Astonishing X-Men Vol. 2: Dangerous
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
While probably the weakest of the series, DANGEROUS continues the trend of innovation for Whedon’s astounding run on the X-Men!
Ranking: 5 stars
As I’ve mentioned previously, Joss Whedon’s work on ASTONISHING X-MEN has become one of my all-time favorite runs on the X-Men franchise. Not only does it take the team back to their original roots established by Chris Claremont back in the 80’s, but is extremely well-written and compelling enough to stand on it’s own! The book’s greatest strength in my eyes however has been Whedon’s writing, as he places heavy focus on character interactions and dialogue. This not only helps the pacing and flow of the narrative, but also makes the characters feel realistic and believable to the reader. Their dialogue always feels natural and realistic, and never seems either too cliched or too poetic. Whedon has always been able to find the perfect balance that allows the reader to care about the character’s and their dilemmas, which is what made his work on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, the AVENGERS movie, and his work on ASTONISHING X-MEN such stellar masterpieces. Even when the overall story or other elements of the book aren’t as successful, the careful handling of the dialogue always provides me something to heavily enjoy and invest myself in. While his second volume on the series DANGEROUS is probably the weakest entry in my eyes, it still provides the same amount of innovation through characters and themes that has made ASTONISHING X-MEN the rousing success that it is.
In the events of the GIFTED arc, the Xavier Institute was raided by the alien from the Breakworld known as Ord, who developed a cure to permanently shut down mutant powers. In the process, he assaulted the two students Armor and Wing, the latter of whom fell victim to the cure and lost his ability to fly as a result. Taking place a few weeks later, DANGEROUS opens with the X-Men attempting to make their presence as superheroes known to the world as a means of lifting the public’s hatred and distrust towards mutants. The attempt to do so by stopping a giant creature attacking Manhattan, but are robbed of their chance by the interference of the Fantastic Four. Meanwhile back at the institute, Wing has been suffering from depression since losing his powers and is currently contemplating suicide. His inner turmoil soon catches the attention of an enemy within the X-Men’s own ranks: the Danger Room. For those who don’t know, the danger room is a training room that creates deadly obstacles and holograms for the X-Men to fight in order to hone their mutant abilities. Unknown to the team however, the Danger Room’s programing to attack the X-Men caused it to gain an artificial intelligence and become a sentient being. The entire school is soon in jeopardy when the Danger Room kills one of the students and traps the rest of the class and the team inside itself. Will the X-Men be able to defeat the mechanical creature that they have fought countless times in the past, or will the Danger Room (now going under the alias of Danger) succeed in what it was programed to do and eradicate the X-Men?
Out of all the volumes in Whedon’s run, this one is probably the weakest out of the four. That definitely doesn’t mean that I think it’s bad, far from it in fact. Like all of the other arcs in the series, DANGER succeeds in giving the developing the characters solely through their dialogue and banter, while also being the first of the series to provide unique and innovating themes. I just rank this one lower than I do the other volumes, as I felt that they were more memorable and had more to offer in terms of character development. The character development that is present in this volume is great however, providing depth for main, secondary, and new characters all in a single arc. For instance, the student Wing, despite being a minor character with development, still feels fleshed out and given dimension. Because of the pride he took in his mutant power to fly, he now feels that after having it forcibly taken from him, he has now lost a major aspect of his identity. This causes Wing to contemplate suicide, which is implicated through both his interactions with other characters focusing on him struggling with losing his powers, and a scene where he is staring over a cliff. This effectively conveys how the feelings of depression can easily overwhelm someone when they have lost something important to them, and are driven to extremes as a result. Just as before, Whedon focuses heavily on Kitty Pryde as the primary protagonist of his run, focusing a majority of the caption boxes on her thoughts, and having her play a major role in the events of the story. As I have stated on numerous occasions, Shadowcat is my number one favorite X-Men, and Whedon treats her with great care and respect (she was the inspiration for his own character Buffy). In DANGEROUS, further progression is given towards her relationship with Colossus. Since discovering him to be alive in the previous arc (he was thought to have died after curing the Legacy Virus), the two have begun to reconcile their old romance (and about time to!). While the third volume TORN would have them finally reach the peak of their love, DANGEROUS shows further development for the two as a couple through Colossus’ concern for Kitty confronting Danger in the ruins of Genosha (as her father was one of the victims in the attack). This conveys Colossus’s concern for Kitty on an emotional level, enhancing the both the realistic chemistry of their love, and the progression that it will build up to in future volumes.
But the biggest sample of character development from this volume quite easily comes from the titular antagonist of the comic, Danger. This can be primarily attributed to her motivations as a villain, as they directly tie into the main theme of the story arc. Having been originally a training facility for the X-Men, the danger room was designed to increase the intensity of the X-Men’s training by throwing as many deadly obstacles as it could towards the team. Essentially, the danger room was programed to do what ever it could to kill the X-Men. In DANGEROUS however, the computer’s A.I. becomes powerful enough to the point of becoming a sentient being with it’s own personality and goals. Because it is able to evolve beyond the mechanical limitations of machines and develop a personality, the danger room feels that it had been abused by the X-Men and in particular the one who developed its original programing, Charles Xavier. Danger feels that it was forced into submission against it’s own will, and has developed an intense hatred for Xavier and the X-Men, desiring to see them all dead. This not only makes a robot devoted to emotionless logic feel more human, but it also presents an ethical question that was also elaborated on Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s MUTANT GENESIS storyline. Should an individual have the authority or right to control others, even if the ends justify it? It was a theme handled carefully in GENESIS, as Magneto debated on whether or not Dr. Moria MacTaggert had the right to try to change his psychology by tampering with his genetic structure. Even though Moria claimed to have done it to stop Magneto from carrying out his war against humanity, Magneto feels that she had no right to tamper with who he was, and that her attempts to justify it were equivalent to those of the Nazis in the death camps. Joss Whedon also explores the theme of whether or not one should have the right to control another in DANGEROUS, though takes a different approach by having the one controlled be a machine rather than a person. This gives and additional layer of originality to an already explored message, as it extends to whether it is right or not to extend our control over nonhuman creatures as well, despite what goods may come out of it. It’s a question that is especially important for a day and age ruled by technology, a society is dominated by the idea of having technology do our work for us. Is the outcome worth the risk in the long run? These are interesting questions that Whedon explores with Danger and her vendetta against the X-Men.
So while I feel that DANGEROUS is personally my least favorite arc of the series (there’s no bad story of ASTONISHING X-MEN in my eyes though), it is still a highly innovative story arc that provides both great development for its characters, and creating themes either unexplored or ones already explored into different territories. Such innovation to this extent is indeed difficult to accomplish, but Whedon continues to show that he is truly capable of meeting the requirements necessary to create stories that are both an homage to classic X-Men stories, as well as ones that are defined by their own unique merits. Even in its lower areas (in a series that I’m tempted to define as “nearly flawless”) ASTONISHING X-MEN is a comic series that continuously pushes the boundaries of what innovation can achieve.
“Innovation is taking two things that already exist and putting them together in a new way.”
-Tom Freston
