Joss Whedon is well-known for creating TV series such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel", "Firefly" and "Dollhouse" and the screenwriter, executive producer is also known for his writing work on comic book series. A big comic book fan, Whedon was a cowriter for "X-Men", "Thor", "Captain America: The First Avenger" and wrote and directed the upcoming film "The Avengers".In 2006, Whedon caught the attention of fans with his series "Astonishing X-Men" which he stayed onboard for 24 issues. It has become a major best-seller for Mavel comics and was nominated for several Eisner Awards and winning "Best Continuing Series" in 2006.
The first six issues of "Astonishing X-Men: Gifted" was then released on DVD in Sept. 2010 courtesy of Shout! Factory as part of Marvel Knights Animation. These animated stories (also known as motion comic books) are more like comic books with slight movements but with voice acting and special effects. And two more DVD's were released with "Dangerous" and "Torn". But for the first time, all three series plus the fourth, new "Astonishing X-Men" collection "Unstoppable" release will be included on two Blu-ray discs and will be released in November 2012 courtesy of Shout! Factory.
VIDEO:
"Astonishing X-Men" is presented in 1080p High Definition. Presented in 1:78:1, the motion comics of today differs greatly from the motion comics of the '90s. There is more use of CG animation for special effects and blurring as opposed to the comic book pages with standard lighting effects.
The biggest difference I noticed from watching the DVD versions to now watching it on Blu-ray is how vibrant the images are in HD. Colors absolutely pop! And if anything, the comic animation is much better looking than on DVD!
It's important to also emphasize that "Astonishing X-Men: Torn" is not an animated cartoon. It's a motion comic book, so the characters are provided in their comic book version but you will see hair movement, lights blinking or leaves flying around the pages and also some slight animated movements of the character themselves. While a character talks, you will see their mouths move.
AUDIO:
"Astonishing X-Men" is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. There is good use of the surround channels as I was hearing special effects coming from the rear surround and surround channels. But the big positive when it comes to audio is "Astonishing X-Men" and its use of voice acting. The voice acting is fantastic! Also, the music sounds much crisper via lossles.
SPECIAL FEATURES
"Astonishing X-Men" comes with the following special features:
A Conversation with Joe Quesada and Neal Adams (17:11) Joe Quesada and Neal Adams talk about using today's technology to make original comic animation with wonderful voice acting, sound effects and sound.
"Rise Up" Music Video (2:36)
"Astonishing X-Men: Gifted" Trailer (1:55)
Behind-the Scenes: Marvel Knights Animation (5:12) Behind-the-scenes on the making of the "Astonishing X-Men" (and also Spider-Woman: Agent of Sword).
Trailers Featuring comic book animation trailers for "Spider-Woman: Agent of Sword", "Black Panther", "Iron Man Extremis", "Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers".
As a long time collector of the X-Men comic books and having read so many of the comics even to this day, I have to admit that Joss Whedon has managed to make X-Men a serious and entertaining comic book series. There was a lull of storyline content unfortunately created by Marvel due to its plethora of X-related comic books and every character having their own series or mini-series and truthfully, it was one of the biggest reasons I quit reading the series. Too many titles, increase in price for comic books and the quality of the series was dwindling.
Whedon's storyline manage to continue its action-packed battles but he emphasized story, especially character development and his presence with "Astonishing X-Men" was felt and while he was involved, it was an amazing run!
And now his contribution to "Astonishing X-Men" is being carried out via motion comic books on DVD.
Having been one of the earlier adopters of motion comic books on CD, suffice to say, they have come along way especially with these Marvel Knights DVD releases. Back then it was just a page with voice acting (which was not all that great) and lighting effects. It worked during the mid-90′s but in 2012, you expect a bit more and sure enough, you do get animated movements, special effects, mouth movement. And of course, much better voice acting. And as mentioned, they were CD's and can only be played on computers.
While each DVD release contains six episode, the Blu-ray release of "Astonishing X-Men" comes with four arcs, so a total of 24 mini-episodes. The Blu-ray is much better than its DVD counterpart when it comes to overall look and sound quality and the fact that you get more episodes and also special features which the DVD's don't have.
As for the storyline, from kicking off the series with a fight against a new character named Ord and also to see the return of Colossus was quite significant. Immediately, people get to see the X-Men in action but also the children at Xavier's institute. And this leads into the second arc "Dangerous". The storyline was fantastic as it took a storyline of what would happen if the danger room could be sentient and learn over time. And the answer is "chaos" as the X-Men are suddenly faced with a rival that was designed to know and counter their fighting style. And to make things worse, the Danger Room has become sentient to the point that it wants nothing but to kill the X-Men.
