adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen. We mean, the X-Men story is by TV geek god Joss Frickin’ Whedon! What’s this Alan Moore guy ever done?