47.
Title: The Astonishing X-Men
Author: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
Genre: Comic
Medium: Paperback
Acquisition: By shop recommendation
Date Completed: 18 May 2016
Rating: ****

All I've ever known of the X-Men is the animated cartoon, which certainly did its job to hold my attention and spark a strong interest.  Though I've written two papers on a related subject - specifically, Storm cosplay - I've never read a comic proper, and so during our last comic book store trip I asked an employee to point out a good starter book. His suggestion was the Joss Whedon The Astonishing X-Men, both for the interesting premise of a "cure" for a mutation gene, and more generally for Joss Whedon's decision to parse down the field and focus on a select few characters.  After reading I appreciate the employee's care, as I can see how it would be easy to become overwhelmed by the thousands of mutants who appear throughout the lifetime of the property; focusing on a select team makes it easier to think about character development and interpersonal relationships.  With the very little knowledge I have of the title I found it easy to navigate the stories of Hope and Danger (and I'll leave my allusions at that, to avoid spoilers), even though a few characters were barely familiar.  Whedon does well to focus on quiet tension both within the team and in the world at large, and presents believable personal scenarios that, excuse the term, humanize the tensions and politics ad clearly reflect thematic issues introduced by the subject itself.  In short, I found it well done, if not the most compelling comic I've read.  Now that I have my foot in the door I feel more confident seeking out particular story lines that have come up in my research - specifically, when Storm steps up as a team leader, and her punk phase.  In the cartoon