As for the storyline, "Torn" features the new Hellfire Club as the antagonists. The Hellfire Club led by Sebastian Shaw have always been a thorn in the X-Men's side but this time around, the primary antagonist is Cassandra Nova. And what is interesting about Nova is that she was born the same time as Charles Xavier. She was conceived without a body but copied Professor Xavier's body and became his twin sister. Despite being stillborn, the creature survived and has managed to mimic human traits and now is hellbent of destroy Charles Xavier and the X-Men.
So, it was interesting to see this character back again to twist Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club to attack the X-Men. Or is it Cassandra Nova? Suffice to say, the conclusion of this arc has an intriguing twist.
The addition of the Agent Brand storyline is to help build up to the next arc known as "Unstoppable", which would be the final arc for Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. The final arc definitely ends with a bang as Whedon brings more X-Men characters plus other popular Marvel Superheroes into the battle against the Breakworld.
For fans of the older Uncanny X-Men series, the storyline of the X-Men is much different and the storyline itself didn't mesh with Marvel's current run of X-related storylines or Marvel crossovers. If you were familiar with the characters, that was all that was needed to understand the series. The X-Men are still funded and led by Professor X, the team is led by Cyclops and there is no Ice Man, nor is there a Jean Grey, who has since been replaced by Emma Frost (which is a big part of the storyline from 2000) who is romantically linked to Scott Summers (Cyclops). But similar to the original series, Beast and Wolverine are still part of the team and the romantic angst between Kitty Pryde and Piotr Rasputin (Colossus) is still ongoing.
But there is also a deeper and darker element to this series and showcases a different Scott Summers, especially during its ending minutes as we learn more about the creation of the Danger Room. But the storyline is entertaining and loved how Whedon concentrates a lot on the characters. Prior to Whedon and with past X-Men related issues, too much was focused on convoluted storylines, including regurgitated non-interesting banal storylines that went nowhere and eventually some other writer would have to clean up the mess. Whedon stayed with keeping things simple, but yet focusing on character development, team dynamic and intriguing adversaries.
I know many people have invested in the previous three DVD's already and are having to decide if they should upgrade to the Blu-ray version. My answer is that "Astonishing X-Men" on Blu-ray is a much better product. All 24-episodes are in HD and the colors are much sharper and vibrant, while the lossless track utilizes the sound effects through the surround channels rather nicely. Also, the Blu-ray release has special features which the DVD version did not.
But if you have the previous three "Astonishing X-Men" DVD releases, you don't have to upgrade unless you need to watch these episodes in HD. It sure does help to have all four Joss Whedon "Astonishing X-Men" arcs in one package but it is definitely worth the upgrade if you have the ability to play HD and listening to lossless soundtrack via home theater.
Overall, "Astonishing X-Men" is a fantastic comic animation collection that is a major leap forward for comic book animation. The voice acting is fantastic and the Blu-ray really emphasizes how much better "Astonishing X-Men" can look via Blu-ray compared to the previous DVD releases.
If you are an "X-Men" fan, "Astonishing X-Men" for Blu-ray is definitely recommended!
What is a motion comic? Its a bit of a hybrid genre-the video looks like someone was able to animate the spaces between the panels in a comic book. The conversation bubbles are replaced by voice actors. The voice acting is spot on. Emma Frost drips with her elite mannerism. Wolverine is gruff and quick-witted. The voice actors do a great job of dramatically portraying the x-men without going over the top into the field of campy or too corny: It is not a Saturday morning cartoon-in some ways it much better.
I loved the 1990's x-men cartoon, but as I grew up so did the X-men. Astonishing X-men are still dealing with some of the issues of discrimination and intolerance that have been a hallmark of x-men series since the comic debuted in the 1960s but in a much more sophisticated manner. In these episodes a cure for mutants is discovered, and the x-men are torn between inner conflicts as well as inter-stellar conflicts.
I wont give anything away, but the acting and animation is paced so that the suspense never slackens.
The color and artwork is truly brilliant in HD. If you ever wished you could have a comic book panel splashed across your wide screen living room TV, look no further than this 2-disc blu ray collection.
The plot and storytelling are perfect. But There are a few "cons" to the motion comics. The episodes are very short (each under 15 minutes-ish). And each episode ends with a relatively long 'credits' sequence. It is not a big deal, but it does disrupt an otherwise seamless story.
X-Fans will be able to curl up with almost 5 hours of 1080p X-Men. Excelsior!
Buy Marvel Knights: Astonishing X-Men BluRay Box Now
I love this series even if it's motion comics and even MY wife liked it! Yes do watch this NOW!...Read Best Reviews of Marvel Knights: Astonishing X-Men BluRay Box Here
Loved this comic in motion and in HI-Def! It came today and I've already watched the whole thing no problems the whole way.
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