RISSENTERTAINME Tales to Astonish: Astonishing X-men #13 Vince Yim, Yellow spandex wearing OP contributor Joss Whedon, best known for his television creations Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, is currently tackling Marvel Comics’ X-Men franchise with the ongoing series, Astonishing X-Men. Adding his trademark humour, dialogue, and characterization, it has added a new dimension to some of our favourite characters, while giving the occa- sional shakeup. By now, we’re mostly familiar with the X-Men, a team of heroes that are born with superhuman powers that makes them feared and hated by the general populace. With 40-odd years of back-story to delve through, there have many popular storylines, such as Age of Apocalypse, The Dark Phoenix Saga, and Days of Future Past. So, is there any- thing left in the inkwell? In the concluding pages of the last storyline, Emma Frost abandoned the team in the middle of a dangerous battle and was seen interacting with The Hellfire Club, a society of mutants with an evil agenda. As we learn that she was placed within the X-Men as a mole, it appears that her betrayal is imminent. However, the other members are too busy adjusting to other things to notice, such as the resurrection of Colossus, who mysteriously appeared after sacrificing his life to cure a mutant plague. Thirteen issues in, Whedon proves that he has a solid handle on the characters, while adding his own personal touch. Admittedly, his characters do talk like characters from Buffy (indeed, Whedon admitted to basing Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Shadowcat), although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While the recent issue is decid- edly light on action—the one action scene occurs off- panel—the story is building up to something huge. aeditor@gmail.com While longtime readers will indulge, stuff like this can turn off new readers, which is an inherent problem to comic books with a long history. If someone were to, say, watch the X-Men movies and then decide to read the comics, the potential reader would be completely lost. While the cast of characters is familiar enough (Beast, Cyclops, Wolverine, Shadowcat, Colossus, Emma Frost), the characters change so rapidly that it’s difficult for a casu- al reader to keep up. However, longtime readers would not have it any other way. Still, Whedon and company make every effort to keep the casual reader in the loop, whether it be a recap page at the beginning of the book or flashback sequences. Once one is familiar with the storyline, it’s easy to enjoy little moments like Wolverine teaching the younger mutants, or Shadowcat attempting to rekindle her relationship with Colossus. But for those that aren’t as familiar with the characters, at least John Cassady’s artwork looks really nice. Regardless, Astonishing X-Men is one of the better reads on the shelf today, although one may wish to read a few older issues before proceeding. Astonishing X-Men #13 “Torn” Story by Joss Whedon Art by John Cassaday Published by Marvel Comics London: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Tiny E Records/Sony Music Vince Yim, OP Cagedancer With London: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, tech- no duo The Crystal Method joins the ranks of elec- tronic music artists that have composed movie scores, which includes the likes of The Dust Brothers (Fight Club) and BT (The Fast and the Furious, Monster). As one of the more successful American electronic music acts, their music has been featured in a long list of movie soundtracks fj, and video games. Therefore, it’s only natural that they’d be asked to score a film. Something one should be aware of when approaching musical score soundtracks is that they » are meant to coexist with the images on screen. The criteria for the music will be completely different than a stand-alone project, such as one of Crystal Method’s previous albums. In addition, a lot more creative hands are put into the equation (for exam- ple, the film’s director). So, with that in mind, one can expect that it will not necessarily measure up to their previous works. Still, this is a listenable album, and it is still cer- tainly a Crystal Method project. Fans will instantly recognize the style, partly because some of the tracks are reminiscent of previous Crystal Method tracks. For one, “Vice” is somewhat reminiscent of “Tough Guy” (from the 2001 release, Tweekend), while “Defective” can be traced back to “Roll It Up” (also from Tweekend). Additionally, it is difficult to pick out a standout track, although it is safe to say that there is nothing memorable to the scale of “Busy Child” (from Vegas) or “Weapons of Mass Distortion” (from Legion of Boom). In addition to the original Crystal Method score, there are some other guest musicians on the disc, including Evil Nine (whose work appears on the Crystal Method remix disc, Community Service), Troy Bonnes, The Out Crowd, and The Perishers. Adding some non-electronic sounds to the mix, they make the CD a lot more varied, which should be one of the goals of creating a soundtrack. The word that sums up this CD is “functional.” It fulfills its purpose, although once removed from its original function (i.e. separated from the accompa- nying images), it doesn’t really fulfill its musical potential. Even still, it is a solid album, even though it would probably be best appreciated by Crystal Method fans or people who liked the film for which the score was composed. However, given the fact that London was only given a limited release, it might make it a little bit difficult.